Although Hermione felt that Amanda was secretly carrying out some plan, considering there were so many people around, she said nothing and temporarily pretended not to have seen the inadvertent smile Amanda had just revealed.
After locking Nagini in Ravenclaw Castle, before Amanda could say anything, she was pulled into a hug by Mrs. Weasley, who kissed her forehead several times.
"Thank you, Amanda, really, thank you. If it weren't for you, what would our family do?"
"Merlin above, you saved Ginny before, and now you've saved Arthur. Oh, Merlin..."
Listening to Mrs. Weasley's constant whispered thanks in her ear while holding her, Amanda truly felt a bit embarrassed.
"It's nothing, Mrs. Weasley. I'm just helping everyone as much as I can within my ability."
"And didn't Mr. Weasley help me before? We all know we should help each other as much as possible."
Amanda's calm and indifferent voice seemed to possess a soothing power, and Mrs. Weasley's emotions gradually stabilized.
She let go of Amanda and reached out to help tidy her hair. "We will always remember your help, child. Thank you."
Amanda shook her head gently and spoke in a gentle voice, "You're welcome, Mrs. Weasley."
She only hoped that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't be angry later when she found out Amanda was funding her two sons' joke shop; after all, she had heard that Mrs. Weasley hoped Fred and George would work in the Ministry of Magic.
Perhaps because that kind of work was stable?
However, Fred and George's future would likely not be like that.
While her thoughts were racing, Amanda's movements didn't falter at all. She slowly patted Mrs. Weasley's back, acting as a junior in the eyes of the adults present, yet comforting one of those adults.
Watching the calmed Mrs. Weasley return to the bedside, Amanda breathed a faint sigh of relief and turned to look at the four Ravenclaw seniors.
"Thank you, seniors. Your reward will be delivered to you in a day. Also..."
Amanda took four small notebooks out of her wizard robe pocket and handed them to the four Ravenclaw seniors present.
"I asked Senior Platt beforehand about the research you usually conduct and your main research directions. These are some ideas and possibilities I briefly wrote down based on your research directions. I hope they will be helpful to you."
Hearing Amanda's earlier mention of giving them a reward, the four Little Eagles truly wanted to decline on the spot. They weren't short of money. Helping their own junior, and against Voldemort at that—how could they take money?
But seeing the four notebooks Amanda handed out, the four Little Eagles accepted them with immediate thanks without a second thought. Once they had them, they couldn't wait to start flipping through, their eyes brightening the more they read.
Truly worthy of being the universally acknowledged magical genius; the ideas and possibilities Junior Lin Yue wrote in the notebooks were so inspiring to them!
It made them wish they could rush home right now to try out these ideas and then combine them with the ideas they had come up with before.
No sooner said than done. The four Little Eagles politely bid everyone farewell and then hurried out of St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Professor McGonagall, who knew the ways of the Ravenclaw Little Eagles well, shook her head helplessly but with amusement. To still have the heart to say goodbye, these four children were polite enough.
After the four Little Eagles left, Mr. Weasley, lying on the hospital bed, shifted his gaze to his children who had rushed over from Hogwarts, as well as Amanda, Hermione, and Harry standing behind them.
"Alright children, you should head back to Hogwarts too. Go back and get one last good sleep. Don't you have classes tomorrow?"
"Dad, we..." Ron frowned and looked up at The Twins and Ginny. None of them really wanted to leave now, as their father was still lying on the hospital bed, pale.
"Alright, I'm fine," Mr. Weasley shook his head. He originally wanted to wave his hand, but the weakness brought by his injuries didn't support it. "And besides, isn't Christmas almost here? You can come see me then. I'll be discharged by then."
"That's right, you head back to Hogwarts first," Mrs. Weasley also nodded to the children. "Percy and I are here."
Percy turned to look at his younger siblings, his voice steady and reliable. "You go back and continue your classes first, and come back during Christmas. My mother and I are here, so don't worry."
