Chapter Text
It’s not that Harry wasn’t happy for the new school year. After all, Hogwarts was his home but…
After what happened with Cedric he wasn’t sure if staying at the exact location Voldemort knew Harry would be at was smart.
Yet, where would he go?
“Oi, mate! Are you even listening?” interrupted Ron.
“What?”
“I told you we’re almost there!”
Harry looked around. They were very close to the castle. How long was he zoned out?
“I hope that Snape won’t chew me out for the essay he assigned for the summer break, you know?”
“I’m sorry to say this. But you’re fucked,” deadpanned Harry.
Ron gasped and Hermione smacked the dark-harried one on the arm.
“Language!”
“I mean, I’m right,” Hermione only shrugged, not completely agreeing but then not disagreeing with him either. “You had the whole summer and you decided to write it on the train.”
“I’ve always done that,” said the ginger, offended.
“And that’s why you've always got ‘Poor’on them.”
“Aaaaand, that’s our stop,” the girl squashed the discussion before it turned into a full-blown argument.
A sea of students moved towards the castle and they let themselves be swallowed in it. The trio stuck close to each other even when they glimpsed their friends in the crowd. Harry wasn’t comfortable being separated, after the graveyard resurrection he had problems with being alone. Especially when left to his own emotions. Anger seemed like a sweeping tide under his skin, never going back, always close - waiting to be summoned with a wrong glance or a comment calling him a liar.
Hogwarts truly didn’t change. Not at all. Still as beautiful, still warm and safe, forever his home.
“Come on Harry,” Hermione grabbed him and pulled towards their usual spot of the Gryffindor table.
The mess of students finding their places and giving out quicks ‘hellos’ to their friends was familiar as well.
His gaze moved from the students towards the high table where the teachers sat.
“Oh no,” he said, catching the attention of his friends. “The pink woman was at my trail.”
“That’s Dolores Umbridge,” interjected Nevill. “Gram says that she’s always voting against magical creatures and any sort of progressive ideas. Especially when they come from Dumbledore.”
“Yeah, she wasn’t exactly nice to me during the trial.”
“But she can’t be that bad if Dumbledore hired her, right?” asked Hermione.
“Wonder what she’s teaching then,” added Ron.
Sonn after the first years came out with McGonagall, waiting to be sorted. Harry clapped but was ultimately too busy thinking about the horrid woman dressed in pink to actually register how many first-years joined his house.
“And who’s that?” Hermione pointed to the high table subtly.
There was another new face sitting there. They didn’t notice her before since she was curled up in her chair so as to not call attention to herself. The woman, though she looked more like a girl, was young, twenty-something young. Harry could only assume she wasn’t a teenager if she was a teacher. With golden hair curling around her and cascading off her shoulders never-ending, it seemed as if the waves probably stopped under the table. She had a pleasant smile on her face which was focused on Snape of all people!
“I don’t know her,” said Ron and Harry just nodded.
Dumbledore came to the podium and started his speech addressing the students, old and new, welcoming them to the school for the new year.
“C’mon just finish talking, I’m hungry,” muttered Ron. Then he winced when Hermione kicked him under the table.
“Tuck in!” sounded from Dumbledore, along with a clap of his hands. Ron was waiting for precisely this signal.
The ginger boy attacked the turkey leg faster than Harry could blink. Hermione only rolled her eyes and put some peas on her plate. Their friend decided on sausages and mashed potatoes.
Ron was like a bottomless hole shoving food into his mouth long after the girl finished. Harry usually couldn’t stomach too much after the - ekhem - vacations at Dursleys, however, this time he had some time to get used to full meals at the Headquarters. In the meantime, the brains of the trio was making polite conversation with Nearly Headless Nick about the Sorting Hat’s song and warnings it gave in the past. Harry was only half-listening and he knew that Ron was too gone in his eating spree to even notice the ghost hovering above the table.
After a long while the noise levels started rising as the students finished eating. It was the moment Dumbledore decided to stand up and start talking.
“Now that we are all satiated, you’ll have to excuse me for taking more of your time,” he clapped his hands and the empty bowls and the leftovers disappeared from the tables. “We have quite a number of changes in our staff this year. Professor Grubbly-Plank is back to teach Care of Magical Creatures.”
There was applause from the students as the woman stood up and bowed. Harry shared a look with his friends. Dumbledore wasn’t specific with the time frame for this change. Where was Hagrid?
“Second, we are delighted to have a new teacher this year. Professor Agnes Nutter will take care of the History of Magic from this point on.”
