Hogwarts' final exams weren't difficult, at least not for Lin Yue.
The professors tested only what they had taught. Unlike her previous exams, they didn't include any outside material or advanced topics.
So Lin Yue had no trouble with any of her exams. Every concept and the answer to every question was already in her mind.
She stared at the paper with a blank expression. For every question, she made herself think it over five times, repeatedly checking each word before putting pen to paper to ensure she wouldn't have to cross anything out afterward.
Crossing things out cost points. Lin Yue kept reminding herself of that. In one of her previous exams, the grader had taken off five points because she'd changed an answer.
Those five points had earned her ten minutes standing in the snow as punishment. It was the first time she'd experienced the itchy ache in her feet.
After neatly filling out the paper, Lin Yue stared at it and redid the entire exam over and over in her mind until the bell rang.
She stood up expressionlessly, slung her backpack over her shoulders, and left the exam room. This was her last exam, and it was the last exam for the students of Hogwarts.
With this exam over, the students of Hogwarts had all finished their final exams for the year.
The students cheered as they rushed out of the exam rooms, heading for the grounds outside Hogwarts Castle.
They wanted to run wild on the grass, sunbathe, and visit the Giant Squid by the Black Lake. Anything was better than staying inside the castle.
After two weeks of being "tortured" by final exams, they wanted to let loose.
Amid all the cheers, Lin Yue stood out as she walked silently against the crowd.
With a clear destination in mind, she hurried up the Moving Staircase and headed for the Hogwarts Library.
The end-of-year exams were only one set of exams. There would be plenty more, so studying couldn't stop and shouldn't be stopped. She needed to keep learning.
Students leaving various exam rooms saw Lin Yue along the way. They made room for her, letting her pass.
The Ravenclaw was famous as a study maniac, an indefatigable monster. There was no doubt she was heading to the Library.
When Lin Yue entered the Library, Madam Pince gave her a look and a sigh that seemed to say, "I knew it." Lin Yue set down her backpack, went to the shelf where she'd left off, took a stack of books, and returned to her seat. She slipped into study mode and began reading quickly.
Page after page of information flowed into Lin Yue's mind. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron, now done with their exams, were being led toward the Library by Hermione.
"Hermione..." Harry looked at where the three of them were headed and swallowed with difficulty. "I hope you're not taking us to the Library to check whether our answers were right?"
Give him a break. He'd just finished his final exams and wanted to let his brain rest for a while.
"Of course not." Hermione looked back at Harry as if he'd asked something ridiculous. "I'll do that in a couple of days."
"Merlin..." Ron covered his face with a hand in despair. Well, at least she wasn't planning on doing it today.
"Then what are we going there for?" Harry asked, puzzled. Then he suddenly caught on. "Are we going to the Library to find Lin Yue?"
"Exactly." Hermione nodded and turned back, continuing up the stairs. "Final exams may be over, but knowing her, she'll still be studying in the Library. We'll find her and take her out to relax."
"True." Ron nodded as he followed Hermione. "She's been working way too hard during exams."
Remembering how relentlessly Lin Yue had been copying out textbooks and spells, and how her backpack was always stuffed with a thick stack of Parchment, Harry silently nodded in agreement with Ron.
When the three of them arrived at the Library, they found Lin Yue sitting at her usual spot and reading, just as they'd expected.
Lin Yue was so absorbed in her studies that she didn't notice Hermione and the others arrive. Madam Pince did, though, and couldn't help looking pleased.
Hermione greeted Madam Pince with a smile, then walked over and stood beside Lin Yue.
As usual, Hermione waited until Lin Yue had finished a page before speaking.
"Good afternoon, Lin Yue."
Hearing her full name, Lin Yue instantly snapped out of study mode and turned to Hermione, answering mechanically.
"Good afternoon, Hermione. Is something the matter?"
Hermione smiled warmly at Lin Yue. Her voice was so gentle that the two boys behind her found it unbelievable.
"You just finished your final exams today. How about coming out with us to relax?"
Harry and Ron chimed in from the side. "Yeah, come on, let's go out and relax."
"Yeah, give yourself half a day off. You've worked hard enough already."
Lin Yue looked blankly at Hermione. Deep in her mind, another thought surfaced: she wanted to say yes.
