[HP] Can you be gentle with me

Tahlia Watson was woken up by the disturbing sound of flipping a book, which sounded regular.

"Oh? Wake up?"

An unserious voice came to her ears the moment she opened her eyes, and Tahlia turned her head slightly, glaring at the blond man sitting aside who didn't know when.

"Are you just staring at me?" Lucius closed the book with a bang, raising his eyebrows. "It seems that our dear master has been tossing you hard, Tahlia...can't even get out of bed, huh?"

Tahlia froze. "I don't have the ability to predict the future, Lucius... Of course it is impossible to know that he will let a snake attack me—"

"Stop." Lucius held out a hand. "That's not the point, Tahlia...the point is, if Severus hadn't followed you, you'd be dead by now."

Only then did Tahlia realize that Lucius seemed to be angry. If he was normal, he would hardly interrupt her so abruptly. She shut her mouth and turned her face away to avoid his sharp gaze, and she couldn't help feeling guilty...

What he said was right, she was really too reckless this time, and she almost died──

"Sorry." After a while, she whispered. "I'm sorry, really..."

Lucius raised an eyebrow again.

"I shouldn't have rushed to Voldemort without sufficient preparation. I thought... I was too optimistic." Tahlia closed her eyes and said, her tone suddenly became extremely tired. "Lucius... am I stupid—"

"Yes." Lucius replied bluntly with only one word, then he was stunned for a while, coughed lightly, and then said again. "I mean, you're being stupid this time—"

"Yeah..." Tahlia smiled wryly, covering her eyes with her hands. "I now feel like I'm taking a lot of things too simply, and I'm even doing wrong things over and over again... You know what, Lucius? Nigel—I keep saying I love him, but in the end, it's me I was hurting him all the time."

Lucius kept silent, and his intuition told him that the current Tahlia might need to express all the emotions in his heart. It's not like he hasn't seen Tahlia like this before.

But that was a long time ago... a long time ago, when the Dark Lord was still in power, and Tahlia had always been strong, but sometimes, Lucius wasn't sure why, but there were things that had been on his mind for too long , she needs to vent them all out──

He has always considered himself a good listener.

No... that's not quite right.Maybe at that time, he was just trying to strike a balance, he needed a reason to convince himself that Tahlia was still the naive primary school girl he first met when he was a student, and not the cruel witch before the Dark Lord.

Seeing Tahlia crying and shouting some words, she almost broke down and said that she didn't want to go on at all... He would pat her on the shoulder, but he could only say one thing for her to go on—

like now.

Lucius hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out and patted Tahlia's shoulder.

Tahlia shuddered, but soon relaxed again. She removed the hand covering her eyes, sat up propped up, and looked straight at Lucius, which made him realize that she had covered her eyes just now to To cover up the tears she didn't know when filled her eyes.

"I'm a cruel mother, right?" she asked with a weak smile. "Which mother in the world would not want the child before it was born—no, no... It should be said that she didn't want the child as soon as she knew it existed?" She tremblingly said, before Lucius answered continued. "Even after that, even after I gave birth to Nigel—I didn't think more than once...to throw him in any orphanage—Lucius...I...I was a heartless people, huh?"

Lucius slipped a handkerchief into Tahlia's hand.

"And that's just because, I look at him... Whenever I look at Nigel, I think of Snape - I think of what a jerk he is, and I think he never cared the whole time." Pass me!" Tahlia smiled sarcastically, and although she took the handkerchief, she just grabbed it and didn't use it to try to wipe the tears off her face. "It's ridiculous, isn't it? Why should he care about me—I was... how I wished my name wasn't Tahlia Watson, but Lily Evans, I was even jealous that she got Snape's friendship so easily, and no matter what I did It's of no use at all."

"But I like Lily." Tahlia turned her head suddenly, glaring at Lucius angrily, even though the tears were still on her face. "Lily is good to me, she is good to everyone... Do you know my selfishness? People like Lily, but I subconsciously reject her until she dies──I will never become her ...never could."

Lucius frowned, and was about to open his mouth to refute, but only had time to utter the first word before being stopped by Tahlia's continuing voice.

"You said if I had helped Snape beg him in front of Voldemort to let Lily go, what would happen now?" she asked. "Or, if I die instead of James at that time, will your ending be better?"

