A/N: I don't own Harry Potter
This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Writing Club December
Book Club - Kissin' Kate Barlow: (au) western, (food) peaches, (occupation) teacher, (color) red, (object) lipstick, (dialogue) "I've been wishing I was dead for the last twenty years."
Angel's Archives: 11 - Double Mocha Espresso Cupcakes - (setting) morning
Lyric Alley: 14 - The world is so wrong
Word count: 642
Dolores walked past the saloon where she could hear someone calling her name. She ignored them. She had a mission and nothing, or anyone, would deter her from it. She reached the school house and pushed the red door open. She could hear a few people gasp as she stepped inside.
"Good morning," she stated looking around. The school house was one room with several benches. The girls were seated on one side and the boys on the other. The children all ranged from the ages of five to about eleven. At eleven, most children quit school to help out at their families farms or other businesses.
"Can I help you, Miss...?"
"Umbridge. Miss Dolores Umbridge, I'm here about the teaching position," Dolores stated her steely grey eyes surveying the man in front of her. She'd heard of him, of course. Everyone near the village of Hogwarts had heard of Professor Albus Dumbledore. He had come from back East to take over the failing schools in this part of the country. Dolores was not impressed by him. He was taller than her, had a long white beard, and his eyes seemed to sparkle in a way that sent chills down her spine.
"Oh, I was not aware you were coming. In face, I believed quite the opposite."
"My letter must have gotten lost in the post, then. Well, I am here and I am here about the position. Seeing as you're teaching these young minds, I'm going to go under the assumption that it has not yet been filled?" she asked giving Professor Dumbledore a slight smile. He stared at her uneasily.
"No, no, it hasn't been filled. You have teaching credentials?"
"Right here, sir," Dolores replied pulling a stack of parchment from her shoulder bag. "Straight from The College, sir. Top of my class. Senior Secretary to the President Fudge even sent in a recommendation, I believe? "
"Right, um, why don't you get acquainted with the students while I, um, read through these?" he suggested taking the papers. Dolores nodded and walked to the front of the classroom, her boots clicking softly against the hard floor. Professor Dumbledore slipped out the back of the classroom. Dolores smiled looking at the fifteen or so children sitting before her.
"Good morning, class. My name is Miss Umbridge and if Professor Dumbledore has any sense I'll be teaching here from this moment onward. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Why do want to teach us, Miss? We're in the middle of nowhere. No one here's going to be more than farmer or, in the girls' case, a good wife."
"That is where you are wrong, Mister," Dolores paused to look at the seating chart. "Finnigan. Each of you has the ability and potential to so much more than this small village. Look at me, I'm from a small farm outside of the Big City and here I am, teaching you lot, with a recommendation from Mr. Fudge himself."
A few of the students looked slightly impressed.
"But no one here ever does anything amazing."
"That is going to change, now that Professor Dumbledore will be returning to his original post. He has never seen much past his own agenda, and since many of you do not fit into that plan, I doubt he even considered you worthy of interest. Is that true? Did Professor Dumbledore favor certain students?"
"Yes, Miss Umbridge!"
"Thank you for that confirmation, Mr. Malfoy. Now, we're going to start over with a blank slate. Forget everything that man has taught you. Let's start by going over the presidents in order, please." Dolores watched as the students struggled to remember the correct order and smiled. Everything had gone according to plan. Professor Dumbledore was gone, and these children would be the future, a future her and Under secretary Fudge would rule.