Chapter 360 Umbridge's Partiality

"What's going on over there?"

Mike pointed at the large group of people heading there.

"Oh, it looks like that," Franklin stood on tiptoe and tried his best to look towards the center of the crowd, "It's Ron, he seems to be telling a story again!"

Mike's face suddenly showed understanding.

I don't know when it started, but whenever something interesting happened in Hogwarts, Ron would first find out the details of the matter, and then tell it to others with deep emotion.

Long-term performances and narrations have made Ron's storytelling ability stronger and stronger, and he has accumulated a large number of fans.

Nowadays, as long as Ron waves his arms in public places such as the auditorium or the lounge, a large number of passers-by will gather around him in an instant to watch the excitement.

"Let's go and take a look."

Looking at Ron standing on a long table in the middle of the crowd and telling excitedly, Mike said to Franklin.

"Okay, as long as the outline you give me later is a little more detailed."

Mike agreed happily, and when the two of them got closer, they heard Ron gesticulating and saying:

"...Umbridge has made Trelawney her first target of scrutiny, and her arrival obviously makes Trelawney very nervous!"

Ron twisted his body, imitating the usual behavior of Professor Trelawney in the Divination class, raising his hands strangely in the air, and his expression became drunken as he said:

"Classmates, today we will continue to study prophetic dreams. Please divide into groups of two and explain each other's recent dreams with the help of the Dream Interpretation Guide."

Ron's voice had a mysterious feeling, but it was slightly trembling.

This trembling seemed to come from the bones, and even his hands were shaking.

This subtle and playful performance immediately ushered in a burst of laughter from the onlookers, and Ron was even more excited when he saw it.

"Professor Trelawney, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you a few questions."

Ron's expression became extremely arrogant. He held one hand in the air and drew back and forth in the air with the other hand, holding a pen, as if he was writing something down.

"So, how long have you been in this position, exactly?"

Ron switched to Trelawney's state again, crossed his arms, stared at the front and said tremblingly:

"Almost sixteen years." "

Not a short time." Ron pretended to be Umbridge again, "So it was Professor Dumbledore who appointed you?" "That's right

!"

"Are you the great-great-granddaughter of the famous prophet Cassandra Trelawney?"

"Yes!"

Ron, who played Trelawney, raised his head higher and pointed his nose at the non-existent Umbridge in front of him.

"But I heard that since Cassandra's death, your family members no longer have this ability to predict." Ron, who played Umbridge, deftly made a confused and sarcastic expression. "In addition, I learned that you are a half-blood, which means that you mastered this ability when the blood of your ancestors was diluted, while your pure-blood ancestors did not master the ability. Is that right?"

"These things are often inherited from generation to generation - uh - three generations!"

Trelawney danced with anger, but her tone became a little panic.

"Of course," Ron pretended to write a few words in the non-existent notebook, and then said with a smile on his face, "Then I wonder if you can predict something for me, huh?"

"I don't understand what you mean!"

"I hope you can make a prediction for me. Is that clear enough?"

"The third eye will not be ordered to see!"

Trelawney's tone became extremely indignant.

Umbridge raised her eyebrows, and while writing something in her notebook, she said in an extremely frivolous tone:

"Oh! Got it!"

"I--but--but...wait a minute!" Ron, who played Trelawney, stretched his neck forward, as if he had secretly glanced at the contents of the "notebook", and then his whole body was shaking with anger, and he could no longer maintain that ethereal and mysterious tone.

In an urgent manner, he began to roll his eyes vigorously, and his hands danced irregularly and casually, "I...I think I saw something...about you...ah, I felt something black...something extremely dangerous..."

Suddenly, Ron's eyes, which had been rolled up to the point where only the whites of his eyes were left, suddenly returned to normal. He stretched out his hand and pointed to an empty corner, as if Umbridge was there now, and shouted:

"I'm afraid you will be in terrible danger!"

Ron hurried to the corner he had pointed to before, pretending to be Umbridge, raised his eyebrows mischievously, and then drew a big X in the air with his right hand.

"Well," Ron closed the book, "if this is the best you can do, then I'm sorry."

Ron bowed deeply to the crowd, and cheers immediately broke out in the crowd. But Mike found that in the corner of the hall, several Slytherin students were whispering and leaving the hall.

And the direction they left seemed to be leading to Umbridge's office.

Raising his eyebrows, Mike felt that Ron might be in trouble.

But at this moment, a familiar voice sounded beside Mike and Franklin.

"Mike, Franklin! Why are you here!" Ron asked excitedly, "How was it? How was my performance just now?"

Seeing Ron's happy look, Mike felt that it was not a good thing to tell Ron the news now, so he applauded decisively:

"Great, you are better than those professional drama actors in Diagon Alley! And your storytelling ability is also very good. Maybe you should do related work in the future, such as writing novels like Lockhart! I dare say that your achievements will be higher than his!"

"Really?!"

Ron said in surprise. To be honest, Ron actually envied Lockhart. Not only could he live a wealthy life, but he also had a large number of female fans.

But thinking of Lockhart's bad reputation, in order to avoid being associated with him, Ron quickly changed his expression and said with a smile:

"Forget it, I don't want to be a scum like Lockhart!"

"Okay," Mike shook his head, "Did you just perform Umbridge and Trelawney?"

"Oh! Yes. You must not have seen the beginning. Just now, in our Divination class, Umbridge examined Professor Trelawney, and the scene was so funny. Do you want to see it again? If you want to see it, I can perform it again!"

