[HP] Can you be gentle with me

The scene is blurred and transformed.

Snape was back in the headmaster's office again, and Tahlia sat, looking a bit displeased with Dumbledore.

"But you..." she opened her mouth, but she only started with one head and didn't continue.

"You must be thinking in your heart that I've done nothing, don't you?" Dumbledore asked slowly, before he stood up and looked out the window. "It's not that I didn't do anything... The dueling conference is a good proposal, but we don't know when he will attack or where he will attack, so we are groping in the dark──It doesn't work big."

Snape expressed surprise at the topics they talked about. It never occurred to him that Tahlia's impromptu duel meeting that year had other motives, that the event was to thwart an attack by the Dark Lord.

Then, Tahlia spoke slowly, after a long silence.

"I can tell you about all of Voldemort's deployments," she said.

"As long as you promise that Severus will never get on that train—"

Don't let him... get on the train?

Snape couldn't say anything at all. If he understood correctly, the girl in front of him was trying to protect him.

It was a delicate feeling to find out... He never thought anyone would want to protect him—except for his mother, and her protection didn't always work, given that he still had some scars from that bastard.

but why?

Why is she always thinking of doing this?

Just because... Does she like him?

He suddenly had an urge to go forward and grab Tahlia to ask everything, but before he could do anything, the girl in front of him disappeared...

In a blink of an eye, he was standing on the floor of the hospital wing again, and Tahlia, who had been in the headmaster's office a second ago with firm eyes, rested her head on Dumbledore's arms and cried bitterly.

Snape approached slowly, raising his hand uncontrollably, trying to pat the girl in front of him to give her some comfort, but his hand went straight across her shoulder...

It's just a memory, not reality.

"I...I want to go home..." Tahlia's voice choked into Snape's ears. "But I... I can't turn back, can I? If hell really exists, I must have fallen into... there is no way to change..."

It was only then that Snape noticed the striking, hideous black skull mark on Tahlia's hand.

This is the day she was tagged.

And she was so desperate and sad, so unwilling—

Just like she told herself countless times before.

She never wanted these things... and he didn't believe it at the time.

"Headmaster, I'm afraid we have to go our separate ways - I'll gain his trust, I'll let him give me the highest honor..." Tahlia's words made Snape stunned for a moment, not long ago she was crying about her Don't want to be tagged either?

However, the words he said immediately perfectly answered the questions that had filled his mind just now.

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

Snape felt his whole body being hit with a club.

So that's her motivation...

So that's why she was so perfect in front of the Dark Lord...

So that's why Dumbledore kept asking him to trust her...

She was the sharpest dagger that Dumbledore had planted at the Dark Lord's place so early on, that the Dark Lord would jump into a trap without realizing it, and stab him when he was off guard.

another place...

This is a very small room, which looks like a reception room. There is simply a table and two chairs in the center, and there are people sitting on those two chairs.

Snape stood next to Tahlia, the woman who had clearly graduated.

He finally took a serious look at the person in front of him.

When he first met Tahlia, she looked like a little boy, and now... Snape realized he couldn't remember when she had grown her hair.

All he knew was that when he was walking with Lily on the platform in first grade, he recognized her at a glance—regardless of the length of her hair.

Now that I think about it, why?

Obviously when she gave him the broken box, her hair was shorter than her own.

The freckles around her nose haven't changed at all, it's the same as when she nagged and insisted on sharing her own lunch when she was a child. It's obvious, but it doesn't make people feel that her face is dirty.

At this moment she sat quietly, the room was silent, and Dumbledore didn't speak, as if waiting for Tahlia's expression.

"Severus looking for you?" After a long time, Tahlia finally spoke slowly.

Hearing his name again, Snape shuddered, and obviously Dumbledore was also stunned for a moment, but for a different reason than himself.

"How do you know—"

"How do you know he's planning to contact you?" Tahlia smiled weakly. "Because only you can protect Lily's family, Albus—"

"I'm not everything, Tahlia." Dumbledore shook his head. "That's right, the kid did ask to meet me, what do you want me to do?"

"You should go see him," Tahlia said. "Accept his request."

Dumbledore sighed. "I have to think about this matter again—for now, let's solve the problem of how to hide the two families first..."

Snape knew what happened, Dumbledore went to see him anyway, and that night, he promised to protect Lily—

But what he didn't know was that when Dumbledore decided to come to see him, Tahlia's words definitely had a certain weight──

The next second, Snape was back in the principal's room, and Tahlia lowered her head, as if she was saying something... the voice was very soft-causing him to get closer to hear it.

"...he even asked me to intercede—"

"And you agreed?"

"What? No! Of course I didn't say yes, I can't say yes!" Tahlia raised her head abruptly, which made Snape who was standing beside her stunned unconsciously. "You should know, I know exactly what to do and what not to do—"

"That's what I feel guilty about, Tahlia—" Dumbledore said slowly, closing his eyes. "You made him hate you."

And she did succeed.

She managed to make him hate her──

He managed to make everyone think that she hated him, fooled the Dark Lord, all the Death Eaters, and even himself - himself.

