Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Peter

Chapter 186 Peter and Snape's Long Conversation

Snape was crying, this was a scene that Peter could never have imagined, he couldn't believe that those indifferent black eyes could shed hot tears.

"Severus?" Peter greeted cautiously, letting Snape know he was coming. "This letter is..."

Snape quickly folded the letter on the table and stuffed it into the pocket of his nightshirt.

Peter conjured up a chair and sat down opposite him, "What did you write in the letter that made you—"

"It's nothing, it has nothing to do with this letter...it's just because it hurts too much," Snape said softly, covering his eyes with his hands, "Since when did I become so vulnerable?"

Peter knew it was just a poor cover, he recognized the familiar handwriting with just a glance, but he didn't want to expose it, "No, you are not weak," he said earnestly, "The most tenacious willpower lies in Physical pain is also vulnerable, I endured the Cruciatus Curse for two hours and almost died of pain, but you have endured it for so long..."

"I just want...to end soon." Snape's voice was hoarse and weaker than the day before.

Peter frowned, and looked sadly at the dying man in front of him, "You haven't been sitting here since yesterday afternoon, it's terrible."

Snape snorted, sat up straight, and leaned back in the chair.

He looked even more menacing than the day before, and in the dim light Peter saw every muscle in his face writhing in a desperate and peaceful agony, his eyes protruding, the whites bloodshot, the right eye upwards Flipping it over, I don't know if I can still see things clearly.His right hand hung to the side motionless, and the entire right half of his body seemed to be dead.

"Oh my God, you are..." Peter felt as if he had been punched hard in his heart. He felt pity and guilt at the same time. If he could alleviate the pain of the other party by suffering himself, he was willing to endure the Cruciatus Curse again, "You need Some painkillers—”

"I seem to remember... I am the Potions teacher here myself, do you think I haven't tried it? The potion has no effect on the Dark Lord's curse..."

"Then you should at least lie down and sleep for a while. Even if there is no curse, few people can bear to sit on a chair with their eyes open."

"...It's hard to breathe lying down," Snape gasped. "It just makes me more miserable."

"So you just sat here all day and night without eating, drinking or sleeping?" Peter called.

"I can't eat anything for a long time, oh... I almost forgot..." Snape pulled out his wand from his pocket, shook the tip of the wand, and put a glass of Flame Whiskey in front of Peter, "Don't worry, drink it... No People are poisoned."

"Are you determined to make me feel more guilty?" Peter picked up his glass, took a sip of the spirits, and said with a wry smile.

"You don't have to feel guilty... soon you'll hate me," he said feebly. "If guilt makes you suffer more, I'm willing to... do that."

Peter took another swig of his drink, "Come on, Severus, this is the moment, can't you be a little more frank? You don't have to disguise every good intention as malice."

"Goodwill..." Snape snorted disapprovingly. He changed his weight, as if he was looking for a less uncomfortable position, "Goodwill is just a boring lie... Profit is the eternal weather vane, unless you help others pick it up." Picking up a quill is considered kindness..."

"But you saved my life," said Peter flatly. "I should have suffered what you were going through."

"I thought you should know...all gifts come with a price, Wormtail."

"Is your so-called 'price' just making me feel guilty?"

"More than that," Snape murmured, and he tapped Peter's half-empty glass with his wand, and it was refilled.

Peter drank the whole glass of wine straight away, and after putting down the glass, he said: "Stop going around in circles and riddles, okay? Let's talk, one last time, open and honest."

"I don't know what there is to talk about," Snape said.

Peter cast a refill spell on the glass, and drank another large glass of spirits. His face turned red, "When people really have nothing to talk about, the most classic topic is the weather."

Snape tilted his weight slightly to the left, and he was still looking for a more comfortable position. "I didn't notice what the weather was like," he said dryly.

"Okay," Peter put down his glass, "then let's change to a classic nonsense topic—what have you been doing lately?"

"Writing papers, brewing potions, without exception...all failed." He said, "I read your paper in "Transfiguration Today", the one about living imprinting...it was very interesting."

"I'm really touched," Peter drank another glass, "I didn't expect to hear compliments from you, then I also want to say that your potion paper is very well written, if Merlin can give you more time , it is not unattainable to invent a potion that can completely cure werewolf disease."

"It's not even close... I'm afraid Merlin will have to give me - ten years? Thirty years?" Snape cast another refilling spell, "However, if you read page No. 30 of the paper... you will find The unprofessional handling by Potter, Granger and Weasley has greatly undermined the results of the experiment."

"Don't be so mean, it's very good that they are willing to help," Peter was already a little smoked, "Ron's finger is swollen like a carrot, and Harry was busy preparing the Triwizard Cup."

The conversation quickly drifted away into ramblings, and Snape started to talk less, shifting slowly in his chair, trying to ease the pain, mostly Peter talking, Snape just now and then to respond briefly to Peter's words.

……

"...Ah, you remember Lucius, don't you? Lucius was the prefect of Slytherin the year we entered, and he loved to deduct points from Gryffindor students." Peter said, "He dressed His level is very high, in stark contrast to his wand-wielding skills, by the way, his family also has several white peacocks, tsk tsk, what an exaggeration."

"Oh, Lucius." Snape said contemptuously, "I have a bit of a problem with him."

……

Peter drank the No.14 glass of spirits, and he was a little incoherent when he spoke.

"... On the day of the decisive battle, everyone who could fight came, including Aurors from the Ministry of Magic and combatants from the Order of the Phoenix. Let me think about it, James, Lily, Alastor, Scrimgeour, Emmeline , and many others... Only Remus wasn't here, he was ill—well, you don't want to hear about James' prowess on the battlefield."

"Voldemort was reckless. He didn't expect that the venue of the meeting had been exposed. When he and his Death Eaters sat down, we rushed up. It was a fierce battle. Many people died. Mad-Eye's leg was broken. Fortunately, it was all worth it.”

"Many people in the Order of the Phoenix are pure-blood or half-blood. Voldemort's brutality can't hurt us, but we are still willing to stand up for Muggle-born wizards, because they are the same as us, and to hurt them is to hurt ourselves..."

Peter stopped talking, he found that Snape's head was tilted on the back of the chair, and he didn't answer for a long time.

The lamp oil was about to burn out, the night was obviously very deep, and the room was very quiet.

Peter stood up with the lightest movement, and walked to Snape's side, seeing that Snape's chest was still heaving, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He extinguished the oil lamp and tiptoed out of the room, and when he opened the door soundlessly, a sigh came from deep in Snape's chest.

In the darkness, the tormented man murmured, "It is kindness to do it now..."

(End of this chapter)