Umbridge's reaction was even quicker than Kael imagined.
Friday afternoon was the sixth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Before Sirius was taken away, his original plan was to learn new charms.
But now, the professor has changed.
When Kael and Conna entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Umbridge was already seated behind the podium. She was still wearing that ugly, fluffy pink cardigan.
The entire class was silent. Kael did not speak either; he just casually found a seat in the back row.
However, even though he sat in the back, he couldn't avoid Umbridge's trouble.
First, she laid down some rigid rules.
She required everyone to add 'Professor Umbridge' at the end of their answers to her questions.
For example, 'Yes, Professor Umbridge' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.'
Everyone complied, except Kael, who acted as if he hadn't heard and outright ignored her.
Umbridge noticed this, so unsurprisingly, she directly called out Kael's name.
"Why are you not following my instructions," she said sweetly, "Does a few insignificant honors make you arrogant enough to ignore the professor?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Umbridge," Kael replied, "If a second-class Merlin Medal counts as 'insignificant,' I think you must have plenty. So, how about showing them off?"
Umbridge's face instantly darkened... if she had a Merlin Medal, would she even need Kael to say? She would have worn it on her clothes already!
"No way, you don't have one, do you." Kael said exaggeratedly, "How dare you be a professor without even such 'insignificant' honors, or did you slip some Galleons to the headmaster?"
This sentence instantly made Kael the focus of everyone.
Everyone was astonished; in their impression, Kael had always been a standard Hufflepuff.
Gentle personality, polite... How did he suddenly change? It's almost like he became someone else.
Even Gryffindor's most reckless troublemakers wouldn't say something like that.
Umbridge was so furious that she trembled all over.
"Presumptuous!" she shouted sharply, "How dare you talk to me like that."
"Oh, okay, you didn't slip Galleons," Kael said casually, "Maybe you used Sickles, which would make the money bag look fuller."
Umbridge's face went pale and then flushed, and suddenly, she seemed to think of something.
"Alright, I'll admit you do have some honors worth mentioning."
Her voice returned to that previous tone, faking gentleness and sincerity.
"But that doesn't mean you can throw away the most basic etiquette.
"Dumbledore has never corrected you on this, and it's really poor on his part. But, of course, it's understandable.
"I think everyone here knows that he's becoming more irrational, often saying absurd things, isn't he?"
No one answered.
However, they also knew that Umbridge was referring to the content reported in the Daily Prophet... what Dumbledore said about You-Know-Who's resurrection at the end of last school year.
"I think, you believe so too, don't you?" She looked at Kael again, with a hint of malice in her eyes, "You think what Dumbledore said is absurd, and he's becoming more confused."
"Dumbledore isn't confused," someone couldn't help but speak.
"In my class students must raise their hands before speaking, you are..."
"Justin Finch-Fletchley."
Umbridge's gaze lingered on him briefly, then turned back to Kael.
"So what is your opinion."
"I think..." Kael shrugged, "He is, at least, much smarter than you."
"So it means, you think he's right?"
"Of course," Kael said, "I trust Professor Dumbledore and believe he has seen... Voldemort."
The classroom was instantly filled with gasps and stifled screams...
"Hufflepuff deducts twenty points!"
Umbridge showed a triumphant expression and said smugly, "As a punishment for your nonsense, and detention, tomorrow morning at eight, in my office.
"Also, I must remind you that if you spread such absurd statements again, the Ministry of Magic will revoke your medal on behalf of the Merlin Knight Order."
"Ah, I'll remember that," Kael said.
Then, amidst everyone's incredulous eyes, he pushed the door and left the classroom directly.
At this moment, Umbridge on the podium was smiling even more happily. She took out a piece of parchment from her satchel, wrote something on it, and sealed it with magic.
"Conna..." Mikel asked bewilderedly, "What's wrong with him, could it be someone drank Polyjuice and is pretending to be him."
"No," Conna shook her head; in fact, she was a bit confused too.
Just like that, time passed, and finally, class was over.
Conna was the first to rush out of the classroom and found Kael in the Hufflepuff common room playing with a Niffler.
She ran over and sniffed around Kael.
"What are you doing?" Kael couldn't help but ask.
"Trying to find out if there's the smell of Polyjuice Potion," Conna said, "Well, there's none..."
Then she sat down on a nearby armchair.
"What was wrong with you just now."
