HP Starlight

"Severus, is there something else you should tell me?" Voldemort's cold voice sounded overhead.

"No, master, I have already reported to you all the information I know." Snape said calmly.

"Really?" Voldemort said with a sneer, "The vault of Shafiq's house has been opened again, you really have nothing to say?"

Snape felt that the shirt had been soaked in cold sweat, but he still tried to remain calm, not letting his fear show, "Master, I really didn't hear Dumbledore say anything about Shafik, and no one called himself Shafie Go to Hogwarts to ask his help. If there is, I will know, master."

"I saw in those goblin heads that the person who opened the vault of Shafik's house was a young girl with chestnut hair and blue-green eyes." Voldemort watched Snape's reaction and said slowly, "I remember that in the Order of the Phoenix There's a guy like that, what's his name? Oh, yes, it's like—Esther Collins—"

"Sev? Sev? Severus? Wake up, Severus!" Someone called himself.

Snape opened his eyes suddenly, looking blankly at a pair of anxious eyes in front of him.

"What's wrong with you? You didn't sleep well, and you sweated so much." Esther gently wiped the sweat off his head and asked worriedly.

"It's nothing, it's just a nightmare." Snape took Esther's hand, pulled her into his arms, and held her tightly, as if afraid of losing her.

"Sev?" Esther was a little hurt from being strangled.She twisted slightly to make herself more comfortable. "Dream what?" she asked.

"Voldemort," he said simply.

"It's been so long, and you still have nightmares?" Esther also hugged Snape tightly.

"It's okay, it's okay, go to sleep." Snape reassured her.

But he couldn't sleep.Voldemort has been dead for more than five months, and Death Eaters have been arrested and brought to justice.Everything is going in a good direction.But he still couldn't get out of the shadow brought to him by Voldemort.Even though he knew that Esther was by his side, there was no danger.But he still had frequent dreams of being around Voldemort, and Occlumency couldn't help him out.

A soft hand stroked his back repeatedly, calming his beating heart slowly.He gently kissed the top of the hair of the girl in his arms, responding to her comfort.

"How about we go out for a walk?" Esther said softly.

Snape sat up and pinned Esther's long hair behind his ears. "You go to sleep, I can go by myself."

"I just moved here and I couldn't sleep, I just went out to get familiar with the familiar environment." Esther stood up, pecked Snape's thin lips lightly, and left the bed to sort out his clothes.

Their new home is on the edge of a small town in southwestern England, a place the two had chosen long ago.But Snape has been living at Hogwarts, and Esther is also busy with a large order that Professor Slughorn helped her introduce.So it wasn't until the school holidays that they found time to tidy up the house here and move the things they could use in Spider's End Alley.

This is their first day in their new home, but the new start doesn't seem to be going well.

Snape walked along the cobblestone path holding Esther's hand, feeling a little guilty.Although it is already summer, the nights are still a bit chilly.Esther was woken up by himself, and he had to take a walk with him in the middle of the night, he couldn't bear it.But it seemed that the little girl was much happier than he thought.She looked around with her shining eyes, and kept introducing him to new discoveries.

"Today's weather is really good, you can see so many stars - there is a stone bridge over there, let's go and have a look - that dark thing looks like a wild duck, do you think I can catch one in the past —Hey, there’s fish in the river, let’s go fishing in the daytime—no, I want to fish right now—or let’s weave a net—”

"It's cold at night, let's wait until daytime." Snape didn't expect Esther to do it, and hurriedly said before she dragged him to the hedge.

"I don't feel cold, are you cold?" Esther asked with her head tilted.

"No, not cold." Snape was convinced by her expectant eyes.

Esther smiled contentedly and started making her net.However, her craftsmanship is not very good, and it is still loose after weaving for a long time.Snape secretly cast a fixing spell to make the thing work.

They walked to the river, and the fish shadows swayed in the clear water.Esther took off her shoes and socks impatiently, rolled up her pant legs, and walked into the river with what she called a "net".

