Extra: The Love I Give You Has Always Been Quiet
Autumn at Hogwarts has a very unique mixed atmosphere, with both the abundance and warmth of the harvest and the faint desolation of everything gradually withering away.
Even in Hogwarts under Phineas's rule, the students' excitement and energy for the new semester were palpable.
The ancient castle appeared even more profound under the autumn sun, with occasional gusts of wind carrying away golden leaves.
Anne Saru sat by the fountain, the golden sunlight shining on her face, making her temperament appear even more gentle and serene.
She was staring blankly at her classmates not far away.
"Anne!"
A lively voice rang out, and Anne turned her head, revealing a smile.
Good afternoon, Imelda.
The girl called Imelda stood next to Anne and said with some distress, "Now I understand why you asked me to give that Gryffindor boy special training—his name is Potter, right? I really don't know what you two siblings are thinking."
His mind was filled with Gryffindor all day long.
During the years they were enrolled, Flying Lesson had been stagnant—either because there was no professor, or because Phineas Black didn't particularly like offering the course.
But this semester is different; they invited a professor from Japan named Furukawa.
This professor is good in every way, except that he often talks in a cryptic way about an emperor called "Meiji" to others, and he also has a very bad relationship with the dormitory manager, Gladwin Yue.
Rumor has it that Gladwin Moon is from Cao County, a vassal state of Ming, the Ming Dynasty of Professor Hoot from the Care of Magical Creatures. "How did he perform?" Anne asked.
Imelda paused for a moment.
"Excellent." She smiled radiantly. "I must admit, he's the first Gryffindor." She placed one foot on the edge of the stool, leaned closer to Anne, and whispered, "But—why are you so interested in Potter? Don't you know that Malfoy, that haughty young lady, has always regarded Potter as her little follower—..."
"Potter is Sebastian's friend, and my friend too," Anne said calmly. "I suppose Young Lady Malfoy has no say in who Harry befriends, right?"
"Yes, that's true." Imelda nodded, wrinkling her nose as if she didn't like the name Malfoy at all.
Of course, she also knew that Young Lady Malfoy didn't care—she never cared about the house, or even how anyone in the entire school treated her. This confidence came from the Malfoy family, and also from her outstanding magical talent.
Even those who dislike Cassandra the most would admit that, even stripped of the glamorous Malfoy family, Cassandra Malfoy is still a little witch with extraordinary talent.
"It's just a pity," Imelda said with a sigh. "It's a shame that Headmaster Black doesn't allow Quidditch Match to be played at the school. Otherwise, having someone like Potter as an opponent would be a real treat—he's a born Seeker!"
"Hmm." Anne nodded, without continuing the conversation.
"The new school term is so boring," Imelda said to herself. "There are no challenging activities, and Headmaster Black still won't allow Quidditch Match to be held at school. If this keeps up, I'm going to rot away. Potter is here."
Anne looked up and saw Harry walking toward them, chatting and laughing with Gareth, accompanied by a dark-skinned boy.
It seems they've just finished Charms Class.
The Charms Class in the third year was reorganized. Gryffindor were originally in Charms Class with Hufflepuff, were suddenly moved to Ravenclaw; while Hufflepuff, who were originally in class with Gryffindor, were grouped with the Slytherin.
There was indeed a situation in the original school where Slytherin looked down on Hufflepuff, but after Phineas became Headmaster for a few years, this situation improved greatly, and some Slytherin even began to befriend Hufflepuff.
Phineas always considered this his political achievement and was quite pleased with it—and in some respects, it was indeed his doing.
As Harry passed the fountain, he spotted Anne.
"Anne!" Harry waved to Anne and walked over to Anne.
Anne smiled gently and stood up.
"Finally, class is over." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "I really didn't want to listen to Professor Ronan just reading from the textbook anymore—that seemed to be all he was good at. I seriously doubted how someone like that could be a professor at Hogwarts— "
"Don't be like that, Harry," Gareth chimed in beside him. "At least he'll read from the book, won't he?"
"To paraphrase Miss Malfoy— " Harry mentioned Cassandra, seemingly recalling her utterly disgusted expression.
He couldn't help but laugh, and continued, "We've sunk so low that we're having an India smells like curry teach us Charms."
"It seems he's still as ignorant and incompetent as ever," Imelda chimed in from the side.
Everyone laughed.
"Potter," Imelda said, "I'll be waiting for you at the Quidditch pitch after dinner. I don't know why I call the Flying Lesson ground that, but I still prefer to call it the Quidditch pitch, even though it doesn't fulfill its function."
"Oh, I'm afraid it's not possible today," Harry said with some regret. "There's just too much homework today—besides Professor Ronan, Professor Sharp, the Potions Class Professor Sharpe, also assigned us a lot of homework. You should know that, since Gryffindor Potions Class is taken together with Slytherin."
"Yes," Gareth said, still somewhat unsatisfied. "Professor Sharpe also put me in solitary confinement."
His expression was one of pride, but Gareth was unaware that the feud between Weasley and the Potions professor would continue for a century to come.
It's also a kind of family inheritance in some way.
"Harry," Anne suddenly said.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, scratching his head.
"If you trust me, you can give me your homework," Anne said with a smile. "You know I can multitask."
I can definitely help you with your homework so you can go practice flying with Imelda.
"Really?" Harry's eyes lit up.
"Of course," Anne said with a gentle smile. "Well—let me think, Professor Ronan probably left you with information on how to use the Accio, right?"
