White moonlight shone through the window into Ravenclaw Tower, making Amanda's pale cheeks look even more ghastly.
The horror of the Cruciatus Curse lies not only in the unbearable torture and pain it brings, but also in the fact that it acts directly upon a person's soul.
Amanda's soul was already riddled with holes from her past experiences, and at this moment, it was as precarious as a castle in the air.
In the silent darkness, a miniature version of Amanda curled up, lying in the dark while hugging her legs.
A faint golden light emanated from her body, but it was swallowed by the darkness in an instant.
Looking closely, things like black-red lightning were constantly moving across Little Amanda's body, tearing at her soul.
"Sigh..." With a soft sigh, the entirety of Hogwarts was enveloped by a sudden ripple of magic. Everyone inevitably fell into a deep sleep, oblivious to the outside world, including Headmaster Dumbledore.
Outside Hogwarts, the clouds surged as a massive amount of invisible magic converged frantically from all directions toward Amanda's Dormitory.
Amanda's body slowly floated up from the four-poster bed. A vast and gentle mass of magic gradually enveloped her, churning and surging like a pair of giant hands holding Amanda in their palms, slowly forming a white cocoon of light.
Magic entered Amanda's body bit by bit. In the boundless darkness, the black-red lightning on Little Amanda was slowly removed by specks of magic.
The curled-up Little Amanda finally calmed down. Having smoothed over the pain in Amanda's soul, the cocoon of light slowly dissipated. Amanda was placed back on the bed, and someone even carefully tucked her in with the quilt.
The sky outside Hogwarts also gradually calmed down, leaving only a wordless presence still watching over this place.
"Tai!" A loud eagle's cry rang out at the head of Amanda's bed. A Blue Eagle was looking down at her.
"Don't worry, she's fine." A soft, gentle voice echoed in the void.
The Blue Eagle raised its head and let out a high-pitched cry toward the void.
"I cannot directly restore her," the gentle voice sighed helplessly.
"I have regressed her body to eleven years old and reconstructed her nerves, but habits and emotions are the only things that even the world cannot directly bestow."
Listening to the gentle voice, the Blue Eagle looked down at Amanda and extended a wing to carefully stroke her cheek.
"Tai!"
"It's not that they can't be bestowed, but that they shouldn't be. Emotions are things humans must experience and realize for themselves, and it is precisely these self-realized emotions that drive them to become complete human beings."
"What Amanda needs to do is recover her emotions. If I were to directly bestow them upon her, would she still be the same person? Therefore, all I can do is guide her, following the thoughts that arise spontaneously from the deepest parts of her mind."
"Her habits are the same. If she does not use her own will to break through this barrier, then my act of directly instilling new ideas into her would be no different from what her parents did."
"Don't you know this as well? That's why you haven't done anything all this time."
"Tai!" The Blue Eagle glared at the void, spread its wings, and gave a fierce flap.
The gentle voice paused for two seconds before answering helplessly, "Do as you wish, just don't kill them."
After answering, it vanished completely. The Blue Eagle looked back at Amanda, a hint of human-like maternal love flashing in its eyes.
It lowered its head to gently nuzzle Amanda's cheek with its beak, then raised its head, spread its wings, and soared away.
Ignoring all walls and doors, the Blue Eagle moved unimpeded to Professor Quirrell's office.
Looking at Professor Quirrell lying in a deep sleep on the bed, as well as the'someone' on the back of his head, the Blue Eagle narrowed its eyes. With a flap of its wings, a Stupefy spell shot straight toward them.
Boom! The bed frame beneath Professor Quirrell shattered instantly, and he slammed heavily onto the floor, which even began to crack.
"Tai!" The Blue Eagle cried out and flapped its wings upward, heading straight for the Hogwarts Headmasters Office.
Flying into the Headmasters Office, the portraits and Headmaster Dumbledore were all in a deep sleep. The only one still awake was a certain Phoenix standing on a specialized perch.
