[HP] Astringent

"I didn't expect it to be Ravenclaw's diadem. It's a surprising discovery, you guys did a good job." Dumbledore held the diadem and looked at it carefully.

Snape demanded, "You need to explain why the Dark Lord made a Horcrux out of Ravenclaw stuff, and the Horcrux is still in the Room of Requirement."

"I think it was the day, the day Voldemort came back to apply for the job. I refused his request. He must have left this at Hogwarts on the way down the stairs."

"He came to apply for the position of teacher, so it can't be Defense Against the Dark Arts, right? So the legendary curse is real?" Vanessa said in disbelief.

"Is such that."

"Principal, I think we must eliminate the Horcruxes as soon as possible to avoid future troubles." Vanessa suggested.

"You're right." He walked to the cabinet and picked up the sorting hat.

The Sorting Hat said angrily, "What are you doing again, Principal, didn't you see that I was sleeping soundly?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I have to get something."

"Ah, oh, that's the only time you think of my old thing. Just take it." It complained loudly.

Vanessa and Snape surrounded him, and she watched in surprise as Dumbledore pulled out a long sword from the sorting hat, with a huge ruby ​​inlaid on the hilt.

"what is this?"

"Sword of Gryffindor," Snape replied.

"That's right, but it's a little secret." Dumbledore blinked mischievously, "Don't tell anyone."

"No problem. But I remember the sword. Even Gryffindor's sword can't destroy a Horcrux, can it? A Horcrux that has been split in half can be restored." Vanessa said and looked at Snape. Also equally puzzled.

"Because the basilisk venom was on the sword." Dumbledore said with a smile, "but that's another story, and Severus should be willing to tell you about it after we've destroyed the Horcruxes."

"I didn't..." Snape swallowed the rest of the sentence when he saw Vanessa staring at him like a curious baby, and turned to glare at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled inexplicably, and then said, "Get ready."

He raised his sword high and slashed down like a knight in the Middle Ages, causing the crown to shatter.A thick black mist spewed out from the gap, gathered into a terrifying face, rushed towards the three of them, and they all took a step back.

The black mist flew straight towards Vanessa, with a mouth full of blood. Vanessa covered her face in fear and hid back.A bone-piercing chill swept over her whole body, and she heard a hoarse voice say bleakly, "I know the secret you can't ask for, it's Sif..."

Vanessa's eyes widened in horror, and some hallucinations seemed to appear in front of her eyes. She saw Snape standing in front of her eyes and lovingly kissing the woman in her arms. They hadn't separated for a long time, as if there was only each other in the world.The woman had beautiful dark red hair, and when she finally kissed enough, she turned her head and Vanessa saw that she had Lily's face.Lily raised a coquettish smile, then raised her head and kissed Snape's lips...

don't want!stop!This is not true!

Vanessa covered her eyes in pain, tears streaming from her fingers.

"Vanessa... Vanessa..."

A familiar and deep voice broke into her mind from far and near.She opened her eyes suddenly, and Snape was standing in front of her, holding her shoulders, and she almost collapsed in his arms.

She looked at Snape's face in a daze, her eye sockets were still wet, and she couldn't see clearly.She rubbed her eyes desperately, wiping away the tears.

"It was just now..." She looked at Snape anxiously, afraid that he might have seen the same hallucination as her.

"Did you see hallucinations?" Dumbledore asked, he seemed to see through Vanessa's thoughts, "It seems that Horcruxes create different hallucinations for everyone. Fortunately, Occlumency allowed us to wake up faster. "

"Really..." She panicked and forgot to close her brain.Reassuring a little, however, that no one could see what she was seeing, she glanced at Snape, who looked as usual.Seeing that she had returned to normal, he let go of his hand.

Dumbledore asked enthusiastically: "The dinner may be over, do you want to stay and eat?"

"No, thank you for your kindness, but I want to go back and rest early."

