The Enemy of my Enemy

The Truth Will Out

There weren't many people in Ancient Runes, at least not enough that Teddie had to worry about them talking about her. Hermione sat at a table in front of Theo and Teddie, by herself, and looked around at them when Professor Babbling told everyone to make a group of three or more in order to complete today's task.

Teddie shuffled to the left, making room for Hermione, and the three set to work on finding a Rune that could represent them.

By the end of the lesson, the trio had chosen three different runes, and each agreed to write half a parchment on them before next lesson.

"Time to find out what Umbridge has in store for us," said Theo, leading Teddie and Hermione out of the class at the end of the lesson.

"I'm curious how Harry and Ron did in Divination," said Hermione.

Teddie nodded. "Daphne and Blaise have that class, too," she said. "Do Harry and Ron enjoy it as much as Daphne and Blaise do?"

Hermione shook her head. "I told them they should've dropped it when I did, last year," she said. "But they never listen."

"They're boys, when do they ever listen?" asked Teddie.

"Hey!" Theo exclaimed.

Teddie and Hermione laughed.

Upon reaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom they entered together and them split off, heading towards their respective friends.

Professor Umbridge was already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on her head.

Daphne and Blaise offered small smiles as Theo and Teddie took their seats from behind their desks, and the silencing that filled the room as the rest of the class entered was deafening.

"Well, good afternoon!" Umbridge said once everyone was present and seated.

A few people mumbled a response, which caused Umbridge to shake her head and tutter under her breath.

"That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they all chanted back at her.

"There, now," said Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

Teddie shared a startled look with Theo at the order of 'wands away'. The command had never come from a Defense teacher in the past, and they were curious what Umbridge expected them to learn without their wands.

"Even Lockhart never told us to put our wands away," Teddie whispered.

Theo shrugged and pocketed his wand.

While the class pulled out ink wells, quills, and parchment from their backpacks, Umbridge opened her own handbag and extracted her wand.

"Clearly the rule of 'no wands' doesn't apply to her," Theo muttered.

Teddie bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

With her wand, Umbridge tapped on the blackboard and the words – Defense Against the Dark Arts: A Return to Basic Principles – appeared in thin white letters.

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face them. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry – approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year. You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now being rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please."