Umbridge walked along the line.
Her gaze swept over each student's lips, making sure they were speaking aloud.
Ron's mouth was moving, but his voice was barely audible.
Umbridge stopped in front of him.
"Mr. Weasley."
Ron looked up.
"Louder."
Ron opened his mouth.
"'The essence of the Mental Faraday Cage is-'"
"Louder."
"'-to weave a network of magical conductors along the inner wall of the skull-'"
"Much better."
Umbridge gave a satisfied smile and continued on.
Ron waited until she was farther away, then whispered something to Harry.
"Now I understand why the professor brought her in."
"Why?"
"Because she's the only person who can make me hate someone so much I forget I'm sleepy while memorizing a textbook at half past five in the morning."
Harry nearly laughed aloud.
But he held it in.
Because Umbridge was turning to look in their direction.
Breakfast had been cut to fifteen minutes.
The usual bustle was gone from the Great Hall.
No one whispered to anyone else.
No one passed newspapers around.
No one threw bread rolls across the table.
The four long tables were filled with students silently chewing their food.
The only sound was the clink of cutlery against plates.
Umbridge sat at the staff table, stirring her floral tea with a small silver spoon.
Her gaze swept slowly across the Great Hall.
From Gryffindor to Slytherin.
From Ravenclaw to Hufflepuff.
Every table was quiet.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
All the professors at Hogwarts seemed to have received some signal; none of them had shown up.
Only the ghosts floated in the four corners of the hall, discussing it among themselves.
"Just like that bastard..."
"We must respectfully call him Professor Holmes."
"All right, what I meant was that they operate the same way. Neither