As the days passed, the dragon egg in Hagrid's Hut gradually neared its hatching day. Finally, over breakfast that morning, Harry received a letter from Hagrid.
Harry opened the letter and quickly read it through once, then turned his head and quietly spoke to Hermione and Ron.
"Hagrid says the dragon is about to hatch. He wants us to come see this afternoon."
Hermione was eating breakfast. She took a sip of pumpkin juice to wash down her sandwich. "Sure. We can go after our classes this afternoon."
"Yeah." Ron nodded in agreement. Hermione set down her cup of pumpkin juice and turned to look at the Ravenclaw table. As expected, Lin Yue had already finished breakfast and left.
With a helpless sigh, Hermione turned back and continued eating. She would just have to talk to Lin Yue at lunchtime.
After Charms Class, Hermione grabbed Harry and Ron, and the three of them sprinted toward the Great Hall. Even after running all that way and arriving breathless, they only just caught Lin Yue at the entrance, where Hogwarts' staircase had "delivered" her.
"Lin Yue... good afternoon," Hermione said, slowly rubbing her chest to catch her breath.
Lin Yue stopped when she heard her full name and mechanically turned to look at Hermione.
"Good afternoon, Hermione. What is it?"
Once she had caught her breath, Hermione smiled warmly at Lin Yue and went over to speak to her in a low voice.
"Hagrid says the baby dragon is about to hatch. He wants us to come see it this afternoon."
Lin Yue listened to Hermione and nodded without expression. "All right. I understand."
Hermione lowered her eyes and thought carefully for a moment. "You have Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class this afternoon, right?"
"Yes."
"Then we'll come get you afterward." Hermione looked at Lin Yue with shining eyes.
Lin Yue met Hermione's gaze and nodded, seemingly unaware of it. "Mm. Sorry for the trouble."
Lin Yue went into the Great Hall and sat down at the Ravenclaw table. As she ate quickly, the image of Hermione's shining eyes flashed through her mind.
That bright light seemed to still be shining on her, making her feel warm.
After lunch, Lin Yue went straight to the Transfiguration Classroom. She sat down and lowered her head over her book, slipping into her studies and, as usual, ignoring everything around her.
Professor McGonagall entered the classroom with her textbook in hand. Seeing Lin Yue reading, just as she had expected, she sighed. In all her years of teaching, Lin Yue was the only student who made her want to tell her to stop studying and take a proper break.
In the end, she couldn't bring herself to say it. Professor McGonagall looked away and began arranging the lectern. It was a good thing for students to love learning. She couldn't very well stop them from studying...
By the end of Transfiguration, Lin Yue had earned another ten points for Ravenclaw Academy. So far, Ravenclaw Academy had a lead of more than four hundred points over the other three houses—a truly astonishing runaway victory.
With her schoolbag on her back, Lin Yue walked out of the classroom and immediately spotted Hermione, Harry, and Ron beside it, all still gasping for breath.
"Thanks for the effort," Lin Yue said flatly. Thinking that they should wipe away their sweat, she reached into her bag, pulled out three tissues, and handed one to each of them.
"Thanks." The three of them took the tissues and wiped the sweat from their faces. Hermione naturally linked her arm through Lin Yue's.
"Let's go."
"Mm." Lin Yue nodded mechanically and followed them toward Hagrid's Hut.
When they reached Hagrid's Hut, Harry raised his hand and gently knocked on the door. "Hagrid, it's us."
The door swung open, revealing Hagrid standing behind it, his face alight with excitement. "You're just in time! It's about to hatch. Come on in!"
The moment the four of them entered Hagrid's Hut, Hagrid shut the door.
The hut was stiflingly hot. In the pot on the stove, the dragon egg was wriggling restlessly. It was clearly about to hatch.
"Wow..." Hermione and the others exclaimed, all crowding forward to take a closer look.
Lin Yue gazed calmly at the dragon egg, her mind automatically analyzing it. The egg showed clear signs of hatching. Estimated time until it hatched: three minutes.
Analysis complete, Lin Yue calmly looked away. She noticed a window on the side with its curtains open, walked over, and pulled them shut.
She didn't feel uneasy or guilty, but she knew very well that the dragon egg was illegal and against the rules. Its existence couldn't be discovered by anyone else. From that, she concluded that everything in the hut had to be kept properly concealed.
