[HP] Can you be gentle with me

boom!

"Damn!"

Snape cursed, and angrily pulled out his wand to get rid of all the mess on the potions table, and of course make the slimy garbage in the cauldron disappear.

Who would have thought that a master of potions would blow up the cauldron so many times.

Before he promised Tahlia to study this potion, he never had a record of blowing up more than a dozen cauldrons in just one day.

He shouldn't have agreed to her request in a daze.

Sure enough, little Potter, just like his father, would only bring trouble to others──

knocking.

Snape slammed the utensils back on the table, walked out of the potions room with a dark face, and came to his office at the school.

He almost forgot that today is the first day of school, and there will be a large number of annoying children flooding into the campus at night, and now, who is not good at messing with him when he is angry──

Pulling the door open, he was thinking of yelling to tell the people outside the door not to provoke him, but when he saw the person coming, he stopped completely and coughed dryly. "Tahlia."

How long had he not seen Tahlia appear outside his office door?

"What's the matter?" He opened his mouth, and what he said was not at all the offending words he had thought in his mind just now, but a gentle tone that would surprise others.

Tahlia glanced at Snape lightly before speaking slowly. "I'm here to confirm with you the content of your expected class this semester, so that you don't have to show up in the classroom every class, just to tell you what I already know──"

"That's why I told you that last term, Tahlia," Snape said, suddenly realizing that his throat was unusually dry, and unconsciously swallowing several mouthfuls of saliva, stepping back so Tahlia could enter the office.

"Don't bother." Tahlia smirked, took out a copy of data directly from the robe, and handed it to Snape. "I know these are the contents of your expected class, you can take a look now... Tell me if you make any mistakes."

Snape raised his eyebrows, he still didn't understand why Tahlia knew so much about his schedule, but nevertheless, he quickly stood where he was and began to flip through the data.

And damn it, that's exactly what he was supposed to teach.

"That's right." He said dryly, and handed back the document stiffly.

"I think so." Tahlia curled her lips. "Then, I guess I won't see you in every class, Snape." With that, he turned around and took a stride, intending to leave.

"Is that why you don't want to see me?" Snape couldn't help calling Tahlia.

Every Potions class, even though he knew Tahlia knew exactly what potion he was going to have the students make for that class, was the only time he could talk to her, and now, she didn't even have the chance. To take it from him?

Tahlia stopped, turned slowly, and looked at Snape blankly.

"I thought I was being obvious," she said coldly. "I didn't intend to hide it from the beginning."

"That's what I don't understand." Snape frowned. "Now that you are an assistant teacher of potions, there is no reason for you not to contact me at all—at least you should let me know what I have offended you..."

Tahlia chuckled, but the icy look on her face didn't make Snape think she was smiling.

"What's wrong with you?" Tahlia smiled. "Isn't that something you should ask yourself, Snape…" She paused for a moment. "I thought you should know the answer clearly, don't you?"

Snape didn't speak.

Tahlia is probably referring to the fact that he once thought of framing her, but she didn't say anything at the time, and he didn't believe that she would suddenly change her attitude towards him for no reason──

Tahlia has always tolerated himself, he knows this deeply, and what he doesn't understand is how she can change suddenly.

And why did he become so easily affected by Tahlia's emotions, or unwilling to refuse her requests, even though those requests caused him a lot of trouble, he still buried himself in it, just not wanting to disappoint her— ─

"Why do you... use Forget Nothing on me?" Finally, he asked softly.

Everything points to the same point in time, the day he lost his memory.

If anything could have changed Tahlia so much, it must have happened then.

Tahlia didn't answer, just stood there quietly, and he suddenly couldn't see the expression on her face clearly, and suddenly felt anxiety rising from the bottom of his heart.

"Why?" he asked again.

"Because I'm going to kill you," Tahlia said, coldly. "Considering that I have worked hard for so long, I don't want to fall short because of my momentary emotional loss──"

"You're lying." Snape frowned. "Why are you trying to keep me alive? Isn't it because you like me?"

"I liked you."

Snape shut his mouth.

I like... too.

What she said was, she liked it.

Tahlia had been away for a long time, and Snape was still standing there empty, and even forgot to attend the dinner party. It wasn't until groups of students passed by him and were startled by his expression that he snapped back to his senses and turned around. He turned around and slammed the door, leaving the stunned students of his academy outside standing there in shock.

Snape didn't try to show up in Potions class anymore, it seemed that he really threw himself into inventing the potion that could wipe out Harry's soul tablet, and he probably felt happiest as a student.

