Her face reddened slightly; Hermione cleared her throat and let go. Lynn slowly sat up in bed, right next to Hermione.
Suppressing the heat in her face, Hermione turned to her. "What time... did you wake up?"
"Five," Lynn answered tonelessly, then immediately added as if explaining, "I went to sleep early yesterday, it must have been around eleven."
"So I've had enough sleep with six hours."
"Mm," Hermione gave a gentle smile and reached out to pat the top of Lynn's head. "Good girl, Lynn."
Lynn blinked, not quite understanding why Hermione was praising her.
She hadn't achieved any great grades, and she hadn't even taken a single exam yesterday.
Hermione threw back the covers and quickly pulled on her uniform and wizard robe, looking back at Lynn as she dressed.
Lynn was even faster than her; she had already put on her uniform shirt and wizard robe.
However, she was a bit slow when putting on her uniform trousers—specifically, there was a slight pause when her left leg went into the trousers.
What was going on with Lynn? Hermione frowned hesitantly as she donned her wizard robe. Does her leg hurt? Growing pains?
After putting on her trousers, Lynn pulled back the curtains and stepped out, followed by Hermione in her wizard robe.
Maranhao and Marietta had also just gotten up and were putting on their shoes by their beds.
"Good morning, Lynn." Hearing the movement, the two looked up and smiled at Lynn.
"Good morning, Senior Maranhao and Senior Marietta," Lynn replied with a polite nod.
Hermione also greeted the two seniors and then immediately turned to look at Lynn.
"Lynn, I saw you pause a bit with your left leg while putting on your trousers earlier. Are you injured?"
Hermione walked over to Lynn's side in concern, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on her left leg.
Lynn looked down at her left leg. The ten-centimeter wound on her thigh didn't affect her normal walking because she was used to the pain.
But when bending her leg to put on trousers, she would indeed have a physiological pause.
Hearing Hermione's words, Maranhao and Marietta quickly tied their laces and looked up at Lynn.
Lynn nodded expressionlessly. "There's an injury on my leg."
"What happened?"
"How did you get hurt?"
"Why are you injured?"
The three present immediately surrounded Lynn. Hermione was so anxious she almost wanted to check the injury herself; if it hadn't been on Lynn's leg, she really would have.
"Was it someone from Slytherin?" Maranhao's face was full of solemnity.
One couldn't blame her for suspecting the Slytherins first; it was simply that the only students in Hogwarts who didn't get along with Lynn were from Slytherin.
Marietta also looked at her seriously, her hand even reaching toward her pocket.
If Lynn said yes, she would pull out her wand right now and call all the Ravenclaw Little Eagles to raid the snake's nest.
Not even Professor Snape's presence would stop them.
Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself down. She knew Lynn better and knew that she had punished herself before.
Thus, she didn't believe the Slytherins had hurt Lynn. In her view, unless it was Professor Snape, the Dean of Slytherin House, doing it himself...
Or the entire Slytherin House banding together against Lynn, she believed no one in Slytherin could hurt her.
Even several of them together wouldn't suffice; only a whole house might succeed in a sneak attack.
That left only one possibility. Hermione's eyes bore into Lynn, her whole body radiating the aura of a lioness about to lose her temper.
Not even caring that the two seniors were right there, Hermione asked in a low voice.
"Lynn, you punished yourself again, didn't you?"
Maranhao and Marietta were both stunned and turned their heads in unison to stare at Lynn.
Under the gaze of the two Little Eagles and one Little Lion, Lynn nodded with a cold expression.
"I made a mistake, so I need to accept punishment."
"Merlin's mistake!" Hermione spat out the words through gritted teeth, her eyes reddening slightly.
She felt both pained and angry—pained that Lynn had hurt herself again, and angry that she had let this happen again despite having encountered it before.
"Didn't I... tell you not to punish yourself anymore?"
Hermione tried to calm herself, her voice carrying a hint of a sob.
"I haven't punished myself because of studying anymore." Lynn nodded earnestly, indicating she had done what Hermione asked.
In a daze, Hermione recalled what she had told Lynn: Don't punish yourself because of studying anymore.
"So, you don't just punish yourself because of studying, right?"
Hearing the trembling question, Lynn's heart suddenly twitched for some reason.
"Yes," Lynn admitted without a change in tone. "As long as a mistake is made, I should accept punishment."
"I don't even need to ask who taught you this." Hermione wiped her eyes and turned to Maranhao and Marietta with a determined gaze. "Senior Maranhao, Senior Marietta, please help me and Lynn ask for leave. I need to have a proper talk with her."
Maranhao and Marietta looked at each other and nodded.
"No problem. We'll ask for leave too. Once we're back, we'll all have a good talk together."
They were also very concerned about Lynn's situation.
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