"To, Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect, while others were in grave peril fifty points."
The hall erupted in enthusiastic applause, with all three houses except Slytherin clapping, undoubtedly acknowledging that recognizing others' excellence is also a virtue.
Hermione’s turn to blush; she smiled shyly, and her gaze instinctively turned to Ravenclaw, where she immediately spotted Lin Yue at that moment, Lin Yue was clapping along with everyone else, her face showing no expression. Hermione's joy instantly diminished by more than half; she wished to share the happiness with Lin Yue, she couldn’t help but think.
"Second, Mr. Ronald Weasley for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years, fifty points."
Now it was Ron’s face that had turned almost as red as his hair, and he shyly lowered his head, crossing his arms to cover his face. Meanwhile, his brother Percy was proudly talking about his little brother’s achievements to others, while Harry and Hermione looked at him with cheerful smiles.
Headmaster Dumbledore raised his hands to signal for silence, and the hall quieted down again.
"And third to Mr. Harry Potter," Headmaster Dumbledore paused for a moment, "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, so I will award him sixty points."
As the hall erupted into another round of sustained applause, Headmaster Dumbledore had to raise his hand again to signal everyone to stop.
"And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. Therefore, I will award ten points to Neville Longbottom."
Neville's expression was one of surprise at the Gryffindor long table, as he had never earned a single point for Gryffindor before. His classmates around him were happily patting him on the shoulder.
Even though the points added now were not enough to surpass Ravenclaw, it was still satisfying for the Gryffindors. They had all seen the efforts of the Ravenclaws and, deep down, they knew they couldn't catch up, especially with someone as formidable as Lin Yue in Ravenclaw. It was only right for Ravenclaw to win the House Cup.
Moreover, for the Gryffindors... as long as Slytherin didn't win the House Cup, it didn't matter which house took it.
Headmaster Dumbledore raised his hands to quiet the hall again, turning his gaze towards Lin Yue at the Ravenclaw table. The young witch's face remained expressionless, her eyes devoid of any sparkle. No one could read a single bit of information from her face or know what she was thinking.
In fact, Lin Yue's thoughts were quite simple. She was subconsciously analyzing the reasons for the points awarded to Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville based on Dumbledore's words. Ron earned points for getting Harry and the others through the chess game, Hermione earned points for bringing Harry through the potions challenge, and Harry earned points for bravely facing Professor Quirrell and Voldemort without yielding.
As for Neville, Lin Yue's mind quickly recalled what Dumbledore had just said about standing by one's principles in the face of friends. Neville's friends would refer to Hermione and the others, and standing by principles would mean adhering to school rules.
From this, it could be inferred that Neville must have tried to stop Harry and the others from going out during curfew, but since they ended up going to the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor, he must have failed.
So, Lin Yue mechanically turned her head, her gaze landing on Hermione among the three. It must be Hermione, after all, her spellcasting was the best among the three.
Neville's expression was one of the surprises at the Gryffindor long table, as he had never earned a single point for Gryffindor before. His classmates around him were happily patting him on the shoulder.
Even though the points added now were not enough to surpass Ravenclaw, it was still satisfying for the Gryffindors. They had all seen the efforts of the Ravenclaws and, deep down, they knew they couldn't catch up, especially with someone as formidable as Lin Yue in Ravenclaw. It was only right for Ravenclaw to win the House Cup.
Moreover, for the Gryffindors... as long as Slytherin didn't win the House Cup, it didn't matter which house took it.
Headmaster Dumbledore raised his hands to quiet the hall again, turning his gaze towards Lin Yue at the Ravenclaw table. The young witch's face remained expressionless, her eyes devoid of any sparkle. No one could read a single bit of information from her face or know what she was thinking.
In fact, Lin Yue's thoughts were quite simple. She was subconsciously analyzing the reasons for the points awarded to Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville based on Dumbledore's words. Ron earned points for getting Harry and the others through the chess game, Hermione earned points for bringing Harry through the potions challenge, and Harry earned points for bravely facing Professor Quirrell and Voldemort without yielding.
As for Neville, Lin Yue's mind quickly recalled what Dumbledore had just said about standing by one's principles in the face of friends. Neville's friends would refer to Hermione and the others, and standing by principles would mean adhering to school rules.
From this, it could be inferred that Neville must have tried to stop Harry and the others from going out during curfew, but since they ended up going to the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor, he must have failed.
So, Lin Yue mechanically turned her head, her gaze landing on Hermione among the three. It must be Hermione, after all, her spellcasting was the best among the three.
Hermione felt the gaze directed at her and turned to meet Lin Yue's eyes, who smiled brightly at her. Lin Yue nodded back without any ripple of emotion in her heart.
