Severed Rewards and Punishments (Part 2)

"First, Mr. Ron Weasley. He won the most brilliant game of chess in Hogwarts history, so I shall award fifty points to Gryffindor."

Warm applause erupted in the Great Hall. Apart from Slytherin House, the other three Houses were all applauding. There was no doubt that acknowledging and affirming another person's excellence was also a virtue.

Ron's face was nearly as red as his hair. Shyly, he lowered his head and folded his arms over his face.

His brother Percy, meanwhile, was proudly telling others about his little brother's exploits, while Harry and Hermione watched Ron with broad smiles.

Headmaster Dumbledore raised both hands in a gesture, and only then did the Great Hall quiet down again.

"Second, Miss Hermione Granger. Faced with raging flames, she maintained absolute calm and a clear mind. Therefore, I shall award fifty points to Gryffindor."

This time, it was Hermione's turn to blush. She smiled bashfully, and her gaze instinctively drifted toward Ravenclaw Academy, where she spotted Lin Yue at once.

Lin Yue was applauding along with everyone else, her face entirely expressionless. The joy in Hermione's heart instantly faded by more than half. I want to share this happiness with Lin Yue, she could not help thinking.

"Third, Mr. Harry Potter." Headmaster Dumbledore paused. "In the face of an enemy, he never chose to yield, displaying a spirit of fearless courage. Therefore, I shall award him sixty points."

As the Great Hall once again erupted into prolonged applause, Headmaster Dumbledore could only raise his hands again to signal everyone to stop.

"There are many kinds of courage. It takes courage to never yield before an enemy, but it also takes courage to stand by one's principles before one's friends. Therefore, I shall award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Neville, seated at the Gryffindor dining table, looked stunned. After all, he had never earned even a single point for Gryffindor before. The classmates around him happily patted him on the shoulders.

Even though these added points were nowhere near enough to let them surpass Ravenclaw Academy, they were enough to leave the Gryffindors satisfied.

They had all seen Ravenclaw's hard work, and honestly, they knew they could not catch up. Not to mention that Ravenclaw had someone as formidable as Lin Yue. Ravenclaw Academy winning the House Cup was entirely deserved.

And for the Gryffindors... as long as Slytherin did not win the House Cup, it did not really matter which House did.

Headmaster Dumbledore raised both hands again, quieting the Great Hall, and turned his gaze toward Lin Yue at the Ravenclaw table.

The young witch's face remained entirely expressionless, her eyes devoid of any light. No one could read even the slightest hint of information from her face, nor could they know what she was thinking.

In truth, what Lin Yue was thinking was very simple. She was merely instinctively following Headmaster Dumbledore's words and analyzing why Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville had received points.

Ron had led Harry and the others through the chessboard. Hermione had faced the flames, so she must have led Harry through the potions challenge. And Harry had bravely faced Professor Quirrell and Voldemort without yielding.

Then what about Neville? In Lin Yue's brain, Headmaster Dumbledore's words from just now flashed rapidly through her mind—standing by one's principles before one's friends. By friends, he should have meant Hermione and the others. Standing by principles should have meant obeying the School Rules.

From that, she could infer that Neville had probably tried to stop Harry and the others from sneaking out after curfew at night. But since Harry and the others had still gone to the fourth-floor Forbidden Corridor, he must have failed.

So Lin Yue mechanically turned her head, her gaze settling on Hermione among the three. It was Hermione, wasn't it? After all, her spells were the best among them.

Hermione sensed the gaze resting on her and turned, meeting Lin Yue's eyes. She gave her a bright smile, and Lin Yue calmly nodded in response, without the slightest ripple in her heart.

Watching the interaction between Lin Yue and Hermione, Headmaster Dumbledore smiled subtly. Youth truly was wonderful...

He turned his gaze back to the students throughout the Great Hall. "Finally, Miss Lin Yue. On her own, she passed every challenge left behind by the professors, successfully fought against a Dark Wizard, protected the Philosopher's Stone, and protected her own friends as well. Therefore, I shall award Miss Lin Yue one hundred and seventy points."

"And that means—" Headmaster Dumbledore had to raise his voice, because students from all three Houses had already risen to their feet and were applauding Ravenclaw enthusiastically. Hermione and the other two watched Lin Yue with immense happiness. Ravenclaw had won the House Cup by a landslide, and she truly was their greatest contributor.

