With the truth laid bare, everyone glared daggers at Umbridge, wishing they could tear her apart.
If that pink toad hadn't been courting death, how would they have ended up like this?
Still shaken, they looked at Umbridge as though she were already dead.
Fudge was dumbfounded too. He stared at Umbridge.
He swore to heaven that he had only wanted to scare Hermione and put the little girl in her place. He hadn't intended anything else.
After all, Dumbledore had sent Snape, the man he trusted most. That showed how much the old man valued Hermione.
Who could have imagined that the idiot Umbridge would be so outrageously bold as to secretly torture her?
Umbridge's face went deathly pale. Her lips trembled, but she couldn't get a single word out.
She was used to throwing her weight around at the Ministry of Magic. Apart from Fudge, who dared rein her in?
She had conducted plenty of these coercive interrogations in private.
She had assumed that Hermione, a Muggle-born student, would never dare speak up even if she were tortured.
So what if she had defeated Quirrell?
Two elite Aurors, along with Umbridge herself, would be more than enough to subdue Hermione without anyone knowing.
But she had never imagined that Hermione would be so defiant, much less that she actually had the power to take them all down!
After a moment's thought, Fudge understood what had happened too.
He had only ever noticed that stupid woman's "loyal service," forgetting that she had hardly any brains.
Without his constant support, how could she have risen to her current position?
Naturally, she couldn't grasp the real meaning behind Dumbledore sending Snape.
The charitable interpretation was that he was there to look after Hermione. In reality, it was a warning to the