[SSHP] End of life

"I think you'll have to live here for a while...we'll discuss the results as soon as possible." Ben Teddy led Harry and Snape to a single-family house on the edge of the basin, opened the door, Looking around everything in the house with a somewhat strange gaze, "The previous owner of this house has left us for a while. Now it belongs to you."

After he finished speaking, he shrugged, turned and walked across the river.Harry watched him go away.

He didn't turn around to check the situation inside the house until there was no one around.The house is as dilapidated as it looks, and there are two wooden beds on the left and right sides of the room, one of which is facing the door, and between it and the door is a cobwebbed stone fireplace. .Beside the fireplace was a small, rickety table, not much better in appearance than Snape's, with two sturdy chairs beside it.Harry felt that the only appreciable facility was the small washbasin in the other corner of the room, because this room was right at the end of a stream, and the previous owner used wood to make pipes that looked like running water, and the brass faucets on it should be It still works.The only window is by the sink.

Snape made no comment, still standing by the door.Harry walked in contented - at least they didn't have to sleep in the same bed, at least they didn't have to go out every day to fetch water from a bucket.Since daily life is not too difficult, he doesn't mind the werewolves discussing slowly.

"Come out, Potter," said Snape. "We have to go up the hill."

Harry turned his head, looking at Snape in some confusion.

"You think they'll bring you food and groceries?" said Snape, looking at him with the disdain usually reserved only for Harry. "Go get something. Unless you want to starve."

It was already dark when they climbed the mountain.Harry looked down at the basin below him from the top of the hill. Many houses were emitting white smoke. The smoke permeated the basin, making the light from those windows unreal.Some people were busy going in and out of the house, and the small river was very conspicuous in the thin darkness.He noticed clouds drifting in the distance, and a cycle was over.It's going to be cloudy again.

Snape pulled his suitcase from the backseat and opened the trunk.Harry put his little schoolbag on his back and was about to go up to pick it up, but found that Snape put his suitcase on the edge of the car trunk less than ten centimeters away, propped it up with his legs, opened the lid of the suitcase and started throwing it inside All the cans he could get his hands on in place.There is no doubt that this suitcase has also been cast with a traceless stretching spell.

They put all the leftover food after traveling for half a month into the box.Harry has been wondering why they prepared so much food. He even guessed that it might be used to distribute to the werewolves to gain favor, but he didn't expect that it was prepared for themselves.There was more than half of the food left, but it would only last them a month at most. "How long are we going to be here?" he asked worriedly.

"I suggest you ask the werewolf." Snape said without looking back, carrying the box ahead.

Harry shut his mouth and said no more.He was very hungry, didn't eat lunch, and climbed the mountain for two hours when it was time for dinner.It will take at least an hour to go down the mountain.

It was already eleven o'clock at night when the two of them actually returned to the temporary house.The temperature difference between day and night in the mountains was so great that Harry dropped the window and stood beside Snape, looking longingly at the fireplace.For half a month in the mountains, there was no fire in the tent, so he had to endure three meals a day of cold food.It was even worse than his wandering year, at least when he had a wand.Now they have a fireplace, but they have neither wood nor fire.

Snape glanced at Harry, ignored him, and continued to concentrate on placing a few tins and the few remaining loaves of bread on a low shelf by the sink.Then he took the box to the fireplace, groped in the box, and after a while, he pulled out a bundle of firewood.Harry stared dumbfounded at Snape's box, he wondered if he pushed Snape from behind, Snape would fall into this half-meter-square bottomless pit.

"Light a fire, Potter," said Snape, tossing Harry a box of matches.All this time, he had seldom spoken unless necessary—Harry knew that the fact that he had given the order to light the fire meant that he really wouldn't or didn't want to, even though he wasn't exactly the Muggle life he'd imagined idiot.

He went over, picked up a thinner piece of wood, and brushed the cobwebs off the fireplace with it.The fireplace hadn't been used since at least last winter.Then he lit the logs and worked hard to get them to burn hotter.Snape took the kettle and a tripod out of the box, as well as a hanging pot.

"Go get some rocks tomorrow, we need a stone circle," said Snape with rare peace. "Go make the bed, Potter."

