[HP] Can you be gentle with me

However, whatever the students had in mind was clearly out of Tahlia's sphere of concern.

The next day, she let the two children finish their breakfast as usual, and then sat on the sofa in the middle of the office, sitting idly. In half an hour, she had to go to the first class of Potions this semester.

Seventh grade Potions.

For this reason, she even took out her previous potions textbook as an exception, and she hadn't done this for five full years.

No matter how much she rejects this subject in her heart, she can't do the kind of behavior that makes the students more confused by teaching casually, even though she still doesn't understand why she agreed to it in the first place──

"Harry, will you take care of Nigel?" Putting down the teacup in her hand, Tahlia turned her head and spoke to Harry at the side of the small table she transformed into.

"Of course." Harry puffed out his chest, which made Nigel, who was sitting quietly next to him, laugh.He turned around in embarrassment. "why are you laughing?"

"I don't need your care!" Nigel retorted. "I'll take care of myself—"

"Nigel, you're only four years old." Tahlia said flatly. "Having confidence is good, but too much is bad."

"I..." Nigel closed his mouth obediently, and after a while, murmured in a low voice. "I can really—"

Tahlia laughed suddenly.

And this caused the two children in front of her to widen their eyes in surprise, and they were completely stunned, their mouths were also opened wide, but no one made any sound.

Therefore, although Tahlia's laughter was very light and short, it seemed to reverberate in the office for a long time, and even she was frightened.

"Are you laughing, Tahlia?" Harry asked cautiously after a while.Since he hadn't seen Tahlia laugh since he could remember, he almost thought that the voice he heard just now was his own illusion.

"Is there?" Tahlia asked blankly, reaching out to touch the corner of her mouth, as if confirming something.

"Yes!" Nigel jumped up suddenly, looking very excited, and pointed at Tahlia. "I saw it! Tahlia, you laughed!" The reason for his excitement seemed to be because he believed that Tahlia laughed because of himself. "Tahlia looks better when she smiles—" he said seriously. "You have to laugh more!"

"I..." Tahlia started, but stopped after uttering a single word, and then spoke again after a while. "There's no reason for me to keep smiling, Nigel."

"Oh—" Nigel frowned. "It's a pity... I'd be happy to see Tahlia smile too." Then he raised his head and looked at Tahlia expectantly. "Then can you laugh when it's just me and Harry?" he asked excitedly, grabbing Harry's hand and shaking it. "We can do a lot of funny things for you to see!"

"No need." Tahlia said, and then suddenly found that the corners of her mouth raised unconsciously when she said this, just as her hand was still touching that place, so she could feel it.

She didn't mean not to smile at all, she just...

...She just stopped acting like this all of a sudden──

It doesn't matter anyway, does it?In the past few years, she hasn't encountered anything that makes her laugh.

But now?

Nigel's interaction with Harry had always been like this, and she hadn't found it funny until now—or rather just now.

Even though she didn't know what state of mind she was in right now, she let the smile develop, suppressing it was like Snape's insistence on understanding Harry's physical condition, which made no sense at all.

Thinking about it, her smile became more obvious──

"As long as you're in front of me, it's enough to keep me entertained—" she said. "Maybe I haven't noticed this before..."

"It's okay, it's okay if Tahlia finds out now!" Nigel looked even more complacent, and Harry couldn't help but rub his forehead──

It seems that he has no sense that he was teased by Tahlia just now.

Soon, Tahlia left the office, leaving Harry and Nigel alone.

Harry had already pulled out a book from the bookcase and started reading, but Nigel looked bored and kept circling Harry. "Harry—" he called.

Harry turned a page without looking up, as if he didn't want to talk to Nigel.

"Harry──"

"Huh?" Harry responded casually, but in fact, all he was thinking about was the various theoretical knowledge written in the book.

"Play the game of identifying things with me?"

"Wait until I finish this book." Harry said, still maintaining his sitting posture unchanged.

Nigel punched Harry hard, although at his age, that kind of force wouldn't pose any threat to Harry at all. "By the time you finish watching, Tahlia will be back long ago!" He complained dissatisfied.

"Then wait for Tahlia to come back to play with you?"

"No!" Nigel protested. "Tahlia never wants to play the identification game with me."

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's not the first day you know that Tahlia doesn't like potions—" Of course, it's impossible to play the recognition game with him in the book.

"But I thought that since she agreed to come here to teach potions, she would play with me—" Nigel lowered his head a little aggrieved. As soon as Tahlia returned to the office last night, he grabbed the material game that could have been played. He showed her the book, but was rejected as before.

