New Student

[Author's Notes:

- This is primarily a platonic friendship story between the Female Lead, Deng, and Si. (Includes GGAD, with increasing focus in the middle to late stages.) (Female Lead's partner: Ominis Gaunt. Only appears in flashbacks, mostly mentioned by others in the early to mid-stages. Makes a brief appearance in the final volume.)

- My interpretation of the original Harry Potter plot and the Hogwarts Legacy game plot is 100% subjective. (It will be influenced by movie adaptations and actor biases.) Includes plot elements from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies.

- My understanding of the game's plot and NPCs is especially subjective, with some extensions based on my limited perspective. (Adding more: After all, decades or even a century has passed since the game's main story... they all have to grow up, don't they...)

- I will make subjective changes where there are gaps in continuity or where it's inconvenient to create secondary content between individual works. For example, the Gaunt family's relationships and the year of their decline.

- I will invent details where information cannot be found.

- I debated for a long time before writing this. I've never written fanfiction before, but the ideas wouldn't stop coming, so I'm writing. I'll let my future self decide how far I take it (?).

- This is fanfiction, so my subjective thoughts are abundant, my understanding is limited, and OOC (out of character) is unavoidable.

Thank you all.

It would be my honor if this book brings you joy.]

------Main Text------

Looking at the small courtyard before him, the lines on Snape's brow deepened.

Yes, Hogwarts had a tradition of professors guiding Muggle students before the start of term, but--which Muggle would plant a yard full of Man-eating Plants and Chinese Chomping Cabbages???

And it was already August. No matter what, it was very late. It was too late to pick up new students now.

Even this student--she was a fifth-year new student.

"Fifth-year," "new student."

Merlin himself would exclaim how absurd these two terms were together. Snape truly felt that a certain Old Bee had started trying to eat honey with his brain.

Oh, right, what else did the Old Bee say--

[If she asks for me, bring her to my office immediately.]

--Listen to that. What kind of words are these? If he remembered correctly, he was just a professor assigned to receive students, not some owl delivering cargo!

Or perhaps, this was another ridiculous trouble bestowed upon a former Death Eater who couldn't be trusted by the great White Wizard.

Snape thought to himself, his face grim, and rang the doorbell on the only wooden house in the yard.

The door was opened by a girl with long black hair. Her bright, light brown eyes were filled with smiles and confusion.

"Ah, you're a Hogwarts professor!?" Before Snape could say anything, the girl spoke on her own, "Look at my brain, I almost forgot I had to go to school--" As if noticing Snape's displeased expression, the girl looked annoyed and apologetic, "Sorry, Professor, my apologies, truly sorry."

"...Miss Sekerei?"

"It's me, Professor." Cyberlina nodded, straightened her body, and put away the rich expressions on her face, leaving only a smile.

Snape was silent for a few seconds, swallowed the words he wanted to say, and took out the acceptance letter.

"Thank you, Professor."

Ignoring her earlier impetuousness, Cyberlina indeed possessed excellent upbringing. With a smile and demeanor that couldn't be faulted, she politely took the acceptance letter with both hands and opened it with a smile.

"...Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore..."

Cyberlina read it aloud, pondered for a few seconds, then looked up at the professor who had come to escort her and asked, "Dumbledore? The Dumbledore who enrolled in 1892?"

This strange question made Snape pause for two seconds, then quickly calculated and gave the peculiar student a brief answer: "Approximately."

"Ah..." Cyberlina let out a sigh of emotion.

Snape frowned and relayed the Headmaster's peculiar message to the strange student: "Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to take you to his office--right now."

"I figured," Cyberlina raised an eyebrow and smiled, placing the acceptance letter casually on a cabinet behind the door. "I don't have my wand right now, please--oh, I don't even know your name yet."

"...Severus Snape." Snape pursed his lips. "If Miss Sekerei successfully enrolls, then if nothing unexpected happens, I will be your Potions professor."

"Alright, Professor Snape." Cyberlina gave a bright yet elegant smile. "Please trouble yourself to take me to Hogwarts."

-

After a few Apparitions, the two arrived at Hogsmeade village.

Cyberlina showed no discomfort. She even smiled calmly and withdrew her hand from Snape's arm, then leaned slightly and thanked him with proper etiquette.

Although it was already confirmed that she was not a pure Muggle student, this behavior made Snape reconfirm it in his mind and add a note--old-fashioned demeanor.

Perhaps sensing Snape's reticence, Cyberlina remained very quiet on the way to Hogwarts. It wasn't until Snape uttered the password "Lemon Sherbet" at the Headmaster's office door that she let out a surprised light chuckle.

Upon opening the door, they were met with the back of a white-haired figure in a pointed hat. As the two stepped into the Headmaster's office, the old man with white hair and a white beard turned around, but the first to speak was not the current Headmaster.

"Sekerei!?"

--The surprised voice came from a portrait of a former Headmaster on the wall.

Cyberlina looked closely and smiled: "We meet again, Headmaster Black."

Headmaster Black, who had served a century ago, did not reply. He pursed his lips, his expression extremely displeased. He glared at Cyberlina before leaving his picture frame.

"Oh, that hurts. I thought we could catch up," Cyberlina looked disappointed, then looked up at the kind old man with white hair and a white beard and asked, "Albus?"

Dumbledore chuckled, winked, and said cheerfully, "It's me, Professor Sekerei."

Seeing those slightly mischievous blue eyes, etched with the marks of time, Cyberlina matched them in her mind with the red-haired, blue-eyed little boy, and returned Dumbledore's smile.

Snape, who had entered the office at the same time as her, felt his desire to leave surge to its peak upon seeing the scene. He had no interest in discovering the identity of the young woman who had arrived, only wanting to quickly leave the room filled with a cloying sweetness and escape the trouble Dumbledore was trying to hand him.

