[HP] Can you be gentle with me

There was an awkward silence.

Tahlia regretted it the moment she said it.

What stupid things did she say unknowingly?Merry Christmas?Merlin's beard—it's just the beginning of school, and there's no sign of Halloween yet—thought, she quickly shut up.

Seeing that Tahlia didn't speak again for a long time, Snape asked with a light cough after hesitating for a long time. "Merry Christmas?"

"...I mean, just choose Christmas." Tahlia looked stiff, took a step back, and reached out to beckon Snape into the room. After he looked around warily before moving in, she closed the door and explained . "I thought about it for a while, and I chose this year's Christmas holiday──"

Snape raised one eyebrow.

"Just during the Christmas break, we're going to Azkaban—" Tahlia pretended not to see Snape's expression, and continued to speak calmly. "You know, at that time, their defenses are definitely the most lax—"

"I have a question, Tahlia," Snape said suddenly, interrupting Tahlia slowly. "Dementors don't have Christmas—"

"I know, but wizards do." Tahlia said seriously. "Wait for me for a while..." She said, turning her body stiffly and walking towards her desk. After searching in a certain drawer for a while, she took out a document and spread it on the table. "Look, here you go look at this."

Snape walked quickly, and his face sank uncontrollably after seeing the document.

"Sirius Black's roster?" He read out the contents of the paper softly. "It was... many years ago──" What made him most unacceptable was that Tahlia still... kept it?

"Hmm...forget about that." Tahlia didn't have time to pay attention to Snape's abnormal tone, she rubbed her head irritably, and began to remove the parchments one by one, only then did Snape realize that this was not just Black's duty watches, and old Potter's...

This discovery made him unconsciously relieved, unlike him, his emotions would not have such a big ups and downs in such a short period of time before.

In the past, he might have felt disgusted, but now it is impossible for him to have that kind of thought again.

"They're all Auror, Snape...they used to send me this stuff so I could avoid—well, that doesn't matter—anyway, I think we should be able to get some clues from this schedule... …" Tahlia continued, pointing at a date on one of the parchments. "Look here...the blue grid means that they are ordered to stay in the Ministry for the past few days, and the red grid means that they may be sent to the field at any time──"

"What's the point?"

"Wait a minute...that's not what I'm going to tell you, what I want to say is here—" Tahlia said, moving her finger to one of the squares that were painted black. "I once asked Sirius what the black grid is for, and when he explained to me, his expression was completely different from his usual one. He looked unusually gloomy, as if he suddenly became unhappy──" There was a slight pause , Tahlia met Snape's clearly thought-through eyes. "You're right, Snape... This means that one of the duties of the Aurors also includes assisting in the defense of Azkaban."

"It seems so...and," Snape said flatly. "Considering that it's impossible for them to let Auror have any close contact with the group of dementors all day long, the place where they stay is definitely not on the island, but somewhere nearby, far enough away that they will not be directly captured. The influence of the ghost—"

"But it's also close enough that they can notice any commotion at any time and act in real time." Tahlia answered naturally.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, but immediately coughed feignedly and turned their faces away due to the sudden and inexplicable embarrassment.

After a while, Tahlia cleared her throat, hurriedly refolded the messy parchments on the table, and put them away in the drawer, while pretending to be calm. "...so I guess, usually there must be at least two of them guarding there, because I have seen Sirius and James' black grid on the same day, that is to say, no matter what we do, it is impossible not to disturb anyone A single Auror managed to save Lestrange and the others."

Snape's face also became serious. "We can't even use potions..."

"That's right." Tahlia nodded. "As long as they notice anything wrong, they will go to investigate... Prescribing drugs will definitely not work, because they will immediately react to what happened after waking up. Even if we successfully complete the mission, everyone will find out immediately, I think The last thing Voldemort wants is to see this news on the front page of the Daily Prophet──" In other words, no matter how they plan to take Lestrange and others away, they must try to be as inconspicuous as possible, or use the Ministry of Magic to The political psychology of wanting to keep things quiet keeps this matter from being made public. "If we can create the idea that it was their own fault that led to Lestrange finding the opportunity to escape, then I think they'd rather hope that no one finds out that someone escaped from Azkaban—"

"And your other guess, presumably, is that they won't have anyone there over the Christmas holidays?"

Tahlia closed her mouth with a guilty conscience, and the confidence she had just talked about disappeared in an instant.

In fact, she didn't know, she just made up an excuse just now, and just remembered the documents she threw at the bottom of the drawer... She didn't know at all whether the Aurors would relax their vigilance there at Christmas time, set As Snape said, Dementors don't celebrate Christmas—

"Actually, I'm not sure." Tahlia said dryly. "It's just that I never saw the two of them turn up there at Christmas, so I figured maybe they wouldn't be lining up that day, or maybe they'd let their guard down that day..."

This is true.

Although they often have to perform missions during the Christmas holidays, she has never encountered such a situation-maybe it is a coincidence, but there is also a possibility that this matter was really hit by them by mistake.

"It's not a big deal," she continued. "I'll just write a letter and ask Sirius—"

"No." Snape said suddenly.

Tahlia froze for a moment. "What?"

