Author's Notes: Holy crap, an update. Just when you'd all given up on me. Now that midterms are over and exams aren't for a little while, I have somewhat of a break so I'll try to do some writing. ^_^
Thanks to everyone who pointed out that first-years don't go to Hogsmeade, duh. I corrected it. ^_^ If you guys ever find anything wacky like that in here, please let me know. To be perfectly honest I haven't thoroughly read OotP in it's entirety since the summer and I'm too lazy to do so again, so I'm relying on memory a lot of the time for canonical stuff.
Congrats to new FU members Chica890, Penelope Richmond, lavalampronsgirl (hehe, I sat there for like five minutes going 'what the hell's a lavalampron?'…I am an idiot), and thanks to Agarwaen Lhach for the awesome FU poem.
Monday, 11 September
9:09 a.m., History of Magic
Now I know I really should be taking notes, but I did some reading just for interest's sake on the Hundred and Thirty-Two Years' War (goblins are evidently extremely creative with naming their wars) this summer so really I'm not gaining anything by taking notes from Professor Binns. And, well…I would never admit it to Harry and Ron, but Professor Binns is dreadfully dull sometimes…as long as one has already done in-depth reading on the material, they should be able to get away with not taking notes for one class. At least I am half-listening, unlike Harry and Ron, who are playing Hangman. If I do hear Professor Binns say something I wasn't previously aware of, I will be sure to write it down. Now then, what happened the other night was…
9:15 a.m.
Hm. I don't remember reading that Gruntfeld the Great was killed by his right hand man in an argument over food. Anyway, Ron got this awful letter from Percy…it was just so incredibly rude and condescending and argh! As if Ron would stop being friends with Harry! But then Ron tore the letter to shreds and chucked it in the fire, ha. Oh, the books I read didn't cover the Battle of the Berg in very much detail…
9:34 a.m.
So I felt rather bad for Ron…what with having the world's most obnoxious brother…and offered to correct his and Harry's essays. I realize this directly contradicts Goal for the School Year #4, but it was a special circumstance as they both looked rather put out by Percy's idiocy. Just as I had finished correcting Harry's essay, however, I happened to notice that he was on his hands and knees poking about the fire. I thought this rather odd, until a few seconds later, when whose head should appear in the fire but…Wimple the Wizened? I don't recall who that is…
9:40 a.m.
Anyway, Sirius's head was in the fire. He'd (quite foolishly) been popping in and out all night, waiting to get us alone in the common room so he could talk to Harry about his scar. I guess Harry did send him a letter and forgot to tell us; I really wish he had shown the letter to me before sending it off though, because even the tiniest thing could give loads away if it was intercepted. Sirius seemed to think it was normal for Harry's scar to be hurting, and he agreed that it probably had nothing to do with Umbridge. I still think Harry should speak to the headmaster, but he's still being stubborn and refuses. I was hoping Sirius would tell Harry to go to Dumbledore because Harry actually listens to him, but he didn't.
Sirius didn't have any news about Hagrid, either. But he did tell us that the reason we're sitting around reading from that rubbish textbook in Defense Against the Dark Arts (I finally got through the entire thing…Slinkhard is a narrow-minded idiot) is because Fudge doesn't want us 'trained in combat'. Trained in combat! He thinks Dumbledore's forming some sort of…army or something to overthrow the Ministry…of all the ludicrous…
9:43 a.m.
I had no idea that the Hundred and Thirty-Two Years' War only lasted one hundred and twenty-seven years. Why on earth did they name it that, then? Anyway, Sirius left in a huff because we refused to let him risk his neck by coming to the next Hogsmeade weekend as Padfoot. Honestly, Harry's finally thinking level-headedly and Sirius had to go and act all bitter and insulted and make him feel horrible.
9:46 a.m.
Why does Ron always guess the most ridiculous letters in Hangman? How many words have x's in them? He hasn't even tried all the vowels yet.
Percy had mentioned in his (stupid) letter that there would be something of importance in the Daily Prophet this morning, and sure enough, there it was in block letters on the front page: MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM: DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST EVER HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISITOR.
