Overwhelmed with shock and anger, Rowena instinctively used magic to check Lin Yue's body. Only after confirming she was all right did she feel a little calmer.
But she still had no idea what had happened. After thinking it over, Rowena simply used her Founder's authority at Hogwarts to monitor every Portrait and statue in the castle. From two Little Badgers gossiping in a corridor, she learned the whole story.
Hearing that the Gryffindor trio had gone to stop Professor Quirrell from stealing the Philosopher's Stone, and that Lin Yue had faced Professor Quirrell alone, Rowena's first thought was, Did this child go and challenge Voldemort alone again?!
He might not have been at full strength, but it was still dangerous! So much for learning her lesson from the Cruciatus Curse she'd suffered last time.
Drawing back her attention, Rowena looked through the watch at Lin Yue talking with Qiuzhang and Marietta. Her heart ached again and again.
But as much as it pained her, Rowena understood that, as a friend of the Gryffindor trio, Lin Yue would certainly face situations like this again.
What's more, she and Hermione Granger from that trio... seemed to have something more than ordinary friendship between them. Her own partner was Helga, after all, so Rowena had keenly picked up on the spark between the two girls.
Though she knew this was an indispensable trial for the children, it didn't stop her from taking her anger out on Dumbledore again.
Back in the Middle Ages, they had put the children through trials too, but they'd done it outside the school! Who brought danger into the school? And deliberately, at that!
Even at the most chaotic point in the Middle Ages, no one had dared to cause trouble at Hogwarts. But now Dumbledore had gone and brought Voldemort straight in. He really thought he could do whatever he wanted!
He could have set things up outside the school and let the children go out to test themselves. At the very least, he shouldn't have let danger into the school. Hogwarts was supposed to be the children's home, not a whetstone for them.
Feeling dizzy, the Blue Eagle raised a wing and pressed it to her head.
The Yellow Badger, who had just woken up, hurried over and wrapped both paws around the Blue Eagle's head, gently rubbing it.
The Yellow Badger gave two soft calls. "You haven't recovered yet, have you? Hurry and get some more rest. Once we're well again, we'll settle the score with everyone who hurt Lin Yue."
The Blue Eagle flapped her wings twice and cried out, "Right. Salazar, Godric, that Dumbledore, and Voldemort—none of them will get away."
"Good," the Yellow Badger murmured, pulling the Blue Eagle into her embrace. "I'll help you beat them up. I promise none of them will escape."
With her partner beside her, the Blue Eagle soon fell asleep again.
Looking down at the Blue Eagle in her arms, Helga's yellow badger eyes softened.
Then she ground her teeth in fury, the Little Badger's ferocity showing through.
If the four of them hadn't been injured in their final battle against The Church back then, and forced to spend so long sleeping and recovering, would Salazar's descendant have dared to run wild like this? He'd even harmed a child they cared about. The nerve of him!
Their recovery was now in its final stage. When she woke up again, she and Rowena would make sure Voldemort learned exactly why badgers and eagles both considered snakes food.
The Yellow Badger slowly closed her eyes and sank back into slumber.
Deep within Hogwarts, the Green Snake curled up beside the sleeping Red Lion gave a shudder. It seemed to sense that something unpleasant was coming, but it didn't wake from its slumber.
While Rowena and Helga were talking, Lin Yue's conversation with her two older classmates came to an end. She watched them walk away.
Expressionless, Lin Yue raised her right hand and looked at the watch on her wrist. She had just felt a wave of magic pass through her whole body.
The sensation was the same as when Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey had examined her. So someone had used a Detection Spell on her.
Lin Yue's mind reached a conclusion, then analyzed it further. That meant there was someone inside her watch.
Looking again at the Little Badger and Little Eagle emblems that had suddenly appeared along the watch's edge, Lin Yue's mind ran through all kinds of possibilities, finally settling on the most likely—and most unbelievable—answer.
Possessing a watch was the kind of magic even wizards found hard to imagine. Among Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, the only ones most likely to be capable of it were Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, the two Founders and witches of unfathomable magical power.
