Chapter 3
For the second time today, Anastasia woke up in an unfamiliar environment. It was starting to get annoying. She noticed she was no longer tied to a chair, only a light charm kept her from falling from it.
“Ah, welcome back, miss Grindelwald,” beamed Dumbledore, although he still stumbled a bit on her last name. “Would you be so kind and remind me, how much do you remember from our last conversation?”
Anastasia was flabbergasted. He dosed her with veritaserum, interrogated her like a war criminal (which was fair a little bit) and now acted as if nothing happened? She won’t give him the satisfaction of an answer, she thought and instead just gleaned at Dumbledore. He acted not phased.
“So, I gather you remember only the less pleasurable piece, yes. Although the next part wasn’t so great either.“ Still no answer from the girl but Albus made little of it, he was used to dealing with stubborn children. “Let me revisit the moment after you lost consciousness. Your father left me a message in you.” Finally, a reaction. Anastasia’s eyed widened in shock. A small reaction. Nonetheless, he knew he started to crack her.
“He was so worried about your social life he sent you here to make some friends and try living like a normal student here. So I made some arrangements and I am happy to assure you that his wish will be granted.” Dumbledore smiled at her mischievously.
“But why would you even let me study at Hogwarts? You have no reason to make his request fulfilled” Anastasia couldn’t grasp what was the old man thinking. He will enrol her in the middle of a war?
“Do not fret, child, everything is taken care of. As for the reason, I believe we all will gain something from this. I am most curious about the reactions and mostly, of your endeavours and behaviour.” Anastasia wanted to ask more, but he continued his speech. Pompous stupid little man.
“In a moment, you will be assigned to one of the four Hogwarts houses and your own dormitory. I thought it best if you had a single room. Your things will then be escorted to said dormitory. Yes, I see the question in your eyes, your father was so kind to send your belongings after you. I will also return your wand. Later this evening, one of the pureblood families organizes a little ball for the celebration, or rather mourning, of the end of summer holidays. I reason it best if you attend with me, it will give you an opportunity to meet some of your fellow students. Any questions?” he looked at her rather stupidly. Of course she had questions but wasn’t really feeling on talking to Dumbledore any longer, she kept her mouth shut.
“Excellent, let’s begin then. This is the sorting hat,” he pulled an old, shabby hat from behind his back and put it on Anastasia’s head. It looked horrible but smelled rather pleasant, like secrets. Suddenly, a voice rang inside her mind. Oh, I see. I was wondering if I ever get to meet you. Your father kept you hidden for long enough. If I met you as a child, I might have put you in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw for your braveness, intelligence and stubbornness. But now you have been tainted. Taught magic you have no business knowing and it left spots on your soul. But I feel like you will meet someone, who will appreciate you like no other before him.
“Slytherin!!” the hat finally said out loud, Dumbledore didn’t look surprised.
“Well, now we know. Come along now, I will show you your new room.”
Anastasia didn’t trust Dumbledore and didn’t want to follow him anywhere, but she couldn’t help feeling curious. She dreamed of going to Hogwarts and now her father enabled her this experience. As she walked behind her professor, she admired the castle and the feeling it awakened in her. All sorts of magic flew around, were build into the walls and surroundings. It was a different feeling than back home, at Nurmengard. He father built it as a prison but made a spacious, aerial loft for her on the very top. It was disillusioned, so the prisoners couldn’t get to her, but she sometimes visited them with father. She learned a lot on them. It was a magical prison and it also had magic engraved into its stones. But it felt a hell lot of different than this homey comfy castle.
Dumbledore gave her the password to Slytherin common room and left her to settle in. They shall meet in 2 hours to attend the ball.
The common room was situated in dungeons, next to the Great Lake. You can see the water in the windows, sometimes even the squid made an appearance. Anastasia was very happy about that, since being raised in the clouds she felt a weird calm under water. Her dormitory was at the very end of the hall, but she didn’t mind. At least nobody will be all up in her business. The room was very spacious, good. Because as she looked to the tower of luggage her father sent, she was sceptical it would even fit here. And her most prized possession laid on the table, her wand. Elder wood with fairy wings as core. Designed specially for her by some wand maker in eastern Europe. Her father had it made so it matched his Elder wand.
Anastasia started riffling through her things and finding them a new place in her room. Father really thought of everything. Book, potion supplies, clothes, money. No wonder why she was so spoiled. For the ball she picked a deep green dress her father sent (maybe he knew she will end up in Slytherin, because it was perfect for making a statement about her sorting). She braided her long platinum blonde hair into a braid and made her blue eyes more prominent with a little eye makeup. The last step was to disillusion her scars, which she could do after years of practice with only a snap of her fingers.
She met Dumbledore back in his office and together they flooed to Malfoy Manor.