Dolores Umbridge

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Dolores Jane Umbridge, is Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Umbridge is one of the interrogators in Harry's Disciplinary Hearing in his fifth year. In the same year, she comes to Hogwarts as Professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts. In the course of her activities, she also inherits the following titles: High Inquisitor, Headmistress.

Dolores Umbridge looks like a large, pale toad. She is rather squat with a broad, flabby face. Her eyes are large, round, and slightly bulging. She wears her curly hair short. Her voice is fluttery, girlish, and high-pitched.

Her most notable actions during her regime as High Inquisitor/Headmistress are the Educational Decrees and her giving Harry a lifelong ban from Quidditch.

Arrival of Umbridge at Hogwarts

Umbridge is appointed the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Order of the Phoenix. She interrupts Dumbledore during his speech, and delivers a very long-winded one of her own. Hermione Granger reads between the lines and concludes that the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts.

Professor Umbridge's classes contain only theory and no practical work. The class usually reads a certain amount of pages from their books(which are as draining as her speech). Other than the lessons becoming an extreme bore for her pupils, they also cause an uproar among her classmates, particularly Harry. What incenses him even more is that Umbridge proclaims that Lord Voldemort has not actually returned. In their first lesson on the year, Harry Potter loses his temper and shouts that Voldemort has in fact returned. This outburst results in Harry being given a weeks worth of detention, during which he must write lines with a special quill or Dolores Umbridge's. When Harry finishes writing the first line of "I must not tell lies" he finds that the quill etches the words he has written on the parchment, directly onto the back of his hand.

The Inquisitorial Squad and The Educational Decrees

To aid her in taking control of the school, Umbridge creates the Inquisitorial Squad, a group of Slytherins who are given the power to deduct house points and punish for bad behaviour. Malfoy in particular abuses his position, yet Umbridge does not take any action.

The Educational Decrees are a way of Umbridge to treat the school like another Ministry - where she can make laws, but as she sees fit. However, the decrees have little impact on the actions of the school she doesn't like: for example, when she bans The Quibbler, the students are more eager to read it - they simply bewitch it so it becomes something such as a piece of parchment.

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Preceded by Alastor Moody

Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher

Succeeded by Severus Snape