Chapter 51: The Direction of Public Opinion

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Jane was quite satisfied with the increasingly unfavorable public opinion against her.

Surely the letters demanding her expulsion would flood the headmaster's office!

Thanks to the mysterious culprit for such a wonderful gift!

Now she truly understood the meaning of reaping without sowing and waiting for opportunity to fall into one's lap.

All she needed to do was wait for the Heir of Slytherin to continue causing trouble and taking the blame...

—Could the day of expulsion be far away?

However, the ghosts were outraged when they heard these rumors.

They went everywhere trying to clear her name, emphasizing that Jane had only attended the deathday party that night.

No one believed these seemingly eccentric ghosts, especially with such damning photographic evidence.

Nearly Headless Nick felt particularly guilty about this and went around asking his fellow ghosts if they knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets.

Most ghosts had no idea, believing it was just a legend, except for the Grey Lady who seemed to know something.

This tall, melancholic lady spoke sadly:

"Though Salazar opposed admitting Muggle-born wizards to the school, he would never kill them as the rumors suggest."

"Even when he parted ways with my mother and the others, he was still a founder—he would never harm students."

Nick asked anxiously:

"But does the Chamber really exist? What's the horror within?"

The Grey Lady shook her head, indicating she didn't know either.

With no leads, Nick could only promise Jane he would continue investigating to clear her name.

Jane smiled and told him not to worry about it.

This only made the kind-hearted ghost feel even more guilty.

He privately sobbed to the Fat Friar:

"She helped me so much... eased my pain, helped me get back at Patrick..."

"And I've only brought her trouble!"

"If I hadn't invited her to the deathday party, none of this would have happened!"

The Fat Friar sighed in agreement, promising to inform him of any leads.

...

A few days later, more bad news arrived.

—Colin Creevey from Gryffindor had been petrified.

Reportedly, his camera film had completely melted because he had tried to photograph his attacker.

Students believed it was because Colin had taken that photo of Jane standing before the bloody writing, and she had sought revenge in retaliation.

The fact that Colin came from a Muggle family perfectly fit the rumored "purge of those unworthy to study magic."

This practically confirmed Jane's identity as the Heir of Slytherin.

Talk about perfect timing!

What excellent assistance!

She was quite curious to meet this mysterious culprit!

She spent more and more time in the bathroom, knowing she might have to pack her bags any day now, and needed to brew as many beauty potions as possible to stock up on funds.

But Moaning Myrtle was very distressed, sobbing to Jane:

"If you're expelled, no one will talk to me anymore—"

"The toilet's broken, and you're leaving too, I want to kill myself—oh wait, I'm already—I'm already—"

She wailed sorrowfully and plunged headfirst into the toilet, crying in the pipes.

Speaking of toilets, Jane's hand paused.

She glanced at Myrtle's usual stall and noticed the toilet was indeed broken.

Since she'd been occupying Myrtle's territory for so long, perhaps she should return the favor and fix her toilet.

It could be a parting gift.

That's what she thought.

So on her next visit to the bathroom, she brought along a set of transfigured tools and a toilet seat—a gift from Fred and George that would now come in handy.

Myrtle floated about excitedly, crying tears of joy.

"No one—has ever cared whether my toilet was broken!"

She suddenly felt that being dead wasn't so bad, since she'd met Jane.

She had no friends in life, but found one in death.

"When you die, you can come back here and share my toilet—" she promised shyly.

Jane used a wrench to remove the toilet's screws, taking apart the lid and tank, then used Reparo. After everything was restored to its original state, she installed the toilet seat from the Weasley twins. Finally, she used two Scourgify spells to clean it thoroughly.

In just twenty minutes, Myrtle had a shiny new toilet.

Jane shook her hands, feeling the sticky, smelly residue, and walked to a sink to turn on a tap to wash her hands.

But this tap was clearly rusted shut and wouldn't turn.

Seeing this, Myrtle quickly called out: "That tap never works."

Jane sighed; this bathroom was in such disrepair from disuse that even the taps were broken.

She decided to come back another time to fix all the taps properly.

But before she could pack up her toolbox and leave, there was a noise at the door.

"Yu?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood at the door, dumbfounded to find her there.

They had been investigating the Chamber these past few days and naturally heard many slanders against her.

"Headmaster Dumbledore must expel her! The school isn't safe anymore!"

"Are we waiting for the Heir of Slytherin to kill all the Muggle-born students?"

The trio had angrily argued with those people but couldn't produce evidence supporting Jane.

They wanted to tell her about their investigation but found she wasn't even attending classes anymore.

They had come to brew some Polyjuice Potion to sneak into the Slytherin common room and get information about the Chamber from Malfoy, but hadn't expected to find Jane here.

Hermione's face flushed with excitement, forgetting about the cauldron and ingredients as she stepped forward:

"We've investigated lots of things—"

They spoke over each other, telling her about the Chamber legends they'd uncovered, the strange voices Harry heard when his scar hurt, the spiders crawling everywhere, and their suspicions about Malfoy being the heir, hoping to help clear her name.

But Jane just smiled and said:

"Thank you, but I have my own plans."

She couldn't let the protagonists ruin her scapegoat plan!

"But—" Harry's unfinished words died in his mouth.

He understood!

Jane must already know who was behind everything!

She hadn't cleared things up because she was laying a trap!

Thinking about everything Jane had done last year, each action had been meaningful.

He absolutely couldn't interfere with this school protector's plans.

"I understand," Harry nodded firmly. "I won't disrupt your plans."

After warning her again to be careful of Malfoy, the trio left the bathroom.

...

But Jane's plans were ruined anyway.

Because Harry could speak Parseltongue!

Rumors spread that at the Dueling Club, Harry had commanded a snake to attack Justin Finch-Fletchley.

The news that he was a Parselmouth spread throughout the school, and the ability to talk to snakes was Salazar Slytherin's famous talent.

Students began suspecting Harry was the Heir of Slytherin instead.

With another suspect, Jane's reputation improved somewhat.

This made her grind her teeth in frustration.

Everything had been going so well until the protagonist ruined it!

She absolutely didn't believe the righteous protagonist could be Slytherin's heir!

It seemed she needed to find this mysterious culprit and have a chat about stopping this two-sided frame-up.

After all, trying to have it both ways never ends well!

Once she successfully dropped out, she'd make a big move to betray them, reporting the heir with a backstab.

What a grand plan indeed!

That's what she thought.