Friendship

Cyberlina and Snape returned to the dungeons, but they did not rest. On the way, they ran into Madam Pomfrey and received another order for Pepper-Up Potion—far too many students had caught colds lately, and orders for the potion came in almost every other day.

So the two returned to the office, each downed a bottle of Invigoration Draught, and began brewing Pepper-Up Potion.

Cyberlina truly was not especially skilled at Potions, but that was only compared to her Charms and Alchemy. In reality, she was quite capable—at least far more capable than Snape had expected.

Snape had noticed this on her second day as his little assistant. At first, he had harbored some doubts, but then he remembered the Potion research notes she and Sharp had compiled regarding Mr. Gaunt, and understood—she had decades of experience. Even without talent, practice made perfect.

With two seasoned Potion brewers facing something as uncomplicated as Pepper-Up Potion, the work seemed rather easy. They even had time to chat.

Naturally, it was Cyberlina who started the conversation.

"Severus, why is Harry the Boy Who Lived?"

"Because he survived."

"But that was the clever girl's doing, wasn't it?" Cyberlina lightly hooked a finger around her stirring rod, her movements elegant and unhurried. "So why was little Harry the one pushed into the spotlight? No one knows what that girl did."

Snape lowered his eyes and unconsciously bit the soft flesh inside his lower lip. His stirring never faltered as he turned to look at Cyberlina beside him, only to find her gazing down at the cauldron with a natural smile on her lips, as though her question had truly been nothing more than an idle thought.

"I don't know," Snape replied, turning back.

"Oh, I see..." Cyberlina tilted her head at him. "If I asked Albus why he cares so much about Harry, do you think he would tell me?"

Snape took a deep breath. "I suggest that when teacher and student quarrel, you refrain from dragging an innocent person like me into it."

"It hasn't reached the point of a quarrel yet." Cyberlina smiled. "I didn't expect you to be so perceptive about this, Severus."

It was mainly because it was too obvious. Dumbledore had recently been asking him about Cyberlina's movements, clearly because the two of them had stopped interacting.

But Snape could not say that, so he remained silent.

"You could call it... an extension of an argument from decades ago that was never finished," Cyberlina added.

Snape curled his lips speechlessly, stopped stirring, and cast a warming charm on the cauldron. Then he drawled, "Unbelievable. Are all people who get older this childish?"

"It's called standing by one's principles," Cyberlina retorted with a smile, then sighed. "Well, mainly because Albus now suspects I was one of the people who led little Mr. Voldemort astray."

"...?" Snape was thankful his hands were not doing anything at the moment, or an entire cauldron of ingredients would have been ruined. "I have no interest in, nor any desire whatsoever to know anything about that person. You may stop this topic now, thank you."

What a joke. Even if he was confident in his Occlumency, he could not guarantee it would be reliable at all times, and the memories he had fabricated were not entirely flawless. If he learned some secret about Voldemort and accidentally revealed even a trace of it upon returning there, it would be disastrous.

He could more or less guess that Dumbledore had asked him to receive and approach Cyberlina not because of the "trust" Cyberlina had spoken of, but so that he could later pass more information about Cyberlina to the Dark Lord—at least, Dumbledore had such intentions. He simply could not judge how much weight those intentions carried. After all, Cyberlina was powerful and would never stand with the Dark Lord. Whether the Dark Lord tried to recruit or provoke her after learning of her, it would only hasten his downfall.

But the information he could know was limited to Cyberlina herself. As for anything else, Dumbledore would not tell him, and he would not risk his life trying to obtain it from Cyberlina.

"Really? I have quite a few guesses about Voldemort, you know. I guarantee they're all correct." Taking advantage of the fact that the cauldron no longer required manual work, Cyberlina bent over and leaned to the side to peer at Snape's expression.

"Really. Don't tell me anything about him." Snape looked at Cyberlina's inscrutable smile and answered seriously.

Cyberlina met his gaze for a few seconds, then blinked and smiled. "I understand."

She straightened up and pressed a hand against the outside of the cauldron to test its temperature. After a while, once she sensed that it was right, she removed the cauldron from the fire. Snape beside her followed almost the exact same steps.

Amid the sounds of Potion being poured into bottles at different speeds, Snape heard a very soft, gentle sigh, brimming with tenderness and pity—

"You've worked hard, brave child."

