[HP] Astringent

The Halloween dinner was about to start when Vanessa walked out of the office the next day.She hadn't been out all day, partly to avoid Snape and Black, and partly because she didn't know what to do outside.

Thinking about last year, she was either staying in Snape's office, or walking the dog by the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron, three rambunctious brats, came to visit from time to time.But now the relationship between her and Snape seems to be getting more and more indifferent. When the big black dog raised by her son becomes a human being, the three children have Black and the Triwizard Tournament, and they seem to lose interest in her.It's better to stay in the room than to have nothing to do anywhere.

When she came to the first floor, she just ran into Harry and the others.They were complaining that Hagrid preferred sex over friends, neglected old friends for Madame Maxime's sake.They greeted happily after seeing Vanessa.

"Who do you want to represent Hogwarts?" said Harry. "I hope it's Angelina!"

There are two favorite candidates for Hogwarts, one is Hufflepuff's Cedric Diggory, and the other is Gryffindor's Angelina Johnson.As soon as they finished speaking, several Hufflepuff classmates glared at them angrily.

Blake replied without thinking: "Of course it will be Angelina! Gryffindor is naturally the best."

For a moment, Vanessa wanted to stay away from them, because the Hufflepuffs seemed to be keeping her teacher from giving them a jinx.

"It's all good, don't Ravenclaw and Slytherin have representatives?" she asked wonderingly.

"Theory has always been better than practice in Ravenclaw. If the Triwizard Tournament was held in the form of a written test, I dare say that all the magic schools in Europe—no, the world's magic schools would be willing to bow down." Ron glanced at Hermione, and Hermione Slightly squinting his eyes, he quickly added, "Hermione, you are not yet 17 years old, so you cannot participate."

Everyone laughed.Hermione's ears were a little red at the tips, and she refrained from getting any more smug.

Hermione said in a low voice, "Slytherin seventh years are not very good students. I think many of them are not as good as Malfoy. I can't believe how the professors let them pass the exam."

"I know, because the potions test is the hardest thing to pass. Professor Snape will definitely let them go," said Ron.

Vanessa has a very subtle feeling, she feels that something is really connected.If I heard this name some time ago, I felt a huge wave in my heart, but now it is just a few waves.One day I will be able to achieve complete peace of mind.

She smiled lightly and said, "If they repeat the grade because of this, it's not he who will suffer."

They were not surprised to find that the decoration of the auditorium had changed again.A swarm of live bats flitted around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of little pumpkin figures squinted at everyone from every corner.

The three of Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, and Vanessa and Black walked to the teacher's table together.

From the moment they entered the door, Vanessa noticed Snape's nonchalant gaze.Whether it was Harry or Black, it was enough reason for Snape to look over.Look, I don't even have enough reasons for Snape to stare at me as well as the two of them.

She remembered the promise she had made to Snape last night, so she deliberately walked up to the teacher's bench from the right side with Black.As he took his seat, Snape turned to look at her, and she forced a smile that was polite rather than warm, and he scowled.

Tonight's dishes were even richer than the previous day's, but none of the children were attracted by the food, and they all fidgeted restlessly looking at the Goblet of Fire burning with a faint blue fire.The professors were far less hopeful than the students, and only Black turned his head frequently like a child.

After Vanessa contentedly ate half a German elbow and added some sauerkraut and mashed potatoes for herself, she noticed that Snape had barely touched his favorite steak.

Finally, the golden plate was restored to its original spotless condition, and the voice in the auditorium rose a lot.Immediately, Dumbledore stood up, waved his wand buoyantly, except for the pull in the jack-o-lantern, everything else went out, and the auditorium suddenly fell into a state of semi-darkness.The Goblet of Fire became the most eye-catching presence in the audience, and the blue-white flames bursting out sparks were a bit dazzling.Everyone held their breath and looked at it with full concentration.

The flame in the goblet suddenly turned red, and crackling sparks burst out.Then, a tongue of flame shot into the air, and a piece of charred parchment flew from it.Dumbledore caught it and looked at the words on it by the flames.The flames were now blue and white again.

