HP: Embrace the Darkness

"Aces? Are you okay?"

Hermione hesitated for a long time, but finally put her hand on Athis's shoulder.

"If you want to cry, it's better to cry. Professor Snape would definitely not want to see you like this."

Snape nodded in agreement.

He really didn't want to see Ases like this, that is, Ases couldn't see him or hear his voice, otherwise he would have cursed him on the spot.

Aces didn't move. His attention was all on Snape in his arms. He couldn't hear what Hermione said, let alone see Snape's silent agreement.

Hermione gritted her teeth, as if she had made up her mind, and reached out her hand to Snape.

Athis suddenly grabbed Hermione's wrist, applying a little force with his fingertips.

Good news: Ases is responding.

The bad news: Aseth responded by grabbing her hand and looking as if he was going to break it.

Aces didn't actually break Hermione's hand.

The Potions Master's hands were too precious, and he had developed a habit of not attacking his wrists when someone touched him when he was half asleep or distracted, so he just grabbed Hermione's wrist to stop the other person from moving forward.

"Miss Granger, please be careful."

When Athis saw that it was Hermione, he let go of her hand and his voice was cold.

Hermione took the opportunity to say, "Okay, I get it, but it's so dirty here, why don't you take Professor Snape away first? I don't think he would want to stay here."

Ases was stunned for a moment, and muttered to himself: "You are right, I want to take him home."

Hermione didn't know where this home was, but it was better than having Athis holding Snape here and doing nothing, so she nodded and said, "Yes, Professor Snape must want to go home too."

"Don't use your own ideas to arrange things for me." Snape snorted coldly, then stared at Aces and added, "I don't want to go back to Spinner's End Alley or Prince Manor. I want to go to the potion garden you gave me."

To be honest, he hasn't seen it yet, which makes him feel a little unwilling.

Athis lowered his eyes and gently stroked Snape's quietly closed brows with his fingertips, his eyes full of indescribable attachment.

"Sev, we're going home."

After saying this, he bent down, put his arms around his knees and picked up Snape.

His face was still pale with illness, but his hands were exceptionally steady. He held Snape firmly and walked into the darkness step by step, completely disappearing into the darkness along with his shadow.

Snape stood aside and looked at Athis's lonely back. The bitterness in his heart became even stronger, causing him to stand there in a daze and not follow immediately.

The next second, an invisible restraint brought him to catch up with Ases.

As Snape flew, he looked thoughtfully at himself lying quietly in Athis's arms.

He can't be too far away from his body?

Without waiting for Snape to verify, Athis held him and disappeared into the Shrieking Shack, so he disappeared too.

After a dizzy feeling, the two appeared near Hogsmeade village, only a hundred meters away from the Shrieking Shack. Looking back, they could still see the outline of the Shrieking Shack. Snape looked around in surprise and suddenly looked at Athis. His mind turned, he understood something, and hurried over.

"You lost control and crashed into the sofa last night, not because it was your first time trying that method of teleportation, but because you simply couldn't control it. Are you injured?"

It was clearly a question, but Snape said it with certainty and without question, and it was obvious that he already had the answer in his mind.

Athis couldn't hear his words and endured the dizziness and pain in silence. He controlled his magic to take out a door key, then reached out and grabbed it. The air twisted and the two disappeared again.

Diagon Alley safe house.

The air twisted, and two people and a soul fell out.

Ases didn't stand firmly on the ground and staggered a few steps. He held on with all his strength and managed to put Snape on the sofa before he collapsed and fell down.

Snape subconsciously walked over to help Athis, but the translucent fingers went straight through him. He was stunned for a moment, withdrew his hand, squatted beside Athis, and laughed at himself.

"I can't even help you up."

Ases sat on the ground, raised his arms to block the light, rested for a while, took out a bottle of potion from the alchemy ring, and drank it without even looking at it.

He drank a little too quickly, his Adam's apple kept rolling, and the potion slid down the corner of his lips and was wiped off by him hastily.

The effect of the medicine took effect quickly, and Athis's pale face gradually regained its color. He rubbed his swollen and painful brows, supported himself on the sofa and stood up. Then he stretched his arms twice, picked up Snape, and walked deeper into the house.

Snape followed him closely.

This was Snape's first time inside the safe house. There were many rooms inside, but one door was the most special. It was as black as ink, and the door frame was carved with intricate and mysterious patterns.

Aces walked to the door.

The door opened automatically, revealing a staircase that extended downwards as far as the eye could see. Candles on both sides burned spontaneously, illuminating a short distance, while the deeper areas were still in darkness.

Snape had never thought that there was such a secret passage inside the safe house, and he looked at Aces in surprise several times.

Athis stopped and adjusted Snape's posture slightly to make sure he wouldn't hit his head on the narrow stairs before continuing forward. Snape followed curiously.

The two walked down the long and dim staircase. The surrounding walls exuded a wooden scent that was not unpleasant.

At the end, an equally dark door appeared. This door was tightly closed. There was no decoration or marking on the door frame or the door itself. Ases kicked the door, and a gap appeared. The cold air blew in his face, and the area near the gap was immediately covered with a thin layer of ice.

"Call the gods to protect you."

Athis whispered the spell.

A wolf-dog-sized, almost transparent white tiger appeared, walked over and rubbed Ases's calf, with a few sad whimpers coming out of its throat.

The patronus comes from the owner's good memories and the determination to protect the good memories. It can roughly sense the owner's mood and will change with the owner's mood.

Ases was in a bad mood, and it was in a bad mood too. Its usually bright eyes were dim, and it used its head to push the door open dejectedly.

Aces walked past it.

The basement is large but empty. There is only an ice coffin on the platform in the center, which is constantly emitting cold air. The chill above the coffin is visible to the naked eye.

Except for the ice coffin, the rest of the layout looks similar to that in the cave at first glance.

The only difference was the magic circle on the ground. The magic circle that originally covered the entire cave disappeared, and was replaced by another small magic circle, right in front of the ice coffin, quietly emitting an imperceptible glow.

Ases walked around the magic circle and put Snape into the ice coffin. His expression was very calm. Even Snape, who was most familiar with him, couldn't figure out what he was thinking and could only watch from the side.

After settling Snape, Athis shifted his gaze to the magic circle on the ground.

At this moment, a white light flashed on his chest.