Stimulation

Snape felt that he had had quite an eventful day.

First, just after Lucius discovered the first clue, Fawkes had shoved his face right up against him. Then he had once again seen that scrutinizing, intensely oppressive gaze on Dumbledore's face. After that, Dumbledore had reminded him that Grindelwald might have been led out of Nurmengard by Cyberlina.

Snape looked at Dumbledore, who had defeated Grindelwald all those years ago—the old headmaster who was now lowering his head and playing with a candy wrapper in his hand. On that usually peaceful and composed face was a rare seriousness and gravity.

Snape was not as familiar with Grindelwald as he was with Voldemort, but he had heard all about his deeds. Moreover, thanks to Cyberlina, the families who had investigated her some time ago had dug up the history of the Wiccan Party once more, opening the eyes of the young witches and wizards of Britain.

So in reality, was the main reason Dumbledore had asked him to keep an eye on Cyberlina that she really was connected to Grindelwald?

Snape thought about it, the corners of his mouth tightening.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound rang out.

Snape came back to himself and withdrew the hand he had been resting on the table, but his gaze remained fixed on Dumbledore's face. The old man's lips moved slightly, and his beard trembled twice with them. Then he raised his head and looked at Snape. The familiar and alarming scrutiny from before was gone, replaced by a grave expression tinged with hesitation.

Seeing that Dumbledore was about to speak, Snape drew a slight breath as well, waiting for Dumbledore to assign him some troublesome task. Then, amid the cloying sweetness of strawberries, he heard—

"Severus, if I apologized to you now for what happened in the past, would you forgive me for yesterday?"

"...?" Snape carefully considered the sentence once, then seriously considered it again. In the end, he gave up. "Did you say something just now?"

Dumbledore gave another "crack" and completely crushed the candy in his mouth. Then he froze. Under Snape's silent gaze, he raised a hand and picked up the nearest potion bottle, silently poured it into his mouth, swallowed the potion after a few quiet seconds, and then smiled at Snape, returning to the appearance of the kind and benevolent old man.

Snape: "..." Something was wrong. Dumbledore was acting very strangely.

"All right, I know that sentence sounded ridiculous." Dumbledore sighed. "Actually, when you used Legilimency on Pettigrew in your office that time, Cyberlina also saw his memories."

Snape paused but said nothing.

Seeing this, Dumbledore chuckled. "You noticed after all."

It wasn't something I noticed. She told me herself that night.

Snape thought expressionlessly.

But that morning, Snape had indeed noticed some of Cyberlina's attempts to defend him. After all, the lenient, gentle attitude she had displayed later was in stark contrast to her initial obstruction. It was just that Dumbledore had not finished speaking, Cyberlina's words had been ambiguous, and Snape himself was no longer certain.

He could not say what he felt. He only felt that leaving immediately after being treated had been somewhat discourteous, but at the same time, he had been relieved, because he had had no idea how to say those words of thanks. Now that the matter was over, he had not said them, and that was that.

But who could have expected Hogwarts to have entities like the Weasley twins, giving him a wound that forced him to express his gratitude? Though after Cyberlina stopped him from deducting points from Gryffindor, he had somewhat regretted saying those words of thanks.

Snape was not slow-witted. Connecting Dumbledore's two statements, it was easy to understand: Cyberlina had criticized Dumbledore over what had happened to Snape during his school days. Snape believed that "criticized" was not the wrong word, considering that they had been teacher and student.

Suddenly, he felt as if he could hold his head high and make a full turn in front of Dumbledore.

"Actually... I regretted it later too, Severus." Dumbledore looked at Snape, his eyes full of guilt. "That matter—all of it. I know it caused you a great deal of harm."

"But if you had to do it all over again, you would still do the same." Snape spoke those words unconsciously, buoyed by that trace of smugness, then froze. He stiffly shifted his gaze away and said slowly, his voice dry, "After all, everyone knows what choice to make between the upright Gryffindor and the evil Slytherin who had already made contact with the Death Eaters."

