[HP] Astringent

This meeting is just for the existing members of the Order of the Phoenix to meet, the situation has not developed to the point of uncontrollable, they still have time.

"Okay, children, we have to start making some preparations." Dumbledore stood up and walked around behind the high chair, "Siris, you will officially go to work at the Ministry of Magic in September, right? Please be sure to bring my attention to unusual cases."

Blake was hired as the honorary minister of the Auror Command. There is no difference in terms of power and authority from ordinary members, except that he is additionally responsible for the external publicity work of the Auror department. This is very suitable for him, whether it is legendary experience or handsome face.Not long ago, he just passed the ability test.

"Arthur, you are on standby for now. Bill, Charlie, can you help me contact the wizards in Romania and Egypt, okay?" After getting their affirmative answer, he continued, "Remus, although there will be some There will be a time when we have to get the support of the werewolf - I hope that never comes. But for now, we have other options for the time being."

"I see, Albus." Lupine nodded.

It wasn't until the end that Dumbledore looked at the two people around him: "Vanessa, I hope you will continue to contact some pure-blood wizards and try to get as many neutrals as possible."

"Why me?" Vanessa was a little puzzled.In her opinion, both Snape and Black are more suitable to deal with them.

Snape made a tut-tsk sound: "I don't think there is a more suitable task for you than this one. After all, not everyone has ever been involved with half of them."

"What does that mean?" Bill asked.

Arthur chuckled, and replied before Vanessa could speak: "Oh, I think it's your ex-boyfriend group."

"No!" Vanessa looked at Arthur a little frantically, she didn't want to be mentioned these things at all, especially in front of Snape, she prevaricated, "And they're both married."

"I heard that quite a few of them are already divorced." Snape answered naturally.

Vanessa has never been one to suffer. The habit she and Snape had honed in countless battles of wits emerged before the rationale: "Then I have to dress up when I date them."

Snape looked at her with a familiar smirk.

Dumbledore waited for them to finish speaking with great interest, and said to Vanessa: "One more thing, we need to determine who attended last night's assembly, and who received the signal but did not attend. "

His icy blue eyes were full of trust, and Vanessa also felt his solemnity, and was about to agree, when Snape interrupted her: "Albus, this is my mission."

"I just hope Vanessa can help, you know the task on your shoulders is too heavy..."

"I don't need it." He lowered his voice displeased, but every word was still clear, "You promised me, Albus."

Dumbledore cast a veiled glance at him and sighed, "Let's talk about that later." He paused for a moment before continuing, "If there's nothing else, I don't think I'll bother you about preparing dinner."

"Albus, Harry hasn't been well lately." Black called him, "His scar hurts a lot."

"I think it's a hangover from the Killing Curse. Don't worry, Sirius."

"It's not that simple. Harry said that he dreamed of Voldemort—" when he said this, many people in the room shuddered violently, "a big snake was talking to a woman—and a fat Talk to a middle-aged woman! Bertha Jorkins has been missing lately, as you know."

Arthur shook his head quickly, trying to deny him: "That's impossible, Bertha has been reckless. I dare say she will come back to work in a few days."

Dumbledore began to pace thoughtfully, turning his back on the table.He spoke slowly: "We can't verify the authenticity. But before that, I hope Harry can sleep soundly. Sirius, you will boil the water of death, right? You can let him drink some recently."

"Albus..."

"Okay, let's stop here for today. You just went through everything, now you just need to take a good rest." When he turned back again, the seriousness on his face had disappeared, "Vanessa, come with me, okay? I need to speak to you alone."

Without waiting for Snape's reply, he stepped into the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo powder.

Vanessa sat in the principal's office again.Fenghuang was taking a nap at the side, and the last sunlight sprinkled into the golden room, illuminating the round table beside the bed.

She sat in the armchair, and Dumbledore ordered her a cup of black tea.

Dumbledore faced her, serious and solemn: "I hope you can listen carefully to what I say next. Of course, I will consider your personal wishes and will not force you to make a decision."

"I will gladly obey your orders..."

Dumbledore waved his hand and signaled her to stop: "Voldemort will definitely be resurrected, I haven't told them about it for the time being. I don't want to cause more people to panic when I'm not sure. And when he really resurrects I needed Severus to come back to him that day, to get the intel for us, and to deliver the information we needed him to know."

"What are you talking about!" Vanessa shouted in surprise, her voice distorted, "No, no...it's too dangerous!"

