Early the next morning, when Jane Yu arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, she found Draco and his group already seated at the table.

  Seeing her appear at the long table, Draco was about to wave, but remembering he hadn't received any letters from her all summer, he let out a "hmph" and withdrew his hand.

  Theodore, however, nodded at her, his blue eyes twinkling with a hint of amusement.

  As Jane took her seat, Draco scrutinized her with displeasure, deliberately wrinkled his nose and spoke in a sarcastic tone:

  "Tsk tsk tsk, there's a Muggle stench here—"

  "How long did you stay with your Muggle retives over summer? Too poor to even afford an owl for sending letters?"

  Jane wondered what his reaction would be if he knew the renowned alchemist Nicos Fmel was being described as having a "Muggle stench" and being "too poor for an owl."

  Before she could retort, a thunderous roar erupted from the Gryffindor table.

  Everyone's attention immediately shifted.

  "RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU—"

  It was Mrs. Weasley's voice, making the ptes and spoons rattle on the table. The 3D echo reverberated through the hall so deafeningly that Jane was certain bits of lime were falling from the walls into their food.

  "STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE—"

  The entire hall turned to see who had received the Howler.

  Raucous ughter erupted from the Slytherin table. The little snakes, who had been lethargic from back-to-school syndrome, were now wide awake. Seeing Gryffindor's humiliation made their sausages and fried eggs taste especially delicious.

  Draco was clutching his stomach, ughing and shouting mockingly at the Gryffindor table:

  "Go back to Mummy, Weasley!"

  But his ughter stopped abruptly when he heard Jane's name.

  "—TAKING HARRY AND MISS YU FLYING ACROSS HALF OF ENGLAND, YOU COULD ALL HAVE DIED—"

  Draco's grey eyes filled with fury. He turned to Jane in disbelief, narrowing his eyes and speaking in a slow but eerily calm tone:

  "So—you came to school with them."

  "You spent the summer together? At the Weasleys' pauper household?"

  His eyes frosted over, returning to the arrogant haughtiness Jane had first seen in him, and he continued:

  "I said we shouldn't have let a Mudblood into Slytherin."

  "She should take her Muggle stench to Gryffindor, where she belongs with those brainless lions."

  Pansy and Millicent, sitting across from him, delighted in his disparagement of Jane, immediately chiming in with affected voices:

  "Oh—Draco, you're so right, I'm quite sick of that Muggle smell in our common room!"

  Whether they were truly delighted, Jane didn't know, but she was absolutely ecstatic!

  She'd been wondering all summer how to provoke conflict between Draco and Ron.

  And now Draco had handed her such a wonderful gift!

  Her imagination was already fast-forwarding to him writing to his father to get her expelled!

  Feeling Draco's anger wasn't quite hot enough, she decided to add more fuel to the fire, saying in a provocative tone:

  "Yes, Ron is quite nice—better than you in every way, actually."

  The surrounding snakes drew in sharp breaths.

  Pansy jumped to her feet, and once she processed what Jane had said, started shrieking like a guard dog:

  "How dare you—speak that way about a Malfoy? That Weasley trash—"

  Even Bise frowned, saying coldly:

  "The whole Weasley family are blood traitors. I advise you not to compare them to the Malfoys."

  Now Jane had incurred everyone's wrath, having touched a sensitive nerve among these pureblood snakes.

  She secretly gave herself a thumbs up.

  Getting them this riled up with just one sentence—I'm brilliant!

  If only one of their parents was on the school board!

  Please write and get her expelled!

  ......

  After this incident, Jane returned to her solitary state.

  These easy days without social interaction were pure bliss to her!

  Her good mood sted until Defense Against the Dark Arts css.

  Because the professor was none other than the celebrity she'd met at Flourish and Blotts—Gilderoy Lockhart!

  Thinking of the words she'd used to deceive this money tr... this professor, she began to feel embarrassed.

  "Please, sit in front of me—" she whispered to Theodore.

  Theodore gnced at her, mild confusion in his eyes, but didn't ask why. He quietly gathered his things and moved to the row in front, even adjusting his chair to make himself appear taller.

  "Thanks, I'll treat you to lunch ter."

  She tried to use this tall, thin boy to shield herself, wishing she could crawl under the desk.

  But Lockhart clearly remembered the young witch who had asked for five sets of signed books.

