Magical - Harry Potter Fanfiction

65| Bad first impression

After breakfast, we headed to our first class of the year, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Umbridge. We were looking forward to it in the sense that we were eager to see what her lessons were going to be like. Our expectations were low.

I took a seat next to Hermione and we waited for Umbridge to arrive.

"Oi, how are you guys feeling about this new teacher?" Draco asked, who was sitting in front of us next to Crabbe.

"We've been calling her Toad," Crabbe snickered.

"Good one," I said, laughing.

"Everyone, the new teacher is called Toad!" Crabbe announced to the class.

Parvati and Lavender rolled their eyes while everyone else laughed. There was a loud commotion in the class as we were waiting for the teacher, and as soon as she walked in we all shut up. Umbridge walked straight to the front of the classroom and began writing on the chalkboard.

"I expect three things from you all, respect, a thirst for knowledge, and work to the standard of the fifth year or higher," Umbridge told us.

"Will we be studying anything about toads?" Willow asked.

Everyone laughed.

"You must raise your hand when you speak in my class," Umbridge snapped at Willow.

"She was just making a joke," I said.

"Yeah, it was pretty funny," Crabbe added.

"Silence!" Umbridge said. "Were you all not listening? I said one of the three things I wanted from you was respect."

"Sorry Professor," Willow said, earning the side-eye from Umbridge.

"You," said Umbridge, pointing to Neville. "Hand out these books."

Neville got up and started handing out the books to everyone. When I got mine, the first thing that I noticed was that it said 'Defense Against the Dark Arts for beginners'.

"Are we beginners?" I asked, genuinely wondering why we had been given this.

"This looks like the books we got in first year," Dean added.

"There's nothing in here about defensive spells," Hermione said. "It's all theory."

"I don't see why you'd need to use defensive spells. The world we live in is perfectly safe," Umbridge said.

"No, it's not," Harry argued.

Umbridge glared at him.

"You all are aware that the ministry is becoming more involved with this school, and the ministry thinks that theoretical knowledge is more than enough to get you through your exams," Umbridge explained.

"We're not gonna use magic?" Ron asked.

"This classroom is a safe space," Umbridge said.

"But how's theory gonna prepare us for what's out there?" Harry asked.

"There is nothing out there, dear. Who would want to attack innocent children like yourselves?" Umbridge asked rhetorically.

"Maybe Voldemort?" Harry said.

Some of us nodded in agreement.

"Listen up everyone. There are rumours going around that a certain dark wizard is at large. This is a lie!" Umbridge snapped.

"It's not a lie! I saw him. I fought him!" Harry argued.

"Detention!" Umbridge said, glaring at Harry. "My office, five pm."