He said in a clear and forceful tone: "The champion of Durmstrang is - Viktor Krum." Applause and cheers swept the auditorium.This is completely expected by everyone, but it does not affect everyone's excitement and celebration.Krum stood up listlessly from the long Slytherin table, walked along the staff table, and entered the next room through the door.

As the uproar died down, the flames turned red again, and a second parchment burst out of the cup. "The warrior of Beauxbatons is - Fleur Delacour!" It was a beautiful girl who resembled Veela, she gracefully flicked her shiny silver hair, and walked lightly into the next room.

What follows is the most anticipated result.Dumbledore took the parchment firmly and said loudly, "The Hogwarts warrior is Cedric Diggory!"

There was deafening applause in the hall, but the Gryffindor students and Blake were a little disappointed. McGonagall stroked the broken hair on her forehead, but it could be seen that she was not as excited as Mr. Lauter.

Dumbledore said happily: "I believe that you will go all out to support your warriors. Your cheering will also make a great contribution to this event—"

But he stopped talking suddenly, thinking that the Goblet of Fire had turned red again—this should be impossible—he subconsciously stretched out a hand to catch the piece of parchment that flew out.

He looked at the note for a long time, then cleared his throat and read, "Harry Potter."

There was no applause, and a hum filled the auditorium.Vanessa also heard Snape beside her snort inexplicably.McGonagall, Buckman, Karkaroff, and finally almost everyone in the teacher's seat gathered around Dumbledore, whispering eagerly.Harry stared blankly at Ron and Hermione, as surprised as anyone else.

Until Dumbledore called his name again, he was pushed by Hermione, walked to the front in a daze, and walked into the next room.

Dumbledore discussed with the other teachers for a while, and then walked in.Vanessa believed that Dumbledore could solve this problem well, but when he saw that Snape and Black had passed, he decided to follow up and have a look.This sudden situation was enough to give Dumbledore a headache, and he didn't want the two to quarrel at such a time.

Sure enough, as soon as she entered, she heard Snape's hissing voice like a snake: "This can only be blamed on Potter. It's all his fault for insisting on violating the rules, Karkaroff."

Immediately afterwards, Black stood beside Harry, and raised his voice to retort: ​​"Harry didn't do this! This is a checkpoint set by Dumbledore himself, and Harry has no way of cracking it!"

"Oh, it seems we have forgotten that he has a good godfather who is equally unruly."

"Shut your mouth, bastard!" Black countered, "I think that greasy head is used to pry into other people's secrets, otherwise you can think clearly, this is obviously someone with malicious intentions trying to harm Die Harry."

There was a malicious light in Snape's eyes: "The person who wants to kill the savior must be more powerful than Albus, because he can sneak into Hogwarts quietly." He paused, disgusted With a chuckle, "I forgot, isn't that what you did last year?"

"I think that person is in Hogwarts, maybe it's you!"

They had no intention of stopping their argument, with McGonagall glaring at Snape angrily at Black's side, and Karkaroff glaring at Black equally angrily.Dumbledore frowned impatiently at the familiar scene.Not only him, but even Vanessa was a little annoyed by their quarrel.Before Dumbledore could speak, Vanessa stood up: "Enough, gentlemen. Stop quarreling endlessly, you are already 34 years old, don't always act like you are only 14 years old!"

The two of them stopped talking at the same time, Black looked up at him, his eyes full of unwillingness, while Snape turned his head away, his thin lips were drawn into a line, and looked at the fire at the other end.

"Vanessa, you came just in time." Dumbledore seemed relieved, "Can you and Severus check for me, is the age limit I set broken?"

Vanessa subconsciously looked at Snape, as if he didn't hear him.Vanessa nodded: "Of course." She stood by the door waiting for Snape, who still didn't move.

"Severus." Dumbledore's voice was undeniable.He finally walked over.

The circle drawn by Dumbledore is intact, and there is no detectable trace of previous damage.Dumbledore's magic should never have been suspected, and Vanessa suspected he was just looking for an excuse to separate Snape from Black.

Snape stood by with his hands down, knowing in his heart that Harry would never be able to break the spell.

"What kind of spell do you think it will be?" Vanessa asked softly.She was a little unsure whether she should strike up a conversation.

