[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"There's no need to continue, Albus." Tahlia frowned. "I've made it clear to you that I refuse."

"But you refused too quickly..." Dumbledore said softly. "It makes me feel like you're doing this on purpose—"

"Yeah, I did it on purpose," Tahlia said quickly. "I admit, I just don't want to go back to school anyway."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment before speaking softly. "Is it because of Severus?" and seeing Tahlia's downcast face, he had his answer.

For some unknown reason, Tahlia became unwilling to have any contact with Snape──

"Why?" He couldn't help asking. "Could it be because of what he planned to report on you earlier?" There was a pause. "But he has realized his mistake, boy—this time he intends to get along with you—"

"That's completely different from how he plans to get along with me," Tahlia said coldly. "I just finally figured out who he was."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore didn't expect to get this answer, and couldn't react for a while, and Tahlia's expression didn't seem to be joking.

"Literally," Tahlia said, suddenly froze for a moment, and frowned, but the movement was so short that Dumbledore automatically ignored it before he had time to react even though he saw it. "Are you saying I'm stupid? It took me so long to realize this..."

"It's never stupid to love someone, boy—"

"No." Tahlia interrupted Dumbledore directly. "You don't have to share your theory with me anymore, because I don't believe it." After a pause, Dumbledore's face became a little depressed. "Have you started to seriously consider whether it's appropriate to entrust Harry to my care?"

Dumbledore didn't speak. He thought that what Tahlia said was definitely not the truth, but he couldn't find any reason to refute her.

"You know, loving someone is also conditional." Tahlia said flatly. "If there are people in this world who give unreservedly, they will just be eliminated in the end──"

"Child—"

"So I'm glad I recognized that fact."

Dumbledore stared at Tahlia in silence for a long moment, and finally, sighed. "If you looked a little happier when you said that, maybe I'd be convinced," he said.

"Who says I'm unhappy?" Tahlia looked at Dumbledore indifferently. "I'm used to my life now—"

"You also said it's a habit..." Dumbledore continued. "You deserve a better life—"

"And you think going back to school and teaching is a better life?" Tahlia shook her head in disbelief. "I thought it was a tragedy last time, Albus──I'm not fit to be a professor at all──" After a pause, he added. "No student wants me to teach."

"Actually—" Dumbledore cleared his throat. "There are very few students who don't want you to teach—and as far as I know, Mr. Anderson just graduated from school." Tahlia snorted. "Leaving aside your… grievances with certain families—" Trying to ignore Tahlia's darkened face, he continued. "Even though you've only been teaching for half a year, Tahlia -- their test scores are all-time high...Whether they admit it or not, you're a great professor."

"Then you should let Snape do it," Tahlia said coldly. "Most of those syllabi were written by him, not by me—"

"Unless you can provide me with another good person to teach Potions, I'm afraid Severus will have to stay on as Potions Master."

"Ah, so it's my responsibility again?" Tahlia raised an eyebrow. "I took care of Harry, I destroyed so many Horcruxes for you, I even mingled with Voldemort as your spy before -- obviously these are not enough, are they? Of course I should also worry about your school's teaching staff, Yes, it really makes sense."

Dumbledore frowned, and Tahlia in front of him once again made him feel strange, and this feeling was definitely not comfortable. "If I remember correctly, Lily asked you to take care of Harry before she died──"

Tahlia glared at Dumbledore. "Are you still going to say that I asked for trouble to find and destroy the Horcrux? I asked to be a spy myself?" Her volume rose a lot before she knew it, and she was sitting quietly by the side. Harry had faintly sensed that something was wrong, and took Nigel away from his small table, and hid in a small room further inside. "I know you have your own considerations, I've always known—and I also understand that you have good intentions in everything you do, but I still want to tell you, Albus—" she said clearly . "I don't want to do anything superfluous other than working with you to get rid of Voldemort forever, I don't want to."

She paused for a moment, staring straight at Dumbledore, whose mouth was slightly parted, whether in surprise or astonishment. "You said that I was not very happy... I don't deny it-but it's not your concern-it excludes our common purpose. At best, I'm just a student you taught before, don't think about it Pay attention to me, okay?" As he spoke, his tone had gradually returned to calm. "I just want to do what I should do well now, and I don't have the energy to take care of other things—" Looking away, she seemed to be very interested in the paper on the small table where Nigel was sitting just now. big interest. "Everyone gets tired." She murmured. "Besides, why should I have to go back to school?"

"I've already told you the reason, child—" Dumbledore said slowly. "Severus needs to know exactly about Harry's physical condition—"

"Then let Harry live there."

"What?" Dumbledore's eyes widened, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"I say," Tahlia said flatly, turning back to look at Dumbledore. "Since Snape thinks this is so important, then let Harry go - so he can definitely have a very accurate grasp of Harry's physical condition." There was a pause. "If he disagrees, it just proves he doesn't have to, does it?"