"How did you know?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Because Professor Ronan also taught us Charms Class," Imelda said lazily.
"Ah—" Harry exclaimed, handing the notebook he was holding to Anne. "Then, I'll have to trouble you—"
"It's no trouble at all, Harry." Anne took the Notebook.
Suddenly, Sebastian appeared out of nowhere, staring at Harry with a very unfriendly expression.
That look in his eyes was clearly meant to protect him from thieves.
Sebastian didn't know when it started, but he began to regret becoming friends with Harry. Becoming friends meant that Anne would also have to get to know Harry. But for some reason, ever since Anne met Harry, Sebastian felt that Anne and Harry's relationship seemed to be even better than that of siblings.
This is not a good thing!
"What are you doing!" Sebastian asked with an unfriendly expression.
"It's nothing, Sebastian." Anne tugged at his sleeve. "Please don't stand in the middle when others are speaking."
Okay?
"No, I need to know the truth!" Sebastian was clearly unhappy. He glanced at the Notebook in Anne's arms, then at Harry's adorable face, sniffed, and asked, "Did Harry bully you and make you do his homework? Did he, Anne?"
"No," Anne said calmly. "Harry is going to practice flying with Imelda tonight, and I'm just helping him write a paper."
"Really?" Sebastian asked with some suspicion.
"Of course," Harry said hastily. "Seber, Anne has been a great help to me, I really need to thank her—"
"It's what friends should do, Harry," Anne smiled. "I'll go back to the Great Hall and wait for you two—you two, no fighting!"
After Anne left, Sebastian's expression turned sinister.
"Boy!" Sebastian said viciously, "You already have Young Lady Malfoy, you should know her temper—that morbid possessiveness. I can't stop Anne, but I want you to understand that this isn't good for Anne, understand?"
"I truly consider Anne a friend, Seber," Harry sighed. "Besides, Miss Malfoy isn't as scary as you make her out to be; I think she's quite approachable—"
Sebastian rolled his eyes upwards, giving Harry a pair of merciless glares.
Oh.
Is Miss Malfoy approachable?
That's with you—
"Anyway," Sebastian patted Harry on the shoulder, "If Anne gets even the slightest bit hurt, I'll give you a good beating! I swear!"
Harry immediately raised his hands and gave a standard French Third Empire military salute.
That evening, in the Slytherin Common Room, Sebastian found Anne sitting in a corner, diligently correcting her notes.
"Anne," Sebastian said, sitting down across from Anne with a serious expression, "I want to talk to you."
"Could you wait a moment?" Anne looked up and said, "Just one more thing, and I'll finish revising this week's notes."
"This week's notes?"
Sebastian glanced at Anne suspiciously, then looked down at the Notebook and immediately recognized the scrawled handwriting.
He felt his blood pressure rise.
"Did Harry make you change your notes?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"No." Anne added some details about the use of the Levitation Charm after a paragraph of text, and then drew a cute smiley face at the end.
"Then why did you do that?" Sebastian questioned.
"It was just something I did, Sebastian." Anne smiled and looked up. "Harry is our friend, and friends should help each other out like this, don't you think?"
"That doesn't mean you should help him correct his notes!" Sebastian said sternly. "Listen, Anne —don't have any inappropriate thoughts about Harry. You know Miss Malfoy's temper, her pathological possessiveness—"
At this point, Sebastian said with a strange expression, "I can't say for sure—but whatever you do, don't fall for that guy."
"I know, Sebastian," Anne said calmly.
"You know nothing, "Sebastian sighed. He really wanted to crack open his sister's skull and see what kind of pink bubble stuff was inside...
"Never mind," Sebastian said wearily. "I've said everything I needed to say. I hope you understand my good intentions. That's all—."
"I understand, Sebastian," Anne said calmly. "Thank you for reminding me."
Sebastian groaned inwardly.
Never mind, never mind—.
It's beyond our control.
He's starting to think about giving up.
He actually knew his sister best; she was the kind of person who wouldn't give up until she hit a brick wall.
He hoped Harry would listen to him for a moment... he thought to himself.
The next morning, while Harry was still eating breakfast, Anne brought the notes to him.
"Here you go." Anne raised her chin. "Your two papers are finished. I referenced your handwriting. As long as you don't admit it, the professor won't find out."
"Thank you, Anne," Harry said, wiping his forehead. "You've really helped me a lot—"
"You're welcome." Anne returned his smile. "Besides the homework, I also made some minor corrections to your notes. You can take a look when you have time."
"Okay, thank you, Anne," Harry said sincerely.
After exchanging a few words, Anne returned to the Slytherin's long table without saying anything more.
Cassandra, who was not far away, did not seem to care about the matter at all; she did not even look up to see what Anne and Harry were thinking.
As a woman herself, Anne felt she understood Cassandra quite well.
This was an incredibly proud woman who never considered the possibility that Harry might "fall for someone else," despite her repeated claims that Harry was merely her sidekick.
Many people believed Cassandra's nonsense in their first year, but after a few people who dared to offend Harry transferred or dropped out of school, everyone dismissed the woman's "claims".
I don't believe you for a second, you're a lackey—
Therefore, Cassandra doesn't take her friend-like interactions to heart.
It's perfectly normal for a sidekick to have a friend.
Young Lady Malfoy doesn't care at all about characters like Pabbie Sweeting Hufflepuff and Anne from Slytherin.