Draco soon received another letter from his parents, which contained a rather shriveled money pouch.
It felt much like a rich kid having their credit card cut off by their parents.
Fortunately, the main point of the letter was to ask him to send another game console and to remind him to get along well with Jane Yu, so he could invite her to Malfoy Manor for Christmas in a few days.
"Lost all my money—Guilty Conscience Version—Draco" heaved a sigh of relief.
But before he could fully exhale, his breath caught again—
Because his father informed him in the letter that he had already brought the matter of Hagrid and the Hippogriff to the Ministry of Magic for trial and had successfully persuaded the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. All that remained was to await the final verdict.
The letter was overflowing with fatherly love. It had to be said that Lucius truly doted on his only son, going so far as to leverage his connections at the Ministry to avenge his child's injury.
Unfortunately, his beloved son did not feel the same way.
Had this matter only involved himself, Draco wouldn't have cared about the fate of the Hippogriff or Hagrid. A hideous big creature and a bumbling oaf—what did the Ministry's ruling have to do with him?
But he realized this matter also involved Jane Yu.
The two Hippogriffs had fought because of her; he was merely the unlucky victim caught in the crossfire. And Jane, with her fondness for furry creatures, would undoubtedly be upset upon learning of this.
Draco's face scrunched up like an accordion, internally cursing his dear father countless times—
On one hand, his father urged him to get along with Jane Yu, but on the other, he went to the Ministry to deal with the Hippogriff she liked. Wasn't this a contradiction?
This was truly a dilemma for him! Nothing but a hindrance!
How was he supposed to bring this up with Jane?
Draco paced back and forth in frustration, deciding to take some preemptive action to mitigate the unforeseeable consequences.
...
When Jane Yu arrived at the Headmaster's office on Saturday for her usual Ancient Runes extracurricular class, she learned that Dumbledore had gone to the Ministry of Magic to testify on Hagrid's behalf.
She quickly learned the outcome: thanks to Dumbledore's guarantee, Hagrid was exonerated, but the case of the Hippogriff injuring someone had been submitted to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures for further review.
"Thank you, sir—" Hagrid, whose frame was twice the size of an average person, sobbed uncontrollably in front of Dumbledore. Tears dripped onto his bushy beard and then down onto the front of his leather vest. "But Buckbeak—those folks in the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures won't let such an interesting creature off the hook!"
Jane frowned.
Why Buckbeak?
She had clearly seen that Draco's injury was caused by the reddish-brown Hippogriff. How could this be pinned on Buckbeak?
"Lucius Malfoy just wants to flaunt his family's power!" Hagrid sobbed. "He just wants a scapegoat. He doesn't care which Hippogriff injured his son. Those devils on the Committee are all under his thumb! They're all afraid of him!"
Jane's mind started working.
She thought of the invitation Draco had given her.
After losing both her cat and dog, perhaps she now had a chance to acquire an adorable Hippogriff.
Claiming it as compensation for the mental distress caused by the Animagus scare seemed quite reasonable!
After all, owning a Hippogriff was like having both an eagle and a horse—two for the price of one.
And when she left school to stay with Aberforth or Newt, she could continue caring for it.
She decided to probe Draco for information.
"You already know?" Draco sprang up nervously from the sofa in the common room, the letter on his lap falling to the floor with a "thud." "I've already written to my father, begging him to withdraw the lawsuit against Buckbeak—"
His face fell, clearly indicating his request had been denied.
"But my father said that once a case is submitted, it cannot be withdrawn. Besides, this concerns the Malfoy family's reputation."
Jane's gaze swept to the floor, where she noticed the ornate invitation tucked among the scattered letters.
Draco followed her gaze, quickly picked it up, and stuffed it into her hand, issuing yet another invitation to visit his family's manor.
But before Jane could respond, Daphne immediately approached with a wary look:
"What's going on? Yu, where are you going?"
She was instantly met with an angry glare from Draco, who, puffed up like a pufferfish in indignation, shouted:
"None of your business! It's not your house anyway!"
He had to seize this opportunity. After all, in the past two and a half years, Jane had never visited any Slytherin classmate's home—
Perhaps Malfoy Manor could be the first place she went!
"My father wants to meet Yu too." Daphne rolled her eyes and retorted, "No noisy peacocks allowed on the runway."
She had completely lost her admiration for Draco by now. Ever since the first Care of Magical Creatures class, her spot beside Jane had been repeatedly taken by him.
Wasn't it just because he couldn't budge the tough nut Theo and decided to pick on her, the easy target?
This made her furious, fully realizing the immaturity of boys their age.
Daphne's loud voice immediately caught the attention of Flint and Theodore, who were chatting by the window.
In fact, ever since Draco started talking to Jane, their eyes had been drifting over.
"What?" Flint walked over, looking intrigued. "Why not come to my place, Yu? My great-great-great-grandfather's study has a fine collection of spell and potion books. They might not be of much use to a Quidditch player like me, but I'm sure you'll find them valuable."
Theodore remained composed, seemingly unmoved by the allure of "inviting Jane to one's home," but his words were no less enticing:
"I think Yu prefers quiet. My place is very peaceful during Christmas, with hardly anyone around. My father wouldn't disturb us. We could spend the whole day reading."
Draco, furious, waved his wand, commanding the chocolate frogs on the table to leap into their mouths to shut them up.
"None of your business!" he snapped impatiently. "Can you keep quiet and stop interrupting when someone else is talking?"
He was met with disdainful looks from everyone. The noisiest person telling others to be quiet—how ironic!
But to everyone's surprise, Jane actually agreed.
Draco was overjoyed, launching into yet another description of his family's white peacocks, fountains, and so on—a speech Jane had heard so many times over the past two and a half years that she could recite it backwards.
But Draco's current happiness would soon turn into sorrow—
Because it seemed his parents had practically forgotten about their son.
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