Harry Potter and the Secret Treasure

Page 421

Hearing this, the first-year freshmen sitting around them let out another exclamation.

When Hermione, Ron, and the ghost talked, they listened in silence, awed, not daring to interrupt.

Many of these freshmen come from Muggle families. They don’t know anything about the wizarding world. No matter what they see, they feel miraculous. not much.

But in any case, the president of the student union, the prefects and Harry are all important figures to them.

The ghost in front of them seems to be very familiar with them, and it has been floating around here, which is enough to prove this point.

There were hundreds of people at the entire Gryffindor table, but Nearly Headless Nick only talked to a few of them.

In the eyes of freshmen, this is probably the embodiment of authority and status.

However, the next topic left them dumbfounded!

"Hey, it wants all four houses to be friends?" said Harry, looking over to the Slytherin table where Draco Malfoy was talking. "I don't think that's very likely." what."

"You shouldn't have this attitude," Nick said reproachfully. "Peaceful coexistence and cooperation are the key. Although we ghosts belong to different houses, we have always maintained a close friendship. Although Gryffindor and The Slytherins are fiercely competitive, and I never dreamed of arguing with the Bloody Baron."

"That's just because you're afraid of him," said Ron.

Nearly Headless Nick looked very insulted and looked at Ron angrily.

"Afraid? I believe that I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Popington, have never erred in cowardice in my life, nor have I ever flinched. Noble blood runs in my veins..."

"What blood?" Ron asked. "You sure don't have any."

"That's a rhetorical device!" Nick was annoyed, his head shaking dangerously on his half-slit neck, "I think I can still enjoy the freedom to say what I want, although I no longer have the pleasure of eating and drinking." ! But I'm used to my classmates making fun of my death, I can tell you!"

"Nick, you know, he's not really laughing at you!" Hermione said hastily, giving Ron an angry look.

There are many people around here, can't this guy set a good example like Ivan? !

Unfortunately, Ron's mouth was about to explode again.

All he could do was mumble a "didn't mean to laugh at you," which Nick seemed to think was an understatement.

He glared at Ron angrily, flew into the air, adjusted his feathered hat, and floated away from them to the other side of the table, where he sat among a group of second years who seemed to be telling a joke , was laughing.

"Look at what you've done, Ron!" said Hermione sternly.

"What?" Ron finally swallowed his mouthful, and said unconvinced, "Aren't I even allowed to ask a simple question now?"

"Okay, don't talk about it." Hermione said angrily, turned around and joined the conversation between Ivan and Kate.

"Inexplicable!" Ron muttered, and started chatting with Lavender on the other side.

Harry, who was sitting between the two, smiled helplessly, looking up at his new student with the same astonishment on his face.

It turns out that this is the prefect, and I have no scruples at all when I say it...

Harry didn't know what they were thinking, but it was definitely Ron and Hermione.

Chapter 922 Umbridge's Speech

Harry was so used to their quarrels that he didn't think it was worth trying to mediate them.

He took advantage of this time to relish his steak and kidney pie, followed by a large plate full of his favorite treacle tarts.

Yes, Harry and Ron don't need to care, but Ivan has to take the responsibility of calming Hermione's anger.

It's easy though, he's already experienced, just divert Hermione's attention.

It works every time, whether it's kissing, bringing up a new topic, or something else...

Ivan told Hermione what he planned just now, and she really became interested and discussed it with him.

They feel that it is not too late, and they are ready to start action this weekend.

In the name of the chairman of the boys' student union, Ai Wen gathered all the first-year freshmen, and the reason was to lead them to familiarize themselves with the campus.

If everything goes well, this event can be held for a long time...

Of course, enough time must be set aside to help Harry and Hermione improve their strength and learn magic. Ivan also thinks that the number of people can be expanded appropriately, but this kind of thing is too sensitive. Gryffindor begins inside.

Wait until everyone realizes there's nothing to learn from Umbridge before scaling it up further.

Finally, the students had eaten and drank enough, the sound of the auditorium gradually became noisy, and everyone was a little drowsy.

At this moment, Dumbledore stood up again.

The voices stopped immediately, and everyone turned their faces to the principal.

"Okay, now that we are digesting another extremely rich and delicious meal, I ask everyone to be quiet for a while, and listen to me talk about the precautions for the new semester as usual." Dumbledore said, "First-year students should know that the hunting ground Students are not allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest here. Several of our senior students should know this by now."

