HP: Embrace the Darkness

"What...Brother, you didn't hear anything. I didn't say anything."

Draco looked at Aces eagerly, trying to get away with it.

Ases was very considerate and changed the subject, "Tell me, what is it that has been looking for me everywhere these days?"

"So you knew, and yet you still..." Draco's face was full of resentment. He kicked Aces twice with his eyes, and then continued, "It's actually nothing serious, it's just..."

He deliberately dragged out his voice to whet Ases' appetite.

Aces was neither impatient nor anxious. Without hearing Draco's voice, he concentrated on playing with the ignored little guy who was smacking his lips.

The child was very curious, and when she saw Ases teasing her, she tried her best to reach out her hand. However, her strength was too weak, and her arms were unstable, so they kept dangling in the air.

After swinging for a while, he ran out of strength and fell straight down, hitting the soft quilt.

It might be a little painful. Her round eyes were misty and her instinct made her put her hand to her mouth.

Seeing the limp little hand about to reach into his mouth, Athis quickly stopped it and asked the house-elf next to him uncertainly, "Are you still hungry after drinking so much just now?"

"Master, this shouldn't be because you're hungry."

The house-elf came over, took out a soft cloth from somewhere, and wiped the saliva off the restless little hand.

Aces looked thoughtfully at the still restless hand in the house-elf's hand, "So he just wants to eat his hand?"

"Brother!" Draco, who was ignored, couldn't help but squeeze his platinum head over, "Don't you have any curiosity at all?"

"Yes, but not much." Aces lifted Draco's collar and turned his head. "Be good, wait here. I'll give you a name first."

Anna and William still haven't come up with a name, and there's no point in dragging it out any further. Fortunately, everything has been discussed now, so let him choose the name.

Ases picked up the little guy, whose eyes were following him, with a little unfamiliarity. The little guy seemed to sense something and kept raising his hands to grasp, but her arms were too short and she couldn't reach it no matter how hard she tried. She was so anxious that she made a soft babbling sound, as if urging him.

Athis lowered his head and put his hands on those little hands. He lowered his eyes and smiled softly. His voice was gentle: "The sun and light that gives the world... How about the name Alois?"

Alois raised her hand and slapped Athis without much strength. Athis pulled her hand away with amusement. "Well, it seems you like this name very much."

"Eeyah eeeyah!"

Alois hummed meaninglessly with joy, and an abnormal blush appeared on his fair face.

Aces frowned, put her back into the cradle, pulled the quilt over her, and wrapped the pitiful little one tightly and carefully. ! .

"Alois, don't get too excited next time. Your body can't handle it."

Alois didn't move obediently, but his pair of misty eyes were so soft-hearted. Ases had no choice but to raise his hand and wave it gently. A palm-sized white tiger jumped out from the corner, climbed onto the bed skillfully and chased his tail to coax the child. Alois still remembered the little white tiger. His eyes lit up and he blinked seriously, and soon fell asleep again.

"My body is still too weak."

Aces sighed softly, and Draco, who had been noisy just now, also quieted down. He looked at the child who was sleeping uneasily on the bed with heartache.

"Yes, but there is nothing we can do now. My father went to see a familiar doctor the other day and he said it was a congenital deficiency and there is no way to make up for it. We can only take good care of it."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. It's a rare opportunity to catch you, shall we talk?"

Draco reached out and grabbed Athis's arm, as if he was afraid that he would run away.

"Um... that is... ahem, didn't you say you would tell me if you found someone you liked?"

Draco hesitated for a long time before he could finish a sentence, then calmly threw out a mine.

"I have a favorite person."

Aces raised an eyebrow, "Is it the girl you protected behind you that day?"

Draco's face instantly turned red, and he stammered, "How do you know - no, you saw it at that time!"

"The curse has no eyes. No matter how busy I am, I will never completely abandon you." Ases recalled the scene that day.

Draco followed the girl nervously, and stepped forward as soon as he saw an attack coming, protecting her tightly.

Of course, Ases was sure there was more than one reason.

