[HP] Can you be gentle with me

"I said... I'm chasing you."

There was a brief silence, and then Tahlia reached out and pushed the man in front of her away as a response, and began to shuttle slowly between the aisles.

Snape's mouth curled up slightly before he turned around and followed the woman in front of him who was finally willing to leave the small corner at the back of the classroom.

"Meaning, there's no way I'm going to be mad at you for something so small," he said in a voice only the two of them could hear, walking behind Tahlia.

"Small things?" Tahlia froze for a moment, then answered with the same volume. "I almost killed you."

"But you didn't, and that's a trivial matter from my point of view," Snape said, and with a wave of his hand, the liquid in a cauldron that was about to happen to their right disappeared instantly. "Ten points off Hufflepuff, tell me, Miss Perry, what does the third line of instructions on the blackboard say?"

"Cut... cut the tail of the salamander into pieces, and put a piece along the edge of the cauldron every ten seconds──" the blond girl replied tremblingly, her voice became softer as she spoke, as if she had realized that she had made a mistake Whereas, she didn't know whether to be thankful or terrified that Professor Snape stopped her before she had forgotten to wait for a while and was about to throw in the next salamander's tail.

"Yes, every ten seconds, Miss Perry." Snape's voice was soft, but not at all majestic. "Perhaps you think that getting an honor in OWLs means that you can indulge yourself in making potions that don't follow instructions?" He twitched one corner of his mouth. "Should I reconsider having you in this class?"

"I..." Perry looked stunned and faltered, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Hearing Perry's fearful voice, Tahlia frowned, stopped and turned around slowly, then walked to Snape's side.

"Severus, don't always threaten students like this." She said flatly, then turned her head to face the direction of the girl's voice. "Don't be nervous, there is still enough time, be careful this time──"

hiss

Tahlia shut her mouth abruptly. She was very familiar with the sound. It was a sign that a nearby cauldron was about to explode. The sound was very close, and it seemed to be the table in front of Miss Perry on the left.

Draw out the wand skillfully and release the spell precisely, and then...

boom!

……very good.

It sounded like no one was hurt.

hiss ─

no, no...

Tahlia was confused for a moment, logically she should be perfect to prevent the explosion liquid from reaching anyone... But how-

"Tahlia!"

There was another bang, and a horrified cry went straight into Tahlia's ears, damn it...

She only had time to make two barriers to the source of the sound to separate the students in the front and back, and then subconsciously closed her eyes, preparing for the ensuing splash of the potion no matter what it had turned into—

boom!

Tahlia's head thumped on the ground as a man suddenly threw herself on her and caused her to be pinned to the ground. The potion she didn't expect to sprinkle on her was replaced by the faint smell of the man, except for his Her head was a little dizzy due to the force of the impact. It seems that she was not injured...

Was it Snape... who saved her?

"Severus…" Tahlia began, pushing the man on top of her.

Snape didn't respond.

Tahlia frowned, and that's when she felt the weight on her body, as if Snape was falling on top of her completely unsupported.

"Severus?" she called again.

Still no answer.

An unspeakable fear suddenly sprang up in her heart, but when she spoke to the students, her tone was so calm that she was surprised. "What happened to him?"

The students, who had been silent since the beginning, finally came back to their senses after Tahlia's questioning. A few of them panicked after realizing that their potions professor was motionless and his whole body was splashed with potion. Helping Tahlia move the man slightly away.

"Professor Watson... Snape taught him—"

"Shh, it's okay." Tahlia couldn't confirm the situation, but subconsciously calmed down the child who caused the potion accident and was now in a complete panic. "But I need your help." She said softly, leaning on the table to stand up, her wand still clenched. "That's the end of this Potions lesson, there's no need to continue making potions, you just dispose of those semi-finished products—" She said, waving her wand, and Snape, who had fallen on the ground, floated up steadily. "Who wants to lead the way for me?"

It wasn't long before Tahlia was walking as fast as she could now, and she showed up in the hospital wing with Snape.

But to her surprise, the test results were all normal.

"Everything is alright?" Tahlia sat on the chair beside the hospital bed, confused. "But the children said he seemed to have passed out. How could a normal person pass out so easily?"

Pomfrey shrugged, skillfully arranging some bottles and jars on the low cabinet next to Snape's bed. "I'm pretty sure the potion didn't physically harm him, Tahlia. That's what the tests showed, and I honestly don't understand why he's asleep until now…" She paused. "Who knows? Maybe it's because he hasn't slept much—"

"Haven't slept much?" Tahlia frowned and whispered once.

"I've told him more than once," Pomfrey said gruffly. "But he still spends very little time sleeping, and he often didn't sleep for several days in a row when you were away—"

Tahlia fell silent, lowered her head slightly, as if she was thinking about something.

Seeing this, Pomfrey sighed softly.

These two kids...

She has watched the two of them since they entered school, and naturally knows all the misunderstandings and contradictions between them. The only thing she didn't expect was that the high wall built by these disputes between the two of them would be so difficult to overcome. Sometimes she even suspects that this is Merlin's prank, maybe everything is done deliberately by his old man, and fate has always played tricks on the two of them.

"Tahlia…" Finally, Pomfrey whispered. "Severus is the most persistent person I've ever met in my life—"

Tahlia paused for a few seconds, then murmured. "……What?"

"I mean," Pomfrey walked slowly towards Tahlia, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He always has what he's after—no matter what it is, he's absolutely going to go out of his way to achieve it."

