The faint clatter of Hermione's knitting needles continued beside the fire until late at night. Lynn's fingertips brushed over the crooked star-pattern stitches on the red-and-gold scarf. The lingering warmth of the Moon White Stone seeped into his bones, easing even the sluggish throbbing of the Star Stone. Snowflakes battered the windowpanes outside, while only the fire's crackling remained in the common room.
"My temperature is normal now." Hermione put away her yarn, her fingers naturally brushing his forehead. "But Clause Three of the protocol is still in effect—" She waved the Warmth Protocol parchment. "No night patrols until your Origin Magic recovers!"
Before Lynn could answer, the Star Stone in his chest suddenly jolted! It was not pain, but a long-absent, swollen heat, like a spring tide surging beneath a frozen river. He abruptly clutched his chest, his knuckles whitening with force.
"What is it?" Hermione instantly tensed.
"...It's beating." Lynn's voice was hoarse with disbelief. It was not the warmth of passive defense, but a vigorous, eager primordial pulse belonging to the Star Origin—the power that had fallen silent after being grievously wounded by the Killing Curse was awakening!
Hermione's brown eyes lit up. She seized his hand and pressed it over the Star Stone. Beneath her palm came a powerful, steady pulse, as though the sleeping Milky Way had begun flowing again. She suddenly sprang up, rushed to the window, and flung open the heavy casement!
The biting wind poured in with the snow, carrying an extraordinary sight—countless faint silver-white threads of light descended from the pitch-black night sky. As if drawn by an invisible force, they streamed toward Lynn's chest! The frost on the window frame silently melted wherever the light threads passed.
"Merlin..." Hermione murmured. This was the first time she had witnessed the wonder of Star Power resonating with the heavens.
Lynn closed his eyes and felt the torrent wash through every inch of his body. His blocked magical pathways were forcefully opened, while the black tear deep within his soul, ripped open by the Killing Curse, was rapidly mended by starlight. When he opened his eyes again, a streak of golden radiance flashed deep within his pupils.
"It recovered?" Hermione's voice trembled.
"Yeah." Lynn spread his palm, and a solid wisp of silver-white Star Flame burned soundlessly there, mysterious runes flowing within its core. It was no longer a resonance field that consumed his life, but Origin Magic entirely under his control.
Hermione suddenly threw herself into his arms, her ball of yarn rolling across the floor. There were no words, only the faint trembling of her shoulders and the warm dampness against his neck. Lynn stiffened for a moment before slowly wrapping his arms around her. The Star Flame in his palm went out, turning into a warm current that enveloped her trembling body. The citrus scent on the scarf mingled with the salty bitterness of her tears, becoming the first taste he sensed after his revival.
The Defense Classroom had become Lockhart's new stage. He waved his gold-trimmed wand and dyed a Troll specimen an eye-searing pinkish purple. "Remember! When dealing with dark creatures, first crush their fighting spirit visually! Take this Troll, for example—who could refuse a dreamy bubblegum Troll?"
Amid the laughter below, Hermione gripped Lynn's sleeve and whispered, "Ginny knocked over her cauldron three times in Potions Class this morning... The dark aura from the diary was so thick that even Ron complained it was 'creepily cold.'" Her fingertip sketched a crude diagram of pipes on the parchment. "The drain in Myrtle's Bathroom was covered in a layer of deep blue Ice Crystals last night."
Lynn's gaze swept over the front row—Ginny was curled up in her seat, clutching the worn diary against her chest. Beneath her sleeve, web-like blue-black veins showed through her pale wrist. The Star Stone sent out a sharp warning: the Basilisk's agitation had reached its limit!
"We need its fangs." Lynn traced a snake-shaped rune across Hermione's palm. "Tonight."
"I'll distract Moaning Myrtle!" Hermione immediately understood. "But your strength has only just recovered..."
"It's enough." Lynn cut her off. With a nimble motion, he produced a piece of Orange Cake and slipped it between her slightly parted lips, open with worry. The sweet, rich citrus flavor burst across her tongue, and Hermione's face instantly turned red.
The deathly silence of the library was shattered that afternoon by a sudden crash. Madam Pince screamed and rushed toward the Restricted Section—three entire rows of bookshelves had been overturned as if by an invisible giant hand, and rare ancient tomes poured down like rain!
"It's Malfoy!" Ron growled, pointing at a flash of blond hair disappearing behind a pillar. Harry started to give chase, but Lynn caught him by the shoulder.
"A diversion." Lynn's gaze locked onto the library's side entrance—Ginny was clutching the diary and silently slipping toward the abandoned records room! Web-like black mist seeped from the diary's cover, dragging a viscous shadow beneath her feet.
The three of them followed her inside. The records room reeked of old parchment, and towering file shelves cast grim black shadows. Ginny knelt in a corner, dipping her fingers in some unknown dark-red liquid and frantically drawing across the floor tiles—a twisted snake symbol sprawled in the center, with Hermione's name clearly written within it!
