A week later, something occurred that was surprising not for the fact that it occurred, but more for the way it happened.
Professor Tralawney was sacked. Now, look, I've made it clear before that I was no fan of her, and I'm still not even today. I think she's a terrible teacher and a complete fraud 99 percent of the time, aside from her 2 very real predictions (which I'll get into at a later point) but even still, the way Umbridge decided she wanted to get rid of her, in a such a humiliating public manner, was totally out of line.
We were halfway through dinner when we heard screams coming from the entrance hall. Everyone rushed out to see what was going on. Some formed a circle around the incident, others crammed themselves onto the marble staircase.
Professor Trelawney was standing in the middle of the entrance hall with her wand in one hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other, looking utterly mad. Her hair was sticking up on end, her glasses were lopsided so that one eye was magnified more than the other; her innumerable shawls and scarves were trailing haphazardly from her shoulders, giving the impression that she was falling apart at the seams. Two large trunks lay on the floor beside her, one of them upside down; it looked very much as though it had been thrown down the stairs after her.
"No!" she shrieked. "NO! This cannot be happening. … It cannot … I refuse to accept it!"
"You didn't realize this was coming?" said Umbridge, sounding callously amused.
"She probably did" I whispered to Demelza, "just not in this manner". Demelza nodded.
"What right does she have to humiliate her in front of the whole school though?!" said Amy angrily "A simple announcement would do!"
She said this too loudly, and as we were standing in the third row from the front, Umbridge heard.
"Detention Miss Bagman!" she said, looking directly at her. "And you will risk expulsion from this school if you make comments criticising the High Inquisitor again!"
"Pathetic, toad like, tyrannical bitch!" I thought
Amy bit her lip and very reluctantly went silent, shaking her head. She knew what punishment lay in store for her and as much as she wanted to shout more hate at Umbridge, she knew that would only make things worse. Demelza patted her on the back and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"She'll get what's coming to her, don't worry" she whispered
"I can't be sure of that, mate, not gonna lie" I said
Umbridge had turned back to Tralawney
"Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?"
"You c-can't!" howled Professor Trelawney, tears streaming down her face from behind her enormous lenses, "you c-can't sack me! I've b-been here sixteen years! H-Hogwarts is m-my h-home!"
"It was your home," said Professor Umbridge, and I was revolted to see the enjoyment stretching her toadlike face as she watched Professor Trelawney sink, sobbing uncontrollably, onto one of her trunks, "until an hour ago, when the Minister of Magic countersigned the order for your dismissal. Now kindly remove yourself from this hall. You are embarrassing us."
"No, you're humiliating her, and you enjoy this, you disgusting-" I said through gritted teeth. As I said, I didn't even like Tralawney, but this was too much! Demelza squeezed my hand to calm me down.
But she stood and watched, with an expression of gloating enjoyment, as Professor Trelawney shuddered and moaned, rocking backward and forward on her trunk in paroxysms of grief. A couple of rows back, I heard some giggling, and a few people turned around to see it was Lillian Avery, who seemed to have a positive face for the first time in weeks. Reading her lips, I was pretty sure she was whispering words like "useless hoe, can't tell fortune to save her life..." to Mulciber and Yaxley.
I heard a sob to my right. Lavender and Parvati were both crying silently, their arms around each other. Then we heard footsteps. Professor McGonagall had broken away from the spectators, marched straight up to Professor Trelawney and was patting her firmly on the back while withdrawing a large handkerchief from within her robes.
"There, there, Sibyll … Calm down. … Blow your nose on this. … It's not as bad as you think, now. … You are not going to have to leave Hogwarts. …"
"Oh really, Professor McGonagall?" said Umbridge in a deadly voice, taking a few steps forward. "And your authority for that statement is … ?"
"That would be mine," said a deep voice. The oak front doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds we could not imagine, but there was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the doorway against an oddly misty night. Leaving the doors wide behind him, he strode forward through the circle of onlookers toward the place where Professor Trelawney sat, tearstained and trembling, upon her trunk, Professor McGonagall alongside her.
In that moment, I knew Tralawney was saved, perhaps not from her job, but from being forced to leave. This was Dumbledore.
"Yours, Professor Dumbledore?" said Umbridge with a singularly unpleasant little laugh. "I'm afraid you do not understand the position. I have here" — she pulled a parchment scroll from within her robes — "an Order of Dismissal signed by myself and the Minister of Magic. Under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts has the power to inspect, place upon probation, and sack any teacher she — that is to say, I — feel is not performing up to the standard required by the Ministry of Magic. I have decided that Professor Trelawney is not up to scratch. I have dismissed her."
Dumbledore continued to smile. He looked down at Professor Trelawney, who was still sobbing and choking on her trunk, and said, "You are quite right, of course, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. You do not, however, have the authority to send them away from the castle. I am afraid," he went on, with a courteous little bow, "that the power to do that still resides with the headmaster, and it is my wish that Professor Trelawney continue to live at Hogwarts."
At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccup was barely hidden. "No — no, I'll g-go, Dumbledore! I sh-shall l-leave Hogwarts and s-seek my fortune elsewhere —"
"No," said Dumbledore sharply. "It is my wish that you remain, Sibyll." He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Might I ask you to escort Sibyll back upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"
"Of course," said McGonagall. "Up you get, Sibyll. …"
"Thank fuck for Albus Dumbledore" I muttered.
Professor Sprout came hurrying forward out of the crowd and grabbed Professor Trelawney's other arm. Together they guided her past Umbridge and up the marble stairs. Professor Flitwick went scurrying after them, his wand held out before him; he squeaked, "Locomotor trunks!" and Professor Trelawney's luggage rose into the air and proceeded up the staircase after her, Professor Flitwick bringing up the rear.
Professor Umbridge was standing stock-still, staring at Dumbledore, who continued to smile benignly.
"And what," she said in a whisper that nevertheless carried all around the entrance hall, "are you going to do with her once I appoint a new Divination teacher who needs her lodgings?"
"Oh, that won't be a problem," said Dumbledore pleasantly. "You see, I have already found us a new Divination teacher, and he will prefer lodgings on the ground floor."
"You've found — ?" said Umbridge shrilly. "You've found? Might I remind you, Dumbledore, that under Educational Decree Twenty-two —"
"— the Ministry has the right to appoint a suitable candidate if — and only if — the headmaster is unable to find one," said Dumbledore. "And I am happy to say that on this occasion I have succeeded. May I introduce you?"
He turned to face the open front doors, through which night mist was now drifting. We heard hooves. There was a shocked murmur around the hall and those nearest the doors hastily moved even farther backward, some of them tripping over in their haste to clear a path for the newcomer. Through the mist came a face, whiteblond hair and astonishingly blue eyes, the head and torso of a man joined to the palomino body of a horse. A centaur!
I glanced at Demelza and Amy, who, like the majority of people in the hall, had faced of shocked amusement. A "half-breed" was going to be teaching Divination now, oh my word, how brilliant was this! Something that Umbridge hated more than almost anything was now to take up residence right under her nose!
"This is Firenze," said Dumbledore happily to a thunderstruck Umbridge. "I think you'll find him suitable."