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AFTER THE NEWS OF THE AZKABAN BREAKOUT, new signs appeared on the house notice boards.
— BY ORDER OF — THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach. The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-six.
Signed:Delores Jane Umbridge High Inquisitor
This latest decree had been the subject of a great number of jokes among the students. Lee Jordan had pointed out to Umbridge that by the terms of the new rule she was not allowed to tell Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in the back of the class. "Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!" When Este Black next saw Lee, the back of his hand was bleeding rather badly.
Este had thought that the breakout from Azkaban might have humbled Umbridge a little, that she might have been abashed at the catastrophe that had occurred right under her beloved Fudge's nose. It seemed, however, to have only intensified her furious desire to bring every aspect of life at Hogwarts under her personal control. She seemed determined at the very least to achieve a sacking before long, and the only question was whether it would be Professor Trelawney or Hagrid who went first.
Every single Divination and Care of Magical Creatures lesson was now conducted in the presence of Umbridge and her clipboard. She lurked by the fire in the heavily perfumed tower room, interrupting Professor Trelawney's increasingly hysterical talks with difficult questions about Ornithomancy and Heptomology, insisting that she predict students' answers before they gave them and demanding that she demonstrate her skill at the crystal ball, the tea leaves, and the rune stones in turn. Este thought that Professor Trelawney might soon crack under the strain; several times Este passed her in the corridors (in itself a very unusual occurrence as she generally remained in her tower room), muttering wildly to herself, wringing her hands, and shooting terrified glances over her shoulder, all the time giving off a powerful smell of cooking sherry.
Hagrid was putting up a better show than Trelawney. Though he seemed to be following Hermione Granger's advice and had shown them nothing more frightening than a crup, a creature indistinguishable from a Jack Russell terrier except for its forked tail, since before Christmas, he also seemed to have lost his nerve. He was oddly distracted and jumpy in lessons, losing the thread of what he was saying while talking to the class, answering questions wrongly, and glancing anxiously at Umbridge all the time.
With so much to worry about and so much to do — startling amounts of homework that frequently kept the fifth years working until past midnight, quidditch practice, and study groups the Slytherins had formed — January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. Before Este knew it, February had arrived, bringing with it wetter and warmer weather and the prospect of the second Hogsmeade visit of the year. And the night before the Hogsmeade visit, Mattheo approached her.
