Chapter 33 – First Class With Umbridge
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Harry looked at their schedule for the day and noticed it the double Potions and double Defence Against the Dark Arts, along with Divination.

‘Urgh, I forgot I’ll have to sit through double Snape today’ thought Harry with a grimace. ‘I’m not sure what to do with that guy yet, he’s much more dangerous than Umbridge and he has Dumbledore’s support. Though everything he has done till now isn’t something I can even begin to forgive’

Hermione called out to him as they were walking towards the dungeons, “What’s up Harry? You’ve become awfully quiet”

Harry snapped out of his reverie at her question and turned towards her, “Just thinking about how annoying it will be seeing Snape again”

“Don’t say that, he’s part of the Order now” said Hermione, a concerned look on her face, “No matter how much we hate him” she added in an low but perfectly audible voice.

“Well, his being part of the order doesn’t excuse everything he has done till now” said Harry with a frown.

“What has he done?” asked a curious Hermione.

“I’ll tell you about all of that later I suppose, it’s much too much to digest” replied Harry.

Hermione immediately frowned, “What did we just talk about Harry? No. More. Secrets”

“I’ll tell you, I promise” replied Harry a small smile playing on his lips, “Just let me get my thoughts straight on the matter, you’re one of the few people I can rely on after all”

“Fine, I’ll wait then” pouted Hermione.

As they chatted, they eventually reached the Potions class. The main difference this time around was that Ron no longer sat with them. Instead, he sat with Dean and Seamus. Hermione looked at him sadly for a minute before turning her attention back to Harry.

“You know, there’s no reason for you to not be friends with him anymore” said Harry, a note of concern in his voice.

Hermione looked surprised for a moment before turning to Harry, a fierce glint in her eyes, “He’s the one who decided to abandon us after one spat” she said, anger dripping from her words. “Though it is sad to lose a friend but I don’t think he deserves to be forgiven anymore”

Harry shook his head and turned his attention to Snape, who had just walked in.

The class then proceeded much like how Harry remembered it. Snape tried to pick on Harry a little but ended up unsuccessful and Harry found it incredibly easy to brew the Draught of Peace.

‘Was it this easy for me to do potions last time?’ thought Harry with a frown. ‘It feels like I was struggling for no reason until a little while ago’

“Wow Harry, no offence but I thought you would definitely fail brewing it” said Hermione from the side, with a cheeky grin.

“You know what?” said Harry, returning her smile, “I thought I’d fail too”

The two quietly laughed and double Potions flew by with an unexpectedly light atmosphere around them. Snape, try as he might, could not find fault with Harry or Hermione so he chose to ignore them instead.

Finishing up with Potions, the two quickly stuffed their things into their bags.

“I’ll have to go to Divination alone then” said Harry with a grimace.

“Oh you’ll be fine. Though I did tell you to drop that class as well, you could have taken Arithmancy with me” said Hermione.

“Oh please, that sounds even more dull” replied Harry. “So I’ll see you during Defence Against the Dark Arts then?”

“Yeah, see you Harry” she called as she rushed off to her next class.

Harry made his way to the tower where Trelawney taught her class and sat through the usual, boring, grueling class. Though the class seemed all the more boring now that he was sitting alone.

Finally having had enough of Trelawney’s predictions of misfortune, Harry drifted off to sleep.

Eventually, he woke up to a tap to his shoulder. Harry woke with a start and looked around, noticing a girl standing next to him, trying to wake him up.

“Wake up or you’ll be late for Defence Against the Dark Arts” she said, her voice sounding urgent.

Harry stood up and stretched, looking around he noticed the class was empty and Trelawney seemed to have left as well.

“Urgh, that woman is way too good at putting me to sleep” said Harry with a grimace.

The girl next to him giggled. Harry had seen her around the class several times over the years but never really talked to her. For that matter, he didn’t even know her name.

“I’m Harry by the way” he said with a smile.

“Who doesn’t know the famous Harry Potter” she replied with another giggle causing Harry to grimace.

“I’d rather not be famous you know?” he replied testily.

“I was just kidding” she smiled, “I’m Lily Moon, it’s nice to finally talk to you”

Harry paused for a moment at the name, ‘Just like my mom’s’ he thought but quickly shook the thought out of his head.

“Likewise” replied Harry, his expression finally softening. “Come on, we’ll be late for Defence if we stay here any longer, I’d rather not have to be berated by that annoying voice”

Harry started walking towards the trapdoor with Lily in tow.

