[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"Severus."

Severus Snape didn't turn his head to respond to the person who called him behind him. He stood quietly on the Astronomy Tower with his hands behind his back, looking down.

"You know, this year is—"

"I understand." He rushed to finish before turning around. "I've waited long enough for... Dumbledore."

Dumbledore looked haggard, making him look even older. "You're right..." He couldn't even imagine how Snape would react if their expectations were not met in the end... Considering that the only reason he was waiting here was in this matter, maybe he would leave immediately Here, search for her desperately, search for her without sleep...until his life is exhausted.

That child has reached the age to go to school this year... and he is the only medium through which they can find Tahlia.

Snape walked slowly towards the stairs, past Dumbledore.

"… long enough," he heard Snape say.

"Sorry...excuse me...sorry──sorry, excuse me..."

On the train, a black-haired boy grabbed the hand of a blond boy behind him, and hurriedly shuttled through the corridor. At first, he repeatedly apologized to some students he accidentally bumped into, but then he simply shut up. , Concentrating on the probe from one box to another.

He was looking for someone, a freshman who happened to be of school age this year, and he knew he would definitely come to Hogwarts!must!Even if they had left and no one had heard of them, he would definitely appear here...

He must!Must be on this train!

"I said Harry..." The boy who was pulled from behind and looked embarrassed couldn't help but speak. "Even if we don't meet him here, we will meet him at the sorting ceremony, why are you in such a hurry──"

"That's different!" Harry said loudly, turning his head. "You won't forget how nervous we were at the beginning? He must be in the same mood now! How can I not comfort him at this time?"

Draco unconsciously recalled the anxiety he felt before the sorting. At that time, he was full of thoughts about what to do if he failed his father's expectations...

But-

"Tahlia won't put Nigel under any sorting pressure..." he whispered.

Harry waved his hand. "Tahlia didn't put any pressure on me before, I'm still nervous..." As he spoke, he didn't forget to glance at a box they passed by.

"I don't know that." Draco shrugged. "Who knows what you're thinking, if my father didn't ask me, I wouldn't be nervous—"

"Come on." Harry laughed. "I don't believe you'd give up trying to get into Slytherin because Lucius didn't ask you to."

Not to mention-

What's more, the number of students in Slytherin has increased significantly in recent years, and everyone knows why... I heard from Sirius that when they were studying, the number of students in Slytherin College was always pitifully small, if it weren't for the fact that almost all of them were pure Coming from a big blood family, they all have a certain social and economic status in the magic world, and they will probably become a disadvantaged group in the school──

Now the students of the four colleges finally seem to be quite average.

"That's because Slytherin is the best!" Draco puffed out his chest and said smugly. "Look at me—"

"Really? Why can't I see it from you?"

A voice suddenly came from a box with the sliding door opened on the front right, and after that, a head popped out following the sound.

The two people in the corridor were stunned for a few seconds, then they couldn't wait to rush forward, threw on the man fiercely, and slammed him into the box. In the next second, all three of them fell on the ground in embarrassment. On the floor of the box, even so, Draco, who usually pays attention to his manners, was not annoyed at all. He only laughed cheerfully a few times, then got up from the ground, and stretched out his hand to pull the other two up.

"Long time no see, Nigel," he said, holding out a hand with deliberate delicacy.

Nigel raised an eyebrow. "You know what Lucius will tell you if he sees you like this?"

Draco froze for a moment. "We haven't seen each other for so long, don't you express a little excitement when you see me? Anyway, we used to take good care of you──"

Nigel chuckled, reached out and held Draco's hand in a serious manner, and turned his head away. "Harry!" he called out affectionately, deliberately ignoring Draco's disapproving expression.

"Nigel." Harry flashed him a broad smile, and gestured between him and Nigel with his hand. "Merlin... how long has it been, you've grown so much—"

Nigel looked down in confusion. "Is there? I don't think there is much difference..."

"Of course!" Harry shot him an annoyed look. "You used to be more than a head shorter than me..." Now, even though Nigel is only 11 years old, he has already grown to the level of his eyebrows.

Draco's voice came faintly from behind. "That's definitely because you haven't grown any taller, Harry."

"Draco Malfoy!" Harry shyly pulled out his wand and turned to point it at him. "Believe it or not I turned you into a toad?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Come on, you can only talk... When did you really cast a spell?"

"Believe it or not I'm here for real this time?" Harry waved his wand deliberately, putting on a fierce expression.

