"What an eventful few months, wouldn't you agree?"
Dumbledore smiled faintly, his demeanor radiating good spirits and strategic composure rather than fatigue.
"Severus, thank you for taking care of them. Though I suspect it might have been a bit dull for the young ones?"
Snape's face darkened, tasting the bitter reality of "losing more than gaining."
Ever since he had showcased his summer babysitting skills in front of Dumbledore—
He had been relegated to Potter's babysitter, responsible for his meals and even sneaking off to launder his discarded clothes.
And his expression grew even darker when he heard Jane Yu's remark, "It's as boring as being in prison," followed by Potter's simultaneous, "Not boring at all."
"I imagine Potter wouldn't find it boring," he promptly delivered his signature sarcasm, radiating coldness. "For someone brimming with hormones and unable to contain his youthful exuberance, it must feel like a reward."
Harry blinked his innocent green eyes.
Though he wanted to admit outright that it was indeed a reward, he felt doing so might lead to Snape assassinating him.
Only Merlin knew how joyful his time had been—
Being able to spend time with Jane Yu, listening to stories from former headmasters when bored, chatting with his godfather Sirius through the two-way mirror...
Sleeping when tired, eating when hungry, even if the food was delivered by the professor he loathed, Snape. It gave him a strange sense of satisfaction—like saying, "Even if you hate me, you can't get rid of me."
All in all, a heavenly life.
Even Jane Yu couldn't understand how he managed to turn the tedious monotony of prison-like life into a vacation.
After all, they had both sent away their inheritance. She was living in agony, counting the days, while he was celebrating and living it up.
Could this be the Gryffindor's foolishly happy constitution?
But Snape clearly understood Harry better than she did. With just one glance at his eyes and demeanor, he could tell what kind of mischief was brewing inside him.
And when he saw Jane Yu's eyes blinking, filled with unmistakable confusion, a surge of anger toward Potter rushed to his brain.
"Headmaster, I believe I've warned before that placing a Potter alongside any outstanding student is a complete disaster."
He angrily slammed a stack of parchment onto the table. The sheets scattered, each bearing a large "A- (Barely Passing)."
Jane suddenly recognized the stack of parchment—they were all her potion assignments submitted over this period!
But in Snape's eyes, they were the result of Potter corrupting his excellent student, Jane Yu. This stack of parchment was like a tainted thesis, exuding a decayed stench:
"Look at the assignments Miss Yu has submitted over the past few months. I suspect only a deranged patient could produce such masterpieces."
"This is what happens when you put Potter with her. He uses his teenage hormones to lower the IQ of the entire Headmaster's office."
"I imagine if you let a troll paint on this parchment, the result would be a few points better."
Jane Yu rarely felt so puzzled.
She thought her potion assignments were quite good?
No, to be precise, the Headmasters' potion assignments were quite good?
Why was it only a "barely passing" grade?
She looked up at the portraits of the Headmasters on the wall, only to find that many of them, previously snoring peacefully, had opened their eyes and were glaring at Snape angrily. Some began flexing their wrists and fists.
One wizard picked up a mace, while another witch grabbed the two-handed sword from the wizard beside her, seemingly ready to reason with Snape.
But Snape's next words made them put down their mace and two-handed sword:
"I believe eight hundred years ago, this would have been a masterpiece. Let me see what Miss Yu has written—a bunch of extinct plants and magical creatures, and plants with potency reduced to nearly zero... I can't believe her thoughts are still stuck centuries ago."
"You'd better explain why your assignment quality has dropped so dramatically in just a few months."
Now Jane Yu finally understood why she kept hearing about plants and creatures she had never heard of while writing her assignments!
She had thought she was simply ignorant, perhaps due to never leaving Britain—
But it turned out they didn't exist in the world anymore, relics of a bygone era!
She once again glared incredulously at the portraits of Dilys Derwent, Eupraxia Mole, Dexter Fosco, and others on the wall.
Only to find their eyes tightly shut, posing with serene expressions of sleep, though their eyeballs twitched uneasily beneath their eyelids.
A classic case of the Emperor's New Clothes.
But Phineas Black, who was pretending to sleep with his ears perked up, keenly caught Snape's target of reprimand. Feeling deceived and deciding to make Jane Yu suffer, he suddenly opened his eyes and tattled in front of her and the other Headmasters:
"Let me tell you the reason—this brat didn't write her assignments at all! All her assignments were written by these old fools!"
"Why haven't you expelled her from Hogwarts yet? A morally corrupt, disgraceful little girl, deceiving Headmasters, copying assignments... If it were during my tenure as Headmaster, she would have been expelled a thousand times!"
Now all the pretending-to-sleep Headmasters awkwardly opened their eyes, glaring at Phineas viciously, and once again flexed their fists.
This Black truly was morally corrupt and disgraceful!
To stoop to tattling in front of everyone!
"Who are you calling a little girl, Black? You're the morally corrupt, disgraceful old rogue!"
"If you had lived during our tenure as Headmasters, you'd have been expelled thousands of times!"
Following this, Phineas' portrait emitted a pig-slaughtering scream—
A group of furious Headmasters, witnessing his tattling, began educating him with sticks and swords. The mace and two-handed sword ultimately found their targets on him.
Clearly, these Headmasters, proficient not only in magic but also in physical combat, believed that physical attacks vented their anger more effectively.
"Stop, stop, Dexter! Dilys! Calm down, don't hit anymore!"
Failing to mediate verbally, Dumbledore had to flip each portrait of the Headmasters face-down on the wall.
The Headmaster's office finally quieted down.
