abcnovels
Chapter 157: Board
Chapter 157: Board
Chapter 157: Board
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them.
I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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19th October 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I sigh in exasperation, "Mr. Longbottom is a special case, where he had to deal with a serious handicap for his magical development ever since he started learning magic. What I am doing, alongside his other professors, is teaching him wand magic from the ground up, to make sure that a bright young man wouldn't mess up his future just because of a mistake his grandmother made. Look, Ms. Granger, I don't mind teaching people, but demanding my tutelage is a surefire way for me to refuse. Stop saying that everything is unfair, because life is almost never fair. You have to work hard, and smart, to make your way in the world and this is nothing different. You are an extremely clever young woman, and you probably have an amazing future ahead of you. But the way you act towards people, even towards your own magic, would close a lot of doors for you. As for now, I have papers to grade."
"But"
"This conversation is over, Ms. Granger."
The girl bowed her head and left with her two friends. I hope that my little speech woke her up. As for now, I had a meeting to prepare to. I smirk at my plan. I'm surely going to ruffle some feathers with this move.
When the weekend arrived, I teleported to the agreed meeting room, where I saw twelve persons sitting down, waiting for me impatiently. They were the members of the school board. I could see Umbridge sitting down in the front with a visibly smug smile on her face. Honestly, I was a bit excited; most of the members of the school board had connections to the lords of the Wizengamot. Making an impression now, would cause waves, that affect both Dumbledore and Voldemort's sides of the conflict.
"You're late!" Umbridge screeched.
I wasn't late, but I could see Umbridge making sure that I came late to the meeting by changing the time, like Fudge did in Harry Potter's hearing. Instead of being uncomfortable, I chose to mess with them, "A witch is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to. Now in the unlikely event that a witch is late, it would be because she was given the incorrect time of the meeting."
Umbridge snarled at me, "The time given to you was the correct one."
I smile at her obvious anger, "Time, what a curious thing. If one thing I learnt studying time is that it is relative. Perhaps I am late, or perhaps we are early. Or maybe we're both on time in our own way, but differently from one another. I wonder, Madam Umbridge, aren't you the one who sent me the letter with the meeting details? I recognized your handwriting, it is quite distinctive, after all. And wasn't this meeting called by you, where you are trying to remove me from the position as a professor. Weren't you the one who would have gotten the position had the Headmaster not hired me? Quite a lot of bias on your part, isn't it?"
"What are you implying, Professor Sayre?"
I keep smiling at her, "Nothing dear, just making observations. Now, I don't think you summoned me just to see me speak with Madam Umbridge. So, let's get to the meeting at hand."
I could feel the amusement coming from a lot of the members; they must not have liked Umbridge much.
One of the men, stood up, "Professor Sayre, we are here to discuss your termination as a Professor in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
I raise my eyebrow, "on what grounds? I still haven't been given a look at Madam Umbridge's report."
The spokesperson gestured at Umbridge, who stood up to make her point, "It is of my expert opinion that Professor Sayre has been teaching a curriculum outside the Ministry guidelines and has even alluded to the possibility of casting dark magic in the future. Her attitude continued during the Dueling Club where she demonstrated along with Professor Flitwick a mastery over highly dangerous magic, that she intends to teach the students later. Hogwarts' standards have already fallen enough, and Professor Sayre's teaching will cause more injuries to the students during their lessons. After all, we do not need another tragic accident like that claimed young Cedric Diggory's life."
I could see a few of the board members nodding, and I roll my eyes. They were obviously in her pocket, either by threatening them, or by allegiance to Fudge. They were pretty much already sold on the idea that I was some nutcase that they needed to replace. Umbridge was obviously gunning for my job.
The spokesperson looked at me, "What do you have to say for yourself, Professor Sayre?"
"I would like to ask Madam Umbridge a few questions."
They all nodded, and I look towards the smug looking human toad, "Now, Madam Umbridge, when you said that I was teaching a curriculum that was outside the Ministry guidelines. Can you tell me, what exactly are the Ministry guidelines for the Defense class?"
"They were inside the book that was recommended!"
"You mean the one that you recommended should you have ended up as the Defense Professor."
She was glaring at me, "Yes. The curriculum was approved by the Minister himself, and has shown his support for it."
"You mean the books that were recommended for every student attending Hogwarts. From first year to seventh year students. Did you purposely want to sabotage the Ministry's future Auror recruits?"
The woman looked stupefied, "Of course not!"
"Then why did you recommend the same exact book, for every student year. A book that doesn't contain a single spell. You want Hogwarts, a school of magic, to not teach any magic. And even worse, did the Minister alter the OWL and NEWT exams to take this into consideration?"
"No, we didn't have the time to speak with the Department of Magical Education. It should be cleared in the next few years."
I look at her incredulously, "So, if I'm getting this straight, you don't want the students to use any magic, in a magic school, where there will be a practical exam that defines their futures at the end of the year."
"There's no reason that a strong enough theoretical knowledge wouldn't be enough for them to pass their practical examinations."