"Sev, the ice in the water is so cool and comfortable, you can come down too." Esther suggested.

"I'll forget it, you can play." Snape refused.

Esther didn't feel disappointed, but quickly threw himself into the battle of catching fish.

The fish in the water are very cunning, and her tools are not easy to use.After a while, she was soaked by the splash of water and a large piece of clothes was wet.

"Is it so difficult to catch fish? I thought it would be easy. I have already figured out how to eat it..." After another failure, Esther said with some frustration.

"Try again, maybe it will succeed next time." Snape secretly held his wand.

Sure enough, when Esther fished again, the fish didn't run away in a daze, and she caught it into the net at once.

"Catched! Caught! Sev, look, I caught!" Esther ran ashore excitedly and showed him the big fish.

Snape slipped his wand back and the corners of his mouth curled up.

The big fish flopped about in the net, throwing water droplets everywhere.Snape dodged the splashing water and took a slight step back.Esther rushed forward with a smirk and said, "Now your clothes are wet, you can go down with me to fish."

But she didn't expect that Snape was busy dodging and lost his center of gravity, and the two of them fell directly to the ground.

"Uh, sorry, Sev, I didn't mean to." Esther sat up from him awkwardly.

"Be careful next time." Snape said slightly seriously.

"It's just that there can be a next time, isn't it?" Esther smiled again.He took off his shoes, "Don't do it next time, just this time. You're wet anyway, come down with me." He rolled up his trouser legs again.

Snape made a helpless expression and was dragged into the water by Estella.The cool river water is not as cold as imagined, but slightly cool.This coolness just extinguished the anxiety in his heart and made him relax.

"Left, left, on your left," Esther yelled.

Snape was not in a hurry but slowly lowered the net into the water.The fish swam warily around the edge of the net, but made no attempt to get in.Snape snapped at it at the closest approach, and the fish swam away quickly.This annoyed Snape, who pulled out his wand directly and slammed it in the direction the fish was swimming, and the fish struggled in the air and was thrown onto the bank.

"You cheated!" Esther was not reconciled that he succeeded the first time.

"I just used a better method," Snape said triumphantly.

Esther huffed and said nothing.Suddenly she bent down sharply, raising a wave of water, and splashing revenge on Snape.

Snape didn't expect her to do this, and before the hand holding the wand could move, the river poured over his head and face.

"Esther!" he yelled angrily.

Esther chuckled and splashed more water on him.Snape decided to fight back, but he didn't touch the water with his hands like Esther, but chose to use his wand.

Large swathes of water splashed on Esther's body, and her hair became in locks, dripping with water.

"Severus!" Esther pulled out his wand as well.

So catching fish turned into a big fight, and the fish in the water had long since slipped away.

Back on the shore, Snape conjured up a towel and covered Esther's head to help her wipe her long hair.Esther lit a fire in front of them angrily.

"You did it first." There was a hint of pleasure in Snape's voice.

"The fish are all gone!" Esther, who started the "war" but failed miserably, cast her anger elsewhere.

"Aren't there two more here?" Snape said while hanging Esther's coat by the fire, and drying her inner shirt with a spell.

"Both are mine, not yours." Esther said angrily.

But after the fish was grilled, Esther naturally shared one.Snape also took it naturally, without further provocation.

After eating half of the fish, Esther tentatively said, "Well, this month is Harry's birthday."

Snape didn't respond, as if he hadn't heard at all.

"They're going to celebrate his birthday at the Burrow and celebrate their Auror status. Shall we go?" Esther mustered up the courage to press on.

"I don't think I have to be on good terms with the 'Savior'," Snape said flatly.

Esther ate her grilled fish silently without saying a word.

"Of course you can go, you don't have to think about me," Snape added after a while.

"No, I think it might be a busy day, I don't like crowded places, you know that," Est said.

On Harry's birthday, Esther finished her potions order as usual.However, this was a wrong decision. Her potion was not up to the expected standard because of the quality of her potion, which was reduced due to distraction.

