[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"headmaster."

A voice called Dumbledore, and he turned to see Tahlia with her eyes open, trying to sit up in bed.

Dumbledore waved his wand directly to help, and the pillow automatically floated behind her so she could lean on it.

"You're awake." He said gently. "how do you feel?"

"It's terrible." Tahlia whispered, and found that her throat was still dry. She turned her eyes to the low table beside her, thinking about drinking... The glass on top floated in front of her. She reached out to take it, and found herself It seems that a lot of strength has recovered, at least the act of raising the water glass in this way is no longer strenuous. "Thank you," she said.

"No—" Dumbledore pulled up a chair and sat down. "Is there anything you want to tell me, kid?"

Tahlia's movement of drinking water paused, she put down the glass slowly, looked at Dumbledore with a smile, and then spoke. "He's angry that the attack failed, Headmaster—"

"I see it."

"So what else do you want to know?" Tahlia was still smiling.

What else does he want to know?

Dumbledore found that he couldn't answer this simple question, so he just sat quietly and looked at the girl who smiled at him.

Maybe he forgot, forgot that the girl in front of him was only 15 years old, and was blinded by her usual strength, he really forgot.

Tahlia is still a student.

Maybe he shouldn't have included her in the plan, it should be said, maybe he should have explained his plan to her from the beginning-at least she could escape Alastor's attack.

"What happened after you left Alastor and the others?" He opened his mouth and blurted out the question.

Tahlia frowned. "Didn't I say that? He was very angry—"

"That's his mood, Tahlia," Dumbledore reminded flatly. "What I want to hear from you is what he did—"

"That's beyond what I want to tell you, Headmaster." Tahlia smirked. "You know I'm working for him, right?"

"Of course I do, you told me—" Dumbledore smiled. "But you and I both know you don't really want to do that... you want to... protect your friends—"

"You don't know me," Tahlia said flatly. "Even though I really don't want to do things for Voldemort, you don't know, do you? When I was doing those things, what was on my mind..."

"So I'm waiting for you to tell me, Tahlia." Dumbledore stared at her with a look that seemed to pierce her.

Tahlia took a deep breath. "I thought, anyway, these people are not important at all, and their life and death have nothing to do with me──" Squeezed out a smile. "You think it's selfish, don't you? But I don't feel any guilt about them—" There was a pause. "So I'm a Slytherin."

"I didn't say you were wrong, Tahlia…" Dumbledore sighed. "You don't have to disprove yourself so quickly—it's not so much that you don't feel guilty about them as much as you force yourself to lay hands on other people for your friends—that doesn't mean there's no guilt, kid...but You suppressed these emotions in the bottom of your heart..."

Tahlia was silent.

What the old man said was so right that she couldn't refute it.

"Maybe I really shouldn't have you learn Occlumency, Tahlia—" Dumbledore stared at her. "This actually encourages your behavior of suppressing emotions..."

"No, I have to learn, Headmaster," Tahlia said.Otherwise, if she showed any emotions she shouldn't have in front of that man, then...she would no longer be able to talk about protecting others. "Thank you very much."

There was a sudden silence in the medical wing.

"Principal." Tahlia said suddenly, hesitated for a while, and slowly pulled the cuff of her left hand with her right hand. "I... I think there's something you should know—" After saying that, maybe Dumbledore would feel unworthy of being a student, maybe he would kick her out of school in disgust, but she still thought she had to say exit.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled up the sleeve of his left hand with a brush, revealing the dark and ugly skull logo. "It's a mark of being one of his subordinates, Headmaster—" Ordering himself to ignore Dumbledore's unrepressed exclamation at the sight of the mark. "Maybe you can judge based on this later..."

"When?" Dumbledore cut her off.

Tahlia looked up blankly. "What?"

"When were you marked..." He stared at the mark sternly. "Something?"

"That's not the point, principal, if you see someone with this mark on their hands in the future—"

"Answer me, Tahlia." Dumbledore interrupted again, calmly, but this time the words were irresistible to Tahlia.

She lowered her head, and uncontrollably flashed the memories of earlier today in her mind... She was surprised to find that the tears in her eyes had started to slide down her cheeks drop by drop and landed on the quilt.

"When I left Auror…" she began.Then, all the emotions seemed to emerge suddenly in an instant, and she found that in front of this old man, she would always subconsciously entrust everything to him without reservation, so she cried, crying loudly.

Dumbledore stood up, not shocked by the sudden loss of control of the girl in front of him, maybe she was indeed too depressed before, and it was definitely good to vent her emotions like this - put one hand on Tahlia's head, so that she could lean on him gently , he didn't intend to say anything at this time.

