HP Starlight

As the Occlumency training progressed, Snape got to know Collins better and felt more and more that she was not showing a tenth of who she really was.Usually she seems to be popular, but in fact she only has two or three friends; she looks honest, but she used to be a troubled girl; she has a kind heart, but she is merciless when she strikes...

He almost went through her memories, from the first time he saw his parents when he was born, to coping with heavy schoolwork, to still insisting on self-study after being abandoned, just to prove himself in front of his father.She hid her magic, was isolated by her new classmates, bullied by a group of children, and planned a perfect counterattack... Her loneliness, her forbearance, and her ruthlessness were all in front of him.

What concerned him the most was the Harry Potter in her memory.He was exactly his father's copy, with the same messy hair, the same face, the same glasses...except for those green eyes, Lily's eyes.

Snape's inner disgust and relief intertwined, making him forget to control the magic for a while.It wasn't until he was forced out of the brain by Collins that she had collapsed to the ground, and the wizard robe on her body seemed to be fished out of the water.Even so, the little girl stubbornly got up from the ground as soon as she regained her senses and demanded to continue training.Resisting the urge to look into those eyes again, Snape sent Collins back to rest.

After a few lessons, Collins' Occlumency got better and better, and Snape could see those eyes less and less often, but each time he saw them, he felt a shudder in his heart. Potter looked at Collins The look in his eyes was the same as when Lily looked at him back then.They're best friends, just like they are.

As Snape expected, with the progress of Collins' Occlumency, the whole person became more and more indifferent and gloomy, and the distance from his friends became more and more distant.Apparently this situation was also discovered by Dumbledore, so after breakfast, Dumbledore asked Snape to take a walk outside the castle.

"Collins seems to have changed a bit lately," said Dumbledore.

"She was practicing Occlumency with me." Snape made no secret.

"Why did you think of teaching her this?"

"She asked to practice on her own initiative. She said that she is very sensitive to other people's emotions, and other people's emotional changes can easily affect her. And before I taught her, she had already started. I think it is better to let her practice by herself. Under my supervision, I can also understand her true thoughts, saving her from going the wrong way."

"So did you find anything wrong with her?"

"no problem."

"See Harry Potter?"

"……Saw."

"how is he?"

"...like his father..."

"really?"

Snape didn't speak.He remembered those eyes and the way they looked, and he knew he was different from James Potter.

Dumbledore looked at Snape with bright blue eyes, and then chuckled, "Severus, do you know that you have changed a lot in the past two years?"

Snape looked at the old man suspiciously, "I don't think so."

"People are always good at noticing the changes in others, but they are less sensitive to themselves. Collins is the same, remember to remind her not to ignore friends just to learn magic."

Snape had thought that Collins would return to normal on his own once he had mastered Occlumency.But she was a child after all, and she didn't have enough experience to get her out of the negative effects of Occlumency.Facing her friend's doubts, she felt more self-denial than Snape thought.

Looking at the depressed student, Snape came up with a way to practice Patronus to help her get out of her depression.As someone who had experienced it, Snape knew that these two magics were born in opposition.Occlumency requires extreme restraint and hiding one's emotions, while the Patronus Charm requires trying to mobilize one's positive emotions.He didn't want Collins to successfully summon the Patronus, just recalling those happy memories was enough.

The final Quidditch match at the end of term is held two weeks before exams.Snape was not keen on Quidditch, but if the match was won, Slytherin would win the Quidditch trophy for the fifth time.And he's a little more enthusiastic about trophies now.

The weather was not good, and the players were blown up and down, but they still played tenaciously.Collins, the academy's Seeker, has never had a turnover.But Snape tensed up as she and her opponents fell at high speed in pursuit of the Snitch.As he got to know her better, Snape soon saw that the little girl was going to give up the last chance to save herself and snatch the Snitch.But even if he thought about it, he couldn't do anything, he could only watch in horror and anger as she hit the hard ground like a rag doll and bounced up and flew ten feet away.He quickly ran from the stands to the field.After all, he was an excellent student of Slytherin, so he was really worried.