With a substitute, Draco had no need to get involved in the war between Hogwarts and Voldemort, but he came to the study that day and vaguely expressed his thoughts - he wanted to see a real battle.

At that time, Athis guessed that Draco had someone in his heart because he was going to Hogwarts, which was contrary to his usual behavior and he looked worried without realizing it. However, he didn't know it yet, otherwise Athis, as his brother, would not have allowed Draco to take someone to Hogwarts.

Aces smiled, patted Draco on the shoulder, and spoke encouragingly.

"That girl is very good. Now that you have confirmed your feelings, go after her."

Draco suddenly lowered his head and said nothing, which was out of character. Aces didn't understand and was about to ask, but Draco seemed to have been holding it in for a long time and couldn't bear it any longer. He rushed over and hugged him tightly, with a trembling voice.

"Brother, don't leave me."

Caught off guard, Ases was knocked back and staggered. He took a few steps back and managed to stand steady by holding onto the cabinet.

The reason why he was barely standing was because there was a large platinum pendant hanging in front of him, like an octopus clinging to him, causing his center of gravity to be unstable, and he almost fell forward again just as he stood firm.

You have to know that Draco is no longer the doughy boy he was back then, and his weight is not what it was back then. If you don't pay attention, it can be very dangerous.

"Brother, why don't you say anything? Do you know that you don't want me or your godmother?"

After years of getting along, Draco knew which of his tricks was most harmful to Athis, but this time Athis did not comfort him.

"Let go first."

"Don't let it go."

Not only did Draco not let go, he held on even tighter. Aces reached out and tried to pull a certain giant platinum octopus, but failed. He sighed and tried to persuade him patiently.

"Draco, you have grown up a long time ago. You are no longer a child who needs to be protected all the time. You should know that you need to walk your own way in the future instead of relying on me."

Draco curled his lips. He was almost without a brother, so why should he care about independence?

"I don't care. You were the one who brought me to our house. You have to take responsibility. At the very least... you have to be my witness!"

Draco found an excuse and felt more justified. He did not let go of his hand and kept muttering in Athis's ear.

"Yes! You have to be my witness."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Aces raised his hand and rubbed Draco's head gently, then struggled to get away when Draco wasn't paying attention. He stood two steps away and said to him, "It's not like I won't come back. What are you doing here? You're not as steady as Alois."

Draco looked at Alois, who was biting his hand and smacking his lips in his sleep, and seriously suspected that his brother was implying something about him.

"But that's not what the Godfather said." Draco was still worried.

Ases was stunned. He didn't expect that Draco's source of information was William.

He thought for a moment and asked, "Did my father tell you about me?"

"Ahem." Facing Aces' eyes that seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, Draco turned his head away embarrassedly, "Godfather didn't close the door."

So I was eavesdropping.

Asseth understood.

"Then you probably didn't hear it all."

"Really?" Draco was skeptical. "You swear you didn't lie to me?"

"Why would I lie to you? If you don't believe me, you can ask your father and mother."

Ases hit the spot where Draco was guilty with accuracy to the centimeter. He came to make trouble without hearing the whole story. Even if Draco had eighty times the courage, he would not dare to ask William and Anna.

"Okay, then I'll just reluctantly believe you." Draco said sincerely.

Ases was both angry and amused: "So this is why you came to me."

Draco lowered his head, his mouth still hard: "What else? Do you think I am idle and running around outside every day?"

"...Then I should thank you." Aces opened his arms and lightly hugged Draco's shoulders. "Thank you, Draco, you have indeed grown up."

"Of course I've grown up. There's no one in this world who never grows up...Except Dumbledore, who is even more childish than Alois."

Draco muttered to himself as he hugged Athis back, but just as his hands touched, he inexplicably pulled them back - he felt a real gaze piercing his hand, which had been there since he was "throwing a tantrum" just now. It was painful, and he didn't know where it came from.

There are only five people in this room.

Two of them were babies who couldn't speak, one was a house-elf who was busy without even raising his head, and the other two were him and his brother, who didn't look like the owners of that strange gaze at all.

Draco hesitated and called out, "Brother."

