Ties from a Previous Life

In the deserted third-floor corridor, Snape leaned against the wall, waiting for Anna to return from the Headmaster's Office.

Although he had been hiding around the corner, he had still heard the conversation between the two of them.

To his surprise, Anna, who was usually so good at keeping up appearances, had confronted Voldemort himself without the slightest hesitation.

She had deliberately targeted the Dark Lord's greatest sore spots, grinding Voldemort's face underfoot as if trampling on rubbish. Even Dumbledore wouldn't have done such a thing.

Even stranger was Voldemort's reaction.

He had drawn his wand, yet he hadn't used a single spell on her.

If he had held back at first out of apprehension, then the step he had taken backward when Anna held out her hand was rather odd.

She was a young witch who wasn't even holding her wand. What had made the Dark Lord lose his composure like that?

Recalling the time he had spent with Anna, Snape realized that she sometimes stared blankly at her right palm.

The habit had been especially noticeable when he first met her.

He had thought it was simply a habit, but judging by Voldemort's instinctive reaction when she held out her right hand, and the fleeting look of thought on her face, she really had been testing something.

What exactly was in the palm of that hand?

Even after knowing her for several years, Snape still felt that this girl, who had appeared out of nowhere and never existed in his previous life, was a mystery from head to toe.

When Anna first laid her cards on the table with him, she had said that a binding contract prevented her from telling him about what had happened before. Could the thing in her palm be that so-called contract?

After piecing things together, Snape had come close to the truth, but he still didn't understand what the contract meant or why it had such a deterrent effect on Voldemort. He only felt a little uneasy.

He had thought that starting over would make things simpler, but he hadn't expected that someone who had never existed in his previous life would give him a glimpse of an even greater maelstrom.

It was as if the mysterious veil concealing another side of this world had been lifted by this girl who had returned to the present from the future and knew almost every secret.

After he had waited near the entrance to the Headmaster's Office for a while, Anna still hadn't come downstairs. Instead, someone else came looking around.

After receiving word that the Dark Lord had come to Hogwarts, Lucius Malfoy had immediately set out from the Slytherin dormitories, only to find that he had missed him.

He looked around, but saw no one other than Snape, lost in thought.

His thoughts interrupted by Lucius, Snape looked up and found himself alone with his old friend from his previous life for the first time.

"Mr. Snape, may I ask what you're doing here?"

Lucius strode over. Rather than asking where the Dark Lord was, he put on a friendly smile, like an older student looking after a junior.

"Waiting for someone."

Facing this somewhat youthful Malfoy, Snape had complicated feelings.

Back then, Lucius had been the first to recognize his talent and had recommended him to Voldemort.

After that, as the most unwelcome half-blood wizard in Slytherin at the time, he had received treatment entirely different from what he had known before.

They had lived through Voldemort's rise, downfall, and return to life together. Anna had told him that Lucius had not died after the Dark Lord was utterly destroyed, though he probably hadn't fared much better.

"If I remember correctly, you're a descendant of the Prince family?"

Lucius already had a good idea who Snape was waiting for.

He had long wanted to speak with this junior, but Snape was often at Miss Grindelwald's side, and there were too many eyes and ears in the common room for Lucius to find a chance to speak with him alone.

Now was a good opportunity.

"Yes."

Snape answered.

After Eileen divorced that man, she had wanted her son to change his surname, but he had refused.

The name had been with him through two lives. Although Snape loathed that scumbag, he didn't want to deny his own past.

Unable to persuade him, Eileen had settled for changing his middle name to Prince.

His great-grandfather didn't mind. He had cheerfully spoken of having Snape inherit the Prince family someday.

"Then, as a descendant of that family, I think you should understand that the glory of the Pure-blood families won't be so easily erased by a few words from that person. Since you've returned to the Prince family, you should stand where you belong."

"Malfoy, perhaps I should have reminded you sooner, before you said that.

I'm a half-blood too."

Perhaps, for the sake of that little bit of friendship from their previous life, he ought to warn the man before him.

After all, with Anna Grindelwald, a leader supported by Acolytes all over the world, plus himself, reborn, as well as Dumbledore and a Grindelwald who was staying out of worldly affairs for the time being, Voldemort's final demise would presumably come sooner than it had in his previous life.

"..."

Lucius Malfoy was once again left speechless by Snape's words.

"One more thing.

Often, much of what you see is only the tip of the iceberg.

I hope you'll keep your eyes open.

If you don't understand what I mean, please pass it on to someone else. He should know what it means."

As he finished speaking, sounds came from the stone-beast staircase beside them.

When Anna returned to the third floor laden with sweets and snacks she had asked Daddy for, she saw Lucius Malfoy and Snape facing off.

"Lucius, what a coincidence.

Happy Halloween."

She unobtrusively positioned herself just in front of and to one side of Snape and greeted him with a smile.

Sure enough, she was still perfectly normal when dealing with other people.

Looking at her as she was, just as always, Snape thought to himself.

"Lucius, I got quite a haul today. I even ran into Mr. Voldemort, but unfortunately, he didn't have any sweets to give me, and he wasn't able to accept my good wishes.

If you see him again, be sure to give him my regards. I'm really looking forward to our next meeting."

Lucius Malfoy was startled.

The Dark Lord really had been to Hogwarts, and the two of them had actually met?

From what the girl in front of him had said, he couldn't guess at all what had happened between them, and he didn't dare ask for details.

"If I have the chance, I'll pass that on to him for you.

Goodbye, Miss Grindelwald, and happy Halloween to you."

He left them with those cold words and walked away under the gazes of the two young wizards.