Surname

Watching Dumbledore return with the other two professors and the girl, Lockhart lifted his head again, but his smile quickly froze—because the first student introduced was a fifth-year transfer, Cyberlina Sekerei.

"Due to health reasons, Miss Sekerei was unable to reside at school for extended periods, which is why her enrollment was delayed until this year." Dumbledore thoughtfully provided an explanation for her, though he knew Cyberlina's identity would soon become known to most people. "However, she has always received guidance from her elders at home, so she can attend fifth-year classes directly—the professors have already assessed her. She is qualified."

As Cyberlina prepared to put on the Sorting Hat, the smile at the corners of her lips widened at those words, making the Sorting Hat somewhat reluctant to let her touch it.

"Come to think of it, you haven't spoken to me at all." Cyberlina took the Sorting Hat and placed it on her head. "Do you hate seeing me again that much?"

"Hm? No, no... I don't, Cyberlina." The Sorting Hat swayed from side to side. "Slytherin again?"

"Would I be suited to any other House?"

"...You know, Dumbledore was still wondering today whether I sorted you into the wrong House last time."

"Because I used the secret passage?" Cyberlina laughed heartily. "So I should have gone to Gryffindor, where there are the most troublemakers?"

"I think it wasn't just this time—he once thought you belonged in Ravenclaw as well."

"Then he must have been frightened when he saw how focused I was on my research. But, old friend, you should understand—"

"All right, all right, I understand, of course I understand..." The Sorting Hat raised its tip and shouted loudly, "SLYTHERIN—!"

Symbolic welcoming applause rose from the Slytherin table. Most of them looked at Cyberlina as she approached with composed smiles, though their youthful eyes could not conceal their speculation and appraisal. After all, "Sekerei" was a name none of them had ever heard before, while "fifth-year transfer" was a rare concept.

Before they had weighed the strength of this surname, the younger Slytherins all maintained a standard degree of friendliness.

At the same time, Cyberlina's seat was difficult to determine under these circumstances, since neither the new students' section nor the fifth-years' section had an empty seat reserved for her. So the clever female prefect, Gemma Farley, led her to a seat beside herself—a position that displayed respect while also allowing many people to observe her.

More importantly, as a seventh-year prefect nearing graduation, Gemma's arrangement would not draw any complaints from the fifth-years.

Besides, it was only for one night. By tomorrow morning, where Sekerei sat would no longer be something Gemma could control.

Cyberlina thanked the female prefect before her, but suddenly heard a sharp question—

"Sekerei, why have I never heard of your surname?"

Ah, it was a second-year she had noticed long ago—a boy with beautiful, unmistakably Malfoy, platinum-blond hair.

Still, she felt that hairstyle did not quite suit the proud boy who was openly scrutinizing her.

Cyberlina smiled faintly at Draco Malfoy. "But your elders have certainly heard of it, Mr. Malfoy."

None of the Slytherins present seemed puzzled that she knew Draco's surname. Coupled with the other students' attitude toward this younger student, Cyberlina gained an understanding of the Malfoy family's current standing in the wizarding world.

"My elders?" Draco frowned. "My father?"

"Perhaps?" Cyberlina adjusted her collar. A few sharp-eyed Slytherins noticed that her oddly styled wizarding robes had, at some point, changed into Slytherin school robes identical to theirs. "But I would advise asking your grandparents or great-grandparents instead, just to be safe."

Draco still frowned. Young and well protected, he did not quite understand what Cyberlina meant. But Gemma understood. She asked the crucial question on behalf of the baffled younger students, phrasing it tactfully.

"Has your family really not come to Britain for so long?"

—Clever, direct, and perfectly timed.

Cyberlina gave Gemma an approving look, and Gemma felt awkward beneath that almost elder-like, affectionate gaze.

"At the very least, my surname has indeed not appeared in Britain's wizarding world for several decades." As Cyberlina used her wand to place a napkin across her lap, she continued along Gemma's line of inquiry. "If you wish to learn about my surname, you may truly need to ask people... well, people at least as old as Headmaster Dumbledore. I trust your families are also very interested in my surname's reappearance."

Cyberlina picked up her cutlery and smiled at the varied gazes fixed upon her. "Aren't you hungry? If I was not misinformed, Hogwarts dinners seem to have a time limit?"