Then Snape remembered what Dumbledore had said to him back then──

Tahlia made everyone think that she hated him, so the Dark Lord never made things difficult for him—except for the time when he pleaded for Lily, because in the eyes of the rest, Tahlia made things difficult for him already amusing.

He trusted Dumbledore completely at the moment.

He also finally admitted that his previous preconceived notions of Tahlia had caused him to overlook many things...too many things.

From before to now, she has been protecting him...

The scene became blurred again, and when Snape was finally able to see the scene around him clearly, he was still standing where he was, this time the memory was still in the principal's office...

The door was pushed open, and it was Tahlia, not surprisingly.

"What's the matter?" Dumbledore seemed surprised that Tahlia would be here, and he didn't try to hide the surprise on his face.

"That... Albus──" Tahlia hesitated at the door, as if hesitating whether to step into the room or not. "Did you… tell Severus something about me?"

"What's the meaning?"

"I feel like he..." Tahlia thought for a while before speaking. "It's changed." After seeing Dumbledore's still puzzled expression, he explained again. "He seems to have... softened—"

Snape knew right away what Tahlia was referring to—

It was not long ago when he was thinking of getting close to her and obtained the evidence to convict her, and he thought that his attitude at that time was definitely not...gentle, not even touching the edges.

"Why do you ask?" Dumbledore frowned.

Snape could tell that what he was thinking of now was the conversation he had just remembered - and he hadn't even tried to hide the mistrust on his face at the time.

"Severus...he..." Tahlia hesitated for a moment, and that cautious look made Snape think for a moment that she was still a student, not a professor at the school. "He hates me?"

Dumbledore froze for a moment before speaking. "I'm not sure, kid."

"I'm sure she never liked me—" Tahlia frowned, then murmured to herself. "But why would he want to give me some teaching advice abnormally—" He raised his head and looked at Dumbledore in confusion, as if expecting to get an answer from him.

"That kid Severus has always been fascinated by the study of the Dark Arts, I think you already know that, kid." Finally, Dumbledore replied evasively.

Then Snape understood, that's why he was called to the Headmaster's office by Dumbledore for no reason at that time, or, why Dumbledore guessed what he was planning in his mind-

The next memory is still in the principal's office.

Snape had never known that Tahlia was here so often.

And in this memory, both of them are frowning at the two black books on the table.

"So, you wish there was more detail in the book? For this unknowable situation?" Dumbledore asked.

This book……

Snape took a closer look and realized it was the same copy he'd seen in Tahlia's desk drawer.

But I stupidly cling to this point, thinking that she still has something to do with black magic──

Thinking about it carefully, although Tahlia was ruthless when performing tasks, she never killed easily. Maybe he had seen her cast the Unforgivable Curse without blinking her eyes, but that was it.

Tahlia had never used any other dark magic, ever.

And compared to his report that he wanted to accuse Tahlia of studying black magic, he felt extremely ridiculous.

Just when he was lost in thought again, Tahlia was about to leave, but before stepping out of the room, Dumbledore called to stop her again.

"How...how have you been with Severus lately?"

"Much better than before," Tahlia replied.

That satisfied smile seemed inexplicably dazzling at the moment, irritating Snape heavily.

After all, in his opinion, he was just following her side with a cold face, and he didn't even deliberately force himself to be kind to her──

Unexpectedly, this way of getting along is good enough for Tahlia.

Is she that easy to please?

Then he felt his body jumping up suddenly, faster and faster, and after a while, he fell to the ground—in reality, on the floor of the principal's office.

"So..." Dumbledore looked at Snape, and it took him a moment to tear himself away from those few memories. "Now, what else do you want to say to me?"

What else does he want to say?

Snape didn't know, he stared blankly at Dumbledore.

He hasn't digested all the information just now, and the facts have proved that all his cognitions about Tahlia are wrong, and they are wrong outrageously.

Are there really such people in the world?

Just because he likes him, he has paid so much... Especially since he never gave Tahlia any good looks.

Suddenly, Snape stood up, dropping a word.

"I understand your idea."

Then, he ran out of the principal's office as if fleeing.

... and fled.

And Dumbledore didn't try to talk to Snape again, he stayed in the cellar for two whole days—

For the first time, he spent so much time and energy thinking about everything about Tahlia, and in the past two days, Lily's name never flashed in his mind, not even once.

Soon the school started, and a large number of students poured in.

And when he saw the expressions of joy and obvious gloating on their faces when they found out that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had changed, Snape could hardly hold back the sudden burst of anger from within—

This led to a large number of students being deducted a large number of points on the first day of school - including students from their own colleges.

At night, he naturally thought of going to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office on the third floor, and halfway through the walk he suddenly remembered that the idiot staying there was not Tahlia at all.

Then Snape fully understood.

In fact, he had already forgiven Tahlia unknowingly...

He didn't hate her long ago, but he didn't realize—

And now, for some unknown reason, Tahlia chose to leave—after he finally decided to get to know her better without any purpose.