Chapter 592: Review (Edited)

"I've never gotten an A (Outstanding would mean 'O') in Potions!"

Hermione said again, indignantly, during lunch.

Miss Know-it-all was especially concerned because Snape had said that the grade was based on an 'A' (Acceptable).

Harry, who had gotten a 'D' (Dreadful), didn't want to talk, he hadn't gotten an A ('A') in Potions except on his final exam.

Ron, on the other side of the room, was not happy with Hermione's complaint and said, "Come on, I only got a 'P' (Possibly repeatable) You've had enough with an 'A' (Acceptable)."

"Speaking of which..." asked Fish curiously as he ate lunch, "What do all these letters mean? Fish only hears 'O' and 'E', I've never seen any others."

Ψ(?Φ~Φ?)

There was a moment of silence, and a unanimous decision not to disturb this sullen Versailles cat.

"Nya?"

"Ahem..." Hermione, though unhappy with Snape's bias, said to Fish, "The 'o' is for 'Outstanding', 'E' is..."

She hesitated for a moment, as Hermione had basically gotten an 'O' in everything except Potions and a brief Divination class, so she wasn't quite sure what the 'E' stood for.

"It's 'Exceeds Expectations'" George added, "I always thought Fred and I deserved an 'E' in every subject, because we came to exams just above expectations."

The others burst out laughing, and Fish noticed the pattern of the letters.

"So those are the initials, are they?" Fish cocked his head, losing interest in the matter for a moment.

But Hermione continued to whisper in his ear, "And then there's 'A', which stands for 'Acceptable', which is the lowest passing grade..."

"So, 'P' is 'Poor'," Ron raised his arms, pretending to celebrate, "And then 'D', for 'dreadful'."

"It's followed by 'T'." reminded George.

"'T'?" asked Hermione, clearly puzzled. "Is it more serious than 'D'? And what does 'T' stand for?"

"'Troll'." said George without thinking, eliciting another laugh.

Then they talked about the new senior researcher, Umbridge, whom George and Fred had met in Charms class.

"What about her?" asked Harry and Hermione at the same time, and even Fish looked up curiously.

"It's not that bad." Fred shrugged and said, "Umbridge just huddled in a corner, taking notes on the clipboard. She didn't say much, just asked a few questions about what classes were normally like."

"How weird nya..."

(??w??)?

Fish scratched his head in confusion, sensing that things weren't going the way he thought they would...

If the Ministry of Magic didn't want them to learn how to fight, shouldn't they be messing with those teachers? Especially in the more practical classes, like Transfiguration and Charms.

"What's so strange about that?" George looked at Fish suspiciously. "Flitwick teaches very well, he always gets everyone to pass their exams."

Fish felt there was nothing to hide, so he told them what Fudge had in mind and his suspicions.

Hermione didn't stop him, she was going to contact the other students and get the dueling club going again in private, it would be good to prepare everyone.

After hearing Fish's story, there was a momentary silence, an expression of absurdity on everyone's face except Harry and the others who already knew what was going on.

"That's probably the most ridiculous joke I've heard all year..." Fred shook his head and said sarcastically, "How did Fudge graduate from school in the first place? He should have only gotten 'T's in all his subjects, shouldn't he?"

And Harry followed Fish's example, "Yes, if Fudge wanted to stop us from 'forming an army', he would have targeted Professor Flitwick on purpose."

"Maybe he needs a good reason, too?" Fred guessed, "Not everyone at the Ministry of Magic is on Fudge's side."

"Yes," echoed Hermione, remembering what she had read in the morning papers. "Like Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden, didn't they resign in protest at the appointment of a researcher at Hogwarts? Although I think it was more likely Fudge who forced them."

Soon, the real reason why the Ministry was sending a senior investigator to Hogwarts spread from Gryffindor to the other houses, and even the Slytherins jeered and complained after hearing such a ridiculous reason.

Lunch ended in a raucous atmosphere, with Harry and the others picking up and flanking Fish to the north tower for Divination classes, while Hermione separated from them for her Arithmancy classes.

Shortly after Fish and the others had found their seats in the dimly lit Divination classroom, the trap doors in the floor opened again and a short, fat Umbridge pushed her way out from below.

