HP: Embrace the Darkness

"Business?"

Asseth's eyelashes trembled and dropped, the reflected light was blocked, and his black eyes instantly dimmed.

"I really just went to see her to tell her that the manor was closed. I didn't mean anything else. It wasn't what she said about leaving you alone. If possible, I hope that the person you love and the person who loves you will always be with you. By your side, even if we are strangers——"

"enough!"

Snape interrupted him frequently, sounding either angry or flustered, or perhaps both.

They have been entangled to this point, and neither of them can bear the pain of being strangers. Maybe in the future, when they are at the end of their rope, Artes will have to live in pain when he finds himself dead. He can accept being strangers calmly, but not now.

How ridiculous, obviously not hedonistic, but still can't escape being voluntarily blinded by a moment of pleasure.

But the eyes have been covered and cannot be removed for the time being.

Snape exhaled slowly, "You think I don't believe you?"

"I won't waste my energy explaining to someone who doesn't trust me." Artes put Snape's hand on the side of his face and kissed it gently, "It was a misunderstanding before, so I know you believe me. "

What he said was too serious, and he was more sure than he was. The real person actually doubted whether he was making too much of a fuss.

Snape pinched his eyebrows and said, "I have nothing to do with her. You don't need to treat her special."

Asseth responded kindly, "Okay, I'll take note of it. She and I will be just strangers from now on."

After talking about the portrait, the two of them changed the topic to the platinum peacock who was causing trouble.

"Why did you come to Draco?"

this problem?

Aces studied Snape's face carefully and caught something unnatural in it, which he immediately understood.

"Actually, there's nothing wrong. I'm mainly here to see you. I just remembered something and stopped by to take a look at him and tell him to be wary of Goyle and Crabbe."

Artes didn't notice Snape's subtle expression and continued to analyze on his own.

"The fathers of these two are Death Eaters. In order to please Voldemort and to clarify their stance, there is a high probability that their sons will target Draco."

"If they are smart, they may find a way to take advantage of it; if they are stupid, they will betray directly, but either way, it is not a good thing for Draco. He is too well protected by his family, and he is rashly used and betrayed... He must always let him He was a little mentally prepared."

Snape sneered, "You are indeed overprotective. If I remember correctly, at his age, you no longer need protection from others."

Asseth smiled at him, and the smile caught his eye: "I am me, he is him, it's different."

"What's the difference? Do you have more brains than him or does he have less brains?"

The Potions Master's words were as sharp as ever.

"Do you need me to remind you? Asseth, you were not older than him when you took over the responsibility of being the head of the Cavendish family. You are just five years older in bone age."

"Why can't he do what you can do? You still need to remind him at every turn that you are just an older brother, not his father with his nose turned to the sky."

The stern Potions Professor has always treated his students equally, thinking that they are all annoying, stupid and useless monsters. He is annoyed by the thought of teaching them and does not think about education at all.

This time, however, he made a series of remarks on education, which seemed to have a bit of a sense of injustice.

Asseth looked at him and couldn't look away for a moment.

"...Have you ever thought that he doesn't need your close protection at all?"

Finally, Snape ended his remarks with a rhetorical question.

Aces thought along his words.

Without waiting for his answer, Snape added: "The Goyle and Crabbe you mentioned were beaten up by Draco with sacks and are still lying in the corridor. You still think that they need your strict protection." ?"

"Sack?" Artes twitched the corner of his mouth, and instantly understood where Draco learned the tactics, "I told Susanna not to teach him these."

"I thought what she did at Hogwarts told you that she was not an obedient person?"

Snape threw the automatic quill that had been broken off in anger towards Artes. He turned the words he had thought about for a long time over and over in his mouth, and finally said them tentatively.

"If... you want to leave, perhaps Mr. Diggory would be a good choice."

Snape stared at Artes intently, not wanting to miss any emotion in his peach eyes.

He did not deny that he was testing.

He couldn't tell what kind of thoughts and emotions were contained in it, and he didn't want to delve into it.

He was testing, just to get a clear attitude, just like a traveler walking alone in the vast sea looking forward to getting a glass of fresh water. Even if he doesn't drink it, he can feel at ease just by looking at it.

After living for so many years, he has lost countless things. It's not that he hasn't tried to struggle, but unfortunately the results are no different every time.

Like a bird with broken wings trapped in the cage of fate, for others to laugh at, no matter how hard it struggles, it ends up losing everything.

Over time, he didn't care much about other things.

But Asseth made him have other thoughts.

Maybe this time it will be different.

Aces's smile gradually faded, and finally disappeared completely.

It's not that I'm angry, it's just that sometimes smiling seems insincere.

There was a table between the two of them, so some movements were inconvenient, so Asseth simply went around to the back.

This is a position they are all familiar with.

Snape tilted his head sideways and looked at his reflection in the black eyes. The interplay of light and shadow made him a little dazed, but he was quickly brought back to consciousness by Artes' words.

"Sev, you can confirm my thoughts to me at any time, and I will answer you no matter how many times you ask."

As if revealing his feelings for the first time, Asseth took Snape's hand on the table and rubbed it gently.

"But not in a way that pushes me away."

He spoke slightly and continued: "This method is a kind of harm to you and me. If you don't know how to confirm my feelings to me, use this broken quill as a token. As long as you see it , I’ll answer you just once, okay?”

Snape subconsciously took the quill.

Artes smiled slightly, lowered his head in this position, and kissed Snape's dry and soft lips religiously, and murmured words quietly escaped from his lips.

"I love you, Sev."

Although the result was not what Snape expected, it could not be denied that his heart, which was originally high and beating fast and slow, had calmed down.

"I know," he said.

Aces laughed again.

He didn't know whether this knowledge referred to the agreement about the quill as a token or the words that analyzed the heart, but... to him, it was the same.