Chapter 206: Educational Decree Twenty-Three

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Quinn sat behind his desk, his elbows resting on the table with a glowing red thread of Empyrean looping between his ten fingers as he played cats cradle with the magical material for practice. In the time Quinn had begun studying Empyrean, he had realized that the magic could really do some fascinating things — for example, the thread which Quinn playing with was a width of a thick woollen thread, but he could thin it down to the length of a hair yet at the same time give it the strength of an intertwined steel cable.

But while his hands and magic played with the Empyrean malleability and manipulation, Quinn's mind was thinking about the fifth vault (he was torn between the names: Architect's vault and Hogwarts vault).

The Architect's statute, which acted akin to a gatekeeper to the mysterious and hidden vault inside, refused to budge and give way for Quinn to proceed. He had tried channeling magic inside, looking for a key or switch, see if some type of puzzle, but nothing had popped out to him — he had essentially spent, night after night, just looking around, hoping to chance upon something that would allow him to make progress, but with no avail.

'I need to make some progress, or I'm just wasting my time,' the thoughts passed through his mind as the strings in hand made the shape of a lion, 'there must be something-anything on the statue that would help me — I would hate to destroy it, who knows how much would they task me I broke the gold statue.'

Quinn lifted his chin up a little to admire the raven reflected in the network of strings weaved and looped around his digits. As he did that, Quinn felt the detection ward ring in his ears — the Empyrean vanished from around his fingers, and Quinn lifted his eyes to look at the door just in time to hear the door chime ring and see a redhead and curly-haired brunette enter his sanctum sanctorum.

"Welcome, ladies," he smiled, "hope you're doing well; what can I do for you today?"

Ivy Potter gazed towards Quinn, and it was a bit strange for her to see him sitting idle in his office. "What're you doing?"

"I was contemplating the meaning of life and its existence."

".. . Really?" said Hermione, wondering if he actually meant it.

"Uh-huh, I had just reached the point of realizing that human life didn't even amount to a grain of dust when in comparison to the vast universe, the size of stars, and other stuff.. .. but then I got bored and realized that the stars didn't have to work and they just explode and die — but I do have to work and don't have the explosion option — well I have but, you know — so I started thinking about transfiguration and was about to descend into the rabbit hole just before you entered.. ."

"I see, that's nice," said Ivy as both girls took their seats.

"So, what brings you two here?"

"We came here to buy two sets of fifth-year OWL notes," said the top-of-her-year with a tinge of sparkle in her eyes.

Quinn quirked his brow up, "That's fast. We aren't even a month into the school year," but he did lean down to pull out two sets of fifth-year notes from the desk drawers, "may I ask the reason for this early purchase?"

"Umbridge," spat Ivy with an intense glare forming in her green eyes, "that pathetic pink imbecile of professor is going to make every one of us fail the OWLs. Her lessons are getting more and more moronic every time she enters the classroom," Quinn noticed that Hermione hadn't rebuked Ivy, "she only teaches theory, and even that theory is so inane and out-of-context that it makes me want to pull that eyesore of a cardigan off her and stuff it into her mouth, whole, just to shut her mouth from spouting things which makes anyone who hears them dumber (ugh!)."

"Oh my, that's some strong emotions," said Quinn as he received the joint payment from Hermione.

Ivy crossed her arms and silently fumed just thinking about the Ministry stooge ruining their school life.

"What about you? What do you think of her?" she said to Quinn, "don't tell me that she doesn't piss you off."

"Hmm, I would be lying if I said that I'm unflappable, but I don't feel any strong emotions toward her.. . at least not yet.. .. maybe she'll do something in the future which will make reach your level.. .. but for now, I'm just sitting in her class with my eyes closed."

"I wanted to ask about that," said Hermione, looking up from the notes, "how's she in the class with you? I mean, with you not studying in her class, I can imagine her taking in strides and being an angel about it."

Ivy scoffed at even the thought of comparing Umbridge with an angel.

Quinn glanced at Ivy, thinking if she would be the one to break before Harry did.

"She and I don't interact much in her classes," he told Hermione while giving her the bill, "even after a couple of classes, she tries to catch me off guard," Quinn chuckled, "but in our last class, she made me handwrite the chapter just to make me do something."

"Someone needs to do something, or this school is going to be in serious trouble," said Ivy, tapping her feet. It seemed that Umbridge had really affected her. "I just know worst has not passed yet, and it may seem not possible, but the pink toad is going to do something more abhorrent."

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Quinn smiled sympathetically as he knew that Umbridge had the potential to be worse, much worse.

