The Former Home

Cyberlina's former home was a black, three-story house surrounded by giant trees. The dozen-meter-tall trees enclosed the building so tightly that hardly any air could pass through. Standing in the courtyard before the house, one could see only a faint glimmer of light. It was as dim as night.

"I'm sorry, Professor. My partner is blind, and my eyes aren't very good with light either, so it may be a little dark." Cyberlina stood by the door and apologetically turned toward Snape, who was still at the courtyard gate. "If it's inconvenient for you, you can use Luminescent Flicker to light the way."

"It's fine." Snape stepped into the dim courtyard.

Even with his dark eyes, he was someone who had spent so long in darkness that he had grown unaccustomed to light.

Cyberlina smiled and pushed open the door.

Although the house had three floors, none of them was very large. Even the biggest floor was only around fifty square meters.

Because magic existed, the house had remained clean and orderly despite having been empty for decades. Even the dim surroundings could not conceal its warm and comfortable arrangement.

But something was strange.

The bookshelves were empty, the tabletops clean, and the cabinets left open. There were traces beneath the furniture showing that it had been moved.

This place had been "looted clean."

Even Snape, who had only just arrived, could spot the clues. Cyberlina, who was intimately familiar with the place, had certainly noticed that something was wrong as well. Snape saw her fall silent for several seconds while facing the living room on the first floor. Only after taking a deep breath did she climb the stairs. She repeated the same action on the second floor, but said nothing.

Snape could understand her silence. After all, both he and she knew perfectly well who had done such a thing: the people who had studied her, along with those who had come looking for scraps.

The wizarding world was small. It was hardly unusual for a family's decline to attract other families, eager to divide up the spoils. Snape did not know Cyberlina well, but he could glimpse her extraordinary achievements from Dumbledore's few words. And then there was the "special ability" that the two of them had been cryptically discussing in front of him.

Naturally, her former home would bear the footprints of those great families.

After those people had searched the place, what could possibly be left?

Snape sneered inwardly and followed Cyberlina up to the third floor.

The third floor was very small, but it had a steep roof higher than those of the first and second floors. A tightly shut window stood in the wall opposite the staircase. The floor was clean, but there was hardly any furniture, only two or three battered wooden chests.

Just as Snape was wondering whether the place had been looted until not even scraps remained, or whether it had always been like this, Cyberlina had already reached the window and raised her hand.

As she waved, Snape felt wind sweep past him and rush toward Cyberlina. He sensed no magic, yet the scene beyond the window before her changed. The branches of towering trees became a room whose details could not be made out.

Only then did Snape notice that the window was tall and narrow, extending all the way to the floor. When Cyberlina pushed it open, it looked exactly like a door.

There was no magic involved. So this was the ability she and Dumbledore had been speaking about in riddles.

Snape tightened his grip on the wand hidden beneath his robes, but Cyberlina smiled at him, elegantly stepped aside, and openly extended an invitation. He paused, then nodded. Keeping his wand tightly gripped, he entered the room before Cyberlina.

At first glance, Snape thought he had entered the Slytherin common room. The place contained an excessive amount of green, and the sofa's cover even bore the Slytherin crest.

A lit oil lamp, clearly being maintained by magic, hung in the center of the room. Yet Snape still could not sense any trace of magic. The realization made his expression extremely unpleasant.

Apart from the sofa bearing the Slytherin crest, the room contained two high stools, a table, and three bookshelves.

Cyberlina's wand lay on the table, which was covered by a black tablecloth patterned with green designs. It was a black wand approximately thirteen inches long, with a pale green handle.

Cyberlina picked up the wand and gently ran her fingers over it with a look of remembrance. She sighed softly. "Long time no see."

She pressed her lips together and lowered her eyes halfway. After several seconds of silence, she slowly raised her head.

Snape looked around. His gaze lingered on the bookshelves for a moment before he turned and saw Cyberlina staring blankly at the wall, her face expressionless. He walked a few steps toward her and saw what was hanging there.

It was a black-and-white Muggle photograph framed in metal. It showed a short-haired Cyberlina and a fair-haired, light-eyed man. There was no light in the man's eyes. He had lowered his head slightly toward Cyberlina, a gentle smile on his face. Cyberlina, who looked somewhat more mature than she did now, held his arm and leaned against him intimately, staring straight at the camera with a radiant, blissful smile.

Behind them was a black-and-white sky and the small courtyard Snape had seen only a few hours earlier.

"I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

Noticing Snape's gaze, Cyberlina abruptly lowered her head. She braced one hand on the table, then hurriedly wiped the side of her face with the other before placing it on the table as well. The girl who had always carried herself with elegance now leaned over the table with both hands, her head bowed and shoulders hunched. After remaining that way for two seconds, her shoulders slumped heavily. Then she straightened, turned to face Snape, and had already lifted a smile and straightened her back.

"Thank you, Professor. I've retrieved my wand. We can leave now."

The instant those light-brown eyes lifted, Snape's eyes suddenly became empty. Only when Cyberlina finished speaking did those black eyes regain their depth.

Cyberlina said nothing about Snape's silence. Smiling, she took several booklets from the bookshelf where his gaze had lingered.

"Were you looking at these just now? These are some research notes Professor Sharp left behind when I asked him to brew potions for Omi... for my partner. I've always been hopeless at Potions, so I left them here. I don't know whether they still—" Cyberlina stopped. Under Snape's increasingly peculiar gaze, she suddenly realized that the man before her would become her new Potions professor in a few days. She immediately tried to recover. "Rest assured, my Potions were perfectly fine when I was a student!"

"That's wonderful to hear. So I, your humble Potions professor, won't have to watch you make simple, idiotic mistakes, will I, Professor Sekri?"

Hearing his sarcastic tone, Cyberlina maintained her smile and blinked. "Yes, I promise."

She was merely less skilled at it compared with her other subjects. It was not that she could not brew potions. Ordinary student assignments were completely within her abilities.

So she had spoken with complete confidence.

Snape shot Cyberlina a glance and snorted coldly. "We shall see."

In the end, Snape left the little house hidden among the trees with the stack of notes in his hands.

Cyberlina, who had said she would leave with him, hesitated when the time came. In the end, she chose to remain in her former home. Snape said nothing. After all, he had never been obligated to take her with him.

Cyberlina stood at the courtyard gate. As she watched the black figure depart by Apparition and gradually vanish, her smile widened. She lowered her head and gave the wand in her hand a squeeze before waving it casually. The blue runes before the gate dispersed, and the traces of Ancient Magic flowed into the house along the direction of the wand.

Smiling, Cyberlina walked into the house. The carpet flipped over with each step she took, while the sofas and cabinets shifted and transformed beneath the casual movements of her wand. The warm, comfortable house gradually changed. Green flames rose and spread upward along the staircase, illuminating the dim, luxurious decorations on each floor.

The third floor was no longer bare. The long door in the wall connecting to the hidden room vanished, and the dark-green walls became covered with Muggle photographs set in golden frames.

There was only one person in the photographs.

Cyberlina sank into the sofa. Her fingers stroked her wand, while the reflection of green flames flickered in her light-brown, golden eyes. She stared at the photographs covering the walls, lost in thought.

"Omi... Omi..."

The corners of her lips curved faintly. She closed her eyes, relaxed her body, and let herself sink into the sofa.