"What does that have to do with me?" Tahlia turned slightly. She knew it would be rude to throw Pomfrey away like this, but she had a gut feeling that if she kept listening, something very serious would happen to her. The beliefs I had held on to all these years were completely shattered. "We are Slytherins, Poppy──you too, each of us has our own pursuit, why is he special?" As he said, he stood up, slowly approached the hospital bed, groped forward unconsciously, and then , There were a few thin touches from her fingers, and she withdrew her hand before any emotion arose in her heart.

Looks like he's still unconscious--

"I don't think you're—"

"Aren't we?" Tahlia turned her head sharply, facing the direction of Pomfrey who had spoken, and interrupted her abruptly. "Why do you always try to improve our relationship? You don't understand what's going on between us, do you?"

Pomfrey was silent for a long, long time before speaking in a low voice. "Yes, we don't know... but we have guessed—"

"And you think that just you -- no matter who you are referring to -- just your guesses are enough to make a decision for me?" Tahlia unconsciously tightened the cloth under her hands. "I'm curious, why do you think I should choose to forgive? If you really guess something—"

"If you've ever seen what Severus' life was like these days—"

"—I'll agree?" Tahlia turned up the volume. "Would you? How did you say his life? Oh, don't tell me, I can almost guess what you want to say──If you want to say that he regrets it, and how he punished himself for it──then I What?" She turned her face away, and raised the corners of her mouth ironically. "Could it be that he can justifiably call himself a victim because of his desperation?" As he spoke, he turned his head again. "What do you mean?"

Dead silence.

It wasn't that Pomfrey had nothing to say, but that she was distressed.

Putting aside those heartless words, if Tahlia could not show such a devastated expression, she would definitely be persuaded──

But what else should she say?

"I'm sorry, Tahlia...I'm not blaming you. There is no such thing as an apology that you have to accept in this world. It's not that you can easily forgive anything wrong. I don't mean to force you to accept—"

Tahlia pursed her lips tightly and didn't reply.

"I'm just sorry—" Pomfrey continued without trying to force Tahlia to answer right away. "I watched you grow up...you are like my children, I just want you to be happy."

Tahlia still didn't answer.

"But I guess I'm just meddling in my own business." Pomfrey sighed. "Forget it, when I didn't say anything—"

"No." Tahlia lowered her head slightly and said in a low voice.

"what?"

Tahlia still clutched the bed sheet with her hands, and slowly raised her head. "Sorry, Poppy," she said, forcing a smile. "I know all of this." She paused and took a deep breath. "I know that he has changed a lot, and I also know how much he has paid for it. In any case, I am not indifferent. It would be a lie to say that I am not moved. I also thought about believing again—"

"You…" Pomfrey blinked, surprised.

"But I still have my stick, Poppy—" Tahlia continued. "Believe me, I've been thinking about this question all the time, no matter what, I'll make a decision in the end—"

Poppy was still in a daze, apparently not having had time to digest what Tahlia had said. "Oh..." She glanced at Snape on the bed. "Then you to him—"

"I'll make a decision anyway." Tahlia gave a smile.

Pomfrey listened, but he didn't want to continue to ask because of Tahlia's ambiguity. Instead, he chuckled lightly, shrugged, waved his hand and turned away after a sudden knock on the door.

seems to have hurt her...

Tahlia closed her eyes. For some reason, even though it was pitch black, she could only completely isolate herself from the outside world when she closed her eyes...

I'm really sorry……

Tahlia took a deep breath, then sighed, lifted her foot, and was about to leave, but at this moment she felt a slight commotion on the side, and the next second, before she could react, a hand tightly held hers.

"Severus?" Tahlia blurted out in surprise, turning her head away out of habit.I felt pain where the arm was grasped, and one could imagine how much strength the man had used. "Are you... awake?" she asked, gritting her teeth as the pain crept into her head again.

Strange to say, I don't know if Pomfrey's words had any effect just now, this time she didn't think about pulling her hand away, or stopping Snape from continuing to grab her, after all, it was the man who blocked those potions for her just now , if that potion had any bad effect on him... she would try to correct it no matter what.

But Snape didn't say anything, and the strength in his hands increased a lot.

"Hiss—" Tahlia gasped unconsciously. "Severus, you first—"

"Don't go."

Tahlia shut her mouth at the sound of Snape's voice in her ears.

That voice sounded extremely painful, containing almost all negative emotions, despair, sadness, unwillingness...

"...Severus?"

Suddenly, Tahlia felt the whole hospital bed shake slightly, the man on the bed sat up, and the next second, she fell into someone's arms, and the special herbal smell belonging to Snape directly flooded her sense of smell, making his head There was a momentary blank.

Snape didn't seem to be in the right place either.

Tahlia felt that her head was in a mess, but such a thought was still clearly above her consciousness. Under normal circumstances, Snape would not go up to hug someone so casually, nor would he be killed after hugging that person. He noticed that his whole body was trembling...could it be the potion?

"Severus..." Thinking of this, Tahlia found that she couldn't force herself to forcefully push away the man who was holding her.

"Tahlia." She heard Snape's voice, the same unsettling voice as before.

"Huh?" She responded to him before she could stop herself.

It was obvious that the arms around her were tightened, even making it impossible for her to breathe normally.

Tahlia opened her mouth, but shut it again in shock at the man's reaction.

He is crying.

Sobs, to be exact.

This realization made her completely overwhelmed, Tahlia couldn't move half a step, and couldn't think, Snape's body trembled slightly, but she couldn't have been completely unaware of being held tightly.

As far as she could remember, Snape shed tears in front of her only once... no, maybe more than once, but she could count the number of times on five fingers, and the most profound one was that night, amidst the scattered rubble , he put his arms around Lily──

Tahlia felt her breath stop.

Why……

"Don't go..."

She heard Snape speak again.

"Please...don't leave."