The blonde lady stood up and saluted at them, smiling mischievously. The applause that followed was louder than before. And with it came whispers of the students at all tables. Some chuckles spilt at her greeting.
“It was decided by the Teaching Board that this subject needed a new teacher with a fresh perspective,” added Dumbledore while the applause was still sounding in the Great Hall.
Binns wasn’t really the best person to teach. His lessons were so boring even Hermione had to fight sleep during his long lectures about the Goblin Wars.
Professor Nutter sat down and whispered something to Snape who only looked at her with a raised brow and a look Harry couldn’t identify.
Hermione muttered to herself.
“What was that?” asked Harry quietly.
“Her name sounds familiar,” she said, still lost in thought.
“And lastly, we have Dolores Umbridge as our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year.”
There was some polite applause but definitely not as enthusiastic as before. The toad-looking woman stood up and started talking, catching Dumbledore, who looked like he wanted to say something, off guard.
“ Hem , hem ,” she said in a very clearly forcefully pitched voice. As if that would make her seem younger. Harry cringed and he wasn’t the only one. “It is so delightful to be back at Hogwarts and to see your smiling faces, children.”
The trio looked around. There were no smiles, only confusion and some distaste on students’ faces. Harry saw Professor Nutter raise her eyebrow at this comment from Umbridge. She nudged Snape who had a scowl on his face, although that was his interpretation of a neutral expression.
“I'm sure we’ll all get along and become good friends in the process.”
Students started whispering under their breaths and giggling silently at jabs towards the professor's style of clothing and the manner of speaking.
“The Ministry of Magic considers the education of young witches and wizards as the most important for the Wizarding kind. And I am here to make sure that we accomplish this goal together.” She finished and turned to her colleagues.
Uncertain applause followed the end of her speech. Hermione elbowed both of the boys and pointed to the expression of the youngest teacher. During the speech, she looked as though she didn’t quite believe it was happening, with raised eyebrows and the corner of her lips curled upwards. But now that Umbridge was looking at her, she seemed open and happy, with wide eyes - all innocent.
Harry had a feeling he’s going to like this new professor.
“Well, this explained a lot,” said Hermione in a quiet whisper as Dumbledore stood up again to mention the rules and the Quidditch try-outs.
“What do you mean?” asked Ron.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she whispered back as the boys threw a look at each other, “The Ministry is trying to interfere at Hogwarts.”
The trio looked grim.
“What about the Teaching Board? Isn’t it made as a tool for the Ministry?” asked Harry, very lost. Which wasn’t out of the ordinary. He wasn’t raised in this magical world and, unlike Hermione, he didn’t research every single thing he came across. Which often bit him in the ass. Oh well.
“No, it’s technically neutral. It’s made out of the Head of the Houses, the Headmaster, and a couple of governors representing, basically, our society,” the girl signed. “One of them is Malfoy but while he has many contacts in the Ministry, he doesn’t work there.”
“But wouldn’t he want that?” asked Harry and Ron looked at him lost. “Wouldn’t You Know Who want Hogwarts to be under the Ministry’s rule?”
“It’s hard to say, Harry,” said the ginger boy. “He never really tried to take charge of the school in the first war.”
“But the circumstances are different now,” said Hermione ominously but still summing up all of their thoughts into one sentence.
“Could they even do that? Take charge?” asked The Boy Who Lived again.
“The Ministry pays tuition for every student,” she told him. “So, they do have some influence on the school but when you consider that they don’t choose the students or even the subjects that are taught then you can easily see that the Ministry doesn’t really have that much power over Hogwarts.”
“Shit, it’s us,” Ron interrupted them, grabbing at the girl’s wrist. “We need to gather the first years.”
Dumbodere just dismissed the students but they were so conversed in their talk that they didn’t even notice.
“Oh, right,” she said, pulling herself together. “We’ll talk later,” she threw to Harry before she stalked off with Ron, grouping the new lions so they wouldn’t get lost.
Ron seemed to get into the role wonderfully, calling the kiddos midgets and getting hit on the head with a spare bit of parchment by Hermione who told him to quit it with the names.
Harry just chuckled to himself. Maybe this role would turn Ron into the more responsible one of their little group.
The boy threw one last glance at the table where the teachers were slowly standing up from the table while conversing with each other. And the mysterious Agnes Nutter was pulled out of her seat by no other than Snape. He offered his hand out and she took it, not breaking the animated conversation she seemed to have with Flitwick.
