[HP] Don't talk to me

Ta Effa closed the door and turned around.The corridor is cooler than the room, and the crosswind blows in and out, accompanied by the sound of raindrops pattering on the window glass in the distance, tick-tock-tick-tick.

She wore a thin sweater under her summer robe.It is rare that the weather at the end of May can still be so cold and cold, as if autumn has passed the pace of summer and arrived early.

In the long corridor, Snape stood under the Ravenclaw Tower, with his back to the spiral staircase, staring blankly at the still hidden deep darkness under the flickering candlelight in the distance.

The windows on both sides were slapped by the wind, struggling to hit, and rattling.

The sound of footsteps came from the spiral staircase, light and steady.Snape's heart beat faster, and he quietly took a deep breath.

"Hello, good evening." Ta Effa stood at the bottom of the steps for a while before greeting the figure a few meters away.

His shadow seemed to melt into the surrounding blackness, and it was terribly quiet.Ta Efa was in a daze, feeling as if he was dreaming, in which he would not turn back, he would only go further and further away after hearing her voice.

He turned around, which meant she wasn't dreaming.

"Good evening, Professor Effah." Snape said softly, "There's still a lot to do tonight, are you ready?"

Ta Effa didn't know whether she was ready or not, she never thought about it.Just like she chose to return to Hogwarts to teach purely for reasons that are not noble, and she recently took the initiative to take over the night watch job that Professor McGonagall was unable to do because of physical discomfort.When she does things, what she longs for is a kind of ownership of the process.

However, when she signed up, she never expected to be arranged with Snape.

She thought night patrol was a one-person job, but only now did she realize that two teachers usually go on patrol at the same time to prevent accidents.It is said that in the years when the Dark Lord was raging, Hogwarts was attacked suddenly and the consequences were serious. Since then, there has been a patrol system.The night watch usually lasts until twelve o'clock in the morning, and the main task is to ensure that students do not stay out at night.The rest of the time is guarded by ghosts, coupled with the magic barrier set up by Dumbledore in the school, to ensure the safety of students to the greatest extent.

It was already 10:30 in the middle of the night, the weather had dropped sharply and it was raining, and the air was almost filled with moisture particles.Almost every corridor is quiet and empty, with no students or noises from other creatures. Sometimes the only feedback is that the portraits illuminated by the light of the wand will turn their heads and glare at you. If you are unlucky and have already met A portrait with a bad temper in sleep, it will chase you cursing and yelling for a long time, blaming you for ruining its good dream.

Snape walked behind, nervously watching Tal Effah ahead.Her steps were very light, and she never spoke except for the greeting just now.It seems that she has already known the night watch route in advance, which is in line with her careful personality.As for Snape, he had walked this road for many years, and he could walk it with his eyes closed without bumping into the door.But today was probably the most stressful day he had been on his night watch.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Ta Effa yawned. Her body was warmed up, but her face was still aching from the cold wind.She thought, tonight should be able to pass peacefully, not difficult at all.

Around the corner, she reached out and waved her wand to light a lamp.A "squeak" sounded, and the mouse, awakened by the light, jumped out from a Chinese-style vase under the wall and ran towards her feet.

"what!"

She stepped back and just stepped on the sole of Snape's foot behind her. The soft leather boots made her lose her balance in the panic, and she suddenly fell on her back.

He hugged her, wrapped his arms around her waist, clutched her robe, and leaned back.

Like an electric shock, the two bounced off almost at the same time.One broke free forward, and the other deepened the angle of the backward lean.

Tal Effa turned sharply, and Snape staggered to his feet.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Be careful," he said.

There was nothing to continue, and the air suddenly became quiet.Snape suddenly felt that the atmosphere was not right, especially after what happened just now.

"It's cold." He tried to squeeze out another sentence.

Ta Effa looked at him quietly and twitched the corners of his mouth. "You are trembling, Professor."

Snape immediately stretched out his hand to gather his robe, was he trembling?shake what?How could he not know.

Ta Effa looked at his flustered lowered eyes, sighed, and said softly: "I lied to you, you are normal now."

Snape paused, squinting.

Ta Effa smiled, perhaps because of that unintentional exclamation, she suddenly had the desire to express. "You don't care about what I say at all. It's so easy to lie to you, and it's so boring."

Snape asked, "Have you ever lied to me?" He said it casually, but he felt a little relieved.He longed to speak to her, to be with her, and he could not bear long silences.

Ta Efa said: "I lied to you, I often lied to you." The candle was flickering, and her face seemed to be becoming more and more blurred in the dim yellow light. "I lied to you about liking you, do you believe it?"

The hallway was silent, and the sound of rain and wind outside had died away.Because of the astonishment, Snape froze, opened his mouth but did not speak.

Ta Effa's heart heaved and his breathing became more rapid.She didn't dare to let him hear, so she had to slow down her breathing rhythm quietly.

"I like my boyfriend now. Albert is handsome, isn't he? You've seen it."

The other party still didn't speak, and Ta Effa continued to say to himself: "He and I... kissed. Kissing is a very comfortable feeling. Now I know what love is. Love is to be liked by someone, to be loved by someone care."

"Tata..."

"I lied to you, I lied to you, I like you, I'm sorry. You forget what I said to you, the more thoroughly you forget, the better."

