[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"Ooh, Tahlia!"

Nigel was so excited when he saw the small cake gently placed on the table by Tahlia, he couldn't sit still, as if he wanted to pounce on the cake in the next second. "It's cake!"

"Of course it's a cake. Could it be bread?" Tahlia said calmly.He also cut the cake deliberately and slowly, gradually letting go of the big stone in his heart.

Sure enough, Nigel's attention was completely absorbed by the cake, so he didn't notice her emotions...

She put the cake on a small plate and pushed it in front of Nigel. The little boy cheered, and couldn't wait to grab the small fork beside him and start eating.

"Eat slowly, there are still a lot here..." Tahlia said with a smile, pointing to the big cake with a small corner missing on the big plate.

"It's delicious!" Nigel raised his head in satisfaction, Tahlia chuckled, leaned forward slightly and reached out to wipe the blueberry sauce on the corner of his mouth for him, Nigel seemed to have gotten used to Tahlia's movements, and continued talking on his own. “My favorite is the blueberry cake!”

"Otherwise, who do you think I ordered the blueberry cake for?" Tahlia laughed a few more times, and couldn't help tapping Nigel's head lightly.

Nigel also giggled, but after a while, he suddenly frowned, tilted his head, and asked. "Why do I feel like Tahlia is unhappy?"

Tahlia froze for a second.

"I'm not unhappy, why do you ask?"

Nigel thought for a moment. "I don't know, I just think you seem unhappy..." When he said this, his eyes widened suddenly. "Is it black and lacquer bullying you again!"

"Of course not." Tahlia said hastily. "Why do you always think it's Snape—" Besides, as far as the current situation is concerned, it seems that she is a little more aggressive towards Snape.

"Ha!" Nigel stopped eating the cake and stared straight up at Tahlia. "So you are really unhappy! I guessed right!"

"...No." Tahlia replied weakly, wondering whether the piece of cake on the table would have that ability to divert Nigel's attention.

"There is!"

...apparently not.

Tahlia sighed, she couldn't just hug Nigel like this all the time because he was a child. "Nigel, it's impossible for a person to be happy every day..." After a pause, he said again. "Just now I just met someone I don't like very much... But at least, now that I'm here with you, I feel very happy."

"Really?" Nigel said suspiciously.

"Of course it's true!" Tahlia said seriously. "As long as you stay by my side, I'll be happy." As he spoke, he raised his hand in a gesture of swearing. "Besides, I like blueberry cake too!"

Nigel blinked, then smiled. "Me too."

"Yeah." Tahlia patted Nigel's head. "You'd better continue eating the cake..."

Nigel's gaze returned to the cake in front of him again. Just as Tahlia thought he would concentrate on eating the cake and turned around to go to the principal's office, she was dumbfounded by Nigel's words.

"But you have to tell me who made you unhappy, and I also hate him..."

Tahlia smiled bitterly, didn't answer, just waved her hands, and left the office in a hurry.

This time, she didn't meet anyone on the way to the principal's office. After all, the school had already started, and everyone was in class at this time. Apart from her, who else in the school could hang around at this time?

No, maybe there is one...

Tahlia stood speechless at the door of the principal's office, glaring at the one who was also looking back at her with an embarrassed face, obviously Dumbledore who wanted to leave somewhere.

"Albus, today is the first day of school," Tahlia reminded.

Dumbledore froze in place.

Being reminded so kindly by Tahlia, even if he left school for something important, it seemed less serious, as if he was idle in school all day.

Cough lightly. "Good afternoon, Tahlia."

"Good afternoon..." Tahlia replied flatly.

"You came to see me, what's the matter?" Dumbledore asked.

Tahlia glanced to both sides before speaking. "I think you'll have to cancel your plans to go out, Albus."

"Of course, I think so." Dumbledore nodded slowly, turned around, bowed slightly as a gentleman, and let Tahlia go up the stairs first. After a while, the two walked into his office at the top of the stairs.

As usual, Tahlia sat on the comfortable sofa that would automatically appear every time she came over, adjusted her sitting posture, and then slowly began to speak to Dumbledore who was watching her silently. "You must be curious about what I am looking for you this time?"

Dumbledore was curious, of course, but he chose not to speak, waiting for Tahlia to continue.He knew that Tahlia had always had her plans, but this time she obviously wasn't here for the resurrection of Voldemort they had learned about earlier.

Tahlia cleared her throat and smiled. "I just wanted to tell you that Voldemort gave Quirrell an order regarding..." She paused for a moment, then the corners of her mouth curled up even more. "At the right time... an order to kill me."

This time, Dumbledore's reaction was much calmer than when Tahlia brought him all kinds of shocking news before, as if he had expected this.

"And you expected this to happen, didn't you?" Tahlia added, taking a deep breath.

Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"That's what you told me, isn't it?" Tahlia's smile turned into self-deprecating resignation. "You said I'd die if I sneaked in as a spy... you mean this—" He raised his head and looked straight at Dumbledore. "Whether my spy is successful or not, one day... one day he will want to get rid of all his subordinates who he thought were capable. Voldemort's mind has been so narrow that it can be said to be distorted. Once he reaches the For his purpose, all he needs is an obedient tool like a puppet, that is, me, Lucius, Snape... and others, those who have tried to please him with their cleverness in front of him in the past── Getting rid of it is just a matter of time." She paused for a while, breathing a little more smoothly, as if speaking the long series of sentences just now was very difficult. "If—I mean if, if we fail, and the reason for our failure is my betrayal, assuming I've been deceiving you, deceiving everyone... even if I succeed in getting Voldemort to the top, get What he wants, I won't live long... Am I right?"