Harry would need to keep an eye on that teacher for sure. She seemed to have a sense of humour but at the same time a somewhat familiar relationship with Severus Snape of all people. This felt unreal, almost like an oxymoron. One simply cannot be funny and be friends with Snape. No way.
On the way to the common room, he heard people talking about the two new teachers joining the staff. The consensus was the same for every house out there.
Umbridge seemed to be operating in a different reality where students listened to their teachers and teachers were delusional beyond belief.
And on the other hand, there was Professor Nutter who didn’t do much yet however the first impression said much about her character - a happy person with a sense of humour, youthful, not impressed by Umbridge or her speech and as it would seem a teacher with a ‘new perspective’ on the subject. Whatever Dumbledore meant by that.
“I sincerely hope she has clothes in different colours than pink,” said Pansy Parkinson. “I might actually barf if she struts into the classroom dressed like that again.”
“The colour’s fine,” said Harry standing behind as the group tried to walk out through the traffic-jammed doors of the Great Hall. “It’s the style that’s the abomination.”
“Oh?” she commented with a smile, a bit surprised to hear such a thing from the Boy Who Lived himself. “I didn’t take you for a fashion expert.”
“It doesn’t take an expert to see that these clothes are fucking ugly,” he said without thinking.
The group of Slytherin girls giggled and Theodore next to Pansy snorted.
It looked like they wanted to say something to him but they already made it out into the hall that split into many different staircases and smaller corridors.
He jumped into the stairway leading to the Gryffindor rooms. He waved at the group at the bottom and said: “See you guys around,” and sprinted to the top.
Agnes Nutter went into her new rooms after Severus escorted her after dinner.
The teacher dormitory was spacious with a private bathroom, a big bedroom and a small living room to entertain guests.
Her bags were already there, left by some house elf on the bed. The number of them wasn’t an issue since they were all charmed to be light as a feather.
She just was so tired from her journey back to England and her choice to go straight to Hogwarts from Prague wasn’t at all smart. Alas, that was the life of a Curse Breaker. Travelling the world and never staying still.
The excitement of the evening died down the moment that Pink Demon opened her mouth. Fighting to not laugh out loud when the woman started talking about the Ministry's apparent care for the students and then cringing hard when Umbridge said she hopes to become friends with the students.
It wasn’t hard to guess which teacher would be the victim of pranks and teenage jabs. It remains to see if she will deserve them though.
“With the blatant message the Ministry is sending?” she said out loud. “Yeah, I bet she will.”
She stared at the timetable for the History of Magic classes. Some changes to the number of lessons in a week were made after the Teaching Board investigated the previous professor’s teaching style. Agnes could already tell that it will be a shitstorm.
“Fuck me,” she sighed running her fingers through her hair. She managed to make it less chaotic before the dinner but it was still pretty tangled. “Time to get in the shower and sleep while I still can get a full night of it. The moment I start assigning essays I can kiss nine hours of blissful nothingness goodbye.”
Harry didn’t sleep well and it showed. It wasn’t the nightmares this time around. The little fight he had with the boys of his year in their shared dormitory made him think about the Daily Prophet.
Or rather his image in general.
He knew that while he was the only witness to Cedric’s death (not counting Voldy and the pathetic rat) but to suggest that he made it up for attention? OR worse, that he killed Cedric himself?
He wondered what Rita Skeeter was trying to accomplish. She was a despicable woman and probably under the thumb of the Ministry but to make him into a lunatic and an attention seeker for the sake of staying famous? The Minister must be in denial and Dumbledore seemed to not care at all.
He barely did when Harry was fighting to stay in school and keep his wand. Was this a trick to isolate him? Or make him helpless and untrustworthy so no one would give him a helping hand when something bad happens?
“I shouldn’t argue for my point,” he thought, munching on his toast, while Ron and Hermione argued about their responsibilities as the Prefects. “Especially with Umbridge if she’s really here to take charge of Hogwarts for the Ministry.”
He cast a quick look at the other tables. The students looked a bit dishevelled but it was the first day of the lessons so it was expected. Many were fussing over their robes or staring blankly into their plates of food.
Not that the teachers were doing any better. While McGonagall always looked put together, Trelawney was her complete opposite. The Head of the Ravenclaw House was giving the students their schedules. Gryffindors got theirs before they could properly sit their asses on the benches. McGonagall didn’t like to waste time.
And neither did Snape. After he gave out the timetables to his snakes he went back to the High Table to eat his breakfast.
