Double Trouble || Draco Malfoy x Reader

changes at hogwarts || chapter fifty-two

"Why aren't you eating?" Draco asked, watching me poke the bacon on my plate. I dropped my shoulders with a sigh and put the fork down. "I don't know, guess I'm not hungry."

Draco narrowed his eyes.

"Here," he said, pushing his goblet of pumpkin juice towards me. "At least have something to drink."

I smiled gratefully at him and brought the goblet to my lips, but right as the first touch of juice hit my tongue, there was a loud disturbance outside the Hall. People started to rise from their seats to see what was happening. Draco included, so, I did what I do best.

I followed.

Draco held his hand behind his back so I could grab onto it, that way we wouldn't get separated in the crowd. Fred caught sight of us. They glanced at the blond, then his hand, then my hand, then me. Fred nudged George with his elbow and gestured towards us. They both grinned.

"Pardon me, professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?"

Oh god, not her.

"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices." Professor McGonagall scowled.

More people pushed into the crowd at the base of the stairs as the women quarrelled.

"So silly of me but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom... Minerva." Umbridge bit back.

McGonagall stared coldly at her. "Not at all, Dolores." She said, as though her name was like venom on the tongue. "Merely your medieval methods."

"You tell her, Minnie!" I shouted, what made laughter ripple across the crowd.

"I am sorry, dear." Umbridge sucked in a deep breath. "But to question my practices is to question the Ministry, and by extension, the minister himself." She hissed. "I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty."

"Disloyalty." McGonagall scoffed.

Umbridge stepped higher up the stairs and gazed upon all the students watching her. There was a quivering rage in her voice. "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."

~

A crowd gathered beneath a ladder. Filch stood atop of it, a hammer in one hand and a chunky sign in the other. He nailed it into the wall, and everyone watched as he climbed down, that way they could read; "PROCLAMATION. Educational Decree. No. 23. Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed to the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor."

"You've got to be kidding me..." I murmured.

~

Pansy, Millicent, Tracey and Daphne crowded around the back of the sofa as I sat, the latest copy of the Daily Prophet in my hands. "MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM"

We all glanced between one another, the headline beneath reading; "New Era dawned at Hogwarts."

Cornelius Fudge had been interviewed, and his words had been quoted below. "Having already revolutionised the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dolores Umbridge will, as high inquisitor, have powers to address the seriously falling standards at Hogwarts School."