Chapter 20: The Downfall of Umbridge

Everyone at Hogwarts remembered the last day of January that year. It'd go down in Hogwarts history as spectacular. For all the wrong (or right) reasons, depending on who you were.

It started in the morning. Everyone was their usual selves given it was a Monday morning. The day before, a number of quidditch teams had been out on the pitch practising, and the day before that the seventh years had been given permission to have an extra day at Hogsmeade. The Dementors by now were, to use Hooch's word, frisky. They had threatened to encroach onto the grounds during the afternoon quidditch game, and by Monday morning Filch had reported seeing one at the edge of the forest on the grounds.

"Good morning, everyone," said Dumbledore at breakfast, "I regret to report that there are Dementors on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. While the forest is forbidden and none of you have ever been there," there were a few titters around the room, "The staff will be busy this morning ensuring the Dementors stay off Hogwarts grounds. Your first lesson will be cancelled. You will all return to your common rooms after breakfast and your prefects will let you know when you may leave again."

There was general chatter but the news wasn't met with consternation except from one quarter.

"You expect the staff to go out and face Dementors?" hissed Umbridge, not audible to the student body, but definitely audible to the rest of the staff table.

"Delores, the ministry as you know, shows no interest in removing them from the grounds, nor, given the number of vociferous complaints I have made, shows any interest in getting them under control. It is up to us to keep the students safe, so yes, that's exactly what I expect us all to do. There are six members of staff with corporeal patronuses, and the rest of you have blasting charms. We are going out, keeping our distance, making a point, and coming back in again. You, and the rest of the staff will be perfectly safe. You are, after all, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," he added pointedly.

"Where did Delores get to?" asked Albus of Minerva at morning break.

"After running back into the castle when the first one showed itself out of the forest she went to her quarters. I asked a couple of prefects quietly about her Defense lessons weeks ago. They said that in her Boggart lesson, her greatest fear is a Dementor. I thought she'd at least face her fear this morning, but obviously not. Definitely worthy of a short wand, that one. There were plenty of us there, all she had to do was make a show of it, stand at the back and watch. Her status with the students is going to go even further down after this. You know someone will have seen what happened. Probably the Ravenclaws, they're on that side of the castle."

"Is she teaching?"

"Nope, Lupin is in there, so that's fine."

"I'll leave her to her own devices until dinner. If she doesn't appear for dinner I'll call Jones and send him to see her. She won't appreciate that, but I am responsible for all my staff, even ones we have suspicions of."

Delores didn't appear for dinner. Dumbledore made a mental note to contact Jones.

Half the students were in the great hall and the other half were on their way there when the commotion started. While the words were inaudible, it was clear that the voice everyone was hearing was Umbridge's. There was something about the pitch that was quite unique. The sounds got closer.

"Help! Help! Someone help!" There was the sound of a blasting charm hitting something. The professors moved as one.

"Stay in here, all of you!" said Dumbledore to the students. But given the number of students milling around the main staircase, there were still plenty of students too close to the action as it were.

"Get it away from me! Get it away!" screamed Umbridge hysterically, firing another blasting curse out of the main entrance into the darkness outside.

Dumbledore, Flitwick and Snape went out of the entrance, patronuses first.

But nothing was there. Umbridge was still screaming however, now incoherently. She fired another curse that flew pass Flitwick's left ear and ricocheted off the archway.

"Delores, there's nothing there!" said Dumbledore loudly, above the din of curses and screaming, but she didn't stop screaming or firing into the darkness.

"It's getting closer, can't you see it?! Get it! Get it!" she screamed again.

Flickwick fired an Expelliamus at her to protect everyone around them.

"Delores, calm down!" said Dumbledore, a bit more softly, now that there was no danger. She didn't stop screaming. "DELORES UMBRIDGE, STOP THIS AT ONCE!" shouted Dumbledore firmly. The whole of the entrance hall and surrounding staircases fell silent. When Dumbledore raised his voice it was augmented by magic. It cut through everything, demanding immediate obedience.

Delores fell silent. She looked around nervously. "Where did it go?" she asked, momentarily rational.

"There was no Dementor, Delores, it was in your imagination," said Dumbledore, "Let's get you to the infirmary, Poppy can look after you and you can get some rest."

"No, no, it was here! I'm not imagining it," she shouted, angry, shaken, confused and still a touch hysterical.

"Perhaps it's like what happened to me before Christmas," said Flitwick, providing her with an out, "Come on, we'll get you up to the infirmary and have Poppy check you out." He very gently took hold of her elbow, intending only to make sure she made it up to the infirmary safely.

"Get your filthy hands off me," she snarled, angry that a half-breed should touch her. She was composed enough to snap and retort, but not composed enough to know when silence is better, "It's not like what happened to you before Christmas, fool," she hissed, "It was me that drugged you and the oaf then."

