After a three-minute combat shower, Lin Yue gave her hair a quick towel-dry. Once she was sure it had stopped dripping, she got dressed and went straight out.
Leaving the Ravenclaw Common Room, Lin Yue strolled through the vast Hogwarts Castle.
Since the professor hadn't said which classroom they'd be using for morning study, she searched the classrooms one by one, trying to find one with a professor or students inside.
But even after checking the last classroom, she hadn't found a single person.
The vast Hogwarts Castle was still lost in sleep. Lin Yue was the only one awake, and even the Portraits on the walls were still resting.
She raised her wrist to check her watch. It was half past five—the time for morning study. She couldn't afford to waste any more time.
With that in mind, Lin Yue turned quickly and headed straight for the Library she had just passed.
Once inside, Lin Yue sat down in a chair, set her schoolbag by her feet, and took out the textbook she hadn't finished reading yet. Then she began studying.
She kept her head down and read until seven, finally finishing the Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms Class textbooks. Only the Astronomy textbook remained.
Since it was already breakfast time, Lin Yue closed her book, packed her schoolbag with brisk efficiency, and hurried down the stairs toward the Great Hall.
The stairs she passed along the way moved of their own accord, helping her reach her destination as quickly as possible.
Lin Yue rushed into the Great Hall, only to find it just as silent and empty as before.
Her mind faltered for a moment, but then she went straight to the spot where she had sat at the Ravenclaw table yesterday and took her seat without the slightest hesitation.
She took the Astronomy textbook from her schoolbag and began reading and memorizing it at speed.
By the time Lin Yue finished the entire Astronomy textbook and committed it to memory, it was nearly ten to eight.
At exactly ten to eight, breakfast appeared on the empty Ravenclaw table. Lin Yue mechanically reached out, repeating the ravenous meal she'd eaten the night before.
During the three and a half minutes Lin Yue spent wolfing down her food, a few early-rising young wizards gradually entered the Great Hall. When they saw her devouring her meal at the Ravenclaw table, they all froze instinctively.
Partly because they were surprised anyone had gotten up so early, and partly because Lin Yue ate so fast—and so ferociously.
Pansy Parkinson, who had gotten up early to do her makeup before coming to the Great Hall for breakfast, frowned at Lin Yue as she wolfed down her food.
"Merlin's breakfast... Has she never eaten before? She has absolutely no table manners."
Daphne Greengrass, walking alongside her, frowned as well.
"I thought Gryffindor students had the worst manners, but apparently there are people with even worse ones."
"Hmph." Pansy gave a cold laugh. "She's Eastern, but I bet she's a Mudblood too. Pure-bloods wouldn't have manners this atrocious."
After criticizing Lin Yue, the two of them finally sat down at the Slytherin table, satisfied, and began enjoying their own breakfast.
Hermione arrived at the Great Hall around the same time. As she entered, she instinctively glanced around the room.
Then she spotted Lin Yue at the Ravenclaw table at once. She stood out terribly.
Watching Lin Yue eat as if she were forcing the food straight down her throat, Hermione's mouth fell open in surprise.
Doesn't eating like that hurt?
But seeing Lin Yue's still-calm, unreadable face, Hermione wondered whether she even knew what it meant to feel uncomfortable.
Shaking her head, Hermione stopped thinking about other people and went to sit at the Gryffindor dining table. She had to eat breakfast quickly.
It was the first day of classes, and she wanted to get to the classroom early and make a good impression on the professor.
Lin Yue finished breakfast in three and a half minutes, completely unaware that someone had criticized her and someone else had worried about her.
She shouldered her schoolbag and left the Great Hall, hurrying toward the Charms Class classroom.
While she'd been eating, her timetable had appeared beside her on its own. According to it, her first class today was Charms, and she'd seen the classroom earlier that morning while searching for the room for morning study.
So all she had to do was follow the route she remembered.
