Harry picked up his wand, using Transfiguration to turn a nearby chair into a bed before carefully placing Anne upon it.
It took quite some time before Anne slowly regained consciousness.
Upon seeing her brother, who was now transparent and ghostly, she let out a hiccup.
"Huh?" Harry uttered.
"Sebastian!"
Tears streamed down Anne's face like rain. She reached out, wanting to embrace her brother, only to realize they were now separated by the veil between life and death.
"Don't cry, Anne." Sebastian placed his transparent hand over Anne's head, mimicking a rubbing motion. "At least we can still see each other—hah, you're just the same as back then, still that cute little girl."
"But... but..." Anne let out another tearful hiccup. "You... you've become like this... What on earth happened? Why did you become a ghost?"
"Oh, Anne." Sebastian chuckled. "That is abso-bloody-lutely a long story, and I bet you wouldn't want to hear it. I don't really want to tell you such sad things either."
"Right." He turned his head and waved at Ominis in the portrait. "Ominis is here too. You can say hello to him."
Only then did Anne notice Ominis in the portrait, waving at her.
She felt the world spin around her and fainted once more.
"What's wrong with her?" Poppy asked curiously. "Is she weak from just waking up from the seal?"
"No," Veratia shook her head. "It's a self-protection mechanism of the human body... She was simply too overwhelmed with grief, triggering a defense mechanism to prevent extreme sadness from causing physical harm."
"So, what do we do?" Cassandra glanced down at the unconscious Anne. "We can't just let her stay passed out forever, can we? She has to face these things eventually."
"Then she'll just have to accept it by force." Harry reached out and patted Anne's cheek. "Hey, Anne, wake up—"
"Harry!" Sebastian panicked. "You bastard! How can you treat Anne like that! Get your hands off her! You philandering git! I won't allow you to touch Anne!"
"Mate, really?" Harry looked up. "I was just trying to wake her up. What's the rush?"
Just then, Anne slowly came to again.
"Stop arguing, please!" Anne sobbed softly. "I'm sorry, brother... and Ominis..."
"Alright." Harry sighed. He wasn't good at comforting girls, so he simply said, "I suggest you don't be so sad. After all, you wouldn't want them to have died in vain for you, would you? Living well is more important than anything—at least they left behind a portrait and a soul. Look at me, my mum and dad didn't even leave a portrait..."
Anne choked back a sob, tears still staining her face like rain on pear blossoms.
"I'm out of ideas." Harry spread his hands. "Veratia, you talk to her!"
"I have nothing to say, Harry," Veratia shook her head. "This is something she has to work through herself; our persuasion won't help."
"It's not your fault, Anne," Ominis said with a gentle smile. "Sebastian wasn't sent to Azkaban because of you, but because your uncle Solomon reported him for using an Unforgivable Curse... As for me, I carried a blood curse and wouldn't have lived long anyway."
"Even so..." Anne whimpered. A young girl like her simply couldn't accept that two living people had left the world forever because of her.
"I told you, it's none of your business, Anne," Sebastian said nonchalantly. "Just a ghost. Maybe I can stay at Hogwarts forever like Professor Binns or Sir Nicholas. That's actually not a bad thing, what do you think?"
"If it were me, I'd think it's not bad either," Poppy said with a smile.
She wasn't lying. After all, before this, she had existed in the mortal world as a soul.
If not for Harry's unseen intervention, how could she have been resurrected?
"Alright, don't be sad, Anne," Ominis said kindly. "Neither your family nor your friends want to see you like this... You should accept all of this and live on properly, understand?"
"I..." Anne wiped her tears.
"We should talk about what happens next," Harry looked up and said. "Anne dropped out in the second semester of fourth year, so... hmm, I think she can enroll with our year. What do you think, Sebastian?"
"That would be the best thing, of course," Sebastian smiled. "You really should get your life back on track, Anne... The curse of the Dark Arts disrupted your life. I don't want you to stay depressed. You should accept the facts, lest I died in vain—"
"Hey, Seb," Harry corrected. "Your death had nothing to do with Anne. That was your uncle Solomon reporting you—"
"I know, I know." Sebastian rolled his eyes, floated a circle in mid-air, and did a somersault.
"There is one more problem now," Cassandra suddenly said with a serious expression. "Where will Anne stay during the holidays? The Sallow home is long gone. Let me think... perhaps it would be better for her to stay at the Malfoy Manor. What do you think, Veratia?"
At this moment, in order to present a united front, Cassandra didn't even use the name Grindelwald, but used a very intimate address.
"I think that is a good idea," Veratia nodded. "I imagine Malfoy Manor is indeed a suitable place for Anne to stay temporarily. After all, the Manor is huge, enough to accommodate a homeless little girl—besides, the most important thing is that she is a Pure-blood witch. This fits the Malfoy family philosophy perfectly, doesn't it?"
"Since that's the case, it's decided," Cassandra quickly finalized. "Anne, we'll go back to the Isle of Wight in a bit. I will speak to the current head of the Malfoy family about this. From now on, you are a member of Malfoy Manor."
She added, "I will treat you like my own sister. After all, we and Sebastian are all members of the Order of the Phoenix, aren't we? His sister is our sister."
"That's right, Anne." Poppy also caught on. She stepped forward and hugged Anne. "Don't worry, Anne. If you don't like the Malfoy house, you can come to my nephew's house—oh, that's the Scamander family. Although not as luxurious as the Malfoy's, it's warm enough."
"Thank you all..." Anne said, wiping her tears.
Before Harry could even react, he saw that Anne's life had been completely arranged by these few people.
Forget it. He hadn't planned to let Anne stay at 12 Grimmauld Place anyway.
