HP: The Dropout Who Saved the World

But Jane Yu was a strong-willed Chinese woman.

She never gave up easily.

So she returned to the bathroom with a cauldron full of mud from the Black Lake's shore.

She lit three tree branches and placed them in the cauldron.

These branches came from young sandalwood saplings in Professor Sprout's greenhouse.

While she performed these actions, Moaning Myrtle wailed miserably from inside the toilet:

"It's not enough to tease me, now you're invading my bathroom—"

"I'm dead, and you still won't leave me alone—"

But as the branches burned, a calm, rich, and melodious woody fragrance filled the bathroom.

Myrtle gradually quieted down, her previously twisted face of agony transforming into an expression of tranquil intoxication.

Seeing her reaction, Jane silently gave thanks to her ancestors.

This was an Eastern secret art passed down through thousands of years - dealing with a mere ghost was child's play!

She placed a small vial of beauty potion in front of the three sandalwood branches.

The branches slowly burned to ash, leaving only a small pile of black powder on the floor.

...

Moaning Myrtle had haunted this girls' bathroom for 49 years.

Since being killed by a pair of enormous yellow eyes, she had spent her time scaring anyone who entered the bathroom.

Having been bullied in life, she hated those who had tormented her, so she constantly threw tantrums at students, screaming incessantly and dedicating herself to splashing toilet water on anyone who came to use the facilities.

But this visitor seemed different.

This girl called Yu Jane hadn't been scared away by her crying, and instead started doing something strange.

Putting branches in a cauldron - what kind of potion was this?

Was this what her Potions professor taught?

Why was she burning branches?

Was this how students brewed potions 49 years later?

Myrtle felt the whole bathroom becoming smoky from Jane's actions and began crying about this assault on air quality.

But as she cried, she suddenly felt something unusual.

This scent... it felt somehow comforting...

Like being back in her mother's embrace...

She felt an urge to sit cross-legged with hands clasped in prayer...

She felt her entire spirit calming down, all the anger and sadness leaving her.

Suddenly, a silvery vial dropped into her hands.

"Beauty Potion?"

Myrtle read the label questioningly.

...

The news that Moaning Myrtle's acne had disappeared spread quickly among the ghosts.

It caused quite a sensation.

Everyone knew that ghosts' appearances were determined by what happened during their life and death, unchangeable afterward.

Yet Myrtle had defied this rule.

All the ghosts came to the bathroom.

For the first time, Myrtle experienced what it felt like to be the center of attention - she could even use the Bloody Baron's influence to keep Peeves out!

She was immensely grateful to Jane and proudly promoted Jane's Eastern secret arts.

When Jane next came to brew potions, she found Myrtle surrounded by a crowd of ghosts.

Among them were the Bloody Baron, Nearly Headless Nick, the Fat Friar... even Professor Binns who taught History of Magic.

And several other ghosts she didn't recognize.

They crowded the small girls' bathroom, filling every available space.

While she wasn't familiar with other houses' ghosts, she knew the Bloody Baron of Slytherin.

This ghost, usually hollow-eyed and gaunt-faced, covered in silvery bloodstains, was now repeatedly passing through the small pile of black ash on the floor, creating air currents to better inhale its fragrance.

—That was the ash left from the burned sandalwood branches!

The other ghosts took turns lying on the ground, nostrils flaring, inhaling the black ash with an addicted demeanor.

"What an enchanting scent!"

"My body, my soul, completely purified!"

"It feels like being alive again!"

The ghosts clutched their chests, sighing with intoxicated expressions.

Then Nearly Headless Nick spotted her.

"Hello— Miss Yu!"

The Gryffindor ghost completely forgot she was a Slytherin student, abandoning his usual reserve to excitedly float toward her, nearly losing his head from the momentum.

All the ghosts stopped what they were doing and turned their gaze toward her in unison.

Like officials inspecting their superior, each ghost rushed to greet her, their usually melancholic expressions becoming animated and excited. Even the Bloody Baron's hollow eyes gained a spark of life.

They then nudged each other before selecting the Fat Friar, universally acknowledged as the most benevolent among them, to speak on their behalf.

The Hufflepuff ghost displayed his most friendly and kindly smile in his ghostly career, his eyes full of hope:

"Miss Yu, we have a small request."

"We ghosts are often troubled by lingering attachments after death, but your secret art seems to grant us momentary peace."

"Could you perhaps use your secret art again to fulfill our modest wish?"

Jane readily agreed, setting up the cauldron again and inserting and lighting three sandalwood branches.

The ghosts immediately sat down cross-legged on the floor, eagerly inhaling the sandalwood fragrance.

They felt a primordial force surge through their bodies!

Comfort, peace, relaxation...

Soothing the long-held pain in their hearts...

Such serenity, just like taking a long nap when they were alive...

Jane's eyes were full of sympathy as she looked at the ghosts.

She thought for a moment, then took out some meat steaks she had packed from the Great Hall. They were originally meant for Fluffy in the Forbidden Forest, but seeing the ghosts' pitiful state, she couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

Poor things, suffering hundreds of years without incense, food, or money.

Suddenly, several silvery steaks appeared in the Fat Friar's hands.

As a Hufflepuff, he particularly appreciated the value of a good steak, and immediately took a bite, chewing carefully with tears streaming down his face:

"It's beef tenderloin! So tender and smooth—"

He was about to take a second bite when his hands suddenly emptied, his teeth clashing together as they bit air.

"Wait, something's not right, what are you doing?"

The usually well-mannered ghost friends' eyes had turned silvery white, and they were showing him sinister smiles.

The ghosts pounced, fighting over the steaks, eventually turning into a brawl with fists and feet flying everywhere.

"Eating alone isn't very nice!"

Nearly Headless Nick shouted, swinging his head to headbutt another ghost, grabbing the steak and stuffing it in his mouth, only to have it snatched away by the Bloody Baron who had invisibly floated behind him.

The Fat Friar, finally realizing his meat was gone, lost his usual gentle demeanor and roared in anger:

"Give me back my steak!"

His plump form immediately rolled into the fray.

Jane watched in astonishment.

When the sandalwood finally burned out, the ghosts straightened their disheveled clothes and hair, returning to their usual gloomy demeanor.

Nearly Headless Nick said with infinite sadness:

"Joy is always fleeting, but pain follows like a shadow."

But Professor Binns, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke:

"I must speak with Dumbledore," he declared firmly, speaking faster than Jane had ever heard him in History of Magic class, "my teaching salary— all of it can be paid to Jane Yu in exchange for this Eastern secret art."

The ghosts stared at him in shock.

"But my friend, has Dumbledore ever paid you any Galleons since you became a ghost?"

One ghost inquired.

Professor Binns froze.

"I demand my back pay!"

He exclaimed indignantly.