Dolores Umbridge had begun to act without restraint, focusing all her energy on targeting Harry Potter. "Mr. Potter! Stand up and answer
Dolores Umbridge had begun to act without restraint, focusing all her energy on targeting Harry Potter.
"Mr. Potter! Stand up and answer this question."
"Mr. Potter! What's your answer to this problem?"
"Mr. Potter! Recite last lesson's passage."
"Mr. Potter! If you keep behaving like this, you might be expelled!"
"Mr. Potter! Dress properly and maintain decorum."
"Mr. Potter! This isn't a candy shop—put away your snacks."
Dolores Umbridge had practically become a nagging mother, managing Harry Potter from head to toe, inside and out.
Naturally, the dashing Harry Potter didn't disappoint. He met all these demands and quickly became an outstanding student.
However, in private, Harry harbored a great deal of resentment toward the pink toad.
"Harry Potter this! Harry Potter that! Harry Potter, you should do this! Harry Potter, you shouldn't do that!"
In the Gryffindor common room, Harry loudly vented about the way he was being treated. It was obvious to everyone at Hogwarts that Dolores Umbridge had come specifically for him.
"Harry, I really feel for you, but maybe this is the consequence of that commotion we caused in the headmaster's office. She's made you her personal target," Ron Weasley said with some regret. After all, it had been him who organized the protest on behalf of Dumbledore's Army.
Harry had just been the figurehead—a mascot for the movement.
And now, he had become the target of Umbridge's concentrated fire.
"It's fine. If it's just academic pressure, I can still handle it," Harry said.
Complaints aside, reality had to be faced. Harry wasn't ready to drop out of school just yet, even though Dolores Umbridge often threatened expulsion. Who knew if she'd actually go through with it?
"Don't overthink it. Come play chess with me. I have a lot of tournaments every holiday now!" said Ron cheerfully.
Whenever Ron talked about his chess tournaments, he was brimming with pride. It was his path to wealth and success—his dream career, unless he turned out to have even more talent in Quidditch.
The difference between Western chess and Wizard's Chess was that in the former, pieces didn't come alive and smash each other. Compared to the violent nature of Wizard's Chess, Western chess was much more refined.
A girl from Gryffindor sat staring at Ron, utterly entranced. She loved the way he looked when he played chess—thoughtful, intelligent. It made him seem more mature. That was a far cry from the childish Ron who had led the protest in the headmaster's office.
Everyone in the common room had noticed it. Even Harry, during the chess match, had glanced up several times and caught the girl gazing dreamily at Ron—not at the chessboard.
As a good friend, Harry genuinely wished them happiness.
But dating at school? In Umbridge's eyes, that was completely unacceptable. The Ministry of Magic had once again issued new decrees.
With her mincing little steps, Dolores Umbridge patrolled the school. Whenever she saw students dating, she'd flick her wand and separate them. If she saw someone dressed sloppily, she'd wave her wand to tidy them up.
While most of her actions were minor, they were enough to quickly raise her unpopularity across the entire school. Yet Umbridge felt incredibly smug about it, as though she were some kind of angel.
"She's the only one who could rack up negative reputation points just by patrolling—this pink toad is one of a kind."
Regulus Black had lost count of how many times he'd seen her walking along, collecting negative reputation with every step.
If MMORPGs worked this way, she'd be the Dark Lord in no time.
"We can't keep focusing on theory without any practical ability. Are we supposed to cast spells with theory alone after graduation?"
"At this rate, we're worse off than those Ravenclaw nerds! I heard they get personal guidance from Professor Flitwick."
"And the girls around Regulus Black—they're also receiving real combat training directly from him."
"Professor McGonagall would never break the rules, so we'll have to rely on ourselves."
"Training and guidance aren't really the problem—the real issue is that we have nowhere to train."
The Gryffindor students were quite dissatisfied with the current curriculum, which only allowed for theoretical learning. Ironically, this dissatisfaction fueled their eagerness to study. Since that toad wasn't going to teach them any practical skills, they decided to take the initiative and practice on their own.
Everyone was now in agreement—what they needed was a place to train.
"Maybe I can figure something out. I only need to ask one person. Leave it to me!"
The ever-charming Harry Potter said something just as charming, much to the surprise of his classmates.
"And how do you know I'd be willing to help?"
Regulus Black stirred the coffee in his cup. Coffee, for wizards, was a powerful stimulant.
"Please, Regulus! We really need a place to train. Let us use your office. It won't interfere with your current life."
Charming as always, Harry Potter wasn't wrong. That assigned office had been left unused for years, collecting dust, while Regulus Black had claimed a room near the Headmaster's office. It would be better to put the unused one to good use.
Clink clink clink! Clink clink clink! Clink clink clink!
With a few stirs of a small spoon, black cocoa powder mixed with white milk, and a cup of coffee was born.
"Alright! But training in my office isn't exactly convenient. I'll arrange something better for you."
Regulus Black suddenly remembered that he still had the Vanishing Cabinets in his possession—it seemed like a waste not to use them this year.
Repairing a magical artifact was no trouble for Regulus Black; he was no half-baked wizard like Draco. Even Draco, with his limited skills, had managed to fix the Vanishing Cabinet after some time.
So Regulus placed one Vanishing Cabinet in his office and the other in the Shrieking Shack. This setup provided two escape routes—either travel via the Vanishing Cabinets or return through the Whomping Willow's passageway.
He also made sure to hide the Vanishing Cabinet well. The clutter of desks and furniture in the office created enough obstacles to obscure it. From the doorway, the cabinet was completely out of sight, meaning the students could come and go unnoticed.
Additionally, Regulus enchanted the cabinet with two spells: an Undetectable Extension Charm and a Trap Mechanism Charm.
The first allowed all students to enter at once. The second ensured that when one cabinet's door was open, the other remained inactive—unable to transport anyone or show any signs of the extension charm's effects.
Once everything was set up, Regulus Black took charming Harry Potter on a trial run.
"Remember! Everyone must be inside before you shut the door."
Regulus led Harry into the Vanishing Cabinet. Inside, it was as spacious and dark as an empty room.
"Close the door. Then count to three silently—one, two, three. Open it! Now we're in the Shrieking Shack. There's plenty of space here for your training."
The Shrieking Shack had two levels. The lower level connected to the passageway, and the upper level was a large room, filled with dusty furniture that hadn't been touched in years.
Though, not too long ago, Lupin had stayed here for a while. He'd since been called to the Black family home to look after Sirius Black.
"You've been here before. If the Vanishing Cabinet ever doesn't work, it means someone's tampered with it from the other side. In that case, you can still escape through the Whomping Willow—double insurance."
Regulus pointed at the cabinet again with a warning look.
"But when you come here on your own, you must make sure the cabinet door remains open. That way, if someone on the office side tries to use it, they won't be able to. As far as I'm concerned, I know nothing about this. You discovered this secret on your own. Understood?"
"Thank you, Regulus. This is more than enough."
Harry Potter, overjoyed, gave Regulus a big hug. At that moment, he truly felt like the Harry Potter of old, seemingly untouched by the influence of Voldemort's soul fragment.
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