There was silence, and just when she thought the other party would ignore her, Snape replied, "The Confusion Curse is fine."

"In other words, that person's magic power level is not low." She walked to Snape, and the two stared at the flame together, "Is it Karkaroff?"

Snape snorted coldly with disdain: "That coward, all he wants to do is escape now."

Vanessa didn't ask the reason, she always trusted Snape's judgment, and then said: "Then no one will be suspected..." She had a flash of inspiration, "Is it possible that he is not a human being!"

Snape looked at her suspiciously: "What do you mean?"

"House-elves!" Thanks to Hermione's research during this time, Vanessa still remembers the abilities of house-elves, "Wizards can't Apparate at Hogwarts, but house-elves can! Maybe they have There are other ways to break the spell. Even if they didn't do it, what if they saw something when they were decorating the auditorium last night?" The more she talked, the more excited she felt, and she felt that she had found the right direction.

Snape looked at her gravely, without saying a word.Finally Vanessa said, "Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

Snape's eyebrows were knit together, as if a person was about to break free from the shackles that bound him. After a while, he was still defeated by Vanessa's expectant gaze, and reluctantly went to the kitchen together.

Harry had told her where the kitchen was, and it was her first time here.After scratching the pears on the tapestry, the kitchen door opened.Seeing them, the house-elf immediately stopped what they were doing, and surrounded them, bowing courteously.Vanessa was worried about accidentally kicking the elves who were crowded around her, so she moved to Snape's side, her arms almost touching his.

An older, small, hunchbacked house-elf asked, "How can I help, Professor Weasley?"

Vanessa bent down, and finally squatted down to look at it.Before she could speak, the elf sobbed softly: "Merlin, Professor Weasley knelt down to talk to me. I was too much, and I made Professor Weasley knelt down to talk to me!" He said He was about to kneel down and hit his head on the ground, but Vanessa quickly stopped him: "It's okay, I don't mind. I came here to ask if any of you have touched the Goblet of Fire."

As soon as the words fell, there was a gasp in the surroundings, and an elf said tremblingly: "No, how could anyone dare to use the spell set by Professor Dumbledore?"

"So from last night to this morning, have you seen anyone approaching the Goblet of Fire alone?"

"There were a lot of people, a lot of students who wanted to secretly put their names in."

Vanessa continued to ask without giving up: "What about after the curfew?"

Before the elf could answer, Snape sneered: "You don't think wizards who are capable enough to cast the Confusion Curse can use the Invisibility Curse, do you?"

Vanessa looked embarrassed, and said sullenly, "You knew why you didn't stop me from coming to the kitchen." How embarrassing she was now with how confident she was before.But miraculously, after coming to the kitchen, Snape seemed to be a little more talkative.

She wanted to get up, and without thinking, she handed Snape her hand, asking him to pull her up, but in the middle of the movement she made a stiff turn and stroked her short hair.

At this time, she saw under the table on the inside, lying an elf in a small skirt and jacket, and a blue hat.Except for her only one other elf is wearing clothes, the others are all wearing pillowcases.

"What happened to her?" Vanessa asked casually.Her words successfully made the elf cry.

"Winky...Winky is a bad elf!" She hiccupped from crying, "Winky can't take care of Mr. Crouch anymore, what will poor Mr. Crouch do without Winky!"

"You're Winky?" she exclaimed in surprise, seeing Snape's puzzled gaze, she explained, "During the Quidditch World Cup, Harry and the others ran into the woods, and then he lost his wand, and someone Using Harry's wand to conjure the Dark Mark. In the end, the wand happened to be picked up by Winky, and Klaus fired her angrily." Winky's crying became louder, and Vanessa had to move closer to Snape To make him hear what he said.

Snape thought for a while, "This is a strange thing."

"I agree. Then we..." Vanessa and Snape looked at each other, and she was sure that she and Snape wanted to go together.

Winky sat on a chair in the potions office, looking dazed.Her front was still stained with wet tears, but she finally calmed down.A Confusion Charm and three drops of Veritaserum were enough to make her tell everything.

Vanessa thought for a while, then said, "Winky, Crouch fired you only because of the wand you picked up?"

