Harry Potter and Shafik

Chapter 112 The Centaur Firenze

In the next few days, Umbridge did another evil thing.She used her powers to fire Professor Trelawney, to be precise, again.It was an afternoon when Harry was on his way to his weekly Occlumency practice.Accompanied by Hilbert.less than half.I heard a loud voice coming from the hall.

Professor Snape turned and went out to check the situation. Harry hesitated and looked at Hilbert, who shrugged.Went out with Harry.

The shouts did come from the hall, louder as Harry ran towards the steps leading to the dungeon.Running to the top, he found the foyer full of people.Students from dinner swarmed out of the auditorium to see what was going on, and many crowded the marble staircase.Harry squeezed his way through a group of tall Slytherins and saw a large circle of onlookers.Some people looked shocked, and some even looked terrified.Professor McGonagall was right across from Harry, and she seemed uncomfortable with the scene before her.

Professor Trelawney stood in the middle of the hall, wand in one hand.Holding an empty wine bottle in one hand, he looked completely insane.Her hair was all covered, and her glasses were askew, making one eye appear larger than the other, and her countless scarves and shawls were hung in a mess, making her look tattered.Beside her were two large boxes, one of which was upside down as if thrown from a staircase.Professor Trelawney seemed to be staring in horror at something at the bottom of the stairs, which Harry couldn't see.

Hilbert saw it, it was Umbridge.She held a piece of parchment in her hand.Cornelius Fudge's signature loomed above.Unexpectedly, she fired Trelawney again.

"No!" she screamed, "No! This can't happen? Impossible? I refuse to accept it!"

"You didn't expect this?" said a high-pitched little girl's voice, seemingly amused.Harry moved to the right, and saw that the thing Trelawney was looking at horribly was Professor Umbridge. "Although you can't even predict tomorrow's weather, you should always realize that your poor performance in my class and no improvement after that will inevitably lead to your dismissal, right?"

"You - you can't!" howled Professor Trelawney, tears streaming from behind the large glasses, "you - you can't fire me! I've been - I've been here for sixteen years! Ho-Hogg Watts is my home!"

"It used to be your home," said Professor Umbridge.Seeing Professor Trelawney slump on a box and weep bitterly, with a smug smile on her toad face, Harry felt sick. "Until the Minister for Magic signed your dismissal order an hour ago. Now please leave the hall, you are embarrassing us."

But she stood there, gleefully watching Professor Trelawney tremble, whimper, and rock back and forth on the box in fits of grief.Harry heard a sob to his left and looked back to see Lavender and Parvati hugging each other and weeping silently.Then he heard footsteps, and Professor McGonagall squeezed his way through the crowd, walked right up to Professor Trelawney, patted her on the back vigorously, and pulled a bandanna from his robes.

"Okay, okay, Sybil? Calm down? Blow your nose! It's not as bad as you think. You're not leaving Hogwarts."

"Oh, is that so, Professor McGonagall?" Umbridge said viciously, taking a few steps forward, "Who approved this!"

"Me." said a low voice.

The oak door opened again, and the students by the door hurried out of the way, and Dumbledore appeared at the door.Harry couldn't imagine what he was doing outside, but there was something majestic about him standing in the doorframe against the misty night.The last time was murderous, how did it change this time?Hilbert put his right hand around Daphne.While thinking.He left the door open and strode through the crowd to Professor Trelawney.She is still sitting on the box.Tear-stained and trembling, Professor McGonagall was with her.

You, Professor Dumbledore? Umbridge let out a particularly nasty shrill laugh. "I'm afraid you don't know yet."I almost have—” She pulled a roll of parchment from her robes”—a dismissal order signed by myself and the Minister for Magic.According to "Education Order No. 20 No. [-]", the Hogwarts Supreme Inquiry has the power to inspect, retain for probation and dismiss any teacher who he - that is, I - thinks does not meet the standards of the Ministry of Magic.I don't think Professor Trelawney is qualified.I have fired her. "

"Of course you are right, Professor Umbridge. As High Inquisitor you have every right to dismiss my teachers. But I am afraid you do not have the right to expel them from the castle, which I am afraid—"

He bowed politely and said, "It still belongs to the headmaster. I hope that Professor Trelawney will continue to live in Hogwarts."

Trelawney gave an excited laugh and a little sob. "No - no, I'm going, Dumbledore! I'm leaving - leaving Hogwarts, and making a living elsewhere -"

"No," said Dumbledore firmly, "I want you to stay, Sybil."

He turned to Professor McGonagall.

"Will you take Sybil upstairs, Professor McGonagall?"

"Of course," said Meg. "Come upstairs, Sybil?"

Professor Sprout rushed up and took Professor Trelawney's other arm.They led her past Umbridge and up the marble stairs.Professor Flitwick ran after her wand, screaming, "Case move!" Professor Trelawney's box rose into the air and followed her upstairs, Professor Flitwick's back.

Professor Umbridge stood there, staring at Dumbledore, who was still smiling kindly. "What are you going to do with her when I appoint a new divination teacher and I need to use her room?" She whispered, but her voice still spread throughout the hall. "Oh, that's no problem," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "You see, I've found a Divination teacher who would like to live on the first floor." "You've already found—?" Umbridge said. said sharply, "You've already looked? I remind you, Dumbledore, that in accordance with Educational Order No. Appointment of teachers. I am happy to announce that this time I have found it. Shall I introduce you?" He turned his head to the door through which night mist drifted.Harry heard the clatter of hooves, and there were terrified murmurs in the hall, and those by the door hurried back further, some tripping.A face emerged from the mist: pale blond hair, startlingly blue eyes, a human head and limbs mounted on a fawn-colored horse. "This is Firenze," said Dumbledore cheerfully to a stunned Umbridge. "I think you'll find him a good fit."

