This time Lynn wanted to buy Needles and Yarn; having done all this, she quickened her pace back to her Dormitory.
Before sitting at her desk to read with single-minded focus, Lynn calculated in her brain the time needed to knit a pair of gloves for Hermione.
Ultimately, she concluded that she only needed three hours.
When the holidays are right before your eyes, the remaining time passes very quickly.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Christmas holidays had arrived.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall pulling her large trunk; Harry and Ron were sitting at the Gryffindor Table playing wizard chess.
"Oh... that's a bit barbaric." Hermione frowned as she watched a Queen smash another piece into fragments with a stool.
"That's wizard chess, Hermione, and you're only saying that because you can't beat me."
Ron looked at Hermione with a bit of smugness; this was one of the few areas where he could win against her.
Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Forget it, Ron, I'm not that petty."
Ron shrugged and watched Harry make a move.
After Harry finished his move, he looked up at Hermione. "Are you heading to the train?"
"Yeah," Hermione nodded, "You two remember to do your homework during the Christmas holidays. If you don't, I definitely won't let you copy mine when I get back."
"She'll give it to us in the end..." Ron whispered to Harry, making Hermione arch an eyebrow.
"Also, if you two have time during the Christmas holidays, go to the Library again to check for news on Nicolas Flamel."
"But we've checked almost everywhere..." Ron sighed helplessly; they had checked every book in the Hogwarts Library whose title seemed related to famous figures.
They couldn't be expected to check every single book.
"Mm-hmm," Hermione nodded slyly, "But the Restricted Section hasn't been checked yet, has it?"
"There are fewer people in the school during the Christmas holidays, you can find an opportunity to go there."
"She's been corrupted by us." Ron shook his head at Harry.
Both annoyed and amused, Hermione reached out and gave Ron a smack. "No need to say that about yourselves, I'm a Gryffindor too!"
With that, she flicked her hair and walked over to the Ravenclaw Table on her own, where Lynn was rapidly knitting gloves with Needles and Yarn.
Hermione walked up to Lynn and, seeing that she was rarely not studying but knitting gloves instead, her eyes widened in surprise; at the same time, a thought couldn't help but pop into her head: Who... who could make Lynn put down her studies to knit gloves for them?!
Her brain was already running through all the spells she had learned; Lynn was so 'innocent of the world' and only knew how to study, who was so unscrupulous as to... Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself, patted her chest, and whispered to herself, "Hermione , calm down, calm down. Maybe she's just knitting gloves for her mother."
Having soothed herself, Hermione reached out and tapped on the table in front of Lynn. "Lynn."
"Hmm?" Lynn looked up expressionlessly at Hermione.
"I'm going home," Hermione said softly, with a level of tenderness that would have likely shocked Harry and Ron so much they'd fall off their seats.
Lynn nodded without a ripple on her face. "Okay, see you after the Christmas holidays."
Hermione watched Lynn's lack of reaction and then looked at the gloves she was knitting.
The fact that her hands didn't even stop while talking to her made Hermione instantly feel even worse.
Taking a deep breath like an angry lioness, Hermione tried to keep her tone calm.
"Lynn, are these gloves you're knitting a Christmas gift? Who are they for?"
Lynn, who completely didn't understand what a surprise was, let alone the need to keep one for someone, answered frankly.
"They are a Christmas gift, for you."
Hearing the words 'for you', the breath Hermione had inhaled was instantly exhaled; the angry lioness had clearly been perfectly soothed.
"For me... then I'll thank you in advance." Hermione thanked Lynn softly.
"You're welcome." Lynn shook her head, her hands still not stopping their knitting.
Her hand gripping the trunk tightened, and Hermione inexplicably felt her throat go a bit dry.
Clearing her throat, Hermione reached out and gently ruffled Lynn's hair. "I'm leaving now, I have to catch the train."
"Okay, be safe on the way."
Lynn nodded, and Hermione withdrew her gaze with satisfaction, walking toward the Great Hall doors with a brilliant smile while pulling her trunk.
Halfway there, she suddenly remembered something and quickly pulled her trunk back to Harry and Ron.
"What is it?" Seeing Hermione out of the corner of his eye, Harry turned to look at her in surprise. Why hadn't she left yet?
"While I'm away during the Christmas holidays, when you two play, try to pull Lynn along as much as possible. Don't let her keep studying all the time."
Harry thought carefully about Lynn's daily routine of being either in the Library or the Dormitory studying.
Thinking he should be able to find her in the Library, he also nodded solemnly.
"Okay, no problem." This was the first time Hermione had asked them for a favor; they would certainly do it well.
Ron also nodded seriously from the side, indicating he would work with Harry to get this done.
Hermione relaxed completely, nodded with a smile, and turned to walk out of the Great Hall to catch the Hogwarts Express.
Having finished knitting the gloves in the Great Hall, Lynn took them back to the Dormitory to study.
The only reason she had knit the gloves in the Great Hall was that the light there was better; that was all.
Back in the Dormitory, Maranhao and Marietta had already boarded the hogwarts express to go home.
Lynn added a bruise to her left arm, punishing herself for using study time to knit gloves, before she began reading.
During the time she was reading, heavy snow began to fall outside.
Almost all the students staying at school ran out to play in the snow; it was winter, after all, and for children, the greatest joy was naturally playing in the snow.
Harry and Ron, remembering Hermione's request before she left, felt that with such a heavy snowfall, they shouldn't leave Lynn out when going to play, so they came together to the outside of the Ravenclaw Common Room to try and call her out to play in the snow.
The bronze knocker, seeing someone arrive, spoke first and posed its question.
Hearing the knocker's question, Harry and Ron looked at each other; although they had heard before that one needed to answer a question to enter the Ravenclaw Common Room—that anyone who answered correctly could enter, and if not, no one could—
hearing the question this knocker asked now, they really felt a bit of a headache.
"Which came first, the Phoenix or the flame?"
Both Harry and Ron lowered their heads and fell into deep thought.