[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"Should everyone's contract be the same?" Tahlia asked, while pulling apart the parchment, and looked at it one by one. It was mostly listed on teachers' benefits and so on.

Snape didn't answer, it should be said that he didn't notice what Tahlia said at all, because his attention was completely absorbed by little Harry.

It turned out that while Tahlia was studying the contract, Harry quietly climbed off her feet and moved towards Snape cautiously, probably because the sudden appearance in front of him made him feel very fresh.

Anyway, when Tahlia looked back, she just saw Harry standing next to Snape, looking at him curiously, and Snape—

Snape's eyes widened, staring straight at Harry.

If it weren't for the fact that Tahlia could probably guess Snape's inner emotions, she would have laughed at the sight of the big and small looking at each other as if they were frozen in motion.

"Harry," Tahlia called.

But Harry seemed to be obsessed with observation, he didn't respond to Tahlia's shout, and still looked straight at Snape with his head tilted, no matter how ugly the man in front of him was.

"Harry." Tahlia called out again, raising her voice. "come over."

Harry turned around, giggled at Tahlia, and slowly moved back to her side.

"Sorry." Tahlia said, and found that her throat was unusually dry.

"No need," Snape said dryly, standing up.

"You're leaving?" Tahlia blurted out, then immediately regretted it.

She could almost predict what Snape's next words would be—

"It's dinner time, Tahlia."

Tahlia froze, it was far from the answer she had imagined... She thought it would be an answer asking her to mind her own business.

"And you obviously have no food here," he added.

Just finished speaking, a house-elf appeared out of nowhere, and said to Tahlia under Snape's incomprehensible gaze. "Miss, are you having dinner in the office tonight?"

Snape turned his head to see an embarrassed Tahlia. "For the first time, I know that the professor also has the privilege of being able to eat alone in the office...?" he asked.

"Uh…" Tahlia looked away. "You can't ask me to take Harry to the hall──" Seeing that Harry was already familiar with the house-elf walking around, he opened his mouth unconsciously. "Why don't we eat together?"

As soon as the words were finished, Tahlia wanted to kill herself again.

If she was not mistaken, she had just asked Snape to have dinner with her.

She had even invited Snape to dinner!

What surprised her even more was that Snape actually nodded in agreement after hesitating for a while, slowly sat back on the sofa, and began to order the house elf to prepare food.

Snape's actions completely made Tahlia's head stop.

"I thought it was time to eat now?" Snape raised an eyebrow when he turned his head and saw Tahlia standing there motionless. "Or do you expect me to know what he... what does the kid want to eat?"

"Oh, yes—" Tahlia murmured, absently naming a few dishes before looking at Snape. "Are... are you really Severus?" Wasn't someone given Polyjuice Potion?

The corners of Snape's mouth twitched, but he leaned back in the chair comfortably and spoke slowly. "What would you do if I was someone else in disguise?"

"Of course to find out your whereabouts──" Tahlia said naturally. "No matter what means──" Then he remembered that the person in front of him couldn't possibly be pretending, closed his mouth, and saw Snape's squinted eyes when he looked up. "But you're not pretending."

"Obviously," Snape said flatly.

Tahlia has never been so grateful for creatures like house-elves, she used to think of them as just a weird slave-loving creature, and was troubled by their unique shrill voices, but now—

Seeing the house-elf break the awkward silence between the two of them by showing up just in time with dinner, Tahlia suddenly felt that there was no cuter creature in the world than a house-elf.

But she soon realized that she was wrong.

The embarrassment was interrupted only for a moment, when the elf disappeared, and after they had picked up their knives and forks to eat, an awkward silence fell over the room.

Immediately, only the sound of the knife and fork colliding with the plate was heard, and even Harry sat obediently, letting Tahlia feed him food mouth by mouth, without making a sound.

Snape quickly cleared the food from his plate and shot Tahlia a look. "By the way, the principal wanted me to ask you—" Tahlia looked up, waiting for him to continue. "How did you adapt this week?"

"Not bad, I guess," she said.If ignoring the protests shown by some students. "you know what I mean."

Snape nodded slowly, and after a moment of silence, he spoke again. "About the professor before you, the syllabus he left behind—"

"I think it's perfect." Tahlia said, frowning.She found Snape's uncharacteristic re-initiation of the topic, something he'd never done before.

