Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 571 The Professor's Tacit Understanding

Chapter 571 The Professor's Tacit Understanding

Filch could barely manage the previous magic glue, but he was truly helpless against the current permanent adhesive spell.

Even as sparks flew from the shovel in his hand, the notices remained firmly affixed to the wall, unmoved.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Umbridge demanded sharply of Dumbledore, who had come to investigate. "Or is this something you ordered?"

"You're very skilled with the Permanent Sticker Charm." Dumbledore seemed not to have heard the rest of Umbridge's sentence, and simply looked at the notices and nodded approvingly.

"If I were the proctor for NEWT's Charms exam, I would give it an O."

"But not all spells are this good," Professor McGonagall cautioned from the side. "The ones closer to the corridor have rather crude spells, and the pasting isn't very effective either."

"At least the progress is rapid," Dumbledore said with a smile.

Seeing that the group didn't take their provocation of the Ministry of Magic seriously at all, Umbridge was furious.

"Headmaster Albus Dumbledore!" she called out in a thin, drawn-out voice.

"This is an act of provocation against the Ministry of Magic. I need you to find this person immediately and dismiss him. This is also an order from the Minister of Magic!"

Her tone was very impolite and harsh, causing the other professors around her to frown instinctively, and Snape gave her an unfriendly look.

Only Dumbledore remained calm, his face expressionless.

"I hope you understand, Dolores, I don't want to go against Connelly, and I'm happy to help him with whatever small things I can."

"Unfortunately, the International Federation of Wizards has just sent an important letter—regarding the disappearance of Principal Durmstrang—and I must depart for Norway immediately."

"You—" Umbridge's face turned red, and her chest heaved violently, making her look even more like a toad.

"But Albus," Professor McGonagall suddenly asked, "is everything written here true? Have another Death Eater escaped?"

"No, it's fake, nothing happened in Azkaban!" Umbridge screamed, immediately denying the claim.

But Professor McGonagall didn't even glance at her, as if the one who had just spoken was a Transfiguration textbook that had escaped from its cage.

"From what I understand, it's probably true," Dumbledore said.

"Oh my God!" Professor McGonagall gripped her collar tightly.

She was always attending classes at Hogwarts and didn't really know what was happening outside.

No wonder Dumbledore said before that the Dementors were no longer reliable. The previous two prison breaks could be said to be carefully planned schemes by the Death Eaters, but this time the escape of fifteen Death Eaters was the Dementors' undisguised betrayal.

Of course, this is not hard to understand; the conditions Voldemort offered them were far more than what they could get for being an Azkaban guard.

Dumbledore had foreseen this long ago, but Fudge had not; he stubbornly believed that everything was still under his control.

Just like now, Umbridge started yelling and screaming in a fit of rage, interspersed with some impolite words, to threaten Dumbledore not to talk nonsense.

These words seem to have had some effect.

"Of course, while everything stated here is true, it's not appropriate to tell everyone in this way."

Dumbledore changed the subject and said softly, "I think Cornelius has his reasons for remaining silent, and we'd better not ruin his plans."

He paused, glancing at an owl that had just flown in from outside, and an envelope with a red ribbon tied to its talons.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have to leave immediately."

"Minerva, I think you can help Dolores solve this small problem without interfering with the students' studies. After all, the permanent adhesive spell is quite difficult to deal with."

"No problem, Headmaster," Professor McGonagall said, pursing her lips. "We will."

"Thanks."

After saying that, Dumbledore went downstairs as fast as he could and left the castle, giving Umbridge no chance to speak again.

Umbridge could only look at Professor McGonagall.

"Minerva, I hope you can remove these notices as soon as possible!"

"Since it's Dumbledore's request, I will," Professor McGonagall said. "But I'll have to wait a little while; I have to go teach the fifth-year students in three minutes."

"This is more important than class!" Umbridge blocked her way.

"No, that's not what the Ministry of Magic said," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "I remember you once said that the Ministry of Magic considers exam results more important than the use of magic, and the fifth-year O.WL exam is one of the most crucial exams, so I was just carrying out the Ministry of Magic's arrangements."

She looked at Umbridge, who stood motionless in front of her, and raised her voice, "Are you trying to stop me?"

A few seconds later, Umbridge reluctantly moved away.

Before she came to Hogwarts, Fudge did tell her to find a way to improve the Hogwarts students' exam scores.

He needed to use this method to prove to the students' parents that it was right for the Ministry of Magic to send a senior investigator into Hogwarts.

"Excuse me, I need to get to work," Snape said slowly, drawing out his words.

"Liar, Severus Snape!" Umbridge stared at him. "I've checked all the professors' schedules; there's no Potions class today!"

"Is that so?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"So, all-knowing senior investigator, are you aware that someone broke into my office again yesterday?"

"What?"

"I mean, another lawless student broke into my office last night."

Snape said, "If you think they've just stolen a few bottles of students' homework, and that it's a trivial matter that doesn't need to be investigated, then I can stay here and help."

Umbridge seemed to realize something, a flash of resentment crossed her eyes, and she instinctively grabbed the scarf around her neck to cover her mouth.

"Go and find those things quickly!" she said urgently. "Then immediately get rid of all the useless stuff!"

"Ah, as you wish, I'll go now." Snape gave a cold laugh and slowly left.

The other professors all had their own reasons, either to attend classes or to have other urgent matters to attend to.

In short, five minutes later, only Umbridge and Filch remained—oh, and Mrs. Lorris the cat.

However, even if Mrs. Lorris wore down her claws, she couldn't help with the parchment notice that had been permanently stuck with a curse.

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