"Teaching is not the same as liking, Nigel!" Harry said. "And it's far from—"

"It's the same..." Nigel muttered. "If Tahlia really hated it, she wouldn't take the time to choose a book for me—"

Harry stopped what he was doing suddenly.

He found that what Nigel said made sense.

Tahlia had never hidden her distaste for potions from them, but if she really hated the subject as much as she said, why was she willing to go out of her way to pick out books just to answer Nigel's doubts?

He hadn't noticed this before...

Maybe Tahlia didn't dislike the subject of potions, and maybe—

At this time, Tahlia had no way of knowing that the two children had already had a heated discussion on this point, and she was walking slowly in the corridor. There was no student around her, and it seemed that she was a stranger who was observing from a distance. manner.

Anyway, she has no interest in dealing with those who are unfriendly to her.

Even though they are now her students in name.

Pushing open the door of the potions classroom, Tahlia paused for a moment. She was surprised, not only because Snape, who was supposed to study potions seriously, was standing at the front of the classroom, but also because there were quite a few people sitting inside. , it was far from her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class...

But after thinking about it, it's true.

Today is the advanced potion class of the seventh grade. These students are all candidates for the NEWTs exam this year, and they are also adults, and they are more thoughtful about their future path. Of course, they will not do what she encountered before. Childish move.

He walked up to the stage quickly, frowned, and said in a low voice. "I thought you were working on potions by now, Snape."

"Perhaps you should have anticipated that when you refused to learn more about your work." Snape smirked. "Or do you already know what the potion to be made in this class is?"

Totally in disbelief that Tahlia, who had been refusing to touch his syllabus for some time ago, would know what he was going to teach in his first class.

"Retardant." Tahlia replied flatly, and then continued to speak slowly after seeing Snape's ugly face for a moment. "Looks like I was right... I don't think I'll let them blow up the cauldron, Snape, after all, that's the only reason I'm here—" She pointed to a door at the back of the classroom. "You should have more important things to do."

Snape felt that his expression must be very ugly now, he never had too much patience, even if he really wanted to get back with Tahlia, after being rejected repeatedly, would he still be happy to continue to let himself bump into it? ?

Thinking about it, he turned around and left quickly without saying a word, not thinking about turning back on the way.

Tahlia turned around, and looked at the stunned seventh graders in the audience, who were clearly taken aback by her conversation with Snape.

Yes……

The seventh graders had been briefly taught by her for half a term - and her relationship with Snape at that time had felt utterly harmonious - even though she knew it was an illusion.

Tahlia glanced again at the parchment on the table with the required materials and production steps, and then waved her wand, and the blackboard behind her showed the same content as that on the parchment. She cleared her throat and was about to He wanted to speak, but his eyes were unconsciously attracted by the only student in the audience who was not looking at him defensively.

The face of the red-haired student in front of her overlapped with the studious little red-haired boy in her memory, which made her eyes soften a little unconsciously.

"So, Mr. Weasley, why don't you give us the dos and don'ts about making retarders first?" she said.

As Bill stood up slowly but confidently and spoke--it also symbolized the beginning of her teaching career at Hogwarts again.

Contrary to her expectations, returning to school again did not make her feel rejected like last time.

After all, at the time of the darkest and most terrifying time, most of the current school students are still very young, and they don't quite remember the atmosphere at that time, or they don't quite understand the so-called boundary between good and evil.

Of course, they only heard their parents mention that there might be a Death Eater named Tahlia Watson when they were very young, but at that time they didn't understand what that represented at all, even if they did later, unless there was someone If someone has a bad memory, then most people will not hate her so much like those students back then.

Tahlia understood what Dumbledore meant.

Time can always dilute everything, even the strong emotions deep in a person's heart cannot escape.

"You said that you had a hunch that Voldemort would be back soon—"

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore said, looking seriously at Tahlia sitting in front of him. "May I ask, where did you get this information from?"

"Harry." Tahlia replied flatly. "Harry's dream, Albus."

Tahlia stood up and started pacing back and forth, as if the act would clear her mind a bit more. "Harry's nightmares are getting clearer every day—" she said. "I think this has a lot to do with Voldemort's imminent return." She stopped suddenly, turned her head sharply, and stared directly at Dumbledore. "You still haven't found Peter's whereabouts, have you?"

"Apparently he's decided to go into hiding as an animal altogether, Tahlia." Dumbledore's tone sounded apologetic. "So yeah, I couldn't find him," added after a while. "I'm sorry about that."

"No." Tahlia waved her hand casually. "I didn't have any expectations. Even Voldemort mobilized all his men and couldn't find a single hair of Peter. If he hadn't chosen to show up, I don't think anyone would have been able to find out his whereabouts..."

Dumbledore froze for a moment, then spoke. "You mean, let him appear by himself?"