HP: Let professors walk towards the light

"Even I can't. Don't you trust me? I think we should be very solid allies. I trust you very much." Dumbledore said with some regret.

"It's not about trust. You can still trust me, just like before. Maybe this is a little hard to believe, but I can't tell you about Hermalena," I explained.

"Then, aren't you afraid that Hermalena has told me everything, including..."

What! This again? She told Dumbledore again? She knew Dumbledore would sacrifice anyone and take any risk for the greater good.

"Calm down, sit down first, Severus, I'm sorry, I was just joking."

"Are you trying to cheat me?" I realized that I had lost my composure and felt a little annoyed.

"No, no, no, Severus, but your reaction did--."

Dumbledore pushed up his glasses and continued, "Can I ask a question?"

Isn't that what you've been asking? I looked at him warily.

"Will you give up Harry for Hermalena?"

"What do you mean?"

"I need to know whether you will give up Harry and the conditions you promised me at the beginning for the sudden appearance of Hermalena. To be honest, I need this to judge the weight of the conditions you promised me." He restrained his smile and replaced it with his usual expression suitable for negotiation, even with a sharp and unfriendly tone. It was like returning to the time many years ago when he looked down on me and disdainfully gave me the opportunity to redeem myself.

"I will choose Hermalena, because I have never recognized Potter. I once told you that he is as disgusting as his father. However, this does not mean that I will betray what I promised you, nor does it mean that I need to abandon anyone. It has always been like this, and the Unbreakable Vow can prove it for me."

Yes, Hermalena and Potter, I will choose Hermalena, but I will also fulfill the promise I once made. Garlon has only two sides, so let it stand up. There is no perfection, so create opportunities to be close to perfection.

I am the Head of Slytherin.

Dumbledore remained silent for an unknown amount of time, as if time had stopped, before he spoke.

"Hemalena gave me the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows."

"Resurrection Stone? Shouldn't that thing be..."

"On the Gaunt Ring, right? It seems you know that too, but unfortunately I was kept in the dark. The one who sent the Gaunt Ring was Hermalena, right? She took off the Resurrection Stone from the Gaunt Ring and sent a ring that was almost destroyed, which was finally completely destroyed by Harry. Is this something she could do?" Dumbledore asked tentatively.

"Perhaps." Even if I denied it, Dumbledore would not change his mind.

"That's it, maybe she is a rare and excellent wizard. I admire her abilities very much. At present, I owe her a favor. Ah, maybe more than one. It's okay, you go and have a good rest."

?

"So, what can I do for you, Mr. Potter?"

Without any invitation or mission, Porter visited my office. Under normal circumstances, he would never set foot here.

"Professor... Professor Snape, I..." He hesitated and couldn't utter a word for a long time.

"Perhaps your huge body is just a useless decoration like the mountain monster, so you are now squirming like a little girl. If this is just to annoy me, then congratulations on your success."

"I didn't!" His face turned red instantly, then he calmed down and finally spoke.

"I know everything about you and my mother, and I do care about the prophecy, but... I know that the most evil Wormtail Peter has been sent to Azkaban. Although you... but that is only based on your position, so, so... I just want to say that when you stood in front of me that day, I also heard what Voldemort said, and I thought a lot. I think that you should not die in vain because of this... um. Of course, I am not the only one who thinks so. At least you are a good professor..."

"Very good, if you just want to say this meaningless nonsense, I think you should be very confident in your Potions results. I hope to continue to see you in my Potions Advanced Course next year. Then, now, get out of my office with your weedy mouth."

Without waiting for him to continue talking nonsense, I directly "invited" Potter out of the cellar.

Without Potter, the air is fresh.

He suddenly came over to disturb them just to vent his anger. He is exactly like his father, so disgusting.

"Why did you have to treat Harry like that? After all, he came here to comfort you. I heard that Hermione and the others discussed it until late." Hermalena opened the door and came out of the room.

"Extremely bored, comfort? Do I look like I need that? He should know etiquette and not disturb others suddenly when there is nothing to do."

"Can I understand that you are hinting at me as well? After all, I came here unexpectedly as well."

"You know I didn't mean it that way."

This girl is really becoming more and more outrageous.

"I suggest you pay attention to your image. You could have let me hand over the Resurrection Stone, but you insisted on exposing yourself. Dumbledore is already examining you. I have reminded you of this before."

"So, what did he say? Asking you to show your loyalty? He really shouldn't have doubted you. It seems I was wrong." Hermalena fell on the sofa.

"Nothing, just a simple multiple-choice question. You don't look well, do you want me to make you some vitality tonic?"

"No trouble, can I sleep here for a while?" She even yawned loudly, as if she was really sleepy.

"what ever."

I was correcting students' test papers when Hermalena really fell asleep. When I looked up again, I didn't know what time it was. She was still in the same sleeping posture without moving, and she slept very quietly.

I walked forward and continued what I had become accustomed to. However, Hermalena seemed to be in a low state, tense, and did not seem to sleep well. Was she really injured in the Department of Mysteries? Why didn't she go to Madam Pomfrey for a checkup? At least she should be able to make some potions for herself.

Forget it. It’s still early anyway. Old professor, I’ll be merciful and prescribe some medicine for you today.

?

Voldemort showed up in the battle of the Department of Mysteries, but suffered heavy losses and all his generals were arrested. The defense of Azkaban was finally taken seriously. Although the Scrimgeour government was not satisfied with Dumbledore's advice and mocked Dumbledore for placing his hopes on Potter, the work that needed to be done was still not left behind.

