Anton Was Stunned Numb

P.S.: I got the timeline wrong in the previous chapter, so I adjusted the years. The fifty years of disappearance have been changed to thirty-six years. Nothing else was changed. Thank you.

P.S.: Anna had been out of the ice for two years, so this was thirty-eight years ago.

Anna really was just a little girl, because the way she handled things was still at a child's level.

"Oh no, how are we supposed to get into the manor to see Mother?" Her little face scrunched up miserably. "Even though the castle isn't covered by magic right now, Father is an extremely powerful wizard, and there are lots of House-elves in the manor. They'll notice us too!"

"Haha." Anton laughed. "I thought you'd made thorough preparations. Turns out you came charging in without even a plan for the first step?"

Anna lightly punched Anton, gathered her skirt, and squatted by the roadside, gazing blankly and despairingly at the passing crowds.

A hand gently extended before her.

When she looked up, she saw Anton's brilliant smile.

"So, cute little princess, would you like to experience turning into a bird and flying through the sky?"

Anna's eyes lit up.

She gently placed her hand in Anton's and let him pull her to her feet.

The two walked into a dim corner of the street. A flash of spell-light passed, and their vision became strange, as though everything had suddenly grown enormous.

The little bird Anton had turned into hopped over and lightly pecked Anna's bird head.

The two plump little birds played around for a while, then flapped their wings and flew into the sky.

The Chameleon Windbird potion sounded like it involved an animal, but its true nature was actually an invisible cluster of spores capable of controlling the wind. By that count, it belonged to the plant category.

It was nimble and agile, but that was all.

Compared with the owls of the Wizarding World, its speed over long-distance migration could be compared to that of a snail.

So the two birds landed on the roofs of cars, on the back seats of bicycles, on the tails of skateboards, and on pedestrians' heads.

After changing transportation again and again like that, they finally arrived at the Manor of Myriad Flowers.

Anton finally understood why this place was called the Manor of Myriad Flowers.

Looking down from the hillside, a European-style castle was nearly surrounded by countless flowers. Even the castle walls were covered in blooms.

At the spot where the flowers bloomed most luxuriantly stood a little wooden cabin.

Anna and Anton revealed themselves.

They quietly came to a window and leaned against the wall. Anna nervously gripped her skirt.

Anton gave her an encouraging look. Only then did she take several deep breaths, turn around, and pull herself up to cautiously poke her little head over the windowsill.

Then another head rose beside hers.

The two peered curiously into the room.

The room was quiet.

There was an exquisitely carved, gilded dressing table and wardrobe, while a rainforest oil painting hung on the wall.

At the center stood a large bed with tall Roman columns. Gauze curtains hung from the ceiling and parted around the pillars. A wind chime made of shells hung in the middle, producing crisp music in the breeze.

Beside the large bed was a smaller princess bed, where a little girl around six years old slept soundly.

"That's you." Anton watched with interest.

"Mm." Anna nodded softly, her gaze lingering over every corner of the room. She had likely sunk into beautiful memories.

Before long, the sound of footsteps came from afar. Anton hurriedly grabbed Anna, and they turned back into little birds.

The two jumped onto the windowsill, waiting expectantly for Anna's mother to arrive.

"I never should have given birth to her!" A beautiful Eastern woman with black hair walked in, her eyes full of sorrow. She turned again toward the man behind her. "I never should have given birth to her. It was a mistake!"

Anna swayed and nearly fell from the windowsill.

Anton immediately flew up and grabbed her, flying outside the window. The intense emotions made this newly developed spell extremely unstable.

The two revealed themselves beneath the window.

Anna curled up beneath it, her face deathly pale and filled with disbelief. Her eyes were wide open, tears streaming down both sides of her face as she shook her head while gritting her teeth.

Anton silently sighed and gently took her hand.

Memories were sometimes like that. As time gradually changed them, what you thought you remembered vividly might only be scenes pieced together after repeated imagination.

But...

Anton frowned. Anna's mother seemed strangely familiar, as though he had seen her somewhere before.

"Nana, no." It was Mr. Rosier's voice. Anton remembered it. It lacked the weathered, magnetic maturity of his older voice, but had an extra touch of romance, like singing poetry. "She is the crystallization of our love, the continuation of our lives."

