As night fell, the hogwarts express pulled into the station platform.
Lynn listened expressionlessly to the announcement on the train. According to the announcement, luggage should be left on the train, but she felt she should take her books; time on the road should not be wasted, and she could read while walking.
Holding her book, Lynn walked out of the compartment and silently followed the crowd off the train.
As soon as she stepped off the train, a loud voice reached her ears.
"First years, first years, over here to me!"
Lynn turned her head toward the source of the sound, her thoughts as calm as a still well.
I haven't come into contact with magic yet, and this is my first time at this school, so I am a first-year student.
Walking toward the source of the voice, Lynn saw the speaker through a crowd of children her age.
It was a figure much taller than a normal person. Judging by his size, Lynn thought he might suffer from gigantism.
Withdrawing her gaze, Lynn flipped open the textbook in her hand to continue reading, but the environment, devoid of any light, made it impossible to see even a single letter clearly.
Closing the textbook, Lynn thought silently to herself that she was going to waste study time again and would need to make up for it; she would shorten her sleep time tonight.
"Alright, first years, follow me." Hagrid waved his hand and led the way.
The entire path was without a single lamp, except for the oil lamp Hagrid carried. All the students stumbled along.
Lynn also found the walk difficult. By the time they followed Hagrid to the edge of the Black Lake and saw the small boats with lamps glowing at their bows, all the new students breathed a sigh of relief.
"Four to a boat, everyone get in." Hagrid shouted loudly, then stepped onto a small boat himself.
Lynn looked blankly at the surrounding boats, stepped onto one at random, sat at the bow, and immediately opened her book to read by the light.
The three Young Wizards who boarded after her saw this scene, looked at each other, and saw shock in each other's eyes.
Reading a book even while taking a boat to school?! This person loves studying too much! This must be a Ravenclaw, no doubt!
"Is everyone seated? Off we go~"
Accompanied by Hagrid's voice, the small boats slowly began to move across the Black Lake.
Lynn focused intently on the book in her hand, while the other three Young Wizards exchanged names and talked about their experiences before coming to Hogwarts.
As for Lynn, who was in the same boat, she was reading the whole time. They weren't sure if they should disturb her, so no one spoke a word to her the entire way.
It wasn't until the boat docked on the opposite shore that Lynn closed her book and looked up. She stepped off the boat and followed Hagrid to the entrance of Hogwarts Castle with the other new students.
Knock, knock, knock. Hagrid raised his hand and knocked heavily three times. Then the door opened, and a bit of light spilled out.
The person who came to open the door and welcome the new students was a Professor who looked very serious, but Lynn didn't have any particular impression of her.
After looking at her calmly, she lowered her head to read again by the light, leaving the new students next to her stunned.
Hermione naturally noticed this scene as well. She looked at this girl, Lynn, who had made her feel a bit afraid earlier on the hogwarts express.
Lynn's face still bore no expression, and she was still holding the same Transfiguration textbook she had been reading on the train.
However, it was clear she was almost at the end. Does she never let go of the book, even in this situation?
Hermione wondered silently if she wasn't studying hard enough... Following the crowd into Hogwarts, others were curiously looking around at the school, occasionally letting out exclamations and chatting happily with their classmates.
Lynn just raised her head, scanned the surroundings with dull eyes, and then lowered her head to read again.
"Alright, everyone, welcome to Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall turned back to address the group of Young Wizards.
Her gaze paused when it landed on Lynn. Everyone else was looking around, but she was the only one with her head down reading. This was truly too conspicuous. And this child... had a typical Oriental face, but she had no recollection of any children from Oriental wizarding families enrolling this year.
Could she be from a Muggle family? Then perhaps Sprout or Flitwick had been the one to fetch her.
Withdrawing her gaze, she didn't have time to think further. Facing the many Young Wizards, she introduced the four houses of Hogwarts and warned them about the House Cup's point addition and deduction system.
While she was introducing the four options and explaining the House Cup system, Lynn raised her head and listened intently until she finished.