Harry had to give up the fire he had just built and walk over to the bed.Snape had thought through all the possibilities, and there wasn't a single thing they needed that he couldn't get out of it so far.Harry put the thick quilts on each of the two beds - obviously Snape wasn't going to let him sleep on the hard boards for a few more nights - and slapped the pillows flat.Behind him, Snape pried open two cans and poured them into the pot, which he picked up from a thin piece of wood on the table and thrust into the fireplace. "Come and hold this log," he said lazily.

Harry held the pillow, glaring at him.Snape raised his eyebrows and tapped his index finger on the table.

"You've had me for a month," Harry accused, walking over to hold the log down.

"Because you're eating the food I bought," said Snape, twitching the corners of his mouth as if to laugh at himself, "and it's going to last—don't move!" he said, tying the kettle Go up, use a piece of wood to push to the side with fire, frown slightly, "I really need a circle of stones, maybe two... get up tomorrow and go out to pick up stones immediately, Potter."

Harry watched his face intently.He had never seen Snape smile without malice before, and it had been a little softer just now - if it was a smile at all.He guessed that Snape's rare softness meant that he was happy with his performance in the chamber today, he just would never say it.He watched Snape as the man continued to rummage through the box, pulling out two old cups.

They haven't seen hot water in a month.Harry had no particular preference for tea, but when he saw Snape take out the tea caddy, he felt almost teary-eyed back in civilization.

Half an hour later, Harry wolfed down the canned food, wiped the bottom of the bowl with the last morsel of bread, and licked the crumbs off his fingers. "I'm craving a shot of Firewhiskey," he said, curled up in a chair by the fire, and Snape gave a disgusted look to the finger he had just licked. "I'm an adult!" Harry shook the finger at Snape, and managed to see Snape's disgusted look shift from his finger to his face.

"Okay, I'll wash it." Harry said, he put two bowls into the pot, picked them up and walked to the small tap in the corner of the room, "Is there really no wine?" He asked again without giving up once.

"Bad little bastard," Snape said vaguely, and Harry didn't quite catch it, but he thought that was what he was saying.Snape reached into the trunk and quickly pulled out a bottle this time, obviously keeping the wine separate.

"You did!" Harry laughed. "Mr. Weasley said that every wizard takes ten bottles of wine when he travels. He said it's a wizarding tradition. So it's true!"

"Seven bottles of wine. Seven is a wizard's lucky number, and traditional wizards believe it," said Snape reluctantly, taking Harry's glass and pouring him a small amount.

"I thought you were going to say that I only have Mrs. Rosmerta's mead today." Harry walked over, put down the washed pots and bowls and picked up the glass.He took a sip of wine, and the strong liquor burned his throat and made him feel warm all over.It was the first time he had had this since he was back in third grade.

"No mead, Potter. They don't have a bottle for you," Snape said in a slightly annoyed tone, but his expression was very calm.He also took a sip of his wine and watched the fire.

"The first time I had this drink was a few days before my birthday," said Harry, who speaks often but never details the last 1997, "the day the Order of the Phoenix took me from Des The Li family moved to the Burrow, Mad-Eye died. We were all sad and scared, and I felt so numb at the time, like all reality was fake. Then Mrs. Weasley gave us this to drink. At that time, He took another sip of the wine and patted his throat, "The wine flowed down here, it was very hot, and I suddenly felt the courage to come back. Later we camped outside, every time it was very cold and desperate , I think of this wine. Until now, I feel as if there is nothing better than Flame Whiskey.”

He swung his glass, watching the swaying liquid. "But I dare not think this wine is good. It reminds me of the day Mad-Eye died. I shouldn't think this wine is good for the first time that day. It makes me feel as if I put Happiness is based on the pain or death of others."

Harry shook his head.Out of the corner of his eye Snape looked at him, but after a few seconds Snape said nothing and turned his head away.

This time it was Harry's turn to look at Snape.Snape stared at the fire, and he seemed to be remembering what happened that night, his black eyes were full of emotions that Harry couldn't understand.Then, maybe it was irritability, maybe it was the wine, maybe it was just the heat from being so close to the fire - he raised his hand and unbuttoned the second button of his shirt.

Harry had been staring at Snape's neck for at least three minutes when he finally caught his gaze.No snakebite scars there.He also noticed that Snape didn't make any big moves along the way.He no longer threatens or threatens, and every movement does exactly what he should do with just the right amount of range.Without the intimidating behavior towards the students in the classroom, he is just an ordinary British man who gets up early to read the newspaper, works, eats three meals a day, and looks tense and boring most of the time.Like Vernon Dursley and his neighbors.