On the field, the players from both sides surrounded by Snape separated and approached, Madam Pomfrey was doing first aid.Collins' hair was stained with blood and sweat, and his arms were twisted unnaturally, with a bit of bone protruding from the elbow.Snape quickly pulled out a stretcher to help Madam Pomfrey carry her on it.The little girl's whole body was loose, only her hands were still clenched tightly, and the golden wings exposed inside were flapping feebly.Snape released her hand with all his might, threw the Snitch to Rivers, and hurried her to the hospital.

After some treatment, Madam Pomfrey confirmed that Collins' life was not in danger, although recovery may take some time.Snape breathed a sigh of relief.

Another semester is over, and back in the dark Spider's End, the house is covered with a thick layer of dust.He mechanically cleaned up the places that needed to be used, and then plunged into the basement to study new potion formulas.But before the holiday was over, he received a letter from Dumbledore asking him to go back to school.

Back at Hogwarts, Snape found that besides himself, the other three deans and Hagrid had also been invited.Surprisingly, the original Muggle Studies professor, Quillnus Quirrell, was also invited.

Dumbledore happily introduced Quirrell's return to everyone.He has completed his previous round-the-world travel, and this time he will serve as a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and participate in the task of protecting the Philosopher's Stone next semester.

Snape frowned slightly, not because of the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but because Potter was about to enroll next semester, and at this time he arranged for them to protect the Philosopher's Stone. Why did Dumbledore do this?

The professors present were taken away by Dumbledore, leaving only Snape and Quirrell in the end.

"Congratulations, Professor Quirrell, he became a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts as soon as he came back." Snape's sinister voice could not hear the congratulations at all.

"Thank you, Professor S-S-Snape," Quirrell stammered, looking nervous.

After a brief conversation, Snape became more and more dissatisfied. Dumbledore would rather let this trash teach Defense Against the Dark Arts than me, and he resented a little in his heart.Soon Dumbledore took Quirrell away, and finally it was Snape's turn.

Snape followed Dumbledore to a room in the right corridor on the fourth floor.The room was empty except for a trap door leading down.

"Hagrid will let his pet guard the trapdoor when the time comes, let's go down first now." Dumbledore said as he walked down.

"Excuse me, principal, Potter is about to enter school. Is it ill-advised to put the Philosopher's Stone in school at this time?"

"I thought you would ask Quirrell first," Dumbledore said briskly, "I rejected your application and hired him instead, don't you want to complain?"

"You have your reasons," Snape said.

"You can talk about your true thoughts without being so restrained."

"I know you don't trust me, and I have nothing to complain about, after all, I used to..."

"Severus," Dumbledore stopped and turned to look at him, his hale eyes were still bright even in the slightly dark room, "you know that if I don't trust you, I will never allow you to enter Hogger Watts, let alone hand over the students of Slytherin to you. When you first came, I was really worried that if you were exposed to black magic, it would tempt you to fall again, but now I completely trust you. And your performance in the past few years It didn’t break my trust either. You’re right, I have my reasons, but it’s definitely not because I don’t trust you.”

"Should I be grateful for that? If that's the case, why let that bastard Quirrell teach?" Snape said sarcastically.

"Because I have some guesses that need to be verified." Dumbledore began to walk into the inner room again.

"What is it?" Snape asked.

"Quirrell applied to me for a job as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor when he came back from Albania. You know there were rumors that Voldemort was hiding there."

"You suspect he saw the Dark Lord?"

"It's not impossible."

"Then you still accept his application?"

"This is just speculation and we cannot reject his application because of suspicion."

"But you still let him participate in protecting the Philosopher's Stone, at this time when Potter is about to enter school?"

"Yes, exactly. Then you'll protect Harry, won't you?"

Snape nodded silently, probably guessing a bit of what Dumbledore was thinking.

