After Hermione left, Lynn sat back in her chair with an expressionless face and resumed her studies.
She had promised Hermione to get six hours of sleep every night and to stop punishing herself over her grades, so she would naturally follow through on those two points.
However, in other aspects, she still adhered to her "rules." For instance, except for sleeping, eating, and attending to necessary biological needs, all other time was study time; another rule was that she must accept punishment after violating school rules or other regulations.
Her brain was indeed subconsciously giving her hints, prompting her to listen to Hermione.
Otherwise, if it were anyone else—unless they were a Professor or the Principal—she wouldn't care what they said, let alone change her study plans and regulations because of them.
As for why her brain repeatedly wanted her to listen to Hermione... Lynn didn't know herself. The missing piece of her brain and heart made it impossible for her to understand this behavior.
When Maranhao and Marietta returned, they saw Lynn sitting at her desk reading intently, just as she had before Christmas.
The two moved quietly, taking turns to shower, and then sat or lay on their beds to read the books they kept specifically for bedtime reading.
At eleven o'clock at night, Maranhao was the first to put down her book. She rubbed her eyes, said goodnight to Marietta and Lynn, and then curled up under her covers to sleep.
Marietta, however, didn't feel sleepy because she had slept on the hogwarts express on the way back, so she continued to hold her book and read.
Until nearly midnight, a scene occurred that shocked her: Lynn, who should have continued reading, actually closed her book, stood up expressionlessly, took her change of clothes, and walked into the washroom to shower.
After coming out from her shower, she briskly dried her hair. Marietta stared blankly at the scene, somewhat unsure if the person before her was actually Lynn.
Or... was Lynn finally feeling tired? Was she going to rest early?
Thinking of this, a sense of relief actually welled up in Marietta's heart.
After drying her hair, Lynn looked up and glanced at Marietta with a calm gaze. Remembering that Maranhao had said goodnight to both of them before sleeping, Lynn spoke in a completely flat tone.
"Goodnight." After saying that, she lay down on her bed, reached out to pull the bed curtains shut, covered herself with the quilt, and went to sleep.
Marietta watched the curtains Lynn had pulled shut and couldn't help but swallow. She... actually went to sleep?
But why did Lynn look so unwell? Her cheeks were abnormally pale, and her lips were dark. Earlier, she had been sitting with her back to her and Maranhao, so they hadn't noticed.
Taking a sudden look just now... her complexion was truly terrible. Was she sick?
Suppressing her shock and worry, Marietta closed her book and lay down on her bed, pulling her curtains shut. She decided to find time tomorrow with Maranhao to ask Lynn if she was sick; if so, they would take her to the Hospital Wing.
Closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind, Marietta fell asleep not long after.
Lynn lay in bed and covered herself with the quilt. Almost as soon as she closed her eyes, her body—so exhausted it could have made her faint at any moment—immediately "pulled" her into sleep.
Tragically, just an hour later, Lynn's eyes snapped open again.
Subconsciously starting to get up to pull back the curtains and study, Lynn remembered the moment she reached out that she had promised Hermione to get six hours of sleep and that she should continue sleeping.
Withdrawing her hand, Lynn lowered her eyes and slowly lay back down on the bed.
Closing her eyes, her tired body pulled her into a deep sleep once more, until she woke up again an hour later.
This cycle repeated for six hours. Lynn would wake up once every hour and then fall back asleep; through all this tossing and turning, she didn't get a single moment of peaceful rest.
At six in the morning, having "slept" for six hours, Lynn sat up with a face as still as dead water. She dressed quickly, pulled back the bed curtains, and sat at her desk to read.
After finishing all the books she had borrowed from the Ravenclaw House small library, Lynn put on her backpack and walked out of the Dormitory silently, carrying the books.
After returning the books to the small Library, Lynn left the Ravenclaw Common Room with her backpack and headed straight for the Hogwarts Library.
When she reached the Library, Madam Pince had already begun organizing her things to start work.
Lynn greeted her expressionlessly, "Good morning, Madam Pince."
