Just as the students who had escaped from the Room of Requirement were returning safely to the common rooms of their respective houses one after another, Umbridge was in a frantic state in the principal's office.
"They are all asleep? Is it because of potions or magic?" Umbridge asked anxiously. It looked like she might have grabbed Malfoy's collar and shook her if she hadn't taken care of the Malfoy family.
"No, it's really not." Malfoy looked a little scared. He had never seen Umbridge treat him like this. "Professor Snape has confirmed that they were not poisoned or cursed.
Very healthy, just asleep."
"So you are just going to rely on the perjury of a young girl who was coerced by you to accuse me? I think it is inappropriate to rely on this only witness to insist that I tried to overthrow the Ministry of Magic. Not to mention that the parents of this witness are completely incompetent.
She is under your control, so the authenticity of her testimony is worth doubting." At this time, Dumbledore sat behind his desk and said in a very calm tone, just like he was recommending a pile of cockroaches to others.
.However, Harry heard some relief and confusion in Dumbledore's tone.
"Ours" Umbridge began to speak incoherently, her chest rising and falling violently like a toad lying in a puddle.
"But Harry still organized an illegal extracurricular group." After stopping Umbridge who was furious, Fudge said: "As far as I know, in October, Potter was in the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade and many other places.
Classmates meeting”
"Potter is gathering with these students," Umbridge said, perking up. "The purpose is to persuade them to join an illegal group. The goal of this group is to learn some spells and curses. The Ministry of Magic has ruled that those spells and curses are
Not suitable for students”
"I think you will find that you are mistaken about this, Dolores," said Dumbledore softly, his half-moon glasses drooping on his crooked nose, over which he was staring at Umri.
Odd. "Keep in mind that the Ministry of Magic's decree outlawing all student societies didn't come into effect until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade party, so he didn't break any rules when he was at the Hog's Head."
Everyone who came from the Ministry of Magic was stunned. They found that they seemed to have overlooked an important thing. But Umbridge quickly responded and said: "These are all good, Headmaster, but now we implement "Education No. 24"
It has been nearly six months since the order was issued. Although the first gathering was not illegal, all gatherings since then are certainly illegal."
"Where's the evidence? We can't convict a person based on mere guesswork." Dumbledore said as he looked at her with both politeness and interest from above his intertwined fingers, but in Umbridge's eyes this was just too much concentration.
Intensely mocking.
At this time, Harry heard rustling behind him, and even felt that Kingsley was muttering something under his breath. However, these movements soon disappeared, as if what he had just discovered was an illusion.
"Didn't Miss Acmore tell us?" At this point, Umbridge turned to Marietta, who was cowering next to her, and said, "Good girl, you did exactly the right thing, so there is no need to feel ashamed. Now you tell
Have we held gatherings like this regularly over the past six months?”
Under Harry's nervous gaze, Marietta actually shook her head. At this time, Harry keenly noticed that Marietta's eyes were strange, as if she had not woken up and looked very confused.
Umbridge asked repeatedly, but Marietta just shook her head. Finally, when Umbridge became angry, Professor McGonagall couldn't stand it anymore. She interrupted Umbridge angrily: "Please don't scare the students.
, I think she means very clearly, that there have been no secret gatherings in the past six months. Is that so, Miss Acmore?"
Marietta nodded under Umbridge's cannibalistic gaze. Umbridge said angrily, "There was a party, Miss Acmore, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement!"
Especially the boss, it's him, Potter organized the party, Potter, why do you keep shaking your head, girl?" She even grabbed Marietta and turned her around to face her, and began to shake her violently.
"That's enough." Fudge saw the anger on the faces of Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, and quickly stepped forward to pull Umbridge. "Calm down, you shouldn't be like this to students."
Umbridge reluctantly backed away, but after retreating to Fudge's side, her eyes flashed with a trace of resentment when she looked at Fudge's back.
"But one thing is undeniable. Harry did organize an illegal assembly tonight." Fudge was indeed a seasoned politician. Seeing that there was no way to get Dumbledore to step down on charges of conspiring against the Ministry of Magic, Fudge simply decided to
Turning the firepower on Harry, trying to open a breakthrough in the savior introduced by Dumbledore.
"You must know that the "Education Order No. 24" clearly stipulates that if a student is found to form or join any organization, association, team or club without the approval of the senior investigator, he will be immediately expelled." Fudge looked proud. "So we
Harry should be fired and warned others not to disobey orders."
Harry felt relieved at this time. Now all these troubles were caused by himself. It would be great if he could only be expelled without involving others. I thought that even if he was expelled, Sirius would take him in.
Yes, you can even try to study middle school courses on your own and then try to get into college.
"No, I don't think so," Dumbledore said. "The education order says that forming or participating in any organization, association, team or club will result in immediate expulsion. But now the evidence only proves that Harry gathered a group of people tonight.
So this is probably just a gathering for Harry. I don’t think it’s appropriate to expel him because of this. Otherwise, if a few people get together to chat after dinner, they can be expelled.”
Fudge's face turned the color of pig's liver. Now everyone knew what happened tonight. But because Umbridge slipped up at the critical moment, his plan did not have enough evidence to support it, so he could only look at Deng.
Bullido pressed on him step by step.
"Okay, I think everyone was too nervous tonight and caused too many misunderstandings. Now that everything has been explained clearly, you can go do your own thing. There is no need to waste time here." Dumbledore stood up.
She stood up as if to see off a guest.
"You" Fudge was furious and pointed a trembling finger at Dumbledore, but at this moment he remembered that Dumbledore in front of him was one of the most powerful wizards in the world. So he froze.
Nothing can be done there.
Just when Harry thought everything was fine, suddenly there was a knocking sound outside the window. This knocking sound was so obvious in the silent office that everyone turned their heads to the window.
Outside the window was an owl with a letter. Umbridge suddenly became energetic after seeing the owl, with a sick smile on her face. "They replied, Dumbledore, open the window and let the owl in."
.”
McGonagall, who was standing by the window, frowned, but at Dumbledore's signal, she opened the window and took the letter off the owl's leg.
This letter is no different from an ordinary letter. It is a parchment envelope. But the strange thing is that the seal of the envelope is printed with the Hogwarts school emblem, but the owl has obviously flown a long way to come here.
"What is this?" Professor McGonagall looked at Professor Dumbledore with some confusion, but Dumbledore ignored her and opened the envelope. After reading the contents of the letter, Dumbledore stared at his desk.
Fudge in front of him, his blue eyes seemed to be burning with fire.
"Connelly, I always thought we were in the same camp. But I didn't expect you to be so obsessed with your official position, which made you easily lose your due judgment under the instigation of some careerists."
Seeing Dumbledore suddenly become angry, Harry felt confused. He didn't know why a letter made Principal Dumbledore so angry. Now he was curious about what was written in that letter.