"Yes, we all know." Dumbledore's voice was a little sad, "The next thing I need you to do for him, I hope to write a statement to prove that Severus was commissioned by me to go to Voldemort Be a spy by your side, and hide this certificate as best you can. When it's all over, if I'm gone, I hope to give him the honor he deserves."

"You, what are you talking about?" Vanessa was trembling, her hands were twisted together, her nails almost pierced the back of her hand, "I don't agree! I won't accept this task." She took a big breath, trying to get rid of the terrible feeling of suffocation , "We haven't reached this point yet, we must have other ways! I will fight for more pure-blood families to stand by our side..."

Dumbledore came over and put his hand on her shoulder.That sole weight seemed to give her a little security.

"He... how could he agree?" Fragmented words and tears came out of her eyes. Vanessa knew the answer in her heart, but she tried to refute the thought, "He should not be willing. He hates Voldemort, how could he be willing to return?" Come to him and bow your knees and look up to him... He is so proud, he cares about his reputation, if he is also teaching at Hogwarts at the same time, he has to endure the spurning of other professors... He... How can you ask him to do this thing……"

She blamed it all on Dumbledore's instructions, but that didn't make her feel much better.

Dumbledore didn't answer, but just increased the strength in his hand to give her some comfort.She should have thought that once the war started, our lives were not ours.But once someone notifies you in advance before death comes, the last time of life becomes a long torture.

After a long time, she finally suppressed her trembling and asked in a low voice, "Why did he make this decision?"

Dumbledore sighed, he had seen too many powerless things, but he was still easily moved by them.His eyes were also wet, but his tone was firm as usual: "I promised never to tell anyone about this."

Vanessa's heart ached a few times, and she said in a shy voice, "Is the fireplace connected?"

Dumbledore nodded slightly.

This was Vanessa's second visit to Spinner's End, it was cold and damp as always, and the thick black blackout curtains tightly isolated the outside world.Snape didn't seem surprised by her arrival, but was surprised that she didn't clean up the ashes on her body in the first place.

He still raised his chin: "I don't know if there is something urgent that made you come to the humble house without notice. It's a pity that I don't have delicious Earl Gray tea and baked cookies here. However, a four-legged stool can still barely I found it, please don't stand in front of my fireplace as if you were petrified, I'm afraid that some impolite idiot will come out in a while." As soon as the words fell, a chair floated with the wand to her side.This was his usual tone and rhetoric, but Vanessa did not fight back, nor did she sit down, but moved to the side and found a corner against the wall.

Snape frowned, studying her.Just before he gave the order to evict, Vanessa said, "Why did you agree to go back and be a spy?"

His eyebrows frowned even tighter: "Albus told you?"

"How dangerous that is, do you know!" She said excitedly, "I know you want revenge. Isn't it the same for you here in the Order of the Phoenix? We definitely need a lot of potions, and we also need combatants to look at , you can do whatever you want! Why a spy? Voldemort will not only kill you, he will torture you... how could you, how could you..."

"I think I know what he's going to do better than you do." Snape sneered. "But it's all my business. I don't remember ever giving you the right to tell me what to do."

Vanessa didn't even have time to show her sadness, she just wanted to quickly dispel his thoughts: "Severus, I know my own position, I'm not important enough to make you give up for me to avenge Lily..." Nose Sour, she clenched her teeth tightly to keep the tears from falling, "Can you just this once, consider my feelings more or less... My suggestion, don't go back... Please..."

"That's ridiculous, Vanessa, why should I consider your feelings?"

"Severus, do you really not understand, or are you pretending to understand? Don't you understand my feelings for you!" She felt the temperature in her body being slowly sucked away.

"Oh?" He prolonged his tone, "I didn't see from where I was special to you, it was nothing more than a tool to pass the time when you were bored and lonely. Isn't that what you have been like before?"

"Don't you think I treat you as I treat them?"

"Well, it seems that I am not enough to be on an equal footing with those rich pure-blood nobles."

"Severus!" She suddenly felt that everything was so ridiculous, her tone became cold, "I thought at least you knew something about me, even if I didn't say it."

"I don't have time to watch what other people do."

She bit her lips tightly, and the smell of blood filled her mouth, but it couldn't make up for the desolation in her heart: "Come and see for yourself, I'll open your brain and let you rummage around..." She laughed self-deprecatingly, "Oh, look How stupid I am, even if you see it with your own eyes, you still don’t want to believe it.”

