In 1995, Umbridge was placed at Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, by order of the Ministry of Magic, under the terms of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two, without Albus Dumbledore's consent. Her placement was to limit the learning of martial magic and allow the Ministry to monitor the activities at Hogwarts.[17] The Minister did this because of an unfounded fear that Dumbledore was trying to upturn his position as the Minister and was also afraid that Dumbledore was using the students as a means of overthrowing the Ministry.
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Umbridge worked hard to intercept and monitor all means of communication. She tried to prevent Harry Potter from contacting his godfather Sirius Black. She read all incoming and outgoing student mail, and even Hedwig, Harry Potter's owl, was injured. Even though it was hypothetically suggested that Hedwig was attacked by a Thestral by Professor Grubbly-Plank, a more likely possibility was that Hedwig was injured by Umbridge in an attempt to obtain the letter she carried from Sirius Black.[21]
Umbridge monitored all incoming and outgoing mail, and Harry's owl Hedwig was injured on Umbridge's orders. She made it difficult for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to visit Hagrid. When Rita Skeeter published an article in The Quibbler about Harry's past experiences with Voldemort during the Triwizard Tournament, Dolores banned Harry from trips to Hogsmeade. Umbridge nearly used the Cruciatus Curse to get Harry to talk before Hermione intervened and, together with Harry, tricked Umbridge into going into the Forest to show her "Dumbledore's weapon". This resulted in Umbridge being carried off by the centaurs, whom she had attacked first, due to her hatred of half-breeds.
As the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister for Magic, Umbridge was incredibly supportive of the aims of her superiors, Ministers Fudge, Scrimgeour, and Thicknesse. During their respective downfalls, however, Umbridge did not try to stand up for them, meaning that she only served them loyally for the power that she was offered, and felt no true attachments towards any of them. Some of her equals also respected her enough. In fact, Percy Weasley sent a letter to his younger brother, stating that Umbridge was a "truly delightful woman", and that Ron should side with her instead of continuing to associate with Harry. However, others, like Amelia Bones and Arthur Weasley, didn't appear to like her. Furthermore, some lower-ranking employees tended to talk ill of her behind her back, as seen when she was the Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, when some pamphlet makers complained about her usage of Alastor Moody's magical eye to monitor them. She mainly keeps up the facade of a respectable official amongst most of her equals and superiors, but has no trouble tyrannising her subordinates.
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