Chapter 595: Who Is Expelled?!!
Anyway, Harry and Hermione were both soft-hearted, but they didn't say a word.
This matter—no matter how much Darren wanted to keep it quiet—they would never allow him to bear such a reputation alone.
As for Miss Laurie Law, she was a brain-dead Lockhart fan anyway.
Perhaps she had also insulted Darren before. In that case, letting her experience a taste of public backlash didn't seem like much of a problem.
Because of the Lockhart incident, Darren began receiving even more sympathetic looks at school.
Just as Darren was starting to feel a headache coming on, the matter was quickly suppressed again.
The Azkaban jailbreak—something students hadn't paid much attention to at first—suddenly became the focus once more.
The Ministry of Magic failed, for several consecutive days, to recapture those Death Eaters, and this caused many people to panic.
They feared that, just like with Sirius before, the Ministry would conduct a massive search and still come up empty-handed.
Fudge's reputation plummeted.
More and more students began seriously questioning whether what Darren and Harry went through last year was actually true.
Dumbledore's announcement about Voldemort's return—was it real after all?
These voices spread to every corner of the castle.
Even the professors started reading the Daily Prophet far more carefully than before.
One Ravenclaw student openly shouted about the Dark Lord's return in the Great Hall.
This stirred up even more unrest—but it also brought negative consequences.
Umbridge seemed to vent all the anger and humiliation the Ministry was suffering onto the students and staff of Hogwarts.
The day after that Ravenclaw student shouted those words, a new decree appeared on the noticeboard.
Educational Decree No. 26
All Hogwarts faculty and students are forbidden from discussing any matters unrelated to teaching and learning.
This decree enraged even students who normally disliked studying.
Lee Jordan loudly protested that teachers weren't even allowed to scold him for playing wizard chess at the back of the classroom anymore.
As long as he and his classmates didn't discuss wizard chess, professors technically had no right to punish him—after all, criticizing him for playing had nothing to do with teaching.
Lee Jordan's words earned him some trouble.
The very next day, the back of his hand was scarred with fresh wounds—Umbridge had increased the punishment.
She made an example of him on the first day.
Darren gave Lee some potions to apply at night, at least easing the pain.
Lee Jordan may have taken this as encouragement from Darren and gradually became another warrior against Umbridge, right after Harry.
All of this further aggravated Umbridge's already fragile nerves.
She was growing increasingly unhinged.
She wanted absolute control over Hogwarts, to hold it tightly in the palm of her hand.
Recently, she had even been planning to expel a professor—to kill the chicken and scare the monkeys.
That "chicken" was obviously either Trelawney or Hagrid.
Hagrid was already on probation after his last incident.
Umbridge despised all non-wizard life. In her eyes, they were mongrels, creatures that didn't deserve to exist.
So her treatment of Hagrid was hardly surprising.
As for Trelawney—
Umbridge simply believed she was a fraud.
This was evident from how she now sat in on Trelawney's classes every day, recording "crimes" with her quill.
She constantly demanded prophecies.
But as everyone knew, Trelawney's prophecies weren't exactly inaccurate—just always… off.
They required time to be understood. Or rather, she could see things others couldn't.
Because of this, she had long been labeled a charlatan.
Umbridge demanded prophecies twice, and both times Trelawney sensed misfortune surrounding her.
But recently, Umbridge's life had been going exceptionally well—aside from the escaped Death Eaters that troubled the Ministry.
There wasn't even the slightest sign of impending doom.
This only strengthened Umbridge's belief that Trelawney was a complete fraud.
Hagrid wasn't any better off in her eyes.
Aside from his giant bloodline, there was also his blatant disregard for Ministry decrees.
Umbridge demanded obedience to the Ministry above all else.
And the last time Hagrid openly commented on Umbridge being classified as a dangerous creature—saying that dogs could bite—had disgusted her even further.
Hagrid was so intimidated by Umbridge that he no longer dared to use dangerous magical creatures in class.
Even so, Umbridge frequently barged into his lessons, interrupting him until he lost his train of thought and stumbled through the rest of the class.
Because of this, Hagrid didn't even dare let students visit his hut anymore.
He told Harry quietly, "Umbridge already hates you and Darren. If she finds out you're coming here at night, she'll definitely expel you."
Harry wanted to say he wasn't afraid of being expelled.
But he understood—if he were expelled, the one who would suffer the most might be Darren.
Darren was always so gentle, so kind. If they were expelled, Darren would definitely be heartbroken—perhaps even more than he already was.
As Harry dragged Darren away from Hagrid's hut, he suddenly realized that Umbridge had taken almost everything from him.
His reputation.
His Quidditch.
His freedom to stand openly beside his brother.
Even his occasional comfort—seeing Sirius, chatting with Hagrid.
It felt as though all joy had been stripped away.
So he poured all that frustration into the DA.
The DA trained harder than ever.
Especially Neville.
Neville had grown much quieter, but he practiced magic relentlessly.
Even spells Darren had devised himself—Neville trained until he mastered them.
In some cases, Neville was even better than Harry.
This time, for example, Neville mastered the Shield Charm a full minute before Harry did.
Though it was only a minute, the two of them were already far ahead of all the other DA members except Darren.
Neville's progress made Harry genuinely happy.
Every bit of improvement among the DA members, Harry knew, was the result of his and Darren's efforts.
Their growth was what brought him and Darren the most satisfaction.
But outside the DA—when it came to Occlumency—Harry wasn't happy at all.
He resisted Snape a little during the first lesson.
But from the second lesson onward, his Occlumency only grew worse and worse.
"I can feel Voldemort's emotions more clearly now."