After a tumultuous summer, Jane Yu was once again sent back to Number 12, Grimmauld Place—a location Dumbledore believed she would behave herself and refrain from blowing up houses.
"You do understand that Severus's earlier words weren't quite appropriate, don't you, Yu?" Dumbledore asked with lingering concern. "I trust you won't be posting signs on your bedroom door saying something impolite like 'No XXX or Dogs Allowed'?"
"What?" Jane asked in confusion. "Why would I do that?"
"Oh, just mentioning it in passing," Dumbledore said lightly. "While you shouldn't write such things, that doesn't mean you shouldn't act accordingly."
Jane suspected she'd misheard something.
For some reason, Dumbledore felt that as the child grew older, his worries as her guardian only multiplied—
Snape's earlier conversation with him about the Weasley twins had reminded him of one crucial point:
He needed to ensure that no human-shaped beings other than Jane herself would appear in her bedroom.
"Lock your door properly, to prevent unauthorized personnel from seeing your confidential research plans," he casually found an excuse. "At your age, you should still get along well with your classmates. I have many things to handle... and I need to settle your researchers and renovate Hogwarts... Well then, see you later."
He smiled with satisfaction once more and departed.
But almost the instant Jane's right foot touched the staircase, a thunderous roar from Mrs. Weasley echoed from above:
"I'm talking to you, Charlie Weasley! How old are you, and you still haven't found a girlfriend! How much longer do you plan to drag this out?"
"Your brother's about to get married, and you're still wandering around Romania like some ghost! Why don't you just go live with dragons for the rest of your life?"
This furious shout shook the entire house, even awakening Mrs. Black's portrait!
She yanked open the curtains concealing her with a sharp "swoosh" and began shrieking loudly.
Jane pulled back her ascending foot, uncertain whether she'd overheard some Weasley family gossip.
Perhaps going upstairs now would embarrass everyone... it wouldn't be very polite.
She decided to sit on the floor and listen to Mrs. Black's teachings—
Because compared to the furious Mrs. Weasley, this portrait lady's screaming could be described as gentle as a spring breeze.
But the meaning behind Mrs. Black's shrieks exceeded her expectations:
"And you, Sirius Black! The disgrace I birthed! The wastrel who handed over the house to be ruined by others!"
Though these two mothers were separated by the boundary between life and death, with one being merely an AI portrait, they seemed to have reached some consensus regarding their children's marriages, finding kindred spirits in each other and filling the entire Black mansion with their scolding and fury.
"Lazy, incompetent, utterly worthless and achieving nothing, spending every day mixing with Potter and that werewolf—do you expect them to support you in your old age?"
Almost the second Mrs. Black spoke, Kreacher, sharing her righteous indignation, began croaking in his bullfrog-like voice:
"Disobedient young master—the young master who treats the mistress's kindness like donkey liver and lungs—how ungrateful he is!"
Roars, shrieks, and echoing voices rose and fell, reverberating throughout Number 12, Grimmauld Place.
Like a symphony, Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Black, and Kreacher performed a trio, filling the entire house with words like "marriage pressure," "boyfriends and girlfriends," and "wedding," creating an invisible maternal authority that permeated the vast house.
A series of hurried footsteps thundered from upstairs to downstairs—that was Sirius, who grabbed the curtains and yanked them shut with all his might:
"Shut up—old hag—I told you to shut up—! Yu—?"
The irritation on Sirius's face disappeared along with his mother's screaming, replaced by complete chagrin.
This embarrassing situation left him completely at a loss, fidgeting with the curtains in his hands:
"Why aren't you going upstairs after arriving—?"
Jane ultimately appeared with a face full of embarrassment at having stumbled upon secrets, before the still-furious Mrs. Weasley... and the Weasley children whose faces were written with "save us" in their helpless vulnerability, as well as Harry and Hermione, who radiated an aura of "since they're being scolded, we won't be."
Almost the instant she appeared, everyone's eyes lit up as if seeing a savior descend.
Fortunately—
Her appearance indeed had immediate effect:
Mrs. Weasley instantly switched from berserk mode back to gentle mode, launching into the triple combo of "Have you eaten," "You've gotten thinner," and "Eat more."
Kreacher, who had been providing support and anger buffs to the two mothers, also fell silent and began bustling about preparing refreshments.
The Weasley children all showed hopeful eyes and bright smiles—they gathered around—
Ginny shot up like a cannonball, grabbed Jane, and pressed her down onto the sofa.
Then she very naturally used both arms to shove her twin brothers who were trying to compete for seats beside Jane, sending them stumbling and knocking over a vase; she bumped rightward with her body, directly pushing the sneakily approaching Harry off the sofa; then she kicked with her right foot, sending the grinning Ron, who was trying to move a chair to sit across from Jane, tumbling to the ground.
Thus, she and Hermione successfully occupied the positions on either side of Jane, both in perfect harmony.
Though people were scattered everywhere, everyone's faces beamed with brilliant smiles from the topic finally changing.
For a moment, the scene became harmonious and warm—anyone arriving would have to call it a model family... a model Order of the Phoenix.
Unfortunately—
Such harmony didn't last long, and the second battle filled with hidden gunpowder began again.
At the afternoon tea table, Charlie first brought up the topic, discussing with Jane the dragon she'd sent to the Romanian reserve:
"We treated it, but its eyes are half-blind and not easy to heal—"
"Your eyes aren't much better," Mrs. Weasley said coolly. "Dragons are more charming than girls in your eyes."
Charlie choked on his pizza, his tanned face showing some grievance, but he bravely continued:
"It's doing well, very friendly to young dragons, and recently we observed it becoming companions with that very gluttonous Ironbelly..."
"Yes, even dragons know to find partners," Mrs. Weasley seized the opportunity, "but you don't."
Charlie fell silent, looking completely withdrawn.
All the single Weasleys present fell silent as cicadas in winter, afraid of becoming the next target for lectures.
Ginny nearly pinched Jane's hand red under the dining table, Ron tried his best to hide his head behind a cookie box larger than his face.
Even the non-Weasley singles looked miserable and dared not speak.
Sirius deliberately made the tea set clatter while pouring tea, Hermione made her brain recall the pronunciation and intonation of Apparition lessons they were about to learn, and Harry focused his eyes on his nose and nose on his heart, wishing he could master earth-tunneling magic and burrow underground.
Of course, the culprit who accidentally caused all this—equally single—Jane also tried to minimize her presence.
How was it that after a year, this marriage pressure topic not only hadn't subsided but had intensified?
She dared not look up, only hoping Kreacher would forever keep the secret of their conversation that night.
She definitely didn't want to be beaten up by her present companions!
She had vaguely sensed that "marriage pressure" was like some virus rampaging through Number 12, Grimmauld Place—first transmitted from Kreacher to Mrs. Black, then infecting Mrs. Weasley who often came here, and spreading to all the single people present, causing everyone to develop symptoms like "anxiety" and "stress response."
In any case, the current scene was as awkward as being interrogated by relatives during New Year visits about "when will you marry" and "when will you have children."
But amid the desperate "help me" glances exchanged among the single men and women—
Only Fred and George let out faint "pfft" laughter.
Having been busy with their joke shop and Jane's projects and rarely coming home, they couldn't quite understand what marriage pressure was...
They just thought their mother was playing some very new game.
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