Every eye in the entrance hall turned towards her. Nobody said anything. The silence extended. "That… I… I'm not feeling myself," Umbridge murmured, belatedly realising the folly of her last words.

"Severus, make sure Professor Umbridge gets to the infirmary," said Dumbledore into the silence. He raised his voice to address what he knew was every student listening. "Everyone, return to the great hall, dinner is going cold!"

Dumbledore left Minerva in charge in the hall, and picked up Delores' wand from the floor where Flitwick had sent it. He sent his patronus to Healer Jones asking him to urgently attend, and then he made his way up to the infirmary. He had so many thoughts and questions, he wasn't sure where to start. He needed to make sure that Umbridge wasn't a danger to herself or others, and couldn't 'accidentally' leave the castle, and then he needed to talk to his staff before interviewing Umbridge.

He found Severus standing next to Umbridge and Poppy just coming out of her office to deal with whatever was going on.

"Poppy, Delores isn't well," said Dumbledore, "She's been having hallucinations. Delores, you're not yourself," he continued calmly, "I'm going to take your wand for safe-keeping, to stop you from hurting yourself, Poppy or any of the students. Poppy is going to look after you. Poppy, bring Delores a sleeping draught." Poppy hurried to fetch the potion. It was rare Albus gave orders in her infirmary, but there was always a good reason.

"Delores, drink this," said Dumbledore, as Poppy passed her the draught. Delores shook her head, "I'd rather…"

"Delores, drink this," repeated Dumbledore, altering his tone from suggestion to command. Delores drank.

"You'll sleep now Delores," said Dumbledore, more kindly than he felt. Umbridge passed out.

"Poppy, I'm going to ward this bed. She isn't going to leave it until I personally tell you otherwise. You can run any scans and so on. If she wakes, give her another draught." Poppy nodded.

"Severus, come to dinner, she'll be fine now she's unconscious. Then it's going to be a long evening."

Gathered in Dumbledore's office were Albus, Minerva, Filius, Severus, Pomona and Healer Jones.

"Thank you all for your time," said Albus, "There are obviously a number of issues. I'm going to speak with her, alone, when she wakes up. I will speak with her first about her claim she drugged Filius and Hagrid. I want to know that it's true, and I want to know how and why she did it. Does anyone else have anything on this point?"

Minerva coughed. Everyone looked at her. She looked very guilty. "I have a confession to make, but first, Sybil spoke to me at dinner. Severus, do you remember on New Year's Day she said she couldn't remember something from the night before?" Severus glared. "She said she remembered Umbridge talking to her, and that Umbridge said she should have given Filius a stronger dose."

Minerva then took a deep breath, "I… I knew it was Umbridge." Albus' mouth opened in shock. "Not like that. I had been told it was her but I didn't believe the source of the information, I am truly sorry to say. He told me about two weeks ago. I just didn't think it sane enough to investigate. But more than that, it was because I simply didn't believe him."

"Who was it?" asked Pomona.

Minerva looked at Healer Jones, "I'm sorry, it was Dudley Dursley."

"How the hell did he find out?" asked Severus, surprised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even ask him for details, I essentially threw him out of my office for wasting my time." Minerva was clearly upset and disappointed by her own actions.

"So," said Dumbledore, avoiding any recriminations, "We are pretty sure it was her, I need to find out why and how, although, most of the how we know, but I'd like to hear it from her."

"You know the why is pretty bloody obvious too, don't you, Albus," said Lupin. "At least it's pretty damn obvious from where I sit." Filius nodded his agreement.

"Yes, but again, I'd like it from her own mouth," said Albus. "Next point, I'd like to know if it was her in the staff offices and why. I asked Argus just before whether he thinks the person who visited him was Delores and he thought maybe, but he couldn't be positive."

"This might be a bit of a personal question," said Pomona, "But do any of us have anything in our offices that you think she wanted?"

Everyone thought for a bit, but came up short.

"I will ask," said Dumbledore. "Now, while there's still some things we don't know, we're pretty sure where we stand, so, what do we want to do about all this?"

"It's going to be in the paper," said Severus, "There were students privy to her saying she poisoned Filius and Hagrid. That's not going to go away or be swept under the carpet."

"She could claim it was the hysteria talking," said Minerva, quietly joining back in the conversation.

"Poppy sent me her patronus just now," said Dumbledore, "She has wormwood and boggart extract in her system."

Severus whistled, "That's a creatively nasty combination," he commented.

"Does it make you think you've done something you haven't?" asked Lupin.

"Not really, but you'd be pretty off your head," said Severus, "Wormwood can be quite potent."

