Asking for Candy

Just as Anna had expected, there was no one else in the dormitory shared by James Potter and his three friends, so no one noticed they were missing.

It was not until the early hours of the morning that the caretaker, Apollyon Pringle, heard some noise during his nightly rounds and found them in the western corridor.

He took them to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Then please tell me why you were there."

Dressed in dark green silk pajamas, McGonagall sat behind her desk and questioned them sternly.

"Sorry, Professor. We got lost there this evening."

Lupin was the first to apologize. If the head of their house found out they had gotten lost because they wanted to prank a student and had followed them into that secluded corridor, they would surely lose even more points.

"Whatever your reasons, wandering around at night is a serious violation of school rules! I can't let you off for that reason. It wouldn't be fair to the other students.

"Ten points from Gryffindor! Each!"

Although Professor McGonagall had taken forty points from Gryffindor, she had still gone easy on them. At least she hadn't given them detention.

As the four trudged back to their dormitory, Anna was still awake in the Slytherin girls' dormitory.

Her desk was covered in herb remnants, and a pot of pitch-black potion was brewing in front of her. A bitter smell rose from the pot, and large bubbles occasionally surfaced in the thick liquid. Anyone who didn't know what the potion did would surely have thought she was brewing a deadly poison.

Anna held a stirring rod, moving it clockwise through the cauldron at a slow, steady pace. When a strange, delicate fragrance filled the air above the pot, she bit the index finger of her other hand and let a few drops of blood fall from her pale fingertip into the potion, stirring without pause until they were evenly mixed in.

The pitch-black potion began to change. Its eerie blackness gradually took on specks of silver-white, like a sea of stars twinkling in the universe, beautiful and mysterious.

"That should do it."

She held the bitten finger in her mouth for a while, then pulled out the stirring rod and put out the fire beneath the cauldron. Once the potion was no longer scalding, she ladled it into a transparent crystal jar.

The jar was small enough to fit perfectly in her palm, and it held enough to remove the scar on Snape's hand.

She had to admit, her old father had used quite a few rare materials when he created this body, leaving her somewhat like Tang Monk's flesh.

If Voldemort knew that her blood had excellent healing properties and could also extend life, would he catch her and stew her in an iron pot?

Amused by her own speculation, Anna put the crystal jar into her storage ring and cast Scourgify on the messy desktop before lying back down to rest.

The days at school passed one by one. Bellatrix was the only Death Eater who had come, and Lucius Malfoy had received a reply from Abraxas Malfoy. Following his father's advice to wait and see how things developed, he refrained from acting rashly for the time being.

He and some of the Slytherin students were outwardly cordial with Riley, Anna, and the others, but undercurrents stirred beneath the calm surface.

As for Voldemort himself, who now knew of Anna's existence.

That day, while extracting Bellatrix's memories, Anna had also fabricated some information about herself and inserted it into them. Voldemort had probably seen those false memories in Bellatrix's mind and let down his guard, which was why he hadn't come looking for Anna.

Old Malfoy, whom she had expected to be unable to hold back, was nowhere to be seen, leaving Anna somewhat bored.

But that was fine. She could afford to wait; she just didn't know whether the other side still had the time.

Halloween soon arrived. The weather was gradually turning colder, and Hogwarts had already taken on a festive atmosphere. Carved pumpkins and bats could be seen everywhere on campus, while cobwebs so realistic they could pass for the real thing filled the corners. Magically animated spider sculptures crawled over them, startling young witches and wizards passing by from time to time.

Halloween at Hogwarts was the first holiday after the new students enrolled, and students had no classes for those two days.

Younger students could only return to their dormitories to rest after the feast, while students in fourth year and above could attend a ball afterward. The Halloween ball, however, was a costume ball.

In the original story, ever since Harry Potter enrolled, something seemed to happen every Halloween. She wondered whether that pattern would hold true for her as well.

Anna ate the last bit of fried egg on her plate, finishing breakfast.

Today was Halloween Eve, and she had an important plan: going door to door asking for candy!

It was a holiday tradition she had never experienced in her previous life. Now that she was a child, it was only natural to ask adults for candy.

At Hogwarts, the only people she could ask for candy were the professors, so she decided to start on the first floor and finish at Daddy's office.

After hearing the plan, Lily said she wanted to join in too. Snape had nothing but disdain for such childish behavior, but Lily dragged him along anyway. Scowling, he followed behind them, keeping to the side as much as possible to make himself less conspicuous.

The first person they visited was Professor Slughorn, down in the dungeons.

The current Potions Professor's office was unlike the cold, gloomy room it would later become. A fire blazed in the fireplace, making it feel especially warm.

Slughorn was very fond of Snape and Lily, both exceptionally gifted at Potions, and of course Anna as well, whose Potions marks were very good.

He was a shrewd old hand who knew how to read a situation and protect himself. Even now, he still harbored a deeply buried wariness of Anna's surname, so when he invited the other two young students to join his Slug Club, he deliberately left her out.

Lily was very interested in the club, but Snape and Anna didn't feel the same way.

The former understood the interpersonal relationships involved and didn't want to get too entangled, while the latter simply didn't care about the so-called club. She spent most of her time on her own Acolytes and the Hogwarts library, and could hardly squeeze out any more free time.

"Happy Halloween, Professor."

After knocking and getting Professor Slughorn to open the door, Anna held out her basket to him with a sweet smile.

"Oh, dear Miss Anna, happy Halloween to you too.

"As it happens, I have some crystallized pineapple here."

Unlike Dumbledore, Slughorn's only favorite sweet was crystallized pineapple, so he kept plenty in his office.

"Thank you, dear Professor."

Looking at the first piece of loot in her basket, Anna smiled and said goodbye to him, and the group headed for the next professor's office.