[HP] Can you be gentle with me

And so it was settled.

Dumbledore's assurances were right.

The Weasleys are very good people, and obviously because they were members of the Order of the Phoenix before, they both knew Tahlia's embarrassment, so on the weekend they met, Tahlia fully experienced Mrs. Weasley's enthusiasm and pity hug.

It had been a long time since she had received such warmth from anyone other than her friends.

Throughout the afternoon, she could feel the kindness they showed her, not the kind of deliberately pretended emotions, but the attitude of genuinely agreeing with her from the heart.

So she was right, maybe that's why Bill was such an excellent student.

This meeting was pleasant, and when facing Molly's smiling face, Tahlia couldn't help showing the same expression. Perhaps it was not entirely a wrong decision for her to choose to come back here for a short time at this time.

Gradually, she could feel the childish interaction with the two little people beside her, and gradually be able to re-experience the emotion of happiness.

And all this happened when she didn't realize it, which also made her feel conflicted.

She was afraid that she would indulge in this illusion of happiness and peace again, and after everything was over, she was greedy for this warmth and could not make up her mind to leave.

This was what Dumbledore wanted the most, right?

Even though she had vowed to him before that she had made up her mind, only she knew how easily her decision could be broken, and she didn't even need words to convince her.Because she subconsciously longs for this kind of atmosphere where others treat her sincerely.

"Maybe you can bring Harry and..." Mr. Weasley, Arthur, said cheerfully this Christmas.

"Nigel."

"Yes, came to our house with Nigel?" He said, not embarrassed by the short pause just now, still enthusiastic. "I think the kids will be happy - Ron and Harry are the same age!"

Tahlia smiled politely. "You know, no matter what the papers say, Harry's just an ordinary kid—"

"Of course..." Arthur answered immediately. "We didn't put the burden of defeating You-Know-Who on the kid like the rest of us did, it was too much for him—" he said, glancing at his wife beside him.

"So we figured at least he'd be able to enjoy his childhood while playing with the rest of the kids, Tahlia—" Molly laughs. "Isn't that why you want to meet us?"

Tahlia nodded slowly. "I really want to let him get along with children of the same age. I always feel that he often pushes himself too much, and often reads books late when I don't pay attention──"

"My Ron's still thinking about what new tricks he's going to play tomorrow—" Molly pretended to complain.

Tahlia smiled and said nothing.After all, Harry's situation was quite abnormal. A seven-year-old kid would always want to study knowledge. Even if he wanted to defeat Voldemort, he was only seven years old.

Like Nigel who is always pestering people to play games with him.

"I'll be there," Tahlia said, adding. "With the kids."

Not long after, when Tahlia was sitting in her office, doing her job as a teaching assistant—grading homework, there was a knock on the door.

And she went to open the door.

"It's so late, what else do you need?" Tahlia actually guessed who the person outside the door would be, so she asked the moment she opened the door. "I remember saying I'd correct these assignments tonight...definitely enough for you to go over them all before sending them back...or, change their grades, Snape."

Snape's face darkened instantly. "It's not because of homework."

Tahlia raised an eyebrow; she didn't back away, so there was no room for Snape to enter her office. "So what are you going to do?"

But Snape snapped his mouth shut and said nothing.

Because he had no idea why he showed up at Tahlia's office door and knocked on it, and he just...

...just a sudden desire to see her, that's all.

Even if they were both in school, even if she even served as his teaching assistant, he would see her face to face very rarely, and the chance to talk to her was even less.

It seemed that Tahlia always knew what he was expecting to teach, even though she hadn't fully complied with what he wanted her to know about the syllabus, and it almost robbed him of the opportunity to talk to her about anything.

During the meal, Tahlia also sat fixedly at the other corner far away from him. After finishing the food on the plate quickly, he left in a hurry. He knew that she was going back to get along with the two children. To his surprise, he actually Angry about it, he always had the feeling that he should be with them too.

"Today is Halloween." After a long time, he said the sentence that flashed through his mind.Although he didn't realize that it was Halloween until the dinner party.

"Ah, yes..." Tahlia sneered mockingly. "So you came here specifically to remind me how responsible I am for the deaths of James and Lily—"

Snape froze for a moment.

Halloween, the day Lily was killed──

He actually remembered it through Tahlia's mouth.