The two Founders were inside her watch. Having reached her conclusion, Lin Yue had no further thoughts. She simply lowered her hand.
Her right hand came to rest on her left thigh. Lin Yue gripped it hard, eight times in a row.
Her left thigh turned purple and blue again. Without a ripple of emotion, Lin Yue picked up her book, leaned against the headboard, and returned to her studies.
Only when Madam Pomfrey came over, took the book from her hands, and ordered her to rest did Lin Yue slowly lie down beneath the covers and drink the Dreamless Sleep Potion Madam Pomfrey had brought her.
Moonlight shone on the hospital bed and fell across Lin Yue's face. Even in deep sleep, her expression remained as lifeless as a stagnant pool: no smile, none of the ease and serenity one would expect from someone asleep.
As she slept, the muscles in Lin Yue's left thigh twitched slightly, as if giving a few faint protests...
Lin Yue stayed in the Medical Wing for three days, drinking Dreamless Sleep Potion every night. Only then did Madam Pomfrey let her go.
But even after three days of the potion, Lin Yue still woke once every hour each night. Nothing about her seemed to have changed.
When she returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room, two bangs rang out in quick succession beside her.
Streamers drifted down from the ceiling, landing on her shoulders and scattering across the Common Room floor.
"Lin Yue! Welcome to the celebration we've prepared for you!" the girl prefect, Penelope, called out cheerfully.
Hearing her full name snapped Lin Yue out of her studies. She closed her book and gazed lifelessly at the Little Eagles in the Common Room.
She nodded politely to everyone. "Thank you. I only did what I was supposed to do."
"I knew you'd say that." Penelope smiled and shook her head, and the Little Eagles smiled at her warmly.
After spending the whole school year together, everyone understood that although Lin Yue always looked expressionless and spoke in a stiff, mechanical way, she was unfailingly patient and polite with others.
Because of that, no one in Ravenclaw was afraid of her or kept their distance anymore.
The girls crowded around her with laughter. First they took the book from her hands, then sat her down on a sofa in the Common Room.
They'd heard from Qiuzhang and Marietta that Lin Yue had still been reading while recovering in the Medical Wing. Now that the celebration had begun, they weren't about to let her keep doing that.
The guest of honor deserved to eat, drink, and relax properly, of course.
"Here, trade me your book for this." Qiuzhang grinned and put a little cake in Lin Yue's hand.
Lin Yue started to say that this was supposed to be her study time, but then Hermione's words from the Medical Wing came to mind: she should take a break. Lin Yue's open mouth slowly closed.
She lowered her head and instinctively stuffed the whole cake into her mouth. She chewed twice, then swallowed it almost without chewing.
Penelope sighed at the sight and picked up another little cake, this one in a different flavor, holding it out to her.
"Slow down and savor it, all right?"
Lin Yue took the cake Penelope offered and gave a blank nod. She lowered her head and ate it one small bite at a time.
Seeing Lin Yue slow down, the Little Eagles smiled in relief. Marietta moved a glass of juice in front of her, while the other Little Eagles began eating, drinking, and chatting among themselves.
At this post-exam celebration, everyone in Ravenclaw except Lin Yue felt happy and content.
Sitting on the sofa, Lin Yue stared blankly around the room. Her classmates' faces were full of smiles, and the air rang with laughter and cheerful conversation.
Lin Yue blinked mechanically. How many of my classmates will I see again next year?
The thought surfaced in her mind without her meaning to. The last third of the students were supposed to be destroyed; that was the rule of school as far as she knew.
Every school was like that. Hogwarts was a school too, so Hogwarts should be the same.
Lin Yue once again formed an equation in her mind, replacing the variable of "different worlds" with the equality of "all schools."
After all, in her view, all schools should be the same. Her experience and understanding of the world had always told her so.
Although she had already seen how different Hogwarts's professors were from her former teachers, that was probably just a difference between teachers. The school's most fundamental rules shouldn't change.