The Blue Eagle's eyes slowly moved to the Phoenix. Fawkes's body stiffened suddenly, and he awkwardly buried his head in his wings.
Don't look at him... he knew nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing.
"Tai!" Seemingly satisfied with Fawkes's attitude, the Blue Eagle withdrew its gaze, flew into the air, and flapped its wings fiercely once more.
A powerful gust of air instantly erupted within the Headmasters Office. Tables were overturned, sofas rolled several times, and the frames of all the portraits were shattered to pieces.
Feeling the commotion outside, Fawkes's body trembled, not daring to look up at all.
Looking at the mess in the Headmasters Office, the Blue Eagle nodded with satisfaction and then departed elegantly.
A tempted Wizard and a Descendant of Salazar had the audacity to lay a hand on the child she favored right under her nose; they deserved to be beaten.
She had favored this child since she first arrived in this world. The stairs, statues, and armor within Hogwarts had all been instructed by her to look after the girl.
And now, look at this! She had actually been attacked by a Descendant of Salazar!
Furthermore, as for this current junior Headmaster—if he wanted to set a trap, fine, but to leave such a risk that caused a student to endure a Cruciatus Curse? He deserved to have his office destroyed.
And don't think she didn't know that this fellow had previously suspected Amanda.
This child had suffered enough, yet he still harbored suspicions. Although she knew he wasn't exactly wrong and was just being cautious, it didn't stop her from venting her anger on him.
As one of the four founders of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw was just that headstrong! If Albus Dumbledore had any complaints, he could come and settle the score with her.
The Blue Eagle gave a human-like snort and flew back to Amanda's Dormitory. After some thought, it turned into a streak of blue light and flew into the watch on Amanda's right wrist, leaving only a small Blue Eagle mark on the side of the watch.
Not long after, a Small yellow badger also ran into Amanda's Dormitory. It looked left and right, finally fixing its gaze on Amanda's watch.
Tilting its head, it dove straight into it.
Meanwhile, in a room deep within Hogwarts, a Red lion was looking at a Small green snake with schadenfreude.
"Your descendant hurt the child Ravenclaw favors. Just wait for her to settle the score. Especially with Helga Hufflepuff by her side—a double-team from those two will definitely be a sight to behold."
Amanda lay on the bed, turning over unconsciously, completely unaware that she had gained two mothers who would absolutely adore, even spoil, her.
As soon as the six hours of sleep were up, Amanda snapped her eyes open and sat up expressionlessly. The intense pain from yesterday had vanished without a trace.
She glanced at the watch on her right wrist to check the time, then stood up and quickly walked into the washroom.
Three minutes later, she finished a quick shower and walked out of the washroom with her hair still dripping.
Picking up her watch and putting it on, Amanda's vacant gaze lingered on the edge of the watch for two seconds, looking at the eagle and the badger on it.
Lowering her hand, Amanda felt no doubt or curiosity. She simply sat at her desk and opened a book with a blank expression.
She flipped through the books rapidly until seven o'clock, when she finally stepped out of her study state, stood up, put on her backpack, and left the Dormitory with her books.
Along the way, the stairs of Hogwarts automatically took her where she needed to go, as usual.
Arriving at the Great Hall, breakfast had just appeared on the four long tables. Amanda sat at the Ravenclaw Table and quickly "stuffed" food into her mouth.
Before her three-and-a-half-minute mealtime was over, Hermione walked into the Great Hall. Without even glancing at breakfast, she hurried to Amanda's side.
"Amanda, are you okay now?"
Amanda turned her head and looked at Hermione calmly, her tone flat. "I'm fine."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Last night, she had been frantic, thinking she needed to head back and regroup with Harry and the others to prevent them from doing anything rash, so she had left first.
After talking with them, she couldn't stop thinking about the sound of Amanda's voice—it was unusually hoarse, tired, and weak... It had been too dark then for her to see Amanda's face clearly, so she couldn't confirm her condition. Plus, she had been too nervous herself to think much of it.