Dumbledore stopped after passing through four rooms, "Severus, I hope you set a difficult problem in this room, and pass the test before you can pass through this door and enter the next room, where the Sorcerer's Stone will be hidden." .”

"I will set up a magic flame on the door, put the fireproof potion and poison here together, and set up a puzzle. If you solve the riddle, you can find the fireproof potion and go through that door." Snape guessed Dumbledore's thoughts , came up with an idea.

"Very well, let's do this." Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction.

The fire protection potion was not difficult to prepare, and Snape quickly completed the layout of the room he was in charge of.

At the opening banquet, Snape finally met Harry Potter who had been waiting for ten years.He looked deeply into those green eyes that sparkled with excitement and longing, and a complex emotion surged in his heart.Soon those eyes also saw him, and at the same time, he raised his hand to cover the scar, showing a painful expression, and looked at him full of defense and disgust, just like his father.But Snape was more concerned about the pain in Harry's scar. He turned his head to look at Quirrell who was sitting next to him. He was looking back for something and didn't pay attention to Harry.Snape tested Quirrell a few words, but found no problem.

In order to secretly protect Harry, Snape deliberately moved all the work from the cellar to the staff lounge on the second floor.This forced him to spend more time with other professors.The unsociable Snape also made the rest of the lounge less used to it.

But it didn't matter, he knew that all he cared about was Potter's safety, and what other people thought had nothing to do with him.He secretly observed Potter for a while, and found that the child was chased by a group of people wherever he went, but he didn't know how to avoid where there were too many people, he seemed to like the feeling of being surrounded by people, just like his father like that.Even the teachers kept talking about him, and he seemed to be the focus of the school.Snape thought it necessary to dampen his inflated mentality, lest he really think he was a star, a sought-after, omnipotent savior.

In the first Potions class of the first year, Snape gave the new students a good start as usual.Everyone listened intently to him, only Potter lowered his head, not knowing what to write or draw with the quill.Snape felt disgusted, and he didn't pay attention to the lectures in class, just like his father.He had planned to make things difficult for him by asking questions when brewing the potion, just like he had done with Collins back then.But now he decided to bring those questions up front.

"Potter! What do I get if I add daffodil root powder to a wormwood infusion?"

To Snape's disappointment, Potter didn't seem to know the answer.He wasn't as bright and studious as Lily, nor as good at potions as she was.

"Tsk, tsk—it seems fame isn't everything," Snape said sarcastically. "Let's try again. Potter, if I want you to find me a bezoar, you Where will I find it?"

Seeing the little boy shaking his head again, Snape continued to ask, "Potter, what's the difference between aconite acanthus and aconite chamaejasma?"

"I don't know," said Potter, "but I think Hermione knows the answer, so why don't you ask her?"

Potter, who failed to answer three questions in a row, dared to contradict himself, and Snape felt angry.He suppressed his anger and told them the answers to the three questions, but he had already criticized Potter from beginning to end in his mind.He was a complete carbon copy of his father, not at all like Lily's son, nothing like the one Collins remembered seeing.The huge gap made Snape extremely disappointed. Thinking of Lily dying for him and having to protect him all the time, Snape became even more angry and disliked Potter even more.

The weekly first-year Potions class was becoming a grind, Snape hated Potter, and Potter hated him.Snape couldn't pretend that all this didn't affect him, but in fact his temper was getting more and more irritable, and even he was aware of it.

At the Halloween dinner, he looked at Potter and Collins who were sitting at the long tables of different colleges and still secretly interacting with each other, and he was very angry.But soon the festive atmosphere was broken by Quirrell.Before he fainted, he said that the troll was in the dungeon, but Snape immediately realized that this might be a cover-up for the Dark Lord to steal the Philosopher's Stone.He quickly rushed to the corridor on the fourth floor and hid in the corner, waiting for the enemy to appear.