Dumbledore was silent.

For a while, no one spoke again, and the entire space was so silent that even the slight dripping of water from the kitchen could be heard.

"At first I wasn't sure whether your change was good or bad, child—" Dumbledore spoke after a long time, and the tone revealed a hint of regret. "Are you really going to give up on yourself?"

"If I really give up, do you think I will come back?" Tahlia asked lightly. "I'm more curious why you insist on me going back to school—"

Why are you so persistent?

Dumbledore found he couldn't tell either.

This is rare, and usually he has his own set of convincing opinions, but at this moment he has no ideas at all.

This made him feel that maybe it was a very wrong decision for him to keep asking Tahlia to return to the professorship.

What Tahlia said was so true.

Everything she said was well-founded, so what reason could I use to convince her?

Finally, Dumbledore sighed.

"Maybe I'm wrong—" he said. "I really don't understand why on earth I'm insisting on you going back to school—presumably people are right, I'm getting old..."

Or maybe, he just wanted to keep Tahlia in sight, and ever since she came back, he had always had the feeling that she might do something stupid someday.

Tahlia didn't speak, just stood quietly.

Dumbledore, who also seemed to have given up on trying to convince Tahlia to go back to school, sighed again. "But what Severus said is not entirely unreasonable, Tahlia... Maybe he can come over every week to find out how Harry is—"

"I'll go - without him." Tahlia interrupted Dumbledore directly. "Let him come here specially—I'm ashamed."

"Tahlia—"

"That's it." Tahlia continued, ignoring Dumbledore's still thinking about what to say. "I'll go every Sunday and tell him for me—" she said, and then, as if deciding to stop the conversation, she pointed in the direction of the door. "When you leave, please take the time to restore the spell on the door to its original state, thank you."

This is a eviction order...

It wasn't the first time Dumbledore had been asked out with such superficial politeness, but this was Tahlia—

He found that he could no longer associate the indifferent woman in front of him with the girl who stood timidly at the door of his office talking to him many years ago.

But at the moment his mind was filled with only one thought.

It should be said that there is a doubt.

Why did Tahlia suddenly have such a change?

But he couldn't continue to think about it. What he should do at this moment is to leave here. If he wants to know the truth of this matter, he will leave it for later... I hope that Tahlia will choose to speak at that time, instead of preferring to hide alone. Keep the sorrows for yourself──

Dumbledore gave Tahlia one last meaningful look, nodded, then turned around and stepped out of the living room slowly—of course, he didn't forget to restore the spell on the door.

As soon as Dumbledore left, Tahlia sat down on the sofa, staring blankly ahead.

In fact, she didn't deliberately let the principal leave so abruptly──

"Tahlia...?"

Apparently the sound of Dumbledore leaving was heard by the two children, the door of the side room was opened, Harry and Nigel both poked their heads out, and rushed out after seeing Tahlia's suddenly pale face. "Are you sick again?" Harry asked loudly.

"A little bit," Tahlia said, her voice much weaker than it was not long ago. "But it's okay—"

Harry looked at Tahlia in disbelief. "You don't look anything but okay!" he said.

"It's really okay this time, Harry──" Tahlia closed her eyes and leaned back against the back of the sofa. "At least I'm still awake..."

Harry kept his mouth shut, and secretly exchanged glances with Nigel, the two of them simultaneously remembered the incident when Tahlia passed out in the living room when she came back one night two weeks ago.

"Nigel, go get a glass of water—" Harry ordered.And Nigel didn't hesitate, and quickly ran into the kitchen, and after a while, he ran out carefully holding a cup. "Be careful—" Harry couldn't help but start, because Nigel looked like he was about to spill all the water in the glass.

And in the next second, the tragedy happened──

Nigel lost his footing and fell forward directly, and because he was holding a cup with both hands, he had no time to reach out to support the floor, and his face hit the ground heavily.

For a moment, several people were stunned, including Tahlia who opened her eyes suddenly when she heard the sound.

I saw Nigel slowly getting up, his nose was flushed from the impact, and then his eyes filled with tears, but he held back, just not wanting the liquid in his eyes to flow out, and looked at Tahlia stubbornly, his hands tightly Holding the glass tightly, even though the water in it had been spilled long ago, there was a pool of water on the ground, soaking his socks.

"...Go and wipe the floor dry." Tahlia frowned, feeling a little headache again, couldn't help reaching out and pressing her forehead hard.

Nigel immediately rushed back to the kitchen, grabbed the rag and ran back, quickly wiped the water off the floor, then stood up and looked at Tahlia timidly. "I'm sorry, Tahlia." He was going to get her water, but he didn't get anything done.

"I'm not angry." Tahlia closed her eyes again, she seemed to have no strength to open them, and the words she spoke were weak. "I'm just telling you that you have to solve the mistakes you made by yourself, and no one will help you──" Later, these words turned into murmurs. "That's right, no one will...help..."