  When he entered the cssroom in his turquoise robes with his signature strut, he immediately spotted Jane in the crowd.

  He quickly walked to Jane's desk, picked up her copy of "Wanderings with Werewolves," and dispyed the cover showing his winking photograph.

  All eyes focused on him.

  Lockhart seemed to thoroughly enjoy this, pointing at the photo and announcing loudly: "I, Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Css, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award..."

  Jane noticed the Slytherin students slightly furrowing their brows, with no one ughing.

  Then he turned to Jane, fshing his brilliant white teeth, and pulled her up from her seat:

  "Miss Yu here is my devoted fan, she has five complete sets of my signed books—"

  Thinking of those personalized signatures, she wanted to find a hole to crawl into!

  The snakes all looked at her as if she'd gone mad. Draco's face darkened, seemingly unable to believe Jane's taste; Theodore's gaze held a hint of disdain, now understanding why Jane wanted to hide behind him; while Pansy, Millicent, and Daphne snickered.

  But they soon stopped ughing, as Lockhart required the students to complete a quiz.

  "Let's see how well you've read, how much you've taken in... Miss Yu, you're exempt, I'm sure you know my complete works by heart, don't you?"

  The quiz questions read like Lockhart's autobiography, making many snakes scratch their heads in disgust.

  Now their looks toward Jane were full of envy.

  Just as the torturous Defense css was nearing its end, and Jane thought the long ordeal was finally over, Lockhart pulled another stunt: he brought out a cage full of Cornish pixies!

  "Let's see what you make of them!" he opened the cage door.

  Screams instantly filled the cssroom. These pixies were as mischievous as devils, making high-pitched screeching sounds and zooming around like rockets. They grabbed the snakes' ink bottles and spshed ink everywhere, staining their robes; they tore up textbooks on the desks, with white paper scraps floating down like flower petals; taking advantage of their tiny bodies, they crawled into desk drawers, pulled out students' bags, and scattered their contents everywhere.

  Soon they turned their attention to the students themselves.

  One pixie yanked at Draco's ptinum blonde hair, turning his perfectly gelled hairstyle into a mess—like a bird's nest. He covered his head with one hand, screaming "My hair!" while trying to swat away the creature with his other hand; meanwhile his follower Goyle was grabbed by his colr by the pixies and thrown onto the chandelier—which couldn't support his bulk and came crashing down, nearly crushing Crabbe below.

  Within minutes, half the css was hiding under their desks.

  Then another sharp female scream rang out. Jane looked back to see four pixies baring their teeth and cws while pulling at Daphne Greengrass's ears and colr, lifting her upward. She frantically tried to swat them away with her book, but another pixie threw it out the window; the wand in her other hand was snatched away and snapped in two.

  The pixies lifted her by her outer robe, carrying her higher and higher. Jane then realized the girl was wearing a short skirt underneath—tears in her eyes, her smooth legs exposed, both hands desperately trying to hold down her skirt to prevent further exposure.

  "Pansy, help me—" Daphne pleaded with her friend, hoping she would pull her down.

  But instead of helping, Pansy remained hidden under her desk, saying in a sickeningly sweet tone:

  "Oh, darling—you should have remembered to wear leggings—such a shame—"

  Daphne looked at her in disbelief, eyes red, unable to believe these words came from her best friend.

  Just as she felt helpless and desperate, she heard an incantation:

  "Immobulus!"

  The pixies pulling at her ears and robes instantly froze, turning into four ice chunks, and Daphne fell to the ground, caught by a Levitation Charm. She stared bnkly in the direction of the spell, only to see the bck-haired, bck-eyed girl expressionlessly putting away her wand, picking up her textbook, and stepping over her body towards the door.

  Why did she... save me?

  Daphne sat stunned on the ground, wondering.

  Jane had no desire to stay in this meaningless css any longer.

  Lockhart was clearly incompetent; this css could be skipped after attendance.

  She had pnned to leave directly, but Daphne's suspended position happened to block the aisle to the door. She had to deal with this rge obstacle first.

  So she cast the Freezing Charm, incidentally helping the pitiful girl—after all, letting a girl be humiliated and exposed in front of dozens of people was too cruel.

  The time saved from this css would be better spent brewing beauty potions and pnning how to drop out!

  Thinking this, she headed towards the dormitory.

  [End of Chapter 42]

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