Chapter 156: Decree
19th October 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
Umbridge’s presence was starting to seriously annoy me. It was fun at first, messing with her. She was so easy to rile up and looked so ridiculous in that pink outfit of hers. But then, she started with the decrees.
One day, without anyone’s permission, she asked Filch to put up a ministry decree in front of the great hall. I was already annoyed, not having slept enough the night before because I had to grade assignments that were so poorly written that they probably spent less time writing them than I did correcting them. This pushed me over the edge.
The bitch had put up a decree banning all teacher-student interactions outside their lessons. By doing so, she had effectively stopped any extracurricular activity in the castle, including tutoring groups and Quidditch, since Hooch wouldn’t be able to do anything outside of flying lessons.
I knew that this was coming ever since I saw her getting out of my dueling club meeting, but I at least expected a small amount of competence in doing so. All there was to it was a simple paper that was signed by Umbridge and Fudge, just saying the content of the decree.
With a growl I point my wand at the thing and vanish it, looking at the smug face of Umbridge. I turn to her with a blank face, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“It has come to my attention that teachers are getting overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do. I thought to help with this matter, and the Minister was quite supportive of my idea.”
I smirk at her, “You do know that the Ministry doesn’t have the authority to make decrees in this school.”
The toad woman growled at me, “The Minister has the authority to do whatever he wants to.”
I raise my eyebrow at her confidence, “That statement, alone, is false, but it is especially untrue in this castle, which is considered foreign ground. The only people able to make new rules are the Headmaster and the Board of Directors with a unanimous vote. I didn’t see any of their signatures on the decree, which means that it’s invalid. And do not insult us, Professors, by assuming how much work we can manage. It does give you a bad impression especially since you’re the one that’s supposed to evaluate our competence.”
“That can’t be true, the Ministry of Magic is responsible for all magical affairs in Britain.”
I nod, “Yes, but in the Hogwarts charter, it says that it was founded as a private institution and it also stipulates that no heirs to the founders would be able to claim it as long as the school stays out of any administrative power outside of the castle's boundaries, giving the Headmaster absolute power over the laws of the castle, with only a unanimous vote from an oversee council, in this case the Board of Directors, being able to either oust him, or impose certain rules. As far as the Ministry of Magic is concerned, Hogwarts is foreign territory, meaning that whatever decree is decided in the Ministry is not applicable without the Headmaster’s permission, something that I doubt you have. You know, Madam Umbridge, it would be better for you to study the Hogwarts charter, in case you violate them. I think there’s a copy somewhere in the library, good luck.”
I then walk into the great hall. Ignoring the murmurs behind me; I was starving. I sat down at the staff table and started eating. I sigh at my first sip of my morning coffee. Ah, finally, some clarity. I look around and was surprised to see the professors looking at me and Umbridge, rattling on about something in front of me.
For some reason she looked at me, expecting some sort of response. Damn, this woman was boring even when she’s yelling. Her face was so red, that she looked entirely pink. Stifling a giggle, I look at her, “Did you say something?”
I could hear the entire student body burst into laughter at this. I even caught a small smirk from Snape and while McGonagall’s face was impassive, I could see her shoulders slightly shaking, showing her amusement.
“I will not stand for your behavior. Your attitude is inacceptable for a professor in a school of this caliber, and I have a mind to fire you, right now.”
“You can’t!”
The woman had a smug smile, “Oh, I think I will.”
I shook my head, “No, you misunderstood me, you can’t. Your role is to evaluate the Professors, nothing more, nothing less. You don’t have the power to fire a teacher, punish students, or anything really. The most you can do is to give your evaluations to either the Headmaster or the Board of Directors where you’ll need to convince them that I shouldn’t stay in this school as a professor. For Merlin’s sake, woman, just read the charter first. It’s part of your job. It’s very unprofessional on your part to not have read it, but to completely disregard the rules. Well, that doesn’t look good for the Minister. He’s the one who sent you, after all.”
The woman looked furious at my response, “Then do expect a meeting with the Board of Directors soon.”
She turned around dramatically and left. The students returned to their conversations, probably talking about what just happened. McGonagall turned to me, “Did you have to antagonize her this much? She is very likely to target you, now. And she’ll come back with a vengeance. Do not expect that the meeting with the board will be on your side.”
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I smile at her, “She just annoys me. Plus, keeping her focused on me means she’s less likely to focus on the students, especially on Mr. Potter, who she seems to try to target. I made sure that the boy wouldn’t do anything stupid while she’s here, but he can be very impulsive when provoked. Having her focus on me, and the hypothetical student army she thinks I’m building, is a lot better than her actively attacking the students, especially the young ones. I can easily take whatever she’s doing, I even enjoy embarrassing her. As a Sayre, I was trained on how to handle these kinds of verbal battles, as well as a good understanding of wizarding laws. This is honestly no trouble. Umbridge is obviously someone used to people bowing to her in fear of the Minister’s retribution. She uses him as a threat. She hasn’t tried to do this to someone who is well versed in magical law.”
The transfiguration professor was smiling, visibly surprised by my foresight, “All this time, under all your pretenses, your excuses, you were protecting the students.”