That meant the window couldn't be left without its curtains drawn. With that thought in mind, she had just pulled them shut.
Once the curtains were drawn, Lin Yue walked steadily back to stand behind Hermione. She quietly watched the dragon egg in the pot as she began counting down in her head.
Five, four, three, two, one. It was time for the egg to hatch. As soon as the thought appeared, a tiny head broke through the shell and poked out.
Hermione and Harry wore rather complicated expressions as they watched the baby dragon climb out of its shell.
"Um... is it just me, or is it kind of ugly?" Hermione turned and quietly shared her opinion with Lin Yue.
Harry nodded in emphatic agreement. "I think so too."
Lin Yue stared at the newly hatched dragon. She had no particular fondness or dislike for beauty or ugliness, so to her, the baby dragon was just a creature. Nothing more.
"It's so cool!" Ron's eyes lit up as he watched the baby dragon. Hagrid was just as excited, and even picked it up in both hands.
"Oh... what a cute little thing. Look, it already knows I'm its mother."
As soon as he finished speaking, the baby dragon burped, and a spark instantly set Hagrid's beard on fire.
"Whoa!" Hagrid cried, frantically patting out the flames on his beard.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. The same thought occurred to them both: they had to get this dragon sent away as soon as possible!
"Norbert. That's what I'll call you from now on." Hagrid laughed as he gazed at the baby dragon in his arms.
The initial excitement over, Ron had calmed down. Watching Hagrid cuddle Norbert so affectionately, he couldn't help covering his face with his hand. Was Hagrid really treating himself as the dragon's mother...?
Outside Hagrid's Hut, a platinum-blond head kept circling around the window, unable to find a single gap to see what was happening inside.
Draco Malfoy shook his fist in frustration. Potter and the others were always up to no good whenever they visited Hagrid's Hut. He had been following them for days, and he refused to believe he couldn't find something to use against them!
"Hagrid, I hope you remember that you promised to send the dragon... Norbert away after it hatched?" Hermione pursed her lips and interrupted the "heartwarming" scene between Hagrid and Norbert.
Hagrid froze. He looked down at Norbert, his eyes full of reluctance.
"But he's still so little... He can't leave his mum..."
"You're not his mum, Hagrid." Ron sighed helplessly.
Lin Yue stood to the side, rapidly analyzing the situation. Then she spoke without expression.
"Hagrid, you can't raise Norbert properly. You can't provide all the conditions a dragon needs to grow. That will make Norbert weak, and his health will be worse than that of other dragons his age."
Lin Yue's words held no emotion. She couldn't take Hagrid's feelings into account. Her cold analysis struck straight at the heart of the matter, and Hagrid began sobbing loudly.
He knew Lin Yue was right. He really couldn't give Norbert the conditions or space he needed to grow.
"All right, all right... We'll send him, send him away."
Hermione and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They turned to Lin Yue and gave her a thumbs-up in unison.
Lin Yue's expression remained unchanged. She had only analyzed the situation and stated the facts.
After that, Ron wrote to his brother Charlie to confirm when Norbert would be picked up. In the meantime, he, Harry, and Hermione took turns visiting Hagrid's Hut to help care for Norbert.
As for Lin Yue, the three of them made a point of not letting this matter bother her. She already had enough to do with her studies...
On Thursday afternoon, while Lin Yue was reading in the Library, Hermione and Harry came in with Ron, whose right hand was wrapped up in a huge bandage.
Hermione set her schoolbag beside Lin Yue, then sat down and looked gravely at Ron, who had taken the seat across from her.
"So... Malfoy knows we're sending Norbert away, and he knows exactly when, too?"
Ron sat in his chair, looking dejected. "Yeah... It's all my fault. He came to the Medical Wing and taunted me. I got angry and lost my head, so I let him take the book. Charlie's letter was inside it."
Hermione sighed silently, but still shook her head. "It's all right. Don't blame yourself too much. Harry and I will just be careful when we take Norbert away."
"Exactly." Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermione took out her notebook. After a while, when Lin Yue turned a page, Hermione seized the moment to ask her about something she didn't understand.
Lin Yue lowered her head and stared blankly at Hermione's notebook, mechanically explaining the answer to her question.
Hermione nodded repeatedly as she listened, then quickly wrote down Lin Yue's explanation. Across from her, Harry and Ron listened to the knowledge pouring into their ears and felt their heads starting to spin.