"Obviously you overestimated the abilities of those students." Snape said flatly. "I've also read that syllabus. If it continues to be taught as above, not only will they not learn anything, but it will even make them more confused—"

Tahlia stopped eating in surprise. "But I think that's a good pace..."

"That's why I say you overestimate them," Snape said dismissively. "Not everyone is what you were."

"Oh." Tahlia replied blankly.

"Then what to do?" she asked.

So she felt that it was definitely not the most suitable decision to make her a professor. She was good at studying before, but it didn't mean she was also good at teaching others.

Snape slowly took the napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth, and opened his mouth slowly. "I think I should have some time to give you some advice—"

"Really?" Tahlia raised an eyebrow.

"Unless you think my research on this subject doesn't catch your eye at all." Snape said coldly. "If that's what you think, then let this matter go—"

"Wait!" Tahlia said hastily. "Of course I would, I mean, it'd be great." She still couldn't believe that Snape would offer to help her with something. "I appreciate it, thank you."

Snape nodded, then stood up, and this time he should really be leaving. "Then, I'll let you know the time."

Tahlia nodded blankly, and she was still in a state of astonishment even after Snape left for a long time, and even the babbling protests of little Harry couldn't bring her back to her senses.

What happened recently?

Eventually, Tahlia approached the principal.

If one were to ask about Snape's recent anomalies, Dumbledore was obviously the most likely to know, but after she expressed her doubts, she got a vague answer from the Headmaster.

"That kid Severus has always been fascinated by the study of the Dark Arts, I think you already know that, kid."

Dumbledore said so.

It made sense, damn it, Snape did love studying the Dark Arts, so it made perfect sense that he'd want to discuss the Defense Against the Dark Arts syllabus with himself, even if he was the Potions professor at the school.

But Tahlia still vaguely felt that this was definitely not the main motivation behind Snape's initiative to discuss it with her.

After asking no results, Tahlia also gave up.

Anyway, Snape didn't call out to kill her as soon as he saw her, but calmly asked himself to discuss the syllabus, which was already very satisfying.

She knew she shouldn't expect anything, she shouldn't expect Snape to suddenly have a crush on her again, but she still couldn't resist agreeing to his proposal, as if she was greedy for the feeling of being with him, now Thinking about it, I really shouldn't always suppress myself.

Voldemort would come back, absolutely would, and if she didn't do something now, she wouldn't have the chance again.

She really wished that Snape cared more about her too.

Perhaps, based on his recent behavior towards her, she could think that Snape was willing to let go of the tit-for-tat between the two of them in the past?

That's right, thinking about it this way, she felt more able to accept Snape's recent weirdness.

And Snape was called by Dumbledore.

"I'm busy." Snape glared at Dumbledore darkly. "Why did you ask me to come here this time?"

Dumbledore stared straight at Snape, and for a moment he had a flashback to that night when the old man showed his majesty, that stormy night...

"Can I understand that what I said earlier had some effect on you?" He said slowly.

Snape froze for a moment, but then he spoke. "What did you say?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Dumbledore stared sharply at Snape. "Trust me, you'll regret it."

"No." Snape said stiffly. "You do not understand……"

"I don't understand—" Dumbledore cut him off, raising his hand. "I don't think you're much better than me, though, Severus." Seeing Snape's sullen face sinking into silence, he continued. "It's not what I thought it was, is it?"

There was silence in the headmaster's room, and it seemed like a long time before Snape nodded at an unusually slow speed, turned around and wanted to leave without saying anything.

"Severus," Dumbledore called, adding another sentence after Snape stopped in his tracks. "Grudges don't solve anything, kid."

Snape nodded hastily again, then quickly opened the door and left.

Dumbledore sighed. For the first time, he felt that the children in front of him had all grown up, and they were no longer the carefree appearance they used to be in school. Maybe Crouch was right, he was indeed old──

He has no way to try to influence a person's actions, just like now.

Snape's resentment ran too deep, and Tahlia cared too much about him to cloud her judgement, but there was nothing he could do about the situation between them.

It didn't look like Snape would let Lily's death go easily, and it was impossible for Tahlia to listen to her own judgment of Snape.

The two of them now seemed to him to be standing together on a narrow, crumbling spire. Once pushed and collided, the result would be a complete fall. The problem is—

Who will fall?