His hand trembled, and several drops of Pepper-Up Potion spilled onto the workbench. Snape's bottling motion froze. He looked at the remaining potion in the cauldron, moved his lips a few times, then finally pressed them tight and swallowed everything that had rushed to the tip of his tongue. At the same time, he used Occlumency to force down those inexplicable emotions.

He continued working. Only after the entire cauldron had been transferred into potion bottles did he clean the surface of the workbench with his wand, all while drawling in his usual tone, "If you insist on using that Gryffindor word—one that sounds reckless and childish—to describe me... then do as you please. But if you do not wish to be hurried along by Madam Pomfrey, I suggest you focus on your work rather than evaluating me."

"Of course, Severus." Cyberlina smiled sweetly.

Just as Snape set up the ingredients for a second cauldron of Pepper-Up Potion, he sensed Harry lingering outside the office. Without much thought, he flicked his wand and allowed the door to let him in.

"Didn't you go rest, Harry?" Cyberlina had already lit the fire beneath the cauldron. "Not getting enough sleep at your age will keep you from growing tall."

"Sekerei, I came to return this..." Harry nervously and awkwardly took out the sheet of paper. "I'm very sorry. I don't know why it appeared in my bag. I didn't mean to take it out."

Snape said nothing. He would bet that Cyberlina had done this.

Cyberlina thought that she had not expected this little Gryffindor to be so obedient that he would forgo sleep to dutifully return the paper. It had truly caught her off guard, but it was... not much of a problem.

"Hm?" Cyberlina swiftly began infusing the potion with magic, then gave Harry an apologetic expression. "Could you bring it over and let me see what it is? It's inconvenient for me to come over right now."

"Oh, all right, Sekerei."

Harry carefully unfolded the paper and held it out before Cyberlina—and Snape, who stood beside her.

Cyberlina's actions could not have been more deliberate, her intentions obvious. Snape curled his lip and looked over at the paper. Once he understood what was written on it, his brow furrowed sharply. He then turned to glance at Cyberlina, who was pretending to study the paper intently, and let out a cold laugh.

Harry jumped at the laugh and lowered his head, unwilling to look at Snape.

"So it's this one..." Cyberlina nodded as if she had just realized something, then looked up and smiled helplessly at Harry. "It always wanders off to who knows where. It seems it chose your pocket as its resting place last night."

Harry: ! Was this paper alive? Then the things he had discussed with Ron and Hermione while holding it...

Snape: What an imagination.

"But Harry, keep it for now." Cyberlina picked up her stirring rod. "After all, no one can enter the study without you. When you go there again next time, just put it back."

Harry squeezed the paper in his hand, then obediently tucked it back into his pocket. "All right. I'll keep it safe."

"Don't worry. 'Next time' will come very soon." Cyberlina winked.

At that, Snape pressed his lips together and remained silent, offering no comment.

After Harry left the office, Snape gritted out at Cyberlina, "'Next, I will put that creature into a state of slumber until someone who shares my views awakens it.' How is it that I remember hearing something before about how 'I merely guessed it might hibernate because the monster sleeps so much'? The great Ms. Sekerei truly can make up anything on the spot, letting a poor junior crawl into the loophole you deliberately left and feel smug over his own cleverness."

Wasn't it obvious that once awakened, it wouldn't fall into a long slumber again?!

Cyberlina avoided the question and merely smiled at him. "Just tell me, was sneaking out at night fun?"

"Not fun!"

"Oh, then on Monday, just obediently give Harry detention. Don't take him to the study, okay?" Cyberlina teased Snape with a smile.

Snape: "..." As long as I don't admit it, it never happened!

Snape could tell that Cyberlina was deliberately trying to improve his relationship with Harry. He didn't understand why, but he didn't want to ask either, because he felt Cyberlina would definitely answer him with that scalp-crawlingly affectionate smile of hers—because you're both good children.

...Yeah, just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Harry, leaving the office, felt uncomfortable all over too, because he saw Ron and Hermione! Hadn't they said they would wait for him in the Gryffindor common room?!

The two of them each grabbed one of Harry's arms and hauled him to an unoccupied corner of the Hogwarts courtyard concealed by trees—today was Hogsmeade Day, and nearly all the upper-year students were out of the school, so finding a quiet corner was easy.

