As the days passed, the date of the match approached.
After Bagman summoned Jane Yu for a wand check, she finally learned what her wand's core was.
"Mahogany, phoenix tail feather—I remember it clearly, you were my most particular customer—"
Ollivander spent a long time examining her wand, asking with some confusion:
"But... I remember it didn't have this... twist before?"
Jane felt a bit guilty, recalling her masterpiece of creating a master key in her first year—twisting it like a pretzel.
"Perhaps I remembered wrong." Ollivander patted his head. "But I must say, Miss Yu, you have the opportunity to seek another wand."
Jane was taken aback. She felt she cast spells quite well with this wand, and there was nothing wrong with it.
"This is a wand customized for you by Dumbledore. He provided the core and let me choose the wood."
Ollivander continued, gently stroking the twisted part:
"The wand chooses the wizard, and though it chose you, I can feel it is not the most suitable for you."
The wand in his hand twitched angrily and hit his hand.
"Ouch..." Ollivander winced, rubbing his hand. "Very restless... bad-tempered... like a wand made from dragon heartstring, so unpredictable..."
Hearing such an assessment, the wand in his hand became even more displeased, and Jane saw it express anger for the first time—by shaking violently.
He waved the wand, and after a few attempts, it reluctantly spewed out a puff of acrid smoke, making Ollivander cough.
"Cough cough... Alright... although it's twisted... it's in good condition..."
Then it seemed unwilling to stay with Ollivander a second longer, rolling out of his palm into Jane's hand.
Next came a photo session, where Bagman pulled the judges and champions for a group photo and invited the editor of The Daily Prophet, Guffey, for an interview.
"What? Rita didn't come?" Bagman asked in surprise. "What wind brought you here personally?"
Guffey shook his head, glanced in Jane's direction, and showed a bit of awkwardness:
"Well, you know, Rita's reputation these days—we're concerned about her personal safety at Hogwarts."
"If she gets hit by a champion, that's considered a work injury, and I don't want the newspaper to incur any extra-budgetary expenses this month!"
Bagman laughed heartily, nodding in understanding, recalling the public opinion battle in the papers a few months ago.
After a brief interview, Jane, who was about to return to her dormitory, was pulled aside by Harry and covered with the Invisibility Cloak.
"This Saturday, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" He looked very nervous. "Sirius is waiting for us there. He's found out something about our names being put into the Goblet—"
Jane readily agreed.
She wanted to see who was the culprit behind ruining her plan to drop out!
To do such a heinous thing, it's truly intolerable, unforgivable!
...
Hogsmeade Village.
"I wanted to meet you at Hogwarts, if it weren't for that damn Snivellus—"
As always, Sirius's conversation began with the inevitable topic of cursing Snape. He angrily pulled out a thick stack of bills:
"Snape's gone mad for money, sent me a stack of bills for damaged cauldrons and repairs, and told Dumbledore!"
"I bet there's something else mixed in here! Where in the world are cauldrons this expensive, did he add potion material costs too?"
"How did he even know we scraped the bottom of his cauldrons? I swear, I, Sirius, wouldn't pay him a penny even if I jumped off the Gryffindor Tower!"
Jane glanced at the stack of bills, and from the prices—
It was clear Snape had included the costs of the Niffler wrecking his house and potion materials.
No wonder Sirius hadn't appeared at Hogwarts for so long, he was hiding from debts!
She watched as Harry's face turned from white to red, finally settling on one of shame.
He covered his face with both hands, stammering and unable to speak.
Sirius noticed his godson's embarrassment and quickly forgave his leak.
"Alright, let's get down to business!" Sirius kindly changed the subject. "Karkaroff, he's a Death Eater, did you know?"
Jane nodded, receiving an approving look from him.
"Moody caught him and sent him to Azkaban, but he claimed to have realized his mistakes and informed on many people, so he was released."
Sirius spoke with a tone of resentment and sarcasm:
"He's the headmaster at that school, but as far as I know, he's been teaching dark magic to the students there."
"So you think he's the one who put our names in?" Jane asked.
Sirius hesitated for a moment, then slowly said:
"I'm not sure. I feel with his ability to adapt to the wind, he's not the type to be fanatically loyal to Voldemort."
"But lately, Death Eater activities have increased. If someone wants to harm you to pledge allegiance to Voldemort, disguising it as a perfect accident, the Triwizard Tournament is a great opportunity."
"But with Dumbledore and Moody around, your safety should be assured. Of course, I'll also be in the stands to protect you."
Harry visibly relaxed, looking much more at ease.
But Jane pondered for a moment, feeling something was amiss.
As the headmaster of Durmstrang, Karkaroff's every move was watched.
Despite being a Death Eater, would he really do such a thing with so many people on guard against him?
It seemed unlikely he was that... foolish?
But anyway, she planned to forfeit after completing the first task to fulfill the magical contract, so nothing should go wrong.
This thought persisted until a few days later when she and Cedric learned from Harry about the first task.
—To face a dragon.
Jane smiled.
The weather's getting cold, let's cancel the Triwizard Tournament.
That's a dragon! Even alchemical products struggle to withstand its claws!
How could she dare to roll under its feet and play dead?
Surrender as soon as she enters the arena, the chances of surviving might be higher!
Though they say people live for dignity, trees for their bark, but if you lose your life, what's the use of dignity?
If you can't win, surrender! Surrender on the spot!
"""
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