BREAK FROM TORONTO, HARRY POTTER.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "FUCK YOU AND YOUR DETENTION!"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

     As everyone entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head.

     Aveline was still seething from her rumble with Ron, who kept shooting her dirty looks at any given moment. Hermione was very confused as to why Harry and Mariah were walking between Ron and Aveline as though they would cause a chemical reaction if they came too close to one another.

     The class was quiet as it entered the room; Professor Umbridge was, as yet, an unknown quantity and nobody knew yet how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be.

     "Well, good afternoon!" she said when the whole class had sat down.

     A few people mumbled "Good afternoon," in reply.

     "Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

     "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted back at her.

     Aveline didn't speak. She was seated at the desk beside Harry, Mariah and Hermione were behind them and Ron was with Parvati behind Mariah and Hermione.

     "There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

     Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks; the order "wands away" had never yet been followed by a lesson they had found interesting. Aveline shoved her wand back inside her bag and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

    Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board at once:

Defense Against the Dark Arts
A Return to Basic Principles

     Aveline sighed as she began to remember how this played out. She was already irritated and she knew that Umbridge was going to make her snap.

     "Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year."

     "You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please."

     She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by:

     Course aims:
Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.

Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

      For a few minutes, all Aveline heard were quills scratching on parchments and then, of course, her pen gliding smoothly across the paper in her peculiar handwriting.