Because none of the three, including Hermione, thought to ask, they perfectly missed the walking Library right beside them.
Amanda sat in the Library reading every day, and she also saw the trio taking time each day to look for clues about Nicolas Flamel.
But... in books describing modern subjects, how could they possibly find that six-hundred-and-fifty-eight-year-old gentleman?
At his age, he could hardly be considered a modern figure.
Amanda calmly withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to continue reading.
As time ticked by and December arrived, Christmas slowly approached as well.
The Deans of each house began to tally whether students would be staying at school for the holidays.
Having just finished breakfast, Amanda looked at the form Professor Flitwick handed her, and the words she had previously seen in her mind reappeared.
According to those words, she had no home in this world; without sorrow or joy, she wrote her decision to stay at school on the Survey Form, nodded politely to Professor Flitwick, and got up to leave the Great Hall.
Just as she stepped out of the Great Hall, Amanda happened to run into Hermione, who was coming to eat breakfast with Harry and Ron.
Hermione's eyes lit up when she saw Amanda, and after signaling for the other two to go in and eat first, she walked over to Amanda with a light step.
"Amanda, Christmas is almost here. Are you going home? Or staying at school?"
Amanda stopped and looked at Hermione expressionlessly. "I'm staying."
"Oh," Hermione nodded, "I'm going home for Christmas, so we won't see each other again until after the holiday."
Having said that, Hermione looked at Amanda expectantly, longing to see even a hint of reluctance to part in her eyes.
However, facts were destined to disappoint her; Amanda's eyes remained as calm as a still well, and she merely nodded indifferently.
"Alright, see you after the Christmas holidays then."
Hermione sighed helplessly, "Well... I should have known you'd be like this. What was I expecting?"
Quickly adjusting her mood, Hermione patted Amanda's arm with a smile.
"Alright, I won't bother you anymore. Hurry off to class."
"Okay." Amanda nodded, turned back, and walked quickly toward the classroom.
After class, Amanda returned to the Dormitory; as second-year students, Cho Chang and Marietta had a different class schedule and were still in lessons at this time.
Thinking about the Survey Form she had filled out today regarding whether to stay or go home for the Christmas holidays, and Hermione telling her she was going home.
Information about Christmas flashed through Amanda's mind: Christmas... one needs to give Christmas gifts to friends, teachers, and those around them.
Although she knew the definition of the word 'friend', Amanda didn't actually have any feelings regarding friends.
Her feelings toward everyone around her were the same—non-existent—but her brain was still faintly transmitting messages to her.
It told her that she needed to prepare gifts for Hermione, and the Professors couldn't be left out either, nor Harry and Ron, Cho Chang and Marietta, or Penelope... Just by having the thought, a list automatically formed in Amanda's mind.
However, she quickly thought of another problem: buying gifts required money, but she seemingly had none.
From the start of school until now, everything she used had not involved any need to spend money.
That HP world consciousness clearly knew beforehand what state the child it had snatched away had been ground down into.
It didn't expect her to be able to earn money to support herself alongside her studies at all.
Therefore, besides the free room and board provided by Hogwarts, the HP world consciousness had also placed an ever-full Ink Bottle in her trunk, an unbreakable quill, a large stack of parchment that would automatically replenish itself when one was taken, and an ever-full bottle each of Shampoo, Body Wash, and Conditioner.
Although Amanda had never used the Conditioner, besides these items, spare clothes, her wand, and other necessities, there had actually been a Cloth Bag in the trunk at the time.
Recalling that Cloth Bag and associating it with the other items in the trunk, Amanda almost immediately concluded that this thing would likely solve her problem as well.
Bending down to pull the trunk out from under the bed, Amanda opened it with vacant eyes and took out the Cloth Bag.
Opening the Cloth Bag, it was revealed to contain ten Galleons; Amanda calmly reached in and took these ten Galleons out.
As soon as those ten Galleons were completely removed from the Cloth Bag, another ten Galleons instantly appeared inside it.
Amanda looked at the Cloth Bag before her, her mind recalling the price of the Honeydukes Chocolate Gift Box she had heard Cho Chang mention being very envious of before.
A Chocolate Gift Box, in her way of thinking, was very suitable as a gift.
After finishing her thoughts, Amanda repeated the action of taking Galleons from the Cloth Bag over a dozen times.
Every time a handful of Galleons was completely removed, ten Galleons would immediately reappear in the Cloth Bag.
However, after taking enough Galleons, Amanda briskly tied the Cloth Bag shut and put it back in the trunk.
Holding the counted money, Amanda walked quickly out of the Ravenclaw Common Room and came to the Owlery.
After choosing an Owl that looked relatively sturdy, Amanda set the Galleons aside, took out a quill and a piece of parchment, wrote a Mail-order Letter, and handed the letter along with the Galleons to the Owl.
The Owl had Amanda place the letter and Galleons into the small pouch on its leg, then spread its wings and flew out of Hogwarts Castle toward the Honeydukes Sweetshop.
Amanda watched the Owl fly off into the distance, then lowered her head to look at her clenched right hand with an expressionless face.
Inside were ten Galleons that hadn't been sent out, exactly the cost of one Chocolate Gift Box; for some reason, another thought had just popped into her brain.
It seemed to be telling her that she shouldn't buy Hermione the same Chocolate Gift Box as everyone else.
So she had subconsciously kept these ten Galleons, but... if not a Chocolate Gift Box, what should she give?
There was no confusion in Amanda's heart; instead, she began to quickly think of things she could give.
A moment later, she finally scoured an old memory out of her brain.
In that memory, she seemed to have been self-teaching herself how to knit, and back then she seemed very... very what? Amanda's brain lagged for a moment.
Shaking her head, Amanda shook away the thoughts in her brain, leaving only the memory of knitting; she wrote another letter and gave it to an Owl along with one Galleon.
This time Amanda 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, Amanda 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 Amanda was rapidly knitting gloves with Needles and Yarn.
Hermione walked up to Amanda 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 Amanda put down her studies to knit gloves for them?!
Her brain was already running through all the spells she had learned; Amanda 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 Granger, 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 Amanda. "Amanda."
"Hmm?" Amanda 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.
Amanda nodded without a ripple on her face. "Okay, see you after the Christmas holidays."
Hermione watched Amanda'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.
"Amanda, are these gloves you're knitting a Christmas gift? Who are they for?"
Amanda, 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 Amanda softly.
"You're welcome." Amanda 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 Amanda's hair. "I'm leaving now, I have to catch the train."
"Okay, be safe on the way."
Amanda 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 Amanda along as much as possible. Don't let her keep studying all the time."
Harry thought carefully about Amanda'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, Amanda 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, Cho Chang and Marietta had already boarded the hogwarts express to go home.
Amanda 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 Amanda 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.
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