"Good morning, Miss Lynn." Madam Pince instinctively looked up and smiled in response.
However, upon seeing Lynn's face, her eyes widened in shock. "Why is your face even paler than before?! And those dark circles... did you stay up all night studying?"
Lynn was silent for a moment before answering in a flat tone, "I won't anymore. I will ensure six hours of sleep."
Madam Pince nodded reluctantly. "Well... though I think for Young Wizards like you, six hours of sleep isn't quite enough."
Lynn calmly looked away and walked straight to the bookshelves, pulling out several books in order before bringing them to Madam Pince.
Madam Pince helped Lynn register the books. After thanking her politely, Lynn left the Library with the books and walked quickly toward the Great Hall.
Walking into the Great Hall, breakfast had just been served. Lynn sat at the Ravenclaw Table and began eating her breakfast at a rapid pace.
Just as she was halfway through, Hermione, who had gotten up extra early specifically to catch her in the Great Hall, walked in yawning.
Though Hermione had gotten enough sleep, please forgive her—she really hadn't woken up this early very often; she had gotten up at six-thirty.
However, when she saw Lynn sitting at the Ravenclaw Table, she instantly felt that her early start was worth it.
Walking forward quickly, Hermione leaned down to carefully examine Lynn's face. Well... although it was still very poor, at least it looked quite a bit better than it had yesterday.
It seemed she had likely followed her instructions and slept for six hours. Hermione nodded in satisfaction.
"Good morning, Lynn," Hermione said, sitting directly opposite Lynn without regard for the fact that this was the Ravenclaw Table.
Lynn, who had shown no reaction while Hermione examined her, only looked up from the breakfast on her plate when she heard her name called, answering in a voice without any ripples.
"Good morning, Hermione."
Hermione used her fork and knife to take a sandwich, took a large bite, and asked while chewing.
"You slept for six hours yesterday, right? I see your complexion has improved quite a bit."
"Yes... I slept enough." Lynn nodded with a flat tone. Although she woke up once every hour, she would fall back asleep immediately as long as she lay down and closed her eyes, so it could be said that she had slept for six hours.
"That's good," Hermione smiled and handed Lynn a cup of pumpkin juice. "Now that your sleeping time has normalized, do you feel much more comfortable?"
Lynn reached out to take the pumpkin juice Hermione handed over, took a sip, and nodded with a faint expression.
"Yes, much more comfortable."
"That's good," Hermione said cheerfully.
Still finishing breakfast in three and a half minutes, Lynn stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. Her first class this morning was Transfiguration.
Before the Transfiguration Class began, Professor McGonagall noticed Lynn sitting in the front row as usual the moment she walked into the classroom.
Naturally, she also noticed the abnormal pallor and fatigue on her face. "Miss Lynn, are you ill?"
Professor McGonagall looked at Lynn with concern. "If you're sick, you can go see Poppy—that is, go to the Hospital Wing. You'll get better very quickly."
Lynn shook her head calmly. "Thank you for your concern, Professor McGonagall, but I am not ill."
"Not ill? Then what is going on with your complexion?"
Lynn's brain stalled slightly as she remembered the phrase Madam Pince had used.
"Staying up late to study."
What she said was the truth; there was nothing wrong with it at all, and it aligned perfectly with the facts.
It was just that her "staying up late" involved staying awake for several days until she fell into a coma.
Professor McGonagall frowned deeply. "Miss Lynn, I cannot approve of your method of staying up late to study. Young Wizards are in their growing years; you need sufficient sleep."
Lynn nodded with empty eyes, repeating the same words she had said to Madam Pince.
"It won't happen again."
"I hope so." Seeing Lynn's empty eyes and expressionless face, Professor McGonagall sighed and said nothing more.
In Transfiguration, Lynn continued to display her excellence and formidable point-earning ability, just as she did in every previous class.
By the end of the lesson, she had earned quite a few more points for Ravenclaw. Since the start of the term...
Relying on Lynn and the Ravenclaw top students who were stimulated by her, Ravenclaw House's House points were now leading by a wide margin, leaving the other three Houses far behind.