It was still early when the new History teacher came to the Great Hall. She was rubbing at her eyes and messing with her hair so the curls would fall apart into smaller groups of strands. She stretched before sitting in her chair and yawned behind her hand.
Surprisingly, she didn’t start talking to Snape immediately, opting to instead stare at her plate like into a mirror.
The students who noticed her entrance started whispering, excited for their first lessons with the new teacher. While probably dreading the lesson with the other new teacher.
Harry heard the girls at the Hufflepuff table commenting on the wardrobe of the younger of the two. Professor Nutter had a simple white sweater with a light blue skirt and white boots with a high heel that wasn’t very high now that Harry was thinking about it.
The most excitement in the girls from the badger house generated the bottom parts of the shoes which looked like a glass with a rainbow film on it. The same effect was used on a belt and earrings dangling happily in the blonde hair of the teacher. The rings the lady wore were decorated with see-through gems which caught the early autumn sun and created small spots of colour.
All it took to understand the reason for the animated discussion about fashion, which seemed to get more and more spectators, was one look at the Defence teacher and another back at the History professor.
The comparison that happened in each mind observing these two, as if they were two exotic birds, was enough to give one a nystagmus.
Though the discussion was gathering a crowd and a litany of whispers and giggles the two teachers seemed oblivious to the issue. The pink woman was enjoying her cup of tea (is the cup decorated with cats?) while the other put a toast on her plate.
Snape, who started talking to her after she took a couple of sips from the mug, didn’t even blink when the lady took out a can of an energy drink (it was hard to see the label from his seat at the Gryffindor table but he was eighty percent sure it was a Redbull) and shotgunned it by using her butter knife.
Harry was only aware of what and how she did that because he saw his cousin do the same thing with various other cans. Some other students, who noticed the same thing, just chuckled clearly in the known about this way of drinking. Others were not, however, and just gaped at the blonde. Most of those were purebloods who didn’t come in contact with muggle objects such as cans.
The young Gryffindor just chuckled at Malfoy’s jaw hanging open and ignored the way the Weasley twins were chanting quietly ‘Drink! Drink!’.
He shook his head and decided to take a peek at the timetable. When the Head of his House gave it to him, the boy only turned it upside down and put it on the table next to his cup of tea. He’s been dreading to see his schedule. Ignoring Umbridge’s jabs at him and the never-ending praise she has for the Minister of Magic will take a lot of self-control. But he can’t lose this battle if he wants to be taken seriously in the future.
He looked at the schedule to see his first Monday lesson being Defence with Slytherins and only sighed.
“This is going to be a shitstorm,” Harry said quietly to himself.
Walking to the classroom the trio could feel the tension building, the weird anticipation, straightened backs and curious looks and shared glances between people.
The question on everyone’s mind was simple really.
Is she a competent teacher?
Harry caught Pansy’s eye and she smiled at him and he answered with a quick smirk.
But his friends noticed anyway.
“What was that?” whispered Ron, somewhere between astonishment and anger.
“What was what?” the other boy played stupid.
“You know what. That look,” prodded Ron again.
“So, I might’ve made fun of Umbridge’s fashion style a bit too loud yesterday and the Slytherins heard me. But they seemed to agree with me,” shrugged Harry. “And it looks like we’re all waiting to see if she dresses the same for today’s lesson.”
Hermione just shook her head.
“It’s not right to make fun of her for that,” commented the girl when the group of snakes got closer to where the trio was standing.
“Miss Granger is right,” interrupted Theodore. “But we do get to make fun of her if we find her teaching as tasteless as her clothes, no?”
Harry snorted as the girls around him giggled.
“We can give her the benefit of the doubt for now,” added Pansy, trying to keep the peace in their, now bigger, group. “But I don’t have great hopes.”
“Yeah, me neither,” said Harry. “Especially after that comment of becoming our friend.”
“That was a bit – “ started Daphne.
“ – disturbing? Yeah,” finished Ron, who got over his shock of willingly talking to Slytherins pretty quickly.
“Should we bully her?” Harry asked jokingly.
“I think we should bully her,” answered Draco with a bit of a smirk.
“I mean she can’t be worse than Quirrell, right?” said Theodore Knott, looking at the other people in the group, shocked at the interaction between Potter and Malfoy.
“It was hard to understand what he was saying,” said Hermione.
“I mean he was a bit of a pushover,” added Pansy.
“He didn’t seem like a pushover when he tried to kill me,” muttered Harry.
“I beg your pardon?” asked the gobsmacked Draco, while the rest of the snakes were shocked into silence.
