Mutual Dislike

It was an ordinary greeting, yet it made Voldemort draw his yew wand in an instant.

With Halloween approaching, it would have been normal for anyone to say it. The problem was that this girl had called him by the name he had abandoned long ago!

Who was she?

With the wand pressed against her back, Anna slowly turned around and saw one of the famous twin wands.

"Miss Grindelwald, what a coincidence. I didn't expect to see you here."

Voldemort quickly realized who she was. Of all the first-years, he didn't believe anyone but Grindelwald, who seemed to have a powerful force backing her, had the nerve or the intelligence network to call him by his original name so brazenly.

Damn it! He was already in a foul mood after getting nowhere with Dumbledore, and now this little thing had come to flaunt herself before him!

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a sinister smile spread across his ugly face, ravaged by experiments with all manner of Dark Magic.

"No coincidence. I've been waiting for you."

She reached up and lifted the brim of her hat, feeling that their first meeting had gone quite well. If anyone had seen it, it might even have gone down in history for future generations to study.

Oh, right, Severus was nearby. If she got too carried away, he might not be able to stop himself from jumping out from the corner where he was hiding. That wouldn't do.

"Oh? I must say, Miss Grindelwald, you seem to know just how to make me angry.

"Perhaps I should give you a little spell as a Halloween gift."

Anna composed herself, preparing to swallow her sharp retort.

"Oh, no, you're too kind.

"I just think it's disrespectful not to address someone by their real name.

"Don't you agree, Mr. Riddle?"

Anna had meant to hold herself back, but for some reason she couldn't resist. A fake smile hung on her face, and her usually convincing facade looked so insincere at that moment that Snape's eyelids twitched as he watched from the shadows.

This was Hogwarts, right below Dumbledore's office. If he cast a Killing Curse at her now, he certainly wouldn't escape the school.

Yet the face of the girl opposite him, who couldn't even be bothered to hide her feelings, made him furious, and he never lowered his wand.

"May I ask if you need anything else, Mr. Voldemort?

"I still have to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for some Halloween candy."

Amid the tense standoff, Anna spoke first. Although she had changed how she addressed him, seemingly making a concession, her next words were as casual as ever, as though she couldn't sense the intense hostility between them.

The name she mentioned also reminded him once again that this was Hogwarts, right under the nose of Dumbledore, the greatest white wizard in a century. Before green light spilled from his wand, he had better think carefully about the consequences!

"Oh, right, perhaps you didn't hear me clearly just now."

Anna took a Fizzing Whizzbee from her storage ring and held it out to Voldemort.

That also gave him a clear view of the bracelet fastened around her fair wrist.

It was a powerful alchemical product that could reflect curses. If he had attacked without restraint just now, the outcome was easy to imagine.

Changing how she addressed him wasn't a concession, but another form of provocation!

And yet, there was nothing he could do about the little girl before him. It had been a long time since he had tasted frustration.

"Happy Halloween, Mr. Voldemort."

The translucent orange-yellow candy lay quietly in her small palm. Beneath it was a black contract mark he couldn't see.

Voldemort's pupils contracted. Sensing an inexplicable pressure, he involuntarily took a step back, and the wand in his hand began to tremble slightly.

The moment Anna held out her hand, his soul screamed from its very depths. The girl before him possessed a power he feared more than anything, something he wanted to flee from at all costs.

"No need."

His voice was hoarse, and the look he gave Anna was deeply complicated. But he quickly concealed all those emotions, turned around, and left without hesitation.

Her first formal meeting with Voldemort ended unhappily. Anna unwrapped and ate the candy he had refused, then looked at her contract mark. At last, she had confirmed what she had suspected all along.

Anger had already clouded Voldemort's mind, so he hadn't noticed anything amiss during their conversation. But Anna, who had been paying attention to her own emotions, had felt it.

When she, the bearer of the Death Contract, and this bald man with an incomplete soul came face-to-face, they each found the other unpleasant.

It wasn't simply a dislike of what the other had done or said, but a loathing engraved upon their souls.

Voldemort feared death, while she, who had signed a contract with Death, found this noseless bald man especially grating. Though she had tried hard to control herself, she still couldn't hide her heartfelt disgust, and so her words had been barbed and sarcastic.

Ever since coming to this world, she had never felt such obvious hostility, even when facing truly wicked people.

Across endless ages, a god rarely felt partiality or dislike toward any individual or group. That was its innate divinity.

It was just like the saying that circulated online in her previous life: Heaven and earth are impartial, treating all things as straw dogs.

It was not an attitude of cold indifference, but an utterly fair way of treating everything in the world.

But this was not absolute either.

During a conversation with Death in her previous life, Anna had learned that Death undoubtedly disliked beings who abandoned their true names and carelessly damaged their own souls.

Judging by what had happened today, that dislike had indirectly influenced her through the contract, causing her extreme aversion to Voldemort.

This was what Anna had told Severus she wanted to verify.

Voldemort wanted to fly from death, but the god who governed death also found his tattered soul distasteful.

"What did you see?"

Snape stepped out from the side and asked with a frown.

"Nothing. I just confirmed that he and I really can't stand each other."

Anna could tell that Voldemort could sense the contract in her palm. That proved she possessed a portion of Death's power.

That was probably also why she had been able to see through Potter's Invisibility Cloak before.

Why had Death never appeared before her again after she came to this world? She couldn't even ask Death to clear a few things up.

Did the big boss behind the scenes like making people play guessing games like this?

The girl sighed helplessly in her heart and quickly pushed the matter to the back of her mind.

She stood before the stone beast and called out the password to the Headmaster's Office.

"Fizzing Whizzbees."

Little theater:

Anna took a Fizzing Whizzbee from her storage ring and held it out to all the readers.

"One candy for a good review, muah!

"Happy 520, everyone!"