[HP] Can you be gentle with me

After Snape said that he would stay at the potions shop around the corner for a while, Tahlia slipped into a very unassuming little shop. It was a bookstore, but it was definitely not sunny like Lihen Bookstore, suitable for the whole family. Like dangling inside.The only source of light inside was a lamp on the counter, and the whole store looked very eerie and scary.

She walked over to the counter without looking at or touching any of the books on the shelf.

Behind the counter was an old wizard, his face was full of wrinkles, and his movements seemed very slow and dull. He didn't even respond to Tahlia's arrival, and he still kept his head down and sorted out the accounts forgetfully.

"Ahem." Tahlia cleared her throat.

The old wizard slowly raised his head, and then opened his eyes wide. "Miss Watson." Immediately she wanted to stand up from her seat.

Tahlia stopped him directly with her hand. "Find me a book," she said. "The book "Deciphering the Advanced Dark Arts" with annotations..."

"The book!" exclaimed the old wizard, and Tahlia wondered how someone of his age could make such a high-pitched voice. "That book was given to you long ago—"

"I know that book is at the Dark Lord's…" Tahlia said, frowning, waving a hand impatiently. "I took it from you myself, but the book hasn't been seen since he disappeared - and I need you to get it back -" Pause, staring straight at the old wizard. "I know you have a special connection—"

"Get it back?" the old wizard said tremblingly.

"I have my own purpose, do I still have to report to you?" Tahlia said coldly.

The old wizard shook his head hastily. "No, no, no...of course you don't have to tell me──" He lowered his head and began to search for something under the counter. "I remember it was here..." He muttered, and after a while, he straightened up holding a piece of worn parchment, spread the paper on the counter, and took out his wand.

Originally, there were no words on the paper, but under the muttering of the old wizard, lines of characters suddenly began to appear.

Tahlia knew what it was, which was why the bookstore was known as the dodest shop in Knockturn Alley--even more dodgy than the famous dark magic house a few houses away.

All the books in this bookstore have been cursed. The old wizard did not know where he got the spell, and no one knows how to break it so far. But as long as he wants, he can trace the location of the book at any time, so he Sell ​​the book, get it back surreptitiously, sell it again, get it back—

If it weren't for the fact that the books in this bookstore are usually the only ones left in the world, or that the books have unique annotations, it is impossible for them to remain open until now.

At this moment, all the old wizard was doing was tracking down the location of the book that Voldemort had taken.

Not long after, the handwriting stopped appearing, and the last line marked the current location of the book──

Both of them took a closer look, and the old wizard's face instantly revealed a regretful expression, because he knew that he would never get the book back, and his place was not a place that ordinary people could enter at will, maybe Watson took it. After returning the book, can he persuade her to give it back to him?

Tahlia breathed a sigh of relief, the place written on it was clear, and she happened to be working there as a professor now.

If she had known that she had directly asked Dumbledore if he had taken the book from the beginning, she wouldn't have come here on purpose.

After getting a satisfactory answer, Tahlia didn't stop at the bookstore, turned around and left, and walked back to the potion shop that Snape entered just now.

It looked like he'd picked out what he wanted, a paper bag was already on the counter, and Snape was pulling gold coins out of his wallet.

"I'm alright," Tahlia said, walking up to him, and Snape nodded without speaking. "Where are you going to go later?" She had achieved her purpose in Diagon Alley today, and maybe Snape would still want to buy something.

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of Snape's left cheek, which was faintly bruised—

"No." Snape said flatly, turned his head and found Tahlia looking at him with a strange expression, frowning. "how?"

"Uh…" Tahlia hesitated for a moment, then pointed to Snape's left cheek. "There, the bruise—"

Snape reached out to touch his cheek, and Tahlia saw his face twitch slightly.It seemed that the punch Sirius just punched was really hard.

"It hurts?" she asked.

Snape lowered his hands slowly. "There has been more pain."

Tahlia knew what he was referring to, and of course she couldn't have said it. "Then we go back to school?" Seeing that Snape picked up the paper bag carefully after nodding, he couldn't help asking. "What did you buy?"

"Something you've never heard of." Snape tucked the packet into his robes. "Let's go." After finishing speaking, he quickly walked out of the store.

Tahlia pursed her lips and followed silently.

Snape was definitely in a bad mood right now, and it was [-]% because he had just been punched by Sirius.

It was past dinner time when they got back to school, Snape didn't say much and said he was going back to the cellar, and Tahlia also wanted to go back to the room to see Harry earlier, although she didn't have to worry about Harry not having something to eat, Because she had ordered the house elf to prepare his food before going out, so when she stepped into the office, Harry had already finished his meal, and at some point he climbed into a relatively low armchair and sat down. Playing with the dolls in front of it.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Harry turned his head almost instantly. This has become the scene every time Tahlia returns to the office these days.

