Although no one knew Sirius Black's exact whereabouts, it didn't take long for the truth about the wrongful conviction from years ago to come to light.
In his bid to bolster his political reputation, Minister Fudge corrected the mistake with unprecedented speed.
Within days, The Daily Prophet published an article announcing Peter Pettigrew's arrest and Sirius Black's exoneration.
The news caused an uproar in the wizarding world, and naturally, the issue of the newspaper was quickly passed around among the students at Hogwarts.
However, when Jane Yu unfolded the paper, she discovered that the entire article was dedicated to describing how Cornelius Fudge had uncovered the flaws in Sirius Black's case and, under his brilliant leadership, had apprehended the true culprit, Peter Pettigrew. The role played by the staff and students of Hogwarts was merely glossed over in a few lines.
The article was penned by Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Prophet, who spared no effort in praising Fudge's courage to rectify the Ministry's errors. The latter was lauded as a paragon of justice, practically deified in the latter half of the report.
Closing the newspaper, Jane couldn't help but marvel at the Minister's skill in manipulating public opinion.
But her clubmates were far from impressed with the article.
"This is clearly Jane's achievement!" Ron fumed, shaking the newspaper angrily, the corn snake coiled around his neck. "And he just blatantly stole the credit! How is he any different from Lockhart?"
Harry and the others nodded in agreement, while Blaise rested his chin on one hand, his sharp fingers brushing his prominent cheekbones, and offered a scathing remark:
"Just another clever political maneuver."
The entire club was already aware that it was Jane who had prompted Ron to keep snakes, leading to Peter Pettigrew's capture. Now, they were righteously indignant, protesting loudly and even discussing the idea of sending The Daily Prophet a barrage of Howlers.
Jane, however, doubted their efforts would make any difference.
After all, even Dumbledore hadn't been able to remove Rita Skeeter's defamatory articles during the Lockhart affair.
Besides, she had no desire to gain further unwanted fame. Otherwise, she'd be wearing Harry's Invisibility Cloak until the end of time.
The last thing she wanted was to be mobbed while trying to shop in Diagon Alley!
"Don't worry, I expected this," she said, gently pacifying the agitated students and urging them not to dwell on it.
"But—" Harry protested, clearly dissatisfied with the outcome. His emerald-green eyes fixed on her stubbornly, burning with indignation over the injustice she had suffered.
He opened his mouth to argue further, but Ron gave his sleeve a sharp tug.
Harry turned to his friend in confusion, only to find Ron leaning in with an awestruck expression, whispering conspiratorially:
"Harry, don't you remember?"
A bewildered Harry let out a vague "Huh?"
Ron smacked his shoulder in exasperation and raised his voice slightly:
"First year, Christmas Day—she warned you to be careful of rats!"
Harry's memories began to race back at lightning speed. His expression changed, and he gasped softly, "I remember now… She didn't just warn me once!"
"She told me during the summer too—to be careful of rats!"
The two exchanged a look, and the same realization struck them both simultaneously: Jane was a Seer!
Another prophecy had come true, and they felt the hairs on their arms stand on end as they stared at Jane in shock.
If she could foresee that Peter Pettigrew was the true culprit, then predicting something as trivial as The Daily Prophet's article was child's play!
She must have allowed Fudge to take the credit for a reason!
Harry studied Jane's expression closely—
Only to find her face calm and composed, showing no trace of indignation over the article. She even wore a faint, knowing smile, her demeanor growing increasingly enigmatic.
As someone whose words seemed to shape reality—
It was clear that everything was under her control!
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance of mutual understanding and quietly dropped the topic. Instead, they redirected the conversation to the club's relocation plans.
"Maybe we need a new location!" suggested one of the Ravenclaw members. "Without a key to open the door, and with Harry and Ron not always around, it's just too inconvenient!"
The suggestion immediately resonated with the group.
And in the next second, everyone turned their starry-eyed gazes toward Jane.
Unsurprisingly, the task of finding a new location once again fell to her.
...
Jane, draped in the Invisibility Cloak, walked toward the Quidditch pitch while flipping through the Marauder's Map, pondering potential locations.
With the Dementors withdrawn by Minister Fudge, Quidditch matches could resume as planned.
Today was the match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and nearly all the students had gone to the pitch to cheer, leaving the castle relatively empty. Finally, she could clearly see the dots and names on the map.
Filch's cat prowled the corridors, and her guardian was slowly making his way toward the pitch… Everything seemed normal.
Until her eyes drifted to the Slytherin dormitory.
She froze mid-step, her entire body stiffening.
A small black dot was labeled "ck (Sirius Black)!"
She suddenly remembered Peter's revelation—Sirius was also an unregistered Animagus, and his form was that of a large black dog…
A surge of fury welled up within her as she recalled the dog in the dormitory that had been shamelessly begging for belly rubs, rolling around endearingly, and mastering tricks like "shake" and "sit." She couldn't reconcile that image with the man it truly was.
Closing her eyes in despair, she was flooded with memories of all the times she had cuddled, petted, and even bathed the dog. For a moment, she felt utterly defeated.
Peter Pettigrew had only lurked in the boys' dormitory, but Sirius Black had taken it a step further—this thirty-something-year-old man had been living it up in the girls' dormitory disguised as a dog—
What a pervert!
She had spent days pitying Ron for sharing a bed with Peter Pettigrew all those years—
Only to realize that the real clown was herself!
The tables had turned, and fate had played its cruel joke on her!
...
Detention Time.
"Professor, may I ask if there's a potion for neutering pets?"
Jane, carrying a sack, squeezed into Snape's dungeon and posed her question with a friendly smile.
Snape, frowning as he marked a student's essay with a large "P," responded with his usual dour tone:
"I would think that even if Miss Yu's brain had been trampled by a troll—"
"She would still realize that her Potions Master is not a magical creature shopkeeper—"
But as Jane opened the sack to reveal the peacefully sleeping black dog inside, Snape's tone shifted. The man who had just declared himself "not a magical creature shopkeeper" now wore a sinister smile and cast her a look of approval.
"Of course, he can occasionally be one—"
"Your dear professor is happy to assist you."
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to ( 92 ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here patreon.com/DarkGolds
Happy reading, everyone!