Invisibility Cloak, Deathly Hallows

Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had told her to take it easy today and not study.

So when Harry and Ron finished playing with the magical crackers and came to the table with their arms full of presents, ready to eat,

they saw Lin Yue eating at an unhurried pace, occasionally taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Merlin's napkin!" Ron stared blankly at Lin Yue as she ate slowly. He didn't even notice when the presents in his arms fell to the floor.

To him, Lin Yue taking her time over a meal was about as impossible as Professor Snape awarding points to Gryffindor House.

And yet now, this impossible thing was happening!

Harry, standing beside him, looked just as incredulous.

He'd assumed that by the time he and Ron finished playing with the magical crackers, Lin Yue would have finished lunch and gone to the Library to read.

They'd even planned to hurry to the Library and find her after lunch. But who could have expected that, when they finished playing with the magical crackers,

they wouldn't find Lin Yue's seat empty. Instead, she was sitting right there, eating lunch at her leisure.

Harry and Ron sat down beside Lin Yue without a word. Harry sat next to her, and Ron sat next to Harry.

"Lin Yue... are you still going to the Library after lunch?" Harry turned his head slightly and asked her in a quiet voice.

Lin Yue swallowed the bacon in her mouth. It was strange. She must have eaten it before, but she had no idea it tasted like this.

Was it because she was eating slowly today? She looked at Harry and answered in a flat tone.

"I'm not going to the Library after lunch. Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall told me to take the day off and not think about studying."

"Okay." Harry nodded, then glanced at Professor McGonagall with some surprise. He'd never imagined she would tell a student to take a break and not think about studying.

"What about you? Are you still going to the Library later?" Ron saw that Harry had finished asking his question and had nothing more to say, so he nudged Harry's shoulder.

"No." Harry shook his head and spoke quietly.

"Thank goodness..." Ron let out a sigh of relief. Whatever else, he didn't want to study on Christmas Day.

With her study plans vetoed, Lin Yue had nothing to do after lunch.

If she had to think of something besides studying, she truly couldn't come up with anything.

Even though that operation hadn't touched her memories, her life before it had been almost entirely consumed by studying.

To make sure her grades stayed above the threshold for being destroyed, Lin Yue had spent nearly all her time studying, except when she was asleep or eating.

Of course, back then she'd still eaten and slept normally, but even that hadn't been enough to satisfy her parents.

That was what had led to the operation. As for going out to play, or things like television and computers, Lin Yue had only ever seen her parents use them. She herself had never once been allowed to so much as look.

Going out to play was even less of an option. Almost every child was at home studying. Who could she ask to go out with?

But now Harry and Ron were there to show her what to do, so it didn't matter that she had no idea how to relax on her own.

The two boys thought, with complete confidence, that they would make sure she had a lovely, relaxing day.

Until... "Merlin's Queen!" Ron clutched his red hair in despair.

Just then, Lin Yue's piece had smashed another one of his. It was the tenth game he'd lost.

To help Lin Yue enjoy her relaxing day, he and Harry had brought her back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Ron had even volunteered to play Wizard's Chess with her, but what he didn't know was that

Lin Yue's extensive reading in the Hogwarts Library included books on Wizard's Chess.

And on top of that, she had no emotions to distract her while playing. Her thoughts were also much faster than an ordinary person's.

Naturally, Ron had no chance of winning. No matter how he played, Lin Yue could always make her next move within seconds.

At first, he'd been able to play with ease, but halfway through the game he'd started hesitating over every move.

He often took several minutes to make a single move, leaving Harry, who was watching beside them, utterly dumbfounded.

Harry knew how good Ron was at Wizard's Chess. Neither he nor Hermione could beat him.

In fact, almost no one in all of Gryffindor House could beat him.

Yet against Lin Yue, he'd lost ten games in a row. Harry felt a little sorry for Ron, but mostly he was enjoying the show and trying not to laugh.