"What unfortunate news," Dumbledore sighed, speaking earnestly to the Headmasters banging against the wall. "I understand your desire to tutor students, but directly giving them answers is too straightforward. What can she learn from this? We aim for independent and proactive thinking during the learning process, for the integration of various knowledge, not a definitive answer. You all were Headmasters once; you should have more thoughts on educational methods than others…"
He eloquently delivered a lengthy lecture.
This prompted all the Headmasters to close their eyes again, recline on their chairs, and plug their ears with their fingers.
As former Headmasters, they naturally had a bit of a "teacher's syndrome"...
Coupled with the monotonous life confined to the Headmaster's office, their portrait lives were filled with boredom...
This made them unable to resist tutoring the child and completing her assignments.
Was it necessary to lecture them for so long?
If it weren't for the fact that the speaker was Dumbledore, they would have cursed him out long ago!
Even Jane Yu couldn't help but use a spell to block her ears.
Master, please stop lecturing!
"While I don't wish to criticize the past Headmasters of this school," Snape said darkly, looking as if he wanted to scold but held back, "directly writing assignments for students—was this the educational approach of Hogwarts during your tenure? Perhaps our school history needs revising."
The phrase "revising school history" instantly touched a nerve among the Headmasters, who began pounding the wall and expressing their dissatisfaction with Snape:
"Do you understand the meaning of respecting the elderly and caring for portraits? How dare you speak to your predecessors like this?"
"Who are you insulting, boy? Why don't you reflect on your own teaching methods? Potter and that Black have cursed you a thousand times! Everyone knows you're the gloomy old bat who only knows how to stress students and deduct points in class!"
Upon hearing such inflammatory remarks, Jane Yu immediately gave Harry a salute of attention.
She found it hard to determine whether the savior would see the light of day tomorrow.
And Harry's thoughts mirrored hers.
He suddenly felt as if darkness had descended upon him.
The joy he had felt earlier now turned into sheer terror.
Nobody had warned him that the portraits of the Headmasters would snitch!
Facing Snape's deathly glare, he wanted to flee, but his feet felt rooted to the spot.
"Potter and your dog of a godfather, badmouthing behind my back—is this your idea of etiquette?" Snape said, preparing to expel him from the Potions class. "I think since you have so many objections to my teaching methods, you clearly don't need to attend my class anymore."
"Uh… uh… I didn't!" Harry stammered, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. He was so flustered that he started stuttering.
Having just mediated the battle among the Headmasters and breathed a sigh of relief, Dumbledore turned his attention to the tense atmosphere between Snape and Harry, feeling a renewed sense of exhaustion.
One looked ready to poison Harry on the spot, while the other seemed about to drag Snape's robes and jump off the tower.
"Ahem, calm down, Severus, Harry. I have some questions for you two."
Dumbledore had to speak up to break the tension between them.
"Severus, I want to ask you—how has Harry's progress with Occlumency been during this time?"
Snape sneered, fully expressing his distrust of a Potter's intelligence, and took the opportunity to disparage Jane Yu as well:
"Indeed, as you might expect, none of us should have any hopes for a brain marinated in hormones like Potter's. His mind is full of flaws, much like Miss Yu's stack of assignments."
Jane Yu glanced at the large "A-" marked on her assignments and suddenly understood the implication in Snape's words.
Wasn't that just barely passing?
Dumbledore pondered for a moment and smiled.
"This is quite good, Harry. I've always worried that your emotions are too intense. When someone is overly sensitive, their mind becomes vulnerable to invasion."
"This is the best outcome I could imagine. Honestly, I'm relieved that I placed you with Sirius and Yu earlier. Positive emotions are slowly healing you. I'm glad your heart is finding peace, Harry."
Snape let out a disdainful "hmph" from his nose. Sometimes he truly wanted to apply for a work injury assessment—
After all, every time he saw a stupid dog dancing in Potter's mind, it caused him severe mental distress.
"I've come to understand some things during this time..." Dumbledore continued. "I think your frequency of dreaming must have decreased significantly. But if you continue to dream, please inform me promptly."
After Harry promised, Snape dragged him out by the collar, seemingly intent on discussing the topic of "stressing students and deducting points."
The vast Headmaster's office was left with only Jane Yu and Dumbledore.
But Dumbledore turned to another topic, his brows furrowing in rare confusion, as if encountering something incomprehensible:
"Yu, have you received any recent messages from the LeMay couple?"
Jane Yu froze for a moment, a sense of foreboding brewing in her heart.
The couple was so engrossed in their research that they often neglected everything around them, even forgetting to contact her through the two-way mirror.
Thus, she hadn't received any messages from them for quite some time.
Could they have… disappeared?
"I don't think so. The last time we spoke, they mentioned going to catch… and conduct research with Muggles?"
Dumbledore sighed almost imperceptibly:
"Perhaps you've already heard the reason for my trip to America. Grindelwald has abducted some Muggles. As for the LeMay couple—their last known location coincides with the area where those Muggles disappeared."
Jane Yu was shocked.
Her technical backbone! Researchers of the highest caliber!
Just like that, intercepted by Grindelwald!
Kidnapping? Ransom? Murder?
A series of criminal scenarios flashed through her mind.
"Have you tracked Grindelwald's whereabouts?" she asked urgently. "Are the LeMay couple still alive?"
But Dumbledore gave an entirely different answer:
"No, in fact, I didn't stay in America for long. I realized early on that if he doesn't want to meet me, I won't be able to find him."
"But I believe the LeMay couple is safe. He took them… perhaps for another reason."
Jane Yu felt slightly relieved.
But new doubts surfaced in her mind.
"Then where have you been during this time?"
"Secret." Dumbledore winked, but Jane Yu felt an ominous sense of foreboding. "You'll find out in due time."
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