Vanessa was physically and mentally exhausted. She trudged back, but her feet brought her to Hagrid's cabin.Dahei recognized her voice, and she jumped up and down inside the door before she knocked.Hagrid opened the door for her, and Big Black rushed out.Seeing its tail wagging so fast, Vanessa felt relieved.

She sat on the ground regardless, hugged Dahei's head, and Dahei snorted like a person, comforting her non-stop.

"Hello, Dahei." She stroked Dahei's soft hair, "I'm the only one in your eyes, right?" Dahei seemed to be sleepy, and he lay down beside her legs, with his head tucked into his front paws.

No big deal, all these years.Sleep and everything will pass.

When Lupine came back to class, Vanessa felt a lot easier.Dumbledore assigned her a new task. In addition to class time, some people would be reserved on weekends to interview them about their past contact with mysterious people.It's not very effective, but it's better to be able to help out than to do nothing.

She was really going to be a babysitter recently, Ron, Harry and Hermione had already reconciled, and McGonagall had returned the gun to Harry.Everything was going well until Crookshanks tried to eat Scabbers and their relationship dropped to zero.

Hermione hid in Vanessa's office to avoid meeting Ron in the lounge or anywhere.She had planned to go to Hagrid's, but she really couldn't run around with a schoolbag full of books every day.

When Vanessa was in school, she never went to self-study with her friends. Birds of a feather flocked together, and people were divided into groups, and her friends didn't like learning very much.The only memory of studying together was with Snape, but most of the time she was watching Snape in a daze, or sleeping on the table.

This time it was different, one of them occupied one end of the coffee table, and the two of them sat directly on the soft carpet with their backs leaning on the sofa cushions.Books were placed between them, and the two couldn't look at each other even when they raised their heads.

"Professor Weasley, you don't mind if I take up so much space?"

"Of course not. I tend to get distracted when I'm studying alone, so we can persevere when we're together." She told Hermione to relax, "You can call me Vanessa after class."

"Okay, Vanessa." Apart from Ginny, Hermione didn't have any close female friends in the college, and it was really hard to spend all day with two boys who didn't know how to be considerate.

"How many courses have you taken?" She put the freshly brewed fruit tea in Hermione's hand, and looked at the complicated book in surprise.

"I just chose the ones I'm interested in." Hermione said as she opened the book of arithmetic and divination.

Vanessa noticed that her eyes were heavily bruised and slightly swollen.She found out her usual ointment: "Apply it every morning and evening, and you will look more energetic."

"Thanks, but I don't need to…"

"Hold it, you will always use it, this brand is very useful." Vanessa said, "I think you have performed very well in my class and have fully grasped the main points of knowledge. You don't need to write about my assignment. thesis."

Hermione looked as if the sky was falling, she shook her head: "No, no, this won't work, I'm very interested in this topic - the role of electricity in Muggle life and magic power in wizard life Similarities and differences. I have borrowed several books, and I must study them carefully.”

Vanessa wondered when she would have such energy, and said with admiration, "Okay, okay, but you can leave it to me a few days later, so don't tire yourself out."

Time passed quickly, and Hermione raised her head from the book after Vanessa filled the teapot for the fifth time.She happily folded the potion paper: "Great, no one bothers me in your office at last."

"You can come whenever you want." Vanessa patted her head, "By the way, how are you and them? Haven't you made up yet?"

Hermione's eyes turned red instantly: "No, Ron doesn't want to make up with me."

"My nephew is too ungentlemanly. Just ignore him, he will be fine in a few days." She put her arms around Hermione's shoulders and comforted her.

Hermione sighed heavily: "He's prejudiced against my cat. Is there a cat that doesn't eat mice? Besides, isn't Scabbers all right? Crookshanks just almost attacked his mouse! Maybe it was just curious What?" she said, sobbing, "It's been like this since the Christmas break, first because of the fire, then because of my cat...is it all my fault?"

Hermione couldn't care less about her appearance, she rested her head on Vanessa's shoulder.

"You have to know that boys always mature later than girls, and you have worked hard."

