In the slightly cold potion preparation room, strange-colored steam was rising from the crucible. The sound of liquid boiling echoed in the quiet air.
Snape was squeezing Sleepy Bean with the side of his silver dagger, with precise, subtle, and precise movements.
On one side of the potion preparation room, Maka was lying on her side on a hospital bed that had never been used before, with one hand gently resting on a small hourglass.
This is an hourglass with a timer of only 5 seconds. Every 5 seconds, he will turn the hourglass over and make a crisp sound like a broken chopstick.
"... click... click..."
"… click."
"A quarter of a second too late."
Snape did not look back, but his voice suddenly sounded in the quiet space, low and cold, full of boredom.
"Um."
Maka replied softly, with a hint of uneasy trembling at the end.
"Click."
The silence continues.
Probably when the "click" sounded about ten more times, Maka suddenly laughed.
"Professor Snape, do you know about 'haunting flies'?"
"What?" Snape said casually.
"The harassing fly," Maka said, turning the hourglass over again, "'It is an invisible creature that floats into people's ears and messes up their brains'..."
"Never heard of it." Snape replied simply.
"Haven't you read The Quibbler? That magazine is quite interesting..."
Snape cleaned and wiped the silver knife, put it back into the tool box, and then walked towards the still boiling cauldron.
"never heard of that."
He talked as he walked, and even the content of his answers was accurate.
"Don't be like this, the professor always speaks so dryly, which can easily make people sleepy..."
There was another moment of silence.
After a few more "clicking" sounds, Snape gently dripped the juice squeezed out of the sleepy bean into the crucible, and a few wisps of faint white smoke came out.
"… once."
"Um?"
When Snape suddenly spoke, Maka's hand that was about to turn the hourglass paused.
"Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived on the outskirts of a shabby town. There were low old houses everywhere, dilapidated, and few people..."
"The boy's parents were terrible... The mother was a little better, but still terrible. They would quarrel every now and then, never looking at the time or place... "
"Well, I think it's worse for my father, because he is the one who starts it every time... Sometimes he even beats my mother. It's really bad..."
"So that boy has been ignored... that family has no warmth at all."
"But one day, he met a certain girl in an abandoned park on the outskirts of the city..."
Snape's cold voice hovered in the air, as if he was really telling a story that had nothing to do with him. But Maka knew that the protagonist of this story was Snape himself.
"The boy fell in love with the girl the first time he saw her. Because he could feel that the girl was just like him, smart, calm, and full of curiosity... "
"So, the boy and the girl met, and they came together naturally and made friends. They often played together in that shabby suburb of the city, lying by the river, listening to the sound of water, and looking at the clear sky."
"Well, that shabby suburb..." Snape seemed to be recalling, with a hint of warmth in his cold tone, "That suburb was really shabby, there was nothing, and the facilities in the park were still there. If it’s broken, you can’t use any of it.”
"But the riverside is very reassuring. There are green grass everywhere, and you can see the town in the distance... The girl often says, 'The big chimney in the town has never smoked. What does it do?'"
He spoke calmly, and his voice became softer. However, this rare softness soon disappeared.
"if… "
His voice suddenly cooled down and seemed particularly abrupt.
"If a man meets the child of a woman he once liked and still likes now... what do you think that man should do?"
Because this question came so suddenly, Maka's originally groggy mind suddenly became much clearer when she was a little stunned.
To say that the "man" in Snape's mouth is undoubtedly referring to himself.
But, how to answer this question
Maka thought of Harry for the first time, and then immediately thought of Harry's mother, the little girl in the story, Lily.
Finally, he thought of Luna, who was still in Hogwarts Castle.
If this happened to him... No, he found that he couldn't imagine it... or rather, he didn't want to think about it at all.
What kind of life has Snape lived these past few years!
Not only do you have to face a broken love, you also have to face the death of someone you cherish, and you even have to protect the son of the woman you like and another man.
But he just couldn't let go of this feeling, and it has continued to this day.
In order to show respect for this overwhelming love, Maka forced herself to think about it, and then sighed softly.
"... No matter what, that child... is a part of the person you love... right?"
Maka finally understood why Snape had always had that dry tone. Because his voice now is similar, it is also so dry and without any anger.
This is also true. If Maka was in that situation, she would probably feel the same way! He is always entangled in his own contradictory psychology and cannot be liberated for a moment.
Just as Snape never had a good look on Harry... except for acting for Voldemort, probably the pain of love and hate was also one of the reasons.
"A part of her... Is it really like this..." Snape turned his back to Maka and said in a daze, "It really is like this!"
The words settled quietly, and both of them felt a little depressed amidst the "clicking" sounds again and again. It's as if something is stuck in the chest, making people want to take a big breath.
"That child...is called 'Harry Potter', right?"
Maka suddenly felt that he had to say something. After all, Snape suddenly mentioned this matter here. Although it was not stated explicitly, it was indeed a disguised confession.
You know, with Snape's awkward character, it's not easy to do this. And this man has been depressed for too long, and he needs an opportunity to vent.
And Maka was willing to provide him with this opportunity.
But Maka didn't expect that Snape was surprisingly calm at the moment.
"You know?" There didn't seem to be much surprise in his tone, "Did Dumbledore tell you?"
When Maka heard this, she was just about to blame it on Dumbledore - because that was his original plan.
However, at that moment, he suddenly froze.
"Rivers... low houses... big chimneys?"
Words flashed through his mind one by one, and a certain picture in his memory was rediscovered, becoming clearer bit by bit.
It should be right, that's it... But why? What is the truth
Here, it seems that there is still a key point that connects the previous and later!
"No," Maka murmured, "it was a photo."
"What?"
Snape turned around suddenly and frowned slightly.
"What photo?"
"A Muggle photo." Maka gradually came back to her senses, her face full of confusion, "Yes, a black and white photo taken by a Muggle camera."
"What's going on?" Snape quickly walked to the bed and asked hurriedly.
Maka tilted her head and looked at Snape, and soon realized what Snape was worried about.
"No, it's not what you think..." he said immediately, "that photo has nothing to do with Harry's mother."
He hadn't even thought clearly yet. It was purely due to the potion in his body that his thinking was a little slow, so he couldn't help but speak out.
"Well... wait a minute, I just thought of it... Please let me sort out my thoughts first."
After saying that, Maka frowned and started thinking.
Snape stood beside the hospital bed, looking a little impatient, but after he glanced at Maka a few more times, he forced himself to calm down.
He is very clear about how bad Maka's current state is. In this case, he couldn't ask for too much from Maka.
In fact, in Snape's heart, he had already recognized Maka, a "precocious" boy who was both a student and a friend. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to tell his story in a roundabout way just now.
As a result, the potion preparation room became quiet again.
After a long time, Maka finally let out a breath, but his brows furrowed even tighter.
"Professor, does your mother have long black hair?"
In Snape's anxious expression, Maka did not immediately explain, but instead asked an inexplicable question first.
"...Yes." Snape said doubtfully, "Why do you ask this?"
"Do you have fair skin and a pair of black eyes?"
"That's right." Snape said impatiently, "So, why do you ask this? What you see is a photo of my mother?"
"No, maybe your father..." Maka said hesitantly, "Short dark curly hair, tall and thin, with a straight face... and a bit of a double chin?"
"That's it?" Snape said hastily, "Although I don't know where you saw the photos of my parents, but does this have anything to do with the question I just asked?"
"Background, the background of that photo is the same as you described!" Maka said weakly, "Especially the big chimney... probably no one who has looked at it carefully will forget it."
"So, I have one last question—"
He paused and raised his voice slightly.
"Professor, do you have... a sister?"