A Part of the Truth

Hogwarts' Christmas holidays lasted two weeks—fourteen days—and today was already the ninth day. Lin Yue had been reading from eight that evening until six the next morning on the tenth day, when she finally closed her book.

She stood, slung her bag over her shoulder, and headed for the Hogwarts Library. She needed to return her books.

At six in the morning, Madam Pince hadn't arrived yet. Lin Yue left the books on her desk, then turned and hurried toward the Great Hall.

The fifteen hours she'd spent unconscious had restored a little color to her face, but only a little.

Her face was still sickly pale, her lips utterly bloodless and nearly black.

After breakfast in the Great Hall, Lin Yue hurried back to Ravenclaw Tower, sat down at her desk, and focused intently on her studies.

For the next four days of the holiday, not a single professor or student staying at Hogwarts saw Lin Yue.

Madam Pince didn't see Lin Yue come to the Library to borrow books again, either. Thinking Lin Yue had finally given herself a few days off to rest, Madam Pince silently breathed a sigh of relief.

She thought to herself that the girl had finally learned to take a break.

But the truth was that Lin Yue had thought it over and concluded that, looking the way she did, the professors would surely tell her to stop studying.

But she couldn't stop studying. Even being sick was no reason to stop.

So she needed to avoid the professors. Lin Yue reached this conclusion without feeling a thing.

For those four days, she deliberately went to the Great Hall early to eat, then returned to her Dormitory as quickly as possible. She wanted to avoid the professors and the students staying at Hogwarts, especially Harry and Ron.

She even spent those four days reading books from the small library inside Ravenclaw Academy.

For four whole days, she never closed her eyes or slept for even a minute.

There was one other thing, too... During those days, her left arm had become completely impossible to raise.

On the night she'd fallen unconscious, she had punished herself for the fifteen hours of study time she'd lost.

After her right hand pressed against her left arm and left fifteen handprints on it without mercy,

her left arm began to shake uncontrollably. She didn't even have the strength to lift it.

Calmly opening her right hand, Lin Yue saw her palm clearly in the light of the Dormitory lamps: it was covered in blood.

She slowly took off her wizard's robe and gently opened her shirt. The upper left sleeve of her white shirt was completely soaked with blood.

Once she had taken off her shirt, she saw that her left upper arm was covered in bloody handprints. The repeated injuries had finally overwhelmed her arm, and it had begun to bleed.

Indifferently looking away, Lin Yue picked up a tissue and rubbed her left arm hard, wiping away the blood that had seeped out.

She rubbed so forcefully that it was as if she couldn't feel any pain at all. Even though it hurt terribly, her face showed no trace of emotion.

Even then, Lin Yue simply changed into clean clothes without a hint of feeling, then sat back down at her desk and resumed studying.

And so, right up until the last day of the holiday, she still couldn't lift her left arm.

It was true that she wasn't afraid of pain. Without emotions, pain was unpleasant, but easy enough for her to endure.

But aside from the pain, her left arm was so badly injured that her body had nearly reached its limit. She couldn't even exert any strength with it.

Let alone move it through the pain. So when the holiday ended, Hermione saw Lin Yue sitting at the table, her left arm hanging limply, eating with only her right hand. She looked strange in every way.

And that wasn't even mentioning her suffocating pallor and blackened lips. Hermione felt as if her heart had been seized in a fist.

The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogwarts in the evening. After putting her things away, Hermione hurried straight to the Great Hall.

She went earlier than all the other professors and students, thinking that if she got there early, she was sure to run into Lin Yue. If Lin Yue hadn't arrived yet, she could wait for her there.

As it turned out, when she entered the Great Hall, she found Lin Yue there, eating early just as she had been for the past few days.

Before she could go over and greet her, Hermione noticed her strange posture.

Frowning, Hermione hurried over to Lin Yue. "Good evening, Lin Yue."

Hearing Hermione's voice, Lin Yue's hand paused briefly as she ate. Then she raised her head and looked at Hermione without expression.

"Good afternoon, Hermione."