The article was written in the usual Daily Prophet style ('Umbridge' and 'totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts' appeared in the same sentence). They used every opportunity to knock Hogwarts and Dumbledore. They even managed to get a quote from Lucius Malfoy (speaking from his Wiltshire mansion…oh please). What a reliable and completely unbiased source (sarcasm). Oh great, now Harry's guessing x's too…
9:50 a.m.
Oh. The word was elixir. Well.
So due to Educational Piece of Rubbish Number Twenty-Three or something of that sort, Umbridge is now Hogwarts High Inquisitor, which means she has the power to "inspect her fellow educators and make sure they're up to scratch". We also found out that the only reason we got stuck with her in the first place is because the Ministry passed another decree before school started stating that if Dumbledore couldn't find someone for a position, the Ministry would appoint someone "suitable". So we got Umbridge, and to make matters worse, she's now Hogwarts "High Inquisitor". In other words, her new position is another excuse for the Ministry to interfere at Hogwarts and make sure we aren't forming a secret military resistance against them. Speaking of military resistance…
9:55 a.m.
Professor Binns was making a good point about the unconventional military tactics of Gruntfeld. Anyway, the Daily Prophet also managed to insult Lupin, Moody, and Madam Marchbanks (who resigned from the Wizengamot in protest over Umbridge's appointment, good for her!) as well as Dumbledore - that must be some sort of insult record. I lowered the paper after reading it aloud at breakfast and stared at Harry and Ron, absolutely livid.
"So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this Educational Decree and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to inspect the other teachers! I can't believe this! It's outrageous!" I exclaimed.
Ron, however, was grinning wildly. "What?" demanded Harry and I.
"Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected," Ron said gleefully. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."
Actually, that will be interesting…
I wonder when Umbridge will begin inspections; she's obviously not in this class, but perhaps Potions? I hope Harry keeps his head on his shoulders today, it wouldn't do at all for Umbridge to see him botch a potion and be insulted by Snape on top of everything else.
Harry's Hangman phrase was just "Umbridge is a hag". Ron guessed it with only the 'u' and the 'h'. Immature, perhaps, but true nonetheless.
There's the bell…I can't believe I spent an entire class writing in here. It
really is a waste of time and energy and somewhere Mrs. Crick is gloating, even
though currently she does not remember who I am.
10:08 p.m.
Oh no!!! Rosie McDowell in sixth-year just told me there was loads on her History of Magic OWL last year that dealt with the Hundred and Thirty-Two Years' War, and I spent the entire class writing in this stupid journal!
I will not panic. I'm sure someone else in class took very detailed notes and I can ask to borrow theirs. I'm sure Dean took notes…well, maybe Neville did…or Parvati might have jotted some things down…oh who am I kidding, they're all going to fail and so am I!!!
10:36 p.m.
Knitting is really a great stress reliever. I am not going to fail the History of Magic OWL and neither is anyone else.
10:39 p.m.
But we're all definitely going to fail Defense Against the Dark Arts. Argh. Hate Umbridge.
Weekly Goals
1. Get Umbridge sacked? No, probably impossible. Get everyone to burn Slinkhard textbooks so we'll have nothing to read and she may have to actually let us learn? No, random acts of arson will prove nothing and waste paper. Get twins to set off Dungbombs in Umbridge's – NO, definitely not.
Continue trying to figure out another way to gain Defense Against the Dark Arts knowledge and practice defensive spells without having teacher sacked or resorting to arson and/or Fred and George.
2. Figure out way to stop Harry from speaking out in Defense Against the Dark Arts and getting more detentions. Perform Silencio on him before every class?
3. Figure out way to stop Sirius from doing stupid and reckless things.
4. Continue knitting hats for house-elves as they are a huge success!
5. Do extra reading on Hundred and Thirty-Two Years' War. Maybe Rosie or another sixth-year still have their fifth-year notes…
6. Achieve 'O' on next Potions essay.
