HP: The Dropout Who Saved the World

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To be honest, Jane hadn't expected anyone to come looking for her.

After being dismissed by the professors, she walked ahead alone, with Draco following unhurriedly behind her.

As they approached the common room, he finally couldn't contain himself anymore:

"Hey! Aren't you going to thank your savior?"

Jane stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking at him expressionlessly.

"I could have handled it myself... I didn't need you to save me."

"You... you... you..." Draco's face flushed with anger, feeling his kindness had been thrown back in his face.

He thought indignantly that he shouldn't have been so charitable - look how ungrateful she was!

But then Jane suddenly broke into a smile:

"Thank you anyway."

She thought that although this kid wasn't the brightest and could be quite sharp-tongued, he did have a good heart!

Draco instantly began to stutter, completely caught off guard by this turn of events:

"Ah... um... right... good that you know."

From that day on, their relationship entered a peculiar state.

Draco seemed to have forcibly included her in his small circle, though he didn't get as close to her as he did with Crabbe and Goyle.

In class, he would always sit with his two cronies two seats away from Jane, either in front of or behind her.

In the common room, he would often toss his sweets to Jane, claiming they weren't good enough, while loudly announcing:

"New custom products from Honeydukes! My mother sent these!"

"Too sweet, tastes awful. You're so poor, you've probably never had these. Consider it a reward!"

When he saw Jane carrying books to the library to study, he would insist on following her, using her poor grammar as an excuse, and thoroughly reviewing her essays.

Jane would never forget his horrified expression when he first saw her writing.

"Merlin's beard! Incoherent sentences, grammar all wrong - do you have a troll's brain?"

A few days later, he somehow found several old copies of "Basic Wizard English Education: Elementary Level," "Common Wizard Vocabulary," and "Complete Wizard English Grammar," dropping them heavily in front of Jane.

"You'd better study these carefully. Writing essays like that is an embarrassment to Slytherin!"

Thanks to Draco, Jane finally completed her first draft of "Processing Methods and Uses of Bubotuber Pus."

Seeing the Malfoy heir's attitude, other Slytherin students became less antagonistic toward Jane.

It wasn't unrelated to learning from Draco about her single-handedly taking on a troll.

But Jane just found the platinum-haired young master too noisy.

"Is this what happens when an extrovert decides to invade an introvert's space for fun?" she wondered to herself.

Compared to Draco, sitting with Theodore was much more relaxing, as he was quiet and never meddlesome.

He was one of the best in their year at Potions, which was why Snape had paired them together.

The two could complete a potion almost without communication, working in perfect sync.

"I heard you brought back some Bubotuber," Theodore said casually one day while they were studying in the library.

Jane was surprised.

She had indeed been researching the potency of diluted Bubotuber powder in brewing potions, but how did he know?

"Don't be so surprised, I can smell it on you..." Theodore pressed his lips together, his clear blue eyes showing slight embarrassment. "If you need help, you can ask me."

Jane sniffed her wrist... there was indeed a faint smell of gasoline.

Fortunately, Theodore didn't get carsick.

She did need help, though. She had brewed some beauty potions using the Bubotuber pus powder she'd brought back and needed someone to test their effectiveness.

So Theodore became her guinea pig.

The results were excellent.

The boy became even more handsome, with fair skin and ruby-red lips, attracting attention from first and second-year girls who kept trying to talk to him. Annoyed, he had to hide in the library or Astronomy Tower for peace.

The culprit, Jane, was bewildered by his reproachful glances.

While her relationship with her housemates improved, the Gryffindor trio was also trying to approach her.

But she had no intention of further involvement with the protagonist group, so she remained vigilant, always observing their movements before and after class to avoid them.

This frustrated Harry, Hermione, and Ron greatly.

After the troll incident, the three had reconciled and become good friends, now united in their efforts.

"It must be Malfoy threatening her!" Ron declared firmly. "Haven't you seen how Malfoy follows her everywhere? He's like a shadow - following wherever she goes, isn't he just a pest?"

Harry and Hermione had to agree, as it was true - the formerly solitary Jane now always had the annoying Malfoy trailing a few meters behind her, or that tall, thin Slytherin boy called Theodore Nott.

Therefore, they couldn't approach Jane - it would inevitably lead to a confrontation with Malfoy.

Hermione was very disappointed: "I just wanted to thank her... why is it so difficult?"

Besides that, she also wanted to ask Jane where she got that face mask.

When she returned to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory, her previously indifferent roommates had all gathered around her, asking what she'd done to make her skin so fair and smooth, which had helped ease the tension in their dormitory.

Harry, however, wanted to ask Jane about the secret under the trapdoor - he'd discovered that Snape was trying to steal something through that three-headed dog.

But their opportunity soon came, as the Slytherin Quidditch team began training, leaving Draco with very little free time to follow Jane around.

The trio finally managed to talk to Jane in the Astronomy Tower during class.

Although Jane had almost developed PTSD from the protagonist group, she forced herself to receive them graciously.

She accepted Hermione's thanks and commissioned her to promote the beauty potions in Gryffindor.

"Three Galleons per small bottle, effects last for one month."

In fact, she had already planned for her life after leaving school. Once she got to London during the holidays, she would first work at a Chinese medicine shop, then do feng shui readings and fortune-telling after work to earn money. When she came of age, she would open her own small shop.

But before that, she needed to save enough money.

Selling beauty potions was just the first step.

Besides, students' money was the easiest to earn - now when she looked at the young witches and wizards at school, she saw them as walking Galleons.

Hermione eagerly agreed, even refusing Jane's offer of sales commission, feeling she should show her gratitude.

The beauty potions with Bubotuber pus powder became bestsellers throughout the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. In just two days, Jane had earned over two hundred Galleons.

She insisted on giving Hermione ten Galleons, which made the girl even more touched and more enthusiastic in her promotion efforts.

However, Harry failed to get any information from Jane.

"I do know what's there, but I made a promise to Dumbledore not to tell," Jane replied cheerfully. Though she didn't want to oppose the protagonist, she was someone who kept her promises.

A week later, the trio met Jane again at the Astronomy Tower.

The beauty potion business had clearly improved Hermione's popularity in Gryffindor, and she excitedly shared the sales results with Jane, handing over more than three hundred Galleons.

"Merlin's beard!" Ron's eyes were dazzled by the gleaming pile of Galleons. "If only I were a girl, then I could sell beauty potions too!"

He wanted to earn money too! To replace their family's hand-me-downs!

Jane gave him an evil smile: "Why not?"

Thus, buying beauty potions became the "unspoken secret" of the Gryffindor boys' dormitory.

But when they met again, they barely exchanged two sentences before Draco emerged from the shadows.

He shouted at Jane through gritted teeth:

"I thought I smelled stupid lions in the common room, so it was you who brought it back!"

Harry and Ron immediately drew their wands at him: "Malfoy!"

Draco vented his anger at them, pulling out an impressive array of insults:

"Scarhead, Weasel, and this Mudblood witch, why don't you crawl back to your lion's den?"

"Then again, birds of a feather flock together. Riffraff always stick together."

He fixed Jane with an icy stare as he said this, his heart full of angry betrayal.

He'd given her sweets, taught her how to write essays, and what had Harry Potter given her?

Why was she so close to Potter?

How dare she!

The trio expected Malfoy to continue his confrontation, but instead, he shot Harry one last hateful glare before storming off.