The Neville Incident: Part 1

Following Hermione out of the Hogwarts Library, Lin Yue calmly looked at Neville, Malfoy, and the others in front of her.

Malfoy was usually accompanied by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

At this moment, they were gathered around, pointing and laughing heartily at Neville. Neville's legs were bound by a spell, forcing him to hop in place.

Hermione frowned deeply, and without hesitation, drew her wand and pointed it at Neville, "Finite Incantatem!"

Neville's legs were suddenly released, and he lost his balance, falling forward uncontrollably. Harry and Ron quickly reached out to steady him, glaring at the three of Malfoy.

"Malfoy! You're up to no good again!" Ron glared fiercely at Draco, wishing he could kill him with his eyes.

Draco chuckled disdainfully, tilting his chin slightly towards Ron. "It's a new spell I'm learning. I have to test it on someone, don't I?"

"You!" Harry drew his wand, pointing it directly at Malfoy.

"Harry! No!" Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist tightly, shaking her head.

They couldn't use magic on Malfoy in the corridor; it would bring trouble to themselves and Gryffindor.

Harry gritted his teeth and reluctantly put his wand away.

"Tch..." Draco snorted dismissively and turned to leave with his two "little followers."

Ron closed his eyes and turned to Neville. "Neville, you need to learn to fight back. Even if you don't use magic, you should punch him!"

"I... I can't," Neville shrank back, shaking his head. "I don't dare."

"Maybe Malfoy is right. I... I really shouldn't be a Gryffindor. I'm not brave at all."

"Neville!" Ron's eyes widened as he looked at Neville, gripping his shoulder tightly. "Listen, in our hearts, you're stronger than twelve Malfoys put together, understand?"

Neville pursed his lips and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Lin Yue looked at Neville with lifeless eyes and said emotionlessly, "Constant appeasement will only make those who bully you worse."

"According to school regulations, I suggest you seek help from a professor."

"Of course, it would be even better to just punch him!" Ron chimed in beside them, demonstrating a punch in front of himself.

"I... I'll try," Neville ducked his head and agreed.

Lin Yue glanced calmly at Ron; his suggestion undoubtedly violated the rules.

Shifting her gaze, Lin Yue politely bid the four farewell and returned to the library to study.

Hermione and the others went back to the Gryffindor common room with Neville to prevent Malfoy and his group from bothering Neville again.

After agreeing to Hermione's request to get at least six hours of sleep every day, Qiuzhang and Marietta could see Lin Yue "sleeping early" every day.

Gradually, they were relieved and accustomed to Lin Yue's current schedule, which was much healthier than her previous one, wasn't it?

However, no one knew that during the six hours Lin Yue slept at night, due to her incredibly accurate biological clock, she would wake up every hour, in a continuous cycle.

A few days later, Gryffindor's second Quidditch match finally arrived.

This time, the match was between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Surprisingly, the referee for this match was Professor Snape.

"Professor Snape..." Ron dropped his fork in surprise as Harry told him about the match referee.

"Yes," Harry nodded with a solemn expression. "He's the referee this time."

"Merlin's bludgers..." Ron picked up his fork again and took a bite of sausage. "Does he want to protect Harry?"

"I mean, if it was Professor Quirrell who tried to harm Harry in the first Quidditch match."

"It should be," Hermione nodded seriously. "But we can't rule out the possibility that... he might cause some trouble for the Gryffindor team."

After all, Professor Snape's extreme dislike for Gryffindor was common knowledge at Hogwarts.

Harry took a deep breath, his face resolute. "I will catch the Golden Snitch as fast as possible!"

"Go, buddy, I'm rooting for you." Ron slapped Harry hard on the back, almost making him spit out his mashed potatoes.

Harry looked back at Ron speechlessly. When there's no danger, his buddy is the most dangerous.

Hermione's reaction was to smile and lower her head; the boys were always full of energy.

Though she said that, when it came to herself, she was not lacking in "energy" at all.

