The leisurely semester life slipped quietly by amid the daily grind of grinding new spells. During this time, Kate even went to watch the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match.
That day, Cho Chang swiftly caught the Golden Snitch within fifteen minutes, briefly becoming a Quidditch star to rival Harry across the whole school.
Afterward, Cho Chang even went out of her way to seek Kate out and thank her profusely.
Though Kate had no idea why she was being thanked.
After the Quidditch season ended, Ravenclaw climbed to second place in the House Cup, ranking just behind Slytherin.
No matter how heroic Cho Chang was on the pitch, she still couldn't outdo Kate, the one favored by Katherine.
Soon the finals arrived. Because of Lockhart's failed teaching over most of the year, Katherine, who had taken over from him, ramped up the difficulty of her lessons.
For the two months before finals, Kate could see students of every year staying up late each day, painstakingly drilling Defense Against the Dark Arts.
How miserable.
She yawned, strolled leisurely past the crowds pulling all-nighters, and headed back to the dormitory to sleep.
For two straight months, all of Hogwarts was caught up in a frenzy of busyness, and Kate finally managed—before the final exams arrived—to raise every one of her attributes above 50, except Charisma.
The reason she didn't raise Charisma was probably that her current 40 points of Charisma were already more than enough to thoroughly thrash the noseless Voldemort who would one day be resurrected in the future.
At last, on a scorching hot day, the final exam came to an end, and a few days later the results were posted.
Kate came first again, Hermione second, and Harry and Ron managed to pass smoothly too, not wasting all the daily tutoring the two girls had given them.
At the feast, Slytherin unsurprisingly defended its hold on the House Cup, and the excited little snakes were practically ready to line up and hug their great hero, Kate, one by one.
Fortunately, Kate was now the winner of one hundred and thirty consecutive duels, and apart from Malfoy, no one still dared to provoke her.
Once the feast ended, it was also the last night they would spend at school this term—tomorrow they'd board the train and enjoy a whole summer break.
Kate had thought everything this semester was over, and was happily getting ready to head back to the dormitory to open her end-of-year gift package, when Malfoy called out to stop her.
Once again, the two of them came to that pitch-black corner.
Kate waited patiently for seven or eight minutes, but Malfoy still didn't say a word. Feeling a bit bored, she stepped forward to leave—but the instant she turned, a warm embrace suddenly wrapped around her from behind.
She instinctively glanced down and felt slightly reassured: this time there was no direct skin contact, otherwise she'd have gotten burned all over again.
Yet before she could finish being relieved, Malfoy's somewhat choked-up voice sounded: "I've thought about it for two months. There's something I have to tell you——"
"Hold on!" Sensing things going wrong, Kate immediately turned around and pushed her away, then studied her up and down in the faint light from outside. "I don't need to know your secret, Malfoy."
Since it was deliberately hidden, it had to be a very important secret—one no one but the closest of people would ever know.
At least from Kate's observations, Malfoy's two lackeys had no idea that the "boss" they followed around was actually a girl.
If that was the case, then what did Malfoy mean by telling her about it?
For now, all she wanted was to keep this not-too-close, not-too-distant friendship with Malfoy. Knowing too many secrets right now, she couldn't guarantee that if their feelings faded down the road, Malfoy wouldn't come to regret having told her.
By then, Kate would no longer be a friend, but a threatening presence who held her secret.
Whether for her own protection or for the sake of this friendship, she didn't want things to reach that point.
"Listen," she said solemnly, gripping the other girl's shoulders, "trading secrets isn't the way to deepen a friendship. If you've made up your mind, just tell me your answer straight out."
In the darkness, all she could feel was Malfoy's slender body trembling ever so slightly.
After who knew how long, she finally heard her strained voice: "I... I won't listen to my father. I really like the way things are now."
This was perhaps the first time in her twelve years that she had defied the father she had always adored, but as the words left her mouth, Malfoy felt a truly genuine sense of relief.
At least in this one matter, she wouldn't be her father's puppet, simply doing whatever he wished.
Kate curled her lips in satisfaction. "What a coincidence—so am I."
She gave Malfoy a light hug, then quickly let go, chuckling as she ruffled the other girl's pale golden hair. "It's settled, then."
"Mm... it's settled." In the darkness, Malfoy felt her face had grown absurdly hot, but she still worked up the courage to agree.
She heard Kate's faint laughter, and the blush on her face deepened all the more. The moment she finished speaking, she fled the scene at once.
Left behind alone once again, Kate shook her head with a smile and ambled back to the dormitory.
"System, open the gift package."
[Ding! Host has exceeded the System quest: Rank in the top three of the final exams.]
[Congratulations, Host, on obtaining Attribute Points x5, Wand Attribute Points x5]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on completing your second-year studies. Now unlocking your School-Year Rewards!]
[School-Year Reward One: Obtain Attribute Points x5, Wand Attribute Points x5]
[School-Year Reward Two: Raise the proficiency of any one spell by one level]
[School-Year Reward Three: Raise any one Stacked Ability by one level]
Not much different from last year, then.
Kate had long since worked out her plan for allocating the points. She poured all 10 attribute points she'd gained straight into Spirit, then raised Draconic Protection to level 5.
This way, her Vitality climbed to 82, nearly catching up to the Basilisk.
But what Kate valued more was that, with high Vitality watching her back, boosting her various physical attributes later on wouldn't come with nearly so much strain.
As for the spell upgrade opportunity, she gave it to Chongli Divine Fire. The reason was simple—it was the strongest spell she currently possessed, and upgrading it would also raise her fire resistance by one level along the way. Why not?
On top of that, her Searing Flame Curse had successfully reached level 7 through her efforts over the past two months, roughly on par with the level Katherine had mastered.
It was only when it hit level 7 that she discovered her Searing Flame had unconsciously taken the shape of a fire dragon.
Kate: ...Could it be that when she trained to become an Animagus in the future, she'd turn into a dragon too?
She had a dragon form, the fire she used was dragon-shaped, she could breathe Dragon Flame from her mouth, and even her Patronus was a dragon.
Wonderful. The picture was far too beautiful—she didn't dare think about it any further.
Never mind, she'd deal with that later. In any case, every goal she'd set at the start of the semester had been more than accomplished. Next, all she needed was to raise her average attributes to 75 to be able to protect herself.
In other words, next year she'd only need... 9 attribute points to complete her goal. How very gratifying indeed.
Having tallied up the attribute points she'd need next year, Kate flopped onto her bed, her face streaked with dark lines.
Why did it still feel so hopelessly far off? Help!
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