“Oh good” she said, “I’m not the only one who hated her”

“I’ve met her before” said Harry, “Try not to offend her, she’s a nasty piece of work”

“I’ll keep that in mind” replied Lily as they quickly made their way to the Defence classroom.

“It’s odd that we never really talked in so many years” said Harry.

“Well you had your own group, where would the famous Harry Potter have time for this lowly peasant” replied Lily with a dramatic flair, wiping a fake tear away.

“Quit it” said Harry knocking her on the head, though a small smile crept onto his face.

“Hehe” she giggled just as they made it to the Defence classroom. Luckily the class had yet to begin.

Harry walked in and found Hermione sitting at a table towards the back. When he reached the table, he noticed Lily walking away so Harry called out to her, “Want to sit with us?”

“Is that fine?” she asked, glancing between Harry and Hermione.

“I don’t have a problem with it” replied Hermione with a smile.

Lily took a seat next to Hermione while Harry sat on her other side.

“Hi, I’m Hermione. It’s nice to meet you” said Hermione with a smile.

“I’m Lily, it really is nice to meet you” Lily smiled back.

The two fell into a conversation that Harry found hard to butt into so he quietly sat to the side, thinking about how to deal with Umbridge.

‘Now that Fudge is no longer Minister, Umbridge would never amount to anything more than a teacher. Unlike my last life, she would never be able to become the High-Inquisitor since Amelia Bones doesn’t seem stupid enough to do that’

Harry nodded at his own conclusion, ‘Even if she is only a teacher, she’d still be quite annoying to deal with. A teacher does have some authority’ thought Harry but soon an evil grin almost surfaced on his face, ‘There are plenty of ways to handle her even with that authority’

As Harry was thinking about all the ways he could mess with Umbridge, she walked into the class. She was much lower key than Harry’s past life, in fact, unlike last time, she hadn’t even given a speech during the start-of-year feast.

“Put away your wands, you will not be needing them in my class” said Umbridge in her usual shrill, annoying voice.

Umbridge surveyed the classroom, her eyes lingering on Harry for a moment before she quickly averted her eyes, a look of fear crossing her eyes.

“The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited” she said, her speech near identical to what Harry remembered.

‘Did she stay up late practicing this speech?’ thought Harry, trying to stifle a snicker.

“Take out your books, you shall be reading from chapter one” said Umbridge, “There will be regular tests on the theory of Defence but there will be no useless wand waving in this class. There is no need for children to learn such matters”

“How are we supposed to give our practical O.W.Ls if we don’t learn? How are we supposed to protect ourselves if we don’t even know the basics of protection?” asked Hermione eliciting nods from many other students.

“The theory of Defence is more than sufficient for your age and as far as protection goes, leave that to adults. There are no threats that warrant children to have to protect themselves” she said, then her eyes drifted over to Harry, “Despite what some of us might have us believe”

Harry was quiet for a moment before he spoke, “So who decided that theory alone is enough?”

“Of course, it was Minister Cornelius Fudge” she replied a little proudly.

“You mean the crackpot lunatic who got arrested not too long ago for viciously attacking reporters? That Cornelius Fudge?” asked Harry with a smirk.

“He was clearly framed!” shrieked Umbridge, “You are most likely to blame for that aren’t you Mr Potter?”

“Yes, I snuck into the Ministry of Magic and used all the extremely high level magic that a fourth year student of Hogwarts knows to somehow get the Minister for Magic to attack reporters for my own nefarious plans” said Harry with a mocking tone. ‘Though that is exactly what happened’ thought Harry, smirking internally.

His reply caused the class to burst out laughing, Hermione grinned and Lily clutched her stomach laughing harder than most.

“You dare mock your teacher?” shrieked Umbridge, her face turning red from rage and embarrassment. “10 points from Gryffindor”

“Don’t get so touchy just because you no longer have any authority with Fudge gone” mocked Harry.

Just as she was about to reply, Harry’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he continued.

“Though if you do want to cause trouble for everyone, then the - situation - from the courtroom might just happen at any time” he warned.

Umbridge immediately shut up. Remembering the pain she had experienced in the courtroom, she paled noticeably and after several moments, she finally staggered back to her desk and sat down with her head bowed down, not daring to look at Harry.

“Read from chapter one and continue reading till class is finished” she mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear her.

‘She shouldn’t cross the line for the time being, I’ll take care of her later’ thought Harry.


AN

Before someone asks, no Lily is not the FL.
Though the FL will be introduced in the next 2-3 chapters, I promise!

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