[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"Oh, Merlin... Severus?"

Snape had an instant urge to sink into the Pensieve again, and when he finally reappeared from the Pensieve, he had to face the sudden extra people in Lupin's office due to a gasp that Lucius couldn't hold back. when……

Several people were sitting on the sofa, the black-haired boy sat quietly next to his mother, and their eyes were now focused on the sudden appearance of themselves.

Who can tell him why these people appear here at this time?

The kid Nigel made sense, maybe Lupine called it, but what about Tahlia and Lucius?

"Remus..."

However, Snape soon realized with pleasure that he was not the one who seemed to be in trouble, at least in the current situation.

"Is there something you want to—explain to me? Why did Severus suddenly...appear?"

Tahlia smiled, her eyes fixed on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who froze the moment Snape appeared, it was hard for Remus to believe that the smiling woman in front of him couldn't see anything.

"Actually, he's always been there," Remus said dryly. "Uh...I mean, I didn't expect you to come—" Merlin knew why Tahlia would come to the school suddenly without any notice, especially since they said they were going to stay at Malfoy Manor just now?

Remus suddenly felt that it was too late to go up and put the Pensieve away.Even if Tahlia didn't see it, the man Malfoy could see it clearly, including how Severus Snape popped out of it in the middle of their conversation.

"...Sorry." Unexpectedly, Tahlia apologized directly. Her tone was flat, but not the kind that would make people feel perfunctory. "It was really abrupt - I should have gone straight to Albus."

Remus blinked, then frowned at the inexplicably strange emotion in his heart.

Sure enough, something was wrong, Tahlia couldn't have completely stopped thinking about the purpose of Snape's presence here, or she actually thought about it a long time ago, but she didn't say anything, instead she just apologized as if avoiding the topic.

He subconsciously looked in Snape's direction, and found that the man in black robe was also aware of it, and his brows were furrowed tightly.

Now even Lucius faintly felt that something was wrong.

He opened his mouth silently, but immediately received Snape's eyes asking him not to say anything, he closed his mouth abruptly, turned around, reached out and patted Tahlia's shoulder before speaking again. "So, since the matter is almost over, I'll leave first?"

Tahlia nodded silently, then lowered her body, and whispered a few words in Nigel's ear. The little boy trembled, but immediately nodded obediently. After a while, he hugged Tahlia hard, Jumped off the sofa and left the office quickly, without looking back and giving them any more glances.

Soon, after Lucius Malfoy hastily stepped into the fireplace and left, there were only three people left in the office—

To paraphrase Remus, the three who know everything.

"The Pensieve?"

Not knowing how long the silence covered the three of them, Tahlia spoke out softly.

The other two didn't answer, but apparently this move was enough for her to get an answer.

She turned her head slowly, facing Remus. "You know I'm not going to go after what you told him, Remus, you didn't break a single promise to me—"

"Yeah..." Remus smiled wryly. "I'm not kidding with my life—"

"Indeed." Tahlia nodded, and then she stood up and said something more flatly. "I hope you really understand what you are going to do." After finishing speaking, he walked towards the door of the office.

"and many more."

She was stopped when she was about to leave the office, not by Remus, but by Snape.

"I'm tired, Severus." She said wearily, without looking back, she touched the doorknob and pulled the door open. "I'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?" After finishing speaking, he walked out of the office and closed the door.

Snape sat silently, but stood up abruptly after a while.

"Maybe we can discuss these memories another day," he said.

Remus nodded understandingly, and Snape disappeared behind the door almost instantly.

Hope he really knows what he's doing...

Remus grabbed the glass containing the pale yellow liquid on the table, looked at it for a while, and then drank it in one gulp. Normally, he wouldn't drink when he knew he would have class the next day, but now he felt that only this thing could make him drink. Escaping from reality for a while──

The burning sensation in his throat did not make his thoughts clearer, but under the influence of alcohol, his whole head was hot, and he couldn't help smiling wryly.

Showing Snape those memories... did he really know what he was doing?

Originally, he made this decision with the mentality of not being able to bear to see Snape and Tahlia entangled like that, but now it seems that he suddenly has no way to be sure whether his actions are correct, anyway, even if he did not break his promise and disclose these things without authorization The message to Snape still made him feel quite guilty.

"Did I do something wrong...?" Remus stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace, and spit out in a daze.

Outside, Snape rounded the corner and caught up with Tahlia who was walking slowly ahead.

"Wait," he said again.

Tahlia didn't stop. "I said... I'm tired."

"Our offices are both in the cellar, if I remember correctly, Tahlia." Snape said slowly, walking beside Tahlia. "Unless I misunderstand you, you don't mean to go back there—"

Tahlia paused for a moment, then said quietly. "I'm a Potions Assistant, remember?" She made a precise right turn in a hallway. "Now that school has started, I have to stay at school."

"So you're serious," Snape said softly. "Are you really going to... come back?"

