Chapter 158: A Castle’s Reaction

20th October 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I smile at their outrage, and it only took a little push of telepathy to remove whatever hold Umbridge had on them. Wizards are a proud race, especially noble wizards, and having someone disrespect them like this would make them furious. Angry people tend to be easy to manipulate and make them repress certain things.

I looked at Umbridge with a grinning face, she looked pale. She finally understood that they weren’t on her side anymore. Yeah, I still got it.

I haven’t had this much fun ever since I came to this world.

The next day, I walked whistling to the great hall for my usual breakfast. For some reason, the second I enter the great hall, people stop talking and keep staring at me. It was so weird. The entire great hall was suddenly dead silent, with the only noise being my footsteps.

Even the professors were looking at me with wide disbelieving eyes. Huh, nice to know that people have faith in my negotiation skills. I will admit that the odds were not in my favor, but this is child’s play to someone with my experience. Turning a few wizards against an obnoxious woman that they barely tolerated out of the fear of retribution from the Ministry, is easy. If there’s one thing I learnt in my millennia of life, it’s that the hearts of men are easily swayed.

Still, it’s kinda fun watching people look at me with wide eyes. Had the entire school been this sure that I was going to get fired because I mouthed off to the pink bitch? Slytherin house looked particularly troubled by my presence. Fudge had probably told their parents of what he wanted to do, probably trying to make some sort of example out of me to people who defy his will. The fact that I obviously survived his wrath should confuse the hell out of them. I could already see the gears turning in their heads.

I could somewhat understand the incredulity. Even with my family name, I have only shown that I am an eccentric scholar with a prodigal magical aptitude. I never showed a hint of cunning or political savvy. It would look shocking that I went to what is without a doubt a political fight with very little chance of succeeding and just walked away unharmed.

I sit on my chair and start eating, ignoring the looks everyone was giving me. Professor McGonagall was the first to break the silence, “So I assume that yesterday’s meeting went well.”

I look up to her, “Oh yes, quite well. I don’t know what you all were nervous about, the members of the board were very understanding.”

Our tone was conversational, yet our words echoed around the entire great hall. The Transfiguration Professor was still looking surprised, “Oh, what wonderful news. I was worried; Madam Umbridge looked very confident about your removal. She was quite vocal about it.”

I shrug, “A shame, really. It seems that her evaluation was deemed to be wanting. They couldn’t find anything that showed any kind of incompetence on my part. A shame, really, she looked so disappointed in the end. I don’t understand why she chose to target me in particular, and she was so furious at the decision too. I am genuinely concerned for her health. She really ought to keep her temper under control.”

I was obviously talking nonsense, and going by McGonagall’s face, she knew that what I had just said was pure bullshit. She smirked at me, “And what about Madam Umbridge?”

I shrug again, “Oh, I’m afraid that Madam Umbridge was removed from her post as High Inquisitor. What a shame, really, I was looking forward to working with her. I guess the stress of the position was too much for her.”

That pretty much removed the smile from her face. She was gaping at me. None fared any better, they were all looking at me, eyes wide, mouth open. The reactions were hilarious. Even Snape, who was usually unexpressive looked absolutely shocked.

McGonagall tried to compose herself, “I think I misheard you. Did you say that Umbridge has been removed as High Inquisitor?”

I nod, “Yes, quite the tragedy, she was on her way to revolutionize the magical education in magical Britain, the papers were saying so and everything. Unfortunately, the Board of Governors decided that her presence was doing more harm than good for both the students and the professors.”

I didn’t even let her answer as I stood up, “I’m full. I think I’m going to prepare today’s lessons. Good day to you all.”

I turn and leave the hall, ignoring the pandemonium that occurred when I left.

(Harry Potter POV)

Harry had only one thing to say, “Holy Shit!”

“Language,” Hermione interjected.

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“You have to admit Hermione, that that's the best way to describe what just happened.” Ron answered back at the bookworm.

Harry still didn’t believe what just happened. He knew Sayre wasn’t worried about the meeting, that should, by all counts, have ended with her being fired. Harry knew for a fact that the members of the board were all a bunch of cowards who would fold to Fudge’s decision. After all, Malfoy had been able to threaten them into removing Dumbledore as Headmaster during the Chamber of Secrets fiasco, so he hadn’t expected to see Jasmine in the castle the following day.

Seeing her in the castle, with her job intact, is enough to show how much of a genius that woman is. But the fact that she had not only survived her inspection with a biased board, but that she had somehow gotten Umbridge fired instead, is just badass.

“I don’t understand how that happened. Everyone thought that she was going to be forced to leave. How the hell did she pull it off?” Harry murmured to himself.

The twins overheard him, “This has to be the greatest prank to have ever been pulled in the history of Hogwarts.”

Ron suddenly burst into laughter and Hermione asked him, “What’s so funny?”