In previous years, he never forgot.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Tahlia continued. "Accuse me of being one of Lily's murderers? Or accuse me of neglecting her?" She spoke quickly, ignoring Snape's increasingly sullen face at her words. "What other excuse do you want to use? I'm curious, Snape."

"I already know you had nothing to do with her death." Snape said as calmly as possible, trying almost to suppress his almost roar. "I got it now."

"Then I should congratulate you." Tahlia said coldly. "I'm glad you finally realized this." There was a strong sense of sarcasm in his tone.

"Stop mocking me, Tahlia," Snape said displeased. "Can't we just say a few words kindly?" he couldn't help asking.After all, he felt that he had adopted the gentlest attitude towards her in his life, but unlike before, Tahlia didn't accept his favor at all.

"Why do we have to say a few words kindly?" Tahlia asked coldly. "Does this help in killing Voldemort?"

Snape frowned. "Of course not—"

"Then I don't want to waste any energy on something that doesn't matter," Tahlia said. "I don't think you should be distracted, it's better to concentrate on studying your stuff──"

"I've put my all into it!" Snape couldn't help growling. "All this is to keep the child alive, what else do you want me to do?"

He couldn't even remember the last time he had a good night's sleep. The work and rest of researching potions was definitely not normal. He often had to spend more than a whole day looking at the cauldron without leaving for a moment, otherwise it was hard to guarantee that he would die. Something had gone wrong, and the last thing he needed right now was someone else to blame him, even if it was Tahlia.

"I didn't think about what you would do." Tahlia said lightly. "You're the one who counts on others to give you affirmation, and all I care about is the result—" Her voice didn't fluctuate at all, and she didn't sound emotional at all, completely different from Snape who was about to yell in front of her . "If your research actually works out, then yes, I'd appreciate it, but before—" She glanced at Snape, rather, at Snape's conspicuous dark circles. "I don't give a damn what you did."

Snape looked furious, mixed with shock. "Really?" he roared, and then realized that his voice startled a student who happened to be passing by, and quickly lowered the volume, and took a small step forward, which made Tahlia unconsciously back a little too. "Of course I have to exhaust myself for Potter?" he growled. "Maybe we should have a good discussion about this, Tahlia, but not here—anyone can tell from our conversation—"

Tahlia was silent.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Snape spoke again, threatening the students around him to look away. "Our conversation isn't meant to go—" and then tried to push Tahlia back.

"Of course our conversation won't spread." Tahlia stopped abruptly, not flinching from Snape's advance, and she smirked. "Because this conversation won't even exist." After saying that, without waiting for Snape to react, he took a big, quick step back, and slammed the door behind him.

Snape was taken aback for a moment, then he came back to see the closed door in front of him, and then realized that he was once again rejected by Tahlia.

again!

I cursed in my heart.

Damn he shouldn't have come here!

He glared angrily at the student who happened to pass by innocently. "Staying in the corridor for no reason, Slytherin buckle..." He closed his mouth, suddenly realized that this was the cellar, and the passing student was from his own college, coughing lightly in disguise. "Confinement, seven o'clock tomorrow night."

He happened to have several barrels of slugs piled up in his classroom, and it was time to take care of them──

Now he just feels extremely irritable, and he can hardly stand it anymore.

Tahlia frustrated herself again and again, criticizing herself again and again──

Her attitude towards him couldn't have been worse...

With a dark face, Snape returned to his office, sat down on the sofa, raised his head, stroked his forehead with one hand and closed his eyes.

Should he think of another way to make Tahlia willing to talk to him again?

No, why is he still thinking of doing this?In the past, if someone had made such an expression on him, it was impossible for him to still think about treating that person kindly──

He... cares about her, right?

"She has no reason at all to be nice to you, has she?"

"What?" He uttered a loud voice, and quickly sat up straight from the chair.

After looking around the office to see that no one else was there, Snape realized that the voice he had just heard was just his hallucination.

"Lily..." he murmured.

Snape's mind flashed back to what Lily had said to him a few years ago when he showed up at the potions shop where he worked.

She was so damn right.

This is the case now.

There's really no reason Tahlia should be nice to him, and he's really not used to Tahlia being sarcastic to him.

"What should I do?" he whispered.Pretend to speak to someone who doesn't exist. "What else can I do?"

"So the last emotion you should have is to complain about her attitude towards you..." And he seemed to have heard the answer, making him stare blankly ahead. "You should try to think, what kind of existence is Tahlia to you?"

What kind of... exists.