That night.
Close to midnight.
The lights were still on in Umbridge's office.
The light from the pink desk lamp stretched her shadow across the wall covered in cat plates, making it broad and flat.
Seven booklets lay neatly spread out before her.
Their pink covers gleamed softly under the light.
She clutched a quill dipped in pink ink.
As a half-blood, Umbridge had spent seven years in Slytherin and risen to her current position.
Her magical ability might not have been strong, but she certainly knew a thing or two.
No one took this matter, which concerned her political future, more seriously than she did.
She started with the first booklet.
First year, "Your Wand Is Talking."
She circled the passage that "used water pipes and flowing water as an analogy for the flow of magic."
In the margin, she wrote: wording needs adjustment; "water pipes" is too Muggle-like a term.
A few pages later, she came to the section on "sound waves and spells."
She hesitated for two seconds.
Then she drew a five-pointed star.
This was indeed a novel angle.
If students could understand the importance of pronunciation in terms of vibration, teaching in Charms Class would become considerably more efficient.
Second year.
The term "immune system" was circled.
The passage on "the Disarming Charm and magnets" received a five-pointed star.
Third year.
"The Patronus Charm is a localized heating device"-a five-pointed star.
"A Dementor is an aggregate of negative energy"-a circle.
Then she crossed out the circle and replaced it with a five-pointed star.
Fourth year.
"The half-life of curses"-a five-pointed star.
"Three approaches to counter-curses"-two five-pointed stars.
The stars far outnumbered the circles.
She turned to the fifth-year booklet, "War in the Mind."
It was the thickest of them all.
Her page-turning slowed noticeably at