Chapter 319: A Toad’s Misgivings

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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2nd September 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)

Hermione Granger didn't know what to think about the new student. Harrold Smith was an enigma, to say the least, and it was one that happened to be very frustrating to solve… She didn't expect much from him when he said that he was homeschooled, but he managed to surprise her. The practice slowly faded away when proper magical education was put in place because it was simply far more efficient.

Even people who had a specialized field of magic had to learn the basics, which Hogwarts offered. They could learn anything else during the summer or just after graduating from Hogwarts. The idea of some boy who hadn't attended a single day of school being on the level of a Hogwarts student was absurd… And yet, he used wordless magic…

Hermione had looked into it after the train ride. She might have used her Prefect privileges to get to the library past curfew… It was supposed to be a NEWT level skill, something that they should learn the following year. Just displaying it on his OWLS would probably raise his grade for every practical exam.

She also couldn't figure out how to do it…

The muggleborn was tempted to ask him, she really did, but she didn't have it in her to admit that she couldn't do it by herself.

He was also obviously well educated, considering what little she had glimpsed from his notebook. It was beyond advanced arithmancy, and she had hoped he'd explain some of it slightly…

It made her slightly jealous… Fine, a lot jealous…

It didn't help that Harry kept bragging about him beating Slytherin's entire quidditch team with their own spells. Hermione rolled her eyes once more when he replayed what happened, Ron being completely engrossed by his tale, "I can't believe he did that…"

Harry grinned back at the redhead, "I know… Malfoy even complained to Snape afterwards and the git asked for Harrold's wand. You should have seen his face when he only saw a few charms and a small conjuration… Even when Snape said that it was his fault, Smith told him that they only needed to stop casting spells. Oh, the look on Malfoy's face was priceless…"

"As nice as hearing this story for the third time is, we're almost late for our defence class. Remember what I said, Harry…"

"I know," he answered dramatically, "Don't antagonize her… I should just keep my head down and don't let her get to me… Harrold told me the same thing…"

Again, with Harrold… Hermione suppressed the urge to growl at the name.

There was something wrong with that guy. He was a little too skilled, a little too knowledgeable… Like an older student… Maybe he was a spy… The Marauder Map did reveal Crouch Junior, maybe it would say if Smith was an impostor too… She'd look at it after their next class.

As they walked into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hermione couldn't help but notice Professor Umbridge already sitting primly at the teacher's desk, looking as if she'd been waiting there for ages. She was still wearing that same fluffy pink cardigan from the night before, and of course, the pink velvet bow was back on top of her head, sitting there like it was trying way too hard to be cute.

Hermione found herself irritated by the sight of it as if the bow itself was mocking the seriousness of the subject they were supposed to be learning. The whole look seemed so out of place for a Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and Hermione had a sinking feeling that this lesson wasn't going to be very informative. She already had her doubts about the required book, but a part of her expected the ministry to not actively hurt their education…

After they all settled in, the woman spoke up in a fake sweet voice, "Good morning, children…"

When they all grumbled back some greetings, her eyes hardened, "Now, that was rude… It's more polite to greet your professor at once. Let's try it 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge'"

The class echoed it, and the woman clapped her hands like she was a seven-year-old girl, "That's great. Now, why don't we start by talking about what you should be expecting this year in my class? As most of you already know, this is your OWL year, and considering just how fragmented your education is, I believe that it's critical that we return to the basics and strengthen your foundations… We'll be doing that through a Ministry-approved curriculum specifically tailored for you. I believe you all have bought the required book. I believe it was Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhart? If you don't, raise your hands and I'll distribute some copies for the duration of the class. If you do have one, please open Chapter 5 of the book and start reading. In Silence…"

And just like that, the entire room just opened the textbook and started reading. Hermione had been afraid of this. The book was dull even for her. It kept circling around certain subjects… Slinkhart's main theory was that learning how to escape a situation was more important than actually fighting… Most of the spells mentioned in the book were used as examples of how to use them to escape bad situations… Like casting a smoke spell to escape, and which authorities to contact for every situation. Unfortunately, he was also of the opinion that curses and counter-curses were the same thing, that there was no difference between defensive and offensive spells, which he often proclaimed should only be used by qualified personnel – the ministry.

Hermione looked around and saw the other students were barely paying any attention to the book. It was a boring read, to say the least.

She then turned towards Harrold Smith, trying to see what he was doing. The boy was, once more, scribbling in his notebook, and hadn't even opened the referenced book. She wasn't the only one to notice, since Umbridge did her weird cough, "Hem Hem…"

The boy didn't seem to care one bit and continued to write. The woman then waved her wand and exclaimed, "Accio…"

Hermione expected the notebook to fly out of the boy's hands, only for nothing to happen. All this accomplished is getting the entire class to look up from their books towards the teacher pointing her wand, "Mr. Smith, give me your notebook…"

The new student tilted his head in a confused manner, "What notebook?"

The professor practically snarled at him, "Don't lie, Mr. Smith…"

"I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about."

Umbridge walked forward and her eyes widened when she saw nothing in front of him, "You hid it."

"Are you alright, professor?" he asked with an obviously fake concerned tone.

"Give me your bag?" the woman screeched at him.

He just gave her his bag, which had nothing more than a few sheets of parchment and the potions textbook. The woman didn't seem to like that, "Where is it?"