Seeing Lin Yue finish her breakfast and prepare to leave the Great Hall, Hermione quickly put down her cutlery and hurried over.

"Good morning, Lin Yue!" Hermione walked up to Lin Yue and greeted her with a smile.

Lin Yue nodded expressionlessly. "Good morning, Hermione."

"Um..." Hermione hesitated, looking at Lin Yue's expressionless face. She wanted to invite Lin Yue to watch the Quidditch match with her, but remembering that Lin Yue had punished herself last time for accompanying her to a Quidditch match, Hermione couldn't help but hesitate whether she should invite her.

Lin Yue looked at Hermione quietly, her voice unwavering. "Hermione, what is it?"

Hermione steadied herself and smiled at Lin Yue again. "Um... I was wondering if I could invite you to watch another Quidditch match with me, would that be okay...?"

Nodding calmly, Lin Yue agreed without hesitation. "No problem."

Hermione pursed her lips, her gaze fixed on Lin Yue. "You promise me you won't punish yourself for this. You promised before that you wouldn't punish yourself for study-related matters anymore."

Lin Yue nodded slowly, her voice as calm as a still well. "Okay, I won't punish myself."

"That's good," Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "Then how about tomorrow morning, we go to the Quidditch pitch together?"

"Okay." Lin Yue nodded in agreement.

Hermione smiled happily, then turned and returned to sit beside Harry and Ron, continuing to enjoy her lunch.

Lin Yue, on the other hand, calmly strode out of the Great Hall and headed towards the Magical History classroom.

Upon entering the classroom, Lin Yue saw the ghost professor, Professor Binns, already floating at the front of the room, just as she expected.

This ghost professor didn't need to eat or rest; he always arrived at the classroom before class.

He was the only professor in the entire Hogwarts school who could arrive earlier than Lin Yue.

Lin Yue sat down in the classroom and casually pulled a book from her bag to read.

She had already memorized the entire Magical History textbook, so she didn't need to review before class. Instead, she could use the time to read new books.

Just as Lin Yue finished reading a dozen pages, the other Ravenclaw Little Eagles and Hufflepuff Little Badgers began to trickle into the Magical History classroom.

By the time everyone had arrived, it was time for class to start. Professor Binns didn't even look at how many students were present before beginning his lecture.

The ghost's monotonous, toneless voice, which had a rather hypnotic effect, echoed in the students' ears.

Soon, the Hufflepuff Little Badgers couldn't help but yawn one after another. In less than five minutes of class, a large number of them had fallen asleep.

Professor Binns paid no attention to this, as if he couldn't see it, and continued his lecture.

Before long, even the diligent and studious Ravenclaw Little Eagles were starting to struggle. If the course material were just difficult, they wouldn't be afraid; in fact, they might even look forward to seeing how difficult it was.

But this class wasn't difficult; it was hypnotic. Professor Binns's lecture voice was like a tiny drill, constantly boring into their heads.

As it drilled, it whispered, "You are sleepy... go to sleep, you are sleepy... go to sleep."

In the blink of an eye, the Little Eagles were almost all yawning uncontrollably. They instinctively glanced at Lin Yue, only to see that she was no different than usual. She didn't even seem sleepy listening to Professor Binns's lecture.

The Ravenclaw Little Eagles silently admired her. After confirming that Lin Yue was diligently taking notes, they immediately surrendered to their sleepiness and lay down on their desks to sleep.

After all, Lin Yue was taking meticulous notes. They could borrow her notes later to copy the important points. As for now, it was time to get some good rest!

Lin Yue didn't have any particular opinion about her classmates falling asleep in class. She merely glanced at the sleeping students for a few seconds before quickly looking back at Professor Binns, her note-taking hand never stopping.

At the same time, thoughts flashed through her mind: sleeping in class is not studying diligently; not studying diligently is wrong; not studying diligently will lower grades; lowering grades will lead to destruction...

