"Oh my goodness! I really don't understand what those Ministry officials were thinking!"
Hermione's slightly shrill voice carried far across the empty Quidditch Pitch.
Only the trio sat at the edge of the stands. Although news of the exchange's change of venue had already spread through Hogwarts, Quidditch matches still hadn't resumed.
There was no hope of that happening this term, at least. Wood had plenty to say about it, and his resentment had spilled over onto Vaughn. Only yesterday, he had loudly denounced Vaughn's various breaches of school rules in the Great Hall.
The result was that a few young Slytherins played a prank on him after lunch, covering his beloved broomstick with slugs.
Although Quidditch matches hadn't resumed, Wood did find some consolation in the situation. At least he no longer had to stand there like a helpless husband, clutching his hair in anguish as he watched those people stir disgusting liquids in cauldrons on the sacred pitch.
Watching Hermione's small face flush with anger, Harry even wondered whether her hair would stand on end at any moment.
The image struck him as rather funny. With Hermione's slender figure, she would look exactly like a broom.
He couldn't hold back a laugh, earning a furious glare from Hermione. "You can actually laugh about this?"
"She dared to threaten you and Ron when she was only Fudge's lackey. Now that she's acting minister, do you think she'll leave you alone?" Harry's amusement vanished at once. His face quickly twisted into a miserable grimace, his brows drawing tightly together.
Just moments earlier, Fred and George had told them the results of the vote for acting Minister for Magic. The person who had won was completely outside the trio's expectations.
Umbridge!
Who could have imagined that fat woman, who knew nothing