The night before the briefing.
The deputy director's office of the Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office.
Umbridge sat at her desk.
Steam rose from a pink teacup.
Spread out before her was a copy of "Speech for the Minister for Magic's Briefing."
She held a red quill.
She was checking it word by word, sentence by sentence.
Beneath the sentence "Our thanks to Madam Umbridge, the High Inquisitor, for her wise guidance,"
she forcefully drew three red lines.
She was very satisfied.
Every part of the proceedings had been confirmed.
The seating had been arranged.
The Ministry of Magic officials would arrive at nine o'clock sharp tomorrow morning.
The Red List students were holding their final formation rehearsal in the Great Hall.
Everything was under her control.
After tomorrow, control of Hogwarts would shift entirely to the Ministry of Magic.
She would become the true ruler of education.
At the same time.
The Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory.
The lights had already gone out.
Only the tip of the wand by Hermione's bed still glowed faintly.
Hermione sat on her bed.
She held the second speech she had written.
The pages were densely covered with revisions and annotations.
She recalled everything that had happened over the past half term.
The students who recited their textbooks as they walked down the corridors.
The faces that bowed before the White List.
The looks with which they watched one another for fear of punishment.
She lifted her quill.
On the last line of the parchment,
she wrote down the central message of tomorrow's speech.
"Even things that work need boundaries."
The ink dried on the parchment.
The next day.
The Great Hall had looked different since early morning.
The four long tables had been moved to the sides.
A broad space had been cleared in the