"If that was true, we'd all be Merlin reborn. Magic works by practice, Madam Umbridge, not by reading a few books. Now, if we're summarizing what you just said, you think I am teaching something outside the Ministry approved curriculum which basically includes no magic. So, you want to fire me, because I'm teaching my students magic, and not only do you want me to stop teaching magic, at a magic school, because it's apparently, too dangerous, you want them to pass their practical exams without even casting a spell before, and by doing so, pretty much cripple every profession in Britain that requires a NEWT in defense.
"And more than that, the only students who could pass their exams would be the ones trying to learn the spells on their own, which accentuates any accident, since they would cast dangerous magic in an uncontrolled environment and away from a healer or the resident Medi witch," I look at the room and ask them, "so, tell me ladies and gentlemen, is actually teaching what's required of the students in the exams, considered bad for the student's education? Because, so far, I haven't taught a single spell that hasn't been asked to be demonstrated in OWL or NEWT examinations during the last twenty years. Trust me, I asked Madam Marchbanks for the list."
The members of the board looked lost at my statement. Saying it like that, it makes what Umbridge is trying to do, look unreasonable. They were still hesitant since they were still in Umbridge's pocket.
Umbridge interjected, "And the Dueling Club"
I interrupt her, "Dueling is a sport that's still practiced here in Britain. So far, I only held two lessons, where the most I have taught them is etiquette. I explicitly told the students that I will not teach anyone any new spell and to use what they have learnt in class. We banned the same illegal spells as the ones banned in the official tournaments for the underaged bracket, and we'll have myself and Professor Flitwick, along with a team of seventh years to stop anything dangerous from happening. If you disapprove of my dueling club, then you disapprove of the sport itself and should ban it. Something I don't think the fans of the sport will appreciate too much."
The spokesperson looked at me, with hesitant eyes, "What about the dark magic you are rumored to have cast. We cannot allow a dark witch to teach impressionable minds and shape the future of the wizarding world. You could be the next You-Know-Who, for all we know."
I give him a dry look, "Are you done? Look, I don't care about whatever little politics is going on. I could get involved, but that would be too troublesome. You're obviously grasping at straws now, and it shows how little this hearing matters. You've already made up your mind. I am by far the most dangerous person you've ever met. And yes, I'm including Dumbledore and your little dark lord with delusions of grandeur. Frankly, I don't care if he's back or not, nor if he conquers the damn country. I'm here to teach my students, which means that whatever little charade you are trying to do is stopping, right now."
The members of the board looked outraged, "Now who do you think."
"Sit down!" I wave my hand, and everyone is forced to sit down. I could feel the fear coming off them, and Umbridge visibly sweating. I continue, "Now, just because I could do whatever I want, doesn't mean that I'm unreasonable. So, what I'm going to do, is ask Madam Umbridge a few questions."
They all nodded, frightened and I smile at them. I look towards the toad woman, who was glaring at me, defiantly, "Now, Madam Umbridge, what experience do you have, to be considered a proper Defense Professor? Do you even have a Defense NEWT?"
The woman glared at me, "My qualifications are not relevant to this meeting."
I smile at her, "Then, let's say that you win, that I'm out of the castle, am I wrong to say that you would be the new Defense Professor?"
"Again, this doesn't pertain to this hearing."
My smile turned predatory, "I'm taking that as a yes, which means that you, an incompetent defense student, want to be in charge of the future of magical Britain's education. Someone who doesn't even have a NEWT in Defense, someone who didn't even get an OWL, wants to teach NEWT students. Truthfully, I wouldn't have minded too much if my replacement was an Auror, or at least someone with a smidgen of experience, someone who would have prioritized the education of young wizards and witches, someone who wouldn't throw magical Britain's future away. This is obviously a ploy from the Ministry to assert themselves in Hogwarts business. And frankly, I don't care about that. I said so, I don't care about the little spat between Dumbledore and the Ministry, but what I do care about is the students. It's what any competent educator should prioritize. And Madam Umbridge doesn't care about that.
"The Ministry is trying to push their agenda, by stomping over your children's education, ruining their future. And you have the power to stop this, all of you do. You need to stop the Ministry from sabotaging your children's future, and you need to do it by removing Dolores Umbridge from her post of High Inquisitor"
I could feel their surprise at my demand and continued pressing, "Perhaps she's a great undersecretary, but as an educator, she has done nothing but harass students and professors alike and interrupt lessons. She tried to use the Minister's name to add rules to Hogwarts without your permission. By the Hogwarts charter, only a unanimous vote of the board, or the Headmaster, could do this. And yet, she bypassed all of you, disrespecting your roles as Governors. And even worse, she chose to ban student-teacher interactions outside lessons, which means that she wanted to ban every extracurricular activity, and even tutoring for students. This would have even stopped students from asking the Professors questions after lessons. How detrimental is she going to be if she continued her little reign of terror on the castle? You have all accepted her to evaluate Hogwarts' educators, and it's a good idea on principal, but she has taken advantage of your goodwill and undermined you. Are you truly going to let her keep doing this?"
I smile at their outrage, and it only took a little push of telepathy to remove whatever hold Umbridge had on them. Wizards are a proud race, especially noble wizards, and having someone disrespect them like this would make them furious. Angry people tend to be easy to manipulate and make them repress certain things.
I looked at Umbridge with a grinning face, she looked pale. She finally understood that they weren't on her side anymore. Yeah, I still got it.
I haven't had this much fun ever since I came to this world.