"No, it's not...it's because Winky didn't like Mr. Crouch."

This sentence is very strange, Vanessa asked inexplicably: "Why are you optimistic about Crouch?"

"Because Mr. Crouch was a bad boy and always disobeyed his father."

Snape immediately figured it out, and confirmed: "You mean Barty Crouch Jr. is a bad boy, and the person you want to look after is Barty Crouch Jr.?"

"Yes."

Vanessa was still confused, Snape signaled her to be calm, and then asked himself: "Why didn't little Barty Crouch die?"

"Because Mrs. Crouch asked Mr. Crouch to rescue him, the master turned the mistress into a little master, accepting the dementor's kiss instead of him." Eyes rolled down.

"Where's Barty Crouch Jr. now?"

"Xingying doesn't know... the little master is missing... I can't find it."

Vanessa finally had some clues: "So you were fired because you missed Barty Crouch Jr.?"

"Yes."

"No wonder, Crouch didn't show up in the box, and there was an empty seat next to Winky!" Vanessa said excitedly to Snape, and after she finished speaking, she paused for two seconds uncertainly, "I'm judging this time Right?"

He nodded his chin slightly, and then asked Winky: "Does the Goblet of Fire being tampered with have anything to do with you?"

"No."

They changed the questions a few more times, and could no longer ask any valuable answers.Soon the effect of the medicine wore off, Snape modified Winky's memory, and sent her back to the kitchen.

Vanessa asked Snape, "Is Barty Crouch Jr. a Death Eater?" She had no memory of the man at all.

"Yes." He answered curtly.

"Do you think the Goblet of Fire matter will have something to do with him?"

Snape didn't answer, looking thoughtfully at the glass bottle of Veritaserum.Little Crouch didn't have a wand alone, even if he escaped, how could he break into Hogwarts.

Vanessa saw that he was upset and asked, "What are you thinking?"

He raised his head, his eyes were a little dignified.Somehow, Vanessa remembered what Moody had said.She had a bad premonition: "Did he do something...something related to me?"

Snape turned away calmly, no longer facing Vanessa.But she didn't miss the surprise that slipped across his face at first.Vanessa was so familiar with his every move that it almost confirmed her guess.

Even with the psychological preparation, her voice was still a little hoarse: "Did he attack John?"

His hands clenched, and for a moment Vanessa wanted him to drink some of her Veritaserum.But Snape didn't give her a chance, he finally turned back and looked at Vanessa: "Yes."

She retreated to the sofa and leaned against the back: "Who else?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange," he said, his tensed shoulders relaxing a little, his arms hanging at his sides.

Vanessa's heart was full of resentment, and she blurted out: "Why didn't you tell me before?" Just when she thought Snape wouldn't explain, he broke her mind again.

"Everyone thought he was dead."

She was a little overwhelmed.She understood why Snape didn't say anything, and what if he did. Now that one of them has evaporated in Azkaban alone, she can only wait helplessly, waiting for the day when the one who got away with it did bad things again and was killed. Hold on to Azkaban.

She covered her face with her hands and stood motionless.Snape also stood in that shadow, watching her profile without saying a word.

The author has something to say:

My original intention was to write about delicate emotional changes, but now I think the subtlety is a bit too much, mother, why don't you hurry up and get together!

I think this is a very important sign, which means that in the heart of the professor, Vanessa can be treated equally.It is to believe that she can do what she wants to do, believe in her ability, believe in her as a person, and be completely respected.

And do you still remember Vanessa's reaction when the two talked about it last time, the professor must have a private message XD

------------

Some time ago, I was busy for a long time, and I hardly had time to sleep.As you all know, the busier you are, the more you want to fish, I almost finished writing the article in my head!Then when I sat in front of the computer and wrote the article, Vanessa and the professor in my heart were already in a state of throwing dog food every day. I really didn’t want to write about abuse anymore. Why did I write about abuse? The two of them were together So sweet, so sweet! ! ! QQ

Dear friends here, you may not believe it when you say it, how cruel it is now, how sweet it will be in the future!

PS I have always avoided using the circle drawn by Dumbledore to describe the age limit, because I always think of the circle 2333 drawn by Monkey King for Tang Seng