The Hour of Judgment (II)

Behind the exhibition hall decorated in the style of Ancient Greece stood a squat, two-story building of red brick. At dinnertime, professors from the academy came and went in an endless stream.

Jasna Rosier sat alone at a table by the window, staring intently at the newspaper in her hands. A cup of coffee on the table before her sent wisps of white steam curling upward.

Many familiar faces passed through the aisle beside her table, but none of her colleagues stopped to greet Professor Rosier.

The professors working here all knew that Professor Rosier, young, beautiful, and exceptionally knowledgeable in her field, had a cold and eccentric personality. She rarely spoke with her colleagues. Instead, some of the staff responsible for campus upkeep and student services had become her friends.

Click—

As the last rays of sunset vanished behind the mountains, the warm lights spilling from the little building suddenly became conspicuous against the dark campus.

Jasna gave the copy of The Daily Prophet tucked inside The Berlin Daily one last glance. Then she folded both newspapers and set them on the tabletop before lifting her coffee and slowly stirring it with a small spoon. Her gaze settled on the forest in the distance, which seemed to exude a cold, sinister air. She did not let her Muggle colleagues in the dining hall see the trace of doubt in her indifferent eyes.

Nothing had happened.

More than a week had passed since news arrived from Hogsmeade confirming that Hermione Granger had received the package. Throughout that week, nothing had happened.

Neither Hogwarts nor the British Ministry of Magic had made a move. They had maintained an unsettling silence, as though they had no intention of pursuing the matter at all. Of course, that was impossible. Escuros had told her