Magic Light Blooms and Stars Align (Part 2)

A murmur of tension rippled through the classroom. Professor McGonagall paced slowly between the desks like a hawk surveying its territory, her sharp gaze scrutinizing every student's movements.

"Mr. Finnigan! Are you swatting flies with your wrist? Do it again!"

"Mr. Weasley! Enunciate the incantation! It's not 'Forma-Changey-Change'!"

"Mr. Potter, willpower! Imagine the grain of the button! Not the texture of a stone!"

The harsh criticisms came without pause. Ron's pebble merely puffed out some smoke and turned blacker; Harry's pebble twisted into a lumpy, irregular metal blob; Seamus's pebble split cleanly in two.

Hermione became the center of attention once again. She was utterly focused, her small face flushed from effort, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She followed the instructions strictly, enunciating the incantation clearly, striving for perfect wrist movements, and desperately sketching the details of a brass button in her mind.

"FormaMutatio!"

A flash of silver-white light! The pebble on her desk... had transformed! But it wasn't a perfect button. Instead, it had become a metal disc with rough edges, a color somewhere between stone and brass, and an irregular shape... It barely resembled a button's outline.

"Close in form, but crude in detail. Your magical control isn't precise enough, and it lacks metallic texture." Professor McGonagall walked over to her, examined the "metal disc," and delivered an objective but merciless evaluation. "Miss Granger, your theoretical foundation is solid, but practice requires more refined control. Do it again."

Hermione's face fell instantly. The pride she'd felt in Charms class vanished, replaced by frustration and a hint of grievance. She bit her lower lip, her eyes reddening slightly, and raised her wand again with reluctance.

Lynn observed this. He could understand Hermione's frustration. Transfiguration demanded extremely high precision and control, which was precisely the area Hermione, relying solely on book knowledge, couldn't yet fully master. He picked up his own pebble, concentrated, and clearly constructed a three-dimensional model of a standard brass button in his mind—its size, curvature, smooth edges, the central hole, even the subtle metallic grain. The power of the Star Stone granted him formidable mental construction abilities.

"FormaMutatio." His voice was calm and flat, his wrist movement precise and steady, rotating a perfect half-circle with mechanical exactness.

A deep blue light flashed and vanished, so fast it almost seemed an illusion. The pebble on his desk was gone, replaced by a perfectly smooth, evenly colored button gleaming with genuine brass luster! Even the central hole was clean and round!

"Perfect!" Professor McGonagall's voice carried a hint of barely concealed surprise and praise. She strode quickly to Lynn's desk, picked up the button, and examined it closely. "Precise form, complete material transformation, efficient and accurate magical control! Ten points to Gryffindor! Mr. Lee, excellent work!" The initial scrutiny in her gaze as she looked at Lynn had been replaced by keen interest.

Hermione looked at the perfect button on Lynn's desk, then at her own rough metal disc. The stark contrast deepened her frustration, and she nearly bit through her lip. She tried again, but the pebble only turned slightly yellow, moving further from a button.

"Don't rush," Lynn's low voice reached her ears, very soft, meant only for her. "Imagine its weight, the cold feel of metal, the friction against your fingertips—not just its appearance."

Hermione froze. Weight? Texture? She had only focused on visual form. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to recall the sensation of touching a brass object—that heavy, smooth, slightly cool feeling. When she opened her eyes again, there was a new calmness in them.

"FormaMutatio."

This time, the silver-white light was much steadier. The pebble on her desk transformed into a brass button that, while still imperfect at the edges, now had a clear metallic luster and texture! Far better than before!

"Significant improvement!" Professor McGonagall nodded. "Hold onto that feeling, Miss Granger!"

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and shot Lynn a grateful look, her earlier frustration replaced by renewed motivation. Lynn returned an encouraging glance. The Star Stone and Moon White Stone, separated by the desk, seemed to silently share the joy of success.

