Nicolas Flamel

The two boys walked over to Lin Yue and looked around in confusion, but neither of them saw any sign of Hermione.

"Lin Yue, where's Hermione?" Harry asked, looking at Lin Yue.

Lin Yue answered calmly, "Hermione went back to the dormitory to get something. She told us to wait for her here."

"Oh, okay." Harry and Ron nodded and obediently waited in place with Lin Yue.

Before long, Hermione came running down the stairs with a thick tome in her arms.

"Come with me." She called to the three of them and led them to an unoccupied table nearby.

With a bang, Hermione set the thick tome in her hands down on the table.

"I borrowed this book earlier for leisure reading." As she opened the tome, Hermione explained while rapidly searching for something.

Ron stared wide-eyed at the tome, which looked heavy enough to knock someone unconscious. "For... leisure reading?"

Hermione raised her eyes slightly and glanced at him. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no." Ron hurriedly held up both hands and waved them, making it clear that he had no objections whatsoever.

Only then did Hermione withdraw her gaze in satisfaction, finally stopping her page-turning at a particular page in the tome.

"Nicolas Flamel, here!"

Harry and Ron froze for a moment before quickly leaning over to look.

"Nicolas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone..." Hermione read softly from the book.

"Over six hundred years old!" Harry couldn't help clicking his tongue. "No wonder we couldn't find him. Someone over six hundred years old definitely wouldn't count as a modern figure."

Ron's attention, meanwhile, was on something else. "The Philosopher's Stone... that's incredible."

It could turn stone into pure gold and grant immortality. "No wonder Professor Quirrell wants to steal it. Who wouldn't want a Philosopher's Stone?"

Harry and Hermione fell silent for a moment. They shared the same opinion—who wouldn't want a Philosopher's Stone?

Only Lin Yue remained silent at the side. Something the three of them had said seemed to have triggered her brain, and a thought suddenly surfaced.

Living for so long... does it really have any meaning...?

Lin Yue shook her head, tossing away the inexplicable thought, then continued standing quietly where she was.

But it made Hermione think of something. "Lin Yue, you've read this book too, haven't you? I remember seeing you look through the shelf where it was in the Library."

Faced with Hermione's sparkling eyes, Lin Yue nodded expressionlessly. "I have."

Hermione nodded in understanding, but Ron beside her was somewhat speechless. "Then why didn't you just tell us who he was earlier...?"

Lin Yue turned to look at Ron, her tone mechanical yet serious. "You didn't ask me."

"Okay..." Ron covered his face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. That was true enough—they had never thought to directly ask Lin Yue who Nicolas Flamel was.

"So," Harry spoke up quietly from the side, "we can already be sure that the thing in the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor is the Philosopher's Stone."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Right."

"So what does Professor Quirrell plan to do with it? Turn stone into gold? Or make an immortality potion?" Ron asked with great interest.

"I don't know." Harry shook his head. "But we can't let him succeed."

"Mm!" Hermione and Ron both nodded firmly.

Seeing that their conversation had come to an end, Lin Yue quietly spoke from the side.

"I'm going back to Ravenclaw to study."

With that, she turned to leave. Hermione pursed her lips and quickly grabbed her.

"Go back to studying this afternoon. Why not stay here and have fun for the morning? Everyone will prepare lots of delicious food for the celebration. You can eat here before going back."

Hearing Hermione's request, Lin Yue nodded calmly. "Okay."

Hermione smiled happily, pulling Lin Yue out from the corner and straight toward a table filled with little cakes.

As for the thick tome Hermione had left behind, Harry and Ron would put it away for her.

When they reached the table, Hermione picked up a small cake and handed it to Lin Yue.

Lin Yue took the cake, said thank you, then habitually lowered her head and quickly chewed and swallowed it. The palm-sized cake was gone in less than ten seconds.

Watching Lin Yue eat the cake, Hermione's heart inexplicably ached. Frowning, she took a napkin from beside her and wiped the cake crumbs from the corner of Lin Yue's mouth.

"You eat so fast... can you even taste what the cake tastes like?"

Lin Yue let Hermione wipe the corner of her mouth and nodded without feeling anything in particular.

"Sweet."

Hearing that answer, Hermione sighed heavily, picked up another pastry, and held it out before Lin Yue.

"Eat slowly. After you finish it, I want you to tell me what it's made of, so... you have to savor it slowly, okay?"

At Hermione's request, Lin Yue's brain kept generating thoughts urging her to agree. So she nodded, took the pastry, and began slowly savoring it bite by bite, somewhat awkwardly.

