Although Tver had returned to Hogwarts and taken back the teaching post Karkaroff had originally been filling in for him, he could not teach as many interesting lessons for the students as he had in previous years.
He could not even bring in any magical creatures.
Part of the reason was that Tver had been too busy before and simply had not had much time to prepare lessons.
The other reason was that, with Umbridge around, the students did not really need any flashy class content anyway...
What they needed most was to make up for the magical practice they had lost over the past half year, especially before the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, along with reviewing the magic they had learned before.
So Tver focused most of his time and energy on summarizing the magic they would need for the exams, then making them use every minute of class to practice it.
As for Umbridge's opinion...
Did Umbridge dare to have one?
"Good morning, everyone."
After spending a stretch of genuinely comfortable days, Tver's good mood was obvious at a glance.
It turned out his supposed bad luck had just been him overthinking things.
Even if he had not gone around jinxing himself, the wizarding world would still have been thrown into some unrest by Voldemort's return.
And that naturally meant he had no choice but to stay busy.
Now, for the wizarding world, whether Voldemort had really returned or not, at the very least their daily lives had not been affected too much.
So that atmosphere of panic had naturally begun to fade, finally allowing Tver to relax for real.
"Ahem."
That affected little cough. Tver could guess who it was with the hairs he had shed while combing his hair that morning.
"I believe this is my Defence Against the Dark Arts class?" He made a great show of flipping through the test papers in his hand, as if his class schedule were hidden somewhere inside them.
"Has Professor Umbridge developed dementia?"
Seeing Umbridge's puzzled expression, Tver immediately explained with an inward smirk.
"Oh, it's a disease named by Muggles, used to describe memory loss, trembling hands, and the like in old age... hey, hey, hey, that's exactly what you've got right now!"
He pointed in delight at the hand gripping Umbridge's clipboard, trembling nonstop with rage.
The fake smile on Umbridge's face immediately collapsed.
She had come intending to use her authority as High Inquisitor to make things difficult for Tver, but she had not expected him to mock her so brazenly.
She had not even said a word yet.
Wait, if that was the case, didn't that mean Tver would not be able to interrupt her now?
An odd thought suddenly occurred to Umbridge.
That abnormal look actually gave Tver a scare.
If insulting Umbridge had awakened some strange new trait in her, he would not really care, unless it only came out around him. In that case, it would be enough to disgust him to death.
"Ahem." It was a while before Umbridge came back to herself.
"I am a witch. I would never suffer from one of those ridiculous Muggle illnesses!"
"That's not necessarily true. Dementia is irreversible brain damage..."
Tver muttered as he set the papers on the lectern, showing rare weakness in front of Umbridge for the first time.
After all, with Umbridge looking like this, the destructive power was still impressive...
"Sorry, everyone, for delaying things a little, but that's alright. We'll begin now..."
"I don't think you understand yet, so let me remind you first."
The moment she thought of her greatest support, Umbridge's arrogance finally... rose a little.
"As Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I have the authority to inspect every professor's teaching, and the authority to dismiss certain professors who fail to meet the proper standard."
"That's it?" Tver turned his head aside in speechless disbelief.
"Today, let's review the magic we learned before..."
He let out a sigh and turned back to look at Umbridge, who looked in desperate need of a healer.
"If your cough won't go away, my advice is to read more."
Umbridge froze. Since she had made a habit of using that cough to attract attention, this was the first time she had ever encountered a response like that.
"Why?"
"Because then you'd understand that if there's nothing actually wrong with your throat, coughing loudly in public is rude."
Umbridge's face stiffened at once.
"Excuse me, I only wanted to remind you that, after careful study by authoritative figures in the Department of Education, Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts must be taught in a more reasonable way."
Seeing Tver open his mouth to argue, she hurriedly added, "And even the exams don't change that!"
"The Wizarding Examinations Authority told me yesterday that they are increasing the weight of theoretical scores in both the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s!"
Umbridge lifted her chin smugly. That was the confidence she had come here with today.
Still, Tver really did look surprised.
The old examiners at the examinations board, whose seniority exceeded even Dumbledore's, naturally understood the importance of theory, which was why theory and practical tests had always gone hand in hand, with the final grade being a combination of both.
But if theory was really going to account for most of the score, then students like Harry, who relied mainly on the practical exam, would be in serious trouble.
Then again, would the Wizarding Examinations Authority's old examiners, people even older in standing than Dumbledore, really compromise because of Umbridge?
Tver gave her an amused look and immediately understood.
So one of the examiners had simply gotten fed up with her and tossed her an offhand line to brush her off...
As for whether it was true, Tver neither knew nor needed to know.
"Since the theory exam is worth more now, then naturally it should be left to a 'senior' professor like you," Tver said, not showing the disappointment Umbridge had hoped to see, but sounding delighted instead.
"Then Professor Umbridge obviously won't care about the remaining practical training. That makes it perfect for me to take over, doesn't it?"
"Huh?"
Umbridge felt that either her brain was not working anymore, or Tver had gone mad.
Otherwise how could she not follow his thinking at all?
"But... if the students' grades fall..."
"Then of course that's my responsibility." Tver took the blame with casual ease.
He looked cheerfully at the students, who had all looked as if their world had ended a moment ago.
"Still haven't figured it out? From now on, you'll study theory in Professor Umbridge's class..."
He put the stack of test papers from the lectern back into his wallet, then drew his wand as their eyes gradually lit up with excitement.
"As for my class..."
"Practical!"
Before Tver could say it himself, the students shouted it for him in delight. Without another word, they all pulled out their wands and stuffed the books on their desks into their bags.
Tver had given them practical training before, but never that often. Usually it had been the same as before, testing first, then practicing a bit of magic afterward.
But now, not only would they no longer have to waste the professor's valuable class time, they would be practicing magic right in front of Umbridge.
Just imagining it made the smiles on their faces grow more and more outrageous.
If the professor had not been standing right there, they might already have run up to Umbridge to flaunt it in her face.