[HP] Can you be gentle with me

It seems like something is getting out of control.

He'd been here almost every day since Snape reappeared that day, and each time, Tahlia had to order herself to ignore the gaze that seemed to be always on her.

She knew that Derek must have sensed something was wrong too.

After all, which school professor would visit his students' homes all day long?

Because of this, his tone of voice to Snape became stiffer day by day, Snape couldn't help but notice it, but he still did his own thing, yes...his own way──he never bothered to care what other people thought of him, How could it have changed because of Derek's attitude towards him?

But such days will not last long.

There are only a few days left in the summer vacation, and Nigel has already started to pack his luggage to go back to school. The newly bought textbooks account for most of them. When Snape came over again, they delivered them together, which happened to save them from having to go out of their way to The hassle of writing mail order...

Come to think of it, Derek took Nigel to buy a wand last year. After all, it's not something that can be bought casually by mail order. At the corner alley, just go to Ollivander, go back quickly, in order not to let Nigel be recognized, she even specially got a wig with a completely different hair color for him to wear, otherwise if she ran into Harry on the road Or whoever it is, is definitely in trouble.

In fact, there was another very important reason for Derek to take Nigel.

At the beginning, Tahlia really didn't expect that Derek could accept their identities so naturally after waking up. It wasn't that she had any prejudice against Muggles. After all, when she was a child, she thought that all Muggles were like brothers. She doesn't reject magic at all, but since she entered school, as she gained more knowledge, she gradually discovered that ordinary Muggles' fear and dislike of wizards was beyond her imagination. Like other wizards, subconsciously try not to contact Muggles as much as possible, and subconsciously think that Muggles cannot be trusted...

But Derek was different from them.

He recovered from the initial shock so easily that even when Tahlia explained part of his past to him afterwards, he couldn't run away in terror—

It was at that moment that Tahlia believed him completely.

She believed that when he said he liked her, it had nothing to do with her past, it was just a simple... liking, and she also believed that he would really be by her side forever──

When she offered Derek to take Nigel to Diagon Alley, he went crazy with joy, and even though they had a noon flight booked, he stayed up all night flipping through some books he had borrowed from the library. The content made Tahlia laugh when he heard the book, studying how the wizards dressed, and then tried his best to piece together his clothes into a robe... In the end, she directly transformed one of his shirts According to him, it seemed that he didn't want Nigel to receive any strange eyes there because of him.

"What are you thinking?"

A pair of hands encircled Tahlia from behind, but the man's movements were cautious, as if he had already noticed her trembling when her body was suddenly touched.

Tahlia closed her eyes and cleared all the messy thoughts in her head before she relaxed slightly and leaned back against the man.

"I was wondering... when are you going to ask me about Prince," she said softly.

The hand holding her stiffened for a moment, and after a while, Derek's helpless voice reached her ears. "So you were early—"

"I'm blind, yes, but not to the extent that I can't feel it at all..." Tahlia smiled, then turned around, and raised her head slightly as she reached out to stroke his face. "These days you almost let Patrick deliver the goods, and you stay in the store every day. Everyone knows that you are guarding against Prince. I said Derek... are you so unconfident in yourself?"

"I just…" Derek swallowed, taking a moment to put the thoughts in his head into words. "I don't like the way he looks at you, Tahlia."

"Are you jealous?"

"I'm not—" Derek opened his mouth reflexively to refute, but immediately stopped talking and changed his words in a low voice. "Yes, I'm jealous... I mean, I should have a sense of crisis, you are so beautiful and capable, anyone who sees you will like you──"

"Hahaha..." This made Tahlia laugh out loud. "That's why I said...you are so unconfident in yourself? I agreed to your marriage proposal! Besides, I'm not pretty at all, and there are not so many people who like me──"

Derek really wants to tell Tahlia that's not the case, but when the words come to his mouth, it's as if he's blocked by something, and he can't get out.

Should I say intuition?

He always felt that the relationship between Tahlia and that man was much more complicated than he imagined──

"So that guy—"

"His name is Severus Snape, actually."

Derek froze for a moment.

"……What?"

"I mean, I didn't tell you the truth earlier." Tahlia barely blinked, and even though she couldn't see it, Derek felt like he was being stared at. "That man's name is Severus Snape...not Prince."

"S...Snape...so you mean—" Derek became a little overwhelmed. "You mean, he and Nigel... he's Nigel's—"

"Biological father, yes." Tahlia nodded. "And this is what I intend to tell you today."

"Oh..." Derek replied in a daze, as if he was still trying to digest what he just heard, and let Tahlia push him back a few steps, then sat down on the sofa behind him, and next to him Sinking, Tahlia raised her arms after sitting down and slipped in.

"Don't be fooled..." Tahlia whispered. "Do you remember what I told you about the wizarding world last time?"