"Care to explain?"

Hermione folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, staring threateningly at Harry, who was leaning against the wall. Ron copied her pose at her side.

Harry looked at the sky, then at the trees—anywhere but at the two of them.

"Harry!" Hermione said with a stern face. "Are we still friends?"

"Exactly," Ron chimed in. "Since when were you so close to Old Bat? He even invited you to sneak out at night???"

"Why didn't you bring us along or tell us?"

"Yeah, why did you keep it from us?"

Hermione stepped forward angrily and demanded, "Tell us! Did you secretly go to him for extra lessons?!"

"Yeah, did you—huh?" Ron froze and looked at Hermione in shock. "How could you think that? Obviously Old Bat was picking on Harry! Didn't you see that the gems in the Gryffindor hourglass went down again?"

"If he picked on students in the middle of the night for no reason, Headmaster Dumbledore would definitely expel him!" Hermione shot Ron an irritated glare. "How do you know Harry didn't lose points because his answers were awful? That kind of thing happens all the time in Potions."

"You've both just assumed I was the one who lost the points?!" Harry shouted, unable to take it anymore.

"Then was it you?" Hermione looked at Harry with an expression that said she had seen through everything.

Harry's momentum immediately deflated. "...Y-Yes, it was me." Then he complained miserably, "It wasn't just points. I have to go to his office for detention next week too."

Ron's expression instantly turned sympathetic. "What did you do, mate?"

"Snuck out at night."

"?" Ron was confused. "Didn't you two sneak out together?"

Hermione had already caught the scent of something. As a diligent student who had gone to see Cyberlina three times over the past week, she made her own judgment. "So you actually went to Cyberlina for extra lessons?"

"What did you call her? Since when were you so close to that Sekerei?" Ron was shocked. He had thought only his overly friendly twin brothers called Sekerei that.

She was a Slytherin! How were all these Gryffindors so familiar with her?

"Don't interrupt!" Hermione shoved Ron away as he leaned closer.

"It wasn't extra—" Harry paused. "It didn't really count as extra lessons."

"So you did study." Hermione was certain. "What did she teach you?"

Harry hesitated, his gaze drifting back to the trees.

Ron was shocked again at the sight. His best friend had really gone to study?

Hermione puffed out her cheeks and stared at Harry for more than ten seconds before finally lowering her head in disappointment. "Fine. If you're keeping your mouth shut that tightly, then it definitely has nothing to do with what we learn in class." But at the same time, she relaxed. "Since it was Cyberlina who taught you, then there's no problem."

"What?" Harry looked at Hermione in confusion.

"Cyberlina is kind, knowledgeable, and very gentle. She definitely wouldn't hurt you." Hermione put her hands on her hips, though her face was full of dissatisfaction. Clearly, she was still unhappy that Harry had gotten special tutoring.

Ron patted Harry's shoulder with an indescribable expression. "We were worried something had happened to you when you didn't come back all night, especially after last year... But you, of all people, had a change of heart and went to study."

Harry froze. He looked blankly at the dark circles beneath Ron's eyes, now heavier than they had been that morning, then turned to Hermione's helpless smile. An indescribable warmth rose from his heart, and he suddenly didn't know what to do with himself. Blushing, he muttered, "Sorry for making you worry..."

"It's fine, mate." Ron slung an arm around Harry's shoulders. "We've been through life-and-death situations together, after all. If something like this happens again, remember to tell us in advance... Though preferably, preferably take me with you."

"That's right, Harry. We're friends. You should trust us more," Hermione added. "Even if you and Cyberlina agreed to keep something secret, you shouldn't act alone without saying anything at all."

Harry blanked for a moment. "Cyberlina and I... don't think we agreed to keep anything secret..."

The three of them fell silent for several seconds.

Then Ron suddenly smacked Harry on the back. "Then why didn't you tell us?!"

At the same moment, Hermione asked, "Then what did Cyberlina teach you?"

Ron's sudden slap made Harry stumble. He reached up to rub his back—only to realize he couldn't reach where he had been hit—so he muttered with a bit of grievance and annoyance, "Then you have to promise that after I tell you, you won't stop talking to me."

