By the next day, news that Umbridge had replaced Dumbledore as Hogwarts Headmaster had spread throughout the school. Notices were posted everywhere, and the Daily Prophet had also reported the news.
Harry had no way of knowing how things were outside for the moment, but at Hogwarts, the news had caused an absolute uproar.
Apart from Slytherin, almost none of the students in the other houses could accept it. After all, from any perspective, Umbridge simply could not compare with Dumbledore.
Especially since people had deliberately spread the story of what had happened that night.
A dozen or so Ministry of Magic employees led by Fudge-most of them Aurors-had ganged up on Dumbledore alone. The result was that all of them had been knocked out, while Dumbledore's whereabouts were unknown.
Yet neither the newspaper nor the notices at school mentioned a single word of this.
Naturally, it was the members of R.B. who had spread the story of that night.
Just as Harry had predicted at the start, there had been far too many people involved, more than a tenth of Hogwarts' students. Umbridge obviously could not, and would not dare to, expel that many students at once.
Besides, Dumbledore had taken responsibility for the whole thing himself.
As he himself had said, the Headmaster was, of course, entitled to organize activities. If the activity itself broke the rules, then the Headmaster was at fault, and the students need not face any particular censure.
Although Umbridge thought Dumbledore was spouting utter nonsense, both she and her master, Fudge, were willing to accept this explanation.
After all, compared with expelling a group of young wizards whom they regarded as mere children, driving Dumbledore out was far more to their liking.
In their eyes, the members of R.B. (though of course they