"The only thing that could be worse about her would be if she's a Death Eater," said Hermione, channeling the frustration of being refuted proper answers time after time.

"I doubt it," said Quinn, "I know her by reputation, and I'm sure she's no Death Eater —"

"She's foul enough to be one," said Ivy scathingly.

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," said Quinn with a wry smile. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — two years ago, she almost succeeded in passing something that could only be seen as an anti-werewolf legislation which would have made nigh-impossible for werewolves such as everyone's beloved ex-Professor Lupin to get a job in the magical world," he gazed at Ivy, "the bill was vehemently opposed and thwarted in Wizengamot by your father and Sirius Black."

"What's she got against werewolves?" said Hermione angrily.

"Scared of them, I expect," said Quinn, smiling at her indignation. "Apparently, she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year too.. .. and tried to have Fleur disqualified as a champion."

"You don't suppose she's being extra revolting because of that, is she?" asked Ivy.

"Who knows," said Quinn giving a shrug, "people are never rational and logical.. .. she might taking out her frustrations by trying to get a rise out of you to get you into detention."

- (Scene Break) -

It seemed that the very next day, Umbridge had indeed made things worse by pulling the move Quinn was expecting her to make, and he got confirmation while serving of eggs. He stared at a large photograph of Dolores Umbridge, smiling widely and blinking slowly at them from beneath the headline:

>> MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR" <<

"High Inquisitor," said Eddie darkly, his half-eaten bit of toast slipping from his fingers. "What does that mean?"

Quinn glanced behind the raised newspaper and looked at Marcus, "So, what do you think about this?"

Marcus pulled back the newspaper and read aloud:

"In a surprise move, last night, the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"'The Minister has been growing uneasy about the goings-on at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'

"This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30th, Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.

"'That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find anyone, so the Minister put in Umbridge, and of course, she's been an immediate success —'"

Loud chortles of laugher spouted out of Eddie and Quinn. There wasn't a place that held more hate for Umbridge than the Ravenclaw house. Especially the fifth and seventh-year Ravenclaw students who were worrying their hairs grey stressed about failing their OWLs and NEWTs. To say that the change was 'an immediate' success was the biggest joke.

"Wait, there's more," said Marcus grimly.

"'— an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'

"It is this last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Twenty-three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'

"'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the "falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted.'"

Marcus finished reading and looked across the table at the other two.

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But before he could speak, Eddie craned his neck up and called out to Ron on the Gryffindor table "Hey, Weasley! When did your brother turn traitor!" he yelled across the tables.

Ron looked up from his plateful of bacon rashers with confusion flashing on his face before realizing what Eddie was talking about, and his face colored up to match his hair.

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"Why are you being mean to the poor guy," asked Quinn plainly while making himself a sandwich.

Eddie was still grinning at Ron, trying to catch the redhead's eyes, "I heard that he got selected as an option for Keeper. I'm just trying to get into his head — you know, easier for me if he's even a bit frazzled.. .. the three Gryffindor vixens might be decent, but their efforts will be for naught if their Keeper is a sieve."

A knock on the table by Marcus got their attention back to him.

"So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this 'Educational Decree' and forced her on us! And now he's given her the power to inspect other teachers!" Marcus was breathing fast, and his eyes were very bright. "I can't believe this. It's outrageous. . ."

"There's nothing we can do about it," said Quinn with a candid shrug, putting the final touches on his sandwich, "but behave appropriately in the classes and not give professors a hard time.. . that's the only way we can help." He then sighed, "If Umbridge comes to inspect in one of our classes, I'll have to stop doing my homework.. . what an utter nuisance."

"That's what you're worried about?" said Marcus.

"I'm already wasting an hour with Umbridge; of course, this inspection stint of her might end up wasting more of my time, and that's a no-no," replied Quinn, licking his lip towards his delicious creation.

"Then study in the classroom, damn it," said Eddie and Marcus in unison.

"Eh, where's the fun in that," mock-whined Quinn before taking a bite of his sandwich. For a second, his went turned rolled back, and a short food-moan escaped him. "Marcus here, have a bite of this. It's really good~."

"O-Oh, really. T-Then I will have a bite," said Marcus taking the sandwich in hand; his mouth salivated as he had just seen Quinn's reaction to the sandwich.

"Yeah, take a bite.. .. only a bite.. .. hey, that's a bit.. .. AAH! You fatso, that's not a bite! You chomped off half of it! Give it back, give it back!"

- (Scene Break) -

Quinn didn't end up meeting Umbridge in one of his classes for inspections, neither did Eddie, but Marcus wasn't so lucky and ended up meeting 'High Inquisitor' Dolores Umbridge.

