HP: Embrace the Darkness

Ases walked to the flowerbed fountain, and as if he expected Joel to look over, he raised his head and smiled at Joel at the right moment.

The sunlight was dazzling, and Ases standing in the sunlight was even more dazzling. Joel was dazzled and subconsciously gripped the windowsill, his eyes red.

Susanna came closer and turned her head downward. The angle was weird but effective in seeing Joel's red eyes.

"Oh my, are you really crying?"

Joel suddenly felt calm.

He slapped the funny Susanna against the wall next to him.

"It seems that one week is not enough, then let's have a month. If you dare to run away during this month, don't blame me for using some means that you don't like."

"Threat, you are threatening!" Susanna jumped up and down for a few seconds, then immediately realized the situation and acted as a wise man. She played the emotional card with grievance, "Uncle Joel, can you really bear to do this to the good child you have watched grow up?"

"How cruel! Too cruel." Joel nodded coldly, "Also, please have some self-awareness. You are not a good kid."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Slightly——

Susanna made a face at Joel's back, and when Joel realized something was wrong and looked over at her, she immediately put her hand down and blinked innocently.

"What's wrong, Uncle Joel?"

Joel trusted his instincts.

"One more month."

Just add.

Susanna was not worried about her debts and was like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. She pushed Joel aside with her butt and ran down. She was so fast that Asseth only felt a gust of wind passing by him and disappeared without a trace.

"Come back here! Susan—Master."

Joel, who was chasing after him, slammed on the brakes.

Ases calmly moved his body to block Susanna, and took Joel's hand, holding back his laughter and reminding: "Grandpa Joel, watch the road."

Joel was so embarrassed in front of Ases that he felt his face, as thick as Mount Everest, was about to melt. He twitched nervously and his face became stiff.

"It's good to be back... It's good to be back."

He kept repeating himself.

My old face turned red with embarrassment.

Arces considerately stepped aside.

"Grandpa Joel, go do whatever you want. I'll go see mother and father."

"That's good. Your mother is awake now. You should go see her."

Joel felt relieved and quickly waved his hand to let Aces leave. Then, with a stern face, he picked up his wand and rushed downstairs with brisk steps.

Ases shook his head.

He had done everything he could, and the rest depended on Susanna's luck.

The main building was large, so the chase downstairs wouldn’t disturb the people upstairs. The further Ases went inside, the quieter it became.

Finally, he stopped in front of a door, raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, and knocked on the door lightly.

Rhythmic knocks on the door echoed in the corridor.

Ases knocked only once and then put down his hand and waited quietly. Not long after, William, who was wearing a bathrobe, opened the door of the room. When he saw that the person at the door was Ases, the old father, who should have had a pale face, his eyes lit up.

"Who's outside?"

Perhaps it was the telepathy between mother and son. William's unusual silence made Anna realize something. Unable to hide her surprise, she lifted the quilt and got out of bed.

Although it was a premature birth, there are magical potions and magic in the wizarding world. Witches recover much faster than Muggles after giving birth. After a few days of recuperation, Anna has basically recovered and can use magic. Getting out of bed and walking a few steps is no problem.

She took a few steps to the door.

"Aces?"

Seeing that the person outside the door was Assas, Anna quickened her pace, pushed William aside, and looked at Assas carefully. After a while, she raised her hand with heartache, held Assas's face, and rubbed her fingertips back and forth, as if comparing them.

"Why have you lost so much weight?"

Ases lowered his head, raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly, "Last time, my mother also thought I was thinner, but I was obviously fatter then."

"Don't change the subject. Do you think I'll let you go if you smile a few times?" Anna frowned.

Aces blinked, and the smile on his face became even more intense. "How about I laugh a few more times?"

Anna couldn't help laughing.

The clouds of worry and sorrow that had filled my heart for days vanished into thin air.

William saw that Anna was no longer depressed, and he finally let go of his worries. He took the initiative to persuade her, "Anna, why don't you let Ases come in first? It's not appropriate to talk standing at the door."

