[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"What's the matter with that person?"

After the meeting, Snape stayed right there, and said to Dumbledore right away after everyone else had left. "I thought the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor you had was Tahlia, not the... guy with nothing in his belly—" Dumbledore continued to question without giving him a chance to speak. "I was looking for her for you at that time. It's really ridiculous, isn't it?"

"She resigned to me, Severus," Dumbledore said flatly.

Tahlia did a really good job. The resignation letter was sent directly by owl. He didn't even see her face, and of course he didn't have the opportunity to try to persuade her to stay.

"Resign?" Snape was taken aback. "She resigned?" But she didn't even mention it to him.

Dumbledore directly took out a letter and handed it to Snape.

Slowly spread out the letter, read it without saying a word, and then silently returned the letter. "And you agreed? Such a ridiculous reason?" The point is, how could she know the existence of this report that was almost reported?

"Actually, once it's been reported, there must be good reason, Severus..." Dumbledore stared straight at Snape. "You don't have anything to say to me?" He paused for a while, and then continued after seeing Snape's body froze for a moment. "About the information that was supposed to cause an uproar because it was published in the Daily Prophet...by an anonymous person?"

Snape was silent for a long time, and suddenly realized. "You suppressed that."

"Of course I suppressed that matter. Fortunately, the current editor-in-chief happens to have a special relationship with me..." Dumbledore waved his hand. "But none of that concerns me, boy, why?" he asked. "Why did you deliberately frame—"

"That's not a false accusation," Snape said, looking ugly. "I think you should have read that article, I have evidence..."

"I gave her the so-called evidence." Dumbledore's tone was even colder. Snape hadn't heard such a stern voice from the old man for a long time, so he couldn't help shutting his mouth. "So I'm not wrong, Severus."

"You give it to her?" Snape's first instinct was that Dumbledore was as usual, thinking of defending Tahlia, but then, there was another voice in his heart, and that voice told him with certainty that the headmaster said nothing at all One word is fake.

"Because we believe that the contents of that book will be very helpful for us to solve Voldemort once and for all," Dumbledore said.

And these words made Snape's eyes widen unconsciously.

"No matter what you think of her, Severus... Tahlia has only one purpose from the beginning to the end - and that is to kill Voldemort." Dumbledore continued. "But obviously you didn't listen to a word I told you last time."

Snape stood silently, not saying a word.It seems that he has forgotten a lot of things recently, what did Dumbledore talk to him last time?

"Are you still determined to hate the kid?" Dumbledore began again.

Snape was still silent, and for some reason, he suddenly couldn't say affirmative words naturally, which made him feel weird.

Of course he hated Tahlia.

And he also said that he would never forgive her...

But at this moment, facing Dumbledore's questioning, he could no longer speak the natural words that he could speak before.

"I think you should come with me, Severus." Seeing that Snape hadn't spoken again, Dumbledore made a decision that he should have done a long time ago—

If he had made up his mind earlier, maybe Tahlia would not have just left a resignation letter and left now.

Memory has always been the most private thing for a person, and any emotions mixed in memory can only be experienced by oneself...

This was the thought that popped into Snape's mind after he followed Dumbledore to the headmaster's office and found that he had taken out a Pensieve directly in front of his face.

What did Dumbledore mean by pulling it out?

"I'd like to share a few memories with you, Severus." Dumbledore sat behind his large desk, his hands towering over the table, his blue eyes staring straight at Snape, the lenses seeming to sparkle. "My own memory."

"Why?" Snape asked stiffly, although he had roughly guessed Dumbledore's purpose.

"You said that I hadn't seen Tahlia's dark side...you were right, I hadn't—" Dumbledore said slowly. "I haven't seen it with my own eyes."

Snape didn't speak, and sat stiffly in the chair, waiting for Dumbledore to speak again.

"But I've heard it all—boy..." he said. "I've heard it from Tahlia myself, she never tried to hide anything from me, Severus—" There was a short pause. "So it's not that I can't understand your scruples about her, nor is it intentional to ignore..." He raised his hand and interrupted Snape who opened his mouth to say something. "And now, I want you to know something...something Tahlia never told you."

"I'm fully convinced that she's hiding a lot from me." Snape finally found a chance to speak, and said flatly.

"Severus...it's not too late to comment after you've seen it." Dumbledore said with a frown.

It was because he guessed that Snape had something to do with Tahlia's departure that he made the decision, and only he could force her to leave - but also, only Snape could bring her back.

While Snape was still somewhat resistant, Dumbledore still took out his wand, pressed it against his temple, and closed his eyes──

The thin silver thread was pulled out as the wand moved away, and fell into the Pensieve endlessly, and it seemed that the silver thread had never been drawn out for a day, Snape stared blankly at the movement of the old man in front of him to extract the memory, and suddenly understood Come here, what is waiting for me is definitely a very long memory...

