Chapter 42

I. The weight of first place and the courage to accept it

The crowd before the noticeboard was packed as tightly as the seeds of a dandelion under an Engorgement Charm. Hailey was squeezed in the middle, her nose brushing the braid of the girl in front of her, and she caught the scent of lavender shampoo. Her vibranium bracelet gleamed coolly in the sunlight, a dark brown ink stain still clinging to its third gear—a "souvenir" from the ink bottle she had accidentally knocked over while staying up late to revise before the exams.

"Make way! Make way! Hufflepuffs coming through!" Eileen's voice was like a little awl, forcing a gap through the crowd. Her panda hair clip had turned bright gold with excitement, and a cinnamon stick was tangled in the ends of her hair, clearly just snatched from the kitchen. "Hailey! Come and see! We-"

Hailey's gaze passed over countless bobbing heads and landed at the very top of the parchment results sheet. The gilded name "Hailey Leicester" was dazzling in the sunlight, followed by a long string of "Outstanding" marks, like pearls under a Lumos charm. She instinctively took half a step back and bumped into a seventh-year boy behind her. The gears on her bracelet dug painfully into her wrist bone.

"Pinch me," Hailey said, her voice unsteady and her fingertips icy. "I must be dreaming—the last time I dreamed I'd turned into a flying teapot, I fell into a cauldron."

Eileen promptly reached out and pinched her arm, making Hailey grimace in pain. "Hurts, doesn't it? It's not a dream!" Her friend waved the results sheet in front of her eyes, its parchment edges crumpled in her grip. "You got Outstanding in every subject! I was 0.5 points behind you, and I got Outstanding too! The faces on those Slytherins were greener and uglier than the Venomous Tentacula in the Forbidden Forest!"

The chatter around them surged like a tide. "Hufflepuff came first again?" "Isn't that Leicester girl always playing with Muggle stuff?" "I heard her Transfiguration notes can turn a frog perfectly into a teacup..." Cold sweat seeped down Hailey's back. Those gazes were like countless fine needles, making her want to disappear beneath a Disillusionment Charm at once. It was too conspicuous, as conspicuous as the gilded words dancing on the torn page of the book of prophecy.

"Don't listen to them." Eileen suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes wide as two plump pumpkin seeds. "The younger students are passing your vibranium notes around like a bible, and even Professor Sprout copied down my spice recipe! Besides, the two of us together haven't lost as many points as Malfoy has on his own—he lost twenty points just for making fun of Neville's toad!"

Eileen dragged Hailey toward the Hufflepuff Common Room, her skirt brushing suits of armor in the corridor with a clatter. As they passed the Slytherin table, Hailey glimpsed Draco Malfoy crumpling his results sheet into a ball, his platinum hair sticking up in anger like the fur of an angry cat. Pansy Parkinson's cutting voice drifted over. "How could she possibly do better than the older students in our house? Leicester and the others must have used some Muggle cheating method..."

The moment she rushed into the common room, the warm glow of the pumpkin lanterns wrapped around her like a blanket. The Hufflepuff students burst into cheers. Some tossed Rock Cakes into the air, while others raised cups of Pumpkin Juice and shouted, "Long live Leicester!" Hailey's heartbeat gradually steadied. She watched Eileen excitedly wave the results sheet at everyone and suddenly felt that the vibranium bracelet in her palm no longer dug into her so badly—the clicks of its interlocking gears could resonate wonderfully with the cheers too.

"See? I told you," Eileen said, thrusting a cup of hot cocoa into her hand. The milk foam was sprinkled with turmeric powder measured to the gram. "Gears that mesh precisely never slip. Doesn't your dad always say you can't hide real ability?"

Hailey took a sip of cocoa. The spicy ginger and creamy milk slid down her throat. She looked down at the ink stain on her bracelet and suddenly smiled. Perhaps she had been wrong all along. The "dazzling" light in the prophecy did not necessarily mean a light watched by darkness. It could also mean this—a steady, warm light that she made shine through hard work and wisdom, along a path of her own.

II. Gingerbread and ambition: Hufflepuff's low-key celebration

In a corner of the Hufflepuff Common Room, the pumpkin-velvet sofas had been moved into a circle, with the Ceylon cinnamon Eileen had secretly brought from home and Hailey's little vibranium spoon set in the middle. There were no Slytherin silver candlesticks or Gryffindor sparklers, only mead quietly delivered by the house-elves, tiny droplets of condensation forming on the sides of the vibranium cups.

"Ta-da!" Eileen lifted an engraved copper mold, revealing six cauldron-shaped gingerbread biscuits, with miniature magic circles drawn around their edges in icing. "Top-student gingerbread! Made with Madagascar vanilla pods my mum sent me. Eating them can improve your memory! But-" She lowered her voice and leaned closer, looking mysterious. "I secretly added some extra ginger. They taste like the ginger milk pudding you make. Thoughtful of me, wasn't it?"