"Mm." Hermione nodded, her gaze fixed on Lin Yue's left arm. "What happened to your left arm?"

Lin Yue felt nothing and didn't know how to lie. She answered truthfully.

"Punishment for wasting study time."

"What?" Hermione looked at Lin Yue in confusion, but Lin Yue didn't answer. She simply lowered her head and continued eating.

Hermione had a feeling something was wrong. She narrowed her eyes at Lin Yue, then walked over without hesitation and sat down beside her, helping herself to some food.

"I'm coming back to your Dormitory with you later. Let me see your left arm."

Hermione's tone left no room for argument. Lin Yue didn't object; she simply continued eating the dinner in front of her without reacting.

Hermione wolfed down her dinner as quickly as she could, then stayed close behind Lin Yue all the way to the entrance of the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Lin Yue answered the Bronze knocker's question, then brought Hermione up the Common Room stairs and into her Dormitory.

Qiuzhang and Marietta had both just gone to the Great Hall to eat, so the two groups had missed each other.

Hermione stood at the door with her arms folded and nodded at Lin Yue. "All right. Let me see your left arm."

Lin Yue spoke mechanically. "Okay."

Then she slowly took off her wizard's robe and opened her shirt underneath.

At first, as Lin Yue slowly removed her wizard's robe, Hermione's face had flushed a deep red.

But as soon as Lin Yue opened her shirt, Hermione's embarrassment vanished. All that remained was anger and heartache.

"Who did this?" Hermione asked in a trembling voice, walking up to Lin Yue and looking at the bloody handprints covering her upper left arm. Her voice carried barely restrained fury.

"I did." Lin Yue answered matter-of-factly, without a trace of emotion.

"What...?" Hermione froze. Her gaze shifted from Lin Yue's upper left arm to her face, where she stared intently.

"Wasting study time requires punishment," Lin Yue replied mechanically.

Hermione swallowed. Her hand trembling, she took Lin Yue's right hand and placed it against her own upper left arm.

Lin Yue looked at Hermione without reacting. She didn't understand what Hermione was trying to do.

"Try... putting your hand over one of these handprints..." Hermione said, her voice trembling. She still couldn't believe Lin Yue had done this to herself.

"Okay." Lin Yue nodded. Her right hand slowly closed over one of the handprints on her upper left arm, fitting it exactly.

Hermione drew a deep breath and had to close her eyes to force herself to calm down. When she opened them again, her gaze was fierce and commanding, like a lioness's.

"Who taught you to do this? To hurt yourself?"

Lin Yue answered calmly, "My parents told me that wasting study time and making mistakes in my studies both deserved punishment."

"Hurt yourself as punishment?!" Hermione raised her voice despite herself. She could hardly believe what kind of parents would say such a thing, what kind of parents would make their own child hurt herself.

"Yes. Isn't that what punishment is?" Lin Yue nodded as if it were obvious.

Hermione covered her face with both hands and hid it in her palms, silently screaming for a long while.

Only then did she slowly raise her head and look at Lin Yue, her voice low.

"You said... you'd wasted study time. What did you mean?"

Lin Yue looked at Hermione and was about to answer without thinking, but it was as if her brain had finally come online and stopped her.

Hermione was kind, a voice in her mind reminded her. If Hermione heard that Lin Yue had punished herself for wasting study time making gloves for her, she would blame herself.

Having reached that conclusion, Lin Yue chose to share only part of the truth.

"The time I spent having a snowball fight with Harry and the others to relax, and the time I spent looking at the Mirror of Erised with them."

Hermione nodded weakly. She could no longer even care about the Mirror of Erised that Lin Yue had mentioned.

All she heard was that Lin Yue had relaxed with Harry and the others... relaxed with Harry and the others.

Who had reminded Harry to take Lin Yue along to relax? Her!

Damn it, she was the reason Lin Yue had punished herself. Even though Lin Yue hadn't mentioned making the gloves, Hermione still blamed herself.

As she listened, she seemed to remember something and looked at Lin Yue. "So... when I took you to watch the Quidditch Match before... you punished yourself then, too?"

