Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 360 Umbridge's Partiality

"What's going on over there?"

Mike said, pointing to the large group of people heading over.

"Oh, it looks like that," Franklin stood on tiptoe and tried his best to look towards the center of the crowd, "It's Ron, he seems to be telling a story again!"

Hearing this, Mike's face suddenly showed understanding.

No one knew when it started, but whenever something interesting happened in Hogwarts, Ron would first find out the details of what happened, and then tell others about it with deep emotion.

Long-term performances and narrations have made Ron's storytelling ability stronger and stronger, and also enabled him to accumulate a large number of fans.

Nowadays, as long as Ron waves his arms in a public place like the auditorium or the lounge, a large number of passers-by will gather around him to watch the fun in an instant.

"Let's go take a look."

Looking at Ron who was standing at a long table in the crowd and telling a story excitedly, Mike said to Franklin.

"Okay, as long as the outline you give me later is a little more detailed."

Mike readily agreed, and when the two of them got closer, he heard Ron gesticulating and saying:

"…Umbridge chose Trelawney as her first target for scrutiny, and her arrival obviously made Trelawney very nervous!"

Ron twisted his body, imitating the usual behavior of Divination Professor Trelawney, raising his hands strangely in the air, and his expression became drunken as he said:
"Students, today we continue to study prophetic dreams. Please divide into pairs and explain each other's recent dreams with the help of the Dream Interpretation Guide."

Ron's voice had a mysterious quality to it, but it also had a slight tremor to it.

This trembling seemed to come from the bones, and even his hands were shaking.

This subtle and playful performance immediately drew laughter from the crowd, and Ron became even more excited when he saw it.

"Professor Trelawney, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you a few questions."

Ron's expression became extremely arrogant. He held one hand in the air and used the other hand to draw back and forth in the air as if holding a pen, as if he was writing down something.

"So, how long have you been in this position, exactly?"

Ron switched back to Trelawney's state, crossed his arms, stared at the front, and said tremblingly:

"Almost sixteen years."

"It's been quite a while." Ron put on Umbridge's expression again. "So it was Professor Dumbledore who hired you?"

"That's right!"

"Are you the great-great-granddaughter of the famous prophet Cassandra Trelawney?"

"Yes!"

Ron, who played Trelawney, tilted his head higher and pointed his nose at the non-existent Umbridge.

"But I heard that since Cassandra's death, no one in your family has this ability to predict the future." Ron, who played Umbridge, deftly made a confused and sarcastic expression. "Also, I learned that you are a half-blood, which means that you mastered this ability when your ancestral bloodline was diluted, while your pure-blood ancestors did not master this ability. Is that right?"

"These things are often passed down from one generation to another - er - three generations!"

'Trelawney' danced around in anger, but her tone became a little panicked.

"Of course," Ron pretended to write a few words in the non-existent notebook, then said with a big smile on his face, "So I wonder if you can predict something for me, huh?"

"I don't understand you!"

"I want you to make a prophecy for me. Is that clear enough?"

"The Third Eye will not see under orders!"

Trelawney's tone became extremely indignant.

Umbridge raised her eyebrows, wrote something in her notebook, and said in an extremely frivolous tone:

"Oh, I see!"

"I - but - but... wait a minute!" Ron, who played Trelawney, stretched his neck forward, as if secretly glancing at the contents of the 'notebook', and then his whole body trembled with anger, and he could no longer maintain that ethereal and mysterious tone.

In an urgent manner, he began to roll his eyes vigorously, and his hands danced irregularly and randomly, "I... I think I saw something... It's about you... Ah, I felt it, something black... Something extremely dangerous..."

Suddenly, Ron's eyes, which had been rolled back to white, suddenly returned to normal. He pointed his hand towards an empty corner and shouted as if Umbridge was there:
"I'm afraid you'll be in terrible danger!"

Ron hurried to the corner he had pointed to before, pretended to be Umbridge, raised his eyebrows mischievously, and then drew a big X in the air with his right hand.

"Well," Ron said, as if closing the book, "if that's the best you can do, then I'm sorry."

After saying that, Ron bowed deeply to the crowd, and cheers immediately broke out from the crowd. However, Mike discovered that in the corner of the hall, several Slytherin students were whispering as they left the hall.

And the direction they left seemed to be leading to Umbridge's office.

Raising an eyebrow, Mike felt that Ron might be in trouble.

But at this moment, a familiar voice sounded beside Mike and Franklin.

"Mike, Franklin! Why are you here?" Ron asked excitedly, "How was it? How was my performance just now?"

Seeing Ron's happy expression, Mike felt that it was not a good idea to tell Ron the news now, so he clapped his hands decisively:
"Great! You are even better than those professional drama actors in Diagon Alley! And your storytelling ability is also very good. Maybe you should do related work in the future, such as writing novels like Lockhart! I dare say that your achievements will be higher than his!"

"Really!?"

Ron said this in surprise. To be honest, Ron was actually very envious of Lockhart, who not only could live a wealthy life, but also had a large number of female fans.

But when he thought of Lockhart's bad reputation, in order to avoid being associated with him, Ron quickly changed his expression and said with a smile:

"Forget it, I don't want to be a scumbag like Lockhart!"

"Okay," Mike shook his head, "Did you just act out Umbridge and Trelawney?"

"Oh! Yes. You must not have seen the beginning. Just now, in our Divination class, Umbridge examined Professor Trelawney. That scene was so funny. Do you want to see it again? If you do, I can perform it again!"

