janus ~ hermione granger

xli

"well, good afternoon!" professor umbridge exclaimed as the whole class got seated.

"hi," maddy mumbled to hermione, who smiled in return as she replied to their professor, along with a couple others.

"tut, tut, 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 to her.

"there, now, that wasn't too difficult, was it? wands away and quills out, please."

everybody shared gloomy looks, knowing that no class was fun whenever those words came out of the professors mouth.

the lady in all pink took out her own quill, which was quite shorter than everyone else's.

she tapped the board and the words 'defense against the dark arts-a return to basic principles.'

"well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it? 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," she slightly paused to glance at each of the taylor twins. "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."

"oh goody," maddy groaned, sarcastically clapping her hands.

"what was that, miss taylor?" professor umbridge raised an eyebrow. before the young witch could answer, the older lady opened her mouth again. "seems like you'll be joining me in detention longer than i inferred."

whack.

"copy down the following, please," she tapped the board once more, causing new words to appear.

for a couple minutes, all you could hear in the room was the sound of scratching quills on parchment.

"has everybody got a copy of 'defensive magical theory' by wilbert slinkhard?"

"yes, professor umbridge," rang through the room.

"good. i should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'basics for beginners.' there will be no need to talk."

as more minutes passed, maddy chose to find something else to do rather than read, just like everyone else.

she looked forward and caught harry staring at hermione's hand, which was up in the air. she raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend, who just shook her head and nodded to her copy of the book that had yet to be touched.

after several more minutes, harry and maddy noticed more and more students look at hermione's hand, finding it more entertaining.

"did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" professor umbridge finally addressed the granger girl, seeing that she couldn't ignore the young witch anymore when half of the class was staring.

"not about the chapter, no," she spoke, putting her arm down and slipping her hand into maddy's.

"well, we're reading just now. if you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"i've got a query about your course aims."

"and your name is-"

"hermione granger."

"my wife," maddy lowly chuckled, causing those around her to softly smile for a moment.

"well, miss granger, i think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully."