The Gaunt family can be traced back to Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. They can barely be considered descendants of Slytherin, but according to records, this family has had no descendants for decades. Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin Gaunt, and Merope Gaunt were the last three members of the Gaunt family that existed back then. These three names and the origin of the Gaunt family instinctively registered in Lin Yue's mind, merging with the vast amount of information she had previously read. They were just waiting to be retrieved when needed and could also be interconnected to form a larger web.
"Lin Yue, good evening." Cho Chang and Marietta walked into the dormitory. After having dinner, the two of them went to the library to do some homework, which is why they only returned now. Upon returning, they saw Lin Yue sitting in her seat reading, and Marietta exchanged glances with Cho Chang, signaling her.
How did Lin Yue come back? Didn't she go to find Hermione? Cho Chang was momentarily taken aback and blinked in response to Marietta. Wasn't she just going to comfort Hermione? After comforting her, of course, she would come back.
Cho Chang had a look of obviousness on her face, but Marietta looked disappointed. Knowing her best friend well, Cho Chang could tell what Marietta was thinking just by looking at her expression. With a helpless roll of her eyes, Cho Chang leaned closer to Marietta and whispered in a "fierce" tone.
"They're both still young!"
Marietta, feeling guilty, raised her hand to touch her nose and spoke in a similarly low voice, "I know, but isn't Hermione's behavior too obvious?"
"That doesn't matter," Cho Chang shook her head, looking at Lin Yue, who had turned around to face them. "At least they should wait until they're in third year, and Lin Yue has to be able to reciprocate Hermione's feelings."
"That's true." Marietta nodded, affirming her best friend's statement.
"Good evening, Senior Cho Chang, Senior Marietta," Lin Yue greeted the two seniors politely, having overheard their whispered conversation.
As soon as Cho Chang and Marietta called her by her full name, Lin Yue snapped out of her studying state. However, she noticed the exchange of glances between them and chose not to interrupt.
Exchanging glances is still a form of communication, and interrupting others' conversations is quite impolite; of course, she couldn't do that.
When Cho Chang and Marietta heard Lin Yue's greeting, they both smiled and nodded. Their junior was not only excellent but also well-behaved, which made her quite likable.
Stepping forward, Cho Chang affectionately patted Lin Yue's head, and in passing, she noticed the book on the table and paused for a moment.
"A book introducing pure-blood families in the wizarding world? Are you interested in this kind of book too?"
Faced with Cho Chang's surprise, Lin Yue replied in a calm tone, "I read it according to the library's order, and no book is without meaning. Every book is worth reading and should be read."
Cho Chang felt a bit taken aback; how could she have thought to ask Lin Yue that question? She should know Lin Yue's "rules" about reading. It was as if her mind had momentarily short-circuited.
"Alright, you keep reading," Cho Chang smiled and didn't disturb Lin Yue any further. He turned around and went to pack up with Marietta to prepare for a shower.
Lin Yue turned back and quickly got back into a studying state.
The next morning's class was once again the second most uncomfortable class for everyone: Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Of course, the most uncomfortable class was Professor Snape's Potions class. There's no helping it; Professor Snape's words are too harsh, and he really doesn't give full marks or extra points to any students other than Slytherin.
Many young wizards firmly believe that they won't face a class more uncomfortable than Potions until they graduate.
However, Hermione thinks that Professor Snape's Potions class is much better than Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"At least in Professor Snape's Potions class, I can learn something, but what can I learn in Lockhart's class? Acting?"
Hermione ruthlessly criticized Lockhart's unique teaching method.
It seemed that due to the failure of the first class, Lockhart finally realized that his ineptitude would not change just because he had become a professor at Hogwarts.
So he transformed his teaching into a method that was completely ineffective for the young wizards. He had the students take turns coming up to the front to act out scenes from his books, which bored the students from all four houses to no end.
“Harry, Harry, I think you should play me,” he said.
“And you too, Neville, come on, shy boy, you don’t need to be shy in my class.”
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Lockhart beamed as he pointed at Harry and Neville.
Harry was Lockhart's favorite "actor" in class, and he particularly enjoyed having Harry play himself.
Harry privately felt that Lockhart just wanted to see him make a fool of himself; otherwise, why would he always perform so poorly, yet Lockhart still insisted on having him act?
Lin Yue sat in her seat watching Harry and Neville walk up to the podium with a look of despair, beginning their lifeless performance.
At first, Lockhart often called Lin Yue up to perform as well, but after she had gone up twice and delivered her lines with a blank expression and no variation in tone, he stopped calling on her.
If you say she wasn't cooperative... she would get on stage as soon as you called her, showing no signs of dissatisfaction, making it hard for you to find fault with her.
If you say she was cooperative, she would perform with absolutely no emotion or expression, to the point that even Neville performed better than she did.
As a result, Lin Yue had become the "safest" person in Lockhart's class. Watching Harry and Neville's "passionate interpretation" on stage, Hermione helplessly propped her chin up.
"Lin Yue, in comparison, you really are an absolutely amazing teacher. Do you have any plans to stay on and teach at the school in the future?"
As Hermione spoke, she turned to look at Lin Yue. Although it seemed a bit early for them at their age to be discussing future employment issues, she had brought it up, so why not? She was curious about Lin Yue's plans for her future.
Lin Yue stiffly turned her head, her eyes dull as she looked at Hermione. "I will work hard to learn good knowledge, get into university, then pursue a master's degree, and strive to become a doctoral student."
Hearing this, Hermione blinked in surprise. "University? Master's degree? Doctoral degree?"
"Are you going to return to the Muggle world to study?"
Quickly searching her mind, Lin Yue realized that she had never heard of the term’s university, master's degree, or doctoral student in the magical world. Under the influence of her habitual thinking, she assumed that these institutions existed in the magical world, but everyone was just focused on their current studies, so they didn't mention them.
"I will continue my studies in the magical world," Lin Yue mechanically replied to Hermione's question while her mind kept searching.
Hermione looked at Lin Yue in confusion. "I remember... besides Hogwarts, there are no other schools in the British magical world."
There certainly weren't any universities, master's programs, or doctoral programs.
Lin Yue's mind suddenly short-circuited. There was only Hogwarts as a magic school in the UK, so what about further education?
Previously, when she learned that Hogwarts was a seven-year program, she thought it was a combined middle and high school system, and that she would continue to take university entrance exams afterward.
But is that it? Is that the end?
Seeing Lin Yue's stunned expression, Hermione quickly reached out to pat her back.
"It's okay, it's okay. If you want to go to university, I'll go with you. We can apply to Cambridge University, we can go to the University College London, and we can work hard to get into these prestigious schools."
"I'll also accompany you if you want to pursue a master's or a doctorate."
As she spoke, Hermione made a firm decision in her heart; she had to get her parents to help her and Lin Yue prepare in advance.
At the very least, they needed to self-study various courses from the Muggle world, and they had to enroll in a school to register their student status, then apply for a leave of absence to only take exams.
This way, Lin Yue could go to university according to her own plans and pursue further studies for a master's and a doctorate.
Since Hermione now knows what Lin Yue wants to do, she instinctively starts to help her plan, while also including herself in Lin Yue's future plans.
After a brief moment of surprise, Lin Yue nodded calmly, acknowledging that she indeed needs to study hard. There are no higher institutions in the magical world, but there are in the Muggle world.
Learning has no limits; she must continue to learn. In Lin Yue's mind, everything revolves around studying, and it seems that everything is for the sake of learning.
The exasperating Defense Against the Dark Arts class finally came to an end, and Harry and Neville at the podium were as happy as people were twelve years ago when they heard that Voldemort was dead when the bell rang.
Eagerly rushing off the podium, Harry grabbed his backpack and dashed out of the classroom without even calling for Hermione, Ron, and Lin Yue. Amused, Hermione shook her head and, after packing her own bag, linked arms with Lin Yue to walk out of the classroom together.
The nearby Ravenclaws, seeing that Hermione was taking their precious Lin Yue away, all averted their gazes and casually left the classroom.
Upon entering the Great Hall, Hermione only let go of Lin Yue's arm after she had escorted her to the Ravenclaw table.
Lin Yue sat down at the long table and only began to move her knife and fork after Hermione had taken her seat at the Gryffindor table and started eating.
While she was quietly having her lunch, Lin Yue heard a light "bang" from the Slytherin table.
Looking up again, she saw Draco Malfoy sitting there, his whole body covered in colorful paint, with a gloomy expression on his face.
The burn he had received from Lin Yue yesterday had completely healed.
Lin Yue hadn't used magical flames like Fiendfyre; instead, she had borrowed the flames used for lighting at Hogwarts, enhanced with a fire spell.
As a result, he and Crabbe and Goyle only had simple burns.
For Madam Pomfrey, treating such burns was as easy as drinking water; she just used two professional spells and fed them a vial of potion, and the three boys were discharged on the spot.
As for who had attacked them... given that Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore found no traces at the scene, not even a hint of magical residue, this issue, along with the previous explosion at the Slytherin table, had turned into a mystery.
This time, it was clearly the work of a certain Ravenclaws.
The colorful paint that exploded on Draco was not ordinary paint; it sparkled and even seemed to move around on him like a living thing.
Lin Yue recognized the nature of the colorful paint briefly as an alchemical product, and then continued to lower her head and eat.
As for the other Ravenclaws, many of them also recognized what the colorful paint on Draco was.
They almost unanimously shifted their gaze to a seventh-year senior from their house, Senior Pratt.
Such astonishing alchemical work is recognized by everyone, even at Ravenclaw, as something only she could create. Sure enough, Pratt slightly nodded at the Ravenclaws looking at him, indicating that they guessed correctly.
Professor Snape had almost gotten used to the daily "accidents" that occurred with Draco. I have to say, the Ravenclaws really do have the demeanor of top students; they are different from the Gryffindors. Aside from the first day when the Ravenclaws were a bit inexperienced, the later ones had prepared specific methods to prevent the professors from discovering who the "mastermind" was.
Just like now, when Professor Snape raised his wand to remove the colorful paint from Draco, the movement of the paint only paused for a few seconds before suddenly rushing away from Draco towards him. If it weren't for Professor Snape dodging in time, the colorful paint would have attached itself to him.
Watching the colorful paint quickly disappear and evaporate on the ground, Professor Snape's mouth twitched violently a couple of times. He turned to the alchemy professor at the teacher's table, who cleared his throat and walked down to mutter a few alchemical terms to Draco.
In the next moment, a large portion of the colorful paint on Draco disappeared instantly, but the remaining small part could not be removed no matter what.
The alchemy professor raised an eyebrow, already understanding who could produce such a piece of work.
"Truly a grea... challenging piece," he said, glancing at Professor Snape and the nearly tearful Draco beside him, and silently changed his wording.
"I still have a long way to go," Pratt said, watching the professor effortlessly remove more than half of his alchemical creation, shaking his head helplessly.
"How old are you? The professor has been studying alchemy for many years; can you stop belittling yourself and discouraging us?"
A fellow Ravenclaws studying alchemy spoke up, feeling disheartened. If Pratt thought he was lacking, what did that make them?
Had they really learned nothing?
However, what happened next truly made them doubt whether they had learned anything at all.
Pratt stood up and walked confidently to Lin Yue's side. After she swallowed the food in her mouth, he leaned down and spoke gently.
"Lin Yue, may I ask how I can prevent my alchemical creations from being eliminated by others?"
Lin Yue glanced at Pratt and replied flatly, "Of course, Senior Pratt."
After saying that, she turned her attention to Draco, her brain quickly analyzing the methods and principles behind the colorful pigments on him.
From this, she deduced a way to make them disappear, and then worked backwards to figure out how to counteract that method.
In less than five seconds, Lin Yue reached a final conclusion and turned back to clearly articulate her logic to Pratt, word by word.
Pratt nodded along as he listened, almost reaching for a notebook to take notes.
The group of little eagles, who had either just started learning or had been studying alchemy for several years, felt utterly disheartened; indeed, they had wasted their time.