HP: For a better world

Tina: "Whitey is a quirky, nice kid."

This line of questioning has been repeated several times, and every time it ends, the Muggle woman always says this.

"Weird?" Snape thought about sneering when Dumbledore finally asked this question.

Every little wizard is weird in the eyes of Muggles. But Snape's expression darkened as he thought about it. White was an Obscure. He couldn't use magic, so he didn't have so many little flaws that little wizards should have - of course, not the bad, furry little flaws that Lupin had.

"'Oddly' good boy?" Dumbledore asked bluntly.

"Sir, you act as if you are questioning me." Tina asked curiously, "Did I say anything wrong?"

She pointed out sharply, "One of you looks so bad that you're about to curse, while the other one always has a smiling face, just like the police officers who come to question you. One of you plays the bad cop and the other plays the good cop. To be honest, if one of you is old and should be retired, and the other one's tone is so harsh that you don't even sound like a teacher who came to visit you, but you were the one who originally came to recruit students, I would definitely suspect which police station you are from. I've seen too many such routines in the past few days."

"They always ask the same question over and over again, as if asking a question three or four times can lead to different answers... Wait, why do I feel like I've had this conversation before?"

Dumbledore sighed and waved his wand.

The Muggle Dean's expression became dazed again.

"Why don't you just pull the memory out of her head?" Snape looked at Dumbledore irritably as he interrupted the memory of the Muggle in front of him again and again, trying to ask everything about White with just words.

Dumbledore gave him a look. "It is against the law, Severus."

So it's okay to use so many Confusion Spells?

"Good boy? Yes, yes, of course White is a good boy."

Her comments about White were always filled with all kinds of flattery, and even Snape, his head of house, couldn't stand it. It was too much.

What does it mean that he won everyone's love as soon as he arrived? Every child would only let their beautiful selves appear next to him, and even animals like him. What Disney princess on the run. Even pure-blooded veelas are not so outrageous.

Do you think that the pure-bloods three hundred years ago boasted that their magic power was raging as soon as they were born, that flowers would bloom wherever they walked, that their charm was amazing, and that a casual smile could be a large-scale aphrodisiac?

"He can always tell us clearly and in an orderly manner what happened when the adults were not around, and treats the people and things around him like a little adult. So we gave him the task of taking care of some of the children."

"Amazing trust," Dumbledore whispered.

Tina smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, we put him in a room with fifty or so other kids."

"Although this child always seems to be a loner, he is very good at getting along with others. He quickly became friends with the group of kids."

"...get along?" Snape said in a strange tone.

"Oh yeah," Tina looked at him strangely, "He convinced those bullied kids to beat up those little rascals who took advantage of their age to bully others. Then he got the milk delivery job because of the parents of those kids he knew at school."

"It sounds like he's a genius," said Dumbledore patiently. "But why did you use the word eccentric, Tina?"

He held hands, and although he was sitting in the guest seat, he acted like the host, as if he was sitting in the dean's seat.

"He can't laugh, sir."

"What?" Dumbledore and Snape asked in unison.

Snape sat up suddenly in his chair and leaned forward, looking straight into the eyes of the Muggle woman.

Then he saw countless people with indifferent, blunt, younger, lonelier expressions... Everything stopped at a child who was looking at the sky outside the window alone.

It seemed that Tina was not talking to the school's visiting staff, but to other staff members of the orphanage.

She said, "Just talking about this among ourselves. It's not that he doesn't smile at people, Tom. He does, and he smiles beautifully, but he just doesn't seem to get much pleasure from it."

Her eyes were empty as if she was talking to someone invisible. She laughed as if someone made her laugh.

"Oh no, Tom. He's not some sociopath. Have you ever seen a sociopath who wouldn't even hurt a dog?"

She curled up in a ball in the chair with laughter. "He has a clear sense of good and evil, Tom. I just gave an example. He didn't really save a dog in front of me. Although I don't know what the family who abandoned him was thinking. He was said to be lost. My God, a five-year-old child who can clearly remember the names of more than 200 children, you tell me that he would forget his own address? He must have been abandoned, or he escaped by himself. You have seen the scars on his hands..."

