With a lazy yawn, Jon climbed out of bed in the small sleeping chamber attached to the Headmaster's Office.
He rose unhurriedly and opened a nearby black cabinet that glowed with a bright silver light. Inside sat a shallow stone basin, its rim carved with strange patterns and mysterious-looking letters and symbols.
The silver glow came from the substance inside the basin. It looked like both liquid and vapor at once—bright, silvery white, constantly shifting and flowing, drifting like clouds and swirling gently.
Jon picked up the Elder wand resting beside the basin and lightly touched it to his temple. A strand of silvery-white, threadlike matter slowly slipped out of his temple, identical to the substance already swirling in the basin.
With practiced ease, he guided the silvery strands into the basin. Then he casually set the Elder wand down beside it, stretched lazily, and sat at the Headmaster's desk.
Naturally, he noticed the copy of The Daily Prophet lying on the desk.
"Fawkes!" he called out loudly. "Did you pay this time?"
Just the day before, Jon Hart had received a complaint letter from the editorial office of The Daily Prophet. They claimed that for three days in a row they had sent newspapers to the Hogwarts Headmaster's Office, yet had received neither postage nor payment for the papers.
Worse still, their owls had apparently been badly frightened every single time.
The letter even threatened that if it happened again, they would stop delivering newspapers to the Hogwarts Headmaster's Office altogether.
Jon had been baffled at first. It was only after several of the former headmasters in the portraits pointed it out that he realized the culprit was the phoenix that had only recently been reborn.
With no better options, he had resorted to a mixture of threats and persuasion. Whether it had worked or not remained to be seen.
A harsh, unpleasant cry came from the golden perch. It sounded like Fawkes still wasn't fully awake.
"She did pay just now," muttered a silver-templed former headmaster in one of the portraits. "Although… that poor owl might have been even more frightened this time…"
"As long as it's paid!" Jon nodded, having missed the end of the old headmaster's muttering.
...
Picking up The Daily Prophet, Jon began flipping through it rapidly from front to back.
His eyes swept past the front-page headline—"The Dark Lord Has Gone"—pausing for half a second on Rufus Scrimgeour's lion-like portrait before moving on.
...Page two carried the headline: "Thousands of Wizards Take to the Streets to Celebrate, Toasting the Dark Lord's Defeat"...
...Page three: "American Magical Congress Issues Strong Protest, Claiming British Celebrations May Violate the International Statute of Secrecy"...
...Page four: "Owls Flying Everywhere in Broad Daylight, Meteor Showers Across Britain — Celebrations Should Remain Moderate"...
Jon flipped through the pages faster and faster.
Only when he reached page ten and saw the article "In Memory of Albus Dumbledore" by Elphias Doge, a longtime member of the Order of the Phoenix, did he stop.
He patiently read the entire piece.
"The Ministry of Magic is still the same old Ministry of Magic," Jon murmured with faint mockery. "And The Daily Prophet is still the same old Daily Prophet."
He resumed flipping quickly through the paper until he reached the entertainment section and spotted Rita Skeeter's article:
"Prankster or Power Seeker — The Boy Who Lived and the Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Jon's interest immediately sharpened. Straightening in his chair, he began reading carefully.
"Special correspondent Rita Skeeter reports: Following the 'departure' of the Dark Lord, Hogwarts' headmaster, the respected Albus Dumbledore, has unfortunately also passed away… As we reflect on the unpredictability of life, a strange incident occurred at Hogwarts just days ago during Dumbledore's funeral.
"With Dumbledore's death, the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts was temporarily left vacant. According to tradition, an experienced wizard would normally assume the role—perhaps Professor Minerva McGonagall, who has served as Deputy Headmistress for decades, or the highly respected Professor Filius Flitwick.
"But reality has played a joke on us—or what many might call a small prank.
"You may remember Jon Hart, a somewhat talented, ordinary-looking but highly ambitious boy. More than two years ago, during the Triwizard Tournament held at Hogwarts, he was one of the school's champions…
"At the time, he had already used his talents to deceive the Goblet of Fire and satisfy his ambition to stand out.
"Then, at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, this ambitious young man staged his own death. When the Dark Lord was on the verge of collapse, he returned to Hogwarts under the identity of the 'Boy Who Lived'…
"Of course, none of the actions above were inherently wrong. Jon Hart certainly had ambition, but he caused no harm to others.
"However, if he also used those same talents to deceive the late Albus Dumbledore in order to seize the position of Hogwarts' Headmaster—then that would be a grave mistake…"
...
"...We have every reason to believe that Jon Hart became the 'new Headmaster' of Hogwarts through numerous illegal methods.
"We also look forward to the Ministry of Magic conducting a strict investigation into the unexpected situation at Hogwarts."
Jon only read the beginning and the end. The dense column of fine print in the middle he mostly skimmed over.
But before the "person involved" himself could comment, the former headmasters and headmistresses behind him had already erupted into an uproar.
"Slander! Pure slander!"
"That ridiculous newspaper, that vicious woman!"
"She shows absolutely no respect for Hogwarts!"
...
"Calm down! Everyone, calm down!" Jon said patiently, soothing calming the former headmasters one by one.
"She's just a tiny pest that won't stir up any real trouble. There's no need to take it to heart…"
Once the former headmasters had finally quieted down, Jon asked again:
"So, what's on the schedule today?"
"At nine o'clock this morning you'll need to go to Azkaban, Jon," Headmaster Everard replied. "There will be an interrogation of a Death Eater there."
"Understood." Jon nodded.
Nine o'clock was still an hour and a half away. He had plenty of time for breakfast.
Casually tossing The Daily Prophet into the fireplace, Jon picked up a small statue shaped like a house-elf from the other side of the desk and tapped it lightly.
A full set of clean silver cutlery instantly appeared on the desk in front of him.
And along with it came a table filled with food:
Lamb chops, sausages, steak, roasted potatoes, fried chips, yorkshire pudding…
As well as apple pie, pancakes, chocolate trifle, jam doughnuts, rum-soaked pudding, and all kinds of other desserts.
Jon wiped his hands gently with a napkin and took a sip of pumpkin juice.
Then he straightened his posture and picked up his knife and fork.
Such was the simple, unpretentious life of Hogwarts' Headmaster.