[HP] Can you be gentle with me

Tahlia Watson knew from an early age that she had to perform well in order to get the attention of others. Her birth was a burden, and no one should care about her...

Soon she will be in elementary school, but it doesn't mean much to her, her classmates will probably see her as a freak anyway, a strange girl with short shaved hair.

On this day, she kicked pebbles along the path by the river alone. This has always been her rare entertainment. She can't have such luxuries as toys, so she always has to get it from some ordinary little objects. pleasure……

With a kick, the little stone quickly rolled forward for a long distance, and finally stopped in front of a boy standing quietly in front of him.

Tahlia walked over quickly, and the boy turned his head at the same time, their eyes met, and then the boy looked down at the stone, and then looked up at her.

"What are you doing?" the boy asked.

"Kicking stones for fun." Tahlia answered naturally. "This is very fun, you have to concentrate, otherwise the stone will roll around, and if you lose it, you will lose..." She said a few words, and then suddenly remembered that she should ask the boy's name first. "By the way, what's your name?"

The boy blinked and smiled slightly. "Severus Snape," he said. "And you?"

Tahlia smiled brightly too. "Tahlia Watson." After thinking for a moment, he added. "I'm a girl!"

The boy froze for a moment, then laughed.

They got to know each other that way, and when school started, Tahlia was delighted to find that Snape was in her class as well, and the two quickly sat down in separate seats.

They had a great chat.

Tahlia even felt that the unfriendly looks from other students were not important at all. The important thing was that she already had a good friend.

"Severus, do you think there is magic in this world?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

Tahlia tilted her head, then shrugged, pulled a book out of her bag and spread it out. "It's a pity, I've been thinking that if I know magic, I can do a lot of incredible things. And I don't know why, I always have some weird dreams..."

In the dream, she would go to a big castle every year, and all the people there would know magic, and they would learn a lot of magic knowledge there──

"It was just a dream." Snape said seriously, and Tahlia came to her senses and found that he had also taken a few books out of his bag, following his example. "Besides, I think you are good enough if you don't know magic."

"really?"

"Yeah." Snape nodded seriously. "You're always first in grade, you can go to any middle school you choose, and you make a lot of delicious cookies—"

Tahlia laughed. "Hey, Severus, learning and making cookies are two completely different things..." she asked after a pause. "And you? What high school are you going to go to?"

"What choice do I have?" Snape said helplessly, a slight blush appeared on his pale face. "You know, our family—"

"...Ah, that's true." Tahlia nodded understandingly. "Then I shall go to the same school as you."

"What?" Snape looked up in surprise. "You don't... I mean, you have the ability to pick any good school, you don't have to—"

"But I want to be with you." Tahlia said seriously.

Yeah, she wants to be with him...

They did grow up together with each other.

They went to middle school, high school together, and applied to the same university... and she kept dreaming about graduating from the castle, even though the scene there was always blurry.

Tahlia thought this was really incredible, as if she and Snape would go on like this forever──

But not right.

Tahlia was suddenly confused.

She didn't understand where the thought came from just now... There's nothing wrong with it, Severus has always been her best friend, and has always been—

"Tahlia, actually, the person I like is you."

What?

Tahlia snapped back to her senses, and found that the person who said this was Snape sitting across from her, and she felt something was wrong again...

Really wrong.

"Tahlia?" Snape looked nervous in front of him, was it because of her non-response?

"Huh?" She quickly responded.

No, maybe she was overthinking it, there was nothing strange about it, she and Snape had known each other for so long, and now they just met for dinner in a restaurant, how could something be wrong?

Snape took a deep breath before saying it again. "I said, in fact, the person I like is you."

──But this is really wrong!

Tahlia suddenly felt as if her head had been hammered hard, and there seemed to be something in her mind that wanted to vent out. She shook her head vigorously, trying to make this feeling go away...

"You're a witch, Tahlia."

No, how could she hear such words, magic does not exist at all, there are no such things as witches in this world, those are just dreams!Just her boring fantasy...

She stood up abruptly, a move that seemed to startle Snape. "Tahlia?"

"Don't talk to me just yet..." Tahlia forced out a word and shook her head again. "It's not right..."

"What's wrong?" Snape looked confused, and he also stood up, ignoring the curious eyes around him. "How are you?"

"I'm fine... no, I said—" Tahlia shook her head again. "You're not like this──" She seemed unable to control herself, as if she had said something strange, but she couldn't stop. "You are not like this..."

"What am I not?" Snape was thoroughly confused. "I...I've always liked you, Tahlia—"

"You didn't!" Tahlia suddenly turned up the volume. "You don't! You don't like me! You like Lily──"

But who is Lily?

"Who's Lily?" Tahlia opened her eyes to find Snape asking her question with a confused face.

