Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 36: Tyranny

She eyed him suspiciously. But internally, her heart started fluttering and she bit down a smile.

"I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices," said McGonagall.

"So silly of me, but it sounds as if you're questioning my authority in my own classroom," said Umbridge, taking a step upwards, "Minerva."

"Not at all, Dolores," said McGonagall, joining her in her climb, "Merely your medieval methods."

Umbridge took a deep breath and held her superior and masked evil attitude, "I am sorry, dear, but to question my practices is to question the Ministry, and by extension the minister himself. I am a tolerant woman but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty."

McGonagall took a step down, staring at her in disbelief, "Disloyalty."

Umbridge took a step up again and stood before the crowd of students that had gathered in the hall, "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."

"Well, shit," mumbled George.

"That indeed, Georgie," Fred nodded, exchanging an uneasy look with Sarah and watched Umbridge walk up the stairs.

_

Shortly after, Filch was hanging what seemed to be some decree from the Ministry:

Dolores Umbridge has been appointed to the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor

"This is just brilliant," said Ron behind her and they all stared at it in disbelief.

"She's drunk on power, and honestly, as much as I liked pink before, I want to throw up at the sight of it," winced Selena, reading the decree hung on the wall. Sarah knew Hogwarts as they know it was about to change.

_

And she hadn't been wrong. It was on its way to crumble down because Umbridge was slowly picking apart everything Dumbledore had built around the school and getting praised for it in the papers by the Ministry itself.

The new educational reform was painted out as a rebrand and a way of perfecting the level of the school, playing on Dumbledore's age and the long time he'd spent as headmaster.

"This is ridiculous," said Sarah, reading the Daily Prophet's headlines, "Parents endorse Ministry move," she flipped the pages, "The hell they are. This is coming from the people reading this sole information. They can't be calling this press news, it's flirting with propaganda."

"It's outrageous," said Hermione, reading another one from last week.

"It's actively hurting my brain," said Selena, "'Minister Fudge puts education in the front line'," she read aloud.

Sarah scoffed, "On the front lines to get shot down, yes. 'Seriously falling standards', I can't believe this."

"This bloke's got a grudge," commented Ron.

Hermione nodded, "It seems he's finally found the opportunity to unleash all his venom."

The classes were becoming more and more tense as Umbridge kept attending and questioning the teachers, completing evaluations for the Ministry, as she'd announced, although it seemed like an excuse to make up reasons to actually let them go and recruit others, them, too, controlled by the ministry.

_

Sarah was sitting in the Great Hall, reading one of her N.E.W.T Potions books, getting some work done, because with all her seven other NEWT classes, Umbridge's meddling around the school and her fight with Harry, she hardly found time to study her Potions class, and she knew it was stupid, because it was one of the hardest.