After losing the eleventh game, Ron slumped over the table without a trace of dignity.

He raised his right hand weakly. "I'm done, I'm done... I can't beat you. I really can't."

Lin Yue nodded, then stood up expressionlessly and stretched her legs.

Harry couldn't hold back any longer. He covered his mouth to stifle his laughter and patted his best friend on the shoulder.

"Ron, are you okay?"

"Not really..." Ron lifted his head and looked at Harry with a dead-eyed expression. When he saw the smile Harry couldn't quite suppress, his face twisted with irritation.

Taking a deep breath, Ron launched his counterattack. "Harry... it's your turn. I've been keeping Lin Yue company for ages. Now it's your turn."

Harry's smile instantly froze. Keep Lin Yue company and help her relax... He had no idea what to do either.

At least Ron could play Wizard's Chess with her. What could he do?

There was no way he could take Lin Yue outside to play Quidditch, was there? It was freezing out there. If they flew around in the sky, wouldn't they freeze to death?

And if Lin Yue caught a cold, then when Hermione came back and found out... wouldn't she kill him?

Harry shuddered hard, then abandoned the idea of taking Lin Yue outside to play Quidditch.

After thinking it over, he remembered something he'd received that very morning, something he'd been told was very precious.

"Lin Yue, wait here a moment. I'll get something to show you."

With that, Harry ran up the stairs and returned to his dormitory to fetch the Invisibility Cloak he'd just received that morning.

If he gave Lin Yue the Invisibility Cloak, she could play with it or study it.

She was such a keen student. Surely she'd be interested in something as unusual as an Invisibility Cloak.

Harry ran back down the stairs and handed it to Lin Yue.

"Here. You can play with it or study it."

Lin Yue accepted the Invisibility Cloak Harry handed her, her eyes calm. The moment it touched her hands, she sensed that something about it was unusual.

She could tell it was an Invisibility Cloak, but it didn't feel like the material commonly used to make them, as described in books.

It was an Invisibility Cloak, but not an ordinary one. Lin Yue felt no change in her emotions as she held it up in front of herself with both hands.

She calmly examined it from top to bottom, then noticed the ancient, intricate patterns on its surface.

She folded the Invisibility Cloak neatly again and looked at Harry.

"Your Invisibility Cloak is special."

"Huh?" Harry looked at Lin Yue in confusion. "What makes it special?"

"This Invisibility Cloak is different from the ones available today," Lin Yue said in a completely level voice.

"It isn't made from the materials commonly used to make Invisibility Cloaks nowadays, so its effect isn't limited by time. It should work forever."

Harry swallowed and nodded. "I see..."

"Your father left this to you." Lin Yue rapidly analyzed the information in her mind as she looked at Harry.

"How did you know?!" Harry stared at Lin Yue in surprise. He'd only found out the cloak had once belonged to his father that very morning, when he received it along with a small note.

If he hadn't seen Lin Yue's handwriting before and knew it looked nothing like the handwriting on the note, he might have thought she'd given him the cloak, judging by what she'd just said.

"Because your father should have inherited an Invisibility Cloak from his ancestors."

Lin Yue calmly stated what she knew. "In wizarding fairy tales, the three Peverell Brothers won gifts from Death after making a wager with him."

"The third Peverell brother received the Invisibility Cloak."

Ron, who had been standing beside them and listening to their conversation, suddenly clapped his hands.

"I've heard that story too. The tale of the Deathly Hallows!"

"But isn't it just a legend?" Ron looked at Lin Yue in confusion. Could the legend be true?

"Not entirely." Lin Yue shook her head impassively and spoke mechanically. "The Peverell Family really did exist in history, and they were related to the Potter Family by marriage."

"The Potter Family could be considered descendants of that third Peverell."

"So it's not strange that Harry's father inherited an Invisibility Cloak from his ancestors."

"Merlin! Then your Invisibility Cloak is one of the Deathly Hallows, Harry!"

