Morning in the Great Hall
Early the next morning, when Snape walked from his dormitory to the Great Hall for breakfast, he saw that Anna was already sitting at the Slytherin table.
An owl waited in front of her, beside a stack of opened parcels containing envelopes an inch, or about 2.5 centimeters, thick.
"Good morning, Severus."
Seeing Snape approach, she greeted him casually.
After finishing the last of the breakfast on her plate, Anna opened an envelope. She also took some bread from another plate and tore it into pieces to feed the owl that had delivered the parcels.
Breakfast at Hogwarts began at seven thirty, and it was already seven forty-five. That meant she had been sitting there eating since the Great Hall opened.
"You're handling all this here?"
By the time Snape sat down across from her, Anna had taken a pen from her storage ring and begun going through the documents bit by bit.
"Mm. They're enchanted, so other people can't see them. Go ahead and have breakfast."
Although North had said she didn't need to worry about matters outside, the important documents that needed her personal attention were still sent to Hogwarts by owl.
The pile of documents on the table today was what remained after North had done his best to sort through them. Previously, they had nearly covered the long table in the study. Sometimes she spent the whole day reading them there, even eating her meals in the study.
An inch-thick stack of documents contained close to a hundred sheets at the very least. Snape had spent so much time around Anna that the spells protecting the documents from prying eyes naturally had no effect on him. He could clearly see the progress reports and opinions on all kinds of important matters.
When Dumbledore came to the Great Hall for breakfast, he saw Anna holding a pen and studying the documents on the table.
More and more students entered the Great Hall, and the surroundings grew noisy, particularly around the Gryffindor table, where students laughed and fooled around from time to time, their voices ringing out loudly.
But the girl was not affected in the slightest, her pen moving smoothly across the paper.
Her brow relaxed at times and creased slightly at others, and her expression shifted subtly with the different contents of the documents. Occasionally, she looked up and exchanged a few words with Snape across from her, then lowered her head to continue reading.
Anna worked extremely quickly. A little after eight, when Lucius Malfoy and several students following him entered the Great Hall and sat down in the Slytherin section, she had already finished handling some of the documents. She put them back in the parcels and had the owl still waiting beside her send them back to Grindelwald Manor.
She put the remaining documents, which required more careful consideration, into her storage ring to deal with when she had time.
Once she had done all that, she cleared every trace of emotion from her face, leaving only a gentle, polite smile. She exchanged morning greetings with Lucius Malfoy, who was sitting not far away, and smoothly brought up the subject of their house and classes. She made no mention of their confrontation the day before, as though it had never happened.
On the surface, the atmosphere among them seemed perfectly harmonious. But Lucius had only just managed to calm himself after a whole night and had prepared to argue against anything Anna said today to the bitter end. This undoubtedly left him a little short of breath and in a gloomy mood.
She was clearly still a child, yet she already dealt with people and matters so maturely. Thinking of the Sorting Hat's final words the day before, Dumbledore swallowed the biscuit in his mouth, and a slight ache of sympathy welled up in him.
How on earth did Gellert raise her? How did he make this child more mature than some adult wizards?
In Dumbledore's view, children her age ought to be enjoying a happy school life without a care, making a few good friends and laughing and playing together.
Not standing at the very front of everyone, matching wits and courage against that extremely dangerous dark wizard!
That was clearly what he should be doing...
All the students who came to the Great Hall for breakfast that day noticed that the Slytherin table had been clearly divided into two sections, with Lucius and Anna marking the boundary between them.
At the end of the previous evening's feast, the half-bloods who had long remained neutral had still been caught in the middle. Now, however, they were sitting close to Anna, and some of the older students had even taken the initiative to chat with Riley and the others.
Among this term's first-years were many students from Death Eater families. They were young, and their views had yet to mature, so they followed their parents' instructions and stayed in Lucius's camp.
In any case, students from the other three houses were still somewhat averse to this newly risen minor faction, which was entangled with the Dark Lord from decades ago.
However, yesterday's rebuttal of the pure-bloods had already spread throughout Hogwarts, giving many pro-Muggle young wizards and those who deeply despised the Death Eaters' misdeeds a different view of this first-year.
"I see Lily. Shall we go say hello, Severus?"
After finishing the insincere pleasantries with Lucius Malfoy and the others, Anna turned and spotted Lily. She looked up and asked Snape.
"No."
Snape turned to glance at the chaotic Gryffindor table, then frowned and answered in a low voice.
Everything had been good since he came back. The only thing that annoyed him was that he was no longer in a position to take points from Gryffindor.
"All right, I'll go say hello, then."
She read the disdain in Snape's eyes and nodded helplessly. Rising from the Slytherin table, she walked straight over to Lily.
"Lily, did you sleep well last night?"
Under the gaze of the entire school, the silver-haired girl casually sat down in the Gryffindor section. Her every movement was utterly natural, and her expression could even be called cheerful.
If not for the silver-and-green house crest on her uniform, she might have been a Gryffindor student herself, without looking the least bit out of place.
"Anna, good morning. I was a little worried about you yesterday. Are you all right in Slytherin? Has anyone bullied you?"
Lily looked at her worriedly. Sirius Black, sitting diagonally across from them, rolled his eyes inwardly when he heard this.
The fact that she could confront Lucius Malfoy head-on and leave him frustrated, angry but afraid to speak out, was enough to prove that she had considerable strength behind her.
Someone bullying her? How could that be?
"Alas-Lily, don't worry. I'll take care of myself."
The smile on her face immediately gave way to sorrow, and her voice took on a sadness she could not speak of openly. She lowered her head and leaned against the little girl's shoulder, her body trembling slightly, as though she were sobbing.
This undoubtedly made Lily panic. Only when Anna could no longer hold back her laughter did Lily belatedly realize that she was teasing her.
"Anna!"
"All right, Lily, hahaha, it was my fault. Don't be angry. Would you like a fried egg?
"I'm doing fine in Slytherin. None of them dare bully me, so don't worry."
She propped up her head with her left hand and turned toward Lily, whose face was slightly red. All traces of her earlier sorrow were gone, replaced by her usual gentle smile.