Having just returned to school, Dolores Umbridge had not yet had time to trouble the students before she ran into a whole heap of trouble herself.
The ancient castle seemed to have been cursed. Problems of all kinds cropped up from time to time, and Umbridge had to deal with them personally. As a result, she had no choice but to run about again, handling the endless stream of emergencies throughout the school.
Even with Filch's help, Umbridge was still thoroughly worn down by all the trouble.
As for Defence Against the Dark Arts, which had previously been suspended, classes naturally resumed. The subject was still in a half-dead state, however.
Once the bell rang, students in the classroom began showing all sorts of physical discomfort. Then, in full view of Umbridge, groups of students would leave the classroom and head for the Hospital Wing.
Staring at the empty Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Umbridge watched the last student leave with a vacant gaze, a savage expression creeping across her face.
Hogwarts had now completely slipped out of her control. That was why those students dared to be so brazen. Even thinking with her knees, Umbridge could guess that some students had deliberately caused those damned emergencies just to make trouble for her.
And there was that damned Anti-Toad Alliance. Even the Slytherin students Umbridge had previously recruited were no longer much use. Apparently, they had been harshly retaliated against by students from the other Houses while she had been in the hospital.
And that damned Peeves!
That creature accounted for more than half the trouble Umbridge encountered at school.
She had tried to deal with Peeves before. She had even attempted to persuade the only ghost Peeves feared, Bloody Baron, to have the Slytherin ghost discipline him. The