She nodded without emotion, closed the book in her hands, and stood up. "All right. Let's go."
Hermione let out a happy cheer and reached out to help Lin Yue pack her books into her backpack. Before Lin Yue could put it on, Ron snatched it up and slung it over his own shoulders.
Ron shrugged under Hermione's gaze. "Harry and I are here, too. Lin Yue's backpack is pretty heavy, so we can take turns carrying it."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, Ron, this is unusual. When did you become such a gentleman?"
Ron's face turned red. He lowered his head and muttered quietly, "It's just... you helped us study, so we ought to thank you."
"All right." Hermione nodded, linked her arm through Lin Yue's, and led her out of the Library.
Following behind them, Harry patted Ron's shoulder approvingly. "Nice work, mate. Keep it up."
Ron nodded, his face still red, and followed Harry after the two girls ahead of them.
He'd said that he and Harry would take turns carrying the backpack, and that was what they really needed to do.
Lin Yue's backpack was unbelievably heavy. Whenever she borrowed books from the Library, she aimed to take as many as she was allowed. Many of them were massive tomes that looked like they could knock someone out.
With the backpack packed full, Ron had only made it down the stairs to the first floor of Hogwarts Castle, not even out of the building yet, before he was already panting and his shoulders were aching.
"Merlin's backpack... I think this thing's got the whole Hogwarts Library in it."
Harry laughed and shook his head when he saw Ron struggling. He reached out and took hold of the backpack. "Let me carry it, Ron."
Ron didn't argue. He nodded and took the backpack off his shoulders.
As Ron set it down, Harry's expression changed at once. His eyes widened as he looked at the backpack.
This thing... was that heavy?
Harry swallowed, slung the backpack over his shoulder, and was about to tell Ron to keep going when he saw Ron staring blankly at his own shoulder.
"Ron, what are you standing around for?"
Harry asked in confusion as he walked over. Then he saw the large, reddened patch beneath Ron's open collar where the backpack strap had rubbed against his skin. Some spots looked like they were starting to swell, and it was alarming to see.
"You've got to be kidding..." Ron murmured, looking down at his shoulder as if questioning his whole life. Then he looked up at Lin Yue, who had already walked some distance ahead.
He'd only carried her backpack for a little while, and his shoulder was already like this. What must Lin Yue's shoulders look like?
Harry followed Ron's gaze. It was obvious that he'd thought of the same thing. He patted Ron on the back but said nothing, simply pulling him along to catch up with Hermione and Lin Yue.
He'd tell Hermione about it later. She was sure to come up with a solution.
Unfortunately, once they sat down on the grass, they were hit by another wave of headaches before Harry could bring up the minor issue of Lin Yue's heavy backpack.
"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked worriedly when she saw him clutch his head in pain.
"I'm fine." Harry quickly waved a hand. "It's just my scar... it hurts a little."
"Your scar hurts?" Hermione frowned.
"Yeah." Harry held his forehead and answered.
"Has it hurt before?"
"It hurt at the start of term, when Professor Snape looked at me. My scar hurt then, too. It also hurt that night in the Forbidden Forest."
"What could that mean? Could a magical scar hurting have some special significance?" Hermione made a guess, then looked to Lin Yue as if seeking confirmation.
Lin Yue felt Hermione's gaze and turned to look at her impassively. In a toneless voice, she asked, "What is it?"
"Um..." Hermione pressed her lips together. "Lin Yue, do you know if there's any special significance to a magical scar hurting?"
Lin Yue quickly searched through the books she'd read. "A magical scar might hurt because the spell that caused it carried a curse, or because the spell couldn't be fully cured."
As she spoke, she turned her gaze to Harry and continued mechanically, "Harry is the only known case of a magical scar caused by the Killing Curse, so I can't draw any conclusions."
"But in my opinion, his case probably isn't due to either of those things."
"All right..." Harry nodded, still holding his forehead, to show he understood. "Thank you, Lin Yue."
"I think... maybe my scar hurting is a warning that something bad is going to happen."
Harry shrugged. "Think about it. Professor Snape looked at me, my scar hurt, and after that he took points from me in almost every class."
"In the Forbidden Forest, I saw that black-robed figure, and my scar hurt. He really did want to hurt us."
Ron furrowed his brow and thought it over. "That makes sense... But what does it mean when your scar hurts now?"