The afternoon's History of Magic class was taught by Professor Binns (a translucent ghost professor whose monotone voice was like a chanting lullaby), covering "The Rise and Fall of the Medieval European Wizarding Council." For most first-years, it was an excellent sleeping aid. Harry and Ron soon began nodding off. Hermione forced herself to stay alert, diligently recording key points in her Starry Notebook (using the Pen of Stars, her thoughts flowing, the starlight script smooth and flawless). Lynn appeared to be listening, but in truth, he diverted part of his mind to pondering how to repair the crack at the tip of the Pen of Stars and the subtle connection between the Astrology Compass and Hermione's moonlight magic.

By evening, the day's classes were over. During dinner, the "sky" in the Great Hall's ceiling had turned a deep ink-blue, dotted with sparse stars.

"We have Astronomy tonight!" Hermione looked at the schedule, her eyes lighting up. "At the highest North Tower! We can see the full starry sky!"

As night deepened, a chill crept in. Led by the prefects, the first-years passed through the silent castle corridors, climbed the long, narrow spiral stone staircase, and finally reached the observatory atop the North Tower. The view was vast, the night wind biting, the deep purple sky like a huge velvet blanket studded with dazzling diamonds. The Milky Way stretched across the heavens, breathtakingly magnificent.

The Astronomy professor was a tall, slender witch with long silver hair and gentle eyes—Professor Aurora Sinistra. She distributed brass astrolabes and star charts.

"Tonight, we will get to know the king of the autumn sky—the 'Corona Gryphi' constellation," Professor Sinistra's voice was as soft as the night breeze, pointing to a crown-like pattern formed by several bright stars in the eastern sky. "And the 'Moon Lake' nebula it guards..."

But Lynn's gaze was involuntarily drawn to another part of the sky. Southwest of Corona Gryphi, a star emitting a soft, milky white light was exceptionally bright. Not far from it, a deep-hued blue star with restrained inner radiance shone in mutual complement, as if forming a natural star chart in the night sky. The Star Stone on his chest warmed slightly, as if responding to that patch of sky. He instinctively looked at Hermione beside him.

Hermione was intently comparing her star chart, using the astrolabe to measure angles, her small face looking especially serious in the starlight. The Moon White Stone pendant on her chest, set against the night, was emitting an extremely faint, soft halo that shared the same source as that milky white star in the sky.

Lynn's heart stirred. He quietly took the palm-sized Astrology Compass from his pocket. While Professor Sinistra was instructing another group of students, he gently placed the compass on the cold stone railing, grasped the Star Stone with one hand, and infused a thread of weak magic into it. At the same time, he focused his mind intensely, no longer forcibly simulating, but striving to sense the pure, unique aura of moonlight energy emanating from Hermione beside him.

This time, there was no chaotic conflict. As Lynn's Star Power carefully, like a stream, touched and enveloped the moonlight aura naturally radiating from Hermione, the star-track lines etched inside the Astrology Compass were softly and steadily lit up again! Silver light points flowed slowly, forming a tiny, clear, dynamic star chart! Even more wonderfully, the core of the chart was precisely those two mutually reflecting stars in the night sky—the milky white and the deep blue!

On the warm, smooth jade casing of the compass, a line of tiny ancient characters formed from starlight silently appeared:

"Twin stars shine, their paths intertwine, the beginning of destiny."

Lynn's heartbeat quickened slightly. He calmly withdrew the compass, his gaze once again falling on Hermione's focused profile. The night wind stirred the stray hairs by her cheek, starlight falling into her bright eyes. The Star Stone and the Moon White Stone, separated by a mere hand's breadth, resonated silently under the vast starry sky, like two lost stars in the cosmos finally finding the trajectory that pulled them together.

Professor Sinistra's voice drifted over: "...Remember, children, the stars not only guide direction, but also reflect the soul. When you are lost, look up. Your star is always there."

Hermione, as if sensing something, looked up from her star chart and met Lynn's deep gaze. The two exchanged a smile under the starlight, no words needed, a wonderful tacit understanding and warmth flowing quietly between them. The night wind remained biting, but on the observatory, it was as if a warm star-lamp, theirs alone, had been lit.