"Uh, no need, Ron, thank you."

Mike said helplessly, but he kept thinking about Trelawney's information in his heart.

This Divination professor is a descendant of the legendary prophet Cassandra, but the investigation shows that this professor did not completely inherit her ancestor's divination ability, so she lived a very miserable life in the first half of her life, always hovering on the poverty line, and could only make a living by fortune-telling for people on the street.

However, she was invited by Dumbledore to become a Divination professor at Hogwarts.

But her financial situation did not improve much because of this.

One reason is that the salary Hogwarts gave her was not high, which was the level of providing food and accommodation and some pocket money.

Another reason was that this person was an alcoholic. She basically drank every day except for classes, which made her look drunk all the time.

Of course, in her words, she didn't like drinking, but relied on alcohol to maintain her ability of the third eye. Overall,

this is an extremely weak professor. Compared with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, she has neither a deep background nor strong strength. She is a soft persimmon that is easy to pinch.

It must be said that Umbridge's choice to use her as a scapegoat is indeed a good choice.

Now it depends on how McGonagall and others will face Umbridge's offensive.

Will they fight to the death or turn a blind eye?

Mike is very curious about this.

...

After a brief conversation with Ron in the hall, the three of them went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom together. Next, they will take Umbridge's Defense Against the Dark Arts class together.

Since they had wasted some time in the hall, Mike and the other two arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on time.

After arriving at the classroom, Ron and Harry and Hermione, who had already arrived, breathed a sigh of relief, because given Umbridge's attitude towards Gryffindor, if Ron was really late, he would probably have to accompany George and Fred.

However, they obviously underestimated Umbridge's integrity.

Just as Mike and the other two were walking quickly towards their place, Umbridge suddenly flashed a cunning smile on her face and said,

"Stop!"

Upon hearing this, Mike and the other two stopped.

Mike and Franklin's expressions were still normal, but Ron, who had just said something bad about Umbridge, was not like that. He lowered his head and was obviously very flustered.

"Ron, you're late!" Umbridge said, "Gryffindor will lose 20 points! Then, hand me a 4,000-word self-review before class tomorrow!"

Ron's eyes turned red all of a sudden, and he instinctively argued:

"But I'm not late," he pointed to the magic clock in the classroom, "Look! It's only 9 o'clock now!"

"No, it's 9:30, which means you're 30 seconds late." Umbridge frowned, "In addition, you need to raise your hand to speak in my class, and you didn't do that just now. So Gryffindor will lose another 5 points!"

Hearing this, Ron quickly covered his mouth, fearing that he would make a sound to give Umbridge a handle.

The Ravenclaw students in the classroom also shook their heads in distress.

In their opinion, Mike and Franklin, who arrived at the same time as Ron, would definitely receive the same punishment.

But to everyone's surprise, after announcing Ron's punishment, Umbridge actually ignored Mike and Franklin and chose to let everyone return to their seats.

The little lion of Gryffindor immediately exploded.

They could understand that Umbridge was targeting Gryffindor. After all, they had already become enemies due to what George and Fred had done.

But now Umbridge was so partial to Ravenclaw?

What was the reason?

"Be quiet!" Umbridge said, looking at the people whispering in the classroom, "Do you want to write a self-criticism too?"

The noisy classroom suddenly became quiet after hearing this. Umbridge smiled and said,

"Next, we will start the class. Of course, please put away your wands first."

The students did it reluctantly, and Umbridge continued triumphantly,

"We finished the first chapter in the last class. Today, I hope you will all turn to page 19 and start reading 'Chapter 2, General Defense Theory and Its Origin'. Don't talk while reading."

A slight sigh sounded in the classroom.

Obviously, everyone didn't like this boring reading class, but under the coercion of Umbridge, everyone could only turn the books as instructed.

It was just studying, but most of the students were not paying attention to the books, just staring blankly.

Umbridge didn't seem to notice this, and was still sitting on the podium with a smug look on her face.

But as time went on, the bored students couldn't stand it anymore.

Some of them started to fiddle with the stationery on the table, and some started to pass notes.

These little actions should be invisible to the students, but in fact, Umbridge on the podium saw everything clearly.

"You! Don't act innocent, I'm talking about you, the black-haired Gryffindor!" Umbridge stood up and roared, "What are you holding in your hand? Take it out!"

The Gryffindor girl who was called opened her hand with a look of despair, and a white note was quietly lying in her palm.

A Ravenclaw boy not far away had the same expression as him, and the note in the girl's palm was exactly what he threw to her - he was pursuing that Gryffindor girl.

"How dare you do something in my class!" Umbridge said, "Gryffindor will deduct 20 points, and you will have to write a 5,000-word self-review for me tomorrow!"

The Gryffindor girl's eyes suddenly turned red, and she lowered her head, trying hard not to let her tears flow down.

The Ravenclaw boy also looked guilty and stood up to accept Umbridge's punishment.

However, surprisingly, Umbridge did not have any intention of punishing him. On the contrary, Umbridge changed her face and put on a warm expression and asked him:

"Student, do you have any questions?"

"I...I..."

"If you don't have any questions, sit down," Umbridge said, "We still have to continue the class."

Now anyone can see that Umbridge is deliberately favoring Ravenclaw.

Many Ravenclaws were laughing secretly, and they enjoyed this preferential treatment.

Hermione couldn't bear it anymore, and stood up and shouted at Umbridge angrily:

"This is not fair! The note was clearly passed to her by that boy!"