"Also, Mr. Filch, the administrator, asked me, and he told me it had been 426 times, to remind you all that magic is not allowed in corridors between classes, and many other rules, all listed in that long Filch's office door."

That list is almost all contraband items that are not allowed to be carried, and there are more than 3 items.

Almost all of the last year's additions have been Fred and George joke products, luckily Filch hasn't figured out that the new joke products are a brand, all made by the Weasley twins he hates the most. made.

By the time he's cleared this up, he'll probably put all Weasley joke merchandise on the contraband list.

"This year, we have had two changes in our teaching staff. We are delighted that she welcomes back Professor Graplan, who will teach you Care of Magical Creatures. We are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, head of our Defense Against the Dark Arts class. New teacher."

There was a polite if not enthusiastic applause in the auditorium, and everyone seemed to think that Umbridge was terrible.

As for Professor Graplan, she was already very old, so she would not be able to teach for long, and would only temporarily replace Hagrid.

After the applause stopped, Dumbledore continued, "The selection of the Academy Quidditch team will be..."

He stopped short, and looked at Professor Umbridge questioningly.

Since she was not much taller when standing up than when she was sitting, no one could understand why Dumbledore suddenly stopped talking. At this time, Professor Umbridge cleared his throat, "cough, cough .”

Only then did everyone realize that she had stood up and was about to make a speech.

Dumbledore only looked surprised for a split second, and then he sat down alertly, looking intently at Professor Umbridge, who seemed eager to hear what she had to say, which the other teachers did not conceal so subtly. Surprised.

Professor Sprout's eyebrows were almost tucked into her flowing hair, Professor McGonagall had never squeezed her mouth so tight before, and Snape looked somber, like Umbridge I owe him a lot of money.

In fact, no new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before, never before.

Many students were secretly laughing, this woman obviously did not understand the rules of Hogwarts.

Only people who know Umbridge's background can't laugh.

"Thank you, Headmaster!" said Professor Umbridge with a smirk. "Thank you for your warm welcome."

Her voice was high, high-pitched, and breathy, like a little girl's voice, which made people sound disgusted.

Umbridge is not young anymore, Ivan wanted to know, how did she make such a voice, is it a false voice?

And the way she dresses, in that fuzzy pink cardigan, feels off-putting, too.

But the most unacceptable thing is her indescribable temperament, which is annoying.

Considering her background and character, it is even more annoying!

"Cough, cough!" Umbridge coughed a few more times to clear his throat, and continued, "Well, I must say, it's great to be back at Hogwarts!"

She grinned, showing her sharp teeth.

"It's so good to see these happy little faces looking up at me!"

Aiwen can be sure that, except for her, none of the thousands of faces in the auditorium is happy.

On the contrary, they all looked surprised that someone took them for five-year-old children.

"I am eager to get to know you all soon, I am sure we will become very good friends!"

After hearing this, the students exchanged glances with each other, and some of them showed a smirk almost undisguisedly.

"I'll be friends with her, just don't ask me to borrow her cardigan," Parvati whispered to Lavender, and they both laughed silently.

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again, and some of the breathiness in her voice was lost as she continued.

Her voice was much more serious now, and her words were dry, as if they had been memorized by heart.

"Come back to business, the Ministry of Magic has always believed that educating young wizards is a very important thing. If some of your inborn precious talents are not cultivated and exercised under careful and meticulous guidance, there may be no results. Unique in the wizarding world There are ancient arts, which must be passed on from generation to generation, or they will be lost. The precious storehouse of magical knowledge accumulated by our ancestors must be preserved, supplemented and perfected by those who are fortunate enough to practice the noble profession of education. "

Chapter 923 The Ministry of Magic's Interference and Guidance

At this point, Professor Umbridge stopped talking and bowed slightly to the other teachers, but none of them returned the bow to her.

Professor McGonagall's black eyebrows were drawn so tightly together that she looked like a hawk.

As Umbridge turned to continue his speech, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout exchanged a meaningful glance.

"The successive Headmasters of Hogwarts have all innovated in their charge of running this historic school, and this is entirely due, because if there is no progress, it will stagnate and decay. At the same time, however, progress for the sake of progress This practice should never be encouraged. Our traditions have been tempered and often do not need bad revisions. To achieve a balance, between the old and the new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation between."

Umbridge went on and on, and she probably thought it was a Ministry work report.