Petrificus Totalus! Harry's spell shot straight at Ginny's back.
At the critical moment, thick black mist exploded from the diary! A translucent, ghastly pale arm stretched out from within and smashed apart the arc of spell light with one blow. Ginny turned her head mechanically, her pupils completely black, her mouth twisting into an inhuman grin. "Annoying..."
The floor suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash! A foul wind erupted from underground, carrying the piercing scrape of scales against stone walls. The file shelves toppled like dominoes, and amid the dust, two faint blue lights appeared in the collapse—the Basilisk had not emerged, but the icy cold of its gaze had already pierced through the ground!
"Close your eyes!" Lynn shouted, spinning around and pulling Hermione tightly into his arms. Star Power erupted with unprecedented force, and a waterfall of silver-white light surged skyward from around him, instantly forming a hemispherical Starlight Barrier! The icy cold of the Basilisk's gaze struck the curtain of light, exploding into web-like deep blue cracks as extreme cold and Star Flame fought wildly across the barrier's surface!
"It's in the tunnel!" Hermione shouted muffled against Lynn's chest. "Use sound to locate it!"
Harry snatched Ron's mechanical mouse whistle—a prank gift from Fred—and blew it! The sharp high-frequency sound pierced into the underground passage, and furious hissing and heavy impacts immediately rang out from the darkness—the Basilisk was struggling in pain!
The cracks in the barrier spread, and blood seeped from the corner of Lynn's mouth. Hermione suddenly broke free from his arms and drove her wand into a crack in the floor. Terra Sonitus!—her self-created vibration spell. Amid violent tremors, the tunnel collapsed with a roar, burying the Basilisk's hissing completely.
The black mist shrieked as it withdrew into the diary. Ginny collapsed to the ground, and the blue-black color of the veins on her wrist temporarily faded.
At midnight atop the Astronomy Tower, the Milky Way spilled down like a waterfall. Hermione was wrapped in Lynn's velvet cloak, her fingertip lightly touching his chest. "Does it still hurt?" The backlash from the shattered Starlight Barrier had made him cough for half the night.
Lynn shook his head, his palm turning nimbly—a bouquet of Orange Blossom formed from starlight bloomed in his hand, its fresh sweetness no different from the real thing. "To make up for your cake." During the chaos in the library that day, the snack she had brought had been crushed flat.
Hermione accepted the bouquet, starlight illuminating the moisture in her eyes. "When the barrier shattered... I thought the Killing Curse wound had flared up again..." She suddenly rose onto her toes and kissed his cool lips, trembling with reckless determination. The starlight bouquet scattered shining specks through their touching fingers.
Lynn froze. The Star Stone gave off a molten-gold pulse between their tightly pressed chests. Awkwardly, he returned the kiss, one hand cradling the back of her neck. Starlight flowed down from their hair, wrapping them in a cocoon-like glow. In the distance, a Thestral cried mournfully from the Forbidden Forest, while above the tower, the starry firmament remained gentle and silent.
When they finally parted, breathing hard, Hermione buried her burning face in the hollow of his shoulder. "The symbol Ginny drew... I'm the Basilisk's next target."
"It won't get the chance." Lynn drew his arms tighter around her, resting his chin against her fluffy curls. Under the moonlight, the golden fragments deep in his eyes solidified into something tangible.
Within the dungeon shadows, Lucius Malfoy's Serpent-headed Staff tapped against the cold stone tiles. "The diary is accelerating its consumption of that girl." He watched coldly as a magical image appeared on the wall—Ginny drawing the blood rune in the records room. "But the Son of Stars' power has recovered."
Snape lifted his head from the steam of his potions, his black robes billowing like bat wings. "Dumbledore has strengthened the warding spells around every water pipe. If the Basilisk attacks again, the entrance to the pipes will inevitably be exposed."
"Then let the heir's fury burn even hotter." A snake-like smile curled across Lucius's lips as a brooch set with a black gemstone slid into his palm. "Put this 'gift' into Granger's Transfiguration Class assignment... When the Basilisk bursts through the classroom floor, let's see whether the Star Barrier can block a gaze at point-blank range."
Deep within the black gemstone on the brooch, a thread of viscous black mist from the same source as the diary coiled like a living thing. Outside the window, snow covered the new deep blue Ice Marks on the castle walls, but it could not conceal the hissing conspiracy within.
The Moon White Stone around Hermione's neck suddenly flashed with a cold warning light. Lynn abruptly looked up, Star Power piercing through layer after layer of stone to lock onto that nauseating dark resonance in the dungeon.
The chessboard had reached the middle game. The line between hunter and prey was quietly reversing beneath the light of the reviving starry firmament.
Before you continue