There was a long period of silence, during which even the spinning and humming silverware was quiet, as if no one wanted to be the one who broke the silence.

"It seems that you know Voldemort very well, Tahlia." Afterwards, Dumbledore spoke lightly. "He's always been conceited, ever since he was a student, no, even before he started school...Tom Riddle never thought he was any worse than anyone else, and he's certainly far above average, I think you've found the contradiction, kid ...he needs capable enough men, but he can't tolerate even the slightest threat to his power in his heart - so yes, you're right." Dumbledore closed his eyes wearily, and opened them again. "It does seem like a move he would take... but you know, this kind of power can't last, and sooner or later he'll—"

"But by then, we'll all be dead," Tahlia added sarcastically.

"That's right, we may have paid all kinds of painful prices at that time." Dumbledore didn't show a trace of sullenness because of this impolite interruption, but only spoke normally. "That's why we have to do our best to stop this before it happens. Haven't you been working hard for this? Or are you backing down?"

"...It's funny, Albus." Tahlia resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and said angrily.

"I understand, Tahlia, it was just a joke... You should have given up if you were going to back down." Dumbledore laughed dryly. "What I don't understand is, why did you come here and tell me this?"

"I was thinking, you should find a place for Peter to hide," Tahlia said.

"Mr. Pettigrew?"

Tahlia nodded. "He told me this...Although Voldemort deliberately dismissed him just to give this order to Quirrell, Peter still quietly turned into a beast and hid aside to listen..."

"Ah." Dumbledore suddenly realized. "You mean—"

"Voldemort would deliberately ask Peter to leave, just to know whose words he listened to, mine or Voldemort's..." Tahlia said flatly. "After all, I was the one who ordered Peter to go...and he really tried to send me a message as soon as he heard the news...I am very grateful that Peter would not be willing to hurt me. But Voldemort and I are definitely not on the same mind , so yes, he knows that Peter is stalking me, and that I should have known about his orders to Quirrell..." There was a pause. "It's embarrassing now... I'm still thinking about how to deal with Quirrell who is spying on me everywhere, but I can't pretend to be ignorant, because Voldemort clearly knows that I am not ignorant of this matter... I- "

"I can understand that you came here to ask for my opinion?" Dumbledore asked.

Tahlia froze for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I need your advice, Albus... This is no longer a simple response to flattering Voldemort..."

"I think you need to go there right away."

"……Feel sorry?"

Dumbledore sighed. "You asked for my advice, and I told you—"

"I know! I mean, why?" Tahlia looked taken aback, eyes wide open, staring straight at Dumbledore. "How should I behave in front of him now? Of course it's impossible to pretend that I don't know anything—indifferent? No, no one can do it even if they know someone is going to kill them and remain indifferent! Even if we have expressed it in front of him more than once We gave our lives for it, but when it really happened—when it really came across a life-threatening problem, no one could give his life willingly for no reason as he swore before...and you Now you want me to go back and find Voldemort?" His voice rose unconsciously. "I do not know what to do!"

She really didn't know what to do.

When she was in front of Voldemort before, all she had to do was flatter him to the extreme, and she didn't care about anything else. Even after he gave the order to kill, she was able to hypnotize herself later, that was her intention , she just obeyed the Dark Lord's words, and the reason she would do this was only to defeat him in the future.

But now, she can't do it like before.

It seemed that no matter how she handled it, it would make Voldemort suspicious.

"Precisely because you don't know what to do now, Tahlia..." Dumbledore said gently. "I just want you to go there."

Tahlia frowned. "What you say makes absolutely no sense, Headmaster."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and sighed again. "Tahlia, when you faced Voldemort back then, you also didn't know what to do, but you still faced it... At that time, you had the courage—"

"That's not courage," Tahlia interjected coldly. "I'm not a Gryffindor."

Dumbledore was silent for a while, and finally chose not to contradict Tahlia. "What I mean is, at the beginning you still went without knowing how to deal with it, but later, I think you also know that you found the so-called most suitable way to deal with it on the spot..."

Tahlia bit her lip and listened quietly.

"And I think, instead of huddling here and trying to find out the answers you may never find out, you might as well take a breath and face the problem directly—after all, you know very well that Voldemort won't kill you right away. Dumbledore closed his eyes and said these words slowly, and in Tahlia's ears, these words sounded nothing but guilt. "Or should I say it, Tahlia..."

"Huh?" Tahlia responded casually.

"You came to ask me for advice just to affirm your determination...Maybe we can make a hypothesis-if I ask you not to go there again, will you agree?"

Tahlia blinked, opened her mouth slightly but couldn't say anything for a moment.

"I think you're conflicted too, Albus." After a while, Tahlia forced a smile. "You obviously don't want me to have anything to do with Voldemort, but you still want me to go to his place... It's a pity you didn't become good friends..."