Dolores Umbridge felt that her first day at Hogwarts had gone quite well. No one had acted too much out of line in her classes, and she already had a good amount of information to report to the Ministry.
From the tests that she had assigned each of her classes throughout the day, it was blindingly obvious that the standards for History of Magic class at Hogwarts were just as bad as the Ministry had feared. Added to that there was the evidence of the anti-ministerial actions being carried out by certain Hogwarts staff that Mr Potter had provided her. The behaviour of Severus Snape was proof that he was against the Ministry. That Dumbledore worked so hard to protect the man for so many years would be a big nail in the old man's coffin as well.
She was in her office, just making a final few notes on a piece of parchment before retreating to her quarters for nightcap and an early night when there was a knock at the door. Curious as to who could be calling at this hour, she pushed her chair back from the desk, got up and walked over to the door.
She was quite surprised to find a rather angry looking Harry Potter standing on the other side.
"Mr Potter? What brings you here at this hour?"
"Snape is attempting to punish me for doing my job." he replied without preamble.
She nodded in understanding and said "Well, you'd better come in then and tell me the whole story.
And he did.
"…and then," he went on several minutes later "we came back to the castle and Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall were standing there blocking the path and Dumbledore informed me that I now have a month's worth of detentions with Snape. When I tried to explain what had happened, Dumbledore just told me that he trusts Snape and will not have students questioning his authority. Then he gave Padma a week's detention with Filch and took twenty points from Ravenclaw for assisting me in avoiding my detention."
"And what was Professor McGonagall doing during this?" asked Umbridge.
"Nothing. She just stood there and kept silent, like she normally does."
"Very well. You should have come and seen me about Snape's behaviour at dinner before you went off with Miss Patil, but either way his behaviour is still reprehensible. Rest assured that I will bring your complaints to the attention of the Ministry."
Harry shook his head "No," he said "no, that's not enough. Snape has been behaving like this for years and keeps on getting away with it. Dumbledore keeps on protecting him. I want to go to the Ministry and talk to someone in the W.E.A department."
Umbridge looked over to her clock that hung on the wall "Well, if we leave now then there should be a few staff from the Wizarding Examinations Authority still lingering about."
"You want to come with me?" asked Harry.
"As a Professor, I cannot simply allow you to leave the school premises unescorted," replied Umbridge "Come on, we'll use the fireplace in my office so as to avoid detection."
Breakfast the following morning found Harry once again sitting with the Gryffindor students. Most of them were giving him wary looks, probably due to the fact that he had sat with the Slytherins the previous evening.
Harry was pointedly ignoring Ron's scowling expression when someone took a seat next to him. He turned to look, and found that it was Parvati Patil, Padma's twin sister.
She had a pleasant smile on her face as she said "So, I hear you went on a date with my sister yesterday."
"I certainly did," replied Harry, not entirely sure where she would be going with this.
"Good," said Parvati "I was wondering when she's finally show an interest in boys. But know this," she added in an undertone "if you hurt her, I'll rip your bollocks off and wear them as a necklace, got it?"
There was a hint of playfulness in her eyes that told Harry that she would not go that far, but an edge to her voice that told him she would hurt him if he hurt Padma. This allowed him to comment "Well, you wouldn't be a very good sister if you didn't. But I have no intention of hurting your sister, and if I do, I'm sure she'll let me know."
Parvati kissed him on the cheek and was just turning to help herself to a piece of toast when the doors to the Great Hall opened.
The students fell silent as a group of people made their way into the Great Hall. There was Griselda Marchbanks, accompanied by three other members of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, Madam Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with two Law Enforcement Officers and an Auror, and eight of the twelve members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, who appeared to be led by Neville's grandmother, Augusta Longbottom.
At the staff table, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the guests, trying to keep a tone of puzzlement out of his voice "Madam Bones, Madam Marchbanks, Madam Longbottom, to what do we owe this pleasure?"
"This isn't a social call, Dumbledore," said Augusta "We have each received several complaints about the conduct of several individuals at this castle and we're here to learn more before taking official action."
One of W.E.A members stepped forwards and said "Will the following pupils and staff please come with us for questioning," He pulled out a roll of parchment and unfurled it and read out a list of names "Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Poppy Pomfrey, Astoria Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Sophie Roper, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Ryan Spinks, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown, Fay Dunbar, Georgina Smith, Kellah Mitchell, Parvati Patil and Padma Patil."
Around the hall, all those named were exchanging looks as they all got up out of their seats. Each of them was wondering what these people could want with them. Of the students, only Padma suspected that she knew what was going on, and was wondering how Harry had arranged this so quickly.
Dumbledore noted that Harry was the only Gryffindor (well, formerly) to not receive a summons, but he could not immediately put the rest together.
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