"Actually, I'm a little envious of you, sir." Before he could control his tongue, this sentence had already been uttered by Harry.The alcohol seemed to lubricate his vocal cords, and he spoke in a rush.

"What?" Snape turned to stare at him sternly.The expression on his face was no longer calm, as if someone had spit on his face.

"Really," Harry said, turning his cup on the table, "at least you have a place to go back to. Hurt, betrayed, you can go back there and hide."

"I thought escape was not in the Gryffindor dictionary," Snape said coldly.He finished the whiskey in his glass and poured himself another half.

"I'm not running away, and I'm not running away from—" Harry watched as Snape put the bottle back in the case, finally confirming regretfully that he wasn't getting any more tonight, "it's just that sometimes I feel tired. Everyone thinks that I have the power to fight against the mysterious person. Even if I say I don't, they don't believe it. I don't know why they trust me so much. Most of the time I worry that I will let them down. Sometimes they put I was coaxed like a three-year-old, and sometimes I thought I was omnipotent. Whenever this happens, I wish there was at least one place where I could hide..."

"You don't know enough about this, Potter." Snape frowned, his tone changed from doubt and slight annoyance to calm and thoughtful again, "If you get tired of even thinking about a place, it won't be a haven .at least not mine."

The atmosphere finally became calm again.Harry took his last sip of wine and looked enviously at Snape's glass. "Then why do you live there, sir?" He remembered the only night he had spent in Spinner's End, sleeping in the large bedroom on the second floor.Judging from the area of ​​the first floor and the layout of the second floor, Snape still lived in the small bedroom he slept in when he was a child.His parents hadn't been there for a long time, but he hadn't moved, hadn't changed the scope of his life.Although no doubt he can.

He only occupies the ground floor because he has to.He has too many books.

"It's none of your business, Potter," Snape replied.He shifted position and leaned against the uncomfortable arm of the chair.Harry noticed that his eyes were very dark. It was obvious that everything that had happened in the past was still imprinted on the black-haired wizard who had passed through two lives.

At this moment, in the frankness, warmth, fullness and tranquility, Harry suddenly remembered Hermione's favorite book - not the book of the wizarding world, it was undoubtedly "Hogwarts, a School History" —of the Muggle world.That book says: "All the enthusiasm of man is because he wants to make life meaningful. To make him change, he must be able to find a new way, so that he can arouse the enthusiasm of 'promoting life', Let him feel the vitality of life and the integrity of personality more than before, and let him feel that life is more meaningful than before. This is the only way. Otherwise, although you can tame him, you will never heal him."

How similar he was to Snape.They seem to have lived a very meaningful life, but they can't make more sense.Old hurts weigh heavily on their backs and they have no other path, or don't want to take it at all - the vitality of life and integrity of personality is a joke at this point, because they don't need those things on the way to the end .Dumbledore instructed them that they were tame only because they could not be refused; and that they could never be healed.

"I just wanted to get to know you better," Harry murmured.He realized again that Snape was in a sense his ally - possibly even the only one.

"Forget it, Potter," Snape said softly. "Curiosity about me? That's pointless."

"Then what's the point?" said Harry disapprovingly, the man who forever refused to connect with anyone beyond the lines he'd drawn, "We're from the same time, we've been together for so long, we're traveling together now ——Isn't this enough to be a reason for us to understand each other? Please, just understand each other, and don't behave like feeding you poison | medicine. It's not love."

Snape stared at Harry silently for a moment.With mixed emotions in his eyes, Harry looked back at him in bewilderment.But Snape said nothing more, neither answered nor refuted.He just drank the last sip from his glass, put it down, and walked to the bed on the other side of the sink.

The author has something to say: That book in the Muggle world: The Destructive Anatomy of Mankind, by Erich Fromm.

I personally like this chapter very much, lol.It's not because I started to push the relationship line a lot, but because I like this book.

Then I found that every time I put it in the manuscript box, I would make a false update... I really can find problems when I review the chapters every day, lol.These are all minor issues that don't feel worth swaying you, or else don't set the release time so early next time.It’s rare that I haven’t woken up at 7 o’clock during the holiday, laughing.