"Alright."
Ron, the Weasley Twins, and Ginny nodded reluctantly. After saying goodbye to their parents, they followed Professor McGonagall and the others out of the ward.
Walking out of the ward toward the elevator, Amanda's arm was suddenly tugged by Hermione. She instinctively slowed her pace and fell to the back of the group with Hermione.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
Amanda turned her head to look at Hermione, her tone flat as a straight line.
Hermione narrowed her eyes and poked Amanda's cheek. "Are you secretly carrying out some plan again? I saw you smile just now when you used Stupefy on Nagini."
Although it was a fleeting smile, Amanda could hide it from others' eyes, but she couldn't hide it from Hermione's eyes, which were always watching her.
Amanda pursed her lips and gave Hermione a cautious look. Her actions hadn't been discovered by Hermione last time, but this time she had accidentally been seen.
"I am indeed working on a plan," Amanda nodded calmly, admitting without hesitation that she had a plan in progress. "But I can't tell you the specific details right now, Hermione."
"The more people who know about this plan, the greater the risk, and the danger level will rise accordingly."
Hearing Amanda say this, Hermione instantly lost the desire to ask. No matter what, Amanda's safety came first.
"This plan—if you don't tell me, or anyone else—is the success rate high? Will you get hurt?"
"No," Amanda shook her head decisively. "I am one hundred percent sure this plan will succeed."
Because she had already obtained proof long ago, and just now, she had undoubtedly obtained another piece of proof.
The two pieces of proof together were enough to make her believe that her plan had already succeeded.
"That's fine then," Hermione nodded and wrapped her arm around Amanda's waist. "Then I won't ask. But you must be careful yourself; try not to get hurt as much as possible."
"Okay."
Amanda curled her lips into a warm smile and gave a compliant response.
Entering the elevator, the two girls tacitly avoided mentioning the topic again.
Since it was safer the fewer people who knew, it was best for now if only the two of them knew the plan existed.
Returning to Hogwarts via floo powder, when the group arrived at the Gryffindor Common Room, they saw Neville sitting on the sofa, waiting.
The boy was so sleepy his eyes were closed, but the moment he heard footsteps, he snapped them open.
He breathed a sudden sigh of relief upon seeing Professor McGonagall and Amanda, Hermione, and Harry behind her.
"I went to Ravenclaw Tower to find you. Senior Cho Chang and Senior Marietta told me you went directly to Gryffindor Tower through the window."
Neville stood up and rubbed his eyes, explaining why he was there. "Then when I came back, none of you, including Harry, were here."
"I thought the Professor might have taken you somewhere, but I was still a little worried," Neville smiled sheepishly and scratched his head. "So I waited for you here."
"Thank you for your hard work, Neville," Amanda and Hermione said simultaneously. Harry, Ron, and the others also thanked Neville.
Regardless, Neville had made the trip to help them, so it was only right they thanked him.
After escorting Harry and the others back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Professor McGonagall turned to Amanda and Hermione. "Come, Miss Amanda, Miss Granger. I'll walk you back to Ravenclaw Tower."
"Alright, thank you for the trouble, Professor McGonagall." x2
On the way to Ravenclaw Tower, Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment before looking down at Amanda beside her.
"Miss Amanda, if you cannot break the Blood Curse on the Blood Curse Beastman, could you please help Nagini find peace... or, bring her to my office, and I will help her find peace."
"Miss Nagini should not suffer like this any longer, and certainly should not be used as a tool for Voldemort. She wouldn't want this."
"Of course, Professor McGonagall," Amanda looked up and solemnly agreed to Professor McGonagall's request. "But please also trust me, Professor. I will definitely be able to break the Blood Curse on the Blood Curse Beastman."
There was a sentence in the books Hermione had shown her: "Nothing is impossible in this world, as long as one is willing to climb."
