Under Hermione's supervision and Mrs. Granger's persuasion, Lynn slowed down and calmly finished her first dinner after arriving at the Granger Residence.
As soon as dinner was finished and Mr. and Mrs. Granger and Hermione set down their cutlery, Lynn stood up quickly from her seat, skillfully gathered the plates and silverware, and walked toward the kitchen.
Seeing this, Hermione also quickly stood up and gave her mother a well-behaved smile. "The two of us can just wash the dishes."
With that, she hurried into the kitchen to take over the task of drying the dishes and putting them in the cupboard.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked at each other and couldn't help but smile with gratification; both girls were such sensible and good children.
The two of them walked silently to the kitchen door and looked inside. In the kitchen, Lynn was washing the bowls under the faucet at an incredibly fast speed.
Each plate became as clean as new in her hands in less than twenty seconds. Beside her, Hermione, holding a dry cloth, was having trouble keeping up as she dried the plates Lynn handed over.
The dishwashing was exceptionally fast this time. In less than five minutes, Lynn and Hermione had coordinated to wash all the dishes and return them to the cupboard.
After cleaning the dishes, Lynn didn't stop for a moment. Constantly reciting Herbology Class knowledge in her mind, she quickly walked up to Hermione's room on the second floor.
She opened her trunk, pulled out parchment, a quill, and ink, and looked at Hermione's desk.
'This is Hermione's desk, and she needs it for her studies. I cannot affect others just because of my presence.'
These words subconsciously popped into Lynn's mind. Not affecting others because of one's own existence was a basic virtue that needed to be observed.
Turning around with the parchment, quill, and ink, Lynn once again walked quickly down the stairs.
Hermione and Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were standing at the foot of the stairs looking up in confusion, had various expressions when they saw Lynn coming down with those items.
Hermione's face showed a sigh of 'as expected' and heartache, while Mr. and Mrs. Granger's faces were full of disbelief and pity.
Sitting down at the dining table with her things, Lynn spread the parchment out and began writing the required essay for Transfiguration.
As she wrote, her mind continuously conceived the subsequent content without any pause. Like a perfectly smooth typewriter, word after word, line after line, knowledge was constantly retrieved from Lynn's mind and written onto the paper.
Mr. Granger couldn't help but want to say something, but Hermione tugged at the corner of his clothes and shook her head.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Granger looked down at Hermione, stunned for a moment. In his view, how could a child start doing homework on the first day of vacation?
The purpose of a vacation was to relax and let the children be happy. Homework should just be something you take a little time out of your play to do, just to ensure you don't completely forget what you've learned.
So he wanted to persuade Lynn to at least rest for tonight. It certainly wasn't too much to ask for a little rest on the first night of returning home for summer break.
Hermione sighed helplessly. "Lynn has already started writing. Let her finish this essay before trying to persuade her to rest."
"Otherwise, if you interrupt her train of thought now, it might be even harder for her to write later."
Mr. Granger fell silent for a moment, thinking his daughter was right. He shook his head and sat down on the sofa with Mrs. Granger and Hermione.
Since Lynn was writing her essay, the three of them couldn't very well watch TV. Since they hadn't seen their daughter/parents for an entire semester, they had many things to say to each other, so the family of three sat together and began to chat.
Mrs. Granger sat in the middle, with Hermione on her right and Mr. Granger on her left. Hermione began to vividly describe various interesting things she had experienced during the semester to her parents.
Of course, it was an edited version. For instance, when mentioning seeing a Dragon hatch, she only spoke of the wonderful scene, never mentioning how they were nearly caught by the Professor afterward, let alone the incident where Harry encountered Quirrell possessed by Lord Voldemort while serving detention in the Forbidden Forest.
Listening to their daughter's descriptions, Mr. and Mrs. Granger truly felt the existence of a wondrous and magical Wizarding school.
However, a mother knows her daughter best. From the lines of her speech, Mrs. Granger could still sense that she was hiding things.
If nothing else, the flicker of fear and lingering dread in Hermione's eyes when she mentioned the dragon egg could not escape her mother's gaze.
The child had grown up and wanted to handle things herself so they wouldn't worry. Mrs. Granger pursed her lips and reached out to stroke Hermione's head.
Hermione looked up at her mother, only to see her speak with a face full of maternal love.
"Hermione has grown up," Mrs. Granger said, gently smoothing her hair. "You know how to report only the good news and keep the bad to yourself. But remember, Hermione, we are always a family. We should face difficulties together. Although your father and I don't know much about the Wizarding World and might not be able to help with what happens there, if you are ever unhappy or in danger, just come home. Home will always be safe."
"That's right, your father and I will always be waiting for you at home. If there are any bad people or bad things, I'll help you drive them away!" Mr. Granger chimed in cheerfully, waving his fist as he spoke.
But his smile did not reach his eyes. A deep sense of self-blame and worry occupied the depths of his heart, causing it to ache.
It was all because he was useless... As Hermione's father, he should have been the one to hold up the sky for her, sheltering her from the wind and rain until the day she could spread her wings and soar.
Yet now, he could only stand in place, watching his daughter walk further and further into the unknown, facing various storms he knew nothing about.
Hermione bit her lower lip and reached out to hug her mother and father. It wasn't until she buried her face in Mrs. Granger's embrace that her eyes secretly turned red.
Was she not afraid when facing the Troll? Was she not afraid when facing the Man in Black Robes in the Forbidden Forest? Was she not afraid when facing the various trials and unknown dangers of the forbidden area on the fourth floor?
How could she not be? She was only an eleven-year-old child, no matter how smart she was.
When she encountered those things, she also wanted to call out for her parents and hide her head in their embrace for protection.
But she knew she couldn't. Her parents were ignorant and powerless regarding everything in the Wizarding World.
It wasn't for them to protect her; rather, she had to grow up quickly and become a great tree that could block the storms of the Wizarding World to protect them.
This had been determined from the moment her name appeared in Hogwarts' Book of Admittance.
Recalling the experiences of this past year, she had faced various dangers, but hadn't the real dangers all been blocked by Lynn?
While she was still as tender as a sapling, Lynn had already grown into a towering tree, sheltering the sky above her head.
No... not just her. Harry, Ron, and perhaps even more Young Wizards had likely been gathered under her branches long ago.
Therefore, she had to study even harder to become a towering tree that could stand side-by-side with Lynn as soon as possible. While sheltering her own parents, she could also provide a shoulder for that person to lean on.
So that she wouldn't have to push herself so hard anymore, so that she could also enjoy life properly instead of being chased by it.
Gently stroking Hermione's back, the Granger family fell into a long silence.
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