Tahlia turned her head sharply, and her footsteps stopped abruptly. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Snape stared at Tahlia in silence for a moment, then whispered. "No."

Afterwards, the two of them didn't speak for a long time, and it wasn't until they went down another floor that Snape continued.

"──You have a purpose."

Tahlia looked flat. "I don't deny that there is something that can only be done here." Then he put on a smile. "I asked Lucius to write to Albus before I came back. Why, don't you object? Didn't you just want me to come back here?"

"Of course I wouldn't object," Snape said quietly. "But I guess you don't intend to tell me your purpose."

Tahlia nodded quickly. "Since you know, why do you need to ask?"

"Perhaps... there is still a glimmer of hope?"

"Really?" Tahlia chuckled. "Then you must be disappointed."

Snape fell silent, but kept his eyes on the flat-faced woman walking aside.

Tahlia was acting too calmly now, but no one else could, not even Occlumency could have put on an expression of indifference, without a hint of wavering.

She is absolutely forcing herself. Snape didn't know how she suppressed the sadness in her heart, but she was definitely trying to be brave, it was not a good thing, emotions could not be suppressed forever, no matter how hard they tried, one day they would find an outlet, and then the situation would become even more out of control.

That man's death definitely hit her hard...bigger than he imagined──

This realization made the bitterness in Snape's heart not disappear with time, but intensified, and he still couldn't believe that another person would occupy such an important place in Tahlia's heart...

...But she let him die, which was almost equivalent to dying in front of her eyes.

It didn't take Snape any thought to think about it, and he knew how much this had affected her──and now she was acting so normal...

She is always like this?

Was Tahlia always like this when it came to these tragedies that utterly crushed a human being?Always pretending to be strong, even though my heart is full of wounds, but in the eyes of others, I always look indifferent, even when I am alone, I don’t allow myself to cry──

"Why..." He suddenly blurted out uncontrollably.

Tahlia paused, apparently hearing Snape's words.

"What did you say?" she asked stiffly.

Snape glanced down at the woman who didn't know when his whole body was stiff, and then, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind, this thought appeared too quickly, before he could stop himself, he had already forcefully pulled Tahlia towards him. Pull to the wall of the corridor.

"What are you doing!" Tahlia slammed into the wall heavily, she spoke, but suddenly stopped, there seemed to be some tall figure blocking her—

"How long are you going to hold yourself back like this?" Snape hissed.

He admits that his behavior is not in line with his usual style at all, but he really can't think of other ways to express his inner anger. If she continues to suppress her emotions in her heart like this, she will go crazy sooner or later...

"It wasn't your fault, Tahlia," he growled. "However you ended up coming to that stupid conclusion, it's not your fault."

"Stupid...stupid conclusion?" Tahlia repeated murmured, her eyes staring blankly forward, never looking up at Snape. "Am I wrong?"

"Your perception is fundamentally wrong," Snape said in a deep voice. "Don't you realize how wrong you are now? You never would have—"

"──It will never happen?" Tahlia raised her head abruptly, interrupting Snape's words, with strong anger in her eyes. "Should I hide in a corner and cry over the death of the people around me? You mentioned it to me? People change, Severus, and even in the past, I would never allow myself to have such unreasonable behavior— -"

boom!

Tahlia froze at the sudden sound in her ear.

She turned her head slightly, raised her hand subconsciously, and retracted it suddenly after touching something that was obviously an arm.

"...Maybe you should do──" Snape's voice sounded in his ears, it sounded like it was coming from a long way away, especially it sounded like he was trying to hold back something. "It's like being an ordinary person, huddling in a corner and crying loudly...Let us—let me, stand in front of you..." Tee paused for a while, and when he spoke again, his voice was suddenly unusually soft, Tahlia felt as if she had fallen into some dangerous hallucination. "You can't always... alone carry—"

Snape's fingers unconsciously touched Tahlia's ear following the words in his mouth, and then slowly moved forward along her cheeks, flicking his thumb gently, wiping away the crystal tears that emerged from the corners of her eyes.

"...What are you doing?" Tahlia spit out in a daze.

For some unknown reason, Snape suddenly felt that the voice of the woman in front of him was scratching his nerves when it reached his ears, making him tremble all over.

The light in the corridor was not enough. Under the flickering firelight, Tahlia opened and closed her lips as if there was some kind of magical spell. Snape was mesmerized for a moment, and his mind went blank for a moment, and what he saw in front of him was nothing. Only the woman's lips, which looked unusually red compared to her pale face, remained...

"...I told you I was tired—"

As if Snape didn't hear this sentence, he couldn't help but slowly lean forward.

Then, his lips touched hers.

As if a string in his head was snapped, Snape's memories flooded out again, and he cleared those memory fragments mixed with regret. With any trace of aggression, taste it and stop it, almost in a moment he backed away, propped his hands on the wall, took a slight breath, and lowered his head──

Damn.