[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"Who else have you told these things?"

On the sofa, the brown-haired man frowned and said. I don't know whether it was because the amount of information Tahlia said was too large or too amazing. His voice became hoarse, but he still maintained a certain calmness and did not act impulsively. Go and kill that person.

"No one." Tahlia lowered her head, huddled in a single sofa, her hands hugging her knees, as if she was guarding against something, but Remus knew clearly at this moment that it was just her trying to make herself feel more secure The way...after all, saying those things──is too...unbearable.

"Why did you tell me?" He squeezed out a sentence.

"If I keep my mouth shut, I'll go crazy..." Tahlia slowly raised her head and gave him a smile. "You can't tell Sirius...he's going to kill Snape."

"Actually, I really want to do that too." Remus said dryly. "I'm serious, fortunately the condition for transforming into a werewolf doesn't include anger—"

"Didn't expect you to be able to joke." Tahlia laughed. "Sure enough, you will always be the sane one among us."

Remus shook his head. "I'm no match for you, Tahlia. And I never had the guts to stop them from doing something..."

"Come on, it's something about the student days, so why bother!" Tahlia raised the corners of her lips. "Okay, I've finished my business, now it's your turn."

Remus froze for a moment. "I?"

"Yeah, your business." Tahlia nodded. "Where have you been all these years? What have you done? I want to know too—"

Remus blinked, and then slowly opened his mouth, telling all the things he had experienced outside these years, and when he finished speaking, Tahlia didn't express any opinions immediately, just maintained the same posture, Looks like he's thinking about something...

"Are you blaming me?" Remus smiled wryly. "While you guys are fighting here, I'm hiding out and staying out of it."

"It's not, Remus." Tahlia shook her head. "I know you've come back, but you haven't seen us."

"What?" Remus thought he had misheard.

"I know you came back right away, before James and the others were killed... But what Albus sent you was a secret investigation and wooing mission." Tahlia said flatly. "It can only be said that the timing of your return was wrong. There were many werewolf attacks outside at that time, and you happened to—"

"A werewolf, yes." Remus sighed. "Call me cowardly, I don't even have the courage to meet you... I know very well how cruel those werewolves are, and I also know how many wizards they killed in cold blood just for...fun──Maybe I'm just I'm afraid... I'm afraid that after you see me, you will accuse me and say that I am the same kind of person as those guys, and say that I - I am not worthy of trust."

"Yeah." Tahlia responded. "Then, the Dark Lord obtained a lot of information about the Order of the Phoenix..."

"I know the headmaster suspects me, a werewolf, and the timing is indeed too coincidental. Ever since I came back, information has been leaked──" Remus smiled helplessly again. "Aside from leaving voluntarily, what else can I do?"

"I just didn't think you'd be away for that long—"

"But James and the others are dead!" Remus suddenly became excited. "They died! When I was escaping, thinking that nothing happened, that everything would pass, they bravely stood up and resisted, and then they...they died!"

"So you hide further." Compared to Remus' emotions, Tahlia seemed much calmer. "What I want to ask is, you can leave forever, why come back now?"

"You ask me why?" Remus was momentarily at a loss.

"Why now?" Tahlia stared straight at Remus. "It's impossible for you to decide to come back here and get involved in this matter again just because of Albus's words. You should have your own reasons, why?"

"Why?" Remus repeated, muttering. "Yeah...why? I ran away cowardly in the past, what face do I have to come back now?"

"Let me tell you." Tahlia stood up slowly, and handed Remus the untouched tea that had been on the table since just now. "Because you're a Gryffindor."

"What?" Remus looked confused.

"You can't bear this feeling of powerlessness that you can only hide. You always want to do something for James and the wizarding world. It's something deep in your bones, and it's impossible to do it no matter what. Disappeared...so you chose to come back." Tahlia said clearly. "You're making this decision because of what you've always...believed in." Same thing with Peter, he's just as willing to do something for it, even if he's terrified, even if he knows he might He lost his life, but he mustered up the courage to make a decision.

Remus stared blankly at Tahlia.

He never thought that he would hear these words from her mouth... What's more, he always thought that he was the one who planned to give care──

Now it's Tahlia who's teaching herself...

"So whatever you want to do, just go ahead and do it." Tahlia patted Remus on the shoulder.

"Including giving Snape a hard lesson?"