One needs to listen carefully to what teachers say, especially concerning school regulations.
After listening to Professor McGonagall's speech, Lynn lowered her head again and put all her attention back on the book.
After giving a few more instructions, Professor McGonagall walked out of the room to prepare for the sorting of the new students.
During this time, even the entrance of the ghosts and the argument between Harry and Malfoy couldn't make Lynn look up from her book, as if they weren't in the same world.
When Professor McGonagall returned, the students in the room instantly fell silent.
Lynn followed her into the Hogwarts Great Hall without looking up; their sorting ceremony would be held here.
Occasional exclamations from the Young Wizards came from around her, but Lynn remained deaf to them. All she thought about was the book in her hand, while frantically memorizing its contents into her brain.
Among a bunch of curious Young Wizards looking all around, one who was looking down at a book was mixed in. The students from other years in the Great Hall couldn't help but start whispering in surprise.
"Merlin's beard, she must be a Ravenclaw!"
"No way, reading even right before the sorting. I'm a Ravenclaw and even I wasn't like that. She's making me doubt if I'm a real Ravenclaw."
Name after name passed, and finally, Lynn heard Professor McGonagall's voice.
"Yue Lin."
Lynn slowly raised her head, closed the book in her hand, and walked stiffly and mechanically toward the Staff Table, sitting on the chair next to Professor McGonagall.
The Sorting Hat was placed on her head, covering her eyes and plunging her into darkness.
Constantly recalling the contents of the book she had just read, Lynn raced against time to etch the knowledge into her brain.
The Sorting Hat had never seen such a Young Wizard. She was wearing it, yet she wasn't nervous or excited at all??
She could even frantically memorize knowledge in her head? The Sorting Hat was puzzled, the Sorting Hat was confused, the Sorting Hat was greatly shocked.
It didn't even need to consider further. If she was reciting a book even at this moment, where else could this child go?
She obviously could only go to— "Ravenclaw!"
The Sorting Hat was taken off her head by Professor McGonagall. Lynn stood up and, amidst the applause of The Ravenclaws, once again took stiff steps to sit at the Ravenclaw Table. She then seamlessly opened her textbook.
This caused Maranhao, who was about to greet her and get to know this fellow New Zealand student, to silently shrink back.
Well... it seems this junior, um, really loves studying... The sorting ceremony ended, and Headmaster Dumbledore stood up to say something cryptic. After Lynn reflexively memorized the sentence, the feast began.
Looking at the abundant food on the table, Lynn didn't hesitate. She quickly reached out with her knife and fork to take food, then devoured it as fast as possible, swallowing it whole.
That desperate-looking action scared the Little Eagles at the Ravenclaw Table half to death.
Maranhao swallowed nervously, looking at Lynn in a daze.
Marietta, with a blank expression, nudged her friend. "Ma... is she that hungry?"
"I think... maybe," Maranhao nodded in confusion.
Spending more than five minutes on a meal is encroaching on study time. Lynn knew this well, but in fact, even during these five minutes, she was reading while eating.
Eating fast while looking down at a book resulted in her not even knowing what she was eating. Regardless, it made no difference what she ate; as long as she ate quickly and felt full, so as not to affect her subsequent studies, it was fine.
At three minutes and fifty seconds, Lynn put down her knife and fork, finishing her whirlwind dinner. She picked up her book again, scanned it twice, closed it, and began to recite the contents of the book incessantly.
Watching her style of what could be called stuffing food into her stomach, many Ravenclaws clutched their own stomachs with pained expressions.
Merlin knows that just watching her eat like that made their stomachs hurt. Is she really not going to get sick or something from that?
Seeing her muttering to herself, Marietta couldn't help her curiosity and leaned past Maranhao to listen.
She immediately pulled her head back with a horrified expression. Maranhao, who was sitting right next to Lynn, had an identical look of horror on her face.
"I think this year's top student... is probably a sure thing."