Voldemort is short on manpower, and he can’t infiltrate the Ministry of Magic. It all depends on how long he is prepared to recuperate.

Slughorn returned to Hogwarts, and the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor finally fell on me. Hermalena took alchemy as an elective, and sent me a box of Defense Against the Dark Arts equipment the moment I received the offer letter.

Although Umbridge was only suspended from her post in the end, I heard that she was severely tortured by the centaurs, so it is right to be cautious.

Lucius escaped capture in the battle at the Department of Mysteries and should have been in front of Voldemort now. The relationship between Draco and Hermalena seemed to be closer than before, and the group centered around Draco was growing stronger in Slytherin, and even some mixed-blood families in the lower grades were drawn in.

He had no intention of following the same path as his father, and the descendants of the Death Eaters did not follow him very closely. It seemed that Lucius was just forcing the issue.

On the other hand, Bella Lestrange was not sent directly to Azkaban, but was placed under house arrest by Black in Black House for the sake of the Hufflepuff gold cup in Lestrange's vault.

During the summer, I told Black about Regulus, and he immediately took the house-elf to retrieve Regulus. After all, Kreacher was loyal to Regulus, and Hermalena ordered it to stay away from Lestrange and forbid it to give any help to the Death Eaters based on Regulus's last words.

It was also because of this that, with Dumbledore's encouragement, Potter had the opportunity to find the Hufflepuff Cup.

So far, everything is going relatively smoothly.

This year, Hermalena did not stay at school for Christmas, but went home. I did not ask her to stay, but after the Christmas dinner, a feeling of insecurity passed away in an instant. But I did not think of anything related to it, and did not investigate it deeply, so when I found out, I realized how stupid and lazy I was.

Hermalena is missing.

There was a similar situation in the summer of one year, but it seemed to be just a misunderstanding because I couldn't find the person. But this time it was definitely not my worrying too much. I didn't even realize something was wrong until Hermalena failed to arrive in time for the opening dinner.

That night, I immediately rushed to Tallos Manor. It was pitch dark. Or rather, Hermalena did not return to the manor safely.

"Severus, you need to calm down."

In the headmaster's office, McGonagall's face was full of worry, even Dumbledore did not expect this.

"If you want me to calm down with just one word, I'm afraid it will be difficult. At such a critical time, we still don't know where Voldemort is going. And she is special among so many other students who have returned to school. How could such a big person disappear without a trace after leaving Hogwarts?"

Where else could she go? I couldn't think of any other bad outcome.

"I have done some research among the students. Harry and a group of other children spent Christmas at the Weasley Burrow this year. They only saw Miss Talros when they left school. Several Slytherin students could only testify that the last time they saw her was when they got off the express at platform 9?" said McGonagall.

"What should we do? Should we announce the missing students? Oh my God, I've never encountered such a situation." Sputlow looked panicked.

"That's an excellent child." Flitwick just muttered to himself.

"Ms. Tallos's family situation is special. I suggest that we conduct a private investigation and search for her for the time being. However, the student disappeared outside the school, and we don't have much room to maneuver in Hogwarts. If there is still no news, we can only report it to the media." Dumbledore gave a seemingly appropriate solution.

After everyone else had left, Dumbledore said to me, "Do you have an opinion?"

"I can't think of anyone else but him."

"But you still need to think about other things and not be blinded by one result. I will ask the Order of the Phoenix to investigate carefully. Did you find anything unusual before the child left school?" Dumbledore pondered.

Even if I thought frantically about those three or four months, I could only shake my head. This couldn't be an abnormality in Hermalena herself.

"I also wrote to Lupin. He is also tracking down Voldemort's whereabouts. I asked him to pay more attention. This is all we can do..."

-

The Daily Prophet finally reported the disappearance of Hogwarts students, but it was of no avail. Time passed little by little, and I calmed down instead. It might be a good thing to have no news.

I have looked for Draco. Malfoy Manor has not become Voldemort's base, and Lucius has never seen Hermalena. However, Voldemort seems to rarely summon Death Eaters, which is indeed a rather suspicious point.

Faced with insufficient firepower in terms of personnel, Voldemort should at least try to win over his connections. According to Dumbledore, neither of them was injured after that battle.

Everything was confusing until the end of the school year. Hermalena was absent for the entire semester. I had no idea what she had experienced during the time she was missing, and I didn't dare to guess whether she was doing well or badly. I had a vague premonition that something was wrong. I didn't want to let this idea grow in my heart, but I was afraid that this would be a key game leading to a certain ending.

"We need to find her. Tallos' disappearance can't be that simple."

"Then what can we do? Snape, I know that maybe that student is very popular with you, but I'm sorry, our target is Voldemort, and it's impossible for me to accompany you to find him every day. Moreover, so much time has passed and we have almost gone to all the places we can go. Have you ever thought about what if she has already-"

"Shut your stinking mouth, Blake! Do I need to teach you how to speak? I have said many times that this matter is definitely related to the mysterious man! Or are you happy to see something unexpected happen to my students?"

"I didn't say that! Please make it clear. Remus has been running around outside for so long. Not to mention the person, there is no trace of him. We have invested a lot, right? Don't you know the sunk cost?"

I don't have the energy to argue with Black about this. I can't explain Hermalena's specialness to everyone. I have made my attitude clear. I will not give up Hermalena. Besides, I can completely connect Voldemort and Hermalena. If he doesn't understand, I don't need to do too much analysis.