"Stop! Stop this cruel, absurd atrocity at once!"
A shrill female voice rose through the cold, damp morning wind beside the Black Lake.
Dolores Umbridge stumbled along in her low-heeled leather shoes, bursting through the mist that shrouded the slippery grassy slope.
She looked a mess.
Her vivid pink cardigan was covered in creases, and there was even wet ink on her left cuff.
Overtaxing her magic all night over dossiers and bills had left heavy bags beneath her eyes, and her bulging eyeballs were bloodshot.
Her chest heaved as she recklessly barged into the line of first-years who had only just established order in the mire.
"Get out of the mud! All of you, get onto dry stones!"
Umbridge flailed her short, thick arms and shrieked.
"Who gave you the authority to turn Hogwarts into a low-class labor camp? This isn't education. This is unlawful confinement and physical abuse without Ministry of Magic approval!"
The previously noisy, muddy path fell silent, leaving only the sound of wind passing through the treetops.
The Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years, who had only just learned to support one another, stopped in their tracks. Muddy water dripped from their bodies as they stared blankly at the woman in pink who had suddenly barged in.
Draco Malfoy slowly walked down the slope.
He brushed the droplets from his black tactical trench coat and spoke in his drawn-out, arrogant drawl.
"If that eyesight you're so proud of hasn't been ruined by paperwork, Madam Deputy Director, I think you should be able to see that these sandbags and this muddy water are hammering a pack of sniveling babies into competent wizards."
"Shut up, Mr. Malfoy!"
Umbridge spun around and jabbed a pink quill roughly at his nose, her shrill voice cracking.
"You have no right to boast