The arrival of the Hogwarts Magical Newspaper had an immediate effect. The noisy hall suddenly quieted down, as if someone had turned off the sound. Then, it became lively again, and the newspaper was passed around as quickly as possible.
The thing that Umrich was most worried about had happened. She stood up in a panic, her face pale.
At this moment, she probably did not expect that this was the beginning of the situation at Hogwarts completely out of control.
"Let's go!" Elwyn said. He did not want to stay here and be questioned.
In the following time, the entire Hogwarts was enveloped in an inexplicable atmosphere.
It was a strange mixture of panic, shock, and indescribable excitement. Everyone was talking about the Death Eaters' prison break, and the rumor mill was rife.
No matter where they went, they could hear talk about it. The students were not in the mood to study.
Some said that someone in Hogsmeade had recognized a few escaped prisoners, and that they were hiding in the Screaming Shack. They might break into Hogwarts like Sirius had done. The Death Eater prison break itself was to kill Harry and avenge Lord Voldemort. All kinds of rumors spread quickly, and new ones were born.
The children of magical families had heard of these Death Eaters since they were young. Their names were almost as terrifying as Lord Voldemort.
The crimes they committed under Lord Voldemort's reign of terror were well-known, and there were families of the victims among the Hogwarts students.
These students found themselves unwillingly the focus of attention in the corridor. Susan Burns, whose uncle, aunt and cousin had all died at the hands of a fugitive, said bitterly in her herbalism class that she now deeply understood how Harry felt.
"I don't know how you can stand it. It's scary," she said frankly to Harry.
Like these students, Elwyn, Harry, Hermione, their group, and even the newcomer Elaine became the subject of whispered comments and pointing.
But unlike before, there was a slight change in their tone.
Now, curiosity had replaced hostility. Anyone who wasn't a fool would know that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
Thirty highly dangerous Death Eaters had escaped from Azkaban. They were the elites of the Lord Voldemort's army. Each of them was the evilest Dark Wizard in the world and had committed countless crimes. However, the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet could not explain why they had escaped. There was no follow-up report.
They were still criticizing Dumbledore and the Hogwarts for their poor education, but who cared about that now?!
In their confusion and fear, the skeptics seemed to turn to the only remaining explanation.
Based on what Elwyn, Harry, and Dumbledore had been talking about last year, the sales of Hogwarts Magic had soared.
Since the beginning of the summer break, starting from Harry's attack by the Dementors, the Hogwarts Magic had started reminding the Ministry of Magic and people to pay attention to the Dementors. Rita's series of articles had even analyzed the dangers of the Dementors and the possibility of them going out of control.
Now, they were right. Although the Ministry of Magic had repeatedly emphasized that the Dementors had not gone out of control, anyone in their right mind would not believe them. If the Dementors had not gone out of control, how did the thirty Death Eaters escape?
As the only newspaper that dared to tell the truth, the Hogwarts Magic had immediately become a hero in people's hearts.
But that was not all. If they continued to analyze the matter, they would dig out even more terrifying truths.
The Lord Voldemort was the culprit of this prison break. This was the truth behind the Dementors going out of control and the Death Eaters escaping from prison.
This was obvious, but most people still did not want to think in that direction.
This was because they had to admit that the resurrection of the Lord Voldemort was too terrifying. It was far more terrifying than the Dementors going out of control and the Death Eaters escaping from prison.
However, this did not stop them from agreeing more with the Hogwarts Magic.
To give the public some time to ferment, Rita's interview with Elwyn and Harry was not published in a hurry.
They were waiting for the best time to discuss the details of the report and related matters. They arranged to meet at Hogsmeade.
All in all, everything was as Elwyn had predicted. The Death Eaters prison break had greatly changed the current situation.
The Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet continued to promote the same things as before, trying their best to maintain stability, but the number of people who believed in them was decreasing.
As time passed, more and more voices of doubt appeared.
Other than the change in students' emotions and the surging of rumors, it was common to see teachers whispering nervously in the corridors, stopping as soon as students approached.
"Obviously, they can't talk freely in the teachers' lounge. Umrich is there!" Hermione said softly.
They ran into Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout sneaking around outside the magic class, discussing something.
Under such circumstances, Umrich quickly issued a new education order. The morning after the Azkaban prison break was published, a new notice was posted on the academy's bulletin board: The Senior Investigator of Hogwarts hereby prohibits teachers from providing students with any information unrelated to the subject they are teaching.
The above regulations are in accordance with the Education Order No.26. Signed, Senior Investigator Dolores Jane Umrich.
Some might have naively thought that the Azkaban prison break would cause Umrich to restrain herself a little.
She would be ashamed of her dear Foggy for making such a big mistake, but it only seemed to make her more determined to control the lives of Hogwarts in the palm of her hand. She seemed determined to fire at least one person in the near future to establish her authority. It was only a matter of who would go first, Trelawney or Hagrid.
Now, every divination class and magical creature protection class was held in front of Umbridge and her clipboard.
She sat by the fire in her room at the top of the sweet-scented tower, interrupting Trelawney's increasingly hysterical lectures from time to time, asking her tricky questions about ornithology and septuagint, insisting that she predict the students' answers, demanding that she show her divination abilities with crystal balls, tea leaves and runestones.
Professor Trelawney was about to collapse. The students began to see her more and more frequently in the corridors.
This was very, very unusual, for she was generally confined to her tower, and she was not in a good state, talking excitedly to herself from time to time, wringing her hands, looking round in alarm, and emitting a strong odour of cooking wine.
Even Elaine, who was very interested in divination, could not stand Professor Trelawney. She did not attend divination classes at all.
After becoming familiar with the Hogwarts, she no longer followed Elwyn or Hermione as she used to. Instead, she began to wander excitedly around the castle, daring to go almost anywhere. She had a way of hiding herself without fear of being discovered and had enough ability to protect herself.
Elwyn had been a little worried that she might do something to the others.
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