Lin Yue still wore the same blank, machine-like expression as she walked.
It startled quite a few young wizards who had just woken up and were still a little groggy.
When someone with no expression came striding straight toward you at a rapid pace, it was hard not to think you'd somehow offended them and they were coming to deal with you.
Meanwhile, every young wizard who encountered her along the way had to contend with the stairs suddenly shifting.
Whenever Lin Yue was on the stairs, the Hogwarts staircases gave priority to the direction she wanted to go. The other young wizards could only clutch the handrails, staring in confusion and alarm at Lin Yue's retreating figure as they waited for the stairs to turn back the way they had been.
With her own quick pace and the help of the Hogwarts staircases, Lin Yue reached the Charms classroom before twenty past eight.
She entered the Charms classroom and, without hesitation, sat down in the front row. Taking out her Charms textbook, she began reviewing again.
After reviewing the material for the first lesson of the day, Lin Yue reached into her robe pocket and drew out her wand.
She turned, stretched out her arm, and stared blankly at the chair beside her.
Her right hand traced the exact same movement shown in the book, without the slightest deviation in the arc of her wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The incantation came out with perfect pronunciation, and the chair at the tip of Lin Yue's wand immediately rose into the air.
This should have been a moment that filled anyone encountering magic for the first time with wild joy and excitement, but it didn't change Lin Yue's expression in the slightest.
She pointed her wand back toward the floor, and the chair slowly descended.
Lin Yue had achieved her aim: she had confirmed that she could put the material from the first lesson into practice.
But the book said that the larger an object was, the harder it was to control with the Levitation Charm, and that controlling more objects was harder too. Lin Yue stood up mechanically, faced all the chairs in the classroom, and moved her wand according to the gestures in the book.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
A faint clatter of chairs sounded as every chair in the classroom slipped out from behind its desk and floated into the air.
Lin Yue watched the chairs hovering overhead without expression. Without thinking, she raised her wand high and began drawing slow circles in the air.
Above the classroom, all the chairs followed her wand's movements, lining up and circling around and around in midair. The sight was astonishing.
This was the scene Professor Flitwick saw when he arrived at the Charms classroom.
He had thought he was early enough that the classroom would be empty. That way, he could stack the books he needed to stand on before the students arrived. He hadn't expected to find a student already there.
And the student was using the Levitation Charm on chairs—not just one, but a whole group! And she had even made them circle around!
For a first-year wizard, doing that required more than just strong magic. It also took intense concentration to control it.
First-year wizards were at an age when they loved to play and make mischief. Their emotions ran high, so it was easy for their attention to wander.
That made it difficult for them to control their magic, and some even suffered magical outbursts.
But this student... She could control her magic to such an extent, keeping so many chairs steadily spinning in the air without letting them collide at all.
Professor Flitwick felt that his House had struck gold. Perhaps this young wizard was a rare prodigy.
Thinking this, Professor Flitwick didn't interrupt Lin Yue's magic.
Only after Lin Yue was sure she had developed a good grasp of the Levitation Charm did she sweep her wand downward, making every chair land precisely in its original place.
Clap, clap, clap, clap... Professor Flitwick watched Lin Yue from behind with a beaming smile and couldn't help applauding her performance.
At the sound, Lin Yue finally emerged from her focused state of study and realized someone was behind her.
She turned and saw Professor Flitwick. Without a flicker of emotion, she bowed to greet him.
"Good morning, Professor."
"Good, good, good." Professor Flitwick nodded, pleased. She was talented and polite—a wonderful student.
His delight in Lin Yue's magical talent had already made him automatically overlook her strange, expressionless face and the odd lack of inflection in her voice.
He had even completely forgotten that he had told Professor McGonagall at the feast yesterday that he needed to talk to Lin Yue about how she shouldn't eat so quickly.
Now, all he wanted was to talk with Lin Yue about how well she had mastered her charms.
When Professor Flitwick beckoned to her, Lin Yue quickly went over to him.
