Yellow Badger [3]// Harry Potter // Draco Malfoy

Dictatorship in Motion

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Dictatorship in Motion

Educational Decree No. 22
Hogwarts School will be subject to informal scrutiny by an appointed Ministry member.

Educational Decree No. 23.
Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed to the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor.

Growling I stared at the wall, the two frames hung proudly on the wall parallel with the door frame. I turned on my heels, towards transfiguration class – the corridors had lost their usual spark as people walked in fear of Umbridge's patrolling eyes. Yesterday, Georgia and her boyfriend had been shot three feet from each other during a casual kiss as they split to go to class. She said it was like being stung by bees, several small angry bees.
The painting didn't wave or try to pick up convocations with the ghosts or familiar students from their secondary portrait near their respected houses. To even see the ghosts were rare, they seem to only come out for dinner but stay away during the day and spend time in the tower rooms.

Twisting my wrist, I gasped at the time. If I was late to Defence, Merlin knows what that woman would do. I was lacking in cardio, which was obvious as I dashed up the three flights of stairs and took the short cut through the tapestry corridor to classroom 3C.
The corridor wasn't quiet which gave me some hope I wouldn't be sent to the Witches Noose just yet. The door to the classroom was open, peering in I almost had to grip onto the door frame as I heard an unusual sound. Laughter.
Taking my seat next is Isabelle, I kicked Hadleigh's chair to get her attention as I took out my class supplies from my bag.

"Where is the Hag?" I asked," it's nine, is she late?"
Hermione scoffed," if she was, she a bloody hypocrite -"
"-Right, children."
A chill ran down my spine.
"As whilst you are together, I had decided to add in an extra class for you all that will be posted to your House bulletins in the next week." She smiled sweetly as I suppressed a groan.
"Why?" Seamus asked.
Her sweet smile shifted to a deep glare," Because Mr Finnigan – this Ministry believes, it's time you learned how your behaviour reflects on the school and yourselves. You are of an age where protection isn't just magic. This is compulsory."
Isabelle put her hand over her mouth," Maybe she should take her own advice."

"Now, let's open our books to page ten and continue from where we left off."
I let out a breath as my shoulder relaxed, from now – I made a vow to be ten minutes early, the close call caused too much anxiety. Isabelle smiled as she tapped by back in support as we picked up our quills and copied word for word the chapter about shielding spells.

The Spell:
Protego, a spell used to deflect offensive spells as well as physical objects. The spell is only as strong as the caster, the more skilled the caster the stronger the shield. In many cases, the shield is invisible, however to some it might have a slight shimmer of colour.

Method:
The spell is cast by a drawing vertical line with your wand, if the caster is using wandless magic, putting you're palm out in front of you and speaking the spell also has the same effect.

On the page in the book were several 1960s style drawings with cartoonish villains and a stereotypical protagonist that looked like Glinda from the Wizard of Oz storybooks I had back home.
Copying down word for word was difficult, I could never remember how to spell certain words that can be considered basic and even if I did know how to spell them in my head it was necessarily what I wrote down. I couldn't draw either, so the next best thing was to make it look similar to the book pages, so far, the technique had worked – I just didn't know for how long I had before she realised.
At the end of the hour, the gong from the Bell Tower rang out through the corridors but we didn't move. At the front of the classroom, the Hag stood with her hands clenched together with a proud smirk on her face as the hands-on my watch ticked past ten.