HP: The Dropout Who Saved the World

When Jane Yu cast a puzzled glance at Lupin, he flinched as if electrocuted, quickly averting his gaze.

He was now deeply experiencing what it felt like to be caught by the boss taking personal leave to attend a club activity during work hours.

But soon, his survival instincts as a diligent worker kicked in, and he turned his eyes back, beginning to explain himself:

"Uh… I submitted an application. I only requested one day of personal leave, and I promise it won't affect my work…"

Seeing his nervous and uneasy expression, Jane raised an eyebrow.

She thought to herself, Surely, I'm not so heartless as to deny my employees reasonable personal leave?

But Lupin, clearly pushed to the extreme by his overly competitive colleagues, had already mastered the art of self-PUA (psychological manipulation). For some reason, a phrase suddenly popped into his mind:

"If you don't do it, there are plenty of werewolves who will!"

This sent a shiver down his spine, and he felt as if his untransformed ears and tail were about to emerge uncontrollably.

Thus, he quickly and instinctively mastered the dual skills of diverting attention and pleasing his boss, shifting the topic to current affairs instead.

"Yu, you might not know this, but Padfoot has offered up this house as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix."

"We've implemented almost every protective measure possible. I think this is probably the safest place in the world for you to stay before the new term starts."

For some reason, Jane felt like she had developed a reflex to frown whenever she heard the word "safe."

The last person who said this to her—a goblin at Gringotts—well, the consequences were self-evident.

And the person before that—Madame Maxime, referring to Hogwarts.

But Hogwarts… a place that was either being infiltrated by Voldemort or patrolled by Dementors throughout the year…

She found it hard to say the word "safe" with a straight face.

Noticing his boss frowning, Lupin became even more anxious, interpreting it as dissatisfaction with his slacking off and attempts to curry favor.

His brain working overtime, he quickly thought of Dumbledore as a topic—the middleman who was both his boss's guardian and his own mentor.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has gone to attend the inauguration ceremony," Lupin said nervously, glancing at the clock from time to time and silently praying for Dumbledore's swift return to rescue him from this awkward situation. "He should be back soon—probably—maybe—"

"Inauguration ceremony?" Jane asked, puzzled.

Sirius, who had just finished his three-hundredth round of wits against Kreacher, noticed Lupin's stiffness and came to his friend's rescue:

"The inauguration of the President of the International Confederation of Wizards. It's an absolute farce!"

Jane's confusion was almost visible above her head.

If she remembered correctly, Dumbledore had already been serving as the President of the International Confederation of Wizards for a long time, hadn't he?

"That's correct," Lupin confirmed, assuring her that she hadn't missed any timeline. "But a lot has happened this summer—"

He picked up a neatly stacked pile of clippings from the coffee table and was about to hand them to Jane.

But in a flash of insight, he realized that reporting to the boss couldn't involve simply dumping a pile of documents on her to read.

With a sincere smile, Lupin quickly retracted the newspapers and began summarizing the clippings and recent events:

[Since joining the team, I have dedicated myself to my role, serving the company with diligence and professionalism. Over the past two months, I have worked tirelessly to fulfill my duties. Here's a summary of my work:

These two months have been more chaotic—productive—than any other year. I've been so busy I've practically turned into my werewolf form… enriching my life and giving me the courage to face new challenges.

I have closely monitored the whereabouts of your guardian, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Under his leadership, I sacrificed my rest time to search for you and put up missing person posters. Although the efforts yielded no results, I remained committed and poured my heart into the search team.

Meanwhile, I contributed to the company by successfully recruiting—coercing—several new werewolf employees, striving to enhance their skills and thinking abilities. I exceeded the KPI set at the beginning of the year, earning praise from Mr. Aberforth Dumbledore.

Challenges faced include:

1. Negative external publicity;

2. Enemy forces lurking in the shadows;

3. Disputes within the Ministry of Magic;

4. Grindelwald's escape from prison…]

Sirius stared at his friend, who had suddenly developed the demeanor of a corporate drone, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

For some reason, he suddenly felt grateful that his family's wealth allowed him to live comfortably without needing a job.

Shaking his head, he spat at himself internally and cursed—how could he feel grateful for being born into the Black family? It was shameful and disgraceful! He really was slipping!

"Stop—stop—speak normally."

Jane felt like her ears had been assaulted and her intelligence forcibly lowered by Lupin's corporate spiel.

"I just want to know what's been happening these past few months. Why does Dumbledore need to attend an inauguration ceremony?"

Having finished berating himself, Sirius pulled Lupin aside and began loudly recounting the events of the past few months:

"It's been one thing after another! Dumbledore and everyone else have been spinning like tops!"

"First, there was the Gringotts explosion. Wizards rushed to withdraw their assets and demanded compensation. The goblins protested furiously, seeing it as a sign of disrespect, nearly sparking a goblin rebellion. Dumbledore and the Ministry spent ages calming things down!"

"Then you went missing in the explosion, so we immediately formed a task force to search for you!"

"After that, Grindelwald suddenly escaped from prison, and Dumbledore had to rush to Austria to mobilize the International Confederation of Wizards…"

As Sirius pinched his thigh, tears welled up as he recalled the dog-tired days of the past few months.

"We had to juggle three or four tasks at once—searching for you, protecting Harry, tracking Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and recently sending people to Austria to help…"

"So what's the deal with the International Confederation of Wizards presidency?" Jane felt her question still hadn't been answered. "Why does he need to be inaugurated again?"

At this, Sirius's anger flared, and he began cursing Minister Fudge:

"That useless, good-for-nothing, incompetent fool! He can't prioritize what's important!"

"We all know it was his doing—The Daily Prophet ran fabricated articles for a whole month!"

Lupin smiled wryly, calming his friend. Temporarily shedding his corporate demeanor, he regained his normal composure:

"After the Gringotts incident was resolved, Fudge orchestrated a smear campaign through The Daily Prophet, spreading falsehoods about Dumbledore and Director Bones. He made the public believe that Dumbledore was senile and that Bones was using her position for personal gain, accusing her of recruiting young, handsome Aurors for her own service."

"Dumbledore publicly declared Voldemort's return at the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards, but the Ministry, led by Fudge, vehemently denied it. This led to Dumbledore losing his positions as President of the Confederation and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Director Bones was nearly forced to resign."

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