“It’s a whole story,” said Harry, looking at something moving toward the door of the classroom. “I’ll tell you later.”
The group looked at where the Boy Who Lived focused his gaze. Dolores Umbridge was making her way through the crowded corridor.
“Oh, this is going to be a whole circus,” commented Knott when he noticed that the woman was wearing an all-pink outfit that looked even uglier than the one from their first evening back.
The group tried to hide their giggles and snorts as she walked by.
They walked inside the classroom, taking the available seats but for the first time, the Gryffindor trio and Slytherin group sat so closely to each other.
“Good morning children,” said the teacher, standing in front of the blackboard but after her only answer were a few unsure greetings she stood up straight and clapped her hands. “I said, good morning children.”
The students repeated the greeting, less unsure but more angry at being treated like toddlers.
“Now, take out your quills and put your wands away,” said the woman, turning to the board and writing ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts: A Return to Basic Principles’ on it.
Malfoy used this moment to throw a confused but amused glance at Potter. He only answered with a small smirk and a shrug.
They were students for long enough to learn that in most cases when the professor says ‘wands away’, the lesson that follows can be quite boring edging on dreadful.
“You have been unfairly treated by this school,” said Umbridge, clasping her hands in the front, trying to summon a serious air to herself while she monologued on the topic. “With the constant changes of curriculums and teaching styles of different professors. Because of that, your knowledge of Defence Against the Dark Arts is below par.”
Another quick glance between the lions and snakes followed.
“ Did she just call us stupid? ” asked wordlessly Knott.
“However, thankfully, the Ministry took charge this year,” she continued. “You will follow a new, theory-based and entirely Ministry-approved curriculum.”
She turned to the board once again to write the aims of the course.
The students used the lack of surveillance to their advantage. The notes that followed, from one hand into the other and the perplexed looks one sent to another said everything about the students’ attitude towards the new teacher.
“Now, take out your books and read through chapter one,” she ordered and sat back watching the class.
The chapter was dreadfully boring and Harry struggled to read through it at all. The writing style reminded him of Binns and his lectures. Ron was fidgeting with his quill and staring blankly at a spot where a drop of ink fell on the middle of the page. Hermione only scanned the pages as she already read this and the five next chapters the week before school started.
The Slytherins weren’t doing much better. Pansy was blinking feverishly and Theodore sitting on her right looked like he was trying to keep himself from falling asleep. Daphne didn’t even try to fight and hid her face with her hair so it looked like she was reading. Or it would if she ever turned the page.
Draco looked amused by the boring chapter as if the idea of reading something so obvious and badly written was the funniest thing any teacher could demand of him.
Harry wiped at his face. The fact that this lesson was the first thing in the morning didn’t help.
“Yes?” Umbridge cut the silence when she saw Hermione’s hand rise. “Do you have a question about the chapter dear?”
“Oh, no but I wanted to ask about the course aims,” said Hermione.
Harry could see the grip she had on her robes so he knew that his friend was pissed at the teacher’s approach to this subject. Hermione however was smart and she pretended to be just a little lost (and not furious).
“I guess I’m a little confused,” continued the girl. “You said it’s entirely based on theory; does that mean we won’t be casting spells?”
“Right you are,” answered the teacher. “The Ministry decided that what you're missing is the theory on Defence.”
Harry raised his hand and she pointed to him.
“Does that mean that during the OWLs we won’t be asked to perform a defensive spell, ma’am?” he went for that confused and oblivious voice he liked to use with Dursleys.
The change to his tone caught the attention of every student but it was the snakes who recognised his tactic and the importance of the question he voiced.
“Don’t be silly, child,” she said condescendingly. “You will have to know how to perform such spells to pass the exam but if you study the theory you won't have a problem with the casting.”
Hermione looked like she wanted to comment on what was said but Harry kicked her under the desks. He shot her a glance that said ‘drop it’. When Ron noticed this he put down his hand as well.
“You shan’t be using the spells during my lessons,” continued Umbridge. “I can understand that you had problems with that werewolf that taught you two years ago,” the emphasis on ‘werewolf’ didn’t go unnoticed, “but I can assure you that I won’t try to attract you.”
The discussion dies down but not the disbelief the student felt.
“ The woman’s delusional,” thought Harry. “ But she didn’t get what she wanted. I didn’t break, she has no reason yet to hate me as her student.”
He looked up from the text at the teacher. She looked utterly self-satisfied.
“ Well, not for long, ” he thought as a little plan started forming in his head.