"Is it wrong for me to do this? They, my friends think I'm too rational and strict. They think I don't fit in... I don't know what I should do..."

Vanessa took out her handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes: "These boys... don't think about it, my dear. Do what you want to do, don't doubt yourself, they will always understand you. But it is true Some things need to pay attention to some methods..."

There was a knock on the door, and Hermione wiped her face clean in her usual haughty and confident manner.Harry was going to learn the Patronus Charm with Lupine at eight o'clock every Thursday night, after which he would get used to coming and sitting here for a while.The recent busyness made Vanessa forget about it.Harry was standing outside the door right now.

"Hermione?" Harry said.

"I'm going first, Professor Weasley." She hurriedly swept all the books into her bag, and walked out without looking up at Harry.

Harry asked Vanessa: "What's wrong with her?"

"Hmm... Hermione is going to ask me to write about the course." She covered it up for Hermione.

"How's Hermione?"

Vanessa said: "If you really care about your friends, why don't you ask yourself? You know girls are always more thoughtful than you. Don't look at Hermione who can always handle everything, who doesn't Do you want someone to lend a helping hand in difficult times?"

Harry nodded, stretching his neckline.Vanessa immediately extinguished the fire: "Is this better?" Since she recovered from her illness, her body has become weaker than before, and she is more afraid of the cold.

"Much better, thanks."

Instead of fruit tea, she poured Harry a cup of hot cocoa and added some cranberry cookies to the tray.

"How's the class going this time? Any progress?"

"It's not very good. But Professor Lupine is very satisfied with my progress. He said that it is good to have white mist." Harry said dejectedly.

"It's not bad, you have to take your time, this thing can't be rushed." Vanessa said, "At least when you are playing against the Ravenclaw team, you have a weapon that can resist the dementors."

This made Harry feel better, he ate another cookie, and relaxed on the sofa: "I heard my father's voice this time, he asked my mother to take me first, and he came to resist Voldemort. "

Hearing this name again, Vanessa still couldn't help shivering, she hid it well so that Harry didn't notice it.Her fear was not so concrete, but the recent experience made her immediately recall the despair and coldness.

Harry fell into his own memories, mixed with pain and nostalgia: "I want to listen to some more, I know they are dead and can't come back...but I can't help but want to listen to it for a while, not even I really want to fight the dementors."

"You're not wrong, we're always going to be stupid for our own little thoughts."

Harry asked: "Tell me, what would my mother look like if she was still alive?" He really couldn't imagine what a mother should be like. The two people he had the most contact with were Ron's mother and Aunt Petunia. , can only use the two of them as a reference.But he didn't want to hear a woman with a horse's face call him "haha sweetheart" at the top of her throat.

Vanessa thought about it for a while, and to be honest, because of the vision not long ago, she didn't want to talk about topics related to Lily.But unable to hold back Harry's expectant gaze, she said, "Maybe I will be like Molly, stop your father from taking you around, and maybe teach you how to make a potion..." She kept talking more and more. Feeling heavy and trying to keep those emotions from being felt by Harry.She kept avoiding eye contact with Harry.

"What about my dad, will he be like Mr. Weasley?" Harry didn't notice her strangeness, and listened with gusto.

"Maybe it's not the same. Arthur is the bad-natured kind. He looks honest and calm on the surface, but he actually plays pranks with the children without telling Molly."

Harry couldn't help laughing at the thought of Arthur's modified car.He even looked forward to hearing Vanessa continue to say: "Your father is the best Seeker ever, he will definitely buy you a new broom, buy you a golden snitch, and take you to play quiz together." Dicky; and he's been a well-known troublemaker since school, even more so than Fred and George, and he might even teach you a few tricks to deal with Mr Malfoy."

"Will he buy me fire too?"

"Of course. As long as your mother agrees."

The longing on Harry's face became more and more obvious, and the images in that photo became three-dimensional, and they were even more real and lively than what they saw in the Mirror of Erised.I even tried to write down this imagination, it might come in handy next time I deal with dementors.