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"Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers, or else spout blood from both nostrils."
— Hogwarts students rebelling against Umbridge's reign at the school[src]

Umbridge-itis was an illness feigned by many Hogwarts students during the 1995–1996 school year.[1]

History[]

In retaliation for the new Headmistress, Dolores Umbridge's tyrannical rule, the students used the Skiving Snackboxes sold by Fred and George Weasley to create temporary illnesses, with symptoms such as fainting, vomiting, developing dangerous fevers, or spurting blood from both nostrils. Fred and George Weasley were the ones who came up with the illness, encouraging students to rebel against Umbridge by annoying her.[1]

The 'illness' became more and more popular as the days went on, and Umbridge eventually tried to find out where the illness had come from, but the students stubbornly told her they were suffering from "Umbridge-itis". Taking this as an insult, she put four successive classes in detention. But after she failed to discover their reasoning and whether or not the illness was real, the headmistress was forced to allow the sickened students to leave in droves.[1]

Known sufferers[]

Etymology[]

"Itis" is a suffix originating from Greek meaning "inflammation of" an organ (i.e. bronchitis-- inflammation of the bronchial tubes.)[2] It is also often used colloquially in the informal naming of illnesses, such as the so-called "senioritis" suffered by seniors in high school or college.[3] In this case, the naming is particularly apt, as Umbridge became more and more inflamed and irritated with each instance of a student who feigned this illness in order to get out of one of her classes.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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