"…Hmm." Derek managed to recover, leaning his head down and resting his chin on Tahlia's hair. "You said you were trying hard to defeat Voldemort, and you were blinded because of that man's curse, even though you succeeded in the end—"

"Yes, but that was the end result, sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you, I blurted it out out of nowhere, I actually knew that person's name all along, we were in the same grade at school, I'm even in his house—" Tahlia adjusted her position. "Now what I'm going to tell you is a long, long story about me—" Her voice was soft, and to Derek's ears, it sounded like a breeze blowing through his ears. Feel. "From the time I didn't know I was a witch...from the time I met Severus Snape..."

All night, Derek just sat with the woman in his arms like this, listening to her plainly narrate her story, listening to her admitting that she cared for the man named Severus Snape, hearing how painful it was for her Heart, listen to her...

Finally decided to leave forever.

During the process, the man's fists were clenched all the time. He hated the principal who always forced Tahlia to act, and also hated the senior who designed her to attract the attention of the Dark Lord. The classmates who abandoned her at the worst time──

So this is the reason why she never knows how to rely on another person, this is the reason why I feel that she seems to be burdened a lot at the beginning, and this is the reason why she...is always unable to be really happy.

"That Snape, was once your...lover?"

Tahlia laughed. "Oh, of course not—our relationship has always been my own unilateral decision." In the process of her narration, she only briefly mentioned the relationship between her and Snape, some things, it's better not to go into too much detail and compare good. "It was just an accident that Nigel was there, he was making potions—"

"uh-huh?"

"Hey, don't tell me you care about this now—" Tahlia punched Derek's chest angrily. "You can accept that I know magic!"

"Of course that's not what I care about!" Derek growled angrily. "I just—ahem, I mean, does Nigel know?"

"He knows." Tahlia nodded. "But that's over, Derek."

"But you...but you still love him, don't you?" Derek said hesitantly, his arms tightening unconsciously when he didn't realize it. "The way you talk about him is still clearly expressing your feelings for him──And now he also...uh, likes you, how do I know you won't──"

"Derek." Tahlia's tone suddenly became very serious, and she leaned back slightly and turned her head. "Some things, once missed... never come together again." She fumbled gently to brush back the stray hair from Derek's temples, a new habit she had acquired recently. "I like him, maybe he likes me now. But the person I choose──" She moved up slightly, and this time, unlike every time in the past, her lips touched the man's lips, and the kiss was as light as a point Water, and Tahlia backed away quickly, her hand still caressing his cheek, and she spoke softly. "It's you, Derek... I chose you, let alone—" She curled her lips slightly. "If I didn't like you at all, how could I agree to marry you? Marriage is never something you can joke about."

Derek couldn't help but stare.

Not just because of Tahlia's actions, but because of what she said.

She said... for the first time she said that she also likes herself──

"You..." Derek blinked, still in disbelief. "You just said—"

"I said." Tahlia's smile grew warmer. "I like you too."

oh my god...

He should have been happy when he heard this, but now he became dizzy and unable to think at all.

Tahlia likes him too...

She liked it too—she liked him too!

"Oh, Tahlia!" Derek finally realized and hugged Tahlia tightly. "Thank you……"

Tahlia was instantly out of breath from being hugged, and struggled to back away. "Do you want to strangle me?" She pretended to stare forward.

Derek was amused by Tahlia's stare, which clearly missed the target, and he burst out laughing. "Of course not, I was just thinking... Maybe we can take Nigel to the train station together this time—"

"why?"

"He'll be happy," Derek said seriously. "You know, he'd be delighted if you'd see him off too."

Tahlia blinked and didn't hear Derek speak for a while before finally confirming that he meant it. "You...you really want me to go?"

"It's not about whether I want you to go, Tahlia," Derek replied quickly. "It's about whether you want to go or not."

Does she want to go?

To be honest, she had no idea at all. In theory, she should really accompany Nigel. He definitely hoped that she could take him to the station together, but could she really go back there?

She really didn't know how to react to Nigel's long letter about how much his classmates admired him, even if they really didn't intend to pursue her past actions. Doesn't mean anything...they weren't the direct victims at all.

There must still be many people in the magic world who hate her deeply. No matter what the Daily Prophet said in those few days, or what kind of tragic hero she was portrayed as, it would not be able to erase the hearts of those who were hurt by her. grief.

So can she really do that... just reappear in front of those people indifferently?

Tahlia was silent for a while before speaking hesitantly. "But I—"

"Hey, it's just to take him to the station. Anyway, I can't get into your platform. We just stay outside. You don't have to force yourself to go in, do you? Don't worry about meeting someone you don't want to meet people—”

……makes sense.

Derek was absolutely right, she could have stayed out, yes...well away.

Just saying goodbye to Nigel outside, that's all - yeah, maybe that didn't really mean she had to go back there.

After a long time, and after a long time of thinking, Tahlia finally nodded slowly.

"Okay," she said softly. "Go and tell Nigel that I'll come and see him off too."