Ron calmed himself enough to say, “Percy was so proud of her. Remember his letter? He was bragging and everything about how things are going to change at Hogwarts and that Dumbledore was going down, that Umbridge would remove him from the castle, if he wanted to. I’m imagining his reaction when he hears that she’s been fired.”

Everyone burst into laughter at this. After they calmed down, Hermione stated, “I, for one, would like to know how she did it.”

Ron answered her, “We could just ask her in defense class. It’s our first lesson, innit?”

Harry smiled at that. It seems that his teacher wasn’t going anywhere.

The golden trio impatiently waited for their next defense lesson. Ron even stopped eating just to get to class early. And that’s how you know that he’s interested in finding out. And Harry wasn’t the only one who got the idea of trying to interrogate the professor; everyone had come early for defense class.

Seeing them being early, Sayre stood up, “Oh, hello. Well, don’t you look excited for my lesson. I thought we’d branch out a little and try a little bit of basic battle transfiguration. Let’s get started then.”

Before she could even start, Lavender interrupted her, “Professor, we wanted to know what happened yesterday.”

The defense professor tilted her head, “You mean the meeting?”

There was a wave of agreement from the entire classroom, even the Slytherins, who were looking more invested and awed than ever before.

Sayre chuckled, “I’m afraid, I’m not allowed to speak too much into the details of the meeting, especially during class.”

At the groans of disappointment, she continued, “But I guess, I could tell you the highlights. For some reason the time given to me was wrong, still, it was obviously a mistake from Madam Umbridge’s side, so she took responsibility for it. She then read her report, and I showed that if I had adhered to her curriculum, then I would have hurt your education. The board seemed to have agreed with me, but they also decided to remove Madam Umbridge from her position because they deemed her evaluations to be wanting.”

Wait, what? Is that it? Harry was sure that there was more to it. The board had been obviously in Fudge and Umbridge’s pocket, meaning that they should have fired her, even if she was Merlin reborn. From everyone’s disbelieving face, they agreed with him.

Seamus was the one who spoke first, “I don’t believe it, that can’t be it.”

The woman shrugged, “Believe what you wish, it’s not my concern.”

Lavender definitely didn’t like that answer, “Is it because you’re a Sayre which means that you’re the heir of Slytherin and took control over the castle and fired her yourself.”

Harry wasn’t sure what the girl just spouted. He’s pretty sure that he heard someone slapping their forehead in the Slytherin side of the room.

Sayre, though, didn’t look amused, “I don’t know if that’s just ignorant on your part, Ms. Brown, or if this is something in general. First of all, Hogwarts cannot be inherited by anyone. It’s been this way since it became a school and it was decided by the founders. This was to make sure that no idiot descendant of theirs would close the school for one reason or another. Hogwarts is supposed to be an environment free of politics, it’s why the founders chose to abandon their names and choose silly ones that no one should want to keep. It’s why it’s idiotic that someone calls themselves an heir to the founders, it doesn’t mean much, really. The founders had no fortunes outside of the castle, they had given up their claims to their families and invested their own personal fortunes in the castle itself. This was all just so that the school would continue running without too much outside interference. I am a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to fire professors, change the curriculum or add any new rules. You can trust your family, but can you trust what your descendants are going to do centuries from now? The answer is no. You really should learn all of this in History class.”

Harry was again fascinated by the broad knowledge that the woman held. It wasn’t just about her magical power or skill, there was so much that she knew, and so much wisdom she had to share. It really would have been a shame if Umbridge had succeeded in removing her from the castle.

Seamus, though, still wasn’t satisfied, “You still haven’t told us how you did it.”

The professor was visibly getting impatient, “Descendant of Slytherin or not, I am a Sayre. I have been taught politics since before I could talk. Just because I don’t particularly like it, choosing to be a scholar and not a politician, doesn’t mean that I’m ignorant of its delicacies. Dealing with an uncultured woman that was too used to throwing around the Minister’s name is easy. I’m not going to entertain this question anymore, Mr. Finnigan. Now, back to our lesson. Battle transfiguration. Who here could tell me what Battle Transfiguration is?”

The lesson continued like it always did, and everyone righted themselves and listened to the frankly interesting class. Transfiguration was always somewhat boring, not the magical field itself, more like what they used to transfigure in class. Harry never knew when he would ever need a tortoise or an ornamental box. Sayre had told him that McGonagall had chosen these particular objects because they’re harmless and because other transfigurations were very similar in theory and in practice, so if he mastered what he learns in class, he could easily cast hundreds of similar transfigurations.

Still, Harry was still getting distracted, imagining how the hell Sayre was able to do this. At least they don’t have Umbridge anymore. Does this mean that their private lessons were back on? Either way, Harry was just thankful that Sayre was staying in Hogwarts. She was quickly becoming his favorite professor there.