"Ravenclaw Academy has won this year's House Cup!"

At the Ravenclaw table, the Little Eagles burst into wave after wave of cheers, while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff applauded jubilantly as well.

Although the Slytherins did not rise to applaud, there was no resentment in the way they looked at Ravenclaw Academy. They were unwilling to see their House's potential seven-year winning streak interrupted, but they accepted Ravenclaw's victory this time.

Amid the cheering and celebration, Qiuzhang, Marietta, and several other Little Eagles all threw their arms around Lin Yue, surrounding her as they shouted happily.

Lin Yue, on the other hand, remained calm-faced. Two contradictory thoughts repeated over and over in her mind.

She had made a total of eight mistakes along the way, so she had punished herself eight times.

But Headmaster Dumbledore had given her points instead, rewarding her. Why would he reward her? She had clearly done something wrong.

No confusion arose within her. Her mind rapidly ran through possible explanations.

He was using a reward as irony, so that she would remember this mistake.

Lin Yue eventually reached that conclusion. Her father had punished her this way before.

Once, because of a mistake, she had failed to get perfect scores in every subject. Though she had still ranked first in the School year-end exams, her father had still "rewarded" her with the only new outfit she had received in three years.

On the front of the outfit were three large words: First Place. On the back was the sentence: First place without perfect scores in every subject. Beneath that were three especially conspicuous words: Pig Brain.

Having lost her emotions, she did not feel sad or embarrassed when she wore that outfit outside. But she had keenly analyzed that it was punishment for failing to achieve perfect scores in every subject, for failing to meet the standard.

Therefore, when faced with the points Headmaster Dumbledore had given her, she analyzed it as the same kind of situation.

The bruises still on her legs and the added points in the House Point Hourglass, the reward in reality and the punishment in her thoughts—reward and punishment formed an utterly opposing fracture at that moment.

This Dinner Party proceeded very pleasantly. Every Little Eagle seated beside Lin Yue was enthusiastic about putting more food on her plate, constantly reminding her to eat slowly. The School year-end Dinner Party was not a time for studying.

Even if she finished dinner at the fastest possible speed, they would not let her touch a book. She had worked hard for an entire School year; it was time for her to rest.

Halfway through the Dinner Party, Hermione, Harry, and Ron all ran over to the Ravenclaw table. Facing Lin Yue, all three wore serious expressions and solemnly thanked her.

They thanked her both for the Philosopher's Stone incident and for all the help Lin Yue had given them throughout the entire term.

"Thank you, Lin Yue. If it hadn't been for you, I might have died in the fourth-floor Forbidden Corridor that night," Harry said, looking at Lin Yue with sincerity. "I really shouldn't have received any points. I only succeeded because of all your help."

"Don't say that, Harry. A huge part of Ron's and my courage came from you." Hermione patted Harry on the shoulder, urging him to be more confident.

"That's right, mate. Because you were there, I could be braver too." After saying that, Ron looked at Lin Yue as well, completely lacking his usual somewhat scatterbrained manner. "Thank you for saving me that day."

Lin Yue shook her head expressionlessly and looked at Harry first. "No one can deny your courage in facing Quirrell and Voldemort."

With others, she was always gentler and more tolerant than she was with herself. Strict with herself, lenient with others—this, too, was a rule she followed to her very bones.

Turning to Ron, Lin Yue nodded. "You're welcome."

Hermione smiled, stepped forward, and gently hugged Lin Yue. "I have so much more to thank you for. You helped me see the truth during the Quidditch Match, you put the Invisibility Cloak over me when we sent Norbert away, and you saved Harry and me in the Forbidden Forest... You really, really helped me so much. You're really a wonderful person."

"Thank you..." Lin Yue returned Hermione's hug and gave a mechanical reply.

Hermione sniffed. "Now that the truth is out, I think it's time I followed through on what I'd been planning to do."

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in confusion. Follow through on her plan? Had Hermione had some unfinished plan before this?

Hermione released Lin Yue, who followed her gaze to Professor Snape at the Teachers' Table. Lin Yue immediately recalled how Hermione had directly set both Professor Snape's and Professor Quirrell's robes on fire during the Quidditch Match.

Lin Yue instantly understood what Hermione intended. Hermione took a deep breath and pulled a tightly wrapped set of Wizard Robes from the small bag on her back.

Then, with slow but resolute steps, she walked toward Professor Snape at the Teachers' Table. Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, swallowed, and followed after her.

