Bellatrix

The conversation during Flying Class ended with Snape's emphatic refusal. Although Anna was a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to watch the drama, she soon put it out of her mind.

The next morning, Elisa sent her an owl: Voldemort had now learned of her existence from the Death Eaters.

After all, almost everyone at Hogwarts knew what she had said, and Anna had never intended to hide it since coming to Hogwarts.

If Voldemort hadn't heard about it, that would mean the Death Eaters were like a certain distillery in a manga from later years-every last one of them was an undercover agent.

The letter arrived on a Sunday. Students in their third year and above went to Hogsmeade for the day, but the younger children could only stay at school.

The castle had suddenly emptied of many of its occupants, while some students stayed in their dormitories to enjoy the rare day off. Hardly a student could be seen in the corridors, and Anna and her friends were studying in the library.

Snape and Lily each had a book in hand. Anna put the final stroke on her letter, then folded it and slipped it into an envelope. It was her reply to Elisa.

"I'm going to the Owlery. I'll see you both in the Great Hall later."

She told them where she was going and left the library alone.

There was nothing worth mentioning about sending the letter, but on her way back, she noticed something that left her utterly speechless.

James Potter and his three friends appeared to be holding up a piece of transparent fabric as they crept along behind her.

What was that? Performance art?

She was full of questions and had wanted to stop and ask them what was wrong with them. But when she looked back and saw James Potter's supremely confident smile, she vaguely remembered something.

That transparent fabric looked like a cloak...

Could that transparent cloak, which she could see perfectly clearly, be the legendary Invisibility Cloak?

Ah, she knew it. Anything to do with Death was bound to change somehow when it came to her.

Just like this magical Invisibility Cloak, which would never lose its power—it was no different from a transparent raincoat in front of her!

In The Tale of the Three Brothers, whoever possessed this Deathly Hallow would never be found by Death. Now it seemed that was complete nonsense.

The Invisibility Cloak had originally belonged to Death. How could a mortal possibly use it to escape death?

Anna calmly continued forward, slowly leading the four of them into a secluded corridor.

The layout here was complicated, and no one would be coming by anytime soon. She wanted to see what they were actually up to.

James Potter and the other three huddled together beneath the Invisibility Cloak, following the girl ahead without missing a step. After quite a while, Anna suddenly stopped. Only then did they realize they had come to a wide corridor they didn't recognize at all.

The walls of Hogwarts' corridors were always hung with portraits, but there wasn't a single one along the path Anna had chosen today.

It was already afternoon, and the sun was sinking in the west. Its golden-orange glow fell across the empty, silent corridor. The silver-haired girl stood ahead of them, her expression indifferent, and the atmosphere felt a little strange.

"Come out. I don't suppose you came all the way to Hogwarts just to stand in the shadows and take a look at me."

Anna suddenly spoke, her voice icy. James Potter was so startled that he thought he had been discovered and nearly pulled off the cloak, but Sirius and Lupin stopped him in time.

From her words, they could tell that Anna was talking about someone else.

Indeed, Anna had originally intended to tease the four behind her, but she soon detected faint traces of magical fluctuations coming from the shadows around the corner ahead, accompanied by a hint of chilling malice.

Now that she had been exposed, the other person stopped hiding. A tall woman stepped out from around the corner.

She was strikingly beautiful, with bold features and deep-set eyes. Her long brown hair, not yet curled, was glossy and hung loosely down her back. Judging by her looks alone, she was a beauty through and through.

But there was something dangerous about her. She toyed with a wand in both hands, her gaze fixed on Anna.

Anna had thought it would be Abraxas Malfoy or Voldemort himself, but she hadn't expected it to be her.

Bellatrix Black, Sirius's cousin, the eldest daughter of the Black family, and a core Death Eater who was madly infatuated with Voldemort.

Behind Anna, Sirius felt his breathing grow much quieter, while his heart began to beat faster.

Anna was not alarmed by Bellatrix's dangerous stare. She wore three or four alchemical devices to protect herself against spells and the Killing Curse, and she had a whole collection of similar items in her storage ring. They were all gifts the Acolytes had sent back from around the world over the past few years.

If Bellatrix attacked, even with Voldemort added to the mix, Anna could easily hold out until Daddy arrived.

Besides, though Bellatrix was very loyal to Voldemort at this point, she had not yet been tortured by Dementors in Azkaban into losing her reason and going mad. Presumably, there was still room for the two of them to talk.

Anna was highly gifted in magic, but if there was one thing she excelled at most, it was undoubtedly the gift for words she had inherited from Grindelwald.

As for the four behind her, the Invisibility Cloak had no effect on her, but it could still conceal them from Bellatrix without any trouble. It was also said to be immune to magical attacks, provided they didn't move around.

Most importantly, the woman's entire attention was now fixed on Anna.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Black."

She picked up a strand of her long silver hair and slowly rolled it between her fingers as all sorts of information about Bellatrix flashed through her mind.

Born into the extremely Pure-blood Black family, madly infatuated with Voldemort, led astray by the Death Eaters and fond of using the Unforgivable Curses to torture people, more loyal than clever, and a wholehearted believer in Voldemort's Pure-blood Supremacy...

Tsk. A woman with fanaticism engraved in her bones. This would be a little tricky.

"But I'm not at all pleased to meet you, Miss Grindelwald.

"How dare you put noble Pure-bloods on the same level as those stupid Muggles!

"I don't suppose you've ever experienced the Cruciatus Curse, have you? Would you like to try it?"

Bellatrix sneered and slowly approached her.

"So that's why you came all this way, Miss Black.

"But I believe we simply have different convictions. Why go to the trouble of using an Unforgivable Curse and giving yourself another chance to end up in Azkaban?"

Anna's usual gentle smile appeared on her face. Even when Bellatrix had come right up to her, she showed no sign of backing down.

There was not the slightest trace of panic in her eyes. Her sky-blue eyes were like the surface of a still lake, without a single ripple.