He knew all too well how much Ron hated Slytherin—not just Slytherin House, but Salazar Slytherin himself as well. After figuring out that the letter had been written by Salazar personally, Ron hadn't even turned on him. Harry already felt that was merciful of Ron. Hermione seemed to hold less resentment toward Slytherin than Ron did, but she seemed to have a terrible impression of Dark wizards. Though... her understanding of Dark wizards was probably the same as his had been before, since they had both grown up in the Muggle world.

"We already said we're friends! Why don't you believe me?!" Ron got angry. "Of course I can promise! I'll never stop talking to you!"

Hermione glanced at Ron. She felt that if Harry brought Ron along for detention on Monday, Ron would stop talking to him immediately.

"I promise too." Hermione looked at Harry sincerely. "I won't stop talking to you."

Harry hesitated for a moment, scratched his head, and began from the day Cyberlina had come to apologize to him.

By the time Harry finished, the three of them were sitting together in a corner, facing one another in a small triangle, pressed close.

Harry still knew where the line was. He skipped over his use of the Cruciatus Curse and only told them what Cyberlina had said in the study about Dark magic.

"Oh my God!" Hermione cried, unable to contain her excitement. Her eyes sparkled. "Cyberlina is such an amazing storyteller! She seems good at everything. And she seems to know so much about Headmaster Dumbledore's skill with spells. Do you think he might have taught her when she was studying at home?"

Hermione was clever enough to tell from a single sentence that Cyberlina and Dumbledore were close, but she would never connect a young, beautiful upperclassman with a centenarian.

Harry badly wanted to repeat what Snape had said in his rage, so Hermione would realize Cyberlina was more than just an upperclassman. But that would involve the matter of his using the Cruciatus Curse, so he could not say it for now—yes, it was not as though his head was full of tumbleweed. Naturally, he could tell Cyberlina was not that simple. After all, she had never tried to hide it, openly calling Dumbledore and Severus by their given names. So even without Snape's outburst, Harry could tell Cyberlina was not truly a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old upperclassman.

But because Cyberlina had presented herself as an elder from the very beginning of their acquaintance, Harry had even decided she was as kind and benevolent as Dumbledore. So he had not shown much surprise and continued using the form of address he was accustomed to—after all, he could not call an elder by their given name without permission, nor could he call someone who was also a student "ma'am" at school. That would be far too strange.

Harry had naturally noticed Snape's overly deliberate reminder, but he thought perhaps Snape had frightened him so often that it had given him a rebellious streak. The more Snape reminded him, the less Harry wanted to show that he already knew—especially after seeing the faintly aggrieved look on Snape's face.

"But... Dark magic... it's still Dark magic..." Ron hesitated. His family's upbringing had made him loathe Dark magic to the extreme. He could not accept Harry and Hermione agreeing with those words, yet he vaguely felt they did make some sense.

"Ron." Harry placed his hand over Ron's clenched one. "You said you wouldn't stop talking to me."

"I know." Ron's little face was full of conflict. "But I—"

"Then just think of it as me preparing to become an Auror someday!" Harry looked at Ron seriously. "Cyberlina said Aurors all know at least some Dark magic. So if I'm learning Dark magic in order to become an Auror, could you accept it?"

Little Ron froze, but after thinking about it, that really did seem easier to accept—he had heard his father mention some Auror whose name he could not remember being especially skilled at Dark magic.

"Okay!" Ron nodded.

Hermione stared in disbelief. She had not expected someone could be fooled like that, much less that the other person would actually fall for it. Her own attitude toward Dark magic was not as extreme as Harry imagined, anyway. In the Muggle world, many police officers understood criminal methods very well, but that did not mean they went out and committed crimes.

"Good." But Hermione chose to respect Ron's choice to accept being fooled. She stood up and cast Scourgify on herself. "Your dark circles are practically down to your chins. Go back and get some rest."

"What about you?" Harry and Ron stood up together.

"Of course I'm going to find Professor Bins." Hermione lifted her chin and smiled. "But before that, I'm going to the library to look through Hogwarts, A History. I didn't bring my copy because there wasn't enough room in my trunk... After hearing about the study, I realized I vaguely remember something about what Salazar Slytherin built, but I don't think it was called a 'study.' So I've decided to look it up."