And so, amid the laughter and chatter of the celebration, Lin Yue sat surrounded by her classmates while her mind rapidly calculated how many familiar faces she might see next school year.
It wasn't that she felt pity or was sighing to herself. She was simply used to thinking things through and analyzing them.
The celebration ended at eleven that night. The end-of-year feast was tomorrow, and everyone would probably be up late again. They decided they shouldn't stay up too late tonight.
Back in the dormitory, Lin Yue finished her shower in under five minutes. After roughly rubbing her hair twice with a towel, she came out, sat at her desk, and returned to her studies.
Qiuzhang and Marietta exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly. Marietta went over and picked up a towel to dry Lin Yue's hair, while Qiuzhang took her own clean clothes and went into the washroom to shower.
"Lin Yue, you need to dry your hair after you shower." Marietta gently dried it a little at a time.
"Wet hair is fine. Drying it with a towel or a hair dryer is just a waste of study time."
Lin Yue repeated the words her mother had once said to her without hesitation.
"It's bad for your health." Marietta sighed. By the time she had thoroughly dried Lin Yue's hair, Qiuzhang had finished showering and come out. Marietta set Lin Yue's towel aside.
She picked up her own clean clothes and was about to go into the washroom when Lin Yue suddenly came out of her studies and turned to look at her.
"Thank you."
Her voice and expression were utterly flat, but Marietta still felt a little relieved. She had a vague sense that Lin Yue was making progress. "You're welcome."
Smiling happily, Marietta went into the washroom.
Lin Yue studied until midnight, then closed her book and lay down on her bed, beginning her familiar cycle of fitful sleep.
As she drifted in and out of sleep, the final day of Lin Yue's first year at Hogwarts began.
The castle was busy that day. All the students were packing their trunks, while Lin Yue had very little to do.
She hadn't brought much with her, just a few daily necessities. The little ornaments and various stuffed toys the World Consciousness had prepared for her remained untouched in her trunk.
After packing those everyday items away, Lin Yue sat on the four-poster bed in the dormitory and suddenly remembered where she was going for the holidays.
Her mind quickly ran through the possibilities. She used to go home after school, and of course she did the same during the holidays. But now, she had no home to return to.
She felt neither sadness nor loss. Without emotion, Lin Yue considered where she could go.
Hotel, inn, bed-and-breakfast... All kinds of words and definitions appeared in her mind. Before she could reach a conclusion, Qiuzhang waved to her.
"Lin Yue, hurry up! The end-of-year feast is about to start."
"All right." Lin Yue nodded, stood up, and followed Qiuzhang and Marietta out of the dormitory.
When they entered the Great Hall, Ravenclaw's banners were already hanging from the ceiling, a Goshawk emblazoned prominently on them.
The Hogwarts students sat in the Great Hall, chatting happily. At the Gryffindor dining table, Hermione saw Lin Yue enter and happily got to her feet, hurrying over.
"Good evening, Lin Yue." Hermione affectionately took Lin Yue's hand. Lin Yue lowered her eyes and stared blankly at their joined hands, then replied in the same unchanging voice.
"Good evening, Hermione."
"By the way, congratulations on winning the House Cup for Ravenclaw." Hermione congratulated her with a grin, gently rubbing the back of Lin Yue's hand.
"Thank you." Lin Yue nodded mechanically.
They chatted for a little longer, then returned to their respective House tables when the feast began.
Headmaster Dumbledore gave a speech first, then raised both hands to signal for quiet.
"First, I'd like to congratulate the students of Ravenclaw. You've won this year's House Cup for Ravenclaw."
After hearing this, the Ravenclaw Little Eagles turned to look kindly at Lin Yue, who sat upright in her seat without any reaction or expression.
There was no doubt that, beyond the efforts of all the Ravenclaws, Lin Yue had been the greatest contributor to Ravenclaw winning the House Cup this year.
"But before I present the House Cup, we need to take some recent events into account."
Before you continue