[HP] Astringent

Vanessa's life is very regular, she attends classes, prepares lessons, reads books on alchemy borrowed from the forbidden book area, catches up on manuscripts, and walks her dog.She heard that Snape's attitude towards Neville and Lupine was even worse, and Hagrid didn't dare to choose dangerous creatures anymore, but under Vanessa's persuasion, he gave up Flobber caterpillars and exploding snails and chose I found even cuter Hedgehogs - a small animal that looks very similar to a hedgehog, and a small bowl of milk can make them crawl out of the hedgehog.

In this class, she arranged the Muggle studies classroom to look like a Muggle living room. She specially asked Arthur to borrow a TV set that was modified with the permission of the Ministry of Magic, and there was an old movie "Oliver Twist" in it. ".There is a fruit platter and jars of Haribo gummy bears on the coffee table.

She turned off the TV, and the students howled to watch it a little longer.She smiled and said: "The Ministry of Magic only lent me the videotapes of the first three episodes, but I have copied the whole book for interested students. You can take it back and have a look." In the hands of a little wizard, "There will be an interesting part in the next class. I hope to organize a debate competition."

Hermione looked at her eagerly, and she continued, "We're going to divide into two teams, little Muggle-born wizards and Muggle wizards whose parents have one side, raise your hands."

Half of the students in the class raised their hands and said with satisfaction: "It's suitable, you are in a group, and the rest of you are in a group. The topic of the debate is whether Muggle technology is more advanced than magic. But it's not as simple as you think, Mr. Williams," she pointed to a Slytherin boy, "you are the captain of the party, and you are going to argue that Muggle technology is more advanced than magic."

She looked around at the other students, ignoring Hermione's raised hand, and said to Neville, "Mr. Longbottom, you are the captain of the opposing side. Well, there are no papers in this class, but you have to prepare well for this debate, yours Performance will directly affect the final grade. Then, class will be dismissed."

The students filed out, and the classroom fell silent for an instant.

There's enough for a Halloween dinner to surprise everyone.Hundreds of jack-o'-lanterns hung in the auditorium, along with a colony of fluttering bats and many flame-breathing orange streamers that floated lazily below the ceiling like brilliant water snakes.The food was even more exquisite than usual.

After Vanessa ate a grilled lamb chop, she hesitated to order another.A little bat flew down as if drunk, she stretched out her finger, and the little bat landed.She secretly looked at Snape, comparing him with the little bat, the more she looked at him, the more she felt the same.

Snape didn't notice her, and he looked meaningfully at Lupine at the other end of the teacher's table.Lupine looked perfectly normal, chatting briskly with the Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick.She noticed that Harry's eyes lingered on Lupine and Snape.

Vanessa poured herself a glass of limoncello and asked, "Severus, have you finally been able to stop giving Lupine a shot?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, and she nodded in Harry's direction, explaining, "The look in Harry's eyes tells me that he's worried that you'll poison Lupine to death."

"I wouldn't mind making him a stew if possible." Snape gracefully sliced ​​the lamb chops, each piece of meat was almost exactly the same size.

"Do you even cut lamb chops so neatly?"

Vanessa tried to do like him, the blade screeching across the plate.Snape glanced at the large and small pieces of meat on her plate, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

She swallowed a big mouthful of meat in anger, and then said, "What's wrong with Lupin, is he sick?"

Snape said vaguely: "His old problem."

"Dumbledore asked you to make him a potion?"

Snape acquiesced, but Vanessa found it strange that he and Lupine had a secret in common.But she is not a person who casually probes other people's privacy, she just sighed: "He was not in good health when he was in school, didn't he? I remember he has to ask for leave every month."

Snape snorted contemptuously through his nose: "You care about Lupine so much, you might as well ask him yourself. Maybe he will be willing to satisfy your curiosity generously."

"Forget it, I'm not familiar with him." Vanessa shrugged, and Snape's hands moved a little softer.

Vanessa ended the sumptuous meal after eating a Chappe cake and drinking the occasional Bloody Mary.She was a little worried that if she went on like this, she would need to buy a box of slimming potions.But before she left the auditorium, she didn't forget to grab a handful of hard candy shaped like a skull.

