Assistant

By mid-October, the commotion from the welcoming of the fifth-year newcomers had subsided. The kind and academically gifted young lady had perfectly integrated into the student body, effortlessly winning the affection of most students. Many younger students also sought her out to ask for help with their homework, impressed by her knowledge and friendliness.

Snape merely sneered at this.

He watched Cyberlina, who was speaking gently to a few third-year students in his office, explaining a knowledge point. He curled his upper lip and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this seems to be your Potions Professor's dilapidated office, not the Great Hall where you flaunt your talents, Miss Clever--Sekerei."

A little badger, two little eagles, and a little lion were startled by Professor Snape's voice from behind them. In a moment of unspoken, collective understanding, they all shivered and exchanged stiff glances, seeing the same thought in each other's eyes—We're doomed!

However, Cyberlina, who had been singled out with emphasis, showed no panic at all. She smiled sweetly at Snape and said, "Don't be so formal, Professor Snape. As the Professor's Assistant, it's only natural for me to help share the burden of explaining things to students."

—Yes, Assistant.

Cyberlina was now the Potions Professor's Assistant, personally appointed by Dumbledore.

Snape felt stifled and furious whenever he thought about it, because it was entirely his own doing.

Even before the semester began, he had been thinking about the materials Cyberlina had written for Professor Sharp. He knew she didn't have them now, but he also knew she had the ability to obtain them and where to find those rare and uncommon ingredients. However, shortly after school started, he received a large bag of unfamiliar herbs from Cyberlina. He temporarily shelved his plan to exploit his professorial authority to pressure her for labor—after all, he had accepted gifts from her. He even selectively forgot Cyberlina's schemes against him and generously gave her an O for her homework.

It wasn't until eleven days ago, when he had finished researching most of the herbs and potions, that Cyberlina's blatant schemes resurfaced in his mind. He also started finding her perfectly executed assignments irritating. The anger from being tricked multiple times, coupled with the frustration of not having found an opportunity to demand the materials, all converged on Snape. Thus, during the first Potions class last week, Cyberlina was immediately given detention for "not taking her homework seriously."

Cyberlina merely smiled at this and assured the worried students around her that she was handling it well.

Then, that same day, during dinner in the Great Hall, Cyberlina walked up to the staff table in front of all the professors and students and asked Snape, with feigned confusion and politeness, "Professor, should I go to detention before dinner, or after?"

Snape, who had just sat down to eat: "..."

He truly hadn't expected that Sekerei, who put on such a good show outwardly but was quite manipulative in private and in her actions—even her overt schemes had to be carried out covertly—would play this kind of game!

"Oh?" Dumbledore pushed up his glasses, his sapphire-blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "Severus, what mistake has Miss Sekerei made?"

Dumbledore hadn't spoken to Cyberlina in a long time. This was because of the taboo topic that had resurfaced, the one that had caused their rift. They were bound to argue about it again, so both had tacitly agreed to avoid speaking to each other for the time being.

Furthermore, Dumbledore knew that Cyberlina's original intention in researching souls was because of the late Mr. Ominis. When this matter was brought up again, Cyberlina's state of mind would surely not be good. Therefore, he chose to wait until Cyberlina was in a better state of mind before inviting her for tea again—he hadn't yet tasted that milk tea Severus had mentioned!

Snape looked at Dumbledore expressionlessly. Just as he was about to speak, Cyberlina, standing before him, answered first, "It's because I wasn't serious about my homework, Headmaster."

For a moment, all eyes on the staff table focused on Snape's face, which had grown considerably darker.

How to put it... Because they knew Cyberlina's actual age was older than theirs and that she had served as a professor at Hogwarts for a considerable time, professors who were aware of the situation, including Professor Binns, hadn't initially expected her to listen attentively in class and submit her homework.

However, Cyberlina had submitted it on time, and each piece was exceptionally well-written. Therefore, upon hearing Cyberlina's words, they all found it utterly unbelievable—Oh, except for Lockhart.

Taking advantage of his privilege to attend classes casually, Cyberlina had only attended one of his lectures and never submitted any homework. Consequently, Lockhart, who already had many opinions about Cyberlina, disliked her even more. Seeing that Cyberlina was about to be punished, he was overjoyed and rebuked her with a hint of schadenfreude, "Miss Sekerei, as a student, how could you not take your homework seriously!"

The focus of attention on the staff table shifted to Lockhart.