“Well, her expressions are very amusing. I like messing with people and she’s so easy.”
McGonagall snorted, “Well, I guess I should wish you good luck in the coming meeting.”
“Don’t worry about it, I could argue my way out of anything.”
And I was right to say that. Centuries of politics taught me how to get out scot-free of any situation if I needed to. You needed to read the room, manipulate the observers, make it so that they like what you’re saying, that they start to sympathize with your situation. It’s not particularly hard and some people are naturally talented in this area, but the more experienced you are, the better the result should be.
I knew exactly how a woman like Umbridge thought, and how she would react to my taunts. So, I wasn’t exactly surprised, a few days later, when I got a letter by owl from the Board of Directors, summoning me to a meeting to speak about my evaluation.
Umbridge had let news of my meeting slip to the students, who were suddenly worried about me leaving. I hadn’t expected to be this popular with the students. It was endearing, really, but I had nothing to worry about. I continued my lessons as usual but was accosted by the so called golden trio at the end of my fifth year lesson.
Harry was the one who spoke first, “I heard about your meeting.”
I snort, “Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing. After all, you don’t get to be a master at my age without dealing with pompous judgmental people, picking on every detail in everything you work on.”
Harry looked guilty, “I still think that it’s my fault that they did that.”
I smile at him, “No, it’s not. And it’s not a bother really. I have a couple of things planned for this situation. Let’s just say that Umbridge isn’t going to be happy afterwards.”
They stayed silent for a bit, but I could tell that they wanted to say something considering the looks that they were giving each other. Hermione was the one to speak up, “We want you to train us. Harry told us about your lessons, and it’s not fair that he should get private lessons and not us.”
I sigh and look at the last Potter who was looking to the ground in shame. This is exactly why I asked him not to say anything. I look at them and just say, “No!”
Ron protested, “It’s because he’s famous, isn’t he? You don’t give a damn about the rest of us commoners…”
I raise my hand, and everyone fell silent, “I taught Potter because it is my duty as a Sayre to do so, nothing more, nothing less.”
Hermione looked confused, “What does that have to do with anything?”
I sigh, “Family magic. The Sayre family originated from the Gaunt line, who were descendants of the Peverell family, a very powerful magical clan with a very rich history. The Potter family is also originated from that clan, meaning that we are very distantly related. What’s more important is that the Peverell family magic is taught by word of mouth. Spells and rituals, taught from father to son, mother to daughter, to stay in the family. As far as I know there are currently three people in the world with Peverell blood, Mr. Potter, myself, and Tom Riddle. Lucky for us, Riddle’s family stopped practicing the magic a century ago, meaning he doesn’t have access to our family spells. However, since Harry here is Muggle raised, I assumed that he never had anyone to teach him about it. This was what I was teaching him. It is my duty as a Sayre to make sure that the Peverell magic doesn’t die out, and since I can’t have any children, I have to choose an heir. And you’ll agree with me that Harry is a better choice than Tom Riddle, right?”
The Weasley boy nodded, understanding where I’m coming from. Having been raised in the magical world, it makes sense that he would be familiar with this practice. Of course, I was talking out of my ass, here. I’m just experimenting with the difference of magical aptitudes between different versions of people in the multiverse. So far, it was somewhat disappointing; Harry Potter was a lot less intuitive than I was when I was ten years old, but I never had a soul shard in my forehead, so this could be a major factor.
Hermione though, looked outraged, “You’re saying that families hide their magic instead of sharing it?”
I shook my head, “It’s a lot more complicated than that. There are two kinds of family magic. The first are just spells that the family chooses not to publish. In this case, the spells are ones that are mostly for fighting purposes, espionage, or enhancement rituals. It’s the dangerous kind of magic that would immediately be banned if they chose to publicize them. Like I said, it’s mostly word of mouth, with nothing written, and all spells and potions that could be beneficial are published, since they usually award their creator an Order of Merlin and a lot of gold as well. Now, actual family magic is very intimate and very personal. It could manifest in a lot of ways, and no one outside the bloodline could manifest it. Either way, there’s nothing truly hidden from the public that they would have access to anyway.”
Hermione didn’t sound enthused by my explanation but still relented, “What about Neville?”
I sigh in exasperation, “Mr. Longbottom is a special case, where he had to deal with a serious handicap for his magical development ever since he started learning magic. What I am doing, alongside his other professors, is teaching him wand magic from the ground up, to make sure that a bright young man wouldn’t mess up his future just because of a mistake his grandmother made. Look, Ms. Granger, I don’t mind teaching people, but demanding my tutelage is a surefire way for me to refuse. Stop saying that everything is unfair, because life is almost never fair. You have to work hard, and smart, to make your way in the world and this is nothing different. You are an extremely clever young woman, and you probably have an amazing future ahead of you. But the way you act towards people, even towards your own magic, would close a lot of doors for you. As for now, I have papers to grade.”
“But…”
“This conversation is over, Ms. Granger.”
The girl bowed her head and left with her two friends. I hope that my little speech woke her up. As for now, I had a meeting to prepare to. I smirk at my plan. I’m surely going to ruffle some feathers with this move.