Once she calmed down, her first instinct was to ask Harry for the invisibility cloak again and go to Ravenclaw Tower to check on Amanda.
However, before she could even step out, her vision suddenly went black and she fell asleep—the kind where you suddenly pitch forward.
As a result, when she woke up this morning, there was a large red bump on her forehead, though Hermione herself didn't know it yet.
She had rushed to the Great Hall the moment she woke up, still in yesterday's clothes. She hadn't even had time to wash up, so naturally, she hadn't seen the bump, and in her haste, she hadn't even felt the pain.
Amanda looked at the large bump on Hermione's forehead and calmly drew her wand.
To others, this might have seemed a bit terrifying. If someone more alert saw someone drawing a wand in front of them with a blank expression and a calm gaze...
...they would have instinctively drawn their own wand to counter-attack or simply turned and run. Hermione, however, didn't think that way at all; she just tilted her head, curious about what Amanda was doing.
Amanda raised her wand and lightly tapped Hermione's forehead. "Episkey."
Accompanied by the emotionless incantation, the large red bump on Hermione's head instantly returned to normal.
Hermione only felt a slight warmth on her head. She raised her hand to touch her forehead and asked, somewhat confused, "Episkey? Was I injured?"
Amanda nodded expressionlessly and spoke mechanically, "You had a large bump on your head just now. Most likely, it was caused by falling onto the floor."
Hearing Amanda's "most likely" explanation, Hermione blushed and rubbed her nose.
Being so anxious to check on someone's safety that she suddenly fell asleep and face-planted on the floor... it was truly embarrassing.
However, Amanda didn't notice Hermione's embarrassment at all. Seeing that she wasn't speaking anymore, Amanda sat back down and continued eating her breakfast quickly.
Hermione pursed her lips. Seeing that there weren't many people in the Great Hall, she simply sat down next to Amanda and began eating breakfast with her.
Since a portion of her three-and-a-half-minute breakfast time had already passed, Amanda only ate for nearly another minute before finishing.
Hermione swallowed her salad and turned to Amanda. "Amanda, are you full?"
Amanda nodded calmly. "Yes."
"Alright... then you head to class first." Hermione turned back and lowered her head to continue her breakfast.
Amanda put on her backpack and quickly left the Great Hall while reading.
With the end of the term truly approaching, the students at Hogwarts were beginning to get nervous.
After all, they were students, and they took their exams very seriously.
The Hogwarts Library was gradually becoming more crowded. Amanda's notebooks for various subjects had all been lent out.
Her notebooks recorded all the knowledge points for every subject without omission. The handwriting was neat, like it was printed, concise and clear. She had even written down the small tips mentioned by the Professors in class without missing a beat.
Therefore, reviewing with her notes was far more efficient than studying from the textbooks.
In the eyes of other Hogwarts students, Amanda was the one who needed to worry about final exams the least.
Given her level, there was no doubt she would be the top Hogwarts first-year student this year.
But in reality, she was the most nervous student at Hogwarts and the one pushing herself the hardest.
One cannot be careless when facing exams, no matter how simple they are. This point repeated itself over and over in Amanda's mind.
She wrote out the contents of her textbooks from memory over and over again and practiced various first-year spells in the Dormitory repeatedly.
Cho Chang and Marietta, her roommates, were stunned. The parchment Amanda used to write out the textbooks was piled high next to her desk, nearly as tall as the desk itself.
The frequency with which she practiced spells was also very high; she almost never had a moment of idle time.
But because final exams were near, Cho Chang and Marietta didn't feel right advising her to rest. They could only watch as she frantically wrote, reviewed, and practiced spells.
Under her influence, they unknowingly joined the ranks of frantic review. Although not as intense as Amanda, they were much more diligent and efficient than when they studied on their own.
The two of them had even made a private bet to see who would be first and who would be second in the Second Year.
Yes, it wasn't that they were arrogant, but based on the current situation and their estimates, the first and second places for the Second Year would likely be taken by the two of them.
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