Seeing Lin Yue finally slow down while eating, Hermione's eyes curved happily, her face filled with joy.

Gently tossing her slightly curly hair, Hermione grinned at Lin Yue. "Well? Can you tell what it's made of?"

Lin Yue swallowed the pastry in her mouth and slowly nodded. The mechanical, emotionless voice rang out again.

"It's pumpkin."

"Mm! You got it right." Hermione smiled and nodded, reaching out to take Lin Yue's hand.

"Come on, let's go eat something else."

"Okay..."

"Hermione... I really don't understand. There are still several weeks until finals. Why are we in such a hurry to revise?" Ron looked miserably at the books in front of him and spoke in a plaintive voice.

Harry, sitting beside him, looked equally miserable. Ever since the second Quidditch Match had ended last weekend, Hermione had dragged the two of them into studying for finals.

No matter how much the two of them stressed that there were still several weeks before the final exams, it was useless. Hermione had made up her mind to make them start revising now.

"Ron," Hermione said, looking up at him, "what nonsense are you talking about? Of course we have to start revising now."

"To be honest, I should have started revising during Christmas," Hermione said, uneasily scratching at her hair. "What was I thinking back then? How could I not have started revising?"

"Merlin..." Ron closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he glanced at Lin Yue beside them, who was reading extra books, then took a deep breath and leaned close to Harry's ear.

"If Hermione keeps this up... she'll practically be as hardworking as Lin Yue."

Harry cautiously glanced at Hermione. Only after making sure her attention was not on them did he nod.

"They both love studying, after all."

"Yeah..." Ron's expression turned complicated. "They truly love studying, but I just can't bring myself to like it."

Harry nodded solemnly. "Me too."

Time slowly passed as the two boys revised in misery. When Harry looked up again, he saw a familiar, towering figure standing in front of a bookshelf.

Harry raised a hand and rubbed his eyes, making sure he had not seen wrong.

He turned and poked Ron's shoulder. "Look over there. Hagrid came to read books?"

"Mm, huh?" Ron, who had been made drowsy by all the revision, rubbed his face to wake himself up.

Following the direction Harry indicated, he looked over and then nodded in surprise. "It is Hagrid."

"I didn't know Hagrid ever came to borrow books to read." Harry scratched his head in confusion as he watched the scene.

"Looks like it. But I'm curious what sort of book he's reading." Ron looked at Hagrid with great interest.

After finishing a section of revision, Hermione looked up and saw Harry and Ron staring in another direction.

Unable to stop herself from frowning, she reminded them, "Harry, Ron, don't get distracted. Revise properly."

Harry lowered his voice and leaned forward. "Look behind us. Hagrid's getting ready to borrow a book."

Hermione blinked and looked behind Harry and Ron, toward the place she had unconsciously overlooked just now. Sure enough, Hagrid's towering figure was there, constantly flipping through the books in his hands.

"Do you know what kind of books are on that bookshelf?" Ron asked Hermione eagerly.

Hermione's mouth twitched. "Ron... how could I possibly know what books are on every bookshelf? I don't know."

"Fine." Ron nodded in disappointment.

But... Hermione turned to look at Lin Yue, who had her head lowered as she read intently, completely unresponsive to their conversation.

If she asked Lin Yue, she would definitely know. Just then, Lin Yue finished the page she was reading and turned to the next one. Seizing the opening without interrupting Lin Yue's studies, Hermione voiced her question.

"Lin Yue, do you know what subjects the books on that bookshelf over there are about?"

Hearing her full name, Lin Yue emerged from her studying state and looked toward the bookshelf Hermione indicated. After merely running through it in her mind, she answered without hesitation.

"The books there are all about dragons."

"Dragons?!" Hermione's eyes widened as she swallowed. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this.

Harry and Ron were also alarmed by Lin Yue's answer. Why was Hagrid reading books about dragons?

After thinking hard, Harry came up with a reason for Hagrid. "Um... Hagrid once told me that he likes dragons, so maybe he just... wants to read books about them?"

Ron nodded along beside him, and Hermione lightly bit her lower lip, trying to make herself believe it.

Lin Yue, meanwhile, calmly looked toward Hagrid. Her eyes precisely caught the color of the book cover in his hands and the visible part of its design.

Her mind rapidly sorted through the possibilities. In less than two seconds, she found the closest match: a book about how dragons hatched and grew.

Having completed her analysis, Lin Yue calmly withdrew her gaze and returned to studying. Whatever happened outside was unimportant; studying came first.