[HP] Astringent

The days were wobbly and it was the end of August. Vanessa submitted countless manuscripts to the "Daily Prophet" according to Dumbledore's instructions, but all of them were returned without exception.It refused to reveal the truth to the public at Fudge's behest.Only some small newspapers published her articles, but they usually published them as a joke, and finally there were editorials by other authors describing her, Harry and Dumbledore as crazy.Rita and Hermione reached an agreement and did not dare to write about them anymore, but she set the tone for the latecomers. Several articles said that Vanessa had tasted the taste of fame before, and once it got out of hand, she began to rely on editing. The news of the mysterious man's resurrection came out.

Other than that, this might be the happiest summer Vanessa has ever had.

Now Vanessa no longer needed Snape's constant care, as if he wanted to make up for his wasted vacation, he locked himself in the laboratory every day as soon as he opened his eyes, and didn't come out until meal time.It's hard for Vanessa to imagine anyone who would go directly to the Forbidden Forest to pick fresh potion ingredients for convenience, but choose mail-order ingredients.That's what Snape would do.

She lay on the windowsill and looked at the young saplings in the garden downstairs.One day she wanted a swing on a whim, so she took Snape out to buy materials.Later they came back with a pagoda sapling.Snape also taunted that only their ghosts could use the swing.Vanessa thinks there is no need to rush, let it grow slowly, they can wait for the tree to grow up together.

Everything is beautiful, but because of this, Vanessa always feels unreal.Maybe she was hypocritical, but there was something faintly wrong.It wasn't the first day she knew Snape, but now he was so submissive to her that Vanessa felt that he was someone else pretending to be.And... Snape never offered to kiss her.

When Snape came out, the sun was almost setting, and the lights in the room were not turned on.The long-lost experience made him quite uncomfortable, even a little at a loss.He lit up the lights in the hallway and the living room, found a book and sat down.Not long after, Vanessa came back.

"Is the potion finished?" Vanessa asked casually.

"Hmm." His eyes followed Vanessa's back, watching her sort the fresh ingredients into the cabinet.

She walked up to Snape and said mysteriously, "Let's go to bed early today, shall we?" It was the same way every time she came up with a bad idea, her right eyebrow raised slightly, and her lips curled up first. Obvious curvature, the corners of the eyes are only bent down.But Snape nodded anyway.

In the evening, Snape put down the unfinished experimental data and went upstairs. Vanessa sat on the bed in her bathrobe, obsessed with a book... a book of "The Tales of Peter Bean the Bard".

"Fine, that's why you want to go to bed early? A bedtime story?" Snape put on his pajamas and headed for the bathroom.

Vanessa laughed in the pillow: "Your jokes are always so cold."

The mattress sank and Snape sat back on the bed with his half-damp hair hanging down. "I don't want to hear that you're planning to write a toddler book."

"This is a must-read for every little wizard!" Vanessa said, "I read the "Biography of Grindelwald" sent by my Ella, it said that Dumbledore and Grindelwald teamed up to find a certain treasure , I suspect it is the Deathly Hallows."

"Is this the answer that can be found in fairy tales?" Snape raised his eyebrows suspiciously.

"The story of the three Peverell brothers is clearly written. Harry has the third's invisibility cloak. I suspect that the stone on the Slytherin ring is the second's resurrection stone. This is what Professor Dumbledore is unwilling to destroy. Horcruxes." Seeing Snape's blank expression, Vanessa said with both surprise and amused, "Don't tell me you know Pinocchio but not the three Peverell brothers..." She fell silent for a moment. Sound, isn't it, he will only listen to Lily's talk.Vanessa clipped the bookmark: "It's just a kid's trick."

She raised her hand to dim the light, knelt down beside Snape, and smacked her fingers at him.Snape sat motionless, Vanessa deliberately lowered her voice and said, "Come here..."

Snape got closer, and Vanessa wrapped herself around him like a snake, eagerly kissing the tip of his nose, her breath spraying on his face.Then she tentatively pressed against his cold lips, lingered and touched gently, and drove straight in while he was still in a daze.She inserted one hand into Snape's damp hair, slipped the other along the back of the bathrobe, and stroked her straight back with her fingertips.Snape's mind went blank, only the beautiful deep kiss remained.He instinctively held Vanessa in his arms, grabbed the back of Vanessa's head with one hand, and infinitely shortened the distance between the two, as if they were supposed to be one.Vanessa twisted her body, pulled away the loose bathrobe straps, took his slender hand, and put it on her body...

Snape stopped all his movements abruptly, rationality poured back into his empty brain, squeezed away the last bit of confusion, and stiffly blocked Vanessa away.His face was flushed, and his eyes were deeper, like a vast ocean hiding a water demon.There was water in Vanessa's eyes, her red lips were slightly parted, and she was panting slightly.Snape looked away, pulling the quilt over her shoulders.He frowned and stood up.Vanessa grabbed his hand.