What he didn't expect was that the person waiting was Collins.He had always thought he knew her well, and it never occurred to him that she had any connection with the Dark Lord.Snape didn't know if he was more angry or disappointed.He stepped out of the shadows and asked Collins coldly why he was here.But the little girl's stiff performance made him realize that she was being controlled.Of course Snape hoped his students were innocent.He tried to get close to her, apparently the little girl was also trying to resist the Imperius Curse.

Suddenly the situation changed, and a huge head rushed out of the door.Snape instinctively pushed Collins away and cast a spell to block.But he didn't expect the monster to have three heads. It turned out that Hagrid's pet that Dumbledore said turned out to be a three-headed dog.

But how could a person stare at three heads at the same time?Soon the three-headed dog's sharp teeth pierced into the flesh, and Snape couldn't help shouting out a sharp pain.Fortunately, Collins woke up in time to lock the three big heads back in the door.

Looking at Collins, who was pale and trembling all over, Snape couldn't bear to use Legilimency to understand what happened to her.And he can also guess that the other party will not leave any traces, even if he uses a magic spell to detect, he will not see anything he didn't notice.

After Snape simply used a healing spell, he found that the little girl in front of him hadn't calmed down yet.He understood her stubborn character and wanted to stimulate her to cheer up by criticizing her.In fact, he knew in his heart that as a fourth-year student, it was already a very good performance to resist the controller's order and not attack himself.But he is not good at praise and encouragement, so he can only help her in this way.

Suddenly there was another strange noise downstairs, Snape was worried that Collins would go back by himself, worried that the person controlling her would attack again, so he had to take her with him.

He hurried to the girls' bathroom and found Potter standing next to the unconscious troll, and he was furious.This kid is so arrogant, he dared to challenge the troll just after two months of class.And now there was an enemy lurking in the castle, if that person had not controlled Collins but had come to ambush Potter, he would have died long ago.Snape scolded Potter in his mind for his recklessness, only to find that not only did he fail to reflect on himself, but he also discovered the wound on his leg.He quickly wrapped his robe tightly, and gave him a hard look.

After dealing with the troll, Snape sent Collins back to the cellar first.The exhaustion after blood loss hit Snape, his body was weak, and the pain in the wound that could not be ignored made him slow down.At Collins' suggestion, he decided to go back to the office to treat the wound first.

Snape tried his best to find a healing potion for himself, but was suddenly dragged by Collins and pressed on the chair.He froze for a moment, and then realized that Collins was going to help himself.Without much hesitation, he decided to let Collins go free.He was already used to her help, not to mention that his current situation did not allow him to refuse.

Soon the little girl brought a lot of useful and useless potions in front of him, and Snape was a little dumbfounded.He thought she was so sure that she insisted on treating him so much, but he didn't expect it was just to be brave.However, seeing the painful self-reproach in Collins' eyes, Snape rarely said anything critical.Snape looked down at Collins' actions, as Madam Pomfrey had said, she did have a gift as a healer.She didn't show any aversion to the disgusting wound and blood, and she handled it very carefully, not even causing him much pain.

A warm feeling crept slowly into Snape's heart.He had never been treated so tenderly since he was a child.When I was injured by my father when I was a child, I had to deal with the wound by myself.Mother was very emotional and only talked to him occasionally when he was in a good mood, but most of the time she was very bad because of his father's beatings and verbal abuse, let alone bandaging him.Of course Lily is willing to help others, but he never wants to show her his vulnerable side, and she naturally has no way of noticing it...

The pain from the potion interrupted Snape's recollection.He also let out a soft breath because he couldn't hold back his distraction.Collins apologized tremblingly, he could feel that the little girl really cared about him.Snape didn't know how to respond to others' kindness to him, so he had to change the subject and ask her to put back the potion he didn't need.But as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he found that his attitude was a bit bad.For the first time, he felt a little sorry for his instincts.Fortunately, the little girl didn't seem to care about his language style, and she still did her best.Snape heaved a sigh of relief, but he didn't even notice that the student in front of him had already left an imprint on his heart that couldn't be ignored.