Voldemort had noticed Harry too, but it was already too late. Dumbledore should be back any moment. With an unwilling shriek, Voldemort sped out of Hogwarts as fast as he could.
At the same time, Headmaster Dumbledore hurried through the large hole in the wall and into the Potions room. Seeing Harry standing there unharmed, he finally let out a small breath of relief, though he wasn't completely at ease. After all, neither Harry nor the others could have made a hole in this wall—or the one opposite.
The only person he could think of who had been in close contact with Harry and the others and might have been able to do this was one person. And he still couldn't be sure whether that child was safe.
"Headmaster Dumbledore!" The moment Harry saw him, he relaxed completely and leaned against the wall behind him. Now that Headmaster Dumbledore was here, it was all over...
Before anyone could even mention Lin Yue, she stepped out through the hole in the wall behind Harry.
The little witch's robe was so disheveled that it was clear how perilous it had been dodging spells. The dust covering it told its own story of how fierce the battle had been.
"Miss Lin Yue." Seeing her emerge safely, Headmaster Dumbledore finally let out the breath he'd been holding. He waved his wand at her, straightening her robe while carefully checking her condition.
"Good evening, Headmaster Dumbledore." Lin Yue looked at him expressionlessly and greeted him with a polite nod.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, is Lin Yue all right?" Harry asked with concern from beside them.
Putting away his wand, Headmaster Dumbledore gave Harry a kind smile. "Don't worry, Miss Lin Yue is fine. She may just be exhausted. She can go to the Medical Wing, get some Dreamless Sleep Potion from Madam Pomfrey, and have a rest."
"That's good." Harry let out a breath.
Lin Yue stood beside Harry, her gaze calm and her lips silent. Her face showed no expression, as if Harry and Headmaster Dumbledore weren't talking about her at all, but about someone completely unrelated to her.
Leading the two children out of the Forbidden Corridor, Headmaster Dumbledore turned to Harry. "You were very brave, Harry, just like your parents. They would be proud of you."
"Mm." Harry smiled, but inside, he reminded himself not to be so reckless again.
Ron had been knocked unconscious on the chessboard that night, and Lin Yue had been covered in dust. The sight had chilled him. He couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if his friends died because of him... He would never be able to forgive himself.
Looking at Lin Yue, who seemed to remain calm at all times beside Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore fell silent for a moment. In the end, he reached out and gently patted her head, as a courtesy.
Like a kind grandfather comforting his granddaughter.
"Miss Lin Yue, your loyalty to your friends and your courage in the face of danger are both worthy of praise. Please let me apologize to you, though you may not know why."
At Headmaster Dumbledore's words, Lin Yue looked up at her calmly.
She really couldn't work out why Headmaster Dumbledore was apologizing to her.
Teachers and parents couldn't be wrong. All she needed to do was obey them.
Under Headmaster Dumbledore's gentle gaze, Lin Yue slowly looked away. She was working through her calculations in her mind.
She had broken the School Rules by going out at night: one punishment. She had knocked out the Three-headed Dog and hurt Hagrid's pet: one punishment. Her Fire-making Spell had harmed the Devil's Snare and damaged Professor Sprout's personal property: one punishment. She had blown up a door and damaged school property: one punishment. She had broken the chess pieces and damaged Professor McGonagall's personal property: one punishment. She had knocked down two walls: two punishments. She had damaged a section of flooring: one punishment.
After quickly finishing the calculation, Lin Yue reached a final conclusion: she needed to punish herself eight times.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, how are Hermione and Ron?" Harry asked as they stepped onto the Moving Staircase, following behind Dumbledore.
"Minerva has already taken them to the Medical Wing. They're fine." Headmaster Dumbledore looked back and gave Harry a reassuring smile.
At the sound of Hermione's name, Lin Yue—who had just finished calculating the number of punishments and committed it to memory—also looked up at Headmaster Dumbledore without thinking.
Only after hearing him say Hermione was fine did she lower her head again and continue walking.
They arrived at the Medical Wing without any trouble. Madam Pomfrey had already healed Ron's injuries, and she had forced him to drink Dreamless Sleep Potion and fall asleep.