It has been a long time since they met the eccentric Potions professor who often scolded them for nothing. On the contrary, Professor Watson in the Potions class became much gentler, and then they realized that if they didn't discuss her Her complexion would darken from time to time, she never said anything that satirized their IQ, and she was always able to remind them before they made mistakes. This way of getting along seems to be more suitable for them.

There were far fewer students frying the crucible. After all, there were many students who accidentally blew up the crucible because of Professor Snape.

No one knew that Snape had become eerily silent.

It had been a long time since anyone had heard him speak a word. It should be said that the students hadn't seen him in school for a long time.

A year had passed by the time Dumbledore noticed Snape's unusually tired look.

"Severus, child... I didn't expect you to give up so easily."

With the meaning of caring for the younger generation, Dumbledore called Snape, looked at the haggard young man sitting opposite, and spoke gently. "I thought you were trying to improve your relationship with Tahlia?"

"I do." Snape said, his voice was a little hoarse because he hadn't spoken for a long time. "But she has clearly rejected me." Looking up, the deep sadness in his eyes reminded Dumbledore of the time when Lily died many years ago.

The people in front of him at that time also unconsciously revealed such an atmosphere.

"How did she turn you down?" Dumbledore asked.

"She said she liked me," Snape growled. "In other words, not now..."

Dumbledore made a knowing look. "And you don't think you can possibly make her like you again?" Especially, he still thought Tahlia liked Snape, even though he didn't know why she said that to Snape.

Snape looked up sharply. "Make her again..." Then he shook his head. "I have no reason to make him fall in love with me again──"

"Severus." Dumbledore suddenly felt the need to explain something to the young man in front of him, considering that if he was left to think alone, he would probably never get the right answer, and would just keep looping in the same mistake. "I think you've already fallen in love with Tahlia—" he said, watching the dark-haired man stiffen in satisfaction. "Perhaps that's a good reason?"

"I... I like Lily──" Snape said in a daze, but was immediately interrupted by Dumbledore.

"You and I both know that's not true," he said. "Yes, you care about her - but I know very well that your feelings for her are not love, at least not right now." After a pause, he stared straight at Snape.

Snape never knew that Dumbledore's blue eyes would also give him a sense of seeing through everything. At first he thought that only the Dark Lord's terrifying red eyes could see anything, so his eyes widened, but he couldn't speak at all.

"Whether you admit it or not, Tahlia has always held a special place in your heart, and your feelings for her have changed without you realizing it, child," said Dumbledore. "You have to recognize that in order for your life to move on."

Snape opened and closed his mouth a few times and couldn't speak for a while, before finally, he managed to get a word out. "Even if you're right..." he said with difficulty. "Even if I do like...Tahlia—that doesn't help the situation at all, she still won't even talk to me—"

"What the hell did Tahlia do in the first place?"

"What?" Snape frowned, at Dumbledore's sudden nonsensical question.

"From my standpoint, Severus──Tahlia doesn't treat you like you did when you clamored to kill her..." Dumbledore told the truth flatly. "She didn't flinch at all because of your attitude towards him then—" There was a pause. "If you want me to say, you still gave up too early."

"what do you mean……"

"It means, since Tahlia was able to care about you without giving up, and you were unknowingly moved by it, why couldn't you do that and let her regain her feelings for you?" Dumbledore said.

Snape opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Dumbledore was right.

His attitude towards her back then was even worse than her attitude towards her now, it could even be said to be vicious, but she did not give up because of this at all, and still followed him behind his back.

There's no reason why he couldn't.

Why had he wasted a whole year and finally had to be reminded by Dumbledore to figure it out?

At that moment, he immediately stood up from the chair, and walked out of the principal's office without making fun of the mischievous smile of the old man in front of him.

Snape thought it was probably the fastest walk of his life.

The semester ended at noon, the students had already boarded the train home, and what he had to do now was to find Tahlia before she also left from school──

Knocked on the door of Tahlia's office, also in the cellar, and waited quietly...

no respond.

Knocked again--

Still no response.

Snape frowned.

Did Tahlia really leave in such a hurry?

After waiting for a while, after confirming that there was really no one in there, Snape walked back to his office awkwardly. He still had to stay in the school, and he had already researched the most important part of Potter's potion...

frown.

Throwing down the quill in my hand, there is only one question left now──

What are the chances that Tahlia will remove the protective charm on her apartment door?