"That also wasted your study time."

Lin Yue opened her mouth helplessly, as if she were buffering. She instinctively wanted to answer truthfully, but something in her mind stopped her, making her head throb again and again.

Lin Yue's face showed no expression, and aside from opening her mouth, she made no movement. But Hermione could sense her struggle, and the pain it caused her.

Hermione gently put her arms around Lin Yue and slowly stroked her back. "I understand. You don't have to say anything."

Held in Hermione's arms, Lin Yue closed her mouth, her face still impassive.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. "Lin Yue, can I know how you schedule your study time?"

"Yes."

Hermione lowered her head and looked at Lin Yue in her arms. "Go ahead."

Lin Yue didn't look up. She spoke mechanically. "I sleep from four to five every day. Three and a half minutes for each of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Five minutes to bathe. I study the rest of the time."

"Was that also set by your damn... Sorry." Hermione swallowed the curse that had risen to her lips. "Was that also set by your parents?"

"Yes," Lin Yue answered calmly. "It ensures I get the minimum amount of rest I need and lets me study as efficiently as possible."

"That's nonsense," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Hermione let go of Lin Yue and crouched down to look into her eyes. "Don't listen to your parents. This will ruin you."

"Your body won't be able to take it, and neither will your mind. Do you know how awful you look? How dark your circles are?"

Lin Yue stared steadily at Hermione, her eyes as still as dead water. "Studying comes first."

"To hell with studying coming first!" Hermione couldn't hold back any longer. The Gryffindor lioness let her fury roar.

She could tell Harry and Ron that being expelled was worse than dying.

But when she saw Lin Yue truly putting her studies above her own body, even above her own life, Hermione was genuinely furious.

"What good is studying if you're dead?!" Hermione gripped Lin Yue's shoulders tightly, wanting to shake her hard enough to wake her up. But she was afraid of making Lin Yue's already frail-looking body worse, so she didn't dare move.

But I'll die if I don't study, too... Lin Yue thought without a ripple of emotion, but didn't say it aloud.

Hermione pressed her lips together and looked at Lin Yue. "Either promise me you'll sleep six hours every day from now on, and never punish yourself over anything that goes wrong with your studies."

"Or I'll just move into your Dormitory and keep an eye on you. I don't mind sleeping on the floor."

Lin Yue's mind reacted quickly. She nodded. "I promise. From now on, I'll sleep six hours every day, and I won't punish myself over my studies."

Hermione nodded, still pressing her lips together as she helped Lin Yue pull her shirt down. "Put your wizard's robe back on. It's a bit cold."

Lin Yue nodded and picked up her wizard's robe, draping it over herself.

"I'll keep an eye on how you're doing every day from now on. If you still look pale, weak, and sleep-deprived, I'll come sleep on the floor in your Dormitory!"

"Mm..." Lin Yue answered without expression.

"Get to bed early tonight. Remember to sleep six hours. I'm leaving now. I need a little time to pull myself together."

"Okay."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked at Lin Yue. "Aren't you going to say good night?"

"Good night," Lin Yue said mechanically.

"Good night." Hermione hugged Lin Yue, then added, "Have a good dream tonight."

With that, she let go and turned to leave Lin Yue's Dormitory. The moment she stepped outside, Hermione's expression changed completely.

Fierce and furious weren't enough to describe her expression. She even felt that if Lin Yue's parents were standing in front of her right then,

and if she didn't have to consider Lin Yue's feelings, she could cast the cruelest curse she could think of on them without a second thought.

Their way of raising Lin Yue couldn't be called wanting their child to excel. They were simply raising a learning machine, an obedient, efficient learning machine, and they didn't care at all what happened to Lin Yue's body.

She simply couldn't believe there could be parents in the world who treated their child like that.

Hermione stood on the stairs for a long time, calming herself down. Only once her expression had gradually returned to normal did she slowly descend the stairs and leave the Ravenclaw Common Room.

But Hermione still didn't know that she'd learned only part of the truth... She hadn't yet discovered the real cruelty.