Aiwen quickly lost her mind. Aside from those meaningless words, there was only one thing she wanted to convey, and that was that the Ministry of Magic was very dissatisfied with the current operating conditions of Hogwarts, and was going to interfere with Hogwarts. operate.

He knew this a long time ago, so naturally he was not interested in listening to her continue.

The little wizards have never seen this kind of scene, and they are not interested in listening to her chatter here.

Everyone's attention was gradually losing focus, and they couldn't keep up with Umbridge's train of thought. When Dumbledore was talking, there was no sound, and now the students were whispering, whispering, and giggling, and the auditorium was full of noise.

On the left of Ivan, Kate held her chin with her hands, but her head kept sliding down; on the Ravenclaw table next to her, Qiu was happily chatting with her friends, and Luna, who was a few seats away from her, Pulled out the Quibbler again.

Meanwhile, at the Hufflepuff table, Ernie MacMillan was one of the few students still staring at Professor Umbridge, but his eyes were glazed, sure enough, he Just pretending to be listening, to live up to the new, gleaming prefect badge on his chest.

At the long Slytherin table on the other side of the auditorium, Astoria was talking to a girl.

She is Astoria's older sister, Daphne Greengrass, and they have an older brother, a seventh-year Slytherin student.

On the podium, Umbridge didn't seem to notice the fidgeting of the audience.

She turned a blind eye to everything below, and continued to speak slowly in her goosebump-provoking voice.

She gave the impression that she wouldn't care if there was a massive riot right under her nose.

However, the teachers were listening carefully, and Dumbledore kept staring at Umbridge.

On Ivan's right, Hermione also listened intently to every word Umbridge said, but judging from her expression, she didn't like to hear these words.

"Because some changes have good results, and others will be found to be poor decisions in due time. At the same time, some old habits will be retained, which is understandable, and some habits are outdated. It must be discarded. Let us move forward into a new age of enlightenment, efficiency and reason, insisting on maintaining what should be maintained, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and discarding what we should prohibit."

Half an hour later, when Umbridge finally sat down, Dumbledore began to applaud, and the other teachers followed suit.

But there were very few responses below, and a few students applauded subconsciously, but most of the students just drifted away after listening to two or three sentences, and didn't even realize that the speech was over at this moment.

Before they could start clapping properly, Dumbledore was on his feet again.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, your speech was very enlightening," he said, bowing to her, "Well, as I said, the Quidditch selection will be... ..."

"Yeah, really instructive," said Hermione in a low voice.

"Didn't you say you listened with gusto?" Ron asked softly, turning his dull face to Hermione. "That's probably the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up around Percy. of it."

"I said illuminating, not entertaining," said Hermione. "It says a lot."

"Really?" Ron asked blankly. "It sounds like a lot of nonsense, by the way, Harry, do you think I can sign up for the college Quidditch team trials?"

When he mentioned Quidditch, he suddenly became energetic.

"Of course, if you can come, it would be great!" Harry said, and then came back to his senses, "Wood is gone, we need a new goalkeeper, I don't know who is the captain yet, wait until tomorrow , I'll help you find out."

The first years looked at the two of them longingly again, everyone was more interested in Quidditch than Umbridge's speech.

As the most popular sport in the wizarding world, Quidditch is beyond imagination.

Many young Muggle-born wizards enter the wizarding world, and the first thing they know is Quidditch.

Everyone seemed to want to be on the Quidditch team, and if there was an open and fair selection, the chances of Ron being selected were low.

It's not that he doesn't fly well enough, but that he's too unstable, and he may not be able to show his strength at all...

"Listen to what she said, the practice of progress for the sake of progress should never be encouraged, and those we should ban are abandoned. The Ministry of Magic is interfering in Hogwarts." Hermione turned her head and said to Ivan, ignoring the two of them.

"As expected, Fudge hopes to divide and solve us from the inside." Aiwen said, "Be careful with this woman, she is not simple."

Umbridge represents the Ministry of Magic, and Hogwarts cannot resist the orders of the Ministry of Magic until it is completely broken.

Hermione wanted to say something, but there was a sound of tables, chairs and benches colliding all around.

Apparently, Dumbledore had declared the whole school dismissed, as everyone was on their feet to leave the Great Hall.

Hermione jumped up, looking very panicked.

"Ewen, we should show the way to the first-year students!" She said hurriedly, "Ron, hurry up!"