"Of course not." Lucius replied immediately. "Why do you think that—"

"How can it be impossible?" Tahlia looked straight at Lucius. "If James and the others were still alive, Harry would be happy now, with the love of his parents and the love of his godfather. Perhaps the wizarding world would not be so peaceful, but their family can stay together... Snape will Keep trying to get whatever position he wants under Voldemort, and with his abilities he can absolutely do it, and you..." She paused for a moment. "You won't know about your father, you are still one of Voldemort's important subordinates, and you still have a high status in the magic world──"

"Is that what you want to express?" Lucius said slowly. "Do you think this kind of life is a good result? Let's not mention anything else... Do you think it's good for me to keep me in the dark for the rest of my life, naively thinking that my father died of illness, and living my whole life in a daze? "

Tahlia turned her head to look aside and asked in a low voice. "Isn't it? If you don't know the truth, you won't get hurt—maybe ignorance is bliss... You see Nigel, if he knows I've been lying to him, he will probably hate me too."

The two fell silent.

Lucius found that he had nothing to say, at least about the discussion of ignorance, what Tahlia said was not wrong, in this world, the more you know, the more you bear and bear.

But happiness?

"You're tired, Tahlia." Lucius shook his head slowly.

Happiness cannot be defined by others alone.

Tahlia said nothing, but Lucius saw her grip on the handkerchief relax slightly.

"Maybe you're right, but I just want to say one thing... If I had to choose between a future with you and a future without you, I'd rather be the former -- and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that way .The most important thing, without you, there would be no Nigel, he definitely wants you alive more than anyone else." He said softly, after thinking for a while, he took the potion on the side table and handed it to Tahlia. "But that's not your concern right now, Tahlia...drink."

Tahlia glanced at Lucius, sniffed at the rim of the potion cup, frowning. "...I just woke up."

"I was ordered to let you drink it when you wake up." Lucius raised the corner of his mouth slightly. "Perhaps they think you should take a good rest for a few days."

"Speaking of which..." Tahlia stopped moving the potions cup to her lips. "Since when did you become so friendly with Snape? Even follow his orders?"

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Oh, Merlin... are you still struggling with this matter?" He said angrily. "I just thought that his arguments happened to be similar to mine on certain matters...for example—"

"Okay, okay, I see." Tahlia chuckled. "Isn't it just drinking this thing? I didn't say I wouldn't drink it..." After finishing speaking, he drank the potion down to the last drop, and deliberately brought the cup to Lucius' eyes to prove it.

The next second, Lucius reacted quickly and took the glass that Tahlia had let go because Tahlia suddenly fell back on the bed and fell asleep, stood up and gently made her lie upright, adjusted the quilt, and then slowly sat back in her seat above, facing a curtained opening at the entrance to the room. "How long have you been in here?"

"Not for a long time." Behind the curtain, a man dressed in black slowly walked out, a man with a calm face. "But for me, it's enough."

"Oh?" Lucius raised his eyebrows, leaned back in the chair comfortably, and asked interestingly. "What is enough for you?" Pauses for a moment, glances at Tahlia, who is clearly asleep, before turning back again. "Severus?"

Snape approached silently.

"Should I ask, since when have you been eavesdropping on our conversation?" Lucius continued, waving his wand casually for a chair.

"Since Tahlia started thinking the world would be a better place if she died," Snape said grimly, taking another few steps forward stiffly, before sitting down.

He didn't know if he was angry or sad now, he never thought Tahlia would think like this...damn she dared to say something like that!

He couldn't imagine a world without Tahlia.

Lucius breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that Snape hadn't heard what Tahlia had said earlier, that Nigel was actually their son—

"But Tahlia said, Nigel is..." Snape spoke again so suddenly that Lucius froze for a moment without noticing. "Tell me, Lucius…" he asked softly. "Does Tahlia...have children?"

Is Nigel actually Tahlia's son?

He'd had a momentary suspicion earlier, but it didn't last long, and now, hearing what Tahlia said—she lied to Nigel.

Tahlia didn't really lie to Nigel about anything, at least not as far as he knew, whether it was her past, or what she was doing now, Nigel didn't completely understand... so what did she cheat on he?

Nigel's parents are both dead.

It was at this moment that Tahlia's words came to his mind.If Tahlia had lied about it...that meant Nigel's parents hadn't died.

Since both his parents were still alive, how could it be that Tahlia was always looking after him?It can't be that she brought Nigel out of an orphanage somewhere... No, if so, she doesn't need to deceive with words like this—

Or, Nigel was the child of someone Tahlia knew well...it was possible, but then she wouldn't always be dodging questions about Nigel's parentage.

Coupled with Tahlia's attitude towards Nigel, she does not allow him to be hurt in any way, she always puts him as the first priority──

Then there was only one possibility left, even though he knew that this matter made him almost unable to breathe, as if the air in his chest had been squeezed out, no matter how deeply he took a breath, the suffocation still hit his head constantly.

"Tell me, Lucius," he said again, more firmly this time. "Nigel is actually... Tahlia's son, right?"