Snape took a deep breath and managed to manage a few words. "Such an important matter cannot be said in a letter, Tahlia, I think... I think we should make an appointment with the honorable Mr. Black—" There was a pause, and he seemed to have a little more effort to utter the last word . "──Meet you."

Tahlia was completely bewildered.

Is she too tired recently?Or is that the sequelae of poisoning?There was a hallucination──

How could Snape...how could he have asked to see Sirius?No matter what the reason, there was no way he would suggest that, and he hated Sirius.

unless-

"Aren't you Severus Snape?" Tahlia pulled out her wand suddenly, pointed it straight at him, and said coldly, but if you listen carefully, you will find a slight tremor in her tone.

As expected, she became abnormal, and said everything without first confirming the true identity of the man in front of her. She didn't know who this man was... Quirrell?Or something else──

Snape didn't react for a moment, his body froze reflexively. "What are you talking about—"

"I'm the one asking now." Tahlia raised her wand a little higher. "Who are you?"

"...Severus Snape."

Tahlia paused for a moment, but didn't put down her wand immediately, although she immediately realized that her silly suspicion was a ridiculous mistake-

What was she thinking, of course he was Snape... No one but him would know what they were talking about just because of a casual sentence from her—

She stared at Snape silently.

"Tahlia." Snape said softly after a while.

Tahlia pursed her lips tightly, and after a while, she sighed slightly. "...Sorry." As he spoke, he slowly lowered his wand and put it back inside his robes. "I was too nervous."

Snape also relaxed slightly. "I see."

"But I'm still curious...how did you suddenly take the initiative to ask to see Sirius—"

Snape froze for a few seconds, coughed lightly, and then spoke slowly. "I just made the best decision, you've hit a snag with the Dark Lord...I don't want another one." There was a pause. "Even if it means I have to—" He looked away, frowning. "Have a peaceful, talk with him."

"Oh..." Tahlia replied blankly. "Frankly, I'm surprised—"

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, that means you take this project seriously, doesn't it?" Tahlia asked, unable to catch herself blinking involuntarily. "Now we...are really in the same boat, right?" He even offered to see Sirius.

Snape looked straight into Tahlia's eyes. "I thought that was all I've been trying to tell you these days."

Not to be outdone, Tahlia stared back, wondering if it was an illusion, she seemed to see Snape stunned by his actions. "You haven't done anything to convince me before."

"Really?" Snape raised one corner of his mouth, anyone could tell that he was in an indescribably happy mood right now. "Maybe I didn't make it obvious enough──"

Tahlia turned around suddenly and didn't answer.

Then the atmosphere fell silent again.

It seemed that before she knew it, she had easily slipped back into her old habits - used to the fact that Snape didn't mean her any harm.

But that's not right!Totally wrong!

That's not true at all...

Maybe Snape had changed, and Tahlia didn't know if it was a good or a bad change...the old version of her would try to figure it out, would wonder if it was possible for him to stop having any prejudice against her, but that was all in the past.

That's right...that's all in the past, and she has also changed.

Even if she still sometimes fell into the old fantasies uncontrollably, she could always get out in time, she had to do it, she couldn't let Snape affect her emotions anymore.

As he said not long ago...

It was always Lily, and only Lily, that Snape cared about.

And the only thing she should believe is that the reason why he endured and didn't continue to carry out his revenge plan until now is only to avenge Lily, because for now, she is still valuable to him.

Tahlia smiled ironically.

In other words, the reason she is still alive is because she is still useful... Voldemort still needs her help to complete his resurrection, and Snape still needs her cooperation to fight against a situation that neither of them alone can do. A powerful wizard to deal with.

"Then, I'll write a letter and make an appointment with Sirius right now..." The corners of her lips curled up slightly, and she faced Snape again. "This weekend—no, how about next weekend?" She changed her words impromptu, almost forgetting that she had promised Draco and Harry to treat them to tea this weekend before leaving...

"if you are free."

Strange to say, it was only a few days ago, but Tahlia felt as if it had been a long time... Things happened one after another, and it felt like it happened very fast, but it seemed to be very long. Ge had been lying under the illusion for a whole year, or, the dangerous conversation with Voldemort seemed to have happened in a previous life.

Time is indeed the most wonderful existence.

Any magic that wizards wield with their wands is mere tricks by comparison.

It was like saying that she seemed to know about the existence of magic just yesterday, but at the same time, she also had an illusion... that she had graduated from Hogwarts for a long, long time.

Time has never been absolute, no matter how much you think you are invincible, one day you will be no match for time──Voldemort is no exception, even though he has stated countless times that he has flown beyond death.

"Good night, Snape." Tahlia smiled and nodded.At the same time she said this, the door of the office opened. "I'm tired."

Snape nodded too, said good night softly, and left the office.

After a while, Tahlia, who seemed to be in a daze for a long time, finally moved. She walked slowly to the desk, gently opened the small box that Snape sent just now, and took out a small bottle of potion. After staring for a long time, he held the small bottle tightly, as if he wanted to feel something.

"Anyway... I won't be influenced by you anymore." She said softly. "I swear, I won't."