"Really? You look… youthful. Do you have a robe you could cover up with? I'm sure we both agree that those gang symbols aren't appropriate for the children to see."
"Oh, I won't be doing that." She began to clean under her nails, showing off her magical knuckle tattoos that could change phrases at will. At the moment they said GIRL and BOSS across each hand. Considering that they were both career-driven women, one would expect Umbridge to appreciate that commitment but instead she looked particularly annoyed.
Umbridge's eyes began to twitch and she scribbled some more notes down.
"How long have you been a professor?"
"A month and a half now."
"And do you have any prior experience with teaching children?"
"Well, I've got my kid. I taught him."
"Oh," she looked rather shocked at that. "I had been informed you were not married."
"I'm not?"
"Umbridge gave her another look of horror and muttered as she penned, "mother out of wedlock."
"I didn't give birth to the little shit, that's disgusting. I kidnapped him, technically. How is this relevant to my teaching experience?"
At that moment, the other two inspectors, who had been inside the storeroom came out and joined them, not noticing the tension filling the room, and the students quietly making bets on how graphically Madame Umbridge was about to be murdered.
"Everything is in perfect order, Professor Adams." One of them said. "Perfect drainage, ventilation, and all the supplies are properly labeled. Great work. Have you finished the preliminary interview, Dolores?" Umbridge gave a hem and a nod, jotting down some more notes. "Excellent, we'll just be monitoring the lesson then." The students scrambled to act natural, picking up random objects so it looked like they had been working.
Alabasandria shot the pink woman a heated glare behind her back as the adults moved to an empty table in the back of the class.
"Right, settle down. Hair-Changing Potions. Page 117. I hope you all remembered your modifiers for color and length and read the chapter ahead of time. It's a time-intensive brew so I doubt you all will finish today, but that doesn't mean you can dawdle. We won't gather fresh ingredients today, except the dandelions which I have right here, and the rabbits. We haven't skinned anything yet so this is the reason I don't want you rushing. You'll need all the fur and two feet. Keep your knife pointed away from you while you slice. Questions?"
There was a murmur of no's and Harry looked over to see the inspectors eyeballing the small cage full of happy white rabbits nibbling on their final meal of lettuce and open horror on the adults' faces.
"Longbottom?" Alabasandria called.
"Um, I was thinking Irish Ivy, professor." Neville bumbled out, anxious to an advanced degree on account of Umbridge already pissing off their professor.
"Why?"
"Um. Because the rabbits represent quick growth and nourishment - and Irish Ivy can grow in extreme conditions. Ma'am. And - um. Rosemary oil, instead of the feet. As an acidic base and blessed with luck."
"Very good," she said, and Neville breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I would have picked Formulda's spring ivy flowers, but those are rarer in England. Less oily, though. Mind how the texture of the vines affects the potion's boiling point. You'll need a lot of ivy, a few yards at least. Cut it as little as possible, and it must be straight from the vine. Go grab some - the rest of you, get started, chop-chop."
"Yes, professor."
Alabasandria made a lap around their workstations as the room was filled with the gentle white noise of page-turning, quills scratching on paper, dicing and chopping of ingredients, murmurs of chatter, and the screams of dying rabbits. Umbridge interrupted the peace when she gave a loud squeal as she watched Dean Thomas calmly gut and quarter his rabbit.
One of the other inspectors patted Umbridge on the shoulder and motioned the professor over towards them.
"Do the children acquire their own animal components often?" She asked diplomatically. "It isn't required in their OWLs."
"Oh, it's usually just toads and salamanders. We don't often need larger creatures. The next time they'll have to slaughter something is for the Nine-Tails Invisibility Potion just before Yule. I know it isn't required, but as I've explained to the students, it increases the quality of their brews tenfold and I want them to learn how to brew the way a professional potioneer would do."
"Nine-Tails requires the tail of a black cat," Umbridge said in absolute outrage. "This is disgusting! This violence is going to traumatize the children."
"They're fine!" She protested. "None of them are complaining. Besides, Longbottom and at least two dozen others across my classes utilize non-sacrificial recipes. I'm not having them hunt down unicorns for their horns, am I? It's all perfectly safe and legal."
The calmest of the officials wrote that tidbit down. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask the students a few questions. Dolores, perhaps you'd better rest for a moment?"
Umbridge rushed over to speak with the Slytherins, hoping, surely, for more of their crying and complaining. But all Draco Malfoy could muster in defense was a shrug. They'd been fond of Snape, sure, but even if their new professor was Potter's mum, she was plenty Slytherin-y for them and they weren't about to complain. (Plus, although they'd never admit it, the muggle pizza had tasted wonderful.)
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/InfinityWeaver
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon