The Welcoming Feast

The other three long tables had returned to their lively chatter. Only Slytherin remained quiet, its students dining elegantly while occasionally glancing at a figure near the front of their table.

"At this rate, you're going to cut your steak to pieces. Give it a rest."

Snape glanced at the person beside him and offered a kindly reminder.

"Hehe, sorry. My mind wandered."

Anna stopped what she was doing, but she still gripped her knife and fork tightly. Her expression slipped slightly out of control, and only after taking several deep breaths did she finally recover.

Merlin above, heaven knew how much willpower it had taken to stop herself from rushing up to the High Table and hugging a certain headmaster!

When Grindelwald created this alchemical body, he had constantly been thinking of his old flame. That had indirectly affected the result of the experiment-Anna-and emotions related to her old father still lingered in her body.

Normally, it was fine when she didn't see the man himself, but today, just as their eyes met, those emotions seemed to grow tenfold and surged into Anna's heart.

She took a moment to savor them: a mixture of love and hate, guilt tinged with a sense of being wronged. That's enough, old man! Stop putting everything into my head!

And what the hell is with feeling wronged?

You could pop out of Nurmengard, go up to him, tell him a hundred times that you're sorry and you were wrong, then tell him a thousand times that you love him. Wouldn't that settle it? Is there any need to be so conflicted?

Heh, what a difficult old man!

Of course, that was only Anna's own idea. In reality, there were still many problems, and as her old father's daughter, she would surely uproot the rift between the two of them.

Once she had thought it through, she successfully suppressed the emotions within her, and her expression became relaxed and cheerful again, leaving the few people beside her who had been watching her somewhat puzzled.

"Miss Anna, welcome to Hogwarts."

The person diagonally across from her hesitated for a while before finally speaking up to greet her when she seemed to be in a good mood.

Anna looked up and saw a familiar face, and an idea formed in her mind.

"Riley, it's been such a long time. Has your father been well lately?"

Riley Charles's father, Lamb Charles, was the new Hogwarts School Governor whom the Acolytes had helped into the position a few years ago. As a result, the Acolytes' children at the school all tacitly looked to Riley as their leader, drawing a line between themselves and the Death Eaters' faction.

He was now in his sixth year, the same year as Lucius Malfoy.

"My father has been very well lately. He asked me to pass on his regards to you at King's Cross Station today, and to extend a sincere invitation for you to visit our home.

"Miss Anna, if you have any problems at school, you can come to me anytime. I'm sure everyone else would also be happy to help you with any difficulties."

The people beside him nodded in agreement. Their parents had brought these students along on a trip to the United States for an Acolyte group event the year before last, and Anna and Snape had been among them.

They had all gone together to watch humanity's first successful crewed landing on the moon. After spending several days together, they had all come away with a deep impression of their young helmswoman.

They looked up to this new leader who was still growing, not with the same fanaticism the Death Eaters had for Voldemort, but with the anticipation of following the hope of a new world.

They were all Acolytes' children, but they had not been given the Butterfly Mark. Anna had always hoped that the young witches and wizards would wait until they came of age and were capable of thinking things through fully before making a decision about their own lives.

"I haven't seen Lamb in a long time either. If I have time during the holidays, I'll be sure to visit.

"As for school, I'm sorry for the trouble I'll be putting you all to from now on."

"It's our honor to serve you."

At those words, the group of prospective Death Eaters nearby began to grow restless.

The little group that had originally leaned toward neutrality had actually gone over to Grindelwald as one. Were they preparing to challenge the Death Eaters?

Could the first Dark Lord's forces have already risen again?

Lucius Malfoy was startled. He had grown up under the guidance of his father, Abraxas Malfoy, and Old Malfoy's greatest skill was reading people. Having absorbed that skill over the years, Lucius could now piece together much of what was going on after hearing only a brief exchange between the two sides.

Riley Charles and his group had hidden themselves well. At least, before today, Lucius had never known they had been in league with one another for so long. Did that mean all his covert efforts over the past two years to win them and their parents over had been for nothing?

"Miss Grindelwald, I'm Lucius Malfoy, a sixth-year Slytherin Prefect. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Couldn't hold back any longer?

Anna turned to look at the speaker. Snape sat between her and Lucius Malfoy, but that wasn't much of a problem.

"Hello, Senior Malfoy. Just call me Anna. That's what everyone else calls me."

"All right, Anna. Judging by your surname, are you from the Grindelwald family of Germany?"

As a German Pure-blood, her old father certainly had a family of his own. However, they had gone into seclusion decades ago, after Gellert Grindelwald was defeated and imprisoned in Nurmengard. To avoid association with him, they had made themselves almost impossible for any wizard to trace.

Anna had also asked the Acolytes to investigate. It seemed the family had moved away from Germany and was no longer in Europe.

She didn't want to disturb them further. After all, she was only Gellert Grindelwald's daughter, not a member of the Grindelwald family.

"No, I simply inherited the surname from my father. I have no contact with that family."

She shook her head in denial.

She had only said she had no contact with them, not that she wasn't related to them.

Then who was she related to? And who was her father?

Surely it couldn't be that Lord. By his reckoning, the man was already ninety years old.

Putting that together with what Riley Charles had said, Lucius Malfoy already had a guess.

"In any case, Slytherin has always held Pure-bloods in high regard, and you are naturally one of them, Miss Anna. I'm sure you'll make true friends here, friends worth having."

As long as they found common ground, they could pursue mutual interests even if she was that Lord's direct descendant.

The Malfoy family had always put its interests first.

"But Senior Malfoy, I'm a Half-blood."

Anna let out a chuckle. Her words were like a bomb going off among the prospective Death Eaters.

"What? How could you possibly be..."

Lucius Malfoy lost his composure for a moment, but he quickly recovered and restrained the surprise on his face. Only his slightly trembling hands revealed that he was far from calm.

How could Grindelwald's descendant be a Half-blood?

That Lord had once been so full of ambition, determined to raise wizards above Muggles. How could any Muggle have caught his eye? How could his descendant be a Half-blood?