"Vanessa..."

"Why don't you want to?" Snape's dodge stabbed her, and the hoarse voice after emotion was filled with heartbreaking grievances.Snape curled his fingers, trying to squeeze her hand tightly, and let go before touching his fingertips.

Vanessa's voice was as low as her head, first she made a noise like a pet dog's whine when it was abandoned, and then squeezed out a trill from her throat: "Are you with me because you like me, or Pity me?"

"Vanessa..." Snape turned his back on her and sighed lowly.

Vanessa jumped out of bed, and the bathrobe slipped off with her movements. Inside was the lace underwear she bought specially today.She walked around in front of him and looked at him without any shyness: "What are you afraid of?" As she spoke, she approached a line again, her fingers resting on the buttons of his pajamas.

"Do you know the current situation..."

Vanessa sneered: "You want to talk to me about the situation when I'm dressed like this?"

Snape's face turned red instantly.

With a slight twist of her fingers, one button of the shirt was undone. "So what if we're all going to die tomorrow?" She raised her chin slightly, and unhurriedly followed the row of buttons, "Sev, I love you."

The redness on Snape's face spread to the base of his neck, he grabbed her hand, pulled Vanessa into his arms slightly, bowed his head and kissed her.

Snape sat on the bed, his clothes messed up on the floor.Vanessa was soundly asleep, breathing softly.She rolled over and put her hand on his arm.Vanessa doesn't like being hugged to sleep, but she always needs to be able to touch him to feel at ease.It may be because of the heat of sleep, the quilt was lowered a lot, exposing the whole back.

Snape gasped when he saw the red mark on her shoulder.Then he was attracted by the large tattoo on his back. Those roses and thorns were intertwined. Even if the flowers withered and withered, they would always be a symbol of beauty, which was different from the skull on his left arm.He still remembered the touch just now, there were even more scars on her body than the young Auror.

Suddenly felt a strange regret, if he hadn't been blinded by such illusory things as power and status, and became stubborn and extreme, too many things would not have happened, and Vanessa...he was willing to take care of her well. Protect her like potion ingredients.

Snape took her green fingers with his backhand and turned off the lamp.

The fried eggs and toast are ready and put on the dinner plate with a heat-retaining spell, and hot water is being boiled on the fire, and tea can be made when it is boiled.After preparing everything, Snape sat back on the sofa, opened the unfinished book at hand, took a quill, and scratched in the cracks.The black hair has grown a little longer recently, hanging on both sides of the cheeks, and the ends are naturally curled.

“西弗，西弗！”

Like every morning, Vanessa would run downstairs calling his name, as if his name were the magic spell that would keep her happy all day.

Snape ignored her, but a faint smile flitted across the corner of his mouth.Vanessa was humming softly, and she had a knack for putting Snape's name into every song.She went into the kitchen, and the water was well boiled, and she made tea and brought it to the table along with the breakfast Snape had sat down to.

"Sev, come to eat."

After a while, Snape replied "Yeah", without stopping at all.He paused after writing two strokes, and used the end of the pen to brush away the broken hair that fell to his eyes.

"Your hair is too long."

Vanessa walked over with a dark green hair tie. Snape quickly finished writing this line and put the book aside.Vanessa smirked and sat astride Snape's lap. Snape was about to hide, but Vanessa's eyes widened and she told him to give up struggling.

She hugged Snape, brushed his hair back, wrapped it around a few times with a headband, and tied it in a simple knot.Snape just sat still and let her torment him.She moved back and forth to adjust how much hair should be left at the sideburns, and finally Snape couldn't sit still, and frowned slightly: "Don't move around, Nissa." That's what he called her recently.

Vanessa just likes to fight against him, not being honest at all, but more emotionally.Snape grabbed her restless hands and narrowed his eyes.

"I won't!" Vanessa stuck out her tongue, trying to break free.

His eyes sank, he twisted her hands behind him, clamped her wrist with one hand, pressed the back of her head with the other, and kissed her eloquent mouth.Vanessa was stunned for a moment, forgetting how to respond, how to close her eyes, and let him do whatever she wanted.It wasn't until Vanessa was out of breath that he didn't have the energy to mess around anymore that Snape let her go with satisfaction.

"Go to eat." He calmly seemed to have done nothing just now, but the dim eyes betrayed his mood.

Vanessa's cheeks were flushed, and she was about to stand up when her legs went numb and she leaned back.Snape quickly wrapped his arms around her waist.He stood up holding her tightly, and put her down firmly.

Vanessa regretted that she shouldn't have been so active that day, and now she was eaten to death, and she had no way to deal with him.She thought she gave Snape a hard look, but paired with watery eyes, it was not convincing, and on the contrary, she was more vulnerable and deceitful.

The curvature of the corner of Snape's mouth became more obvious, and Vanessa shook her hands half annoyed and half shy and walked towards the restaurant alone.