Professor Flitwick looked at Lockhart with an unreadable expression. He truly couldn't believe that after more than a month, his student still hadn't recognized Cyberlina's identity. Hadn't the constant gossip from the portraits been enough to make him understand?

Lockhart seemed somewhat bewildered, but he was accustomed to being the center of attention, so he didn't feel uncomfortable or think too much about it.

Cyberlina directly ignored Lockhart's words and smiled at Dumbledore, "Headmaster, I was serious, it's just that—"

Dumbledore rarely saw Cyberlina not even bothering with superficial courtesies. He looked at her, estimated the degree of her smile, and felt a sliver of pity for Lockhart in his heart.

"—I'm really not very good at Potions," Cyberlina said with a troubled, wry smile. "So the most recent Potions assignment was a bit difficult for me, which is why I didn't do very well."

"Oh, in that case—" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows slightly and looked up at Cyberlina. "Then you should learn more from Severus. He is a formidable Potions Master."

Snape frowned and looked at Dumbledore suspiciously—he felt this old bee wasn't planning anything good.

"Yes, I thought so too, so I was thinking perhaps I could often go find—"

"No!" Snape, who had suddenly understood Cyberlina's intention to use this as a pretense, immediately interrupted her with a grim expression. "You don't want to!"

"Severus—" Dumbledore looked at Snape helplessly. "You can't discourage a student's eagerness to learn."

"?" Snape had already noticed the students who were pretending to eat and were secretly watching. He also understood the intention of this pair of teachers and students, whose combined age exceeded two centuries. He sneered, "How could I be discouraging Miss Sekerei? Rather, Miss Sekerei's talent is enough to discourage me, an old, unlikable professor. It seems that holding high expectations for a student with outstanding talent is also an act that can be scorned."

"Oh? Miss Sekerei has very high talent in Potions?" Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up, feigning extreme surprise.

"Yes, extremely high," Snape glanced at Cyberlina and gave a malicious smile. "The kind, likable, and studious Miss Sekerei is almost capable of taking my place."

Praise her! Must praise her! Make her unable to back down!

His lazy tone carried a hint of smugness. How could he allow himself to be blackmailed by this pair of teachers into having a troublesome old woman frequently appear in his office—his retaliatory detention only lasted for a night or two!

Dumbledore thought for a few seconds, then sighed at Cyberlina, "Miss Sekerei, Severus has a lot of work to do every day and is very busy, so—"

Snape's smugness was evident in his eyes. Cyberlina maintained her smile.

"—Miss Sekerei, I appoint you as Severus's Assistant."

Snape's expression froze. Cyberlina maintained her smile, but her gaze shifted from Snape to Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore!"

Snape's triumphant smugness transferred to Dumbledore.

"You don't have to thank me, Severus," Dumbledore said, raising his cup of sweet corn juice to Snape. "You've complained to me many times about being busy, and now you've recommended Miss Sekerei to me. I understand what you mean."

"?" Snape glared fiercely at Dumbledore, thinking how he wished this cup of corn juice would choke the old bee to death.

Most of the professors watched all this with smiles. After all, Snape was a student they had watched grow up, Dumbledore had watched them grow up, and Cyberlina was practically an elder to Dumbledore.

Although the three seemed to be probing and defending, they could all see that there was no real sharpness in their exchanges. Thus, they watched, unconsciously breaking into kind smiles.

Even though the three were playfully sparring, as the Headmaster, Dumbledore's words regarding the appointment of an Assistant were final. That evening, after dinner, Cyberlina followed Snape to his office to help.

Upon entering the office, Snape began to make subtle, sarcastic remarks. Cyberlina stood at the doorway and watched him for a while, then suddenly exclaimed, "So, you and Albus didn't plan this together."

"?" Snape stopped spraying venom, "Weren't you and Dumbledore digging a hole for me?"

Cyberlina asked, confused, "Didn't you want to confine me first?"

Snape was silent.

Snape felt guilty.

Snape didn't want to admit that he had thought of the unresolved revenge from when he saw Cyberlina in class. He figured that, given Cyberlina's desire to appear as a good senior student, she wouldn't object too much and would obediently come for confinement, allowing him to vent his petty anger. Although Cyberlina would surely find an opportunity to retaliate later, at least she would have suffered a setback from him for once.

Cyberlina didn't understand his convoluted, childish reasoning, but she could see his guilt and said with a knowing smile, "Taking personal revenge under the guise of official duty."

Snape, enraged and embarrassed, took out the unprocessed materials, pointed at them, and gritted his teeth, "Dumbledore said you're an assistant, you have to help."