Professor Flitwick looked at Lin Yue with warm excitement. "Miss Lin Yue, you've done an excellent job casting and controlling the Levitation Charm. I think that deserves twenty points for Ravenclaw!"
Lin Yue showed no joy, only nodding calmly. "Thank you, Professor."
Seeing how calmly she took it, Professor Flitwick was even more pleased.
Not letting one success and a bit of praise go to her head was truly admirable.
His admiration for talent swelled, and he couldn't resist excitedly asking Lin Yue, "Miss Lin Yue, may I ask how much of the magic in the textbook you've mastered?"
Lin Yue answered Professor Flitwick mechanically. "I've memorized the incantations and wand movements for all of the charms, but I've only practiced the Levitation Charm."
Professor Flitwick's eyes lit up. She had memorized all the incantations and wand movements—that was excellent too!
"Well, perhaps you wouldn't mind trying them all out?" he asked, watching Lin Yue expectantly.
Lin Yue obediently nodded. "Of course, Professor. As you wish."
With that, Lin Yue raised her wand. "Lumos."
A soft orb of light appeared at the tip of her wand, and Professor Flitwick nodded repeatedly.
"Can you extinguish it?"
At Professor Flitwick's request, Lin Yue nodded and recited the countercharm to the lighting spell. The orb at the tip of her wand vanished instantly.
"Excellent!" Professor Flitwick nodded again and again. "Now, the unlocking charm?"
Lin Yue pointed her wand straight at the wooden door of the Charms classroom and made the proper movement. "Alohomora."
Click. The wooden door was already open, but its lock had clearly moved.
Professor Flitwick nodded in satisfaction once more. "Very good, very good."
Next, Professor Flitwick had Lin Yue try out every charm in the first-year Charms textbook.
Unsurprisingly, Lin Yue succeeded with every one. Each movement was as precise and immediate as if performed by a programmed machine.
Every syllable and pause was as emotionless as a talking dictionary, but perfectly precise.
Watching her successfully perform every charm they would study during the first year, Professor Flitwick grew so excited that he started waving his hands around.
He awarded another twenty points to Ravenclaw. The other professors passing by the hourglasses all felt puzzled.
What was going on with Professor Flitwick? Classes hadn't even started, yet he was already awarding points to Ravenclaw?
And not just one or two points, either—he had given them a full forty.
Of course, that question would soon disappear once Lin Yue started attending their classes. When she did, they would be the ones showering her with points.
"I don't think the first-year Charms textbook has anything left to teach you," Professor Flitwick said, nodding at Lin Yue with satisfaction.
Lin Yue nodded in agreement, as if she had been programmed to do so.
"Then, Miss Lin Yue, would you be willing to study a few things ahead of time?" Professor Flitwick looked at her expectantly. Wanting to give an exceptional student extra instruction was a "common affliction" every teacher had.
"Of course. Thank you, Professor Flitwick." Lin Yue agreed immediately.
Professor Flitwick smiled and waved his wand. A sheet of Parchment and a quill flew over out of nowhere and began writing by themselves.
Once the titles of four books had been written on the Parchment, Professor Flitwick handed it to Lin Yue.
"These are the books I think you can start studying in advance. Their charms are a little more advanced than those you'll learn in first year, but still within your capabilities."
Lin Yue took the Parchment in both hands, glanced over its contents, and politely thanked him.
"Thank you, Professor Flitwick."
"You're welcome, Miss Lin Yue. From now on, you can read these books and study on your own during my classes."
Lin Yue nodded obediently. "All right. Thank you, Professor Flitwick."
Professor Flitwick smiled approvingly. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll be happy to explain."
Lin Yue nodded again. As the other students arrived for class, Professor Flitwick climbed onto the stack of books behind the lectern. Lin Yue returned to her seat in the front row and fixed her attention on him.
At that moment, she had unconsciously blocked out everything around her.
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