Umbridge trembled as she raised her head. She saw Kasenhis looking at her like she was trash, while vigorously scrubbing his hands with a handkerchief.
She glanced at the others in the classroom. For some reason, she couldn't quite make out their expressions anymore, as if every single face was dark and cold.
Behind her, the Weasley twins slowly stepped back, revealing the shattered crucible fragments at their feet.
Umbridge clenched her teeth and walked toward the pieces. She slowly crouched down. She had originally wanted to use magic, but unfortunately, her wand was still in Cedric's hands.
And for someone like her, who specialized in political maneuvering and neglected actual magic, wandless casting was far too difficult.
So she could only grit her teeth and endure the heat, picking up the scorching crucible fragments one by one.
Soon, all the fragments on the floor had been collected. Kasenhis glanced at the ruined alchemical solution still left on the ground, casually tossed down a sponge, and let it soak everything up.
"Get lost." He looked at Umbridge, who no longer had even the slightest will to resist, felt a wave of boredom, and casually tossed the handkerchief onto the floor.
"The Ministry will know what you did today," Umbridge muttered in a low voice that only one person could hear.
"Next time, keep thoughts like that to yourself. Don't let anyone hear them. For example, right now, I need you to repair the crucible you broke," Kasenhis said calmly as he sat on the lectern.
"What?" Umbridge stared at Kasenhis in shock. This had gone far beyond pushing his luck. She had already lowered herself, already humiliated herself by picking up the crucible fragments…
And now she still had to suffer this kind of humiliation.
"I need you to repair the crucible you broke. Is there a problem?" Kasenhis repeated.
"...No problem...of course there's no problem," Umbridge said, forcing a smile so obsequious it was painful to look at.
"Mm-hm. George, Fred, you two move to another station and make a new crucible, then start over. As for you, Director Umbridge… if you can't fix it, you're not allowed to leave."
After saying that, he continued lecturing from the podium, slow and unhurried. One could say he had truly inherited Snape's style—though it was also entirely possible that he simply enjoyed watching Umbridge lose face in public.
And this kind of humiliation to one's dignity, for someone as self-important as Umbridge, was even more damaging than physical pain.
Just like that, the class period ended quickly. Kasenhis and the students left one after another. Seeing this, Umbridge tried to slip away as well—only to have her path blocked by a tall, imposing figure.
The iron golem lowered its head slightly to look at Umbridge and shook it.
"A mere magical construct dares to block me? I am a senior official of the Ministry of Magic! The Head of Student Discipline at Hogwarts! And you are just—"
Bang!
Umbridge angrily pulled out her wand, only to be instantly knocked senseless by a single punch from the iron golem.
"Waaahhh…"
One punch shatters the soul of authority—Iron Bro is just a worker punching the clock.
And so, Umbridge tearfully used the Mending Charm to glue the crucible fragments together bit by bit.
In the end, she left behind a crucible riddled with cracks in the classroom, packed up her things, and under Iron Bro's watchful gaze, continued her search for her next foothold at Hogwarts.
...
In the staff room, the professors listening to the portraits recount the incident with vivid flair were laughing so hard they were nearly doubled over. Even Snape, who had come over to mooch snacks, had the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth.
"I genuinely don't get it," Kasenhis said while munching on dried fish. "Fudge only gave her an empty title and authority as useful as scrap paper. She earns barely any Galleons a month, and at Hogwarts she can't even intimidate an iron golem—let alone a first-year. Why is she still trying this hard?"
"There really are some people at the Ministry who are just as fanatical as she is," Professor McGonagall explained. "But they're a minority. And because they only recognize authority, not many people in the upper ranks are willing to promote them. Fudge managing to dig up someone like her is, in its own way, quite a feat."
"So which classroom do you think she'll sleep in tomorrow? Should we start assigning shifts, like a night patrol roster?" Kasenhis suggested.
"I'll take tomorrow," Snape said flatly.
For a moment, Kasenhis couldn't hold back his laughter. Honestly, he was already a bit curious about just how terrifying Umbridge's workplace bullying was going to be tomorrow.
No—bullying wasn't the right word.
This was a perfectly legitimate defense against a foreign enemy.
...
The next day, Kasenhis sat in his office, giving Cedric some one-on-one tutoring while listening to Cedric recount, in vivid detail, the various methods Snape had used that morning in the Advanced Potions class to hot-and-cold bully Umbridge.
It was the kind of thing that would make Harry feel deeply grateful that Snape had spared his life.
"But, Professor, no matter what, Umbridge is still a representative of the Ministry," Cedric said, clearly puzzled. "How did she end up in this state? Does the Ministry really have no methods left at all? And… what kind of government have we been governed by all this time?"
"Because, strictly speaking, Hogwarts isn't under the Ministry's jurisdiction," Kasenhis said casually. "Hogwarts answers only to the Board of Governors. Even the funding for first-year student subsidies comes from the Board. The Ministry is basically useless here, so there's no need to indulge them."
"I thought the Board of Governors was on good terms with Fudge?" Cedric still didn't quite understand.
"That's because he's managed to offend both sides," Kasenhis replied. "Among the pure-bloods on the Board, some support Dumbledore, some support Voldemort. But now Fudge supports neither. He's already fallen out with Dumbledore, and he doesn't support Voldemort either—especially after officially acknowledging Voldemort's return. If he pleases no one, who's left to help him?"
"Damn.. and we elected someone like that... can't believe it."
"Yup! I've been alive this long, and I've never seen someone this stupid."
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