"I don't know..." Her head hurt again, and she unconsciously reached out and rubbed it vigorously. "But you like her..."

"I don't like her!" Snape said anxiously. "I don't even know who she is... what I like is—" Reaching out and grabbing Tahlia's arm.

"Stop talking!" Tahlia shook him off. "Stop it! It's really wrong... everything is wrong - you're not Severus... but you are Severus - no, I shouldn't be here... you shouldn't be here - it's all wrong! "

Everything seemed to be messed up at that moment.

Everything was too unreal, Snape would never say such things to her, nor could he be her best friend forever, he would only focus on his own business...

Wait, why does she have such thoughts?

They are obviously very good friends...

She felt as if she had confused something... It seemed that many things that had happened in the dream world had completely confused her mind, and she couldn't help but realize that her dreaming time had become longer and longer unconsciously, and even It's not just a dream, even in normal times, she would suddenly find herself running into that world...

What's more, Snape seemed to be in her dream too.

Are those dreams?She's always been so sure, but now she's suddenly not so sure...

If it was a dream... why did she feel that those scenes were so real? She didn't know when the scene over there was no longer a blur, but made her feel like she had experienced it herself—everything there was so real. Instead, she felt that her entire life in this city had become like a bubble...

"I...I think I've been weird lately." She said to Snape, who looked blankly in front of her, but still showed obvious concern. "Sorry...I don't know what happened to me—" She looked down. "You're going to laugh at me? I still dream about that weird magical world, and you're there—" She paused, blinking.

There was also a Snape in the dream, he was different from the current Snape, completely different ─ ─ seemed to have a kind of heart-wrenching feeling, but why?

Tahlia suddenly noticed that the scenery around the entire restaurant began to become blurred, as if reality and dreams were reversed at that moment. Which side is... what really happened?

"The person I like...is you."

"……I hate you."

No, no, no... She didn't want to know to think... The same voice, but the words with completely opposite meanings came to her ears at the same time, she felt so confused, she couldn't make a judgment──

Not sure which side was the dream, not sure what kind of relationship she had with Snape, no, she couldn't be sure of anything...

What on earth should she call him?

To her, he was Snape after all...

...or Severus?

"Severus."

The black-haired man woke up from his sleep, turned his head suddenly, and looked at the person who woke him up. "Dumbledore?" he said hoarsely.

What was Dumbledore doing here?

"Sirius told me that you haven't left here for the past few days, and you haven't even eaten any food." Dumbledore said calmly.

Snape glanced faintly at Black, who was frowning behind Dumbledore, and turned back. "I have my reasons."

"She wouldn't want you to—"

"Wouldn't she want me to?" Snape glared at Dumbledore again. "Look at her! Look at her, Albus—how can you possibly know what she's thinking?"

"──Tahlia always wanted you to live well."

"So that's why I'm still here." Snape scowled. "Live well."

"You can't live without food, Severus," Dumbledore reminded softly.

Snape didn't speak.

Sirius at the back also abnormally didn't know how to speak, he had clearly and secretly decided to teach him a good lesson.

But today he didn't intend to do that. How should I put it... He felt that the desperate expression of the man in front of him was very sympathetic?

Merlin, he never thought that one day he would sympathize with this guy, if someone told him this before, he would definitely not believe it.

"Snape, you can't stay here all the time," he said slowly. "You should do something instead of wasting your time here."

"No." Snape firmly refused. "The Dark Lord is dead, I must stay here..."

Sirius couldn't react for a moment. "What are you talking about?" Besides, Voldemort being killed, what the hell did Snape have to stay here?

"I have to... keep her," Snape murmured. "No one is allowed...to hurt her."

"You—" Sirius was about to speak again, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"Severus, you haven't been in contact with the outside world at all these days?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"I've been here all the time," Snape replied, eyes fixed on Tahlia. "I have to protect her..."

Dumbledore didn't say anything right away, he only stepped forward slightly, handed a few newspapers in his arms to the man, and then spoke softly. "Then I think you needn't worry about that—"

Snape gave Dumbledore a suspicious look before turning his attention to the newspaper.

three full days.

Tahlia's page was almost full for three days... almost everything that happened from her student days was published──

"You...you want me to see this—" Snape said in astonishment, his voice still hoarse. "I want to remind me again what I did—"

"No, I want you to read this to tell you that what you worry about won't happen." Dumbledore still said gently. "In case you don't know, wizards gather at St. Mungo's Hall every day, and the only reason they go there is to pray. Tahlia has done a lot, and they are grateful to her." He paused for a moment. "I don't blame you, child, but huddling here in such a discouraged way won't help her..."

Snape turned back to look at Dumbledore.

"You know what you have to do," Dumbledore said quietly. "She needs your help."