The Hagrid's son

Barnaby glared angrily at the dark feathers in his hand, trying to restrain himself from destroying them on the spot.

"So... Umbridge uses a dark artifact for her punishments," he confirmed with his familiar once more. "Writing lines not only with their own blood instead of ink, but engraving the lines they copy into their own flesh."

"Yes," Sanshi confirmed with open disgust. "And Harry wasn't the only one punished. Before him, there was a dark-haired girl who came out sobbing, and from the way she was holding her hand, it looks like she went through the same thing." He added while handing Barnaby a vial with a silver thread inside.

Barnaby took a deep breath, pocketed the feathers and the vial, and headed towards McGonagall's office with a grim expression. The students who saw him were about to greet him, but when they noticed his face and the slightly distorted air around him, they remained silent and stepped aside in confusion.

"What happened to him?" A fourth-year Hufflepuff asked a sixth-year Gryffindor next to him. "I've never seen Barnaby with that look."

"Because he doesn't usually get angry like that easily," the Gryffindor replied, staring thoughtfully in the direction Barnaby had gone. "Come on, it's best not to stick our noses in when he's like that. I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

The Hufflepuff nodded and continued on to his Potions class.

Barnaby arrived at the office of the Gryffindor Head of House and knocked twice.

"Come in," Minerva looked up from her desk. "Ah, Barnaby. How can I—?" But she quickly noticed the redhead was not happy. "What happened?" she asked seriously.

The last time she had seen Barnaby like this was when Trelawney had said something inappropriate, and the Astronomy Tower had almost blown up!

Barnaby pulled out the black feathers and the vial, placing them on Minerva's desk.

"Is this...?"

"The dark artifact Dolores Umbridge has been using on students during her punishment sessions, along with a memory thread that proves the events," Barnaby said with an unusual coldness.

Minerva's expression changed when she heard about the use of dark objects on students, and she quickly verified the feathers with her wand. Despite her trust in Barnaby, this was a very serious accusation.

The results did not please her one bit.

"Why didn't you show this to Dumbledore?" she asked without thinking.

"Dumbledore was the one who let her into the school," Barnaby responded concisely.

Minerva winced at his reply, and though she wanted to defend the Headmaster, the truth was that she wasn't entirely pleased with Albus's actions either.

Since when does the Ministry of Magic have a say in what happens at Hogwarts?!

"I'll handle this, Barnaby. Go calm down before you do something you'll regret."

Barnaby stared at Minerva for a few seconds, then nodded, turning and leaving. He trusted the Deputy Headmistress would stand firm against the Headmaster with this evidence in hand.

As for regretting anything? No, he didn't believe he would regret it if he took action.

But he decided to be patient.

The memory thread was Sanshi's, but since the perspective was from the shadow's concealment, once it was dropped into the Pensieve, the observers would only see Harry suffering under the dark artifact while Umbridge sat next to him sipping tea, her expression one of satisfaction with what she was witnessing.

No one would know about or see his familiar.

It wasn't long before some students began hearing loud voices from the stairs leading to the Headmaster's office. The heated exchange lasted several minutes.

By the time the spiral staircase moved and McGonagall emerged, everyone saw her move decisively toward Umbridge's office, where she removed a pile of feathers and incinerated them with a firm gesture.

The oddest thing was that Umbridge watched this without reacting—or so it seemed—until they realized she had been paralyzed by the Gryffindor Head of House.

"One more behavior like this, and I will personally ensure you leave this castle!"

It was said that Umbridge's face displayed such a range of colors, some had never been seen before.

And as for the fact that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had used dark artifacts on students?

By dinnertime, the entire castle knew.

Dumbledore gave McGonagall a disapproving look, to which she could only respond with a confused one, which in turn left Dumbledore perplexed.

I look at you, and you look at me.

Minerva knew that even with what Umbridge had done, the matter should not have been spread for several reasons. It definitely wasn't her!

Had Umbridge's victims spilled the beans? Most likely.

But for some reason, her gaze involuntarily shifted toward Barnaby's seat. That's when she realized Hagrid's son wasn't dining with them.

"Hagrid, where's Barnaby?" she asked, slightly concerned.

"I think I saw him heading into the Forbidden Forest," the half-giant admitted, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I believe he went to help the centaur tribe with something about leveling some land. He mentioned it last year, but I think it was still pending."

"Are you not sure?" The corner of Minerva's mouth twitched slightly.

"Well, I've spent most of the day calming and comforting Fang," Hagrid explained helplessly. "There's been tremors all afternoon, and the poor thing was more frightened than usual, I mean."

Minerva fell into thought upon hearing this explanation.

It seemed too much of a coincidence...

"By the way, Professor," Hagrid asked this time, pointing with his fork toward the empty seat at the far end of the table. "Do you know where the new teacher is? She's late for dinner."

"Hmm?" Minerva looked at the empty seat for a few seconds.

Oh, perhaps she hadn't lifted the restriction on Umbridge when she left?

She had been quite agitated and upset, so maybe she'd forgotten in the midst of it all.

She glanced at the half-eaten plate and shrugged. It had been like that for a while now; a few more minutes could wait until after dinner.