In the brief few days after term began, everyone had more or less figured out Umbridge's personality. She was a hypocritical, self-righteous, unreasonable old woman who loved controlling people.
Not a single Prefect who had dealt with Umbridge liked her.
No one knew which Prefect had secretly leaked the contents of their conversation with Umbridge, but rumors were already spreading through the school that Umbridge wanted the Prefects to act as her spies and monitor the students of Hogwarts.
This Deputy Minister of Magic had clearly treated Hogwarts like the Ministry of Magic. She was actually playing political games, intending to divide the students, destroy their trust in the Prefects, and win the Prefects over to her side.
The moment the news spread, the whole school nearly exploded. The Prefects had no idea how many times they cursed Umbridge in their hearts.
In order to avoid being isolated by the other students, they began spreading all sorts of information they had gotten from Umbridge. For a time, negative rumors about Umbridge filled the air.
The news that excited everyone most was this: Umbridge had finally hit a wall with Albert and had smashed up her office in fury.
At the time, quite a few students had heard the sounds of smashing and furious shouting coming from the Defence Against the Dark Arts office.
Everyone took great pleasure in her misfortune. They did not dare ignore Umbridge as Albert did, but seeing that old woman suffer a setback still thrilled them beyond measure.
Unfortunately, no one knew what Albert and Umbridge had actually discussed.
Even if they did know, they could not imitate him.
After all, Albert could basically ignore his N.E.W.T. results. Even without that transcript, no one would doubt his true abilities.
His gleaming title of World-Class Champion was