Arces distanced himself from Draco, staring thoughtfully at Alois' arm before casually replying, "What's wrong?"

Draco rubbed his fingers together and felt a gust of cold wind on his back, which seemed to be even colder.

"...Do you feel that this place——"

He suddenly stopped talking, not daring to speak anymore, his eyes wandering around the room.

Draco, who had managed to escape by relying on his excellent intuition, didn't know that Snape was standing less than three steps to his left, staring at him sinisterly with an almost gentle sneer on the corner of his mouth.

Students who have taken the Potions Master class know that an angry and low-pressure Potions Master is scary, but a Potions Master with a soft voice and a smile is the real nightmare. Once he appears, basically all students in the class will not be able to escape the thesis.

Draco was one of them back then, so he was naturally familiar with such looks. On the contrary, Athis, who had never been targeted by a Potions Master, didn't feel anything.

"Maybe we can try."

Ases stood up and walked towards the other cradle. Draco, who was already a frightened bird, caught a glimpse of the swaying shadow out of the corner of his eye. He stepped back repeatedly and then stopped awkwardly.

"Brother? What did you just say?"

"A small gift to celebrate the birth of a child, if I'm not mistaken."

As Asseth spoke, he grabbed a chubby hand. He was stunned when he first touched it. As time went by, the already chubby baby - his younger brother Albert - became even rounder, white and round. From a distance, he looked like a white snowball.

Albert was not as gentle as Alois, and when facing his brother's hand, he slapped it without hesitation. After a crisp "pop" sound, the back of Alois' hand turned visibly red.

Snape's death gaze shifted instantly, but he didn't have the habit of bullying newborn babies. He just glanced away and stood quietly aside.

Draco, who just felt the breath of freedom, let out a long sigh, and walked over to laugh at Athis: "Brother, why don't you dodge even the attack of a child? Can't you dodge it? Or..."

He couldn't continue because Athis pulled his hand in front of Albert, who slapped it without any discrimination and gave it a little foot. Draco gasped in pain.

"It doesn't make sense that he looks so small but is so strong!"

“It’s really not reasonable.”

Athis was doing two things at once. While agreeing with Draco, he used his left hand to control Albert's hand. He was better at using his right hand, so he used his right hand to depict.

Suddenly, a silver-white light appeared on the tip of his right index finger. The light became stronger and weaker, and finally stabilized at a level that was not dazzling.

This amount of magic is nothing for an adult, but it is enough for two little babies, Albert and Alois.

Ases pinched the elastic and touching little chubby paw and began to draw from the palm.

The fingertips touch and rub against the arms.

Each time it passes, a light white mark is left behind, which intersect with each other and gradually brighten.

After the last stroke, the white marks that seemed a bit messy suddenly disappeared and faded into the skin, and there was no trace of any white marks on the white, tender and powerful little hand.

Looking at Ases's movements and the white marks disappearing on Albert's hands, Snape was stunned and felt inexplicably familiar.

Assès picked up Albert, who twisted and turned dishonestly, but was suppressed mercilessly by his brother.

"Don't move, let me see."

After saying that, Athis picked up Albert's hand, and a subtle amount of magic power extended out and touched Albert's chubby little hand.

The chubby boy's hand suddenly lit up.

The white lines lit up one by one, and a simple and adorable little white tiger appeared in Albert's chubby hand.

At the same time, a translucent protective shield separated Ases and Albert.

"It can still be improved, but for now, it's enough."

Acers muttered to himself, put Albert down, turned around and came to Alois' cradle, and carved a cute little white tiger in the same way as Albert would release a protective shield for the white tiger. The little white tiger was cast with a spell by Acers that would bring back the dead wood to life. Once Alois had problems with his body, the tiger would automatically appear and perform the spell of bringing back the dead wood to life, consuming the magic power stored in it by Acers.

"This way I can leave for a while without worry." Aces gently squeezed Alois's palm and said in a gentle voice, "Grow up well, Alois."

Alois felt a surge of warmth while sleeping, and his wrinkled nose relaxed.