Principal Dumbledore observed the interaction between Lin Yue and Hermione, smiling subtly; youth is truly wonderful...
He redirected his attention to the students in the entire hall, "Finally, Miss Lin Yue, she has single-handedly passed all the challenges set by the professors, successfully confronted the dark wizard, protected the Philosopher's Stone, and safeguarded her friends. Therefore, I am awarding Miss Lin Yue one hundred seventy points."
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"This also means," Dumbledore had to raise his voice because all the students from the three houses had stood up, enthusiastically applauding for Ravenclaw. Hermione and her friends were extremely happy, watching Lin Yue; Ravenclaw had won the House Cup by a large margin, and she was truly the biggest contributor.
"Ravenclaw House has won this year's House Cup!"
At the Ravenclaw table, the little eagles erupted in cheers, while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff also clapped joyfully.
Although the Slytherins did not stand up to applaud, there was no negative emotion in their gazes towards Ravenclaw. While they were reluctant to see their house's potential seven-year winning streak interrupted, they respected Ravenclaw's victory this time.
Amidst the cheers, Cho Chang, Marietta, and several other Ravenclaws hugged Lin Yue together, surrounding her and shouting happily. In contrast, Lin Yue's expression was calm, her mind repeatedly cycling through two contradictory thoughts. She had made eight mistakes along the way, and thus punished herself eight times.
However, Principal Dumbledore had awarded her points instead, rewarding her for what she felt were mistakes. Why reward herself when she had clearly done wrong? No feelings of confusion arose; Lin Yue's mind quickly analyzed the possible reasoning. It must be a way to use rewards ironically to help her remember this mistake.
Lin Yue ultimately concluded that her father had punished her in this way before.
Once, when she failed to achieve full marks in all subjects due to a mistake, even though she was still the top student at the end of the academic year, her father "rewarded" her with the only new piece of clothing she had received in three years.
The front of the shirt had three large characters: "First Place," while the back bore the phrase "First Place but Didn't Get Full Marks," with the particularly eye-catching words "Pig Brain" underneath.
Emotionless, she wore this shirt outside without feeling sad or embarrassed, but she keenly analysed that it was a punishment for not achieving full marks and for not meeting expectations.
Therefore, now, when faced with Professor Dumbledore's extra points, she also analysed it as a similar situation.
The bruises still present on her legs and the extra points in the funnel, the rewards and the punishments in her mind, created an absolute and contradictory split between reward and punishment at this moment.
The dinner was very pleasant, and the Ravenclaws sitting next to Lin Yue were all eager to serve her more food, constantly reminding her to eat slowly, as the end-of-year dinner was not the time for studying.
Even if they finished the dinner at lightning speed, they wouldn’t let her touch her books; after a whole year of hard work, it was time to rest.
Halfway through the dinner, Hermione, Harry, and Ron ran over to the Ravenclaw table. Facing Lin Yue, the three of them had serious expressions and solemnly expressed their gratitude.
This was not only for the incident with the Philosopher's Stone but also for all the help Lin Yue had given them throughout the semester.
"Thank you, Lin Yue. If it weren't for you, I might have died in the Forbidden Section on the fourth floor that night," Harry said earnestly as he looked at Lin Yue. "I really shouldn't have received extra points; I got help from all of you."
"Don't say that, Harry. A big part of the courage Ron and I had come from you," Hermione said, giving Harry's shoulder a pat to boost his confidence.
"That's right, buddy. Because you were there, I could be braver," Ron added, looking at Lin Yue with a completely serious expression, unlike his usual somewhat silly demeanour. "Thank you for saving me that day."
Lin Yue shook her head expressionlessly and first looked at Harry, "No one can deny your courage to face Quirrell and Voldemort."
She was always gentler and more tolerant towards others than towards herself, strict with herself but lenient with others; this was a rule she followed deeply ingrained in her bones.
Turning to Ron, Lin Yue nodded, "You're welcome."
Hermione smiled and stepped forward to gently hug Lin Yue, "There are so many things I want to thank you for. You helped me uncover the truth during the Quidditch match, you helped me put on the Invisibility Cloak when we sent off Norbert, and you saved me and Harry in the Forbidden Forest... You really, really helped me a lot. You're really great."
"Thank you..." Lin Yue replied mechanically, returning the hug.
Hermione sniffed, "Now that the truth is out, I think it's time for me to do what I had in mind before."
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in confusion. What did she mean by doing what she had in mind before? Did she have something unfinished?
Released from Hermione's embrace, Lin Yue followed her gaze to Professor Snape at the teacher's table and quickly recalled how Hermione had directly burned the robes of both Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell during the Quidditch match.
