After securing the large black dog, Jane Yu finally saw Daphne return from the match.
"Why did you leave early?" Daphne's blue eyes sparkled as she waved her arms excitedly, like a conductor leading an orchestra. "Everyone's waiting for you in the common room!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Gemma appeared at the doorway, her face brimming with excitement.
"We won!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Jane. With one arm around Jane's shoulder, she eagerly pulled her toward the common room. "Everyone's waiting to celebrate with you! You're Slytherin's number one hero!"
Jane was utterly bewildered.
Wait, how had she become a hero?
All she'd done was go to the pitch, get drenched in the rain, watch what turned into a physical brawl, and pick up a stray dog—
How could any of that make her a hero?
But when she arrived at the common room, the scene before her left her stunned.
The entire Slytherin Quidditch team was seated on the sofas. Each of them sported various injuries—bruised faces, swollen lips, and black eyes. Jane could barely tell who was who, relying only on their height, build, and hair color to identify them.
Yet the moment she appeared, the entire team rose to their feet in unison and burst into thunderous applause. The clapping was so loud that even the giant squid in the Black Lake seemed to hear it, pressing its tentacles and eyes against the window in curiosity.
Flint, leaning on his broomstick like a crutch, had one eye swollen shut, a prominent handprint on one side of his face, and lips so swollen they looked like sausages. Yet his eyes shone with an astonishing light.
He and the team rushed over to her, lifted her off the ground, and tossed her into the air!
"Yu! We won! A triumphant start to the season!"
The players cheered, their shouts echoing through the castle and sending ripples across the Black Lake.
"Draco caught the Golden Snitch, all thanks to your Firebolt! We defeated Gryffindor!"
"So what if Wood copied our tactics? Our broomsticks are several versions ahead of theirs!"
According to Flint, the match had been deadlocked for a long time, and he had been prepared to play all day. Fortunately, Draco hadn't let Jane's Firebolt go to waste. He successfully resisted the effects of the Dementors and caught the Golden Snitch ahead of Potter.
After the victory, Draco had flown three laps around the pitch with the Snitch in hand, furiously searching for Jane, but she was nowhere to be found. The team had no choice but to return to the common room.
Draco finally pushed his way to the front. His blond hair was disheveled, with a large chunk seemingly missing. His eyes were red and swollen—whether from Gryffindor's punches or tears of joy was unclear.
"I beat Potter! He was scared stiff by the Dementors, and I caught the Snitch!"
After three years, he had finally bested that cursed Potter on the pitch, crushing his arrogance!
So what if he'd lost some hair and gotten two black eyes? These were his badges of honor!
And it was all thanks to Yu's support!
Not only had she lent him the Firebolt, but she'd also driven away the Dementors!
Even if it was Gemma who cast the Patronus Charm—
But Gemma had learned it from Yu, which basically meant the Patronus Charm was Yu's doing!
Speaking of the Dementors, Gemma couldn't help but insert herself into the conversation.
"You have no idea what happened!" she exclaimed, nearly spraying spit in her excitement. "Countless Dementors swarmed onto the pitch, trying to harm our players!"
She continued recounting the miraculous events on the pitch, shuddering at the memory.
"If it weren't for you teaching me and the other prefects the Patronus Charm, these players would've fallen off their brooms and broken every bone in their bodies!"
"Thankfully, we protected the players and students, and no one was hurt! Dumbledore even awarded 100 points to each house on the spot!"
Flint limped over to join the conversation, slapping Jane on the shoulder so hard she nearly coughed up a lung.
"It's all thanks to you, Yu! I don't want to die young!"
"If Slytherin wins the cup this year, we'll have your name engraved on the Quidditch Cup!"
While they talked, other students had already wheeled out carts loaded with snacks. They set off party poppers, scattering colorful confetti all over the common room.
The players began casting healing spells on each other to fix their swollen lips and black eyes. Draco sat in his little circle, loudly boasting about how he'd piloted the Firebolt into a steep dive from a hundred feet in the air, pulling up just ten feet above the ground to grab the Snitch ahead of Potter.
It was already the fifth time he'd told the story.
He insisted on keeping Jane by his side to hear the entire tale.
To be honest, Jane had never known someone could make such a wide range of animated expressions out of sheer excitement. It seemed Draco was ready to etch this moment into his family tree and recount it until the day he died.
She felt like she was being pestered by an annoying mosquito and had to silently chant "He's a loyal customer for gaming consoles" three times to suppress her urge to cast a Silencing Charm. Meanwhile, Daphne and Blaise looked equally weary.
But unlike them, Pansy was utterly enthralled. She enthusiastically encouraged Draco at all the right moments, adding layers of glory to his story with her reactions.
Theodore, after congratulating Draco, cleverly shifted the topic by asking about the Patronus Charm the prefects had used to fend off the Dementors. For him, winning the Quidditch match was nice, but learning a spell to counter his own weaknesses was far more important.
"Why don't you ask Yu? She knows the spell!" Draco said loudly, taking immense pride in Jane's abilities as if they were his own. "Gemma told us she learned it under Yu's guidance!"
Theodore's expression darkened with displeasure.
The idea that his close companions had kept secrets from him left him feeling deeply disappointed.
When Jane explained that the Patronus Charm required one's happiest and warmest memories to overcome fear and despair, Theodore's mood sank even further. He pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair, dejected.
"If that's the case… I probably can't learn it."
Jane expressed her regret but admitted she couldn't help him.
After all, her own Patronus Charm wasn't fully formed yet.
She could only suggest he try out the latest gaming console.
Draco rolled his eyes and muttered, "Oh, please, Yu—you don't even need a Patronus Charm!"
"I was awake on the train! Don't think I didn't see you chase off a Dementor with just a broomstick!"
Pansy, however, pouted. She would've preferred Draco to keep talking about Quidditch rather than shift the focus to Jane and her encounter with the Dementors. She grumbled:
"But they were just doing their job. Interfering with the Ministry's enforcement is—"
Theodore and Blaise—both victims of the Dementors—glared at her, forcing her to swallow the rest of her words.
Daphne let out a snort.
She thought to herself that Pansy really was all height and no brains.
Pansy's face turned red with embarrassment. Lately, she'd been having a string of bad luck—
First, the letters she sent to Mr. Greengrass and Mr. Malfoy went unanswered, as if slapping her in the face.
Then, she received a Howler from her father, demanding she learn proper social skills.
"If you keep messing around and fail to maintain good relations with the Malfoys, I won't hesitate to bring you home!"
She was furious and aggrieved, but at least she'd learned to behave better in public.
However, her talent for scheming behind the scenes had only grown sharper—
She decided to send a few more anonymous letters to the Ministry of Magic.
This time, she would report Jane Yu for interfering with official duties and attacking Dementors.
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