He had intended to at the start, but his killer instinct suddenly told him absolutely not to do so. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be a jealous Cassandra getting angry. Just ask yourself: if the number one Jealousy Queen of Europe, Lady Grindelwald, gets jealous, are you scared or not?
"Harry, what do you think?" Veratia turned her head and asked very seriously.
"I have no objections," Harry said quickly.
"I agree with your opinion." Sebastian, having a sister complex, certainly had no objections. Although he knew Anne had no romantic interest in Harry, who knew if Harry, that scar-headed Veela, would seduce his poor little sister?
Just to be safe, better to keep her away from Harry!
Sebastian thought this, setting a plan in his mind.
In the future, I must keep a close eye on Anne. I absolutely cannot let her have any chances to be alone with Harry.
What? Harry is my brother?
Brother is no excuse!
No way! I treat you as a brother, heck, you can even be my godfather if you want, but brother-in-law?
You already have three girlfriends! And you want another one?!
You animal!
Poor Anne was thus thoroughly arranged. Until the moment she left, she didn't know why everyone was so enthusiastic towards her.
Clearly, back at school, Miss Malfoy was so noble and cold, Miss Grindelwald was so unapproachable, and Miss Sweeting wasn't very close to her either...
But Anne didn't think too much of it; she just took it as everyone taking care of her for Sebastian's sake.
"Then we'll have to mention this to Dumbledore; we're welcoming another transfer student." Harry chuckled. "Actually, it felt quite strange not having a transfer student last year—look, in second year, Veratia transferred into Hogwarts; in third year, it was Poppy and Cassandra... Fourth year, nobody transferred, and now in fifth year, here comes another one..."
No one cared about Harry's dry joke. Sebastian had already drifted over to Ominis's portrait. The two were whispering, occasionally looking over at Harry, which gave Harry the creeps.
What on earth are those two talking about?
Could it be... they are speaking ill of me?
Harry thought about it and decided he shouldn't think the worst of his mates.
After staying a while longer, Veratia stood up, taking Anne to bid farewell to Ominis and Sebastian.
Sebastian had wanted to tag along, but considering his current ghost form, it wouldn't look good if he caused a scene among Muggles, so they didn't bring him along.
Upon arriving at the Isle of Wight, Cassandra took Anne and found Lucius, who was enjoying cigars with Mr. Granger.
It was evident that Lucius had taken quite a liking to cigars. He had tasted many over the past few days and finally fell in love with a brand called Trinidad, specifically the "Fundadores" lancero cigar.
In his view, the size and thickness of the lancero were very elegant to hold, fitting perfectly with his Pure-blood status.
The Trinidad brand was still quite young, a new brand of the younger generation. It was launched in 1991 and initially served only as exclusive gifts for heads of state.
But as a top-tier London dentist who dealt frequently with high society, Mr. Granger always had his ways.
"Lucius."
Cassandra waved her small hand, using a cleaning charm to disperse the lingering smoke.
"Oh, Aunt Cassandra." Lucius put down his cigar and looked up. "What is it?"
This title was decided by Cassandra; after all, calling her "Grand-aunt" in public would be a bit shocking.
But the title "Aunt" was somewhat acceptable. After all, in such a family, having a young aunt wasn't anything unheard of.
"This is Anne, Anne Sallow," Cassandra introduced. "My friend. Her family has passed away, and I would like her to stay at Malfoy Manor during the holidays while she is enrolled at Hogwarts."
"No problem," Lucius nodded.
Outsiders couldn't tell, but Lucius knew exactly what was going on.
It seemed another girl trapped in time had returned—another classmate of his Grand-aunt?
Having such an ancestor-level figure living in the house was certainly not an issue.
Whatever the reason, it was no problem.
"Hello, Mr. Malfoy." Anne bowed timidly to Lucius.
Her impression of the Malfoy family was stuck on that massive entity that dominated the British wizarding world; she had no idea how much the Malfoy family had declined by now.
"Hello, Miss Sallow." Lucius nodded politely as a greeting. "I will speak to Cissy about this later."
Having obtained Lucius's consent, Cassandra took Anne back to her own room.
"For the time being, you can stay here," Cassandra said with a smile. "As for clothes... we can go buy some new ones for you tomorrow or the day after, how about that?"
"Whatever you say," Anne agreed softly.
"I'll leave you to it then. Just call me if you need anything," Cassandra said.
"Okay, goodnight, Cassandra," Anne replied.
Cassandra nodded, turned, and left the room.
She walked all the way to Harry's room to regroup with Poppy and Veratia.
"How did it go?" Poppy asked. "Did Lucius agree to let Anne stay?"
"Do you think he would object?" Veratia pursed her lips in a smile. "Or, to put it another way—do you think it would matter even if he did object?"
"True enough," Poppy nodded. "After all, Cassandra is the Malfoy family's—er, former Young Miss, right? And Lucius's Grand-aunt."
That wasn't wrong, but if Cassandra were just an ordinary Grand-aunt, her word wouldn't carry so much weight in the Malfoy family.
The issue lay in Cassandra's profound mastery of spells; she could wipe out the entire Malfoy family with a wave of her hand. Under the dual pressure of seniority and magical power, Lucius simply had no room for objection.
"What about Anne's enrollment then?" Poppy asked again. "Do we go to Dumbledore for this? Or Professor McGonagall?"
"Going to you is actually enough, Poppy." Veratia reached out and pinched Poppy's slightly baby-fat cheek. "You are a Hogwarts School Governor, aren't you? Getting a student to transfer into Hogwarts is just a matter of a single word, isn't it?"
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