"Principal..." Tahlia choked out. "I...I really want to go home—"

It was the first time she showed such weak emotions in front of others at school... For the first time, she hated that she knew magic, and regretted coming here... It was also the first time, she wanted to stay away from all this and go home .

"But I... I can't turn back, can I?" Tahlia didn't look up, still crying. "If hell really exists, I must have fallen into it... there is no way to change it..."

"I'm sorry." Dumbledore finally said, he really felt sorry for the girl, he should give her a little more trust. "But you shouldn't be so desperate, boy—"

"You know I'm telling the truth, don't you?" Tahlia backed away slightly, and Dumbledore backed away slightly in understanding. "So of course I have a right to despair, Headmaster—" she said. "It's irreversible."

"Anything can save... the child," Dumbledore said softly. "But if you give up even yourself, then there is nothing wrong, what you said is the truth..." There was a pause. "Are you going to give up?"

Tahlia didn't speak.

Dumbledore sighed. "Tahlia, I told you once...don't do anything you'll regret. Now, have you made your decision?"

"Decided on what?" Tahlia asked stiffly.

"That's a question that only you know, child—" Dumbledore replied. "And, no one can make any decisions for you, your future is your own, Tahlia..."

Make up your own mind...?

In fact, the answer already exists in my heart, isn't it?She didn't need to put any effort into thinking at all, that thought occupied her whole head, and this was her only way now──

He looked up at Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, I'm afraid we have to go our separate ways──" she said, unsurprisingly catching a flash of disappointment in Dumbledore's eyes. "I will gain his confidence, and I will let him give me the highest honor..."

"Tahlia—"

"And then I'll kill him," Tahlia continued, winking at a stunned Dumbledore. "Will you help me, principal?"

Dumbledore felt that his emotions were changing that night, and he wouldn't just be stunned by a child's words like this. "I thought you wanted to completely surrender to Tom."

"Obviously, yes," Tahlia said. "It's as if I have to draw a line with you on the surface—I will tell you all his actions and all information, principal."

Dumbledore shook his head instead. "I can't let you do this, Tahlia."

"why?"

"It's dangerous—" Dumbledore said seriously. "You are still too young, child, this matter is not as simple as you think..."

"No!" Tahlia said firmly. "I will definitely do this. If you don't want to, I will find another person who is willing to help me. In short, I will definitely kill that man!"

"You're going to die, Tahlia," Dumbledore said flatly. "If you really keep leaking information to me, once you are discovered, you will definitely die──"

Tahlia paused for a moment, but then smiled. "I do not care anymore."

"Damn you for saying you don't care!"

Both of them were startled by the sudden sound. They stared blankly at the direction of the sound, and found that the curtain beside the hospital bed had been drawn, and the person standing there was Sirius.

He looked at Tahlia with an angry face, the drawn curtain was tightly tied in his hands, and his whole body trembled with anger.

"Mr. Black, I think I told you to go back to your dorm." Dumbledore said wearily.

How long had Sirius been standing outside?How much has he heard? Tahlia felt like she was completely afraid to think about the answer...

"Ha!" Sirius said loudly. "Obviously I made the right choice not going back to the dormitory──" He stepped forward quickly and stood beside Tahlia. "How long are you going to keep it from us if I'm not here? How far are you going to push us, Tahlia?" he demanded.

"How far to push you?" Tahlia repeated, feeling suddenly annoyed. "If I remember correctly, you pointed your wand at me, Sirius."

Sirius shut his mouth immediately, but then opened his mouth confidently. "But then you too!"

"So it's my fault instead?" Tahlia narrowed her eyes, staring straight at Sirius.

Sirius closed his mouth again, lowered his head, and spoke in a low voice after a long while. "That's not what I meant, Tahlia."

"No, I think that's what you mean." Tahlia said flatly. "Since you think it's my fault, you'd better go back quickly, I think you should understand that no matter what you heard just now, it's best not to tell anyone... Otherwise—" Ignoring that Dumbledore was also present, he directly Inertia said the threatening words. "I will never do nothing..." Then I found the old man beside me, but I didn't take back that sentence, I just gave him a look to ask him not to mind.

"I heard something..." Sirius murmured.

He just knew all the facts, his deduction was correct, everything Tahlia did...was not her intention at all!

Looked up. "I heard it all, Tahlia—" he whispered, seeing Tahlia froze for a brief moment. "That person... Voldemort used us to threaten you... didn't he?" He didn't expect that it was themselves, they were the ones who made Tahlia fall into this situation.

There was a brief silence, Tahlia's expression showed no emotion at all, and Dumbledore couldn't help being surprised, her Occlumency was improving so fast...

"I don't deny it, Sirius—" Tahlia said coldly. "But so what?"