As soon as Tal Effah finished speaking, he stepped over Snape very abruptly, and walked forward without looking back, as if he was going to reach the deepest corner of the dark corner.Snape reacted for a few seconds before setting off to chase, but he didn't dare to approach.

There was a distance of seven or eight meters between the two, and they didn't talk again until the end of the night watch.

It’s time to stay in school again, and the long summer vacation is coming. As soon as the school exams are over, the corridors are full of students who have packed their bags and are thinking about how to pack their things and go home.

Ta Efa still stays at school, this is the second time she chooses to stay at school after returning to teach.She also frankly wrote on the reason for the application: there is no place to live.

In fact, she has many places to go, but she just doesn't want to go.

Her dormitory was in the Ravenclaw Tower, a sunny room.After a year of arrangement, it already has her own taste.Several pots of flowers and green plants were placed on the window sill, and her own oil paintings and photos were hung on the walls.Among the photos, one of her favorite is a single graduation photo, on which she looks radiant.The large oak desk and the bed occupied half of the room. There were some books she bought piled up on the desk, including "Defense Against the Dark Arts: A Basic Introduction", "Potions: A Hundred Practices", "History of Muggle Studies" and so on. Rolls of parchment and quills were scattered randomly on the table, as well as some cigarette cases.There is always a drawing board on the easel beside the table, and drawing paper is placed on the drawing board, and most of the time the paper is the outline of a human face.She likes to draw the outline of the profile, and the curvature of the hair and the bridge of the nose is very precise.But she doesn't like to draw facial features and never draws eyes.

She doesn't allow people to come into her private space, mainly because the room always smells of smoke after she smokes.She usually bears it in class, and always smokes first when she enters the room after no class in the afternoon.Sometimes one or two sticks, sometimes a pack is gone soon.She always waits until she has had enough before doing other things, as if the smell of nicotine can give her a little strength.

During the time when she was preparing for the recruitment exam after graduation, she lived in the Muggle world, under too much mental pressure, and went to the free library to sit and read every day.She lives in London, and when she walks down the street, she can occasionally smell the smoke of people passing by.The little sticks made her curious, so she tried it, and couldn't leave it anymore.

Now half of her new salary at Hogwarts has been exchanged for Muggle currency to buy cigarettes in the Muggle world.She has no plans to save money, nor to buy a house.All the current states in her life are wandering, maybe she is used to it, and sometimes she thinks this is the best state.

As expected, Snape also stayed.He came in while Ta Effa was having breakfast in the dining room, it was the first day after the holidays and everyone was gone except the two of them.Ta Effa let out a low sigh, and at the same time had mixed feelings in his heart—as early as the Christmas holiday, after she successfully returned to school to teach and chose to stay in school for the first time as a teacher, he was surprised again after a few years Go through the formalities of staying in school.He didn't go back to Spinner's End that holiday.

what is this?Is it for love?Or at least for likes?Cut it back a little bit, for goodwill?She guessed the answer a hundred times in her mind like a fool, but she waited for nothing during that holiday.He just stayed quietly at school and "accompanied" her for that short vacation period, without any communication with each other.Originally, after he threw away the cigarette in her hand by the lake, she once had a glimmer of hope in her heart, thinking that he still cared about her to some extent, that's why he stayed in school again.But what finally appeared in front of her was an inexplicable silence.

This kind of silence was especially frightening. When he frequently appeared in front of her without any expression, it was like a mirror, reflecting Ta Efa's own face, making her see the pain in her heart more sadly and deeply, and feel the pain in her heart. to his own loneliness.So after that vacation ended, she chose to meet Albert Spencer for the first time.

He was pushing her, even though he probably didn't know it.

Breakfast consisted of fried eggs and toast. Ta Effa grabbed the remaining half slice of toast on the plate and bit into her mouth. Before Snape could sit down, she had packed up and left the dining room quickly.

Back in the room, Ta Effa received the owl delivery letter.She spread out the letter paper, and frowned tightly the moment she saw the handwriting at the beginning, and she didn't let go until she had read all the pages of the letter.She answered the letter with a pen, scribbling quickly, and tied it to the owl.

The owl flapped its wings and flew away. She grabbed the cigarette case on the table and pushed it away.There was only the last one left in the box, and looking around, the stock was exhausted.

Internal and external troubles coexist at the same time!She thought to herself: She had to go back to the Muggle world.

She smoked that last cigarette, put on her make-up in a hurry, and went out with her bag, which contained a few Muggle coins that she had left, enough for a trip to buy cigarettes, but not enough for her to eat in a restaurant .She has to move fast and get back to school for lunch by noon.

She went downstairs, only to meet Snape at the school gate.He stood there, not at all as if passing by, but as if he was waiting there specially.Seeing her coming, he immediately said, "Are you going out?"

"Yes." She answered simply. "Go out and play."

She wanted to leave, but he reached out to stop her. "I go with you."

"Why?" She couldn't understand for a while.

Snape pondered for a while, then whispered, "I'd like to accompany you."

What is the reason for this?

She held her head up and stared at him with calm eyes: "I have a boyfriend." Maybe it was the effect of the cigarette just now, she was very rational and would not be sentimental.

final volume