"Come in quickly." Anna took Ases' arm and pulled him to sit on the bed. At this time, Ases discovered that there were two little balls of the same color on the bed, curled up in the soft quilt, blinking their eyes quietly, but one of them was wrapped very tightly, and the exposed eyes were soft and watery. They moved weakly twice and then stopped moving.

Anna followed Ases's line of sight and looked at the two little kids. She frowned slightly and said, "Dear, take them back first. Let me talk to Ases."

William came over, picked up the little kids one by one and walked out. Aces wanted to stop him, but was stopped by Anna. "Don't worry about your brothers and sisters. There will be no problem with the house elves and your father watching over them. Let's have a good chat now."

Aces was silent for a second or two, then nodded.

"Okay, mother, what do you want to talk about?"

Anna looked at Ases solemnly, her peach blossom eyes, which were very similar to Ases's, flickered with a flickering light, hope and fear coexisting.

"Talk about you and Severus."

Ases had expected this and was not surprised. He held Anna's somewhat cold hand and comforted her silently.

Anna took out her hand, touched Ases' head, smiled gently, and there was a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.

"Your father and I have talked a lot these past few days. He asked me what kind of determination I had when I followed him to leave Germany. It has been so long and I have forgotten many things, but I can't forget the feeling at that time."

"It may sound naive, but when William and I left Germany, we were determined to succeed or die. We felt that even if the whole world stood against us, we would never let go of each other's hands."

"We were older than you, but not as mature as you. We had a terrible fight with your grandparents, so much so that neither of us could step down until you were born."

Anna brushed away a strand of hair that was hanging from Ases' eyes and smiled gently.

"You are our treasure. After you were born, many things changed. Without you, William and I would not have experienced the deep love of our parents, and we would have no excuse to go back to them."

"So, Ases, we can't accept losing you. Even if William and I have a second or third child, in my heart, in the hearts of William and your grandparents, you are still our most special treasure."

Tears rolled down Anna's eyes drop by drop, but she was unaware of it. Her slender fingers unconsciously exerted force to tightly hold Ases' hand.

"William advised me for a long time, but I still couldn't bear to let you take risks. But he was right in one thing. I can't let you go through the torture that William and I went through, and I can't turn into another pressure on you when you are under great pressure."

"You are very similar to me and William. If we were in your shoes, William and I would make the same choice. So go ahead. William and I support you, but——"

Anna steadied her tone and looked pleading.

"But no matter what you do, I hope you will do your best to protect yourself when there is no way to save you. This is my only request as a mother."

Asseth couldn't refuse the request.

He lowered his eyes, his Adam's apple rolling a few times with difficulty, "...Okay."

Anna got what she wanted, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She let go of Athis's hand, leaned over and hugged him. "Although it may sound a bit mean to say this, but...if Severus knew, he would agree."

Snape, who had been quietly watching the love between mother and son for a long time, was suddenly called upon and nodded subconsciously, "What your mother said was right... and what she did was right."

"Let's not talk about this." Anna smiled and wiped away her tears. Her expression suddenly became solemn. She asked sadly, "You kept visiting your brother and sister a few days ago. Did you notice the difference in their body shapes?"

"I found it." Ases knew what Anna meant and continued, "Not only is the body shape different, but there are also big differences in other aspects. What did the doctor who came to check later say?"

Anna's eyes flashed with pain, and tears fell unconsciously. She was a strong and powerful witch, and she was doing well in her field. Sometimes when she was serious, even her old rival William had to retreat. But in the past few days, she had almost shed half her life's tears.

"Ilona said that when the two children were in the mother's womb, due to unbalanced nutrition absorption, your sister was a whole size smaller than your brother! Later, she was suddenly born prematurely, and your sister was delayed in coming out. She almost suffocated to death. It was luck that she was able to save her. She had no choice but to take it one step at a time. But Ilona advised me not to pour too much emotion into it. She and I both understand what she meant, but... that's my child, how can I give up this emotion?"