"Trying to get her to give me detention," Kael said, "I had prepared several plans, didn't expect it to be completed so easily."
"You want Umbridge to give you detention, so you provoke her?" Conna was even more confused.
"Yeah." Kael nodded.
"Alright." Conna said, feeling slightly relieved once she realized that Kael had done it on purpose. "No wonder, I've never seen you so..."
She hesitated, not continuing.
"You want to say 'cutting,' right?" Kael said with a smile. "I learned that from Professor Snape, it's really effective, isn't it? She got angry right away.
"But that's normal. After all, when it comes to being cutting, the entire school's professors and students together can't compare to Professor Snape."
"What are you talking about?" Conna gave him an exasperated glare.
"But it's true." Kael muttered softly, but seeing Conna's angry face, he quickly explained, "Don't get me wrong, when I say 'cutting' here, it's actually a compliment, really."
Seeing Kael's sincere expression, Conna was barely convinced by his words.
"But I don't understand, why do you want to get detention?"
"Because it's more convenient this way." Kael said vaguely.
...
The next day.
In just one night, news of Kael storming out of Umbridge's class spread like wildfire, even by Hogwarts standards, the speed was astonishingly fast.
"Did you really leave halfway through?" Fred asked, sitting at the Hufflepuff table.
"Didn't give Umbridge a shred of face?" George asked from the other side.
As they spoke, there was a trace of unprecedented admiration in their eyes.
Yes, admiration.
Whether it was Kael receiving the Hogwarts Special Contribution Award or the Merlin Medal, they were merely happy.
But today, they were excited for the first time.
"You all heard about it?" Kael asked casually.
"Hah..." George let out a bizarre laugh. "Did you think this was just like answering a question in class?"
Storming out halfway would become a hot topic at Hogwarts for anyone, let alone for the always excellent Kael.
"Did you have Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Kael asked.
"No." Fred shook his head.
"You'll understand why I did it once you attend," Kael said.
He checked the time, stood up, and said, "I have to go to detention.
"By the way, Cedric, I'm not sure when the detention will end, so for the Quidditch tryouts later..."
"No problem, leave it to us." Cedric said, looking at Kael with some concern.
"It's nothing, just a detention, no big deal." Kael said.
Then, he left the auditorium and went to Umbridge's office on the fourth floor, knocked on the door, and a sickly sweet voice came from within.
"Come in."
Kael pushed the door open and walked in.
This office, after having been through six different owners, now had a completely different style.
Everything was adorned with frilly tablecloths and vases of dried flowers sat on their own little doilies.
A series of decorative plates hung on the wall, each plate featuring a brightly colored cat with a different bow on its head.
"Good morning." Umbridge said with a sweet smile at him.
"Good morning." Kael responded enthusiastically, naturally walking over to a sofa and sitting down, "Do you have any tea? No sugar, thanks, I think the apple pie at breakfast was a bit too sweet."
Umbridge was momentarily surprised, seemingly not expecting Kael to be so bold, asking for tea while in detention.
Did he think he was at the Three Broomsticks?
Umbridge's fake smile faltered a little; she enjoyed being respected and flattered, but Kael paid her no mind.
And whether it was a few years ago at St Mungo's, before in the Ministry of Magic, or now, it had always been the case.
"There's no tea here, and even if there was, I wouldn't give you any." She said, her voice growing sharp and malicious.
"Because you're spreading evil, despicable, attention-seeking lies, now, I'm going to punish you by having you write some sentences... And not with your pen, but with this one."
She pulled out a long, thin quill with a particularly sharp tip.
"If I'm not mistaken..." Kael said, "there seems to be some Dark Magic on it."
"Dark Magic? No, no, this is just your punishment." Umbridge wore that sickly sweet smile again.
"No matter what excuse you use, Professor Dumbledore won't agree to you using Dark Arts Items in the school."
"Dumbledore can't control the Ministry of Magic!" Umbridge said viciously, "And he won't know, at least not until your punishment ends, no one will know about what happens here."
"I see..." Kael nodded.
He casually took out his wand and waved it lightly.
The next second.
"Bang!"
Umbridge was like she'd been slapped by an invisible giant, flying uncontrollably backward and crashing into a table with a dull thud.
The vases on top wobbled and then crashed to the floor, shattering.
Only then did Kael smile and say:
"Seriously, why didn't you say so earlier? Since no one's going to know, why bother wasting words with you anyway."