After a brief day trip to London, Jane Yu returned to her farm life at Spinner's End.
Clearly, the farm owner had taken excellent care of her beloved pets during her absence. Not a single Niffler had escaped from the chest, the owls were sleek and well-fed, the snakes were elegant, and the cows, sheep, and chickens in the yard were all plump and healthy. Even the biting cabbages were lush and green.
While Jane expressed her satisfaction, Severus Snape was far from pleased.
This was already the third silver cauldron she had cracked.
"See how wise our esteemed headmaster is—teaching his protégé nothing more than how to loosen soil for graves during the summer holidays," Snape sneered, arms crossed, his voice dripping with his signature sarcasm.
"She must have hit her head with the hoe while digging, rendering her incapable of brewing even the most basic Felix Felicis."
He couldn't believe it. In just a day and a half—
His top student had managed to destroy a cauldron with every attempt!
This must be Dumbledore's fault!
Why did he take her grave-digging?
Was she cursed during the excavation?
Or perhaps afflicted with some potion-related debuff?
Basking in Snape's familiar cold humor, Jane also felt a tinge of confusion.
She wanted to explain that she hadn't learned grave-digging but had mastered drawing fire circles... on a gas stove.
If she were to cook hotpot now, she'd surely control the heat perfectly.
Back to the point.
"I think it's just an accident—my heat control should be fine, right?" she said, her hands not stopping as she picked up Snape's fourth silver cauldron.
This time, she blew up the cauldron faster than ever. Almost the moment she began heating it, the cauldron cracked.
"You'd better stop your baffling behavior," Snape finally couldn't bear to see his cauldrons suffer any longer. He snatched the fifth cauldron from her hands and decided to demonstrate himself.
"Don't you understand the most basic heating technique taught in first year—"
With a wave of his wand—
The cauldron cracked.
Snape looked as if he had lost all will and strength.
He collapsed into the armchair, seemingly unable to believe what had just happened.
The potion skills he had prided himself on his entire life were now utterly ruined by these exploding cauldrons!
"Unbelievable—reduced to this—blowing up cauldrons—worse than a first-year—" he mumbled, too distraught to clean up the mess.
Jane glanced at him worriedly before starting to inspect the bottoms of the cauldrons—
She found something unusual.
"Sir, where did you purchase these cauldrons?" she asked.
Snape shot her a puzzled look.
Jane held up an unused cauldron, showing him the bottom.
"The bottoms—they're thinner than normal cauldrons, and some even have cracks—"
Snape seemed to regain some of his composure and strength.
He leapt from the armchair, frowning deeply as he took the cauldron to examine it closely.
As he carefully rubbed the cauldron's bottom, his face grew darker and darker, looking as if he could swallow a Gryffindor whole.
"Patchy's Cauldron Shop—damn it—imported from abroad, cheap and cheerful?" he muttered angrily as he began packing up the cauldrons, storming out the door, seemingly to demand an explanation.
Little did he know, Jane, left alone in the house, was about to fall victim to misfortune.
When Snape returned to Spinner's End after a heated argument with Patchy's Cauldron Shop and carrying newly replaced cauldrons, he found the place eerily empty.
His heart sank.
This was entirely unexpected!
Could Peter Pettigrew have struck back?
Or had the child run away?
After searching the house and finding no trace of Jane, Snape immediately sent his Patronus to deliver a message to Dumbledore.
He carefully examined the house. Jane's chest and the Nifflers were still upstairs, so it didn't seem like she had run away... There were no signs of a struggle, so it wasn't an attack by Peter Pettigrew...
Wait, what's that burning smell?
He finally checked the sofa and found two large black footprints and several singed black dog hairs!
Spinner's End had been burgled!
Someone had not only stepped on his sofa but also stolen his student. Such an insult made Snape's nose flare with rage!
He spat out the culprit's name word by word:
"Sirius Black!"
...
"The old bat's gone! Harry, let's move!" Sirius Black, crouching sneakily with his godson Harry, was observing from the shadows near Spinner's End.
Seeing Snape Disapparate, the two carefully dismantled the fence and used various spells to secure the biting cabbages—
They successfully snuck into the house.
What greeted them was a roaring fire!
Fortunately, the battle-hardened Sirius reacted quickly, shoving Harry aside and transforming into a dog to dodge—
Thus narrowly avoiding becoming roasted meat!
Realizing it wasn't an intruder but Sirius and Harry, Jane barely managed to switch her spell from Fiendfyre to a simple fire-starting spell at the last second.
"Jane! Great vigilance, very good! Excellent use of Fiendfyre!" Sirius exclaimed, gripping her shoulders enthusiastically, completely unfazed by his near-roasting experience.
"You've suffered! Harry and I are here to rescue you!"
Sirius plopped down onto the sofa as if it were his backyard, tapping and prodding it before putting his feet up.
Meanwhile, his godson Harry, seemingly emboldened by spending too much time with him, eyed the sofa with a similar eagerness.
Jane felt a wave of confusion.
She was eating well, maintaining a balanced diet, happily brewing potions—even blowing up four cauldrons!
"I'm fine, really—"
"And you'd better get off that—"
Her words were cut off as Harry suddenly grabbed her arm. In his palm was a cold object that pressed against her skin.
In an instant, she felt a hook latch onto her navel and pull—
After a dizzying whirl, her feet landed in a long hallway.
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