Hailey took a bite. The ginger's heat and caramel's sweetness burst across her tongue, reminding her of their secret base before they started school. Back then, they had roasted marshmallows with their wands. Eileen had miscast the temperature charm as "Slugulus Eructo," producing a pile of blackened lumps and nearly burning a hole in a water pipe. "Remember?" Hailey asked, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "You said it was a 'magical carbonization experiment,' and Nini chased you with a pot rag and beat you."

"That was an important experiment!" Eileen huffed and slapped the back of her hand, sending turmeric powder from her panda hair clip fluttering into the cocoa. "If it weren't for those lumps of charcoal, how would I have discovered that ground nutmeg can neutralize a burnt taste? Just like in the Potions exam this time—I used that trick to save a cauldron of Shrinking Solution I'd nearly ruined. Professor Snape didn't say anything, but I saw him secretly copy my recipe into his notebook!"

The two lay on the carpet, reviewing the questions they had missed on their exam papers. Hailey's Transfiguration notes lay open, marked in red ink with "error in object transformation angle ≤ 3 degrees," beside a drawing of a little set square. Next to Eileen's Herbology paper was a sprig of lavender flattened under a spice pouch, with a note beneath it: "Paired with Mandrake, effectiveness at easing exam anxiety +40%."

"Oh, right." Hailey suddenly dragged a wooden chest engraved with gear patterns out from under the bed. "There's salt-baked chicken made by Nini hidden in the 'interdimensional refrigerator' my dad sent me." The moment the chest opened, the aroma of chicken spread through the air, mixed with the metallic scent of vibranium. A few sesame seeds still clung to the glossy skin. "He said a good exam result deserved some proper food. How could magic sweets compare with the smell of meat?"

Eileen grabbed a drumstick and started eating, splashing grease onto her Potions recipe. "Let's start a 'top-student study group' next term! We can teach everyone to remember spells using Muggle logic-like imagining the arc of pulling open a drawer when they think of Alohomora—and use the properties of spices to memorize Potions ingredients: ginger for passion, cinnamon for warmth. I bet it won't be long before Hufflepuff takes all five top places!"

Hailey watched her draw plans on a sheet of paper with greasy fingertips and suddenly felt that "first place" did not mean defeating anyone. It meant proving that their mixed-and-matched logic really worked. Just like this salt-baked chicken: made with a Muggle cooking method and a wizard's Preservation Charm, it still smelled good enough to make someone lick their fingers. She remembered the words in her father's letter: "True innovation has never been about overturning the rules, but finding new ways to mesh within them."

"All right," Hailey said, wiping the grease from the corner of Eileen's mouth, a light in her eyes unlike any before. "But there has to be one condition-every meeting must have my own original gingerbread."

Eileen nodded vigorously, waving the chicken bone in her hand like a conductor's baton. "Deal! Then we'll sit in the very front row and watch those Slytherins' eyes go wide!"

Moonlight shone through the stained glass outside the window, casting gear-shaped patches of light over their results sheets. Hailey touched the vibranium bracelet on her wrist. The sound of its turning gears seemed to have gained a lighter rhythm. Perhaps that was what growing up was like: going from being afraid to stand before others to daring to lead everyone forward together. After all, "fighting alone" had never been in Hufflepuff's dictionary.

III. Gifts and a legacy: Hufflepuff House's quiet support

Morning sunlight had only just climbed the curtains of the four-poster bed when a rustling sound woke Hailey. She opened her eyes to find a small pile of gifts beside her pillow, like a group of Gnomes standing in formation. On top was a honey biscuit shaped like a vibranium gear, with a few unmelted grains of icing clinging to its edge. It was clearly the work of a younger student.

"Morning, birthday girl." Eileen came in from outside with her blond hair tousled, carrying a steaming cup of cocoa. "Come and see the surprises everyone has for you. Lillian said she'd been waiting outside the common room since midnight for you to wake up." Her birthday would still fall during the holidays this year, but because everyone was so enthusiastic, they were holding a small celebration at school in advance. It was more of a gathering to share good food, really.

Hailey picked up the biscuit and took a bite. The aroma of butter and honey melted on her tongue. Underneath was a copy of Advanced Muggle Physics, with a message written in green ink on the title page: "The principle of levers on page 42 might improve the Levitation Charm. Have you tried using a wand as the fulcrum? -Ted, third year." Beneath that was a notebook on A History of Magic, written in neat, graceful handwriting. A note with a smiling face drawn on it was tucked inside: "Your Muggle calendar annotations were so useful! I finally understood the Ministry of Magic reforms of 1692. -Susan, first year."