Marietta spoke with difficulty. She had just heard what Lynn was saying.
It was the content of the Transfiguration textbook, and not a single word was different from the book. This girl was even reciting the page numbers!
Maranhao nodded, gathered her courage, and reached out to poke the girl's shoulder.
"Hello, Lynn, can I call you that?"
Lynn stopped reciting, turned to look at Maranhao, her eyes like stagnant water. "Yes. Hello."
A beautiful voice, mechanical emotions. Maranhao flinched slightly, but she couldn't suppress her innate gentleness and asked with concern.
"Aren't you going to take a break? I mean, this is the feast, after all. You could eat more, or maybe enjoy some dessert later?"
Lynn glanced at the food on the Ravenclaw Table and then turned back.
"I have finished dinner. The remaining time is study time."
"Do you always eat dinner this fast?" Penelope, the Ravenclaw Prefect not far away, couldn't help but ask as well.
Moving her gaze to the face of the girl who spoke, Lynn replied in a calm tone.
"Five minutes for dinner. The rest of the time is for studying."
"O-okay then..." Penelope nodded with a complex expression but didn't say anything more.
The Little Eagles of Ravenclaw all loved to study. Perhaps this child just loved studying even more than the average Little Eagle.
Seeing that no one else was talking to her, Lynn continued to recite the contents of the book from where she had left off, word for word.
Maranhao and Marietta looked at each other and lowered their heads to continue their dinner.
At the Staff Table, Professor Flitwick, who looked up from his dinner to check on his students, was stunned to see Lynn sitting bolt upright and muttering.
"Why isn't that child eating?"
Professor McGonagall, who was sitting next to him, had just witnessed Lynn's "frantic three minutes" and spoke with a somewhat dazed tone.
"She has already finished."
"So fast!" Professor Flitwick was full of shock. "That can't be good for the stomach." He immediately began to worry about the student's health.
"I'll have to find a time to talk to her," Professor Flitwick said, looking at Lynn.
After Lynn had finished reciting the entire Transfiguration textbook once, the feast finally came to an end.
Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and began to explain some rules to the new students.
Most of the new students listened carefully, but they didn't take it too much to heart. They were all children of this age group; who didn't have a bit of an adventurous spirit?
However, Lynn strictly memorized these rules in her head: the Forbidden Forest is off-limits, the right-hand side of the fourth-floor corridor is fatal, and magic is not allowed in the corridors.
After memorizing these three meager rules, Lynn stood up and sang the school song in a flat tone along with everyone else.
When Headmaster Dumbledore announced that the Prefects would lead everyone back to the dormitories to rest, Lynn froze in place.
Her study habits told her that it was not yet time to rest; she should be going to class or attending evening self-study.
But Headmaster Dumbledore's words as the Principal should be obeyed.
So she made a decision in her head: return to the Dormitory and study on her own.
Following the Ravenclaw students back to the Dormitory, Penelope, as the girl Prefect, began to lead the new girls to their respective rooms.
Bringing Lynn to a Dormitory room, Penelope looked at this expressionless, stiff-moving girl and leaned down to meet her eyes.
"This is your Dormitory. Sorry, you were the odd one out among the new students, so you'll be staying with Maranhao and Marietta. Don't worry, they're both very easy to get along with."
Obeying the school's arrangement, Lynn didn't have any other thoughts, so she nodded to Penelope. "Okay."
"Get some good rest." Penelope smiled at Lynn and turned toward her own room.
Lynn also turned, opened the door, and walked in. Inside the Dormitory, Maranhao and Marietta were packing their things.
Seeing Lynn walk in, Maranhao waved to her gently.
"I was wondering who the new student assigned to our room would be. It's you, Lynn."
Lynn mimicked her and raised her hand with a wave. "Hello."
After saying that, she had no further reaction and walked toward the only empty bed in the room to start organizing her things.
Maranhao and Marietta looked at each other, both starting to feel that this girl, Lynn... was a little bit strange.