After all the memories fell into the basin, Dumbledore opened his eyes and spoke in a tone that did not allow Snape to refuse. "So... Severus, are you ready?"

Snape didn't intend to speak, but blurted out anyway. "If I say no, will you stop there?" The answer is almost certain to be heard.

"It's not among the options I've given you." Sure enough, Dumbledore didn't give himself any chance to refuse. "And the reason you're resisting is because you're avoiding the truth—"

Snape stood up almost in anger, and stood directly in front of the Pensieve, and then, without Dumbledore urging him again, he plunged into the Pensieve...

It should be said, in Dumbledore's memory.

The first memory was in the school hall, where Snape saw his first-year self sitting at the long Slytherin table, and it was Tahlia who was wearing the sorting hat on the stage.

He barely remembered Tahlia's reaction to being sorted into Slytherin that day, as a first year his eyes were always on Lily, and he had always been bitter about Lily being sorted into Gryffindor.

But now, after looking at it again from the perspective of a bystander, he found that Tahlia, who had taken the sorting hat off, was full of confusion and uneasiness, and walked towards the long table with hesitant steps...

She didn't smile until she moved her eyes and saw herself in the first grade who was already sitting there, and walked over happily.

Scene change...

It was the corridor of the school, Snape recognized it, after all, he had just walked there just now, it was the corridor in front of the entrance to the headmaster's office, and there were two people standing in front of him, Tahlia and Dumbledore.

It seems that it has been a long time since the first memory, because although Tahlia looks young, she is not as green as she was in the first grade.

Tahlia seemed tense when she bumped into Dumbledore, and then relaxed because of Dumbledore's gentle behavior.

"Have you had any trouble?" Snape heard Dumbledore say, and Tahlia shook her head quickly, and said she was doing well at school..."

This is absolutely a lie.

Snape knew that Tahlia wasn't having a good time at school, that no one thought of her as a friend except Black's group, and even when they didn't speak to each other in the later stage, none of the people around her could be called that. are friends.

Just thinking about it, and then realized that Tahlia had finished talking with Dumbledore and was about to leave—

"Don't do anything you'll regret, kid," Dumbledore said finally.

Snape saw Tahlia smile upon hearing this, and nodded—

The scene changes again...

This time it was the headmaster's room, and Snape was surprised to find that the layout of Dumbledore's office hadn't changed for so many years, if it wasn't for the light blue wizard robes on Dumbledore sitting behind the desk in front of him were different from what he saw just now, he would almost Thinking that the memory was over, he returned to the principal's office.

There was a knock on the door and it was Tahlia who walked in.

Snape was pretty sure they were at least fifth year at this point, because of the shiny prefect badge she wore, which meant he didn't talk to her much anymore.

"So... now that you're here—again—may I think maybe you've got something bothering you?" Dumbledore asked gently.

And Tahlia still seemed to be hesitating at first, but Dumbledore didn't press, just looked at the girl in front of him with a smile, as if she was sure that she would definitely speak in the end.

Sure enough, Tahlia spoke up.

And everything that was said, every sentence had a great impact on Snape who was standing aside.

She was asking Dumbledore for help.

Ask him to help her fight the Dark Lord.

When everyone thought that Tahlia was under the Dark Lord, she had already conspired with his greatest enemy—Dumbledore.

Snape realized suddenly that this was what Dumbledore had been trying to tell himself.

He said that Tahlia had never been loyal to the Dark Lord without any basis, the reason was from this memory...

At this time, Tahlia was only in the fifth grade.

The scenery changed again.

Snape was standing in the hospital wing at the moment.

Several people were standing next to a hospital bed. Sitting on it was Tahlia, whose face was as pale as it could be.

And even though he has no memory of this scene at all, he can easily judge when it is just based on the identities of the people present-mainly Potter and Black with panicked faces...

The only thing that confuses him is, what does this have to do with Tahlia?

"First of all, I have to thank you in Mr. Snape's place, Tahlia," Dumbledore began.

Hearing his own name being mentioned, Snape unconsciously walked closer, and then accidentally caught a glimpse of the scar on Tahlia's arm... Although it had healed, the new skin was obviously different in color from the surrounding skin, and it was easy to distinguish come out.

Had Tahlia been hurt that night?

"No need," he heard Tahlia say. "I don't think he wished at all that I had saved him, Headmaster."

Snape stood stunned.

Confusion in the head...

From the few conversations just now, he was able to draw a conclusion, that is, Tahlia was also there on the night of the full moon, and saved himself who fell into a coma at that time.

Seeing that the conversation ended with Tahlia's insistence on concealing it, and finally Potter was pushed to replace him as his savior, he instantly felt that all his previous cognitions were shattered, shattered abruptly.

Maybe he really misjudged her from the very beginning, totally misjudged her.