It was clear that after being forced onto the stage, it was too late for her to tender her resignation.
Fortunately, there was still someone eyeing her position as a prefect and her enrollment eligibility with great interest—that was none other than Dolores Umbridge.
This newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor issued a silent 1v1 PK challenge to her with a mere glance during the first class.
Almost the moment their eyes met, Jane Yu realized that she had become Umbridge's KPI target.
There was a pure malice in Umbridge's eyes directed at her... or perhaps at anyone who dared to oppose her will.
Since Umbridge had plans to take control of Hogwarts and the goal of ousting Dumbledore—
Jane Yu thought that perhaps she didn't need to do anything; Umbridge could fabricate some faults, forcefully claim she violated regulations, and expel her, delivering a heavy blow to Dumbledore.
It would be effortless.
However, during the first class—
Not fully acquainted with the school yet, Umbridge did not launch a grand crusade against her but maintained a semblance of balance, targeting every student equally.
"When I enter the classroom, the male prefect—yes, Mr. Malfoy—you are to stand up and call out, 'Stand up!'"
With that nauseating smile from the opening day, Umbridge's eyes squinted as she tried her best to show her favor towards Draco.
Feeling utterly awkward, Draco pursed his lips, reluctantly muttering "Stand up" with a visibly unwilling expression.
"Good morning, students!" Umbridge greeted in an overly sweet and coquettish tone.
After receiving a sparse and reluctant response from the Slytherins who had no desire to antagonize the new professor, her squinted eyes could only see—
"Oh, what an enthusiastic response! I, too, was a Slytherin, and I'm so happy to be back here making friends with all you little companions!"
Jane Yu heard Daphne beside her let out an uncontrollable snort and whisper:
"The funniest thing I've ever heard in my life is a senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic claiming to make friends with students."
"Excellent!" Umbridge clapped her hands in a girlish manner. "But your response is not standardized! After I say 'Good morning,' you, who are standing, must reply, 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge!' Then the two prefects will call out, 'Sit down,' and only then may you sit."
For some reason, this whole procedure stirred up some long-buried memories in Jane Yu.
From her past experience, perhaps after this standing-greeting-sitting routine, the next step would be to turn to a specific page in the textbook—
Followed by reading from the PPT, taking notes, highlighting key points... memorizing the text after class, getting parents' signatures, and being quizzed the next day... along with handing out various test papers and assignments...
She glanced at The Theory of Defensive Magic and found the book's quality severely lacking.
Scattered professional theories were buried under a mountain of verbose nonsense, where out of a hundred words, perhaps only a dozen were meaningful; it gave her the feeling of recognizing every word but being completely baffled when they were strung together.
"Put away your wands, take out your textbooks, and turn to page five—" Sure enough, Umbridge commanded, "We'll start reading from Chapter One. Oh, and open your mouths wide and read aloud!"
Jane Yu, who had just been speculating whether Umbridge would adopt a rigorous "Hengshui-style" teaching method, frowned deeply.
Is this the teaching standard? No PPT? Not even a single word of explanation?
Umbridge simply sat leisurely at the podium... as if she were secretly reading a novel?
No decent teacher would make students read the textbook aloud for an entire class.
The quality of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors has truly declined year after year!
At this moment, she thought of last year's Barty Crouch Jr... even Quirrell seemed more competent in hindsight.
The Slytherins exchanged bewildered looks, struggling to understand why the subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts required no spell-casting, only textbook reading.
"Chapter One, Section One, Principles of Basic Magical Defense... Using defensive spells requires attention to specific scenarios to ensure legality and compliance..."
The students' reading voices, initially orderly, gradually became sparse and sluggish.
"Internalize the theories... analyze and determine which theories suit which spells... let the theories sink into your heart and mind..."
Jane Yu could hear Daphne's voice beside her becoming increasingly confused and doubtful, eventually stopping altogether.
"Why are you daydreaming?" Umbridge smiled and said softly, "Do you have any questions about the textbook?"
No one answered, even though everyone knew the teaching of this subject had become a complete mess.
But since this course changed professors every year, with most professors' teaching quality being abysmal, the Slytherins had grown accustomed to such a fate.
Moreover, given Umbridge's position as a senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic, no one wanted to stir up trouble and invite punishment.
Still, many silently resolved to attend some extra tutoring sessions to prepare for the imminent O.W.L. exams.
Seeing no response and the reading completely halted, Umbridge quickly locked her gaze onto her target of hatred—Jane Yu, who hadn't opened her mouth at all—and unleashed her talent for fabricating accusations and inventing reasons for punishment:
"Miss Yu, in my classroom, students must follow the professor's instructions—to read the textbook aloud."
"I regret to inform you that you failed to do so. Ten points from Slytherin."
Jane Yu's expressionless face concealed a satisfied smile.
She knew it—trouble would find her even if she didn't go looking for it!
And here it was!
The class ended amidst the reluctant recitations of the Slytherins. In the final minute, Umbridge declared:
"The voices were neither uniform nor loud enough. I believe Hogwarts has been feeding you well."
She put on a regretful expression, pursing her lips in an exaggerated manner:
"I'm sorry, but we'll need to stay an extra fifteen minutes—if you can't read in unison, then another fifteen minutes—"
The students' eyes burned with suppressed fury, yet they forced themselves to endure.
In the final minute, Umbridge assigned homework, just as Jane Yu had predicted:
"You are to memorize pages 5 to 20 of the textbook. I will check tomorrow, and if you fail to recite it, I'll have to administer a small punishment—"
The classroom was filled with an invisible black aura—the overwhelming resentment of the students.
Every Slytherin wore a face of misery; by contrast, everyone began to miss the good old days of the past four years.
But Jane Yu inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity.
Except for Umbridge's poor teaching standards, this almost felt like the mode she was used to.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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