Once Hermione had gotten her question answered, she thanked Lin Yue, then quietly began discussing with Harry and Ron how they would take Norbert away on Saturday night.
Lin Yue, who hadn't yet entered her studying state, heard every word about the time and place.
"The Invisibility Cloak should cover the two of us, right? Malfoy will probably try to get a professor to come over."
Hermione quietly checked with Harry. He nodded. "It should be fine, as long as we walk slowly."
Lin Yue lowered her head and turned her gaze back to the book. Several thoughts quickly flashed through her mind.
Hermione and Harry were taking Norbert to the Astronomy Tower at midnight on Saturday. That broke the School Rules and even Wizarding Law.
Malfoy knew about it and might report them to a professor. Hermione and Harry might get caught.
If they were caught breaking both the School Rules and Wizarding Law, Hermione and Harry would be punished.
At that thought, Lin Yue's mind throbbed dully again. I should help Hermione... I can't let her get caught by a professor.
Lin Yue stiffly flexed her fingers and committed to memory what she needed to do.
As curfew approached, Lin Yue packed her things, slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and left the Library.
After saying goodbye to Hermione and the others, she set off toward Ravenclaw Tower.
As she walked, Lin Yue's mind kept calculating. Leaving the dormitory at curfew: a violation. Helping Hermione and the others send away the dragon: a violation. Helping them avoid the professors: a violation.
The three violations were obvious in her mind. Without hesitation, Lin Yue reached down and pinched her thigh three times.
She stood still for a little while, waiting for the muscles in her leg to stop trembling, then hurried back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.
Late on Saturday night, with midnight still a little way off, Lin Yue stood up from her desk without expression and walked toward the dormitory door.
Qiuzhang and Marietta, who had been settling into sleep in their beds, heard the sound and opened their eyes. They stared in surprise as Lin Yue was about to leave the dormitory.
"Lin Yue, where are you going...?" Qiuzhang asked, looking at her blankly.
Lin Yue turned around and looked at her with eyes as still as a dead pool of water. "I'm going... out at night."
Out at night!!! Qiuzhang and Marietta stared at Lin Yue with wide eyes. They couldn't imagine how the words "out at night" could possibly apply to Lin Yue, who only cared about studying and was the absolute model student, the good girl, in her professors' and classmates' eyes.
But... if it was Lin Yue, maybe going out at night wasn't such a bad thing. She could have an adventure and relax a little, instead of being so tense all the time.
Thinking this, Qiuzhang smiled warmly. She got up barefoot and crossed the carpet to straighten Lin Yue's collar. "If you're going out at night, you still need to dress warmly. You don't want to catch a chill."
"And don't be afraid if you run into a professor. You've earned Ravenclaw so many points that they can take a few away. No one will blame you."
Marietta also got up and went over. She lightly tapped Lin Yue with her wand and cast a Warming Charm.
"You could visit the kitchens on the first basement level, too. The House-elves would be happy to make you all sorts of midnight snacks. Have fun."
Lin Yue looked at the two older students before her. For a moment, she remembered the Christmas feast on Christmas Day... A dull ache throbbed through her mind again and again, and her chest grew hot. Slowly and stiffly, she nodded.
"All right. Thank you, Qiuzhang Senior Student, Elder Sister Marietta."
"You're welcome. Go have fun!"
Qiuzhang waved with a beaming smile and watched Lin Yue leave the dormitory with Marietta.
"It's wonderful. She's willing to do more things besides studying now—even things that go against the School Rules."
Qiuzhang turned to Marietta and gave her a smiling wink. Marietta was smiling just as brightly.
"Yeah. She's finally not so unchanging and bound by the rules anymore."
As Lin Yue's older students and roommates, they knew better than anyone what she had been like when she first arrived at school.
Lifeless, like a puppet, day after day following the same routine—studying and nothing but studying.
Back then, as part of the outside world, they could have said anything, but Lin Yue probably wouldn't have listened.
But later... it was probably because of Hermione that Lin Yue began to connect with the outside world.
Now she was even going out at night of her own accord! That was why they had taken the initiative to speak up just now, allaying any concerns Lin Yue might have and telling her where she could go. They wanted to support her.
They only hoped that, even if she was being mischievous, Lin Yue's face might show a little more than before.
That night, the two older students' assumptions were far from the truth. But their actions struck a few more sparks from a pitch-black, lifeless stone.
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