Hogwarts final exams weren't difficult, at least not for Amanda.
The Professors tested them on what they had learned; unlike her previous exams, there were no extracurricular or advanced questions.
Therefore, Amanda completed all her exams very smoothly; every knowledge point and every answer was stored in her mind.
Staring at the paper with vacant eyes, Amanda thought over every question five times, repeatedly confirming every word before putting pen to paper to ensure she wouldn't need to make any corrections after writing.
Corrections would lead to point deductions, Amanda constantly reminded herself. In a previous exam, five points had been deducted by the grading teacher just because there were signs of an alteration on one question.
Those five points had cost her ten minutes of standing in the snow as punishment, which was the first time she had experienced the itchy, painful sensation in her feet.
After finishing the paper with neat handwriting, Amanda stared at it fixedly, repeatedly redoing the exam in her mind until the bell rang to hand it in.
Standing up expressionlessly, Amanda shouldered her bag and walked out of the examination room. This was her last exam, and the last exam for all Hogwarts students.
After this exam, the final exams for all Hogwarts students for the year were over.
Students cheered and rushed out of the examination rooms, heading towards the grounds outside Hogwarts Castle.
They were going to run wild on the grass, soak up the sun, and see the Giant Squid by the Black Lake; anyway, they just didn't want to stay in the Castle anymore.
Having been "tortured" by final exams for two weeks, they wanted to relax properly.
Amidst the cheers and jubilation, Amanda, silent and walking against the crowd, appeared exceptionally strange.
She walked towards the moving staircases with a clear goal, heading quickly toward the Hogwarts Library.
The end-of-year exams were just exams; there would be more in the future, so learning could not stop, nor should it be stopped. She needed to continue studying.
Along the way, students coming out of various examination rooms saw Amanda's figure; they instinctively made way for her to pass.
This Ravenclaw, famous for being a study maniac and a tireless monster, was undoubtedly heading to the Library.
Entering the Library, Amanda put down her bag under Madam Pince's "as expected" gaze and sigh, took a stack of books from the shelf she was currently reading, returned to her seat, entered her study state, and began reading rapidly.
Page after page of book content was continuously received by Amanda's brain. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron, having finished their exams, were being brought to the Library by Hermione.
"Hermione..." Harry swallowed hard as he looked at the direction the three were walking. "I hope you don't want to go to the Library to check if our answers were right, do you?"
Let him go; he just finished his final exams and only wanted to let his brain relax for a while.
"Of course not," Hermione looked back at Harry with an expression that said 'what nonsense are you talking'. "I'll do that in a couple of days."
"Merlin..." Ron covered his face with his hand in pain. Fine, at least she didn't plan to do it today.
"Then what are we going to do?" Harry looked at Hermione in confusion, then suddenly realized.
"Are we going to the Library to find Amanda?"
"Exactly," Hermione nodded and turned back to continue walking upstairs. "Even though final exams are over now, with her style, she's definitely still studying in the Library. Let's find her and take her out to relax."
"True," Ron nodded as he followed behind Hermione. "She really pushed herself too hard during this final exam period."
Recalling Amanda's desperate effort in transcribing textbooks and Charms during this period, and the thick stack of parchment that always filled her bag, Harry nodded in silent agreement with Ron.
The three arrived at the Library and, unsurprisingly, saw Amanda reading at her usual seat as a matter of course.
Immersed in her study state, Amanda didn't feel Hermione and the others' arrival at all. However, when Madam Pince saw the three of them, she couldn't help but show a gratified expression.
Hermione smiled and greeted Madam Pince, then stepped forward and stood beside Amanda.
As usual, Hermione waited until Amanda finished reading a page before speaking.
"Amanda, good afternoon."
Hearing her full name, Amanda instantly snapped out of her study state, turned to look at Hermione, and replied mechanically.
"Good afternoon, Hermione. Is something the matter?"
Hermione smiled gently at Amanda, her voice so tender that the two boys behind her found it unbelievable.
"Final exams just finished today. Why don't you come out and relax with us?"
Harry and Ron chimed in from the side, "Yeah, yeah, come out and relax."
"Yeah, give yourself a half-day holiday. You've pushed yourself hard enough."
Amanda looked at Hermione with vacant eyes. Deep in her mind, a thought emerged again: she wanted to agree to Hermione's request.