The students, who were laughing and joking, fell silent, and Professor Trelawney, who was pacing back and forth handing out copies of 'The Oracle of Dreams', heard the voices in the classroom suddenly lower and turned around.

"Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," Umbridge said with that smile on her face again, "Are you sure you got my notice? It says to check the time and date of your class."

Professor Trelawney nodded sternly, looking very unhappy, turned her back on Umbridge and continued handing out textbooks.

Umbridge thought nothing of it and moved a chair to the edge of the dais, then pulled her notepad out of her fancy bag and waited with a fake smile on her face for Professor Trelawney to begin class.

Professor Trelawney finished handing out the books and then asked everyone to continue working in pairs, interpreting each other's dreams, while she took her usual seat next to Fish with a teapot.

"So, have you had that dream lately, Fish?".

"Yes, I have!" Fish replied, "I had a dream about her last night!"

?(??w??)?

Speaking of the tree in his dream, Fish seemed excited, and planned to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight to test his Patronus again and see if it had changed.

"Ahem, ahem." As Fish chatted, Umbridge, who had been pacing the classroom, approached, "Excuse me, excuse me." She whispered, "May I ask you a few questions, Mr. McGonagall?"

"What do you want to ask?"

(?w?)

Fish looked down at her toad-like face in distaste at the interruption, and Professor Trelawney, who had been smiling as she listened to Fish's dream, frowned again.

"Just a few simple questions," Umbridge said with a fake smile, as if she didn't notice, "How did you like Divination class? Did you like Professor Trelawney's class?"

"It was good, Fish liked it." Fish wiggled his ears and said sincerely, "Sybil's dream interpretation is very good! She just likes to scare Harry."

Umbridge looked at Professor Trelawney with a bit of surprise, then made a few notes on her notepad.

She then asked Trelawney, "So, exactly how long have you been in this position?"

"Almost sixteen years." Professor Trelawney didn't seem to like the tone of his questioning, so her manner was rather harsh.

Umbridge naturally ignored her as usual, and asked some more general questions, which Professor Trelawney answered with a stern face.

"Well, I wonder if you could prophesy something to me, could you?" said Umbridge suddenly.

"I don't understand what you mean." Professor Trelawney frowned deeply, as if she thought the request was impolite.

"I want you to make a prophecy for me." Professor Umbridge said plainly.

Anger flashed across Professor Trelawney's face, and she was about to refuse when she felt a tug on her robes.

"Sybil, are you going to interpret Umbridge's dream, or are you going to do a tea-leaf reading?"

(??w??)?

When Professor Trelawney looked down, Fish winked at her softly.

Knowing that Umbridge was here to mess with the professors, Fish wouldn't let the two come to blows.

Though she wasn't sure why Fish was doing it, Professor Trelawney opted to trust Fish without any surprise, and suppressed her anger to look at Umbridge and ask dryly, "What do you think? Or do you want to guess some other way?"

"Can't you just prophesy?". Umbridge smiled kindly, raised her eyebrows and asked, "Didn't you inherit Cassandra Trelawney's second sight?"

"Divination is not such a casual thing, and the Celestial Eye is not easy to use," Professor Trelawney said flatly.

Having regained her composure at Fish's reminder, she had also regained her pretentious technique.

Umbridge still didn't think Professor Trelawney was very advanced, but she didn't bother wasting her time with it, glanced at the brass teapot on the table and said quietly, "Tea Divination then, what can I do?"

"Miss Patil, could you bring me a cup of tea? Fourth from the left of the third row." Professor Trelawney spoke unhurriedly.

Parvati got up at once, ran to a cupboard, grabbed the cup and placed it on the little round table where Fish was sitting.

Professor Trelawney filled it with tea and held it out to Umbridge, saying casually, "Drink until only the tea leaves are left, then whisk the tea leaves in the cup three times with your left hand and place the cup upside down on the tray."

Umbridge did as she was told with a look of impatience.

When the tea had been drained, Professor Trelawney grabbed the cup straight from Umbridge and looked at it carefully.

At that moment, Fish reached under the table and tapped a stabilization spell on Trelawney's body.

(?ΦwΦ?)?