The first-year curriculum at Hogwarts really wasn't very heavy. After the morning classes ended, there were no more lessons in the afternoon.
Lynn ate lunch very quickly and walked while reading. Moving with great speed, she arrived at the Library, sat in her usual spot, and began to read.
She completely failed to notice that three little tails had been following her the whole time.
One of the three little tails, Ron Weasley, turned to look at Hermione with a face full of pain.
"Hermione... if there are no classes this afternoon, that's meant for resting. Wouldn't it be nice for us to go back to the common room and rest a bit?"
"If you're worried about Lynn studying for too long, we can just take her with us to rest."
The second of the three little tails, Hermione —hearing Ron's words, Hermione couldn't help but remember how Lynn had punished herself because she had taken her to see the Quidditch match.
Feeling a pang of dull pain in her heart, Hermione shook her head. "No need. I just want to study with her."
While studying, she could also keep an eye on that girl, lest she do something again.
Moreover, she could control the study time and make her... rest in a timely manner, while constantly reminding her that she wasn't allowed to harm herself because of resting.
"And you and Harry haven't finished your homework either, right? You can finish it in a bit."
Hermione stared at Harry and Ron with a serious gaze. The two boys felt as if they were being watched by Professor McGonagall and couldn't muster the slightest thought of saying no.
"Alright... we'll finish it as quickly as possible." Harry followed his heart and yielded to Hermione.
"Very good." Hermione smiled with satisfaction, then walked into the Library and sat down next to Lynn. She didn't disturb her, simply taking out a book to read slowly.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, sighed helplessly, and also stepped forward to sit opposite Hermione and Lynn, taking out their homework to write seriously.
After studying for nearly an hour and a half, Hermione looked up and blinked her slightly aching eyes hard, then reached out and tapped Lynn's shoulder.
"Lynn, Lynn."
Hearing her full name called, Lynn immediately detached from her study state and turned to look at Hermione with an expressionless face.
"You've been reading for an hour and a half. Take a break."
"I don't ne—" Lynn instinctively wanted to say she didn't need to rest, but she was abruptly interrupted by Hermione.
"You're not allowed to say you don't need rest. You're a human, not a machine. Rest properly."
As Hermione spoke, she even reached out and pulled the books in front of Lynn to herself. Forced rest!
Lynn slowly withdrew her gaze and leaned back against the chair, her eyes fixed steadily on the wall opposite her.
She appeared to be spacing out and resting, but in reality, she was constantly reciting the contents of the books she had just read in her mind.
On the other side, Harry and Ron also entered their break time with Hermione's permission.
Taking advantage of the break, Hermione lowered her voice and asked them, "So... during the Christmas holidays, did you find out who Nicolas Flamel is?"
"No..." Harry shook his head somewhat guiltily. He and Ron had spent the Christmas holidays just doing homework and then playing in various ways.
He only remembered to go check who he was on the first night he received the invisibility cloak; later, the two of them had forgotten all about it.
"Well," Hermione shrugged, "it's not like I didn't expect that. If you didn't find out, you didn't find out. We'll just keep looking slowly."
Harry and Ron could only nod silently in agreement.
Beside them, Lynn was expressionlessly reciting the contents of the books from earlier. The conversation between Hermione, Harry, and Ron also entered her ears.
But just like last time, Hermione and the others hadn't asked her, so she defaulted to the assumption that they didn't need her to tell them who Nicolas Flamel was. Thus, Lynn did not speak up.
Just as the four were resting, a commotion rang out from outside the Library.
Listening carefully, it seemed that Neville and Malfoy's voices were among them.
The Gryffindor trio looked at each other, all feeling that nothing good was likely happening outside the Library at this moment, especially with Neville and Malfoy involved together.
Without even having to think, they knew Malfoy was probably bullying Neville. Without the slightest hesitation, Hermione, Harry, and Ron stood up abruptly and walked out of the Library together.
Lynn watched the three's retreating backs with a flat gaze. Two seconds later, she also obeyed the thought in her mind, stood up, and followed them with a heart that remained completely untroubled.
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