Hermione was worried about Lin Yue and Harry, so she had refused to drink the Dreamless Sleep Potion. She wanted to see for herself as soon as possible that they were all right.
Since she wasn't injured, Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall had let her be.
Now, seeing Lin Yue and Harry enter the Medical Wing with Headmaster Dumbledore, she jumped off the bed without hesitation, hurried over, and threw her arms around Lin Yue.
Caught in Hermione's embrace, Lin Yue froze for a moment, then, just as she had before, imitated her and raised her arms to hug her back.
"Merlin above... Thank goodness you're all right..." Hermione's voice caught with a hint of a sob. Fear still gripped her in waves.
Lin Yue opened her mouth. Her mind told her she wanted to say something, so she mechanically let the words out.
"Mm... I'm fine. Headmaster Dumbledore checked me."
Hermione let go of Lin Yue and nodded to Headmaster Dumbledore. "Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore."
Headmaster Dumbledore shook his head. Looking at the two girls, his eyes filled with guilt. "No... I should be the one apologizing to you."
He spoke the last words almost inaudibly. A school was supposed to protect its students, but for Harry's future and the future of the wizarding world... he had to steel himself and let Harry and his friends gradually face challenges.
Even if Harry and the others hated him someday, even if future generations said he hadn't been a worthy headmaster, it didn't matter. At least by then, they would still be standing safely inside Hogwarts.
But... could he really steel himself? Looking at the two little witches standing face to face, and Harry beside them trying to cover his eyes, Headmaster Dumbledore couldn't help asking himself that.
"All right, Miss Granger, I think you should drink your Dreamless Sleep Potion and get a good night's rest too."
Professor McGonagall came over from Ron's bedside. As she looked at the three children, her lips trembled.
Hermione had just told her everything that had happened. Voldemort... She had come this close—this close—to never seeing these children again.
If only she had believed them then... Professor McGonagall drew a deep breath and suppressed the dampness in her eyes. The usually stern professor took off her Wizard Hat in front of the three students.
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Lin Yue. I didn't believe you at the time, and you had to go alone... and face danger."
Hermione was the first to grow uneasy. She raised a hand and waved it in a fluster. "No, it wasn't your fault, Professor."
Harry also raised a hand and awkwardly scratched his cheek. "Hermione's right, Professor. It wasn't your fault. I was too anxious, and the way I explained things made you misunderstand."
Looking up at Professor McGonagall with an expressionless face, Lin Yue stated what her mind understood. "Professors can't be wrong."
Everyone there assumed she was simply comforting Professor McGonagall, so they didn't notice the words she had used: "can't be wrong."
At Madam Pomfrey's direction, Lin Yue, Hermione, and Harry each lay down on a bed. Lin Yue took the Dreamless Sleep Potion and drank it without hesitation.
Her expression still didn't change, but two seconds later, her eyelids grew heavy. The next moment, she closed her eyes completely and fell asleep.
Seeing that the children had all begun to rest, the two professors present smiled in relief.
Madam Pomfrey, however, was still waving her wand to examine Harry and Lin Yue.
Harry seemed fine. He was still a little thin, but he could make up for that by eating more afterward.
But when it was Lin Yue's turn, Madam Pomfrey finished examining her once and felt almost unable to believe what she'd found. Then she couldn't help checking again.
She abruptly turned to Headmaster Dumbledore, her gaze fixed on him with such fury that it seemed fire would burst from her eyes.
Headmaster Dumbledore felt a chill run down his back for no apparent reason. He turned stiffly and saw Madam Pomfrey glaring at him as if she were about to burst into flames.
"Madam Pomfrey... may I ask what's wrong?" Headmaster Dumbledore looked at her, uneasy and confused. He hadn't done anything, had he?
"Albus, I remember the workload at Hogwarts isn't too heavy, is it?" Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eyes and fixed them on her headmaster.
At her question, Headmaster Dumbledore immediately nodded. "Of course. We arrange the workload with the young witches and wizards' health as our first priority."
How could he make young witches and wizards study at the expense of their health? He would never do such a thing.
