The Way to Glory
School: Beauxbatons
Year: 4
Grammar School Challenge, Issue 9
Technique: a hero's journey
Word count: 988
Dolores Umbridge appreciated order. Everything and everyone had a place in this world, be it at the top of the heap or down in the dregs, and it was their duty, each and every one of them, to respect that natural order. Social mobility was tolerated, of course, but only to a certain extent and only for certain people. Dolores would not be where she was now, if not for her own ambition and drive for power. Her father had nearly ruined the proud Umbridge name by marrying a Muggle and siring a Squib, but Dolores had been there to make something of it once again and return it to its former glory.
Orford Umbridge had been a disgustingly unambitious man. He'd had all the tools at his disposal to succeed, but he'd flouted them. He'd been a pure-blood wizard with the right surname. He could have made something of himself with that social boost; he could have been something great, but he never took the right steps. Instead, he'd married a flighty Muggle who was tall and beautiful where he was short and unattractive, and he'd accepted a job as one of the Ministry's janitors.
Dolores had long since cut ties with him. It wouldn't have done well for someone of her high standing to interact with a floor mopper. She'd seen the path her father had taken, and she'd known from a young age that she wouldn't follow him down that road. She would do better.
It was that ambition that got her Sorted into Slytherin, but she didn't make many friends there. She wasn't a pure-blood, which immediately took her out of the running with the popular kids; nor was she pretty or charming enough to make up for her blood status. She'd always hated her brother for being a Squib and bringing shame onto the family name, but it was during those years at Hogwarts that she learned to truly despise children.
Her real value was never recognised at that awful school, not by her peers, nor by her professors who insisted on handing positions of power, such as prefect and Head Girl, to lesser students. She promised herself that she would show all of them her worth someday, and they would never laugh at her or call her names ever again.
The Ministry of Magic was the playground she'd dreamed Hogwarts would be.
Just as she'd expected, she excelled there, rising through the ranks fast enough to give herself whiplash. By the time she turned thirty, she was already the Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office, and it had never run so smoothly. Her tactics were ruthless, and her leadership was firm, she didn't deny it. In fact, she boasted about it. A strong hand was necessary to keep order and to promote efficiency.
She managed to force her father into an early retirement to keep him out of the public eye, and from that point on, she was free to lie about her family, which she immediately started to claim was powerful, wealthy, and – most importantly – pure-blooded. It wasn't a lie, not really. After all, she was in the process of becoming a powerful member of the Ministry; her family had been wealthy once, and she no longer considered her mother and brother – the stains in her family tree – to be any relation to her. Besides, it was that slight alteration of the truth that allowed her to climb the social ladder almost all the way to the top and became Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic himself, earning herself a spot in the Wizengamot along the way.
She had hoped to find herself an influential husband to further her rise to power but was once again confronted with the reality that her peers were shallow and flawed human beings who still could not recognise her worth. She refused to let that deter her.
When it became clear that Albus Dumbledore could no longer be trusted, the Minister personally asked her to monitor the situation, proving once and for all that she was his most trusted advisor.
She liked neither children nor Hogwarts, but she knew that under her tutelage, both the institution and its students could be made better. Dumbledore opposed her, of course, but unless he wished to commit treason, his hands were tied. He ran away eventually, like the coward he was. She couldn't complain; not when that opened the position of Hogwarts Headmistress to her.
Her dream was to become Minister for Magic, but she could understand now why Dumbledore had turned down that job offer all those years ago.
Hogwarts was her kingdom, and she had absolute power there. She ruled with an iron fist, and no one, not the children she hated, nor the professors who looked down on her, could do anything to stop her.
Like every great ruler before her, though, she faced her fair share of opposition. She managed to stomp out most of it, but every rebellion had a few players more stubborn and troublesome than the others. It was while trying to deal with them that Dolores committed her fatal error. She made a mistake common to clever people and underestimated her opponent.
Two of the awful children tricked her into the Forbidden Forest and left her at the mercy of a herd of centaurs. The disgusting half-breeds disrespected her and nearly killed her when she defended herself against their vicious ways. They hunted her, ran her down, and tied her up.
She prayed for rescue from those savages day and night, but when it finally came, she nearly refused it. That old fool Dumbledore had bartered with the beasts to buy her freedom, and he dared expect her to thank him for it. She could not; she would not. It had all been his fault, and she would make him regret it.