Her legs were weak, and if she hadn't leaned against the wall behind her, she would have almost fallen to the ground.

With the last glimmer of hope, she persistently asked him: "What about you? I thought...you treat me differently from others?" She clearly knew the answer, but she still wanted to test it out.

Snape curled his lips indifferently: "If what you mean by being different means that I am more pleasant to the only person in the Order of the Phoenix who still has a brain, I'm sorry. I'd rather have a kiss with Black next time."

Vanessa looked at him silently, her eyes expressing accusations, the room was so dark that she couldn't see his expression clearly.It could also be that the tears blurred the vision.Snape still turned his head away, his eyes falling on the floor.

"Heh..." She laughed again, mocking her own misery, "Then what have you promised to do for Dumbledore?"

"anything."

She closed her eyes, the tears had already dried up.She leaned on the wall and walked to the door, and rushed out.

In less than 10 minutes, Vanessa returned to Spider's End Alley again. She didn't know how she stepped on her self-esteem before she mustered up the courage to walk into this cold house again.But she still chose to come back because she couldn't let go.

She put on a straight face and forced herself to hide her emotions. She even used an Occlumency technique that she wasn't very good at at this time.

She simply said a word: "I know your arm is injured, I will leave after you bandage it up."

Vanessa ignored Snape's objections - in fact, Snape seemed surprised to forget to resist, and pulled back his robes.There was a hideous wound on the back of his arm, the flesh was turned outward, and there were clotted blood around it.This is a wound caused by black magic, and it cannot be healed by medicine. It can only wait for it to heal a little bit.She carefully removed the bandage that was glued to the wound, and wrapped a new one.Snape kept his back to her and said nothing.

"Where's the painkiller and haemostatic?"

"unnecessary."

Vanessa ignored him and walked to the potion cabinet. She could still easily identify the two potions.She handed it to Snape, who didn't take it.Vanessa didn't insist anymore, put the medicine on the coffee table, and left without looking back.

It was pouring rain outside, and Vanessa didn't Apparate, let alone conjure an umbrella.This was a Muggle community, and she didn't want to get herself into trouble.What's more, she didn't have the strength to do anything else.She walked very slowly, leaving few people behind, and the cold rain hit her face, blurring her makeup.Time seemed to stand still, frozen at this moment.

How courageous a person must be to remain indifferent in the face of rejection, but she can't, she has always valued her dignity more than the sky.Even her appearance has always been a shackle, and she couldn't bear to be so downcast.Love should be a very pure thing, but she couldn't keep it pure.There are too many things mixed between her and Snape, bets, deceit, time and endless regrets... If she had known this earlier, shouldn't she have insisted a little bit more, but she didn't know that love had come at that time.Or it shouldn't be mentioned anymore.

Vanessa didn't know how far she had gone, and in front of her was a sparsely populated meadow, and she Apparated back home.

The wet clothes and hair were sticking to her body, but she ignored it, as if to save the last bit of self-esteem, she wanted to write a letter—she wanted to tell him that she chose to give up voluntarily.I don't know if it's water droplets or tears on the hair, and the handwriting is blurred into blurred ink spots.

Snape drank the two potions anyway.The feeling of numbness filled the whole body, it should be the painkillers.

His fireplace was connected to the fireplace in the principal's room during the holidays, and it was rude not to make an appointment in advance, but he didn't want to delay for a moment.

"I was still wondering when you would come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon." Dumbledore said while grooming the Phoenix Fawkes, "Sit down, Severus. Let me see, are you here to ask me to find you?" What did Vanessa talk about alone?"

His eyes sank, filled with dissatisfaction: "You promised me, Albus. I don't need to involve other people as a spy."

"I just think the kid is a good fit. We need someone to help when I can't walk away, someone who trusts you as much as I do." He gazed at Snape through half-moon eyes.

"If need be, I can give the information to other people by other means."

"I'm not doubting your ability, it's just better this way." Dumbledore put down Fox and walked to the desk, "The war is about to begin, and everyone will be in danger."

"But that has nothing to do with me!"

Dumbledore pushed his glasses and recalled the previous events with ease: "Remember that you came to me a while ago and said that the Dark Mark had turned black? I thought you were trying to escape. But to my surprise , you haven't. You're braver than I thought, Severus. And so is Vanessa."

"Albus..."

Dumbledore stopped him from continuing: "Don't panic, Severus. How many men and women have you seen die?"

"That's different."

"What's so special about Vanessa?" He said in a gentle tone, but pressed on every step, wanting to get a clear answer.

