Hermione's Mission

"Do you think McGonagall did the right thing?"

Harry said to Hermione.

Hermione hid her face behind The Daily Prophet and did not answer Harry.

"I hope she didn't take points from you, but I think she was right to remind you not to lose your temper with Umbridge."

Hermione gave him a perfunctory reply. In truth, she did not care about this at all. Yesterday evening, Dumbledore had finally told her the truth about everything, and she was still buzzing with excitement. Not to mention that she had received a letter the previous night that had inexplicably appeared by her bedside—not delivered by owl, but simply appearing there out of nowhere.

The letter said Jon wanted to meet her.

As a result, she had barely slept at all the previous night, and now she was exhausted.

So after breakfast, during Charms, she had been hiding in a corner, dozing off.

But to Harry, this behavior obviously meant that she was still sulking at him. Then, when their next lesson began—Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class—Umbridge suddenly walked into the classroom carrying a clipboard.

At the sight of the witch, Harry immediately forgot all about his unpleasantness with Hermione.

They sat in their usual seats, while Hermione quietly observed Umbridge as well.

To her, Umbridge was no longer merely a witch. This Ministry of Magic official had become a symbol; if this were a novel, she would be the archetypal villain.

Though an insignificant one, of course.

According to Dumbledore, she was merely a clown. In any case, Dumbledore had not taken her seriously at all. When discussing these matters the previous evening, he had not even been willing to spare the Ministry official another moment of his time.

He clearly did not care much.

But Hermione could not afford not to