When Hermione first watched Lynn slowly remove her wizard robe, a deep blush rose on Hermione's face.
But the moment Lynn pulled open her shirt, Hermione's shyness immediately vanished, replaced entirely by anger and heartache.
"Who did this?" Hermione asked, stepping forward, her voice trembling with barely suppressed fury as she looked at the bloody handprints covering Lynn's upper left arm.
"Myself." Lynn replied matter-of-factly, devoid of emotion.
"What...?" Hermione froze, moving her gaze from the upper left arm to stare fixedly at Lynn's face.
"Wasting study time requires punishment." Lynn answered like a machine.
Hermione swallowed, then reached out with a slight tremor and pulled up Lynn's right hand, placing it on her own upper left arm.
Lynn watched Hermione without reaction, not understanding what Hermione intended.
"Try... fitting your hand over this print..." Hermione said, her voice shaking. She still couldn't believe Lynn had done this to herself.
"Okay." Lynn nodded, slowly closing her right hand, which perfectly matched one of the handprints on her upper left arm.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione had to close her eyes to force herself to calm down. When she opened them again, her eyes were filled with the authority of a lioness.
"Who taught you to do this? To hurt yourself?"
Lynn spoke in a flat tone, "My parents told me that wasting study time or making mistakes in studies should be punished."
"Harming yourself as punishment?!" Hermione couldn't help but raise her voice. She simply couldn't believe what kind of parents would say such a thing, what kind of parents would make their child hurt herself.
"Yes, isn't this punishment?" Lynn nodded, taking it for granted.
Hermione covered her face with both hands, hiding it in her palms while silently raging for a long moment.
Then she slowly raised her head, looking at Lynn, her voice dropping low.
"What exactly do you mean by... wasting study time?"
Lynn looked at Hermione, subconsciously about to answer, but her brain seemed to finally kick in and stopped her.
Hermione is kind. A voice echoed in her mind: if Hermione heard that she punished herself for the time wasted knitting her gloves, she would blame herself.
Having reached this conclusion, Lynn selectively revealed part of the truth.
"The time spent relaxing, playing snowball fights with Harry and the others, and the time spent looking into the mirror of erised."
Hermione nodded weakly, unable to even focus on the mirror of erised mentioned in Lynn's words.
All she heard was relaxing with Harry and the others... relaxing with Harry and the others.
Who reminded Harry to take Lynn along to relax? It was her!
Damn it, she was the one who caused Lynn to punish herself. Even though Lynn hadn't mentioned the knitting incident, Hermione still blamed herself remorsefully.
Hearing this, she looked at Lynn as if remembering something. "So... when I took you to watch the Quidditch match before... you punished yourself for that too, didn't you?"
"That also delayed your study time."
Lynn futilely opened her mouth as if glitching. She instinctively wanted to answer truthfully, but something in her brain was stopping her, causing her head to ache in waves.
Although Lynn's face was expressionless and she showed no physical reaction other than opening her mouth, Hermione sensed her struggle and the pain beneath it.
Reaching out, Hermione gently embraced her, slowly stroking her back. "I understand, you don't need to say it."
Held in Hermione's embrace, Lynn closed her mouth, her face calm as still water.
Hermione closed her eyes briefly. "Lynn, can I know how your study time is scheduled?"
"Yes."
Hermione lowered her head, looking at Lynn, whom she was holding. "Tell me."
Lynn didn't look up, only speaking mechanically, "Sleep from four to five every day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are three and a half minutes each. Showering is five minutes. The rest of the time is for studying."
"Is this also mandated by your damn... I apologize," Hermione swallowed the curse that rushed to her lips, "Is this also mandated by your parents?"
"Yes," Lynn replied indifferently, "It guarantees my most basic rest, allowing me to study in the most efficient state."
"Nonsense." Hermione whispered through clenched teeth.
Releasing Lynn, Hermione crouched down and looked into her eyes. "Don't listen to your parents. This will destroy you."
"Your body won't be able to handle it, and neither will your mind. Do you know how terrible your complexion is, and how dark your eye bags are?"
Lynn stared fixedly at Hermione, her eyes like stagnant water. "Studying comes first."
"To hell with studying first!" Hermione truly couldn't hold back anymore. The Gryffindor lioness unleashed her fury.
Although she could tell Harry and Ron that being expelled was worse than dying.
But upon seeing Lynn genuinely prioritize studying over her own body, and even her own life, Hermione felt absolutely furious.
"What are you going to study if you're dead?!" Hermione reached out and gripped Lynn's shoulders tightly, wanting to shake her awake violently, yet fearing she might cause further harm to her already frail-looking body, she hesitated to act.
But if I don't study, I'll also die... Lynn thought, completely unfazed, but she didn't voice the thought.
Hermione pressed her lips together, looking at Lynn. "Either promise me that you will sleep for six hours every day from now on, and you won't punish yourself no matter what problems arise in your studies."
"Or I'll just move directly into your Dormitory to supervise you. I don't mind sleeping on the floor."
Lynn's brain reacted quickly, and she nodded. "I promise you, I guarantee I will sleep for six hours every day from now on, and I will no longer punish myself because of studying."
Hermione nodded, still pressing her lips together, and reached out to help Lynn pull up her shirt. "Put your wizard robe on; the weather is quite chilly."
Lynn nodded, reached out, and put on her wizard robe.
"I will be monitoring your condition every day from now on. If you still look this pale, weak, and sleep-deprived, I will come straight to your Dormitory and sleep on the floor!"
"Mm..." Lynn agreed expressionlessly.
"You rest early tonight, and remember to get six hours of sleep. I'm leaving now; I need a moment to collect myself."
"Okay."
Hermione raised an eyebrow, looking at Lynn. "Aren't you going to say goodnight to me?"
"Goodnight." Lynn said mechanically.
"Goodnight," Hermione reached out and hugged Lynn. "Have sweet dreams."
After speaking, she released her and turned to walk out of Lynn's Dormitory. The moment she stepped out, Hermione's expression instantly changed dramatically.
Hideousness and rage were no longer enough to describe the state of her face. She even felt that if Lynn's parents were standing in front of her right now.
Assuming Lynn's feelings were disregarded, she could cast the cruelest curse she could think of on them without any psychological burden.
Their education of Lynn could no longer be described as wanting their child to be outstanding; they were fundamentally cultivating a learning machine—a compliant, efficient learning machine—and completely disregarding Lynn's physical health in the process.
She simply couldn't believe there were parents in the world who treated their child this way.
She stood on the stairs calming herself for a long while until her complexion slowly returned to normal. Only then did Hermione slowly descend the stairs and leave the Ravenclaw Common Room.
However, Hermione still didn't know that she had only uncovered part of the truth... the real cruelty had yet to be discovered by her.