"So," said Lupin, "I've got a question. Assuming Umbridge didn't drug herself, who did? Because we don't have a serial poisoner, she did it."

Healer Jones glanced towards Severus, but Severus was already looking his way, "Do you think it was him?" Severus asked.

"Unfortunately, it's within the bounds of possibility," said Jones, "Headmaster, I'd like to talk to you about who after. In a separate conversation."

"Of course," said Albus. "Does anyone have any other points to bring up before I interview Delores?"

"Just one," said Filius, "Find out anything related to Fudge. He stuck her here. You said that originally she didn't want to be here, but she's stayed. Find out why she stayed."

"Thank Filius. Anyone else?" There was silence. "I'll go up to the infirmary now."

"Delores."

"Dumbledore."

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way," said Dumbledore, "Why did you poison my staff?" He expected a denial, but she obviously knew what she'd said. She'd said it infront of half the school. Words like those can't be taken back.

"You don't get it, do you?" she asked snidely, "Can't you see? The world is being polluted by them!" Albus tilted his head. "Them! Them! The half breeds, the mud bloods, the muggleborns. They're a scourge on our society. You should see that, but you don't, do you, you and the other muggle-lovers."

"They've done you no harm, Delores, any of… them," he distastefully used her word.

"They're weakening society, watering down the gene pool. They need to be prevented from taking over."

Albus sighed. He didn't realise she was was bigoted. He knew of her ambitions for creature laws, but he'd always labeled that as bullying the weak as he'd always known she'd done. He didn't remember her much from when she was at school. She hadn't stood out. But her career through the ministry had been impressive. Albus wondered if it had been honest or through blackmail, extortion and bullying. He'd get back to that in a bit.

"How? You stole from the Potions store?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, the fawning squib gave me anything I wanted. It was a matter of moments to put it in the inkwell. And as for the giant oaf, I simply poured it into a bottle of Firewhiskey and put it on his doorstep. Hippogriffs! That was impressive!" she cackled.

Dumbledore put a silencing charm around himself and summoned an elf. The elf arrived within his wall of silence.

"Please search Hagrid's cottage. I need you to find any bottles of Firewhiskey, full or empty. Please apologise to Hagrid for my intrusion, but explain I want them and it's important. He was given a bottle as a gift. That's the one I want, but bring any you can find if Hagrid can't identify that one."

Dumbledore hoped Hagrid hadn't been drinking from it since he got back. The problem with Hagrid was that insanity wasn't always out of character. Dumbledore lowered his silencing charm.

"What were you looking for in our offices?" asked Dumbledore, keeping the conversation moving.

"That's for me to know," said Umbridge, primly.

"You are aware that poisoning is likely an Azkaban offense, aren't you?" asked Dumbledore. "Your only hope for clemency, and Merlin knows what that looks like, is for you to confess everything in the hope that I will plead on your behalf for mercy in front of the Wizengamot. You have, in your short tenure on that body, advocated for some very harsh penalties. There will be plenty of people happy to give what you gave."

Umbridge licked her lips nervously. There was a ring of truth in what the old man was saying.

"Even a short term in Azkaban would be more than unpleasant, and I don't think you can afford to plead that down to a fine," said Albus casually. "A cold island in the North Sea surrounded by Demen…"

"Stop!" screamed Umbridge. "It was Fudge. I am only here because of him. He wanted me here. He believes you're going to take control of the Ministry. You sought the role after Bagnold. He knows you have people under your thumb in the ministry and he wants to know who they are. He sent me to intercept your communications with them."

"And what, out of curiosity, do you believe?" asked Albus.

"What do you mean?" asked Umbridge, lacking comprehension of the question. "The minister is on to you. He knows. He wanted me to find evidence. He trusts me."

"Ah, I see," said Dumbledore in understanding.

"Good evening, Minister," said Albus, stepping through the floo into Fudge's office, "I apologise for the lateness of the hour."

"What are you doing here? You need an appointment," snapped Fudge.

"Yes, because you're a very busy man," said Albus, glancing at the half done crossword in his hands. "I'll get to the point. I know about Delores. Everything about Delores. Your only option, because she'll talk to save her own skin, is to grant her clemency over a matter of poisoning when it comes up at her trial, and to stop investigating me as to my having ministry connections."

"Wha…?" said Fudge.

"Delores poisoned my staff. She then told everyone she did it. Publicly. She ransacked our offices. She then admits that it was on your authority. She will be able to use memories during her trial. And she distinctly remembers a certain letter from you."

"Are you threatening me?" demanded Fudge.

"No, I'm just explaining cause and effect," said Albus, stepping back into the floo. "By the way, don't worry about contacting the aurors to take her away, that's already done, and I have a replacement Professor to hand. Goodnight!"