"Okay, you two—" Nigel was speechless.He really wanted them to be right, but who would kindly tell him who these two childish guys in front of him were...

What about the smart, powerful and considerate Harry he remembered?What about Draco, who would give him a lot of things every time he saw him?

Is he remembering wrong or the two of them have changed—

"Do you want me to drive you out of the box?" He raised his eyebrows and threatened.

"How can it be!" Harry immediately turned his head and said loudly, Nigel felt his eardrums were about to burst from the loud voice.

"Of course!" Not to be outdone, Nigel yelled back even louder, then pulled out his wand in an unusually quick motion, and murmured the first thing that flashed into his mind about the useful little devil that Tahlia had told him a long time ago. curse.

Then, both Harry and Draco were shocked to see that they began to float straight out of the box.

"Wait...Nigel! Hold on—"

boom!

They didn't have time to say anything, when they set their feet firmly on the corridor floor and wanted to turn around and rush back to the box, they found that the door was tightly closed and locked from the inside, and Nigel was standing inside , looking at them with a bright smile──

Nigel has changed.

The two met for a glance, and then thought sadly together.

The cute Nigel who used to follow them around was gone.

Fortunately, they hadn't been locked outside for a long time, so Nigel let them in. The two of them made a tacit agreement not to mention today's incident to the third person in the future...they were two dignified fourth graders, and they had been educated at school anyway. After three years of magic education, they were turned around by a freshman who hadn’t even entered school—if word of this got out, they would almost certainly be ridiculed until they graduated, no, even after graduation they would be used As a topic of entertainment after gossip.

"You know what you missed? The Quidditch World Cup!" Along the way, Harry and Draco both danced happily at Nigel, seemingly determined to make up for all the things that happened in the two years he was away, although Nigel There seems to be little interest in the World Cup...but that doesn't surprise them.

What surprised them most was that Nigel couldn't understand why he was nervous about the sorting house.

"Aren't you curious where you were sorted?" Harry asked.

Nigel shrugged. "Of course, but it's the same everywhere for me... Tahlia will be happy—"

When Tahlia was mentioned, the two thought of another very important topic.

"How's she?" Draco asked, worry hard to hide.After all, from their point of view, Tahlia was originally unconscious, and then disappeared overnight, and they were terribly worried at the time...

"Hmm…" Nigel frowned. "It's a long story."

"Nigel—"

"It's okay..." Nigel was evasive, was he going to tell them that Tahlia was out of sight?

Harry growled. "That's not an answer, Nigel!"

"Otherwise, how else can you tell me?" Nigel asked dissatisfied. "We live a good life, but I always feel that she is not really happy... I thought we were just going away for a while, and she would bring me back after I received the admission letter, but it turned out not at all──" said Halfway through, he suddenly dropped his head and became sullen. "As if she really made up her mind never to come back..."

"How is it possible..." Draco murmured, he didn't believe it when his father told him that Tahlia belonged to the wizarding world, how could she leave all of them behind...

"I think she's still hesitating..." Harry said after thinking for a while. "If she really intends not to touch magic from now on, it's impossible for you to come back to study—"

"Of course I told her that too." Nigel smiled wryly. "But she said... no matter how much she rejects this place, she won't influence my choice, she let me choose—"

"Then you—"

"Of course I'm coming back!" Nigel growled. "Everyone I like is here, you, Hermione, Sirius... I miss you so much—"

The three fell silent.

It took a while before Harry broke the silence, raising one eyebrow with a strange expression. "Hermione?"

Nigel froze.

"That's right, you have a good eye..." Draco reacted immediately, smiling with a face full of beatings. "Even if she's of bad blood—"

"Bloodline doesn't matter at all!" Nigel roared angrily, and then rushed forward, pushing Draco down on the seat, relying on his body that had grown a lot in the past two years, Steady enough that Draco struggled for a moment, unable to get up.

"I... I was just kidding—" Draco's face flushed instantly. "Hey... you can't even tell a joke, can you?"

Nigel pouted and stood up slowly. "Don't make fun of it next time...I don't like it."

Harry sat aside and coughed lightly in embarrassment. "Draco... I think you really shouldn't tease Nigel with this question – you know..." and winked at him.

Draco realized instantly and blushed even more, but this time it was all from guilt.

He completely forgot that he was putting Tahlia into the mix...

"Sorry, Nigel," he whispered.

Nigel shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn't really care...but the atmosphere was a little stiff.

After a while, he squeezed out a smile, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth pretending to be relaxed. "By the way...did I tell you that Tahlia is actually my mother?"