Fortunately, the content of The Daily Prophet soon shifted, and people's discussions moved on to other topics.
"Sirius Black killed thirteen people!" Old Tom exclaimed as he wiped a glass, his voice tinged with awe. "A massacre, a fugitive!"
Another bartender chimed in loudly, "How did he escape? Azkaban is full of Dementors... It's unbelievable."
Now everyone was talking about Sirius Black's prison break, and Jane Yu could finally go out without being pointed at and whispered about.
But what she didn't expect was—
She ran into Harry Potter and Cornelius Fudge at The Leaky Cauldron late at night!
Why was the protagonist here at this time of year, before school had even started?
The moment Harry saw her, his eyes lit up as if he had found a savior.
Fudge also noticed her, his expression showing a hint of awkwardness, but it quickly disappeared. He touched his forehead and pulled Jane into Room 11.
"My, my, the recent events have really kept me on my toes," he said, taking off his bowler hat and placing it on the brass coat stand. His bald head gleamed with sweat. "At least the Lockhart matter is more or less settled. That man really loves to spout nonsense, doesn't he?"
At this moment, Fudge seemed like a friendly neighbor, his tone toward Jane almost overly kind.
Jane could tell he was trying to save face.
She also realized that The Daily Prophet was, in some sense, manipulated by the Ministry of Magic.
After all, the paper had focused on "Dumbledore allowing her to be cursed" rather than Fudge's mishandling of evidence—a tiny article had been buried in the corner, full of excuses.
"Albus and I have been absolutely swamped..." Fudge continued, trying to emphasize his amicable relationship with Dumbledore, unaffected by the reports. "I know your summer holiday was disrupted, but it couldn't be helped—greater priorities, you see..."
Old Tom knocked on the door, bringing in a tray with tea and toasted crumpets. He set it on the table, then left the room, closing the door behind him.
Fudge personally picked up the brass teapot, pouring tea for the two of them. He spread butter on the crumpets and handed them over.
"Eat up, children," he said, turning to Harry with a smile. "And Harry, we've smoothed over the incident with your Aunt Marge. Her memory has been modified—you'll still be able to spend next summer with your aunt and uncle."
"Wait a minute," Harry suddenly spoke up. "I broke the law. What's my punishment?"
Fudge waved his hand impatiently, thinking to himself how uncooperative Harry Potter could be.
"It was an accidental incident. We don't send people to Azkaban for inflating their aunts!"
Jane stared at Harry in astonishment.
Once again, she was reminded of what it meant to have protagonist privileges.
Even violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and inflating a Muggle aunt wouldn't result in punishment...
And it even warranted the personal intervention of the Minister of Magic to smooth things over...
Truly, he was the Chosen One!
She watched as Harry and Fudge went back and forth, one persistently questioning while the other dodged and deflected.
After a while, Fudge finally put his bowler hat back on and bid them farewell.
Just as he was leaving, he turned back to Jane and said, "Oh, by the way, Albus isn't too pleased... because you didn't select any electives on your course list."
"He wants you to choose at least two and submit them after the term starts."
Jane's face fell.
Why was it so hard to slack off?
Why did her guardian even care about her electives?
...
After Fudge left, Harry's chatterbox opened up.
Seeing someone familiar and trustworthy, he felt he finally understood what happiness meant.
All the helplessness and fear from nearly ending up homeless or in prison vanished.
He scooted closer to Jane and began recounting his miserable summer—starting with enduring his harsh aunt and uncle, swallowing his pride for a signature on the Hogsmeade permission form, to finally inflating his aunt in a fit of rage after her personal attacks and humiliation, and running away from home alone. He had taken the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley, only to be caught by Minister Fudge.
"So no one's going to sign my Hogsmeade permission form," he sighed, "but at least I'm not being sent to Azkaban."
Jane raised an eyebrow, thinking of the village that Dumbledore had nearly emptied out, and felt utterly uninterested.
After all, when you have everything, you lose interest in it.
It's only what you can't have that stirs desire, and she could understand that.
"Have you seen your aunt and uncle's handwriting?" she asked.
Harry nodded, a bit confused by her question.
"Is your handwriting neat? Can you imitate theirs?" Jane continued.
Harry felt as if the clouds had parted and the sun shone through!
He wasn't exactly a stickler for rules, and now he felt as if the fog before him had been instantly cleared!
Why hadn't he thought of forging the signature himself?
All those humiliations he had endured over the summer now felt utterly pointless!
Jane was truly his destined savior!
No wonder she was the professors' favorite and a two-time winner of the Special Contribution Award!
Jane watched as Harry, full of excitement, immediately opened his trunk, rummaging around until he found the permission form.
"Vernon Dursley, my uncle's name."
He then pulled out a piece of parchment, dipped a quill in ink, and began practicing the signature.
Harry turned out to have quite a talent for forging handwriting. In no time, the permission form bore a perfect cursive signature.
He looked up at Jane, his eyes sparkling with gratitude and admiration.
"Jane, you're a genius!"
He offered heartfelt praise, practically putting her on a pedestal.
After his excitement subsided, Harry suddenly remembered what Minister Fudge had said about Jane's electives.
"What electives are you planning to take?" he asked.
Feeling indebted to her, he eagerly offered his help, thumping his chest and declaring he was familiar with all the courses.
"I chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, same as Ron—"
"If they turn out to be challenging, at least we can help you... uh... Muggle Studies?"
He stared in disbelief as Jane, without a moment's hesitation, wrote down Muggle Studies and Divination on the parchment.
But Jane's thoughts were far simpler.
Muggle Studies was the easiest and most scoring-friendly course, and she might even get to nap during class.
As for Divination, it could help her make money telling fortunes in the future.
Her half-baked Eastern Eight Characters technique combined with Divination's Western crystal ball methods—
Surely, the fusion of East and West would make her even better at fooling people!
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Sorry, everyone! I accidentally uploaded the wrong Chapter 92 earlier. It has now been corrected. Hope you all enjoy the reading!