Her Appearance

"What on earth has Anna been talking to Headmaster Dumbledore about in his office? It's been almost an hour."

Lily walked out of the library with Snape. It was almost lunchtime, yet there was still no sign of Anna, and she couldn't help worrying.

"Perhaps she's already in the Great Hall."

Snape knew perfectly well that even if Anna was Grindelwald's daughter, as long as she was still a student at Hogwarts, Dumbledore couldn't do anything to her.

As the two of them walked down the stairs, they noticed quite a commotion in the second-floor corridor leading to the Hospital Wing.

Some Slytherin students were hurrying in that direction, their faces anxious. They had even abandoned their usual elegant manner and were running down the corridor.

These students all belonged to the Acolytes, including the ones who had spoken with Anna in the common room last night!

Riley had just finished Potions Class when he heard the news. He immediately put down his textbooks and hurried over from the Potions Classroom in the dungeons. By the time he passed Snape, his face was red from running, and there was even a trace of moisture in his eyes.

A bad feeling rose in Snape's heart. He grabbed Riley by the clothes, forcing him to stop.

"What on earth happened?"

For something to alarm these people so badly, could it be...

"Miss Anna was carried to the Hospital Wing by the headmaster. I heard it was a magic outburst!"

Riley had been about to lose his temper at being stopped, but the moment he saw it was Snape, he told him what had happened.

"What?!"

If she frequently casts those spells that consume a great deal of magic, or becomes too emotionally agitated, her body will very likely develop adverse symptoms. The mildest outcome would be a minor magic outburst...

North's words flashed through his mind, crashing down like a thunderclap and leaving his ears ringing.

She had been fine just a moment ago. How had she suddenly suffered a magic outburst?

He released Riley's clothes and raced toward the Hospital Wing in great strides, his lips pressed into a tight line and his brow deeply furrowed. Even Lily calling after him as she jogged to catch up couldn't bring him back to his senses.

Surely she wouldn't have gotten into a fight with Dumbledore, so the cause of the magic outburst was probably emotional agitation.

What was there to get so worked up about when talking to that old bee? Even faced with a threat from Voldemort, she would presumably take it in stride and might even fire a few retorts at him. Could it have been because of Grindelwald?

No. Dumbledore might be wary of her because she was the first Dark Lord's daughter, but he would never use extreme words to provoke her.

Damn it! What on earth did they talk about?

Snape considered several possibilities, but still couldn't find a definite reason. All he could do was quicken his pace.

Snape clutched the Soul Stabilizing Potion North had given him tightly in his hand, as though doing so could give him a little strength to calm the agitation in his heart.

His Hogwarts uniform flared sharply with his rapid movement, the black robes billowing and rolling through the air, as turbulent as their master's emotions.

At the Hospital Wing, the Slytherin students stood at the half-open door, craning their necks to see what was happening inside. Whispers came from among them.

With Madam Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore inside, none of them dared enter or speak loudly, but they were worried about Anna and refused to leave.

"Please, all of you, make way."

A voice came from behind them. The chill in its tone was like a venomous snake opening its mouth and hissing at them, making cold sweat break out on the backs of all the Slytherin students.

An inexplicable pressure weighed on them, and before they could see who had spoken, they moved aside of their own accord, clearing a narrow path into the room.

Without another word, Snape followed the path inside. Before he could find Anna's bed, he sensed chaotic magic spilling into the air.

After taking a few steps toward the source of the magic, he could just make out Dumbledore's voice.

"Oh, it's all my fault...

"After all these years, I really haven't improved at all...

"I'm always hurting them. How could I say that to her? No..."

The old man's words were filled with remorse and sobs, as though all the pain of his life had merged within them. Memories of the past intertwined and overlapped with the present as he repented ceaselessly.

After passing three or four partitioned beds, Snape finally reached Anna.

When he saw her lying on the hospital bed, her breathing faint, his pupils contracted slightly.

She lay quietly on the bed, her once smooth, lustrous silver hair having lost its former shine. Somewhat disheveled, it spilled loosely across the white sheets.

There were clear tear tracks on her face, and the rims of her tightly closed eyes were faintly red. A single tear hung at the corner of one eye, poised to fall.

She lay there lifelessly, like a puppet displayed in a shop window. Her once-vibrant soul had been suppressed in the deepest part of its shell, as though imprisoned in a cage it could not break free of.

He had seen her happy and angry, seen her gently comfort the Acolytes and mock Voldemort, seen her pretend to be innocent while relentlessly directing her barbs, openly and covertly, at Lucius and the others...

He had also seen her place her wholehearted trust in him when she signed a contract with him...

But in the more than three years he had spent with Anna, Snape had never seen her look so fragile.

The magic Dumbledore had forcibly suppressed still surrounded her and surged through every corner of her body. It seemed ready to erupt again the next second and mercilessly tear her to pieces.

No...

The thought flashed through Snape's mind. He rushed forward, pulled the stopper from the crystal vial, and poured the clear, flawless, ice-blue potion into her mouth.

The rampant magic Dumbledore had suppressed around the surface of her body was violent and ferocious. It slashed the hand he used to administer the potion as though with a blade, and blood immediately welled from the wound.

The bright red liquid ran over the back of his hand and fell, drop by drop, beside Anna's cheek, staining her long silver-white hair.

Still in a state of confusion, Anna subconsciously sensed a familiar presence. The moment the potion touched her lips, she instinctively began drawing in her unruly magic, so Snape suffered only that one wound.

It all happened so quickly that Dumbledore, who stood nearby, and Madam Pomfrey, who was preparing a potion, had no time to react before the vial of Soul Stabilizing Potion had already been emptied.

"Heavens, what are you doing?"

Before Madam Pomfrey pulled him away to heal the wound on his hand, Snape lowered his eyes slightly and reached out to brush away the tear at the corner of Anna's eye.