HP: Let professors walk towards the light

[A shabby room with broken furniture everywhere. The only sound in my ears is the crying of a baby. At my feet is James's body. Where is Lily... Lily?

"Snape, why did you destroy my family?"

Lily stood in the middle of the room, her face pale and her eyes full of hatred.

"James is dead, Harry has become an orphan, you have ruined everything for me, I hate you, you are the person I regret meeting the most, I want to curse you!"]

-

I opened my eyes and saw a familiar room. It was really... an unpleasant night. I'm so sorry.

I didn't stay in Tallos Manor anymore, but returned to Spider's Tail Alley. After all, this is the most suitable place for people like me.

Hermalena's fever has broken, so she'll be all right, and I won't be needed for Occlumency.

I wrote down the instructions for strengthening the practice of brain block and some advanced potions and left them in the basement of the manor. If she is willing to look at them, she will find them. If she can't learn such detailed annotations, she will be no different from a waste.

I have more important things to do. I can't stay in Talros forever. I will definitely run out of potions after Pomfrey starts school. I need to make some for backup. I will have to prepare for the new students to start school in August. I must go to pick up the Muggle new students then. I am the head of the house, the head of Slytherin. I have a lot to do and I am very busy. I don't have time to give special treatment to the students. I hope she can do better...

I haven't seen Hermalena since the whole summer. She sent me letters, but I just replied with a simple sentence or two. This is my style. She should focus on the key points instead of thinking about all kinds of nonsense.

On the eve of school starting, McGonagall assigned me a Muggle student named Colin Creevey from her list of new students, and I went to pick him up as requested.

Very good. I made a wrong decision before school started. I knew I should have just stayed at Spinner's End and waited for the back-to-school party. Instead, I created more work for myself.

"Professor Snape, my brother is one year younger than me. Will he come to Hogwarts too?"

"Professor Snape, where are we going to buy these supplies?"

"Professor Snape, I heard that Mr. Harry Potter is in Gryffindor. Can I go to Gryffindor too?"

"Professor Snape, I brought a camera. Can I take a picture of you? You are the first wizard I have ever met."

"professor……"

"Shut up, Mr. Creevey. If you continue to tire my ears like this, I don't mind making the first spell you experience in your life the Tongue-Locking Curse."

I was already having a headache because of his noise before I even started going to Diagon Alley. I had never seen such noisy Muggle students. I might as well just throw them all to Diagon Alley. Muggles wouldn't be so noisy that they wouldn't even recognize the words on those shops.

I took the Creevey family from the Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley. After exchanging currency at Gringotts, I took Creevey shopping directly with the Muggle couple. At least Creevey's mother seemed to be a thoughtful person. She told them about several important stores and asked them to meet at Flourish and Blotts in two hours. Then I prepared to leave.

"professor."

I turned around and saw Hermalena, which was something I had not expected. After all, I had deliberately avoided the peak season in Diagon Alley, which was usually at the end of August...

"Are you surprised to see me?" She was obviously surprised for a moment when she saw me and Creevey beside her, but she quickly frowned again. Judging from her expression, I don't think her body has recovered normally.

"Have you started avoiding me after knowing all that? Do you feel burdened by my affairs?" Hermalena looked at me with a wry smile, and for a moment I didn't know what to say.

"Are you from Hogwarts too? I'm Colin Creevey, a freshman this year. Professor Snape brought us here. Are you here to buy school supplies as well?"

Creevey walked straight up to Hermalena and greeted her. He really didn't care about other people's feelings at all. No wonder he admired that boy Potter.

"I didn't expect the professor would come to pick up Creevey. Colin, I hope you and the professor have a good time."

Are you saying this on purpose for me? What does it mean to get along well?

"Come to my office after school starts...something about the Chamber of Secrets."

After saying this, I stopped paying attention to Hermalena. It was really... a strange atmosphere.

"I think it's better not to."

"What?" This answer really made me concerned.

"I'll take care of it myself. Anyway, I've walked here alone. If it's inconvenient, I won't bother you, Professor."

Her indifferent look was really unbearable, so I pulled her to an alley where no one was.

"What do you mean by 'see what happens'? Tallos, you are not thinking of something dangerous again? I asked you to be more restrained and consider the consequences before taking action, but you didn't listen to a word I said? I don't think the word 'reckless' is ingrained in you. Trouble? It won't be a trouble after you cause a big disaster, right?"

"I find it strange that you would react like this. Isn't this what you want? Let me tell you, you should stay as far away from me as possible, and it would be best if you never see me again. This way, nothing will happen. Why do you still care about me? It would be great to lock yourself in a dark house like before, pretending that nothing had happened. I'll be alone anyway..."

"Tallos! Do you know what you said? Who gave you the courage to say such a thing about your professor? Are you pretending to be mature and steady?"

"If being mature and steady means calling you a fourteen-year professor, I would rather not have that. I still respect you very much, and I even like Potions because of it. Maybe you will pay more attention to me this way. After all, being Snape's student is a very tempting title for me. However, I found that you only have eyes for Harry Potter. I'm still wondering why he is not better than me in any way, and even called you a coward in front of the whole school..."

"stop……"

"But I just want you to have a good ending, at least not die unclearly for such a disgusting reason. It's simply..."

"You shouldn't have wasted so much time on me. The heavy price you paid has taught you more than one lesson. There's no point in repeating the same mistakes."

"What about you? Are you going to repeat your mistakes? Undercover as a Death Eater?"

"..."

Hermalena snorted and disappeared immediately. In this sudden confrontation, she successfully threw a huge rock into the calm lake.

Fourteen years...

This is how she got into trouble around me. She knew it clearly but still rushed around like a brainless idiot. She was nothing like a Slytherin who could judge the situation and avoid harm.

She should learn to stop when she has had enough. That was the chance Merlin gave her. She should have seized the opportunity to be reborn instead of making such a stupid choice for such a thing.