"Alright, alright." Cyberlina smiled, rolled up her sleeves, and stepped forward, "I'll help, I'll help."

From that day on, Cyberlina became the veritable assistant for Potions. Snape, operating under the principle of not wasting resources, pushed all the little eagles who came asking questions onto Cyberlina—he knew she was more than capable.

To his surprise, after pushing them to Cyberlina once or twice, the remaining lower-grade students started coming to Cyberlina! Some even specifically waited for times when he wasn't present but Cyberlina was. It truly came true to his own sarcastic words—the old and unloved Professor Snape, and the kind and lovable Miss Sekerei.

The lower-grade students who were caught would then flee the office like the little badger, two little eagles, and one little lion currently present, under Snape's deathly gaze.

"You actually like them," Cyberlina said, looking at Snape's dark expression with a smile.

"It seems Miss Sekerei is so old that her eyesight has failed," Snape said, slamming the textbook in his hand onto the desk.

Cyberlina smiled and said nothing. She had seen clearly over the past few days. Although Snape rarely gave 'O's for assignments, he read every single one meticulously, writing very detailed comments. He was even more dedicated to the assignments of the older students, remembering clearly what they had written in their previous assignments.

A responsible and dedicated professor.

Cyberlina thought.

Snape felt his scalp tingle under Cyberlina's elder-looking-at-a-junior gaze, and he snapped irritably, "Take back that disgusting look! I really don't know what Dumbledore was thinking sending you to me!"

"Perhaps to keep an eye on me," Cyberlina shrugged and, as usual, approached the "teaching materials" Snape needed for class that required processing.

"Keep an eye on me?" Snape looked up at her, Dumbledore's initial warnings filling his mind.

"I think so. Of course, it's more likely because he wants me to find something proper to do."

"...Why?"

Cyberlina put on her dragon-hide gloves, looked up, and met Snape's gaze with a smile, "Afraid I'd do something bad if I were idle."

Snape remained silent for a few seconds before shifting his gaze, not asking further. He didn't particularly want to know how "bad" the so-called "bad things" were for people of Cyberlina and Dumbledore's age and level.

Seeing that Cyberlina didn't even bat an eye at the Chamber of Secrets, it was likely that even the Dark Lord was just child's play to her.

Thinking of the Chamber of Secrets, Snape felt he was somewhat in the know, so he asked, "You and Dumbledore don't seem to be in a hurry about the Chamber of Secrets."

"Perhaps it's being dealt with soon," Cyberlina replied while processing the herbs. "Voldemort will likely let that thing out to move around once more before hibernation. Albus figures it won't be too late to deal with it then."

"You're actually planning to let it out?! Do you want it to help deal with those empty-headed trolls to lighten the teaching load?"

"That's not quite it..." Cyberlina pursed her lips, her tone tinged with disapproval. "I think you can guess why. After all, this is an opportunity to face Voldemort head-on."

Snape paused, his hand holding the assignments.

"Don't tell me it's being prepared for Potter."

Cyberlina gave him a helpless smile, indicating agreement.

"Has that old bee really eaten too much sugar and ruined his brain??" Snape's gloomy face became even gloomier. "To release that monster of unknown origin in the school—just to train Harry Potter!? I really wish that monster would eat his useless brain first, and then die of sweetness, killing two birds with one stone! How convenient!"

Cyberlina put down the herbs she was holding and, wearing her dragon-hide gloves, applauded Snape—this child really knew how to talk!

Snape narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Cyberlina's spectator-like demeanor. He suddenly felt that she didn't seem unconcerned about the Chamber of Secrets because she was confident in her own abilities. Her relaxed manner seemed more like it stemmed from—understanding the Chamber of Secrets.

"Why do you know that monster hibernates?"

"Don't snakes hibernate?"

"You said last time that it might be a monster that speaks Parseltongue."

"...Oh, okay." Cyberlina looked down at the herbs. "Actually, I just inferred that it might hibernate because that monster sleeps a lot."

"Why do you know it sleeps a lot—" Snape suddenly stopped. He observed Cyberlina's herb-processing movements with a stern face, then chuckled, "Ms. Sekerei, what are you trying to fool me with again?"

Snape felt he understood Dumbledore's intentions. At least after spending a few days together, he wouldn't fall into Cyberlina's trap at the first opportunity.

"Alas, can't you just pretend to be foolish and keep asking?" Cyberlina smiled helplessly, then extended an invitation to Snape, "Professor Snape, would you like to relive your student days tonight and go for a night walk?"