"Um, no thanks, Ron."

Mike said helplessly, but he kept thinking about Trelawney's information in his mind.

The professor of divination is a descendant of the legendary prophet Cassandra, but investigations show that the professor did not fully inherit her ancestor's divination ability, so she lived a very miserable life in the first half of her life, always hovering on the poverty line, and could only make a living by fortune-telling for people on the street. However, she was invited by Dumbledore to become a divination professor at Hogwarts.

But her financial situation did not improve much.

Part of the reason was that the salary Hogwarts offered her was not high, it was at the level of providing food and accommodation and some pocket money.

Another part of the reason is that this person is an alcoholic. She basically drinks every day except for attending classes, which makes her look drunk all the time.

Of course, in her words, she doesn't like drinking, but relies on alcohol to maintain her clairvoyance ability.

Overall, she is an extremely weak professor. Compared with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, she has neither a deep background nor strong strength. She is an easy target.

I have to say that Umbridge's choice to target her was a good one.

Now it depends on how McGonagall and others will deal with Umbridge's attack.

Should we fight to the death or turn a blind eye?

Mike was very curious about this.

……

After a brief conversation with Ron in the hall, the three of them went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom together. Next, they would take Umbridge's Defense Against the Dark Arts class together.

Since they had wasted some time in the auditorium, Mike and the other two arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on time.

After arriving at the classroom, Ron and Harry and Hermione, who had already arrived, all breathed a sigh of relief, because given Umbridge's attitude towards Gryffindor, if Ron was really late, he would probably have to go and accompany George and Fred.

However, they obviously underestimated Umbridge's moral integrity.

Just as Mac and the other two were walking towards their position, Umbridge suddenly flashed a cunning smile on her face and said:
"Stop!"

Hearing this, Mike and the other two all stopped.

Mike and Franklin's expressions were still normal, but Ron, who had just said something bad about Umbridge, was not. He lowered his head, obviously very panicked.

"Ron, you're late!" Umbridge said, "Twenty points deducted from Gryffindor! And then, hand me a 20-word review before class tomorrow!"

Ron's eyes suddenly turned red, and he instinctively argued:

"But I'm definitely not late," he pointed to the magic clock in the classroom, "Look! It's only 9 o'clock now!"

"No, it's 9 seconds past 30, which means you are 30 seconds late." Umbridge frowned, "Also, you need to raise your hand to speak in my class, and you didn't do that just now. So Gryffindor will have to deduct another 5 points!"

Hearing this, Ron quickly covered his mouth, fearing that he would make a sound that Umbridge might find fault with.

The Ravenclaw students in the classroom also shook their heads in distress.

In their opinion, Mike and Franklin, who arrived at the same time as Ron, would definitely receive the same punishment.

But to everyone's surprise, after announcing Ron's punishment, Umbridge simply ignored Mike and Franklin and chose to ask everyone to return to their seats.

The little Gryffindor lion was immediately furious.

It is understandable that Umbridge targeted Gryffindor. After all, they had already become enemies because of what George and Fred had done.

But now Umbridge is so biased towards Ravenclaw?
What is the truth behind this!?

"Be quiet!" Umbridge said, looking at the people whispering in the classroom, "Do you want to write a self-criticism too?"

The noisy classroom suddenly became quiet after hearing this. Umbridge smiled:

"We are about to start the class. Of course, first everyone please put away your wands."

The students reluctantly did as they were told, and Umbridge continued triumphantly:

"We finished learning Chapter 1 in the last class. Today I want you all to turn to page 19 and start reading 'Chapter 2, General Defense Theory and Its Origin'. Don't talk while you're reading."

A slight sigh was heard in the classroom.

It was obvious that no one liked this boring reading class, but under Umbridge's coercion, everyone could only flip through the books as instructed.

Although they study, most of the students’ minds are no longer on the books. They just stare blankly meaninglessly.

Umbridge didn't seem to notice this and continued to sit on the podium smugly.

But as time went on, the bored students couldn't stand it anymore.

Some of them started fiddling with the stationery on the table, and some started passing notes.

To the students, these little movements should be invisible to the teacher, but in fact, Umbridge on the podium saw them all clearly.

"You! Don't act innocent. I'm talking about you, the black-haired Gryffindor!" Umbridge stood up suddenly and roared, "What is that in your hand? Take it out!"

The Gryffindor girl who was called opened her hands with a look of despair, and a white piece of paper was lying quietly in her palm.

A Ravenclaw boy not far away had the same expression as him. The note in the girl's hand was exactly what he had thrown to her - he was pursuing that Gryffindor girl.

"How dare you do something in my class!?" Umbridge said, "Gryffindor will deduct 20 points, and you will have to write me a -word self-review tomorrow!"

The Gryffindor girl's eyes suddenly turned red. She lowered her head and tried hard not to let her tears flow.

The Ravenclaw boy looked guilty when he saw this and stood up to accept Umbridge's punishment.

However, surprisingly, Umbridge did not have any intention of punishing him. On the contrary, Umbridge changed her face and put on a warm expression and asked him:
"Student, do you have any questions?"

"me……"

"If you have no problem, please sit down," said Umbridge. "We have to continue with the lesson."

Now anyone could see that Umbridge was deliberately favoring Ravenclaw.

Many Ravenclaws were grinning; they really enjoyed this preferential treatment.

Hermione couldn't bear it any longer, she stood up and shouted at Umbridge angrily:

"That's not fair! That note was clearly passed to her by that boy!"

(End of this chapter)