"Professor, I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about…"

"You must have charmed it somehow…"

Harrold tilted his head in confusion, "But I didn't take out my wand to cast any spells…"

Umbridge seemed to realize that she was making a scene, and she gave him a severe look, "You haven't opened your book!"

"I already read it… Decided to wait in silence until you give us our next task…"

"There are no next tasks, Mr. Smith…"

The boy hummed, "Will every class follow the same format? There won't be any practical classes, for every school year?"

"Why on earth would you need to use defensive magic in my class? Are you expecting to be attacked?"

This time, it was Harry who answered, "And what if we're attacked, what then? We won't be in your classroom every day, will we? What happens in the real world?"

"And who would attack such innocent children?" she replied with a condescending tone.

Harry seemed to get angrier, "What about Lord Voldemort?"

Now, that caused a conundrum. Hermione rolled her eyes; Harry had gotten baited, again… He's been having a bit of a temper since the third task. She had noticed this in Grimmauld place, but she had hoped it would have faded away in the previous month… It made him act far more rashly.

Umbridge ignored the small squeaks and commotion saying Voldemort's name and spoke up with a condescending tone, "Now, I know that you have been told that a certain Dark Lord returned from the dead, and that is a lie. You have nothing to fear. The ministry guarantees that you are safe from any dark wizards… You are welcome to see me after class if you have any questions on the matter please come see me after class. As for now, please continue reading your chapter…"

Hermione noticed that Harry obviously wanted to say something but had magically frozen in place. She thought the discussion would end there, but Smith decided to raise his hand. Umbridge rolled her eyes, "Yes, Mr. Smith..."

"Look, Professor, I don't really care if some dark lord is back or not… My worries were more from a logistical standpoint. You said that your curriculum was approved by the ministry, does that mean that measures are being taken in place for this curriculum to stick in the coming year? I'm assuming that all school years follow the same policy of no using spells inside your classroom?"

"Well, of course it is. I assure you that the ministry has everything in hand and yes, Minister Fudge has signed off on everything," she answered with a sweet tone.

Hermione expected him to blow up as well, instead, he looked particularly curious, "That's quite a brave stance to take. An expensive one too, I must say…"

That seemed to make the woman stiffen, "And why would you call it that? This is simply a way to standardize your education for this class, to create order out of chaos…"

"Yes, I wasn't talking about that. As far as I can tell, this curriculum focuses more on how to escape dangerous situations and contact the authorities. It's actually something that I find very useful and that most people will actually need. However, the fact remains that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement hires its Auror based on this grade. And that means that they'll have to teach actual defensive spells from scratch, which means Auror training will have to be more extensive to teach the basics of combat magic… And a population that doesn't know how to defend itself fully, would also mean that the ministry would need even more Aurors… So, to combat this, I'm guessing that Minister Fudge is planning on raising the DMLE's budget, a pretty significant shift in policy in my opinion since he slashed the budget multiple times in the last decade… Which I believe stemmed from the fact that Amelia Bones was a potential candidate for the title of minister, wasn't she?"

The silence that met Smith's proclamation was unsettling. Weirdly enough, it was the Slytherins that were looking at him with renewed light… She could understand why; Smith's concerns were valid… If the ministry cemented this curriculum for all years, then in seven years, there would be no qualified Auror recruits, which meant that training the Aurors would get more expensive, resulting in an increase of the DMLE's funding… Although Hermione didn't know that Amelia Bones was a potential candidate for the post of minister...

Umbridge, oddly enough, was stunned to silence and Smith continued, "There are also some international concerns on the matter. If this is the curriculum for every year, then a NEWT in the subject would have lower value in the international scene, which means that the ministry would either have to offer some kind of course for graduates, one that could be recognized internationally, or it would force the recruits to not work outside the country, which would lower Britain's standing in the international scene…"

He didn't seem to be too concerned by the professor becoming redder by the minute, "I suppose if I had any other questions, I'll just contact the Department of Magical Education directly. With the curriculum changing so much, the OWL and NEWT exams will have to reflect that… Who was the head of the department again? Griselda Marchbanks, right?"

That seemed to have been it for Umbridge, "Detention, Mr. Smith!"

Harrod didn't seem concerned by this fact, "May I ask why, professor?"

"For disrupting the classroom…"

"I simply asked a question on the changes in the curriculum. I did not know that it counted as a disturbance…"

The professor sneered at him, "I do not tolerate lies in my classroom…"

"Hmm, how peculiar… I wonder which part would be a lie… If I lied about the DMLE getting an increased budget, then we'd have either far fewer Aurors or just far less qualified ones in a few years... If I lied about possible plans for further defence education, then any job that currently requires a defence NEWT or OWL would find its recruits unqualified, so that's more gold down the drain to train them… So, if I'm lying, then the ministry will find itself in quite a dire situation in a few years… And if I was mistaken when I thought that the entire ministry knew about the change in the curriculum and its consequences, well, that wouldn't look good for anyone involved, would it? Are you sure you want me to be lying, Professor Umbridge?"

The smooth way Smith delivered this little speech simply silenced the entire classroom, and Umbridge simply stated, "You will see me after class, Mr. Smith."

"Of course, Professor Umbridge," he replied with a smug grin, "After all, you still haven't answered my questions yet…"

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AN: I thought that this was a good way to get a handle on Umbridge's first lesson. The plan was to have her being tricked on her own battlefield. Idk if it came off exactly like I wanted it to, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.