in the end ~ d. malfoy

Chapter Twenty-Five

𝕾𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓

AFTER POTIONS, MAYA IS NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO DADA with her new professor.

She listens, mood sour, clutching her books to her chest as Ron laments about the amount of homework they've gotten so far, "D'you realise how much homework we've got already? Binns set us a foot-and-a-half-long essay on giant wars, Snape wants a foot on the use of moonstones, and now we've got a month's dream diary from Trelawney! Fred and George weren't wrong about OWL year, were they? That Umbridge woman had better not give us any . . .'

Homework is the least of her worries at this particular moment.

When they enter the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom they find Professor Umbridge already seated at the teachers desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Maya has that same bad feeling about her again reminded forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even larger toad. The class is quiet as they enter the room; Professor Umbridge is, as yet, an unknown quantity and nobody knows how strict a disciplinarian she's likely to be.

'Well, good afternoon!' she says, when finally the whole class sits down, in a high pitched, girlish voice that irritates Maya to no end. A few people mumble 'good afternoon' in reply. 'Tut, tut,' says Professor Umbridge. '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!'

Yup. She's definitely going to hate this class.

'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge,' they chant back at her. Maya feels like a toddler being ordered around as she sits back down.

'There, now,' says Professor Umbridge sweetly. That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please.' Many of the class exchanges gloomy looks; the order 'wands away' has never yet been followed by a lesson they've found interesting. Maya begrudgingly follows the woman's directions, having to remind herself that she no longer needs a wand to perform magic.

Professor Umbridge opens her handbag, extracts her own wand, which is an unusually short one, and taps the blackboard sharply with it; words appear on the board at once: "Defence Against the Dark Arts A Return to Basic Principles"

Basic Principles?

'Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?' states Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. '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 OWL year. 'You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centred, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please.'

She raps the blackboard again; the first message vanishes and is replaced by the 'Course Aims'.

1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2. Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally be used

3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

For a couple of minutes the room is full of the sound of scratching quills on parchment, Maya scrawling hers down in an irritated print that looks nothing like her usual pretty cursive. When everyone copies down Professor Umbridge's three course aims she asks, 'Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?'