Umbridge's eyes lit up at the sight of Dumbledore entering the classroom, and she became so excited that she stood up to greet him.
Umbridge cleared her throat and said in a strange voice, "Headmaster Dumbledore! I need to remind you that Hogwarts rules state that the Headmaster should be present before the Sorting…"
Dumbledore, however, did not seem to see her and did not seem to have any intention of stopping. Instead, he simply walked past Umbridge and the pressure he was giving off silenced her.
Umbridge stood there with her mouth open and her face turning purple.
Dumbledore stepped onto the stage, looked down at the young wizards, and said with a smile, "I'm late, but I must say… welcome! Welcome to Hogwarts, new students!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the hall erupted in applause.
When Dumbledore was not present at the Welcoming Ceremony, the senior students were alarmed, but now they were relieved.
When the applause died down a little, Dumbledore continued. "Perhaps the long journey has made you hungry, but I would like to say a few words before we begin our feast!"
"This year, there have been two changes to our teaching staff. First, I'm very pleased to have Professor Grubbly-Plank back in charge of the Care of Magical Creatures class."
As he spoke, Dumbledore turned his attention to the teachers' table, and Professor Grubbly-Plank stood up and smiled at the crowd, prompting another round of applause.
Harry wanted to ask where Hagrid was, but Hermione stopped him.
Dumbledore then turned to Umbridge, who was still standing in the aisle of the long table. "In addition, there is a new face this year, with Umbridge teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts…"
Umbridge cleared her throat, interrupting Dumbledore with a grimace and a fake smile. "Thank you, Headmaster, but I would prefer to introduce myself!"
Dumbledore remained silent, seemingly acquiescing to Umbridge's claims.
Umbridge managed to regain some of her self-confidence and managed to put on her trademark sweet smile.
"I must say, it's wonderful to be back at Hogwarts again! Just looking at you reminds me of my old school days."
"I stood here more than forty years ago, wearing my Sorting Hat and becoming a Hogwarts student with a heart full of excitement and joy…"
Umbridge talked about her youth, trying to get closer to the wizards, but to little avail.
Nobody wanted to know how she managed to rise to the position of Head of House more than forty years ago through hard work and snitching, nor did they have much interest in old rules and regulations.
The audience drifted off to sleep, and Harry lay on his bed with his hands over his stomach, wondering when he would be able to enjoy his dinner.
"Can't it wait until after dinner?" Ron muttered to himself with a sigh. In the past, he had always started the feast first and then spoken, but for some reason this school year was different.
"…keep us moving forward into an enlightened, efficient and reasonable new age, determinedly maintaining what should be maintained, perfecting what needs to be perfected, discarding what we should forbid…" Umbridge went on for over forty minutes.
In the first half, she relived the glory she had achieved as a student, and in the second half, she stressed that Hogwarts would be subject to changes under the supervision of the Ministry of Magic, as well as improving existing school rules.
"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, for your very illuminating speech," Dumbledore said, waiting for Umbridge to finish before returning to the stage.
"As for now, you may enjoy your dinner."
Dumbledore raised his left hand and waved his wand, and chunks of beef, pies, platters of vegetables, bread, jam, and pots of pumpkin juice appeared on the tables of the four houses.
The young wizards, who had been starving all night, perked up and dug into their knives and forks.
Ivan also cut a small piece of steak and stuffed it into his mouth.
Harry and Ron eat while discussing the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
They had met Umbridge several times before, so they had little hope for this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and only hoped that Umbridge would not do any worse than Lockhart.
"I'm afraid there's more to this than meets the eye… Did you understand what Umbridge said? Remember, she was an investigator for the Ministry of Magic…" Hermione put down her knife and fork for a moment and looked at the two of them solemnly.
"Did she say anything? It all sounded like nonsense, and I was falling asleep…" Ron yawned and gulped down a mouthful of iced lemon juice.
"Sometimes there's something important in nonsense!" Hermione said earnestly, but both Harry and Ron looked blank.
Hermione sighed and explained, "The fact that Umbridge is here means that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere with Hogwarts and undermine Professor Dumbledore's influence at Hogwarts! You've probably seen the Daily Prophet for the past two months, and that's an omen."
Harry and Ron were furious when Hermione mentioned the reports.
Over the course of the past two months, the Daily Prophet has been extremely abusive to Dumbledore, denying the return of Lord Voldemort on a daily basis and using a dozen articles to prove that Dumbledore suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
One article mentioned Dumbledore's habit of saying crazy things during the Welcoming Ceremony, such as the famous line "Dumbass! Sobbing Nose! Scum! Squeeze!"
On top of that, Dumbledore abused his position to give random points to students for being biased.
In just over ten minutes, he added over five hundred points to Gryffindor House, ignoring the infractions of certain special students, causing Slytherin, who was supposed to have won the House Cup, to miss the opportunity and severely dampen the enthusiasm of the other Houses.
Dumbledore was also said to be very convinced of Harry Potter's dream and believed that the mysterious man who had endangered the wizarding community was lurking in the shadows, ready to fight him.