"Tahli!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully.He climbed awkwardly out of the armchair and moved in front of Tahlia, wrapping his short arms around her feet.

"It's Tahlia." Tahlia hugged Harry angrily. "It's not a difficult name, why do you always call it like Draco?"

Harry tilted his head, clearly having no idea what Tahlia was talking about.

"Forget it…" Tahlia smiled. "Guess who I met today? It's your godfather, Sirius Black—I'll take you to see him another day, okay?"

"Siri──?" Harry blinked, repeated, and then became excited. "Big Dog! Play!"

"Yes, the big dog," Tahlia said. "Do you want to go find him?"

Harry nodded vigorously.

Although she was not sure how much Harry understood, Tahlia still made up her mind that she would definitely take Harry to meet Sirius sometime. After all, he was Harry's godfather. Even if Lily wanted to take good care of Harry, she shouldn't always Hide Harry from even Sirius.

Tahlia was struggling.

She wanted Sirius to visit Harry often in the future, and it seemed that Sirius was busier with their jobs now, and she would almost stay in that small apartment after the summer vacation, so it would definitely be more convenient for Sirius to come over, but── ─

She had never intended to let anyone know about it, save for the accident of losing Snape.

Before the chaos really ended, she had to keep a place where no one would disturb her. Does this mean that she had to find another place?

A place that no one knew about - not even Snape.

But that has to be done slowly.

After playing with Harry for a while, Tahlia hurriedly left the office and headed for the principal's office.

Saying the password to the two stone statues, Tahlia stepped onto the revolving stone staircase and knocked lightly on the top door a few times.

"Please come in." The permission for her to enter quickly came from inside, and the door was slowly pushed open. The old man in front of him seemed not at all surprised by her visit.

"I need the book you got from Voldemort," she said directly.

Dumbledore froze for a moment. "Why do you want that all of a sudden?" When he was studying at Voldemort, he was able to easily get the "Deciphering the Advanced Dark Arts" that was in the school library at that time, so he moved the book out of precaution. In the principal's office.

Unexpectedly, after graduation, after Voldemort split his soul according to that book, he faintly sensed that something was wrong, and ordered someone to find another copy of "Deciphering Advanced Dark Arts" with notes, which was different from the original one in school. , the notes on the outside book are very detailed, with a more precise process of making the Horcrux, as well as other detailed descriptions.

Of course, after Voldemort's body died, he also found the book.

Now what does Tahlia want this book for?

"I think that in order to destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, I must also know more about this thing──Don't look at me so defensively, Albus... You know that I will never make that kind of thing in my life──" Tahlia wrinkled frown.

"Sorry." Dumbledore's tone sounded awkward. "A bad habit of youth—"

"No." Tahlia shook her head and stepped forward to sit down in front of Dumbledore. "It can't be called a bad habit ... in fact, in the current situation, this habit is indispensable."

"But it shouldn't be to you, child—" Dumbledore raised his hand to stop the conversation. "Okay, let's change the subject—" He stood up slowly, and took out two hardcover books with identical covers from a hidden compartment that appeared out of nowhere in the bookcase. "Do you think that these two books contain the key to destroying Horcruxes?"

"No, only the one with notes." Tahlia shook her head again, leaned slightly, and opened the older one. "Look, here──" Spread the book on a certain page, pointing to the page. "I remember you saying that when Voldemort was still at school, he asked the headmaster a question - what happens to a soul that is split more than once?" Seeing Dumbledore's slight nod, she continued. "And here he got the answer."

Tahlia was surprised that Dumbledore had brought the book back long ago, but had never looked through it carefully, and she could probably guess the reason—perhaps it was Dumbledore's subconscious aversion and rejection of black magic that made him I had to keep it carefully, but never planned to read it.

"It clearly states the maximum number of souls that can be split, Albus." The reason she knew this was because she had rummaged through the book a little earlier when she was ordered by Voldemort to fetch it. "It's six."

Dumbledore's expression looked blank.

"But I have heard Voldemort express his desire for the number seven in front of us more than once. It is not difficult to understand—after all, seven is the most magical number, but now it seems that he has no way to divide seven souls as he wishes. ──” Tahlia continued. "It says on it that six is ​​the limit, and after splitting six times, my soul itself will be at the critical point of collapse. If it is hit by something, it will easily break apart. I think Voldemort is too confident in himself. , will split the soul to the limit six times... In his cognition, there is no one who can impact him-"

The room fell into a brief silence.

After a while, Dumbledore spoke slowly. "Shock..."

Tahlia nodded, looking very determined, and every word she said next was very clear, and every word and every word hit Dumbledore's forehead deeply. "I think his failure on Halloween night -- it was definitely a shock to him..." she said. "There was definitely something else that happened that night - I can't say now, but I have a very uneasy feeling about... Albus."