With eyes as still and lifeless as stagnant water, Lin Yue lifted her foot and followed behind Hermione.

Standing before Professor Snape and facing eyes as deathly still as Lin Yue's, Hermione took a deep breath and presented the carefully wrapped Wizard Robes with both hands.

"Professor Snape, I'm very sorry for suspecting you and burning your robes during the Quidditch Match. These robes are to compensate you."

Professor Snape's face seemed to twitch twice as he accepted the robes from Hermione.

Harry and Ron looked at Professor Snape as well and sincerely apologized. No matter how Professor Snape usually treated them, or how biased he was toward Slytherin, they had been wrong to suspect him. They should admit their mistake.

Lin Yue also bowed deeply to Professor Snape. "I'm sorry, Professor Snape."

She had deduced the truth, yet she had allowed Hermione to eliminate the perceived threat according to her own ideas. So she was at fault too. Lin Yue's brain was certain of that.

Professor Snape spoke slowly. "Suspecting others so casually is indeed foolish, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."

"But I believe..." Professor Snape paused. "That promptly eliminating every possible hidden danger is wisdom. And furthermore, when no one has caught your mistake, to voluntarily confess it afterward—how foolish. Did you think you would be praised? Now get back to your seats."

Hearing Professor Snape's familiar sarcasm, the three of them broke out in a cold sweat, but they also felt relieved. They immediately dragged Lin Yue away.

After they left, Headmaster Dumbledore turned toward Professor Snape with a cheerful smile.

"Severus, there's no need to be so stern when teaching children. They really do misunderstand easily."

That Severus... Clearly, what he meant was that when Harry and the others were uncertain, they absolutely had to eliminate every possible source of danger. That was the right thing to do.

And if no one had caught them making a mistake, they should not voluntarily confess it afterward. They should not be so rigid. Yet he insisted on saying it like that. He truly never forgot to make people resent him.

Professor Snape snorted and put away the new robes. "I have no interest in educating them."

Headmaster Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. Forget it—Severus would never admit it. That was simply his personality.

After the end-of-school-year Dinner Party, Lin Yue said goodbye to Hermione and the others, then returned to her Dormitory amid the Little Eagles' cheerful chatter.

Sitting on her bed in the Dormitory, Lin Yue had already packed her belongings and confirmed that she had left nothing behind. She sat there, staring steadily at Qiuzhang and Marietta as they packed.

She had originally wanted to take a few books from Ravenclaw's little Library to study, but Penelope had caught her and directly "escorted" her back to the Dormitory, so she had failed to get any books.

So now, as she watched Qiuzhang and Marietta pack, she could only recite all the Hogwarts first-year textbooks from memory in her head. Constant review was also necessary.

After confirming that they had packed everything, Qiuzhang and Marietta finally let out sighs of relief and sat on their respective beds.

After discussing where they would go and what they wanted to do during the holiday, Qiuzhang and Marietta coincidentally turned their gazes toward Lin Yue.

"Lin Yue, do you have any plans for the holiday?" Qiuzhang asked curiously.

Lin Yue looked at Qiuzhang without any expression and replied mechanically, "Finish all my homework, review the first-year curriculum, thoroughly master the second-year curriculum, and then study independently."

Qiuzhang felt as though she had choked on something. Lin Yue was working far too hard. Was she not even going to spare herself during the entire Summer holiday?

"You... don't need to work that hard during the holiday, do you?" Marietta opened her mouth with difficulty. Honestly, at Hogwarts, students who diligently completed their homework during breaks were already considered very good. Someone who planned out her holiday like Lin Yue... could only be called unprecedented. She was not leaving herself any time to rest at all.

Lin Yue nodded as though it were only natural and repeated in a flat tone something she had once heard her mother say. "You should study during the holidays too. Holidays are for changing your environment for studying, not for completely relaxing. If you don't study, others will surpass you."

Qiuzhang and Marietta screamed inwardly, They won't, okay?! They absolutely won't! There really aren't any students at Hogwarts who work this hard—not even in Ravenclaw!

Lin Yue remained calm. The reason she had not mentioned attending tutoring classes during the holiday was naturally because she had never attended any. Sending her to tutoring classes would have "wasted" extra money, so her Parents had always made her study at home by herself.

As long as she worked hard enough, she could outperform tutoring classes anyway. That was what her Parents had told her.