The Ilona that Anna mentioned is a doctor at St. Mungo's and also Anna's good friend. He is a skilled doctor and a leader among all the doctors. Even she said so, which shows that the baby girl's condition is indeed very bad.

Arces put his arm around Anna's shoulders and handed her a handkerchief. When she wiped away her tears and calmed down a little, he comforted her softly, "Don't worry, mother, my sister will be fine."

Anna knew that Ases was not the kind of person who spoke without thinking, and when she heard him say this, she couldn't help but feel a little hopeful.

Asis did not disappoint Anna and continued:

"A few days ago, I summoned my Patronus on a whim, and unexpectedly discovered that my Patronus was tainted with the aura of 'Dead Tree Revived in Spring'."

"This aura is very weak, but it is just right for a newborn baby. I kept the patronus, and I haven't taken it back in the past few days."

"Just now, I took advantage of my father passing by to call back the patronus. From its memory, I learned that the aura was slowly dissipating. But rather than dissipating... I think the aura was slowly merging into my sister's body and improving her weakness."

"Are you sure?"

Anna felt like she had found a life-saving straw.

Aces hesitated for only a moment before nodding firmly: "I have some ideas, but I still need Sif's help to implement them. Sif's potion level is far better than mine. With him here, the chances of success will be much greater."

Hearing this, Snape looked over.

Anna nodded repeatedly: "Then wait for Severus to come back and I will ask him for help."

"Mother, you are being a little distant." Aces smiled, his lips curled slightly, "Siver is not an outsider. He will definitely not stand idly by after knowing this."

"Of course not." Snape took over Athis' words and made a promise.

Ases and Anna couldn't hear anything, so they chatted for a while. Anna yawned a few times, told Ases to check on the four old people, and then fell into a deep sleep.

Ases pulled the quilt over Anna, and with a wave of his hand, the open curtains by the window closed automatically, and the room suddenly fell into a reassuring darkness.

In the darkness, Ases relaxed his body and stared at Anna's slightly furrowed brows even as she slept for a while, and his smile gradually disappeared.

The tiredness that had been suppressed by laughing silently crept up to his eyebrows. The man's entire face was submerged in darkness, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

"I'm sorry to have made you worry, mother."

After an unknown amount of time, a sound as light as a sigh was heard.

This apology should have been made in front of Anna, but Anna didn't know whether she felt it or not, and kept changing the subject, so he didn't say it. Now that Anna fell asleep and there was no way to stop him, he finally found the opportunity to say it.

Snape raised his hand and shook Aces' head twice as if to comfort him. Aces took a deep breath, stood up and left the room.

At the door, William seemed to have been waiting for a long time. When he saw Ases come out, he took two quick steps and asked, "How was the conversation with your mother?"

"Very good." Athis looked past William to the open room behind him, where two house-elves were busy. "Father, are they asleep? I want to go see them."

William said “hmm” and walked away from the door. When he reached the bedroom door, he suddenly turned back and said in a half-reluctant and half-urging tone: “Help your sister name when you have time. Don’t think too much about it. It’s just a name.”

Ases paused and said, "Okay."

The house-elf was very skilled in taking care of the babies. The two tightly wrapped goose yellow little balls squinted their eyes comfortably, enjoying the warm milk.

They heard a sound at the door and stopped sucking at the same time.

One of the little balls was quite lively. He babbled aggressively and pounded the cradle vigorously with his hands and feet, which scared the house-elf who was busy with other things. It hurried over to take away the bottle to prevent him from choking while drinking milk.

The warm and sweet bottle of milk was snatched away from him, and the little kid got angry immediately. He started babbling faster and kept grabbing the bottle.

The house-elf didn't dare to snatch the bottle from him and didn't use much strength. He was caught off guard and hit by the chubby little hand. As soon as his hand loosened, the bottle was pulled away.

Compared to the little ball who could snatch the bottle with his bare hands and whose arms were as chubby as lotus roots, the other little ball was obviously much quieter. He just stared curiously the whole time, his body motionless, yawning from time to time, his eyes misty, and he fell asleep in less than a minute.