Nodding emotionlessly, Amanda closed the book in her hand and stood up. "Okay, let's go."
Hermione cheered happily and took the initiative to help Amanda put the books into her bag. Before she could shoulder it, Ron took it first.
Ron shrugged under Hermione's gaze. "Harry and I are here. Amanda's bag is quite heavy; we'll take turns carrying it."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "That's rare, Ron. Since when did you learn to be such a gentleman?"
Ron's face turned red, and he lowered his head, muttering softly, "It's just... you guys helped us review, so we have to thank you."
"Alright." Hermione nodded, took Amanda's arm, and led her out of the Library.
Following behind, Harry patted Ron's shoulder with satisfaction. "Nice job, mate. Keep it up."
Ron nodded with a red face and followed the two girls in front with Harry.
He had just said that he and Harry would take turns carrying the bag, and in reality, that was indeed necessary.
Amanda's bag was truly too heavy. When she borrowed books from the Library, she always aimed for the maximum number allowed, and many were the kind of massive tomes that looked like they could even kill someone.
With a full bag, Ron was already panting and felt his shoulder aching before they had even left the Castle after coming down the stairs to the first floor of Hogwarts.
"Merlin's bag... I feel like the entire Hogwarts Library is packed into this bag."
Seeing this, Harry shook his head with a smile and reached out to grab the bag on Ron's back. "Let me take over, Ron."
Ron didn't try to be brave and nodded, putting down the bag.
As Ron put down the bag, Harry's expression changed instantly as he took it. His eyes widened as he looked at the bag.
This bag... is so heavy!
Swallowing, Harry put the bag over his shoulder. Just as he was about to call Ron to keep moving, he saw him staring at his own shoulder in a daze.
"Ron, what are you dazing about?"
Harry asked curiously as he stepped forward, and then he saw that under Ron's pulled-open collar was a large area of red marks rubbed by the bag straps. Some spots even looked like they were about to swell, looking quite frightening.
"No way..." Ron murmured, questioning his life as he looked down at his shoulder, then looked up at Amanda, who had already walked some distance away.
His shoulder had become like this after only carrying her bag for a short while; what must Amanda's shoulders look like?
Harry followed Ron's gaze. Obviously, he had thought of this too. He patted Ron's back and said nothing, just pulling Ron to catch up with Hermione and Amanda.
He would mention this to Hermione in a moment; he believed she would have a way to solve it.
Unfortunately, when they sat down on the grass, before he could mention the small issue of the weight of Amanda's bag, they were met with a wave of headaches first.
"Harry, are you okay?" Seeing Harry clutching his head with a pained expression, Hermione asked with concern.
"I'm fine," Harry quickly waved his hand. "It's just my scar... it hurts a bit."
"The scar hurts?" Hermione frowned.
"Yeah." Harry responded, holding his forehead.
"Has it hurt before?"
"It has. At the start of term, Professor Snape looked at me, and the scar hurt for a moment. And that night in the Forbidden Forest, it hurt then too."
"What does this represent? A magic scar hurting might have some different meaning?" Hermione made her guess and then looked at Amanda for confirmation.
Feeling Hermione's gaze, Amanda turned her head and looked at her calmly, speaking without any tone. "What's wrong?"
"Um," Hermione pursed her lips. "Amanda, do you know if a magic scar hurting has any special meaning?"
Amanda's brain quickly searched through the various books she had read. "A magic scar hurting might be because the magic that caused the injury carried some kind of curse, or the magic cannot be completely healed."
As she spoke, her gaze turned to Harry, her tone mechanical. "Harry is the only case of a magic scar caused by the Killing Curse; I cannot make a deduction."
"However, personally, I believe his situation shouldn't belong to the above two categories."
"Alright..." Harry nodded while holding his forehead, indicating he understood. "Thank you, Amanda."
"I actually think... this scar hurting might be warning me that something bad is about to happen."
Harry spread his hands. "Think about it. Professor Snape looked at me and my scar hurt; after that, he really did deduct points from me in almost every class."
"In the Forbidden Forest, I saw that Man in Black Robes and my scar hurt; he really did want to harm us."
Ron frowned and thought for a moment. "That makes sense... but what does it represent that your scar hurts now?"
Harry lowered his eyes. "I'm not sure, but it must be something bad, it must be..."
