Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 61: Pick Your Battles

It was the first day of classes—more specifically, the first day of Defense Against the Dark Arts with Dolores Umbridge in charge of the lesson plan. Anticipation was high throughout the classroom as the students waited for Umbridge to arrive. The big question was: how was the Ministry going to alter the way Hogwarts operated?

Ducking a flying paper bird that one of the Patil twins had made, Shaye slid into her seat next to Hermione and put down her bag. She was no stranger to the looks she was getting, especially after her outburst the night before, but by then she was indifferent to them. Let them stare all they wanted. Sooner or later, they would realize they were wrong.

As the paper bird continued to fly around the class, Seamus swatting at it and Crabbe pelting it with his sling-shot, the entire room watched and laughed as it drifted down toward the desks once more. Then, in the blink of an eye, the bird caught flame and fell down onto the Patil twins' desk, the paper singed black and still red hot around the edges.

Everyone looked to the back of the room to see Umbridge, still dressed from head to toe in pink, with a wicked smile on her face and her wand in the air. So this was how class was going to be.

"Good morning, children." Umbridge greeted in her obnoxiously sweet tone. She spoke to the class as if they were five and not 15. "Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations." She flicked her wand, the words appearing on the chalkboard at the front of the room as she strode between the desks. "O-W-L's. More commonly known as OWLs. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe."

With another flick of Umbridge's wand, three stacks of textbooks drifted from the tables at the front of the room and down the aisles of students. Before long, each student had a book in front of them.

Shaye looked down at the textbook on the desk and scoffed at the cartoon drawings of witches and the title, which read Dark Arts Defense: Basics for Beginners. If there was one thing she wasn't, it was a beginner.

"Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven." Umbridge carried on. "But you'll be pleased to know from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?"

It was then that Shaye noticed that Hermione had her hand in the air.

"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells." Hermione had her book opened to the table of contents.

"Using spells?" Umbridge actually laughed. "Well, I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

A collective expression of 'what did she just say?' spread over every single student's face. Surely she wasn't suggesting learning defensive magic without actually performing the spells? What would be the use in that? It would be like McGonagall telling the class how to transform a bird into a goblet and then not letting them practice it themselves.

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron voiced what everyone was thinking.

"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way," Umbridge said.

Harry furrowed his brows. "Well, what use is that? If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free."

"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class." Umbridge snapped as she returned to the front of the room. "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which, after all, is what school is all about."

"And how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry asked.

Umbridge's smile was sickeningly sweet. "There is nothing out there, dear."