She didn't go back to the dormitory, but walked out of the castle. She couldn't bear to spend Halloween alone with Dahei.The strange thing is that there is only Yaya and a dog in the cabin, and Dahei has gone somewhere.She put a leg of lamb into Fang's bowl, and put the other under a Preservation Charm on the table.

When she returned to the castle, she found that all the students were gathered in the auditorium.Lupine called her back. "Vanessa, you're lucky you didn't come back to the office. The headmaster was just about to let me find you. Sirius Black tried to break into Gryffindor Tower during dinner."

"What? Blake is in Hogwarts? How did he get in?"

"no one knows."

Vanessa looked left and right, anxiously looking for Snape.At this time, he was walking down the stairs quickly. He looked around and his eyes fell on Vanessa.Vanessa had the feeling that Snape was looking for her.She walked over involuntarily, lowered her voice and said, "What did Black do? No one was hurt?" She observed Snape carefully and confirmed that there was no sign of a fight on his body before returning to her original position.

He nodded slightly and asked, "You didn't go back to the office?"

It was rare for Snape to ask such a peaceful question, and Vanessa replied puzzledly: "Yes, I want to see the big black, but I don't know where it went."

Dumbledore asked Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick to close the door of the auditorium, and said to all the students: "The teachers and I will conduct a thorough search of the castle. For your safety, I think you may want to stay here Stay overnight." Then he assigned corresponding tasks to the prefect and the student council president, letting them be responsible for guarding the auditorium and managing the students.

With a random wave of his wand, the long tables flew to the edge of the auditorium and stood up against the wall; with another wave, the ground was covered with hundreds of purple sleeping bags.

Vanessa was assigned to check the third floor, including Lupine's office, while Lupine checked the eighth floor, including Vanessa's office in addition to the Gryffindor Tower.They found nothing, and after they reported the results to Dumbledore, Dumbledore told them to go back to rest.The fact that she didn't see Big Black at night made her very upset, but Dumbledore forbade anyone to leave the castle at night.

Snape was still inspecting floor by floor, and he could only rest assured if he went around every corner of the castle himself.Vanessa was about to leave when he came back, and he spoke to Dumbledore in a low voice, his lips barely parted.

Vanessa also didn't feel like going to bed, and waited quietly by the gate of the auditorium.She accidentally cast an invisibility spell on herself, and when Snape came out, she followed quietly.She looked at Snape's particularly heavy back, and a strong sense of powerlessness swept over her body.

It's like this every time, I can't say words of comfort, and I don't know what to do.The pain at the bottom of his heart is closely connected. When he suffers, it becomes a knife to make Vanessa suffer.

Vanessa can guess what he's thinking, he hates Black's informant and killed Lily, and he suspects that Lupine is helping Black secretly.Lily's death was like a thread hanging around his neck, preventing him from living or dying.

Saddest of all, Vanessa is an outsider to their story.

Snape didn't go back to the cellar, he walked up the stone steps to the door of the Gryffindor lounge on the eighth floor.The portrait of the Fat Lady was scratched out of shape.No one lit their wands, and Vanessa couldn't see him in the dark.He faced the portrait, clasped his hands, and stood silently for a while, as if waiting for someone to come out.

Then he walked towards the Astronomy Tower, the tallest tower in Hogwarts and the end of the route.Vanessa followed Snape past countless times, and no one else knew that since he and Lily broke up, she would come here secretly.He didn't know that this issue was all in her eyes.

The bleak wind blew through the window hole and hit his face coldly, making him motionless like an unconscious sculpture.Vanessa stood in the corner by the door, with her back against the wall, silently accompanying him.

With fish belly showing in the sky, Snape said in a hoarse voice, "Come out."

Vanessa was shocked, not knowing what to do in embarrassment.She heard Snape say firmly, "You forgot the Silencing Charm."

She waved her wand to reveal herself, but Snape didn't look back at her.She wanted to leave, unwillingness welled up in her heart, she didn't want to be like this every time, watching him sinking deeper and deeper in the quagmire called Lily, and doing nothing.Then he folded back again, took out a candy from his pocket and stuffed it into Snape's hand.

She peeled off another candy and put it in her mouth, the sour taste made her frown.

All Vanessa could offer him was a candy that wasn't sweet enough. She patted Snape on the back and exited the room to help him close the door.