𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟖𝟑 - 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙬𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Eight.

Signed, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic.

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Yet despite the announcement that the toad-woman was their headmaster, the word on everyone's lips was that Dumbledore had taken down four people in a duel on his own, it was admirable and everyone seemed to want to pester either himself or Ophelia for the juicy details of what had happened the previous evening.

The four of them shared a laugh at some of the absurd claims they had overheard at Dinner, one second-year reckoned that Fudge had a pumpkin for a head in St Mungos, while others reckon that he jinxed Umbridge so she could only use her left thumb. but with the rise of Umbridge came the rise of the overpowered Inquisitorial Squad, which consisted of Slytherins which all despised her, Malfoy in particular. They had been given the authority to dock points from houses which of course they abused.

They thought the day couldn't get any worse, but just at that moment a dark silhouette was cast over Ophelia and Harry, behind Hermione and Ron stood the almost infamous Professor Snape, and at the very sight of him she felt the urge to commit arson.

"I assume the two of you have not forgotten our meeting this evening?" said Snape, his beetle black eyes boring holes into the pair of them, Ophelia rolled her eyes, she had in fact neglected to remember the appointment but something about the way Snape was staring at her made her reluctant to admit that, not that she ever would anyway.

"Such a lack of faith Snape, it's like you don't trust us." said Ophelia hauntingly, "Now what have we ever done to deserve such a distasteful attitude?"

"I trust that you won't make the fateful mistake of being late, Le Fay... or there will be dire consequences."

"My timbers are shivered." replied Ophelia sarcastically, watching as the Professor stalked off to go haunt some first years nightmares, beside her Harry looked completely annoyed.

"Build up your sugar levels, I have a feeling Snape won't be holding back today." she said, grabbing an eclair for good measure.

Harry and Ophelia reluctantly made their way back to the Dungeons after Dinner, their brains aching as they had spent the rest of their afternoon in the Library revising potions with Ron and Hermione, where the girls had managed to get them to understand some of the possible questions that might be thrown their way. It involved a lot of going through each potion one by one, listing their uses, their ingredients and possible side-effects then asking the boys, "What would happen to the potion if *ingredient* was removed?" they would think so hard for a few painful silent seconds as both Ophelia and Hermione could hear the cogs turning in their heads, until they gave them the answer.

Nevermind, as long as they got it in the end. thought Ophelia.

I can't remember anything we revised. thought Harry, running a hand through his unruly hair.