"If you ask me, since he has been keeping silent, it means he has had enough of the bad treatment. When I save enough money, I want to ask him if he is willing to go with me."

She then sighed, "But he's always suspicious of other adults... I'm afraid he won't be willing to let himself join a family again. Poor child."

"Ah, I saw him sitting under the oak tree reading again. I must go and talk to him. Reading in the sun is bad for your eyes," she said, then stood up and staggered towards the door.

Dumbledore froze her with a wave of his wand.

This conversation is over.

Snape was silent for a moment, then spoke: "What are you going to do with this Muggle woman? It seems to me that her mind has been confused by your repeated Confusion Charm."

Dumbledore: "I used very gentle force. It will erase her memory of having seen us, and there will be no trace."

All right. Snape shut his mouth and watched in silence as Dumbledore waved his wand to remove all traces of their presence.

"And Stan Shunpike? He saw us all the way here."

"What are you talking about, Severus?" Dumbledore said with a smile, "We are here to visit the new wizard children in this orphanage. Mr. Shunpike is just a witness when we come here."

"I'm sorry - excuse my Potions Master, but I don't see any wizardling cubs here."

Dumbledore looked towards the cupboard where the chocolates were kept.

"You mean that little girl, Alice?" Snape raised half an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes," Dumbledore said briskly, "She saw the two of us coming in from the orphanage door, and she quickly floated in through the wall and ran out."

Snape seemed to see a little girl in red clothes hiding behind the wall and watching two strangers coming to the gate. She then quickly floated up from the ground, flew over the iron railings covered with spikes, landed inside the orphanage, and then ran out to report the news.

—Another Gryffindor!

He gritted his teeth as if he saw another Weasley twin five or six years later.

-

Time returns to the present.

Snape hurried through the portrait-lined corridor, ignoring the silent statues, walked to the door of the eighth floor, read out the name of the chocolate brand on the Knight Bus, and the door of the headmaster's office opened to him.

"There you are, Severus," Dumbledore said as he lifted his head from the Pensieve.

"Yes, it would be great if you remembered that I had a third year Potions class two hours after you called me."

"Oh, it's okay, Severus. It will be fine soon." Dumbledore said with a smile, "I just want to ask how Lupin is adapting to the wolfsbane potion?"

Snape glanced calmly at the Pensieve, controlling his gaze from behind Dumbledore to some of the things in front of him - for example, the changing variety of sweets he always placed on the table.

"It works very well," he said. "Just drink the potion I brew a few days before the full moon begins, and I guarantee that he won't even have the strength to scream when the time comes. As long as you don't give him candy on Christmas Day, I can say that he seems safe."

"That's all right," said Dumbledore, and then he paused for a long moment.

"What else do you want me to do?" Snape asked sharply. "Although White can help me brew the wolfsbane potion, I still have to say that the crucible cannot leave me for a moment. I was able to go out yesterday because I had asked White to deliver the potion for me early on."

"No, I just..." Dumbledore said only a few words before stopping again. At this time, Fawkes flew in from the window, and landed on the windowsill with his gorgeous wings flapping gently.

A group of headmaster portraits who were pretending to be asleep opened their eyes and looked at it.

Fawkes was stunned. He looked at Dumbledore and Snape who were looking at him at the same time and couldn't help but take a step back.

The missing feather on its wing was immediately exposed, and the beautiful feather that was as dazzling as a flame was cruelly sunken in half.

[“Poor Fox.”]

[“Yes, his feathers are half bald. Are you asking him to come here today to give away feathers again?”]

[“No, Fox’s feathers have just grown back, barely enough for him to fly around today—”]

The portraits on the wall watched in whispers.

Fox's crest stood up in horror.

"Wait, Fawkes, don't--" Dumbledore blurted out.

But it was too late. Fox cried out in anger and rushed out resolutely.

Snape watched it plummet toward the window, then climb up with more difficulty than usual and fly toward Hogsmeade.