But it was clear that once Dumbledore's trouble had found him, it would be difficult to break free.

Just as Snape was about to turn and leave, Dumbledore spoke, "Severus…"

"I assume you haven't forgotten that I am a professor with numerous errands to attend to before the start of term," Snape interrupted.

"But I believe your only task today is to receive Sekerei—"

"Call me Cyberlina, Albus. Why so formal?" Cyberlina said with a smile. "You can just call me Cyber."

She then calmly, elegantly, and without any pretense of formality, sat on the sofa closest to her.

Snape and Dumbledore, their conversation interrupted, exchanged a look.

Then, Snape, with a dark expression, sat on another sofa under Dumbledore's smiling gaze.

After sitting down, Snape noticed that while not all of them were present, only two or three of the portraits, who often eavesdropped and watched the drama, remained. The others were nowhere to be seen. He subconsciously cast his gaze towards Cyberlina—no doubt because of this person of mysterious identity.

Dumbledore, now seated, floated a few candies and a cup of intensely sweet hot tea to Cyberlina, then asked gently, "Cyberlina… Cyber, would you be willing to answer some questions for me?"

"To be honest, Albus," Cyberlina said, picking up her teacup with a wry smile, "I don't think I can. Because I have many questions myself. I have no idea why I'm fifteen again after a hundred years, or why I received a fifth-year acceptance letter to Hogwarts again while still in a state of confusion."

"Again?" Dumbledore picked out the keyword.

"Yes, again," Cyberlina repeated.

"So that's how it is…" Dumbledore paused. "Cyber, actually, after you went into seclusion… or rather, after you were out of contact for a few years, the professors researched your origins and past."

"Did they find anything?" Cyberlina leaned forward, her light golden-brown eyes shining with anticipation.

Clearly, she also wanted to know her origins.

Dumbledore shook his head apologetically at Cyberlina. "I'm sorry, Cyber, your past is a blank slate."

The light in Cyberlina's eyes dimmed, but she didn't seem overly disappointed, clearly having been mentally prepared for this answer.

"However, combining your… special abilities, and what you and Professor Fig recorded at the time, some professors who studied you have come up with a theory." Perhaps the answer was too absurd, Dumbledore let out a light chuckle. "They say that you are a wizard sent by Merlin to solve problems when the wizarding world is about to face a major crisis."

Cyberlina's face was filled with shock. She let out a short, disbelieving laugh, then composed herself and smiled, shaking her head. "I suspect they might have over-interpreted my writing about the 'Merlin Trials'."

Dumbledore chuckled softly at her words. "I didn't believe it at first either."

Cyberlina froze for a moment, then looked at Dumbledore helplessly. "So, you mean… you believe it now?"

"I choose to believe," Dumbledore's blue eyes suddenly filled with seriousness. "Professor Sekerei."

Hearing this, Snape, who suddenly understood why he was kept to eavesdrop, pursed his lips and gave Dumbledore a meaningful glance.

Cyberlina, on the other hand, smiled, but as she grasped the meaning of Dumbledore's words, the smile gradually faded.

"What major crisis?" she asked.

"A Dark Lord, who should have died over a decade ago, is showing signs of revival," Dumbledore paused. "A powerful, ambitious dark wizard."

Cyberlina opened her mouth but said nothing. Finally, she lowered her head and looked at her fingers tracing the teacup, and after a moment, looked up at Dumbledore with a wry smile. "But what I know now is, at best, a few advanced spells. My excellent performance back then was purely due to being a specialist in the field."

"I believe in your abilities, Cyber," Dumbledore said again, expressing his trust, but then seemed to hesitate.

Cyberlina noticed this and prompted him, "This… Dark Lord? Is there anything else I need to know about him?"

Dumbledore's expression seemed to be wrestling with something. After a few seconds of hesitation, under Cyberlina's gaze, he sighed and spoke the words he had been holding back:

"He is the last remaining bloodline of the Gaunt family."

Instantly, a chilling coldness crept up Snape's spine. He subtly tightened his grip on his wand beneath his black robes. When he looked up, he saw Cyberlina and Dumbledore staring at each other like two statues.

It was like a conversation, or perhaps a stalemate.

After a long moment, Cyberlina broke eye contact and lowered her head, once again tracing her teacup. The aura that had made Snape's skin crawl had completely vanished.

"Albus…" Cyberlina sighed. "Whatever your plan is, I still have to go to school, right?"

"Yes, Cyber," Dumbledore's smile returned. "But there is still some time before school starts, so you have ample time to make some preparations."

"Yes, ample," Cyberlina put down her teacup. "This is much better than rushing in on the first day of school and almost missing the Sorting."

This young lady, who had maintained her elegance and politeness throughout, suddenly uttered a remark full of hidden meaning. It was unclear who she was mocking or hinting at, but Snape was certain he heard a cold snort from one of the frames.

Cyberlina stood up and looked down at the old student she had once taught. She smiled politely and asked, "But first, I need to retrieve my own wand… Albus, may I trouble this silent professor to take me to my old residence to look for my wand?"

"Of course," Dumbledore agreed without hesitation, then chuckled and looked at the silent professor. "What do you say, Severus?"

"…Of course," Snape squeezed out the two words almost through gritted teeth.

The guests departed one after another, and the office door was closed. Dumbledore took a candy from the jar and put it in his mouth.

Fawkes cried out and appeared in the office. After circling once, he landed in his usual spot. The ancient Sorting Hat opened its mouth: "She is still she."

"Yes, she is still she," Dumbledore chuckled, his eyes falling on the untouched tea by the sofa. "That's good, isn't it?"