The Gryffindors' Grand Plan

Professor McGonagall was indeed remarkable; her story of angrily confronting the toad in class quickly spread and became widely known throughout Hogwarts.

Not only the students, but even the professors gave Professor McGonagall a thumbs up.

Of course, there are still some people who dare not openly praise Professor McGonagall, after all, not everyone has the courage to face High Inquisitor from the Ministry of Magic.

The pleasure is only temporary, but if you offend Professor Umbridge, you'll really be in deep trouble.

The students thought they wouldn't see Umbridge for a while, but to their surprise, they spotted Professor Umbridge again in the next class.

As they walked along the meadow to their Care of Magical Creatures, they found her standing next to Professor Scamander, holding her writing board and waiting for them.

"You're actually a writer, but Dumbledore temporarily assigned you to be a professor, right?"

Professor Umbridge asked Newt, but Newt didn't even look at her; he was staring to the side.

The captured Bowtruckle were scrambling to eat the ground beetles, just like countless living tree branches.

Professor Umbridge had done her homework before coming; she had heard from rumors that Mr. Scamander. Newt Scamander's Boggart was afraid of sitting in an office facing countless tedious tasks.

So, isn't dealing with these students just a matter of countless tedious tasks?

Oh right, it's still troublesome.

"You could interpret it that way too," Newt replied without looking up, poking the Bowtruckle.

Professor Umbridge immediately adopted a formal expression, picked up her writing board, and began writing and drawing on it.

"I don't know if it's just my imagination..." Hermione said to Harry, frowning, "I keep seeing a bit of Rita Skeeter in Umbridge..."

"You know what, you really have to believe it," Ron nodded in agreement. "I also have that feeling... Is she planning something big?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, rubbing her temples. "But Professor Scamander and Headmaster Dumbledore have always had a good relationship, so I don't think Umbridge could come up with any big news."

Over there, Professor Umbridge was still asking questions.

"I heard you dislike doing tedious work?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes." Newt's heart was set on Bowtruckle. "But it's no secret. Of course... it depends on the job. If it's taking care of Magical Creatures, I'd be happy to... but if it's sitting in an office like Theseus facing countless documents, then forget it."

Professor Umbridge nodded and asked again, "So, what do you think of Rubeus Hagrid? You mean... your teaching assistant?"

"Hagrid is a really good guy," Newt said, straightening his back. "He's the best assistant I've ever had."

Professor Umbridge was somewhat disappointed, but he still wrote it down on the whiteboard.

"So," she asked again, "What are your true feelings about Headmaster Dumbledore assigning you this position as professor of Care of Magical Creatures? Do you want to be this professor?"

"Since it's Dumbledore's request, I can't very well refuse," Newt said after thinking for a moment.

Since I couldn't reveal the reason behind my aunt's actions, this was the only explanation I could give.

"Oh~" Umbridge nodded meaningfully. "Well then, as a professor who's only temporarily at Hogwarts and hasn't been teaching for very long, perhaps you can answer the question from an outsider's perspective—what do you think of Hogwarts? Do you feel you've received enough support from the school's administrators?"

"Oh, yes, Hogwarts is pretty good," Newt said, bowing his head and smiling somewhat sheepishly. "I'm very satisfied with how the school is run here, really very satisfied."

Seeing Newt's expression, Professor Umbridge gave him a meaningful look.

"Alright, Professor Scamander —I hope you can demonstrate your teaching methods to me. What do you plan to teach this class this academic year?"

"Oh, I'll teach them all the animals that frequently appear in the OWLs exams," Newt answered after a moment's thought. "There aren't many left—they've already learned Unicorn and Niffler, and I think we should also learn Puffskein and the Kneazle, to make sure they can distinguish between Gigglewater and Bundimun. You know, you took the OWLs exams yourself, didn't you?"

"Well, at least you seem to know what you're doing," Professor Umbridge said, clearly ticking a box on the whiteboard. "Alright, I won't bother you any longer, Professor Scamander. I've finished my questions, and I'd like to see your teaching methods."

"Okay, let's start the class now," Newt nodded, then turned to announce the start of the class to his students.

Umbridge took a different approach in this lesson; she walked among the students, asking them questions about magical creatures, and most of them answered well.

She seemed quite satisfied, though it's unclear whether it was because of Newt or because of the result she received from Newt.

After class, she left the Care of Magical Creatures site satisfied.

"It seems she got what she wanted," Hermione said worriedly.

"I think she's found a loophole in Professor Scamander's words." Ron frowned, his expression clearly saying, 'There's only one truth.' "Harry, Harry? What do you think? Hey? Where's Harry?"

When they turned around, they didn't find Harry.

"Harry?" Lavender said as she passed by. "Harry stayed with Professor Scamander Professor Scamander; it seems he has something to discuss with him."

Ron thought for a moment and said to Hermione, "Let's go back to the Great Hall first, and then we can discuss what to do when Harry comes back."

However, to their surprise, Harry did not appear until dinner time, as if he had stayed with Professor Scamander the whole time.

Ron glanced at the time anxiously; he had no appetite for even his chicken leg for dinner.

Noticing her friend's worry, Hermione asked softly, "What's wrong, Ron? Still thinking about what happened before?"

"I don't think things are that simple!" Ron said in a low voice. "Think about it, just how wicked that toad is! I think she definitely exploited the loopholes in Professor Scamander's words to fabricate something about attacking Headmaster Dumbledore. Also, I think someone as good as Professor Scamander might be implicated..."

