Chapter 312 Umbridge's Counterattack

Although Anthony and Professor McGonagall would rather believe that the article does not exist, Witch Weekly is still the most popular publication among witches in the British wizarding world.

Before breakfast was over, four or five more owls flew in with the newspaper owl and threw the letter on Umbridge's breakfast. Filch cursed these dirty birds loudly, while Umbridge frowned and pinched the jam-stained envelope, tore one of them roughly with her thick and short fingers, took out the letter and read it at a glance.

As she read, her eyebrows raised higher and higher, and Anthony's ominous premonition also increased. Finally, when her eyebrows almost ran into her hair, she quietly put down the letter, wiped her fingers carefully, turned to Anthony, and said in the sweetest tone Anthony had ever heard: "Professor Anthony, can you please pass me that magazine?"

Anthony handed over the "Daily Prophet" that he had not read yet.

"Magazine," Umbridge said softly, "not a newspaper. That--magazine."

Anthony calmly handed her the "Wizard Weekly" as well.

Lockhart said happily, "Oh, yes, that's right! Dolores, you should read that article too. I think I mentioned you in it! And you'd never guess--"

Umbridge flipped to the page with a large photo of her and Lockhart, glaring at the Umbridge staring out in the photo.

Filch, who was sitting next to her, had trembling lips and looked at the thing in front of him almost blankly, as if he was not seeing a magazine, but Professor McGonagall suddenly flying up and dancing the waltz with Peeves in her arms.

"What--" he tried, "How--"

"Yes!" Lockhart beamed, "A picture of me, Dolores! A surprise! I can't say I preferred the one with all the cupids...anyway, it's in this edition...and of course I like the picture with my hat too! It's the perfect angle..."

"I'm really--very--surprised," said Umbridge slowly.

"I know!" Lockhart smiled broadly, "It's wonderful, isn't it? So many people have wanted their pictures taken with me that I've had to bring my own cameraman with me for a while."

From Professor Flitwick's posture, he was probably trying to stop Lockhart from continuing under the table, but his height made it hard not to be too obvious. Snape, sitting on Lockhart's other side, stared at them inscrutable, sipping his pumpkin juice slowly.

It was at this moment that Professor Burbage entered the hall.

"Good morning." She said angrily, pulling out a chair and sitting next to Anthony. "Have you read the newspaper, Henry?"

"No, what's the matter?" Anthony said, glancing at the Daily Prophet next to Umbridge.

Professor Burbage also glanced over there and whispered, "Educational Order No. 23. That woman now has the power to deduct points."

Anthony said in surprise, "Really?"

"You wait and see. Those dung bombs really drove her crazy." Professor Burbage said, "I heard that she went to see Fudge last weekend, but I thought she just showed him our pile of P or A."

Umbridge's coquettish voice continued to come from the other end of the staff seat.

"... Photographer, Mr. Colin Creevey, if I remember correctly, should be in Gryffindor College? Second year, right, Minerva?"

Professor McGonagall looked stern and did not answer her.

Umbridge looked at her sympathetically: "I'm sorry, I think Gryffindor needs to be deducted ten points because... um..." She frowned artificially, "taking and publishing a photo of a lady without permission. Students should learn some basic etiquette, right?"

Anthony turned his head to look at the college hourglass, just in time to see a few gems flying up.

"How is this possible!" Anthony looked at Professor Bubbage in surprise, "The headmaster hasn't agreed to deduct points from her, right?"

"Generally speaking, an education order," Professor Bubbage said through his teeth, "takes precedence over the order of the headmaster of Hogwarts, because it represents the will of the Ministry of Magic, and, in theory, the will of those who allow Fudge to still sit in the Minister's Office - that means most wizards and witches."

"But..."

"The Ministry of Magic usually does not interfere with Hogwarts." Professor Bubbage said, "The Ministry of Magic has been established for more than three hundred years. Until last year, it has only issued twenty-one education orders, three of which were to revise or abolish previous education orders. Issuing two education orders in a year..."

She shook her head, looked in the direction of Umbridge again, and began to sprinkle thick black pepper on her fried eggs.

...

Within a morning, Anthony understood what "Education Order No. 23" meant.

Katie Bell was deducted five points for interrupting Umbridge and Professor Kettleburn's conversation; Kenneth Toller was deducted five points for humming while Umbridge was talking; Ernie Macmillan was deducted two points for bumping into Umbridge while running in the corridor; Kevin Jones was deducted two points for quarreling with Filch.

Roger Davis was also deducted five points for selling Roger the Snake on the lawn - but some people said it was because Roger insisted that the light scar on his neck was just a handsome tattoo, while others said it was because Umbridge smelled the stench of dung bombs on Roger the Snake.

Ron Weasley was deducted ten points for being caught laughing and reciting "Her presence makes my heart beat wildly" in front of a copy of Witch Weekly; Harry Potter was deducted ten points for saying that Umbridge's bow looked like a fly on a toad's head; Hermione Granger almost survived, but Umbridge wanted to confiscate her copy of Witch Weekly, which made her very upset and she loudly retorted that Umbridge had no power to do so. Umbridge cited the Ministry of Magic's regulations on searching for suspicious magical items, and while confiscating the magazine, she deducted ten points from Gryffindor for the crime of preventing the Ministry of Magic from collecting suspicious items.

By lunchtime, except for Slytherin's still green house hourglass, the gemstone piles at the bottom of the hourglasses of the other three houses were obviously concave. By the evening, Gryffindor had become the house with the fewest points.

"Is Minerva okay?" Anthony asked with some concern, noticing that Professor McGonagall had not come to dinner.

