Although the failure of the Triwizard Tournament plan was already giving Jane Yu quite a headache—
What was even more troubling was her sudden rise to fame.
Her feat of successfully taming a dragon during the Triwizard Tournament had spread across Britain.
The front page of the Daily Prophet featured a photo of her lying side by side with the Ukrainian Ironbelly, sparking amazement among the wizarding community:
"How did she dare to expose her belly to a fire dragon? Why is the fire dragon mimicking her actions?"
"You don't understand, this is a new way of dragon taming! Clearly, it's some habit of the Ukrainian Ironbelly!"
And within a couple of days, good news arrived from the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary:
Authorities had successfully captured a group of poachers, with five or six wizards killed on the spot and about ten seriously injured.
It was reported that these poachers used various illegal means to hunt fire dragons, selling the dragon blood, eggs, and liver they obtained on the black market. They had eluded capture for years, their whereabouts mysterious, despite numerous attempts by the local Ministry of Magic to apprehend them.
After interviewing the reporters, it was revealed that they usually did not target the large Ukrainian Ironbelly, but after learning about the new dragon-taming method from the newspaper, the poachers attempted it.
They tried and perished.
Lying on the ground, they paid a heavy price.
The Ukrainian Ironbelly delivered a package of dragon fury and extremely sharp claws.
"We were deceived! Fake news!" The survivors, wrapped in thick bandages with tears soaking through the white cloth, lamented, "The newspaper clearly published moving pictures, and that girl in the Triwizard Tournament made the Ukrainian Ironbelly do those actions—who could have guessed it was all a lie?"
As a result, the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary specially sent Jane Yu a medal, earning her 100 house points.
Jane was not satisfied with this and further requested to drop out and go to Romania to protect dragons.
Unsurprisingly, her request was collectively rejected by Dumbledore and Professor Scamander.
It was truly heart-wrenching for those who heard it.
...
The sorrowful Jane Yu wore a blank expression.
Only she knew that her heart had turned into the shape of Moaning Myrtle's toilet—
Flooded with tears, overflowing with grief.
And to avoid the enthusiastic crowd seeking her autograph, she could only retreat to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with her heart full of bitterness.
Upon her arrival, her ghostly friend wiped away her tears in a second and greeted her cheerfully.
Moaning Myrtle didn't seem to understand her troubles; instead, she swirled around the faucet with her head:
"You look even sadder than I am. Why are you so unhappy when you've tamed a dragon?"
"Even though I'm unhappy, I hope you can be happy. Living people need happiness, or they might die, I know this."
The kind-hearted ghost decided to take measures to cheer up her friend:
"Come with me, I'll take you to a place that will surely surprise you and make you happy!"
This indeed piqued Jane's interest.
So, in the dead of night, she donned her invisibility cloak and followed Moaning Myrtle to the sixth floor.
There stood a statue of Boris the Bewildered, with several doors to the left.
"Wait here!" Moaning Myrtle indicated for her to stop at the fourth door, "I'm going to show you a visual feast!"
Jane sensed something was amiss.
Why was she hearing water sounds?
But as Moaning Myrtle went straight through the door, a chorus of boys' screams erupted from inside!
They angrily shouted, "Myrtle! We're not wearing anything!" while summoning their clothes with Accio.
Under Myrtle's gleeful intimidation, several boys—presumably male prefects, half-naked—scrambled out of the bathroom in disarray.
Jane was utterly mortified.
She couldn't help but thank Harry for lending her the invisibility cloak for the ten thousandth time!
Why did she trust Moaning Myrtle's words?
She almost became a pervert peeping at others bathing!
She could already imagine how the Daily Prophet would report this incident—
"Shocking! A Teenage Girl Caught Peeping at Boys Bathing in the Dead of Night!"
But Moaning Myrtle, unaware of her friend's anger and social death, floated out happily:
"How was it? They're all young lads. Did you see their pectorals and biceps? Wasn't it a visual feast?"
She hovered around her, nodding left and right, continuing:
"Sometimes I come here at night to watch the prefects bathe from inside the faucet. They're quite shy, and I'm almost in love..."
Jane was momentarily at a loss for words.
Even she only dared to read novels and comics, yet Moaning Myrtle had already moved on to live-action?
She remembered Myrtle was a Ravenclaw student?
Should she find Professor Flitwick to discuss the education of the students in the house?
This peeping everywhere, what a disgrace!
"Why him?" Myrtle tilted her head, "I'm just a ghost, aren't I?"
"Then I'll find the Grey Lady." Jane replied firmly, "This is simply too much!"
She felt some of her filters for Ravenclaw quietly shattering.
...
But the Grey Lady's level of thought was evidently on another plane.
Perhaps because the Ravenclaw ghost's original name was Helena Ravenclaw, she had a different perspective on things.
An incident of peeping at others bathing turned into a philosophical discussion in her words.
"Let passion heed the command of reason, not desire..."
"Each to their own... If one heeds the command of desire, then it's hard to possess wisdom or restraint..."
Jane was getting sleepy; she found it really hard to understand this philosophy.
This philosophy was harder than any subject taught at school!
But Myrtle listened with great interest, perhaps this was the Ravenclaw house attribute bonus.
Jane felt her filters for Ravenclaw slowly piecing back together.
Thinking of this philosophy... yawn... only the eagles... yawn... could understand it!
The Grey Lady noticed her drowsiness, sighed, and said:
"Those who truly possess wisdom often do not understand... They see the essence of events... Great wisdom appears foolish..."
Jane understood this time.
This was a high-emotion way of politely calling her dull.
She shrugged, not intending to argue with her.
As long as Myrtle understood, just don't drag her into any more bathrooms!
"According to the Ravenclaw students," she stifled another yawn, intending to politely end the conversation with the Grey Lady, "extraordinary intelligence is the greatest treasure of humanity. I've learned a lot from talking to you today; you're truly wise—"
But the conversation seemed unending.
For the Grey Lady's face suddenly turned silver-white.
Jane watched in surprise as sorrow overflowed from the lady's eyes, her voice trembling as she asked:
"Wh-where did you hear that phrase?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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