Tahlia froze for a few seconds, then smiled broadly. "Oh, Remus, I'm so glad you're back…"

When the two arrived in the hall, they found that the students had already arrived.They didn't stop too much, just walked to their seats and sat down, pretending that they were not late at all.

Tahlia doesn't care, but Remus is their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. To those students, he is a completely new face, and he has received a lot of attention. The curious gaze pierced several holes, not to mention the cold gaze from the other side of the teacher's long table, which shot towards him from time to time...

...was it too late for him to swap seats with Tahlia?

Finally, dinner ended after Dumbledore stood up and gave a brief introduction to the school's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and the students filed out of the hall belching and preparing to go back to their dormitories.

Remus was about to do the same, but was stopped by Snape.

It was odd, he thought Snape was going to pretend he didn't exist...

"What's the matter?" he asked in his usual gentle and harmless tone.

"Tahlia... what did she tell you?" Snape hesitated for a moment before asking. "I know you're staying together this afternoon."

"We haven't seen each other for so long, of course we are talking about some interesting things about our school days." Remus said softly. "In other words, back then we stayed in the Room of Requirement for a whole day, playing chess and chatting──"

Snape blushed.

He is not a fool, he can hear that some words are perfunctory.

"Come on, Severus, a woman's inner emotions can't just be revealed to outsiders—" Remus still had a faint smile on his face, but the word 'outsider' in his words sounded strange to Snpae harsh. "You can't expect me to break my promise to her, can you?"

Snape gave Remus a savage look, then, without saying a word, turned around, and walked away as quickly as the black robe was raised behind him.

Sure enough, Snape hasn't changed at a glance...

Remus raised the corners of his mouth slightly, turned around and left as well.

The days that followed were peaceful.

Tahlia would show up in the lobby at regular times to eat, chat with Remus when he wasn't in class, and occasionally take Nigel to visit the brothers in Black's old house, and the only thing she didn't do was ring Snape's office the door.

She knew that Snape didn't understand what was wrong with her current attitude at all, but she didn't want to let her understand that this was only her own problem, and she couldn't accept it... Nothing could be done──

I thought she could figure it out...

It seems that she is subconsciously resisting, but that's not exactly the case...

There seemed to be two different forces in her heart pulling and competing all the time, this feeling was going to drive her crazy!

Tahlia felt that her head was throbbing all the time, which even made her restless. Gradually, she would not pick up Nigel from Sirius every day, and she didn't want to hurt her because of her temporary emotional ups and downs. The child, and Nigel seems to have sensed something, always obediently doing what she said...

But Nigel's sensibility only made her feel more guilty.

Remus is the only one who knows all the truth, and she can only tell him what's on her mind, he's a good listener, sometimes he won't say anything, just sits there all afternoon, listening to Tahlia narration, but strange to say, perhaps this is what she needs now.

"What I said to Voldemort wasn't all lies, Remus... I really hate how he always influences me like this—"

"I really can't forgive him—"

"But I'd love to forgive! After some of his recent changes, I really want to believe he's changed...even if I can't, I'll still think...maybe it never happened and we still To be able to rediscover—”

"He made me feel like he really cared about me—but why? He loved Lily."

"Since he can give up Lily, then one day he will... give up on me again──"

"If I really just leave the past behind like this, I'm going to get hurt again one day, won't I?"

"……what should I do?"

"Remus, please tell me…"

"You don't have to do anything."

That was a sentence Remus said in the most earnest tone.

"You don't have to do anything, Tahlia, you've… you've done enough."

Do nothing...?

Tahlia looked up, looking out the window.

Unknowingly, the snow has begun to melt.

The castle, which was originally covered in white, gradually poked its head out. That night, there was a knock on the door of Tahlia's office.

For some reason, she had a strong premonition that everything would be over.

Finally, at the last moment, after everything is over, she will be able to completely free herself...

The hand that opened the door was trembling, and as expected, there was Snape standing outside the door.

He didn't say a word, just looked at Tahlia indifferently.

Then, he carefully took out a bottle of potion from his pocket.

It was a bottle of completely transparent potion, and under the light of the torches on the corridor wall, it reflected an illusion-like colored light.

But who would have thought that such a pure and flawless potion was a rare evil poison in this world.

It doomed the fall of the Dark Lord, and it doomed the final battle to come.

It is also doomed that everything will end.

For better or worse.