Only then did the Slytherins realize that the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had long finished introducing himself, and Dumbledore had just announced the beginning of the feast. The more perceptive Slytherins broke out in a cold sweat as the realization struck them: they had heard neither the singing nor the headmaster's voice, yet neither the headmaster nor their Head of House had stopped their conversation. That could mean only one thing—at least two spells, a Silencing Charm and an Illusion Charm, had been cast around them without a sound, and no one had noticed.

As for who had cast them, that was already obvious.

Furthermore, no one at the staff table had stopped her from committing such a disrespectful act during the Hogwarts feast.

Had they failed to notice?

Or had they refrained from exposing her out of concern for Cyberlina?

Either possibility proved that Cyberlina was no ordinary person.

Thus, although the feast had only just begun, most Slytherins had lost all interest in enjoying it. They only wanted to return to their dormitory as quickly as possible and send word home.

After Dumbledore returned to the headmaster's seat, he looked up to see Cyberlina raising a goblet of corn juice toward him in salute. He calmly lifted his own goblet in reply.

The reason he had not stopped Cyberlina's brazen actions was simple—he felt guilty.

In his introduction of Cyberlina, he had clearly intended to shift everyone's attention away from her personally and onto her family. Cyberlina could not possibly have failed to understand that, and according to her principles, she would not openly challenge him during the feast. As a result, she could only accept his "explanation," even follow his lead in introducing herself.

It was an utterly blatant act of coercion against her former senior and former professor.

So Dumbledore felt a little guilty.

Perhaps worried that Cyberlina might say something, the White Wizard, though more than a hundred years old and presiding over the feast, still deliberately spared some attention for the activity at the Slytherin table.

Yet not listening made him uneasy, while listening made him even more uneasy.

—Cyberlina seemed to intend to make a "forceful" return.

Dumbledore had considered that Cyberlina might use the advantages of her identity from decades ago to gather supporters, but he had never imagined she would do it in such a simple and blunt manner!

Those words did far more than pique the young Slytherins' interest in her identity. Every sentence practically guided them toward uncovering it. Within two days at most, the surname "Sekerei" would likely resound through Britain's wizarding world once more.

He had guilt-riddenly dug a pit for Cyberlina, and Cyberlina had built a ladder inside it.

He emphasized "family," and she followed his lead by emphasizing only her own "surname." As long as the events surrounding her from a century ago became widely known in a short time, it would no longer matter whether she was Sekerei herself or Sekerei's descendant. Either way, she would receive both wariness and overtures of goodwill.

Thus, what he had considered a diversion of attention had achieved absolutely nothing.

Not to mention that the female prefect had coincidentally given Cyberlina an opening.

The words "not in Britain" perfectly explained why the Sekerei surname had vanished for over sixty years. That span of time also did not match Voldemort's period of activity, ruling out the possibility that the family had disappeared because of Voldemort and easing the Death Eaters' suspicions—

No, wait.

Dumbledore abruptly sat upright. Such an explanation indeed would not make anyone connect Sekerei with Voldemort, but it would bring to mind a force outside Britain that had happened to be flourishing over sixty years ago.

Behind his lenses, blue eyes watched the black-haired girl's retreating back with an unusual sharpness.

He had nearly forgotten—Cyberlina had not been his professor alone. Back then, he had personally introduced to her a disciple she found satisfactory.

Dumbledore pressed his lips together.

His sense of guilt vanished in an instant, replaced by long-unfelt indignation—could this act of "coercion" of his have been part of Cyberlina's plan from the very beginning?

Cyberlina did not look at him again until the dinner ended. Burdened with heavy thoughts, Dumbledore returned to his office, and as expected, sleep was nowhere to be found.

He set Cyberlina's return aside for the moment, believing that her earlier riddle was the more pressing matter. Before the dinner had even ended, he had instructed McGonagall to keep an eye on Ginny Weasley at all times. But now that he sat in his office and thought it over, he could not shake the feeling that Cyberlina might not have meant that at all—after all, she had changed the subject far too stiffly at the time, and she was not someone unskilled at such things.

"Maybe she said it on purpose, just to make you overthink it." Phoenix Black yawned. "That little one is quite good at getting revenge where you least expect it."

Quite a few portraits agreed with that conclusion.

Dumbledore offered no opinion. He merely let out a long sigh, leaned back against his chair, and lowered his head slightly. Behind the frames that had slipped down his nose, his blue eyes were somewhat unfocused.