Even after more than half a year, the students still gripped their wands with practiced ease and, excited but orderly, moved to the open space at the back of the classroom, finally lining up in four wide, neat rows.
And Umbridge suddenly realized that all she could do was stand there and watch.
Fudge's original excuse for placing her at Hogwarts had been that Dumbledore was unable to find a suitable Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
But unexpectedly, Karkaroff had stepped forward.
Luckily, Fudge had simply forced the issue, using the excuse that the students had grown used to having two professors, and pushed Umbridge into the school anyway.
In effect, Umbridge had taken over Professor Tver's post, and naturally, he was no longer being paid...
As for the half of the course load that had been split off, Umbridge actually had no way to interfere with it. That was why Karkaroff had been able to teach the students dark magic as he pleased.
Until Umbridge found his weakness.
Because of Voldemort, Karkaroff was terrified of being driven out of Hogwarts, or even out of Britain.
So by using her authority as High Inquisitor, Umbridge had finally managed to get a hold over Karkaroff.
But who could have expected Karkaroff to use a holiday as an excuse and have Tver take over his teaching duties?
And naturally, even if Umbridge wanted to claim Tver was unfit to teach, she still could not dismiss him.
He was not drawing a salary.
At that thought, Umbridge ground her teeth and glared at the chattering students, as well as at Tver, who stood there smiling at them.
I hate Durmstrang!
"Thanks to one particularly competent professor, your reserve of theoretical knowledge is already enough to meet the O.W.L.s requirements."
Tver glanced at Harry and a few of the others, who looked embarrassed.
"Of course, if you still think it isn't enough, then you'll have to rely on your own effort after class, or work harder in another professor's classroom."
"Because..." He paused, letting the ivory-white wand in his hand spin once.
"I am only going to help you reinforce and improve the magic you've learned over the past five years, the magic that will be critically important in the coming exams!"
The students' excited expressions immediately tightened.
The thrill of defying Umbridge had almost made them forget that when Professor Fawley "guided" them through practical lessons, he never went easy on them.
Tver nodded in satisfaction.
It was already April. They had less than two months to review these spells, and the task was urgent. He had to make them take it seriously.
Dealing with Umbridge was nowhere near as important as the exams they were about to face.
"To distinguish it from the Charms exam, the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam usually focuses on practical magic..."
Using his own body to block Umbridge from sight, Tver pointed in her direction.
"Don't worry. This has been fixed Ministry content for a long time. It's not something one or two Ministers can change."
Under Umbridge's furious glare, the students burst into loud laughter.
"So first, the most important part of the exam, and also the one with the most content and the most complicated material. Which of you... alright, Miss Granger, go ahead."
"It's Counter-Jinxes, Professor," Hermione said eagerly.
This was Professor Fawley's first question of the school year.
"Correct. Ten points to Gryffindor." Tver nodded without surprise.
As for the points, that was entirely because with Umbridge around, plus Snape's favoritism, Gryffindor's score this school year could only be described as miserable.
That was why Hermione had answered so eagerly. If they did not earn some points, it probably would not even make up for a single day of Umbridge's deductions...
"But you need to be clear on one concept. A Counter-Jinx is not the same as an Anti-Jinx."
"The latter is more like a shield, preventing you from being affected by a Jinx."
"But the former uses another effect to cancel out the Jinx's influence, like using water to put out fire."
"And that leads us to the problem. Seamus, can you tell me what it is?"
"Of course, Professor!"
They had already seen this sort of thing many times on quizzes, so Seamus answered with complete confidence.
"If we want to cancel out the effect of a Jinx, then we have to use another Jinx with the opposite effect."
"And more importantly, if we make a mistake, not only will we fail to break the Jinx, we'll also cause secondary harm."
"Thank you. Ten points. If your practical work can take that into account too, that would be even better," Tver said, unable to resist a jab.
"But there's one thing Seamus got wrong. Just as your textbook..." He casually picked up Defensive Magical Theory from the desk.
"...Mr. Wilbert Slinkhard says in this book, Counter-Jinxes are another category of Jinx, even if they were developed with the idea of neutralizing Jinxes."
"But everyone, when an enemy casts a Jinx at us, are we supposed to throw this book at them and bludgeon them to death?"
Tver tossed the book back onto the desk with a grin, only for the heavy hardback to hit with such a loud bang that it made him jump.
"Wh. That startled me. Turns out it really does have offensive power. Looks like the Ministry really put a lot of thought into this."
Looking at the laughing students, he shook his head helplessly.
"Everyone, when facing Jinxes, as long as it helps you defend yourselves, any magic you use is correct and permitted."
"In fact, I can tell you plainly that at Durmstrang, when we study dark magic, we also learn how to use dark magic to defend against other dark magic, all to protect our own safety."
"Professor Fawley, please do not spread the misguided teaching philosophy of other schools at Hogwarts. That will seriously lower the evaluation of your teaching ability!"
Umbridge had finally found a chance to attack Tver. But obviously, she no longer dared to use coughing to draw everyone's attention.
"And then?" Tver said indifferently, with defiance practically written all over his face.
"As a competent professor," he said, putting clear emphasis on competent, "my only duty is to teach students how to use all kinds of magical means to defend themselves against whatever dangers they might face."
"Not to satisfy the evaluations of certain incompetent people."
He shot a cold glance at the clipboard in Umbridge's hand, freezing her where she stood, then turned back to the gleeful students.
With a flick of his wand, the ground softened under the students' feet as a bad feeling rose in all of them. At the same time, a far more finely made faceless dummy flew out of his pocket.
"Why are you still standing there?" Tver frowned in displeasure.
He had only been away from the school for less than a year. Had the students' combat alertness really dropped this quickly?
"Next, the dummy will continuously cast Jinxes at you. You may use any method you like, including counterattacking with Jinxes."
"But note this. The dummy's strength has been set according to the combined strength of all of you together."
"In other words, if someone is taken down by a Jinx and the rest of you do not quickly use Counter-Jinxes to help your classmate, then dealing with the dummy will only get harder and harder."
"And the dummy definitely won't mind hanging all of you from the ceiling!"
"Actually, I wouldn't mind either..."
One student muttered that under his breath. Fortunately, everyone else had already fallen into a flurry of panic and were scrambling to prepare for the fight, so no one heard him clearly.
At that moment, Umbridge finally understood where that maddening feeling inside her was coming from.
She herself did not mind using Jinxes at all, and certainly would not mind using them on students...
But what kind of professor would openly say something like that in class?
Who exactly was supposed to be the evil one here?
She had only used a Jinx on students in detention, while Tver had openly declared that he was going to use Jinxes on all of them.
So why was she the one the students loathed, while Tver was the one they adored?