HP's Lost and the Lighthouse

Snape returned to Hogwarts, and Potter and his party had escaped as expected-it was unbelievable that they had such abilities.He sent out a signal in the school as agreed with the owner of the Pig's Head Bar, and then returned to his office, waiting for news from Dumbledore.

He's done everything he can do, Snape thought, picking up the churning stick he had put aside earlier... The Order of the Phoenix should go to the Ministry of Magic in time to save those children who fell into the trap... If With any luck, there won't even be casualties...

Dumbledore returned unexpectedly late - of course, it took quite a while to get to and from the Ministry of Magic, but Dumbledore was still much later than Snape thought.

The old man stood outside the door, looking like he had no intention of entering the potions master's office.Snape had never seen such a serious expression on Dumbledore's face.The old man looked up at him wearily, looking exhausted: "Severus...we lost Sirius forever."

Although Snape didn't want to admit it later, at that moment, he was completely overwhelmed by Dumbledore's sadness, so that he also felt sad for Black's death - he was too familiar with that look... when When he saw Lily's lifeless body lying on the ground, his own eyes also shone with the guilt of attributing all the guilt to himself, just like the pair of blue eyes in front of him at this moment.

"..." The Potions Professor was silent for a long time.Given his relationship with Black, even at this point the sarcasm wasn't that surprising, but Snape just silently opened the doorway for a tired-looking Dumbledore to enter his room. office.

Dumbledore hadn't intended to stay with Snape for long - at least not at first, but when Snape got out of the way, he stepped in by a mysterious gesture and watched as the Potions Master brought him a cup of hot tea.

Snape felt the headmaster's long, silent gaze, and it was rare that he didn't turn his head and stare at him angrily because of the rare warmth that had been seen.He pushed the teacup towards Dumbledore: "It wasn't your fault." The Potions Professor reassured dryly.It seemed like the most pertinent consolation he could wrangle, as the man sat in his seat afterwards looking at Dumbledore somewhat bewilderedly.

The old man was still staring at him, his usual sharp eyes seemed a little far away and tranced, he was almost not at all like the powerful white wizard that Snape had seen so often.

Dumbledore vaguely remembered that more than ten years ago, Snape, who couldn't accept Lily's death, came to him, full of guilt and lifeless...but he was as fragile as Harry tonight, as if he couldn't bear the pain of his beloved life. fade away.

Even, they all made the same choice—blaming others, as if this would make them feel less guilty.

Dumbledore has no way of judging the right or wrong of such an approach. He can understand the human nature of not being able to bear the death of a loved one due to his own fault. After all, he himself has experienced such heart-pounding pain, but...

"Severus, this is my responsibility," he said, lowering his head and staring blankly at the ripples of the reddish-brown tea. "Some things, if I can do better—"

"It's not," Snape interrupted.He watched Dumbledore sitting on his sofa in a completely different posture than usual, "You can't expect yourself to predict the future."

Dumbledore was silent and did not refute.He knew it would be a never-ending argument.

"Actually, I realize." He whispered in Snape's unrecognizable voice, "It's just that I'm too weak..."

Dumbledore was almost curled up on Snape's sofa.The Potions Professor stared at the old man who showed unprecedented fragility, and suddenly felt an impulse in his heart - he thought, he wanted to step over the coffee table in front of him to give him a hug or something...

He thought so, and almost did.The Potions Professor's knee hit the corner of the coffee table, and the sound made the headmaster suddenly recover from his self-condemnation.

Dumbledore sat up straight and closed his eyes wearily.

"I'd better go back, Severus," he said. "Tomorrow our dear Minister will surely send his owl to disturb my sweet dreams. I must say that the energy I have spent tonight is really Too much..."

Snape walked him to the door without a word.

"Good night, Severus." Dumbledore raised his hand, lingered in the air for a moment, and lightly landed on the potions professor's shoulder, "Sweet dream."

His back reflecting the light quickly disappeared in the dark corridor of the cellar, and went away soundlessly.

……

The change in the Ministry of Magic actually did not particularly affect the atmosphere at Hogwarts. Although the Daily Prophet changed its previous statement the next morning and announced that 'the man' had returned, the students had never experienced being mysteriously During the period of the Reign of Terror, the news did not hit them as much as Umbridge's complete expulsion from Hogwarts.

For Snape, the good news is that Professor McGonagall was finally discharged from St. Mungo's hospital and returned to Hogwarts - although all Gryffindor points were added back.

Afterwards, there was the final banquet that was the same as every year before, and all the professors were present.Except, of course, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor...

Professors leave later than students.On the day of departure, Snape came to say goodbye to Dumbledore.

The old man was smiling in his office, as if the very different Dumbledore who had appeared in the cellar that day was just a dream of the Potions Master.

"Severus," he said, "you realize it's probably not going to be an easy summer, can you?"

He stood up and gently hugged this gloomy man who was always dressed in black. White and black strangely merged into one in the evening sun, and soon separated.

"Take care of yourself," Dumbledore whispered.

Snape seemed startled by the sudden physical contact, and he nodded stiffly after a while.

"You know how to reach me," said Dumbledore. "Good luck, boy."

The author has something to say:

Darlings, are you here to be cute?You guys are so cute, I’ll double update the day after tomorrow 2333333

Pssss: Originally, there was a forehead kiss in the last sentence, but I felt that the character design was broken, so I deleted it. The introduction of the chapter is proof that this kiss once existed...