Snape didn't know when he came to Esther's workshop, frowned and looked into the cauldron, "I didn't know this kind of thing could be sold. Is the threshold for pharmacists so low now?"

"It's just a small mistake, I can fix it." Esther bit her lip and stirred again.

"Let me do it." Snape rolled up his sleeves and got to work.All that was left of the old brand was a light brown scar, showing a little mark from the edge of the sleeve.

"They don't pay enough to hire a Potions master," said Esther.

"But there is a husband who is willing to help his wife unconditionally," Snape said casually, watching intently the liquid seething in the cauldron.

The dense fog seemed to bring them back to the original state: he operated, she helped, quiet and tacit understanding.

Fortunately, the summer sun was reluctant to set, so they could still see the warm red light in the sky after completing the order.Esther went outside to stretch her body, and took a deep breath of fresh air.Snape threw a traveling cloak over her and asked blankly, "Would you like to go out and relax?"

"Okay, where are you going?" Esther asked.

"Focus on me, I'll take you with me." After Snape finished speaking, he dragged Esther into the air and disappeared.

When Esther opened his eyes again, he found a crooked house not far away.Snape had actually brought her to the Burrow.

"Didn't you say..." Esther was both surprised and confused.

"I haven't changed my mind." Snape said calmly, "I just don't want you to cook dinner." He walked towards the yard calmly first.

Harry's birthday party was not over yet, and they all warmly welcomed them when they arrived.Not even Sirius expressed any negativity.Harry next to Ginny thanked Esther for the traveling cloak and Snape for the cloak links.Only then did Esther realize that Snape had also sent something.She looked at the expressionless Snape and nodded slightly, wanting to ask him when he delivered it.But Tonks didn't give her the chance.She dragged Esther to watch her three-month-old son Teddy Lupine in the stroller at the front of the long table.

"His disguise technique is almost catching up with yours." Esther looked at Teddy and said.His big eyes looked back and forth between Esther and Tonks, and his hair was constantly changing from maroon to pink in response to his eyes.

"Smooth is like me too. He's broken the bottle five times already," Tonks said with a laugh.

"I think he just likes the sound of the bottle breaking." Lupine explained gently for Teddy.

"Let her eat something first. Severus said she's been brewing potions all day, she must be starving." Molly pulled her away from Teddy and pressed her down on the chair, "I'll warm you up again." Hot soup, eat a piece of cake first."

Esther looked at the other end of the long table where Snape and Arthur were talking about something.Probably some serious topic, because Hermione and Percy were listening carefully, as if they were ready to speak at any time.Ron, who was sitting next to Hermione, turned the fork around absently.

Fred and George went around Esther to introduce their new skipping candy, and hoped that Esther would advance their potion order.Under their repeated demands, Esther had to move forward the page of the loose-leaf book that said Weasley's Wheezes.

A tiny crescent moon climbed into the air, and Esther followed Snape back to their territory.

Esther sat on the edge of the bed and licked her mouth as she recalled Molly's vegetable soup.

"Not full?" Snape asked.

"It's full, it's delicious, aftertaste." Esther stuck out her tongue embarrassingly.

"I'm still a bit hungry," Snape said.

"Then I'll make you a sandwich?" Esther asked.

"No need," said Snape. "You like children? I see you and Tonks watching them for a long time."

"He is very interesting, his hair changes and he looks cute." Esther recalled that Little Teddy's face became extremely gentle.

"I also think I should eat more."

Esther didn't understand why Snape's subject had come back.She was about to get up and tell him to make another bacon sandwich when Snape pulled her to her.

"Just a little dessert is enough." Snape's unspoken emotion flickered in his dark eyes, igniting Esther's heart.She closed her eyes and waited quietly.

Finally, a piece of soft lips pressed against her, disturbing her breathing.The night is so charming and intoxicating.

The author has something to say:

In order to thank everyone for watching, I added a special episode.Thanks again everyone.