Ron stared in amazement at the neatly folded cloak in Lin Yue's hands.

"The Deathly Hallows?" Harry frowned. "What do they do?"

"The Resurrection Stone is said to bring the dead back to life. The Invisibility Cloak can let you escape Death, so even Death can't find you. The Elder Wand can make you unbeatable. Whoever gets all three can conquer death and become the master of Death."

Ron explained what he remembered from the fairy tale he'd once read.

"Is that possible? It's just a fairy tale, isn't it?" Harry was at a loss for words. Becoming the master of Death sounded like something straight out of a fairy tale.

"It's probably just a fairy tale." Lin Yue spoke slowly from beside them, her emotionless eyes fixed on Harry and Ron.

"The three Peverell Brothers were most likely powerful alchemists, and the three Deathly Hallows were Alchemical Products they made."

"As for why people said that whoever possessed all three Deathly Hallows could conquer death, I think it might be because their powers were so great that they exceeded what people could ordinarily imagine."

"That makes sense." Harry nodded thoughtfully.

After playing eleven games of Wizard's Chess, Lin Yue had also discussed the legends surrounding the Invisibility Cloak with Harry and Ron.

By the time the three of them stopped talking, it was already time for dinner.

Harry and Ron led the way out of the Gryffindor Common Room, and the three of them headed to the Great Hall together.

The professors were already seated around the table, and the few students staying at school had taken the seats they wanted. Lin Yue and the others were among the last to arrive.

They hurried over and took their seats at the table. Once everyone was there, Headmaster Dumbledore picked up the goblet in front of him.

"Everyone, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Everyone else raised their goblets along with him. Lin Yue raised hers too, expressionless, and said "Merry Christmas" without a trace of feeling.

As for the sudden flicker of emotion in her heart, she decided it might mean she had a slight heart arrhythmia.

The students' goblets held pumpkin juice, while the professors' held wine.

Since it was Christmas, the professors had mostly let their guard down and indulged themselves for once. They were all a little tipsy.

Looking at the tipsy professors, a strange thought suddenly crossed Lin Yue's mind.

Perhaps the teachers she'd met in this world really were different from the ones she'd met before.

She shook her head, pushing the thought—she had no idea where it had come from—out of her mind, then slowly began cutting the large piece of turkey in front of her with a knife and fork.

If she were eating normally, she wouldn't use a knife and fork to cut up the turkey.

She'd just use her hands, trying to finish as quickly as possible so she could get back to studying. If the bones were small enough to chew, she'd even swallow them along with the turkey to save time.

But today, and today alone, she would follow Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall's instructions and slow down while eating.

She slowly put a piece of cut turkey into her mouth. A flavor she didn't remember ever experiencing before blossomed on her tongue.

Lin Yue's sense of taste told her the turkey was delicious. You should feel... What should she feel?

She calmly put a second bite of turkey into her mouth. The food was delicious. What should she feel?

Lin Yue's mind gave her no answer, so she didn't dwell on it. She simply kept eating the turkey, one bite after another.

Without any change in her mood, she repeated the same thought over and over in her mind: this turkey tasted good.

As Christmas pudding and ice cream were brought to the table afterward,

the thought changed to: this Christmas pudding and this ice cream tasted good.

But no matter how the food in her thoughts changed, Lin Yue's expression remained the same, and her heart was still a pool of still water.

When her vacant eyes passed over the others, she could see their mouths curling up and their eyes crinkling as they enjoyed the food.

Lin Yue's mind supplied an explanation: they were smiling. Why were they smiling? Because they were happy. Why were they happy? Because the food was delicious.

So... she also thought the food was delicious. Then she should be happy too?

But she didn't feel happy. She had no emotions. Lin Yue blinked and calmly reached for another piece of Christmas pudding.

She didn't notice that, even though she felt nothing in her heart or mind, tears had begun to well up in her eyes.