"That's it?" Snape looked back. He didn't say anything, but these two words were clearly written in his eyes.

"That's what you see," said Dumbledore dryly. "Fawkes is angry with me."

There was also a group of portraits of the schoolmaster who were eager to watch the fun and keep reminding Fox of his lost feathers.

Snape looked away with a hint of regret.

"I thought you called me here for something serious," said Snape.

"Ah, of course." Dumbledore looked guiltily towards Fawkes' cage. It was empty, and the golden patterned railings were so clean that they reflected the shadow of the Pensieve behind Dumbledore.

"With Fawkes gone, I have no messenger to deliver the letter." Dumbledore sighed sadly.

"Severus," Dumbledore looked suggestively into his pocket. "I saw a bottle of dragon's blood on the recent purchase order -"

It's always bulging inside and doesn't look crowded at all from the outside.

Dragon's blood can be used to moisten the phoenix's feathers to maintain their beautiful appearance, and drinking it will make their voices clearer.

"There are many idle owls in the school--" Although Snape said this, he still reluctantly took out a tube of boiling hot potion from his pocket, which looked like flowing lava.

I can't extort money from you anymore.

"Phoenix Voice Enhancer." Snape said briefly. He brewed this without any inspiration from trying to please someone else's pet. He just wanted to use it to get more rua from Fawkes who was regretting his feathers - he meant to exchange, to exchange some of his shed feathers.

"That's very thoughtful, Severus." Dumbledore reached out to take it with a smile on his face.

Take from the people and give back to the people. He kept comforting himself, and then he remembered that he still had a large basin of dragon blood and dried phoenix feathers hidden in his office, and he felt a little relieved.

……

"Uh, what is this?" Harry squatted down and reached out to touch it curiously.

Winster turned his head and saw Harry opening a gray cabinet door. Inside was a basin of liquid that looked like it had a layer of stone crust.

"Don't touch it, Harry!" he said immediately. "That's dragon blood."

"Hiss!" Harry gasped as he just touched the edge of the stone basin and was burned by the incredible heat.

Winster came over hurriedly. "I told you not to touch it. The professor sprinkled some lava ash on the dragon blood, and it formed a layer of stone crust to keep it fresh. As soon as you put your hand in, the stone crust will immediately fall apart, and your hand will go directly into the dragon blood."

He took out a small glass rod and stirred it in the basin to demonstrate.

The layer of rock that looked thick and still faintly glowed with red light really looked like a layer of light ash, which gradually dispersed, revealing the bright red and hot dragon blood underneath.

A wave of heat spread around.

"Ugh." Harry covered his hand and quickly took a few steps back.

Watching Winster openly put the glass rod that had been stirred with dragon blood into another bottle, the sticky dragon blood formed into water droplets and slid down the glass rod, condensing into a shallow lake in the tiny concave part. Harry turned his head away curiously and looked at the shelf next to him.

This place is different from the potion office. It contains more private and precious potion materials that need to be carefully preserved. Hermione stole the African tree snake skin from this storage room.

After that, Snape put some African brush snake skins in the outer office. But it seemed that no one could accurately find the jar that Snape hid among the pile of bottles and jars. Unlike his private storage room, except for the dragon blood that was too late to be processed and dangerous and needed to be properly stored, all other potion materials were packaged and placed on the shelves according to the label and processing method.

"Don't look at it, Harry. Some of these things are under spells that I can't remove."

Winster scraped the glass rod into the bottle again and again, but failed to get anything out. He washed the glass rod regretfully and put it back on Snape's desk. He took the bottle of wolfsbane potion and left the cabinet.

Harry drew his head back from the pile of golden-red feathers. He felt that the feathers looked familiar, but when he thought about it carefully, he had no definite impression. However, Harry thought that the feathers must feel good, and Hermione must like this kind of feather pen that looks beautiful and easy to write with... Christmas is coming soon, what gift should I give?

Harry's thoughts drifted away as he followed Winston out of Snape's office.