Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Dumbledore soon returned to the Hog's Head Inn, carrying the suitcase that had been left with Snape.
He had expected to find a happy Jane Yu enjoying her summer vacation—
But to his surprise, the child was sulking, caught in a tangle of thoughts!
He knew it—his dear brother, Aberforth, was just as incapable of taking care of a child!
It had to be him to step in personally!
Dumbledore couldn't help but let out a heavy "tui!" sound in his mind.
"Professor Trelawney made a prophecy for me—are her words always accurate?"
He heard Jane's question.
This puzzled Dumbledore—
How did this child suddenly get involved with Trelawney's prophecies?
"No, not under normal circumstances. However—"
His tone suddenly shifted:
"Jane, perhaps you're familiar with Cassandra Trelawney? She was a renowned Seer, gifted with the Second Sight—"
Jane nodded. She had heard her name mentioned by Trelawney before.
"Sybill—she's Cassandra's great-granddaughter and the first in generations to possess the Second Sight—but only under certain rare conditions."
"When she occasionally falls into a trance-like state, she can make true prophecies, but she won't have any memory of them afterward."
Jane's heart sank heavily.
Was she the only one who knew the content of the prophecy?
"Professor Trelawney—she made a true prophecy about me—and it was terrible—"
At this moment, she deeply regretted not reading through the original works earlier.
She wanted to share the prophecy's content with Dumbledore, but she couldn't bring herself to speak.
It was as if everything had become her own secret.
Dumbledore noticed her distress and tried to comfort her:
"Prophecies can have different interpretations. They might be warnings, or they could lead to entirely different outcomes—"
Who could say whether the prophecy's references might be ambiguous?
Like Trelawney's previous prophecy about the boy born at the end of July—besides Harry, it could have also referred to Neville!
But Dumbledore's explanation only made Jane more convinced of her own thoughts.
A warning—it must be a warning!
Her original intention to leave wavered. The consequences of altering the plot were unpredictable...
By coming to Hogwarts, where she shouldn't have been, the butterfly had flapped its wings. Perhaps this would lead to an even worse outcome than the original story—countless deaths, Voldemort's reign, and the magical world shrouded in darkness.
Trelawney's prophecy was proof of all this—
Death rampant... She would cause the deaths of seven people, lead the protagonist to face countless betrayals, and plunge newborn wizarding children into suffering.
Perhaps it was her unintended actions at Hogwarts that created Voldemort, and Harry, Voldemort's destined opponent, failed to grow strong, leading to all this.
She had to change the outcome she caused... change the prophecy's content.
Jane closed her eyes briefly and spoke to her guardian:
"I can't stay here any longer. I'll bring disaster—"
Dumbledore's expression gradually turned serious.
"Is it her prophecy—that makes you think this way?"
He received a nod from Jane.
Dumbledore fell silent. He did believe in the power of Trelawney's prophecies, but this concerned his own child—
"It hasn't come to that yet," he said, feigning a lighthearted tone. "We still have plenty of time. Besides, prophecies aren't always accurate... Blessings and misfortunes often come hand in hand..."
"Why don't we take a look at the letters sent to you—seems like you've made a lot of friends!"
Dumbledore forcibly stuffed a stack of letters into her hands.
Jane opened one and found it was from Flint.
Inside, there was a Quidditch World Cup ticket!
The former Quidditch captain mentioned that he had joined the Portree Plodders as a reserve Chaser.
He also hoped she could appreciate the beauty of Quidditch and improve the game soon.
But when she opened the second letter from Wood, she found another Quidditch World Cup ticket!
She hadn't had much interaction with him. Their main connection was a letter he had once sent her, which included the Gryffindor Quidditch team's collective suggestions for improving the Quidditch game.
As expected, the letter also expressed his hope that she would delve deeper into Quidditch theory and improve the game soon.
Then came the third letter from Cedric, the fourth from Roger... All four Quidditch captains had sent her Quidditch tickets!
To improve the game, they were pulling out all the stops!
Jane began tearing open letters one after another. The fifth was from Draco, the sixth from Gemma... All Quidditch tickets!
Were Quidditch World Cup tickets flooding the market?
Jane felt utterly baffled.
But in the next moment—
Her room door was suddenly flung open.
Sirius Black, who had somehow found his way to the Hog's Head Inn, burst in with a wide grin, followed by an equally excited Harry:
"Jane! We finally found you—you're here—"
Sirius's reckless charge came to an abrupt halt when he saw Dumbledore, causing Harry, who couldn't stop in time, to crash into him—
"Bang—crack—ouch!"
The two of them tumbled into a heap, with Harry falling backward from the recoil and landing on the floor.
Sirius, on the other hand, was sent hurtling forward by Harry's momentum, landing squarely in Dumbledore's arms!
Sirius's eyes were filled with horror. He hadn't expected to run into Jane's official guardian once again!
And Dumbledore hadn't expected that just after taking the child away, these two would follow right behind!
Calling them clingy wouldn't even begin to describe it!
His recently healed back, strained by Jane's Patronus, now emitted a crisp cracking sound from Sirius's collision!
...
A repeat performance.
Sirius and Harry once again huddled together obediently, both staring at the ground.
"This is truly unbelievable," Dumbledore sighed in a disappointed tone, clutching his back. "Sirius, I never thought—"
Sirius protested, pulling out three tickets from his robe and waving them in the air, trying to explain:
"I got three tickets—we just came to deliver them—"
"The World Cup features Ireland and Bulgaria—it'll be spectacular—"
His words were cut off as Dumbledore began a long-winded scolding of the former troublesome student and the current troublesome student duo.
Words like "even so," "a lady's room," and "intrusion" floated in the air, but Jane couldn't hear a single word.
Her attention was captured by "Ireland" and "Bulgaria."
Was it possible—
That she could live in another European country?
Perhaps stay with the LeMays in France—
This way, she wouldn't affect the plot, wouldn't cause the deaths, betrayals, and suffering of others...
And she could provide off-field support, like donating some Galleons to the protagonist...
She wouldn't risk her hard-earned life on the battlefield...
A win-win-win situation. She felt her thoughts clearing up again!
Her whole mood improved!
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