Anton quietly poked half his head out. Rosier was gently embracing his wife from behind. Before long, Anna poked her head out as well, her eyes full of sorrow as she looked at her mother.

Anna's mother rested her head against Rosier's chest and cried sadly, her voice low and suppressed. "No, Andre, she never should have been born. She never should have been born!"

Rosier gently crouched down and held her thin shoulders with both hands. "Nana, shall we go find Pedro? Let's ask him to solve it."

Nana was clearly becoming agitated, her face filled with bone-deep hatred as she gritted her teeth. "Never. I never want to see him again!"

Rosier persisted, gently wiping his wife's tears away. His deep emerald eyes looked at her with affection. "For you, and for Anna too, all right?"

Nana hesitated and stared blankly at Rosier. "For Anna?"

Rosier nodded forcefully. "He invented the Blood Curse, and he was the one who personally cast the curse on your mother. Find him and make him lift this curse! Don't let this vicious curse continue down the bloodline generation after generation!"

"Yes!" Nana's gaze hardened. "Make that bastard lift Anna's curse. She can't be made to continue my tragedy!"

Rosier pressed his lips together and shook his head. "He's dangerous. We can't take such a risk. The two of us will go find him first. Just the two of us, all right?"

Nana looked at Rosier with her pale face, then finally nodded. With a sorrowful expression, she stroked her daughter's face.

Rosier summoned the House-elves and instructed them to prepare the carriage.

Not long after, the couple walked out. Anna stared blankly at their retreating backs. "Mother actually loved me very much, didn't she?"

Anton smiled and nodded. "I can see that her eyes are full of you."

He pointed at Rosier in the distance, who was giving instructions to the House-elves. "Want to follow them and take a look?"

Anna wiped away her tears and nodded firmly.

Thus, with her emotions stable again, Anna turned into a bird beneath the light of the spell once more.

Anton lightly landed on the roof of the carriage.

Anna, however, flew straight into the carriage and landed in her mother's arms. Her transformed form was so light that her grieving mother did not notice her at all.

With a soft cry, the white horses flapped their wings and lifted the carriage into the air.

They raced across the sky, passed over the Thames River, circled Buckingham Palace, and even passed through a ripple-like distortion in midair before flying straight above Knockturn Alley.

Looking down from above, Anton finally discovered that the great lake at the far end of Knockturn Alley was completely filled with tombstones.

"I had someone ask around. He's here."

Rosier had said many comforting things along the way, but none had drawn a reaction from Nana. Yet these words made her cry.

"I don't know, Andre. I don't know how I'm supposed to face him. I'm afraid."

Rosier fell silent for a while. "We have to face it eventually, don't we?"

The carriage came to a stop. Facing an empty patch of ground, Rosier called out loudly, "Master Pedro, Andre Rosier of the Rosier family has come to visit with his wife, Nagini."

Before long, the empty ground rippled, and a crooked Little Building appeared before them.

A younger version of the Old Wizard walked out. "Alex Fiennes, I greet you on behalf of Teacher. Please, come in."

Anton stared wide-eyed at Anna's mother. "Nana? Nagini?" (Nagini, NaNa)

"What the hell!"

The corners of his mouth twitched. He had no idea how to describe his current mood.

Anyway, he was deeply shocked. He emerged from behind the tree.

Anna changed back as well, looking delighted. "You've heard of my mother's deeds? Can you tell me? So this was my mother's name. I never dared ask Father about Mother, and only now do I know."

Anton's expression turned strange as he stared blankly at Anna.

How was he supposed to say it?

Tell her Nagini had good taste?

Her first boyfriend had been Credence of the Dumbledore family, her final boyfriend had been Voldemort of the Gaunt family, and in between, she had also found Andre of the Rosier family?

But just then, a voice rang out beside them. "I was quite handsome when I was young, wasn't I?"

Anton turned in astonishment and saw a hand holding up a head facing him. "Teacher?"

"Why are you here too?"

The Old Wizard shrugged his headless shoulders. "You should be glad you planted Elephant-eating Vines at home. They blocked the Time-Turner's fluctuations. Otherwise, everyone in London would have come."

"!!!"

"My foolish teacher came too, and he even woke up. How interesting."

Interesting? Anton swallowed. "Came where?"

"There, the Safehouse. I just saw him go inside."

The barrage of information left Anton utterly numb.