"I think so, Professor Anthony," Professor Flitwick told him. "I saw her headed for the Headmaster's office with great energy."

Whatever Dumbledore had said to Professor McGonagall, it had apparently soothed her. In the days that followed, she miraculously did not protest Umbridge's way of deducting points, but sometimes looked at her students with a hint of worry and irritation.

Anthony once heard her solemnly warn Lee Jordan: "Don't be a fool, Jordan, don't go against her. She's waiting for that."

Amid the flood of deductions, Anthony secretly increased the frequency of his bonuses, but it was dwarfed by the rate at which Umbridge - and Snape - were deducting points.

Professor McGonagall still tried to maintain her fair way of deducting and adding points, but Professors Flitwick and Sprout had begun to add points for some minor efforts and progress, just like Anthony. Professor Kettleburn even took off his prosthesis and stuffed it into the students' hands, and then gave them extra points for enthusiastically helping the old professor hold his left leg.

He said confidently: "You can deduct points for nonsense reasons, why can't you add points for nonsense reasons? - Hey, you guys, your Puff is about to escape! Very good, five points each, because you helped me avoid losing teaching props! Over there, what are you doing? Don't feed it daisies - Hufflepuff plus five points, because you thought of feeding Puff."

Even so, few people can still compare to Lockhart.

When explaining the story of "Wandering with Werewolves", Lockhart called Hermione, who memorized the entire paragraph, his best student. Hermione blushed and asked reluctantly if the group photo could be replaced with a single photo of Lockhart and the bonus points. He smiled brightly and gave Gryffindor 20 points because Hermione answered the entire set of "Lockhart and Dangerous Creatures" perfectly. He also gave Gryffindor an extra 20 points because of Hermione's humble character. Finally, he gave Gryffindor 10 points because Harry played the werewolf he subdued brilliantly. He also deducted five points from Slytherin because Malfoy kept making contemptuous and sarcastic sneers and did not listen seriously.

Umbridge undoubtedly regarded his behavior, along with the previous Valentine's Day music message, as a provocation. Some students would deliberately walk around in front of her with a copy of "Witch Weekly" in their arms. Whenever Lockhart's shining smile smiled at Umbridge from the cover, she looked a little gloomy.

Professor Sprout tried to persuade Lockhart not to be so prominent, and finally came back shaking his head. Lockhart comforted her gently, telling her that if she worked hard, she would definitely become very famous one day, and there was no need to be jealous of him.

"Gilderro is in trouble." Professor Sprout said worriedly, "I just don't know what kind of trouble it will be."

"I don't see the need to worry about him, Pomona." Snape said, "I thought the respected great adventurer was best at solving troubles and getting out of danger."

"I just don't know what kind of trouble it will be." Professor Sprout repeated it again.

The answer appeared in the morning two days later, wearing a bright yellow wizard robe, carrying an alligator bag in his arm, and his nails painted with red nail polish.

"Rita Skeeter!" Professor Burbage said disgustedly, "What are you doing here?"

Rita was standing at the door of Hogwarts, looking at the students passing by her with interest. Her eyes lit up when she saw the scar on Harry's forehead, but Professor Burbage's question forced her to stop.

"Ah, Caridi, how nice to see you!" She exclaimed happily, "I'm here for the interview, of course."

Professor Bubbage asked, "Who invited you?"

"What? No, no one invited me. I've always wanted to report on the daily lives of Hogwarts professors, and Ms. Umbridge generously agreed to my small request."

"Oh, my God." Professor Bubbage whispered.

Rita's interested eyes had already fallen on Anthony.

"You must be Henry." She smiled at Anthony, like a crocodile that had found its target, "Graduated from outside Hogwarts and currently a professor of Muggle Studies? Ah, mysterious, great..." She opened her bag and took out a roll of parchment and a long, green quill from it, half-closed her eyes and sucked the tip of the pen, "What made you decide to teach at Hogwarts? What made you choose Muggle Studies as your career?"

As she spoke, the quill was suspended in the air and shook its feathers, then jumped onto the parchment and began to write.

"A thrilling adventure story? A tragic love story?" Rita asked eagerly, "A secret?"

The quill kept writing, the parchment scroll moved slowly, and the top drooped.

Anthony glanced: "Young professor, Henry Anthony, his handsome face always has a smile. But under the mask of smile, his eyes hide unknown..."

"Don't worry about that." Rita said firmly.

"Don't bother Henry." Professor Bubbage said.

"I would rather not be interviewed, Miss Skeeter." Anthony said politely.

The quill paused for a moment and continued to write. Rita glanced at the content, then looked at the stairs, and reached out to grab the pen and parchment.

"Of course, no problem, Henry." Rita said hurriedly, "Maybe at a more appropriate time... Gilderoy!"

Anthony and Professor Bubbage turned their heads and just saw Lockhart walking down the stairs brilliantly. Several students gathered around him, asking if he could help them sign the "Wizard Weekly".

"Generally speaking, I don't sign more than five copies a day," Lockhart smiled, "otherwise I won't have anything else to do all day... but I can make an exception for you today. And -" his smile became even more charming, "- this article will of course be included in my new book. Since you like it so much, you'd better buy it early when the new book is released... otherwise it will be sold out early. Don't say I didn't remind you."

"Gilderoy!" Rita shouted.

"Although I appreciate your love, I prefer to be called... Oh, Rita?"

Rita squeezed through the crowd and came to Lockhart, holding her quill in her hand.

"Can I talk to you for a few words-"

"I'm sorry, dear Rita." Lockhart said with an impeccable smile, "I don't accept interviews without an appointment. You know, as a celebrity, this is a necessary measure."