Amanda deeply agreed with this. As long as she worked hard, was diligent enough, and made full use of her brain, she didn't believe she would be unable to break the Blood Curse on the Blood Curse Beastman.
"Good." Professor McGonagall smiled warmly and escorted the two girls to the entrance of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
"Goodnight, Miss Amanda, Miss Granger."
"Goodnight, Professor McGonagall." x2
After answering the bronze knocker's question and entering the Ravenclaw Common Room, Amanda and Hermione walked toward their Dormitory with their arms linked.
As soon as they opened the Dormitory door, they saw the two seniors sitting on Cho Chang's bed, leaning against each other and yawning.
"Senior Cho Chang, Senior Marietta, you're not asleep yet?" Hermione was stunned, looking at the two seniors who were so sleepy they could barely keep their eyes open.
"Haa..." Cho Chang covered her mouth and yawned, rubbing her eyes. "We were waiting for you to come back to ask about the situation. How is Mr. Weasley? Is he alright?"
"He's fine, just very weak. He needs to stay at St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for a while longer."
"It's good that he's fine," Marietta Eckmore nodded while leaning on Cho Chang, forcing herself to nod to the two juniors. "You should rest quickly too. We're going to sleep now."
Having said that, she didn't return to her own bed but simply rolled over, pulled back the covers, and lay in Cho Chang's bed. Cho Chang didn't object; she just silently lifted the covers, lay down, hugged Marietta Eckmore, and pulled the bed curtains closed.
Hermione couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the scene, gently tightening her grip on Amanda's arm.
Amanda immediately understood Hermione's meaning and spoke without hesitation, following the thought in her mind. "Hermione, why don't you sleep with me tonight? I'll sleep better that way."
She even added a plausible reason at the end.
"Sure." Hermione smiled with satisfaction and walked quickly to her bedside to change into her nightgown. By the time she sat on Amanda's bed, Amanda had already changed into her pajamas and was silently waiting for her.
The two girls looked at each other, both with smiles on their faces as they lay under the covers, closed their eyes, and embraced.
The next morning, as Amanda and Hermione sat at the Ravenclaw Table eating breakfast, Harry walked over with a relaxed smile on his face.
"I didn't have that kind of dream again last night." In fact, he hadn't had any dreams at all and had slept straight through until morning, which felt incredibly comfortable.
Amanda nodded expressionlessly. "That's as it should be. Voldemort has already made you certain that your dreams are real."
"There's no need for him to deliberately exert effort to make you see those dreams anymore. Now, he just needs to wait for the next time to lure you in with a dream."
"Yeah." Harry nodded. So the next dream would likely be Voldemort's trap.
"Harry, whatever you do, don't let your guard down. No matter what you dream, find a Professor or find us immediately."
Hermione reminded him again, worried, and Harry agreed with a serious expression.
Watching Harry's departing back, Hermione sighed heavily. "It feels like... the calm before the storm."
Amanda put down her table knife and reached out to stroke Hermione's back. "It's alright. If the storm comes, I'll use a Weather-Mending Charm to disperse it."
Understanding Amanda's underlying meaning, Hermione felt warm and hugged her waist, though she joked back just like her.
"The Weather-Mending Charm isn't meant to be used like that. It's not good to arbitrarily change nature's arrangements. Only when necessary."
"Oh." Amanda blinked and responded. When necessary... then in the future when necessary, like Hermione's birthday or some anniversary, she would give the entire UK a clear, sunny day.
With her current magic power, forcibly controlling the weather in the UK for a month wouldn't be a problem. If she went all out, controlling the weather of the entire Europe wouldn't be impossible either.
After breakfast and parting with Hermione to go to class, Amanda finished her morning classes and, taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, walked quickly into the girls' bathroom on that floor. With a light wave of her hand, the passage to Ravenclaw Castle appeared beside her.
Stepping into the passage, Amanda appeared on the grass in front of Ravenclaw Castle in the blink of an eye.
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