The Chronicles of the Forgotten Potter

With the exception of Harry and Katherine seeing thestrals for the first time and of Harry nearly drooling over Cho Chang, the carriage ride to the castle was rather uneventful. Kat had to suppress the urge to laugh with some difficulty as she observed her brother’s awkward behaviour towards the pretty Ravenclaw.



The sorting went on as it always did, slow and relatively boring as McGonagall made her way down the list of first years and the sorting hat placed each of the small, nervous children. Finally, Dumbledore rose to make his annual opening speech. The Great Hall went silent as all eyes were on the headmaster. After clearing his throat, he began to give the usual welcome speech and talk on school rules, warning everyone to be careful and whatnot. There was, however, a new addition to the speech involving the fact that Hagrid would be out for a while and introducing Professor Grubblyplank as his temporary replacement.



They all noticed Hagrid’s absence; all Kat knew was that he was on some sort of Order business. They never filled her in on anything really. To be perfectly honest, she might as well have not been inducted in the first place. Dumbledore’s speech went on as it usually did with the rules and such, but this time there were two new announcements, one being about Hagrid’s absence. “We would also like to welcome Delores Umbridge, who will be filling the Defense Against the Dark Arts post.” Kat’s eyes widened as she scanned the table, almost immediately spotting and recognising the toad-like face.

“No,” she said softly, only loud enough for those around her to hear. Hermione threw her friend a questioning look before turning her attention back to Dumbledore. Kat followed suit until, “Hem hem!” an obnoxious, high-pitched female voice cleared its throat. It was quite possibly one of the most annoying sounds that she had ever heard. Dumbledore paused for a moment before he resumed talking. Then, like nails on a chalkboard, the voice came again only this time its owner, oh-so shockingly being the voice of Umbridge, who rose from her seat and boldly proceeded to make her way to the front of the teachers’ table platform where Dumbledore stood, staring at her.

The Great Hall was completely silent, all of us in complete shock, including the Slytherins, that the headmaster was interrupted. The teachers looked just as astounded as the students were, Snape included. McGonagall’s mouth formed a thin line (her trademark expression of irritation and in this case, anger) clearly looking as if she wanted to murder Umbridge. Dumbledore himself looked only slightly taken aback as the toad-of-a-woman finally reached where he stood, hiding his surprise with a half-hearted smile that did not reach his usually twinkling blue eye. Nobody ever interrupted Dumbledore.

All eyes were now on Umbridge who gazed at the students with her buggy eyes, clasping her fat hands together, beginning her ridiculous speech saying things like “We’ll all be good friends” and other rubbish like that in her sickly sweet voice. “She was at my hearing,“ Harry said to Hermione and Ron, “She works for Fudge.” Hermione narrowed her eyes, shooting the twins, namely Kat, an inquisitive glance the continued to pay attention to Umbridge’s speech while Kat, who remained silent and had been completely oblivious to Harry’s statement, had a look of utter disgust and perhaps traces of anger and potential loathing towards the woman.

After she finished her speech the hall remained quiet, unsure of what to do or how to react. Most shared a blank, weirded out expression on their faces. An awkward round of applause followed. Dumbledore then took the floor again, much to everyone’s relief. He thanked her for her speech before continuing his own. To the approval of the students he kept it short, quickly summoning dinner. “What a load of rubbish,” said Ron, his voice low so as not to draw attention to their conversation. “What do you think it means?” Harry asked, looking from Hermione to his sister, whom he realised had gone extremely quiet and appeared to have lost her appetite. “It means the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts,” the girls replied together.

Although it had taken Hermione a good portion of the speech to figure this information out, Kat had worked it out the moment Dumbledore had announced Umbridge as the new DADA teacher. One of her worst fears had revealed itself and come to pass, the Ministry had come to Hogwarts. Why, she had yet to figure out.