Harry lowered his eyes. "I'm not sure, but something bad is definitely going to happen. Definitely..."
His scar had hurt before because of the black-robed figure in the Forbidden Forest. He'd been sent to the Forbidden Forest for detention because he'd helped send off Norbert...
Harry's thoughts wandered aimlessly. Suddenly, a thought struck him. Wait, Norbert! The dragon egg!
Who would carry a dragon egg around and use it as a bet? Taking a dragon egg without permission is illegal!
Realizing what mattered, Harry grew excited and immediately shared his idea with the other three.
After hearing Harry's theory, Hermione and Ron both gasped. If that was true, then the person...
Harry jumped to his feet, grabbed Lin Yue's backpack, and ran toward Hagrid's Hut. Ron followed close behind, while Hermione took Lin Yue's hand and sprinted after them.
Lin Yue's expression remained unchanged, but her mind had already begun working through the possibilities.
The person had bet a dragon egg with Hagrid. It couldn't have been about money, so what were they after... information?
But what information might the person want from Hagrid? Lin Yue's mind reached the conclusion that they wanted information, then her analysis stopped there.
It wasn't until Harry knocked on Hagrid's door and asked him about it that Hagrid revealed the person who'd made the bet had asked how to get past the Three-headed Dog. At once, the pieces in Lin Yue's mind clicked together.
Various scattered details flashed through her mind and were automatically sorted into order.
Meanwhile, Harry mentioned what the Centaur Firenze had said when he'd carried Harry out of the Forbidden Forest, and guessed that the black-robed figure in the forest might have been Voldemort.
Ron's face went deathly pale, and Hermione beside him shuddered.
"But... the Dark Lord is dead, isn't he?" Ron asked Harry, his face pale with fear.
"Hagrid said... Headmaster Dumbledore thinks the Dark Lord might not be dead." Harry struggled to speak.
"The most likely possibility is that Voldemort isn't dead." Lin Yue spoke evenly as she organized and analyzed the information in her mind.
"According to books in the Hogwarts Library, no one ever found Voldemort's body. It's been speculated that he died when the Killing Curse rebounded off Harry."
"The Killing Curse doesn't make people vanish into thin air. It acts on the soul. So I think the most likely possibility is that Voldemort escaped by some unknown means, then fell into a weakened state and disappeared."
Hearing Voldemort's name repeated several times, Ron and Hermione looked even more troubled, while Harry remained relatively calm.
"So... it really could be him."
"Furthermore," Lin Yue said, calmly surveying the other three, "the object hidden in the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor is the Philosopher's Stone, and the Three-headed Dog is guarding it. The black-robed figure who tried to get information from Hagrid about how to get past the Three-headed Dog must want the Philosopher's Stone."
"The Philosopher's Stone can be used to make an elixir that grants eternal life. Its effects are similar to Unicorn blood. Therefore, it can be inferred that the black-robed figure in the Forbidden Forest and the black-robed figure who questioned Hagrid are the same person."
Watching Lin Yue speak without pause, her analysis meticulous and her expression utterly blank, Ron and Harry felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end. Hermione bit her lower lip, her heart aching again and again.
"He needs Unicorn blood and the Philosopher's Stone to stay alive, and he bears Harry considerable ill will. The person in question is likely the weakened Voldemort or someone connected to Voldemort."
As she spoke, Lin Yue continued rapidly working through the connections in her mind. "During the first Quidditch Match, Professor Quirrell was the most likely person to have tried to harm Harry. The black-robed figure could be Professor Quirrell."
"His relationship with Voldemort is unknown, and how he communicates with Voldemort is unknown. That's as far as I can analyze."
When Lin Yue finished speaking, she fell silent. Harry and Ron stood rooted to the spot, while Hermione took a deep breath, rushed forward, and hugged Lin Yue, gently rubbing her back with one hand.
"Thank you. Your analysis was already very good."
But she really didn't like listening to Lin Yue's analysis. She truly didn't—not unlike the time Lin Yue had explained all those emotions before.
It hurt so much. Her heart kept aching...
Held in Hermione's arms, Lin Yue expressionlessly imitated her and lifted her own arms to hug Hermione back.
She didn't understand what was wrong with Hermione, and she wasn't puzzled by it, either. She simply couldn't analyze it.
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