His scar had hurt before because of the Man in Black Robes in the Forbidden Forest. He went to the Forbidden Forest for detention because he went to send away the little dragon, Norbert... Harry thought aimlessly, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Wait, the little dragon Norbert! The dragon egg!
Carrying a dragon egg privately is illegal. Who would walk around with a dragon egg and use it as a bet!
Having understood the key point, Harry immediately became excited and told the other three present his thoughts.
After hearing Harry's thoughts, both Hermione and Ron gasped sharply. If that were really the case, then the other party... Jumping up suddenly, Harry grabbed Amanda's bag and ran toward Hagrid's hut, with Ron following closely behind and Hermione holding Amanda's hand, leading her to sprint at the end.
Amanda's face remained unchanged, but her brain had already begun making deductions.
Betting a dragon egg with Hagrid couldn't be for money, so it must be for... information?
But what information did Hagrid have that the other party might need? Amanda's mind reached the conclusion that the other party wanted information, and then the analysis stopped there.
It wasn't until Harry knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut and asked him that the person who bet with him had asked how to get past the Cerberus that the analysis in Amanda's brain instantly connected.
Various trivial details flashed rapidly within her brain and were automatically organized.
Just then, Harry also mentioned what the Centaur Firenze had said when he carried him out of the Forbidden Forest, and guessed that the Man in Black Robes in the Forbidden Forest might be Lord Voldemort.
Ron's face turned pale suddenly, and Hermione beside him also shuddered violently.
"But... You-Know-Who is dead, right?" Ron's face was deathly pale as he looked at Harry in terror.
"Hagrid said... Headmaster Dumbledore believes You-Know-Who might not be dead." Harry spoke with difficulty.
"Most likely, Lord Voldemort is not dead." Amanda spoke in a flat tone while her brain organized the analysis.
"According to records in the Hogwarts Library, no one has ever found Lord Voldemort's body. Meanwhile, his cause of death is speculated to be the Killing Curse reflected by Harry."
"The Killing Curse does not have the effect of making someone vanish into thin air; it acts upon the soul. Therefore, I believe it is most likely that Lord Voldemort, through unknown reasons, escaped, entered a weakened state, and his whereabouts are unknown."
Hearing "Lord Voldemort" mentioned several times, Ron and Hermione's faces looked even worse, while Harry remained relatively calm.
"So... it really could be him."
"Furthermore," Amanda's gaze swept indifferently over the other three present, "it is known that the item in the fourth-floor Forbidden Area is the Philosopher's Stone, and a Cerberus is guarding the Philosopher's Stone. The Man in Black Robes who tricked Hagrid into revealing the method to get past the Cerberus must want the Philosopher's Stone."
"The Philosopher's Stone can be used to brew the Elixir of Life, which has a similar effect to Unicorn blood. Therefore, it can be inferred that the Man in Black Robes in the Forbidden Forest and the Man in Black Robes who tricked Hagrid are the same person."
Looking at Amanda, who was continuously outputting analysis with extreme precision and no expression, Ron and Harry felt their hair stand on end, while Hermione bit her lower lip, her heart aching in waves.
"Needing Unicorn blood and the Philosopher's Stone to sustain life, and having great hostility toward Harry, the other party is inferred to be a weakened Lord Voldemort or someone related to Lord Voldemort."
As Amanda spoke, her brain continued to quickly select related items. "In the first Quidditch match, it is most likely that Professor Quirrell tried to harm Harry. The Man in Black Robes can be inferred to be Professor Quirrell."
"His relationship with Lord Voldemort is unknown; his method of contact with Lord Voldemort is unknown. I can only analyze up to this point."
After Amanda finished, she closed her mouth. Harry and Ron stood rooted to the spot in a daze. Hermione took a deep breath, rushed forward, and hugged Amanda, her right hand constantly stroking her back.
"Thank you. Your analysis is already very good."
However, she really didn't like listening to Amanda's analysis, really didn't, just like when she heard Amanda explain those emotions before.
It was really painful, a stinging pain in her heart... Being held in Hermione's arms, Amanda expressionlessly imitated Hermione by raising her hands to hug her back.
She didn't understand what was wrong with Hermione, and she didn't have the slightest doubt in her heart; she just couldn't analyze it.
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