What warmed her heart most was a yellowed leather notebook with "Selected notes from outstanding Hufflepuff students through the years" written on its cover. On the first page, beside an illustrated herb chart from 1972, someone had written in pencil, "Mandrakes are afraid of rock music. Tried using a radio against one." On a Potions recipe page from 1985, a dried sprig of rosemary had been pasted beside the annotation, "Add a spoonful of honey to sweeten the antidote." On the newest page were copies of her and Eileen's results sheets, with a message written beside them in bold green ink: "The glory of Hufflepuff House has never been short-lived."

"The prefects found this treasure," Eileen said, leaning over and gently brushing her fingers across the yellowed pages. "Professor Sprout said Hufflepuff's excellence is like roots underground—not conspicuous, but deep."

In the common room, students who usually hid in corners suddenly gathered around. Lillian, her hair in pigtails, held up a cup of hot cocoa with turmeric powder sprinkled over it in the shape of a miniature magic circle. "Hailey, I made this according to your recipe: three grams of magically modified turmeric powder and two hundred milliliters of milk. It's supposed to prevent post-exam memory loss!" The boy in charge of the greenhouse brought over a pot of silvery mint. "Professor Sprout said this is 'top-student grass.' A sniff when you're up late works better than an Invigoration Charm, and it lasts three times as long as the ground nutmeg you used last time!"

Surrounded by everyone, Hailey held the hot cocoa in both hands, warmth spreading from her fingertips to her heart. She suddenly remembered how, when she had first started school, she had always thought Hufflepuff's warmth was like a thin veil, easily scattered by a gust of wind. But now the cocoa in her hands, the notes in her drawer, and the mint from the older student were like ginger tea simmered until thick, enveloping her whole body in comforting warmth.

"It looks like our Hufflepuff gears are finally turning together, nice and steady." Eileen bumped her shoulder, still chewing a biscuit, crumbs falling onto the badge on her chest.

Hailey watched the busy figures in the common room. Some were copying their notes, some were discussing study plans for next term, and even the boy who was usually the most mischievous had started looking into how to use Muggle mind maps to memorize spells. She looked down at the vibranium bracelet on her wrist. Its gears turned gently in the morning light, making faint clicking sounds, as though keeping time with the rhythm of the whole house.

Just then, Cedric came over carrying two Muggle foil-wrapped packages, his Quidditch captain's badge gleaming copper in the morning mist. "Honey cakes my mum baked, with calming lavender added. She said not to get carried away celebrating—the exams next term will be even more important." He paused, his gaze falling on Hailey's vibranium bracelet, and a gentle smile curved his lips. "Oh, right. Director Diggory at the Ministry of Magic-my father-heard about your results and asked me to see if you'd be interested in an internship in his Department of Magical Equipment over the summer holidays. They need wizards who understand Muggle mechanics to make precise calibrations to magical equipment."

Hailey held the warm foil package and suddenly felt her eyes grow hot. So "first place" had never been the finish line. For them, this was only the beginning—a chance to use interdimensional wisdom and lead all of Hufflepuff to leave firmer footprints along the boundary between magic and science. And the blessings hidden in the gingerbread, the encouragement in the notes, and the turmeric powder in the hot cocoa were their staunchest support.

"About the internship..." Hailey's voice was a little choked, but unusually firm. "I'll have to ask my dad first. He's been working on making a magic printer out of a Muggle one lately. Maybe he could offer the Ministry of Magic some suggestions."

Eileen suddenly jumped up, her panda hair clip nearly hitting Cedric in the face. "Then I'm going too! I can teach them to use spices to give equipment a magical coating. It's ten times more durable than the silver paint they use now!"

Cedric smiled and nodded, waving to them as he turned away. "Remember to write application letters. My father says creative wizards are always welcome-especially the kind who know how to make gears mesh precisely."

Hailey watched him walk away, then looked at the foil package in her hands. The sweet aroma of cake mixed with lavender was just like Hufflepuff's spirit-warm and grounded, yet hiding a resilience unknown to others. She took a bite and suddenly remembered something her father often said: "The best invention isn't one that makes a single gear turn fastest, but one that makes every gear turn in harmony."

Outside the window, a flock of owls swept over the castle, the beat of their wings like gentle drumming. Hailey knew that no matter what was written on the torn page of the book of prophecy, as long as she had these gears willing to turn alongside her and the welcoming soil of Hufflepuff, she would never be a lonely "sacrifice." After all, in this world where magic and science intertwined, the most dazzling light had never been the spark of someone fighting alone, but a galaxy formed from countless glimmers shining together.

And her galaxy had only just begun to shine.