Lin Yue instantly understood Hermione's intention. Taking a deep breath, Hermione pulled out a tightly wrapped wizard's robe from a small bag she had been carrying on her back.
Then, she walked steadily towards Professor Snape at the teacher's table. Harry and Ron exchanged glances, swallowed hard, and followed her.
Lin Yue's eyes were as still as dead water, devoid of any ripples, as she followed closely behind Hermione.
When they reached Professor Snape, Hermione took a deep breath in front of his deadpan gaze, similar to Lin Yue's, and extended her hands to present the tightly wrapped wizarding robe.
"Professor Snape, I'm really sorry for doubting you during the Quidditch match and for burning your robe. This is the robe I’m giving you as compensation."
Professor Snape's face seemed to twitch a couple of times as he accepted the robe from Hermione.
Harry and Ron also looked at Professor Snape and sincerely said they were sorry. No matter how Snape usually treated them or how biased he was towards Slytherin, they realized that doubting him was a mistake, and they should admit their fault.
Lin Yue also deeply bowed to Professor Snape, saying, "I'm sorry, Professor Snape."
She had clearly deduced the truth but allowed Hermione to eliminate the potential risks according to her own thoughts, so she was also at fault; Lin Yue's mind was certain of this.
Professor Snape spoke slowly, "It is indeed foolish to casually suspect others, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."
"But I think..." Professor Snape paused, "that timely eliminating all possible risks is wisdom. Moreover, how foolish it is to admit your mistakes after others have not caught your errors. Do you think you will receive praise for this? Now go back to your seats."
Hearing the familiar sarcasm from Professor Snape, Hermione and the others secretly broke into a sweat but also felt relieved, immediately pulling Lin Yue away.
After they left, Principal Dumbledore turned to Professor Snape with a cheerful expression.
"Severus, there's no need to be so serious when teaching the children; they can easily misunderstand things."
This Severus... He clearly meant to tell Harry that in uncertain situations, one must absolutely eliminate all possible dangers; that is the right approach.
And he shouldn't admit to mistakes that others haven't caught him on; he shouldn't be so stubborn, yet he insists on saying it this way, always reminding himself to attract hatred.
Professor Snape snorted coldly and put away the new robe in his hands. "I'm not interested in educating them."
Principal Dumbledore shook his head with a smile. Well, Severus would never admit it; that's just his personality.
After the end-of-year feast, Lin Yue said goodbye to Hermione and the others, and amidst the cheerful chatter of the little eagles, returned to her dormitory.
Sitting on her bed in the dormitory, Lin Yue had already packed her things and confirmed that she hadn't left anything behind. She stared intently at Cho Chang and Marietta as they packed their belongings.
She had originally wanted to borrow a few books from the Ravenclaw library to study, but was discovered by Penelope, who directly "escorted" her back to the dormitory, so she didn't manage to get the books.
Now, she could only watch Cho Chang and Marietta pack while mentally reviewing all the first-year textbooks from Hogwarts, as continuous revision was also very necessary.
Once Cho Chang and Marietta confirmed that they had packed everything, they finally sighed in relief and sat down on their respective beds.
After discussing where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do during the holiday, Cho Chang and Marietta simultaneously turned their attention to Lin Yue.
"Lin Yue, do you have any plans for the holiday?" Cho Chang asked curiously, looking at Lin Yue.
Lin Yue looked at Cho Chang , her face expressionless, and replied in a mechanical tone, "Finish all my homework, review the first-grade curriculum, thoroughly master the second-grade curriculum, and then study independently."
Cho Chang felt a bit choked up; Lin Yue was really pushing herself too hard, not even giving herself a break during the summer vacation?
"During the break... you don't have to be this intense, right?" Marietta said with difficulty. To be honest, at Hogwarts, students who can seriously complete their homework during the holidays are already considered quite good. Someone like Lin Yue, who plans her holiday like this... could be called one of a kind; she wasn't leaving herself any time to rest at all.
Lin Yue nodded as if it were obvious, saying in a flat tone what she had once heard her mother say, "You should also study during the holidays; the holiday is for learning in a different environment, not for completely slacking off. Not studying will only allow others to surpass you."
Cho Chang and Marietta silently shouted in their hearts, "No way, okay! Absolutely not!" There really aren't any students at Hogwarts who are this intense; even Ravenclaw students aren't this intense!
Lin Yue's expression remained calm. The reason she didn't mention attending tutoring classes during the holiday was naturally that she had never attended one. Enrolling her in tutoring classes would be an additional "waste" of money, so her parents had always let her study at home on her own.
Anyway, if she worked hard enough, she could compete with those who attended tutoring classes; that's what her parents told her.