Firenze the centaur's arrival did not escape the notice of the other students—or rather, the headmaster had never intended to hide it in the first place.
When Umbridge saw Firenze standing on the stone steps, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She personally demonstrated what it meant to be dumbfounded.
She had clearly never expected Dumbledore to hire a centaur as the Divination professor.
There was little Umbridge could say about it, since most centaurs had studied Divination and were even more professional in the field than most wizards.
No one had expected Headmaster Dumbledore to hire a centaur as Hogwarts' Divination professor. It was undoubtedly a novelty, especially to Hogwarts students who knew little about centaurs. They were all curious about their new professor.
Of course, there was also the string of prophecies Trelawney had left behind.
Although centaurs possessed intelligence equal to that of humans, they had asked the Ministry of Magic to classify them as "beasts," unwilling to share human status with creatures such as hags and Vampires. Therefore, centaurs were not humans.
Yes.
Not humans, but beasts.
Trelawney's third prophecy was: Headmaster Dumbledore would hire a Divination professor who was not human to serve at Hogwarts.
Without a doubt, Trelawney's prophecy had come true once again.
So what would the next prophecy be?
Most students had already forgotten the prophecies Trelawney had made, but there were always a few who remembered. However, the content of Trelawney's next prophecy was rather dreadful: Umbridge would drive Dumbledore away and become Hogwarts' new headmistress?
Umbridge becoming headmistress? What kind of joke was that?
Given this Ministry of Magic Undersecretary's terrible performance, aside from some Slytherin students who supported her, probably every student at Hogwarts would despise and reject her.
In fact, after the fourth prophecy spread, most