Lin Yue looked up at Professor Binns with a calm expression, her hand continuing to take notes without pause.

Perhaps the two most similar people in the entire classroom were Lin Yue and Professor Binns. They were like two precisely running machines.

Infallible, tireless, without any extraneous thoughts or feelings.

When Magical History class ended, Lin Yue, as usual, lent her notes to her Ravenclaw classmates. After they finished copying, the notebook would circulate among the Hufflepuff students before finally returning to Lin Yue's hands.

All of these steps would be completed within two days, with everyone doing their best to ensure they didn't delay Lin Yue's time for reviewing her notes.

The next morning at breakfast, Lin Yue received her Magical History notebook back from Hannah.

She nodded at Hannah with a blank expression and replied in a flat tone, "Thank you for your trouble."

"Not at all, not at all," Hannah quickly waved her hands. "We should be thanking you for letting us copy your Magical History notes."

Lin Yue didn't respond at all, simply turning to put the notebook back in her bag.

Hannah looked at Lin Yue, who exuded an aura of calmness and never showed any expression.

The initial fear she had felt towards Lin Yue had slowly dissipated over their long interactions.

Hannah could see that Lin Yue was a very good person. Although she was sometimes a bit "strange," it couldn't overshadow her charm.

After putting away the notebook, Lin Yue sat down at her seat and began eating her breakfast with swift movements. After finishing, she sat quietly at the Ravenclaw table, waiting for Hermione.

Fortunately, Hermione didn't keep Lin Yue waiting long. A short while later, Hermione, having quickly finished her breakfast, got up from the Gryffindor table and hurried over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Lin Yue! Let's go!" Hermione looked at Lin Yue excitedly. Watching the Quidditch match didn't hold much special appeal for her.

Because she wasn't particularly interested in Quidditch, her current excitement was entirely due to the fact that she could watch the Quidditch match with Lin Yue again.

Hermione led Lin Yue out of the Great Hall. Harry and Ron followed behind them, eating their breakfast as they walked. The Ravenclaw Little Eagles watched with wide eyes as their pride and joy, the Eagle, was whisked away by a Little Lion.

"This is the second time..." Qiuzhang clicked her tongue, watching Hermione and Lin Yue walk out of the Great Hall.

"Yes, the second time," Marietta agreed, nodding, though a glint flashed in her eyes.

"Speaking of which, Lin Yue really does listen to Hermione's advice. When I first talked to her about her schedule, she completely ignored me," Qiuzhang pouted, feigning a complaint.

Marietta looked at her friend, who had suddenly become so dramatic, and shook her head with amusement.

"You can't compare yourself to Miss Granger, of course."

"What do you mean?" Qiuzhang suddenly turned to look at Marietta, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Did she just say she couldn't compare to Granger? Was that an indirect insult?

Marietta saw her friend's dangerous gaze and quickly raised her hands in surrender. "You misunderstood!"

"I didn't mean to imply you were inferior to Granger in any way."

"Then what did you mean?" Qiuzhang frowned, confused.

Marietta's eyes widened slightly, and she looked at Qiuzhang with disbelief.

"Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?" Qiuzhang felt even more confused.

Marietta looked around, then leaned closer to Qiuzhang's ear. "Lin Yue treats Granger, and Granger treats Lin Yue, completely differently than they treat anyone else."

"And it's obvious... Lin Yue will listen to Granger's advice, but not ours."

"Mm," Qiuzhang nodded. "And then?"

"Then, of course," Marietta gave Qiuzhang a look that said, 'How can you be so slow?' She held out both hands, extending an index finger on each. The fingers moved closer and closer until they touched, "Get it?"

Qiuzhang looked at Marietta's gesture, and after only a few seconds of thought, she understood what she was implying.

"This... how is that possible? I mean... they're both girls?"

Marietta looked at the stunned Qiuzhang and waved her hand dismissively. "What's the big deal? True love doesn't care about gender."