Everyone knows that too much talking leads to mistakes, but there is a gulf between knowing something and actually doing it.
Perhaps Umbridge should never have paid attention to Eda from the beginning. She should not have paid attention to the questions coming from the classroom.
Although doing so would have caused everyone's dissatisfaction to flare up, it would still have been better than having everyone look at her like she was an idiot now.
In the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, going head-to-head with the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor killer, this wasn't simply asking to get yourself killed!
If she really thought she was capable, she could ask Gilderoy Lockhart. He would tell her exactly what "incapable" meant.
If she had the advantage of being in the right, perhaps she could still try to argue Eda into silence. But the Ministry of Magic and Umbridge's so-called "approved curriculum standards" simply could not stand up to scrutiny.
The philosophy advocated by Defensive Magical Theory was completely unsuitable for the wizarding world. When you carry a sharp blade, murderous intent naturally arises.
Theory can be more important than practice, but it cannot be separated from practice.
Even if you could talk endlessly and turn black into white, even if you had such a silver tongue that you could persuade respectable women to enter the sex trade or convince prostitutes to reform, all of this depended on the other person being willing to listen to you and sit down to talk.
Some people can use their "Talk-no-Jutsu" to talk a villain to death, isn't that because those villains all have something seriously wrong with their brains? They gave Talk-no-Jutsu an opportunity to work in the first place.
For example, the guy carrying rice at the entrance of the village, and that God of Thieves who slapped himself to death...
But what if the villain's brain isn't broken and they simply refuse to listen to your nonsense?
If they immediately hit you with the Cruciatus Curse or Avada Kedavra and send you to meet Merlin, all you can do is die while clutching Defensive Magical Theory. You won't even have the chance to shout, "The Ministry of Magic has doomed me!"
After meeting Merlin, Merlin asks how you died. You tell him everything and complain that the villain had no sportsmanship and did not give you a chance to argue...
Merlin might not even wait for you to finish speaking. He would simply slap you into a wall so hard that you could not be peeled off.
Completely giving up the initiative and hoping that others will be kind-hearted, hoping that others will take pity on you and treat you mercifully, isn't that simply asking to die faster?
Umbridge's arguments could not stand up to scrutiny, and she could not win an argument herself. Apart from using her status as a professor to overpower Eda and give her detention, what else could she do?
Umbridge could do nothing. Eda was not afraid of the Ministry of Magic at all. Instead, she treated the Ministry of Magic like a joke.
As for the status of professor, unless that professor's name was Minerva McGonagall, it was useless against Eda.
The girlish-pink toad turned her back on the students. Her two short legs hurriedly shuffled along as she rushed back to the teacher's desk.
Umbridge pulled a roll of pink parchment out of her handbag and spread it across the desk. She dipped her quill into the ink bottle and hurriedly began writing.
The students all held their breaths. Eda had won this clash between the needle and the wheat, but it had not accomplished anything. It could not change the current situation of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Eda had won, but the students had not. They had even been utterly defeated.
No one in the classroom spoke. Eda did not speak either, but she was communicating something with the twins through their eyes.
After about a minute, Umbridge rolled up the pink parchment and tapped it with her short wand, firmly sealing the written parchment shut.
"Twist, take this to Professor McGonagall." Umbridge spoke in a coy voice and gently beckoned with her hand, but there was no expression on her slack face.
Eda said nothing and silently walked toward Umbridge. The only sound in the entire classroom was the scraping of tables and chairs as she stood up.
All the students watched Eda, wanting to see what she would choose. Would she accept the detention punishment, or would she continue arguing her case?
Fred and George were also watching Eda, but the two brothers had nothing but an expression of amusement on their faces.
Whether by coincidence or because their eyes had somehow gone wrong, everyone was surprised to discover that Eda, standing below the platform, was actually taller than Umbridge standing on it!
Eda reached out and disdainfully pinched the pink parchment between two fingers.
This action made Umbridge even angrier, and her eyes became vicious. She continuously thought of ways to deal with Eda.
After taking the letter, Eda did not leave the classroom. She looked at the students and slowly said, "I think everyone may be wondering why the Ministry of Magic wants you to study Defensive Magical Theory, why you have to study such a useless book in the year you're about to graduate."