He was pulling out his muggle-observation diary in a seat right in the middle of the homely Muggle Studies classroom when his seatmate elbowed him in the ribs and, looking around, he saw Umbridge emerging from the door with a broad, lip-thinning smile on her face, wearing yet another pink cardigan, making him think if she didn't own any other color and if she didn't, then why pink?

The class, which had been talking cheerily, fell silent at once. The abrupt fall in the noise level made Professor Lily Potter, who had been wafting about handing out her routine Muggle-Facts Pamphlet, look round.

"Good afternoon, Professor Potter," said Professor Umbridge with her wide smile. "You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your inspection?"

Lily nodded curtly and, looking composed, turned her back on the pink intruder as if Umbridge didn't exist and continued to give out the pamphlets. Still smiling, Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Lily's professor seat. She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag, and looked up expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.

Lily walked to the front of the class and surveyed the class with her vivid green eyes. "Good afternoon; I hope you have been having a lovely day," she spoke with her usual bright smile, "Today, we'll be picking up from where we left in the last class and continue talking about the Muggle inventions that changed the world."

Lily raised her wand, and behind her, below the blackboard, a small wooden box opened, and from within, chalk powder rose up in lines. The lines of white flew to the blackboard and stuck to its surface in various to give shape to a figure as if it had been drawn from a chalk stick.

"This is an airplane," said Lily pointing at the illustration of a wide-body airliner. "Any guesses on what an airplane is? Please, no guesses from muggleborn students or the half-bloods who know the answer; let your other classmates take a guess."

"It's some sort of muggle toy?" said a student from an all-magical family.

Lily hummed and turned to look at the blackboard. She raised her wand, and the sketch on the board changed to now show an airplane standing in line beside drawings of the Whomping Willow, a forest troll, and a tiny little human.

"Now, who would like to take another guess," said Lily with a smile as she watched the expressions of many of her students change when they deduced the actual size through comparison.

There were various guesses from around the class: a new type of muggle house, dragon catcher(?!), a place for a muggle sport.. .. Each guess made those who knew the answers chuckle and laugh while the guessers became bolder and bolder in their guesses.

"Marcus, how about you answer the question," said Lily.

"Professor, I already know the answer," said Marcus with a smile; Muggle studies were always fun.

"Please enlighten your classmates," said Lily.

Marcus was nodded and was about to answer but was cut off. He looked at the seat behind where Lily was standing and saw that Umbridge had stood up from her chair with a "Hem, hem," making it clear that she wanted to speak. Marcus considered himself a mild-mannered person, but every time he heard the "Hem, hem," it made him want to cut her voice box and make her eat it.

"Yes, Professor Umbridge? Do you want to contribute to the class discussion?" said Lily, but inside she seriously doubted that Umbridge was capable of any positive contribution.

"No, dear. I don't think I can contribute in make-belief," said Umbridge, looking up at Lily, "you've been in this post how long, exactly?"

Lily held back a scowl, clasped her hands behind her back, and stood up straight to stand firm against the indignity of the 'inspection.' After a slight pause in which she seemed to decide that the question was not so offensive that she could reasonably ignore it, she said in a flat tone, "This will be my fifth year."

"Hmm, you can't be considered a new teacher with that amount of experience," said Umbridge, making a note on her clipboard. "So it was Professor Dumbledore who appointed you?"

"That's right."

Umbridge made another note.

"And you joined the same time as you children started their schooling at Hogwarts."

".. . Yes," said Lily; she still held her voice, but there was a twitch in her eyes at the implication.

Umbridge scribbled more in her notepad, looking happier by the second. She looked up inquiringly, still smiling, "Which book do you use as the reference material?"

"I don't use any. I personally provide my students material every class."

"I see," said Umbridge, her toadlike smile widened as she made another note on her clipboard. She turned away, leaving Lily standing rooted to the spot.

The entire class watched and listened sneakily from behind their diaries; most of the class were staring transfixed at Lily as she drew herself up to her full height. She turned to the class, put on a smile a bit dimmer before speaking up.

"Sorry for the disturbance. Let's continue; where were we.. . ."

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Quinn West - MC - My sandwich.. .. NOOOO!!!

Ivy Potter - Gryffindor - Acid in her veins.

Hermione Granger - Prefect - Feels just as frustrated but is keeping them hidden.

Eddie Carmichael - Chaser - Won't hesitate in using Yo Mama jokes.

Marcus Belby - Not a fan of pink toads - Oh my god, this sandwich is so good!

Lily Potter - Muggle Studies Professor - Result of inspections is.. .. unknown.

Dolores Umbridge - High Inquisitor - "Hem, hem."

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