I bet you're feeling by now if only you hadn't given up your Divination lessons, don't you, Hermione? ' asked Parvati with a smug smile.

It was breakfast time, two days had passed since Professor Trelawney was fired, and Parvati was curling her eyelashes with a wand, looking at the effect on the back of the spoon.Firenze is giving them their first lesson this morning.

"That's not true," said Hermione flatly, reading the Daily Prophet. "I've never liked horses."

She turned a page of the newspaper and glanced at a few columns.

"He's not a horse, he's a horseman!" Lavender said in amazement.

"And a handsome centaur?" Parvati sighed.

"He's got four legs, anyway," said Hermione coldly. "By the way, I thought Trelawney was leaving the job for you two, wasn't it?"

"It's sad!" Lavender assured her. "We visited her in her office and gave her some daffodils—beautiful daffodils, not the Sprout ones. will call."

"Is she all right?" Harry asked.

"Not very well, poor thing," said Lavender sympathetically. "She cried and said she would rather leave the castle with Umbridge here. I don't blame her at all. Umbridge treated her well." It's too domineering, isn't it?"

"I have a feeling that Umbridge's dominance is only just beginning," said Hermione sadly.

"No way," said Ron, who was wolfing down a large plate of bacon and eggs, "she's as bad as ever."

"You will remember my words, Dumbledore appointed a new teacher without consulting her, and she will retaliate," Hermione closed the newspaper and said, "not to mention this is the second half-human. Umri You also saw the expression on Firenze's face when Qi met her."

After breakfast, Hermione left for her arithmetic and divination class, and Harry and Ron followed Parvati and Lavender into the hall to go to her divination class.

"Aren't we going up to the North Tower?" Ron asked, bewildered, as Parvati passed by the marble staircase.

Parvati looked back at him contemptuously.

"How do you think Firenze should climb the stepladder? Now we use classroom No.11, which was announced on the bulletin board yesterday."

On the opposite side of the auditorium, there is a corridor leading from the foyer to NO.11 classroom on the first floor.Harry knew it was one of those classrooms that was never used, and felt a bit like an unattended cupboard or storeroom.He followed Ron in and found himself in a forest glade, which made him a little stunned for a moment.

"How—?"

The floor of the classroom had become covered with soft moss from under which the trees had grown; their branches, covered with lush foliage, fanned across the ceiling and windows, so that clusters of soft, mottled green Light pours throughout the room.The students who arrived first sat on the muddy ground with their backs against tree trunks or boulders, some with their arms around their knees, some with their arms tightly crossed in front of their chests, and they all seemed quite nervous.Firenze stood in the middle of the treeless clearing.

"Harry Potter," said Harry, holding out a hand when Harry entered.

"Er—hey," said Harry, shaking the centaur's hand, his strangely blue eyes sizing Harry up without blinking, "er—good to see you." your turn."

"Me too," said the platinum-haired centaur, nodding his head, "we are destined to meet again. The last time I was in the first year, I kept following you in the Forbidden Forest. That time you met Mysterious man. I wanted to make a move, but Hilbert did."

Harry didn't catch what he was saying, and he noticed that Firenze had a black horseshoe-shaped bruise on his chest.He turned to sit on the ground with his classmates when he saw them all staring at him in awe, clearly impressed by the fact that he and Firenze had known each other enough to strike up a conversation They seem to think that Firenze is scary.

The door was closed and the last student was sitting on the stump next to the wastebasket, so Firenze gestured around the room.

"Professor Dumbledore is very considerate and arranged this classroom for us," Firenze said after everyone quieted down, "It simulates an environment that suits my living habits. I prefer to teach you in the Forbidden Forest , where—until Monday—was still my homeland? But that’s no longer possible.”

"Please - er - sir -" said Parvati, holding his breath, and holding up his hands, "- why? We've been there with Hagrid, and we're not afraid!"

"It is not about your courage," Firenze said, "but about my situation. I cannot return to the Forest. My pack has banished me."

"The herd?" said Lavender, wondering, and Harry knew she must be thinking of the herd. "What - oh!"

Lavender had a wake-up look on his face. "Aren't you the only one?" she asked in amazement.

"Did Hagrid feed you like the Thestrals?" Dean asked eagerly.

Firenze turned his head to face Dean very slowly, and Dean seemed to realize immediately that he had said something very rude just now.

"The centaur is a very proud animal. We have never had contact with humans. And it is still the current situation. I am different. I am also in awe of the destiny and feel the uncertainty of life like ordinary centaur. I am full of wisdom but I have a good onlooker mentality, but compared to other centaurs who hate wizards, I am not so repulsive to you humans, so I do not hesitate to lend a helping hand."

"On the one hand, I promised Dumbledore's appointment to be responsible for protecting you and Hogwarts from Umbridge. On the other hand, it is my own selfishness. I have always wanted to discuss academic issues with your Professor Lingxu."

Hilbert was the last one to come in. According to the old rules, he first bowed to the professor as a sign of respect.Then sit down.He found a seat next to Daphne, with his right arm around Daphne's right shoulder.The first divination class taught by the centaurs began.

(End of this chapter)