"Shut up! Twist!" Umbridge shouted nervously.
"That's because the Ministry of Magic fears Dumbledore." Eda walked around the classroom as she spoke. "No, to be precise, Cornelius Fudge fears Dumbledore. He's afraid that Dumbledore will take his position as Minister of Magic."
At this point, Eda smiled, and the students present laughed along with her.
Even the Slytherin students had to admit that if Dumbledore had wanted to become Minister, he would have done so decades ago.
"Shut up! I said shut up! Twist!" Umbridge screamed hysterically. Her voice was no longer coy, which actually made it much more pleasant to listen to.
Umbridge wanted to stop Eda from continuing. She wanted to teach Eda a proper lesson, but the students in the classroom made her hesitate. She did not dare use magic directly.
With no other choice, Umbridge could only shout as she hurried down from the platform, trying to catch Eda. Meanwhile, Eda walked along the aisle between the two rows of desks, speaking eloquently as though she were the teacher of this class.
She said, "Fudge believes that Dumbledore intends to seize the position of Minister of Magic. He believes that Dumbledore is recruiting people and cultivating loyal followers at the school. He believes that everyone here will become Dumbledore's army, following Dumbledore into bloody battles and storming the Ministry of Magic."
Eda walked past several Gryffindors and headed toward the Slytherins in the classroom.
Behind her, Umbridge chased after her relentlessly. But when Umbridge passed the Gryffindor students, her foot was caught by someone's leg, and she fell heavily to the floor.
Stopping in front of a Slytherin, Eda knocked on the desk. She asked, "Will you become part of Dumbledore's army and completely obey his commands? Don't be afraid. I'm not the Ministry of Magic. I won't punish you for your opinions."
"No," the student said.
"Good. You're very honest. That's a very noble quality," Eda said.
Then Eda asked several more Slytherins in succession and received the same answer each time: no.
After walking past the Slytherins, Eda went to ask the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Their answers were either silence or "no."
Umbridge's face turned bright red, even more vivid than the pink cardigan she was wearing.
"I think you've heard them all, Senior Undersecretary," Eda said. "Are these answers enough to put your minds at ease, so that you stop wasting your energy on Hogwarts and use it where it actually belongs?"
After struggling with all her might, Umbridge finally managed to get back on her feet. She glared viciously at the Gryffindor students around her, but the little lions treated her as though she were invisible.
"You heard them, didn't you, Deputy Minister Umbridge?" Fred shouted loudly. "Say something!"
"No, no, that's not right. She's a professor now," Lee Jordan added. "You should call her Professor Umbridge!"
George immediately argued with Lee Jordan. "You're the one who's wrong. Have you seen Deputy Minister Umbridge do a single thing that a professor should do?"
Eda walked over to Umbridge and looked down at her from above. It was not that Eda deliberately wanted to humiliate her. It was simply a matter of their difference in height.
"I don't care how stupid Fudge is, and there's nothing I can do about it. But this is Hogwarts. This is a school, a place for students to learn. So please don't bring those filthy schemes of yours here, Deputy Minister Umbridge!"
As she spoke, Eda raised the pink parchment in her hand. She said, "As for your detention and this, I refuse to accept either. I'll say it again, this is Hogwarts. If you want to throw your Ministry official weight around, please go back to the Ministry of Magic!"
Orange-red flames sprang up from Eda's fingertips, instantly engulfing the pink parchment.
She released it. The burning pink parchment fell to the floor, and by the time it landed, it had burned away completely, leaving not even a trace behind.
"I'm not coming to class anymore. I don't want to turn myself into a completely useless cripple just because of Fudge's selfish desires."
After saying this, Eda walked out of the classroom without looking back. Fred and George immediately followed without hesitation. Angelina, Alicia, and Lee Jordan exchanged glances, then the three of them also stood up and left the classroom together.
Sitting among the Hufflepuffs, Cedric Diggory hesitated. He really wanted to leave with them, but then he thought of his father, who worked at the Ministry of Magic.
After a while, the hesitation disappeared from Cedric's eyes. He stood up and strode out of the classroom.
After Cedric Diggory, several more students followed him out. However, compared with those who left, the students who chose to stay still made up the majority.
After all, courage belonged only to a minority of people.
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