"Then why is this child so tense? She must not have had a proper night's sleep in a long time."
Headmaster Dumbledore was stumped by Madam Pomfrey's question. He might be headmaster, but that didn't mean he knew everything.
Professor McGonagall, standing nearby, pressed her lips together before answering the question for him.
"At the start of the school year... Flitwick, Sprout, and I each left her some books to study ahead. But later we realized that every subject was giving her extra work, and she was already studying plenty, so we stopped."
Madam Pomfrey nodded, then shook her head. "No, that's not it. She hasn't been resting well lately either. Her condition wouldn't be this poor otherwise."
"Then perhaps she's been studying on her own," Professor McGonagall guessed. "She is a Ravenclaw, after all."
"All right..." Madam Pomfrey sighed, reluctantly accepting the explanation.
Fortunately, with the final exams coming up, Lin Yue hadn't been to Potions class lately, and nothing had happened to make her punish herself. The purplish-black handprint on her left thigh had faded.
Besides, Lin Yue hadn't punished herself beforehand this time, so that she could move more easily in the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor. Otherwise, Madam Pomfrey would certainly have discovered it.
Even so, Madam Pomfrey prepared enough Dreamless Sleep Potion to last her several days, intending to keep her in the Medical Wing until she had caught up on sleep.
That way, the child wouldn't go back and focus only on her studies without resting.
Lin Yue was, after all, a Ravenclaw student, so Headmaster Dumbledore notified Professor Flitwick. Before long, Professor Flitwick pushed open the Medical Wing door and rushed in, looking frantic. He hadn't even had time to change out of his pajamas, which showed just how urgently he'd come.
"Dumbledore, how are the children?" Professor Flitwick asked in a hushed voice when he saw the four children sleeping soundly in their beds.
"They're all right. They're resting," Headmaster Dumbledore replied with a shake of his head.
"Yes, but Miss Lin Yue isn't in very good shape." Madam Pomfrey used her wand to guide several bottles of potions over to Lin Yue's bedside.
"What's wrong with Miss Lin Yue?" Hearing Madam Pomfrey's words, Professor Flitwick immediately grew anxious.
"She needs rest, plenty of rest," Madam Pomfrey said firmly. "And her stomach—Merlin's dinner, I can hardly believe she's managed to do this to it. It's showing the first signs of gastric trouble. By the way, was she the student who used to finish her meals in just a few minutes?"
"Yes... Albus and Minerva tried talking to her too, but all they managed was to get her to eat a little more slowly on Christmas Day." Professor Flitwick sighed, his voice sinking.
Madam Pomfrey drew in a sharp breath. "Good. It looks like I'll have to keep Stomach-strengthening Potion stocked here from now on!"
Before they could say another word, an hour had passed, and Lin Yue's eyelids began to struggle open. Her subconscious habit was fighting against the potion's effects.
Her mind still muddled, Lin Yue opened her eyes to a narrow slit. She was forced to boot up after all, but before she could fully open her eyes, she fell asleep again.
The three professors and Madam Pomfrey had naturally witnessed the whole thing. Madam Pomfrey frowned and hurried over to examine her. She had never seen anyone wake up before the potion's time was up.
She examined Lin Yue carefully. The potion was still working, so what was going on?
Madam Pomfrey looked in puzzlement to Headmaster Dumbledore, the most knowledgeable person there. But Headmaster Dumbledore shook his head too, showing that he didn't know.
After thinking it over, Madam Pomfrey simply brought over a chair and sat beside Lin Yue, keeping a close eye on her.
As Ravenclaw's head of house, Professor Flitwick didn't want to leave either. He also took a chair and sat beside his student.
Seeing that, Professor McGonagall turned into a cat and jumped onto the foot of Lin Yue's bed. Headmaster Dumbledore, meanwhile, left to deal with Quirrell.
And so, that night, the two professors and Madam Pomfrey watched helplessly as Lin Yue forced herself awake once every hour, then fell asleep again. The Dreamless Sleep Potion lasted eight hours, and she went through this cycle eight times.
Just watching her made the three of them feel awful. The way she struggled and fought with everything she had to wake up...
Before you continue