Snape sank into the armchair, his face was covered with a solemn black veil: "Enough people have died because of me."

"Is that all?"

He raised his eyebrows and said mockingly, "What answer do you want from me?"

"Love is the greatest thing in the world..."

This argument again, Snape gave a disdainful laugh.Dumbledore was not angry, and continued: "... is also the most perishable."

"I don't think it has anything to do with our conversation." Snape stood up, his eyes sharp. "Stop involving irrelevant people, Albus."

"These are for Vanessa to decide for herself."

Dumbledore's voice fell behind Snape with the blast of the fireplace.

A strange but not unfamiliar feeling filled the whole body.Snape had been occupied by this feeling all his life. He never knew what it was like to gain, but he was very familiar with losing.He thought he was used to it, always missing something warm.

There was a locked box in Snape's heart, which was full of things he didn't want to face, and Dumbledore's questioning seemed to knock a crack in the box.

He even began to question whether the decision he made was correct.Immediately afterwards, he denied this ridiculous idea.

He was going to stop Vanessa from agreeing to Dumbledore's proposal, whatever it was.

All Snape remembered was Vanessa's mention that her home was on the edge of Godric's Hollow, by a wood away from the village.Fortunately, there were not many small two-story buildings next to the woods, and he found it after searching for more than an hour.

There was a faint light on the second floor, and he knocked on the door, but no one answered.After lingering for a while, he barged in without authorization.There was no sound in the room, Snape raised his wand vigilantly, and walked upstairs along the base of the wall.The door of the bedroom was ajar, he opened it lightly, there were a few puddles of water on the ground, following them, Vanessa was curled up on the bed in her original wizard robe, the curtains were not put down, and the quilt was not covered, She shrunk into an imperceptible little ball.

"Vanessa?"

Didn't get any response.

Snape walked over lightly.Her face was flushed, her brows were tightly wrinkled, her lips were slightly parted, and beads of sweat were forming on the tip of her nose. Every time she took a breath, she seemed to be suffocating at any time.He reached out and touched her forehead. Vanessa shrank from the cold, her face wrinkled, and the corners of her mouth were puckered, showing an aggrieved expression.Only then did Snape realize that her eye sockets were redder than her cheeks.

Vanessa is rarely in such a mess. She has always been so proud and flamboyant, but the last two times she cried pitifully were all because of him.

His eyes darkened, and he said in a voice almost whispering, "Idiot." Vanessa couldn't hear him at all, and she didn't know who he was talking to.He exited the door, went back to the spider tail box to get a bottle of cold medicine and came back.

Snape couldn't wake her up, so he pinched her chin with one hand and poured the medicine into it with the other.Perhaps it was too urgent, Vanessa choked and coughed violently.She opened her eyes slightly, saw Snape dimly, his movements stopped instantly, and soon Vanessa closed her eyes again in a daze.

Snape moved more carefully.He gently lifted her head, put the pillow under it, and then pressed her chin against her chin, letting her swallow the medicine bit by bit.After drinking the cold medicine, Vanessa's ears were emitting white smoke, and she looked silly.He dried her clothes with a drying charm, then stuffed her whole into a fluffy warm cup, tucked in the corners of the quilt, and wrapped her tightly.

He carefully avoided all traces of water, leaving no trace.When he walked to the desk, he stopped in his tracks, and he caught a glimpse of some crumpled letter papers soaked in water on the desk.He picked up the top one, a perfectly dry, legible letter:

[To Severus Snape:

I am sorry to have caused you trouble, and I will take back all my feelings from now on.

Vanessa Weasley]

There was a big hole in the box, and something rushed violently in my heart.

Snape felt the heat drain from his body slowly.

He knew it was a farewell and he deserved it.

Snape gently closed the door, placing it at the exact same angle as it had entered.

The author has something to say:

Give the professor a word, wife abuse is a moment of pleasure, chasing his wife to the crematorium.

(Do you think that the professor's bibi is fierce and decisive, but in fact, he protects Vanessa in every way)

In fact, the professor just wanted the relationship between the two to return to the previous state.

***

I don’t know if you know Mrs. Donkey, the lyricist of "The Truth Is False / The Truth Is True", and I really like a line in her other lyric work "Monologue": "If I can resolutely give up, who would love Embarrassed, I have also been held in the hands of a certain gentleman to block the frost, snow and wind." Is it super suitable for the occasion!

PS The last few chapters have been really painful to write.