"What can we do then?" Hermione asked, frowning. "We're still students, after all. What can we possibly do?"

"Hermione!" Ron slammed his fist on the table. "We need to think of something, figure out what to do... Harry isn't back yet, and by the time he does, it'll probably be too late... I think we have to do something to stop the toad from doing bad things!"

"Ron," Hermione said, "What do you want to do?"

"Listen," Ron said in a low voice, "We need to know what the toad wrote on her whiteboard, so... the best way is to sneak into her office, find her whiteboard, and that way we can be prepared, don't you think? If she's trying to target Professor Dumbledore, Harry, or Professor McGonagall, and misleads the public with distorted facts, things could get very bad..."

"But Professor Dumbledore is, after all, the greatest wizard of this century," Hermione said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you really think the Ministry of Magic can bring him down and remove him from his position as Hogwarts Headmaster?"

"I know I can't, but I also know she represents the Ministry of Magic!" Ron said in a low voice. "You have to understand, a significant portion of wizards trust the Ministry of Magic; after all, it represents the Ministry of Magic... If her lies are believed by unsuspecting people, it will inevitably damage Dumbledore's or Harry's reputation, understand? If Harry wants to join the Ministry of Magic like Miss Grindelwald in the future, this could very well be an obstacle..."

Hermione thought about it and realized that it made sense.

"Then what do you think we should do?" she asked.

"Let me think... I need to come up with a good plan..." Ron murmured. "Hmm... I'll go find Fred and George; this plan will need their help."

Upon hearing Fred and George's names, Hermione opened her mouth.

"You're asking both of them for help?" Hermione growled. "Seriously? Ronald? You're going to attack the Professor?"

"Look at what you're saying, Miss Prefect," Fred's voice came from Hermione's left.

At the same time, George's voice rang out from her right. "Is that how you see us, the two brothers?"

At this point, the Twins both clutched their heads and leaned back, exclaiming, "Oh my god, you actually think of us like that? It's so heartbreaking!"

"Oh, I didn't..." Hermione waved her hand, trying to explain.

"Haha, just kidding." The Twins laughed together, sitting down beside Ron and putting their arms around Ron neck on either side. "So what great plan does our Ronnie little darling —no, what Weasley prefect has in mind to carry out through his two older brothers?"

Ron coughed twice, looked up to observe his surroundings, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he whispered his analysis to the two of them.

The Twins listened, their expressions growing increasingly grave. Finally, they said in unison, "Tell us, what do you need us to do?"

"I need the two of you to lure that toad out," Ron said in a deep voice. "That way, I can use the Disillusionment Charm to get into her office, find her whiteboard, and see what kind of bullshit she's written on it."

"In that case..." Fred's eyes lit up, and he reached out to give George a high five. "How could such a great adventure be complete without the two of us?! We're in!"

"You..." Hermione still felt uneasy. "I don't think this is appropriate. We should inform Headmaster Dumbledore, or at least Professor McGonagall..."

"No, silly girl." Fred rubbed his hands together, eager to try. "How can we tell the professors about something like this? Such a great adventure... oh no, such an urgent matter, if we let them discuss and decide, it will be too late—listen to Ron, for the first time I feel like he's our little brother!"

"Hey!" Ron shouted, annoyed. "What do you mean, 'This is the first time I've felt like your little brother'?"

"Oh, come on, Ron!" George scoffed. "You've always been different from us, a total good-natured kid. Do you really think you're like either of us?"

"Thank goodness it doesn't look like her," Ron retorted. "Otherwise, Mom would be driven crazy with worry."

The Twins sighed together.

"Yeah, I don't think either of you are," Ginny said, pulling out a letter and waving it around. "Look, Mom congratulated Ron on becoming Gryffindor Prefect in the letter, and said everyone in our family is Prefect!"

"No?" the Twins cried out anxiously. "Then what about us? Aren't we part of this family?"

"Yes, Weasley, my neighbor next door," Ginny replied with a grin.

The Twins took a deep breath and told themselves to stay calm.

"So," George asked, "What about Harry? Does he know about this?"

"That's why we came up with this plan—because we can't find him," Ron said in a low voice. "I just went to Professor Scamander's camp, and he told me Harry wasn't there... I can't get through to him on the wizarding phone either. Who knows where he went..."

"Did you call Veratia?" Hermione asked from the side.

"How presumptuous of me!" Ron said, scratching his head. "First of all, I don't have her phone number. Secondly, she's the Minister for Magic. Is it appropriate for a student like me to call her? Finally, she's Harry's girlfriend. Why would I call my brother's girlfriend for no reason?"

"That's true." Hermione clicked her tongue, took out her Crystal Ball, and dialed Harry's number.

Busy.

I called Veratia again.

Veratia took the call.

"Hermione?" Veratia, dressed formally and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, asked, "Is there something you need?"

"It's like this, Veratia," Hermione said, "We've encountered some emergency here, but we can't get in touch with Harry... Is he with you?"

"He's not here." Veratia pushed up her glasses. "Maybe he's busy with something. He'll probably be back in a bit."

"Okay." Hermione hung up the phone, somewhat disappointed.

"Look," Ron said with a shrug, "He's not with Miss Grindelwald, he's not with Professor Scamander, where else could he be?"

"Miss Malfoy?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Stop guessing," Ron sighed. "Let's discuss how to safely infiltrate Toad's office and see what's on her whiteboard!"

(End of this chapter)