First Meeting

"Of course he wasn't."

Lily had great respect for the four Founders who had established Hogwarts. She shook her head, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Slytherin just chooses young wizards who have ambition. Having ambition isn't a bad thing. Take me: I hope for world peace. That's my greatest ambition, and maybe it'll get me sorted into Slytherin. Do you think I'll become a bad witch someday?"

Lily laughed at Anna's ambition to protect the world. Feeling much more reassured, she shook her head.

"No. Even if you go into Slytherin, you'll still be my best friend."

"Then wouldn't Severus be your best friend anymore?"

"Er, you're both my best friends."

Snape had just arrived outside the compartment in time to hear the last few words of their conversation. The shadows of his previous life had receded into the distance with him, and in this life, he had something better: a future standing in the light.

"Severus, you're here! Come in and sit down."

Lily spotted Snape standing outside the compartment. Beaming with happiness, she waved him over.

He sat down beside Anna without thinking, facing Lily.

The three chatted happily. Lily and Anna did most of the talking, discussing Hogwarts, while Snape sat beside them with a book in his hands and listened, occasionally joining in.

The hour hand pointed to eleven, and the train to Hogwarts departed on time.

Anna pulled out the table in the compartment, opened her small suitcase, and began taking out snacks.

On a long train ride, of course you had to eat snacks! Whether in China or the United Kingdom, that was an ironclad rule!

"Would you like some ice cream, Lily?"

"Yes, please! Anna, you're amazing. You even have ice cream!"

"Haha, I bought it especially when I went shopping a few days ago. After all, there might not be any ice cream at Hogwarts.

"What flavor would you like? Vanilla or milk? Strawberry or mango? Chocolate or matcha?"

"What's matcha?"

"Er, it's ice cream that tastes like green tea. It's not very bitter, though. It's like dark chocolate, sweet with a slightly bitter taste. It's delicious, with the fresh fragrance of green tea. Severus really likes it too."

"Oh, then I'd like to try it."

Lily nodded, looking eager.

"Miss Anna, snacks are one thing, but could you please tell me why you have ice cream in your bag too?"

Someone spoke through gritted teeth.

Over the past few years, he and Eileen had often eaten at Grindelwald Manor. After all, old Mr. Prince was still staying at St Mungo's, and he had private lessons with Anna. Eileen also worked with North or often taught Anna how to brew potions.

Prince Manor was also close to Grindelwald Manor. For all those reasons, mother and son spent most of their time at Grindelwald Manor and ate their meals there too.

As a result, he knew some of Anna's little habits. Besides having it for dessert after meals, she would also buy it at Muggle supermarkets whenever she had the chance while out.

But he really hadn't expected her to prepare some especially for the journey to Hogwarts! And from the sound of it, she had brought quite a lot!

"A Frost Charm was cast on one section of the suitcase, Lily. It's just like the refrigerator at your house, so I can keep these in there.

"Severus, if I don't have ice cream for dessert after a meal, then eating loses all its fun for me!"

She offered an explanation, then took out three paper cups of ice cream in different flavors and put them on the table.

"So, Severus, do you really like this flavor?"

Lily curiously dug out a spoonful, and her eyes immediately lit up.

It seemed she liked it very much.

"Compared with those sickeningly sweet flavors.

"And I never knew that was your only reason for eating."

He tore open the packaging resentfully. After all, wasting food was bad behavior. It definitely wasn't because he was used to it!

Definitely not!!!

More and more people began moving about the train. Only when someone passed Anna and the others' compartment and was drawn to the ice cream in their hands did Snape realize they had forgotten to put up a Notice-Me-Not Charm.

"Merlin's beard! Do they sell ice cream on this train too?

"Sirius! Come and look, they actually have ice cream!"

Seeing the distinctive black hair at the compartment door, as messy as a bird's nest, Anna didn't need to look at the person beside her, whose face had turned an ashen, almost black color, to guess that the boy staring at their ice cream with shining eyes had to be Harry Potter's dad, Lily's future husband, and Snape's lifelong enemy!

James Potter was immediately at ease with strangers. He squeezed into the compartment and naturally sat down beside Lily. Anna glanced at the professor beside her and saw that the hard metal spoon in his hand had already been bent.

"Hello, I'm James Potter. He's a friend I just met, Sirius Black. We're both new students at Hogwarts. Are you too?"

He pointed to Black, who was leaning against the doorway. It sounded as though they had only just met.

Sure enough, even when things started over, the course of fate would still follow the original story at certain moments.

"I'm Lily Evans. These are my friends, Severus Snape and Anna. We're new students. The ice cream wasn't bought on the train. Anna brought it."

Snape, sitting opposite her, didn't look well, while Anna was concentrating on her ice cream, her gaze wandering slightly. It was a habit of hers when she was thinking.

Neither of them seemed inclined to speak, so Lily reluctantly answered out of politeness.

"Oh, pleased to meet you, beautiful ladies."

He greeted them, but his gaze wandered between Lily and Anna.

The former was because of Lily's lovely face, and the latter was because of the ice cream.

To keep Anna's appearance from attracting too much attention, North had put quite a few Notice-Me-Not Charms on her face.

Noticing that the person beside her seemed about to snap his metal spoon, Anna quickly came back to herself and cleared her throat.

"I think you're happy too soon, Mr. Potter."

She put down her spoon and tugged at Snape's sleeve underneath the table, asking him to rein himself in a little. At the very least, he couldn't let Lily notice anything amiss here.

"What?"

James Potter clearly hadn't expected that answer and was stunned for a moment.

"If you'd looked into it, you'd know the upcoming Sorting Ceremony won't be easy. That's why I said you're happy too soon."

A solemn look appeared on her face, immediately alarming all the young wizards except Snape. Even Sirius Black, who had just been watching their conversation with interest, pricked up his ears.

"The S-Sorting Ceremony?"