Snape had merely meant to state a fact, but his words came out with a sarcastic edge. He closed his eyes briefly, but in the end did not correct his tone.

Dumbledore looked at Snape, who was pursing his lips as though sulking, and slowly sighed. "Severus..."

"Rivalry between the two houses was quite common back then. I did blame you for being biased, but afterward I really did... not fail to live up to your distrust, did I?" Snape turned his head back and looked calmly at Dumbledore. "Or shall we talk about something serious, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore and Snape stared at each other for several seconds before Dumbledore looked helpless. "But this is the serious matter, Severus." He began to explain. "That day, I didn't properly explain my bias to Cyber or apologize. I even played a little trick, trying to muddle through it. Cyber got angry because of that. She definitely wanted to teach me a small lesson, so—" Dumbledore suddenly stopped and sighed, saying no more.

"So she released Grindelwald?" Snape found it absurd. How could such an act—releasing an enemy with whom one had fought a life-and-death struggle for decades—possibly count as a "small lesson"?

He felt that even if Cyberlina were more arrogant than anyone else or wanted to show off her abilities, she would not go this far.

Seeing Snape's incredulous expression, Dumbledore fell completely silent. He could hardly explain the subtle relationship between himself and Grindelwald, and then further explain that Cyberlina's actions had left him restless in every possible way—which really could count as a "small lesson."

"Don't worry too much." Dumbledore soothed him. "Grindelwald... was also Cyber's student for a time. With Cyber there, nothing will go wrong."

Snape paused and gave Dumbledore an inquisitive look.

Dumbledore nodded helplessly. "We're the only two students of Cyber's who continued receiving lessons from her after leaving school."

"...So you and Grindelwald are fellow students and teacher? Then—" Snape's eyes widened slightly. He wanted to ask why Cyberlina had not stopped them back then, but when the question reached his lips, he realized how foolish it was and immediately changed course. "Then the 'small lesson' you mentioned means—because you refused to admit your bias, Sekerei chose to favor him and abandon you?"

This time, Dumbledore was the one who froze. He said hesitantly, "Would Cyber... think that way?"

"Wouldn't she?" Snape frowned slightly. "Letting you experience what it feels like not to be favored—isn't that the best lesson for someone who favors others?"

To be honest, Snape felt somewhat exhilarated.

"...That is... quite reasonable." Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Slytherin really does understand Slytherin..."

Snape stared at him suspiciously. "Then what did you think that 'small lesson' was just now?"

"Oh, nothing, Severus." Dumbledore suddenly stood up, moving with a briskness utterly unlike the slow and steady old headmaster. "In fact, I think our priority now is finding Cyberlina. Given her personality, bringing Grindelwald out definitely wasn't only because of this one little matter."

Snape continued staring at Dumbledore but did not say anything else. After all, the old headmaster had suffered such a setback, and Snape ought to add a little fuel to the fire.

But he could betray Mr. Potter.

"Dumbledore, Mr. Potter once asked me how things have been between you and Sekerei lately." Snape dragged out his words in his characteristic tone. "If he didn't speak ill of Sekerei to you, then I believe... he must have said something to Sekerei."

Dumbledore glanced at Snape's slightly gleeful eyes, hesitated, and nodded. Then he immediately changed the subject again. "I might know where Cyberlina is."

There really is something wrong. Old Bee is definitely acting strangely!

Snape thought this, then gave a cold "Oh."

"Severus." Dumbledore suddenly smiled and slowly walked out from behind his desk. "Would you be willing to accompany this old man on a trip?"

"No, Headmaster." As Snape spoke, he turned and headed for the office door. "I'm a busy professor with plenty of unfinished work. Surely you wouldn't want those little trolls to discover on the first day of term that their Potions professor hadn't even marked their homework."

He had no desire to go from an innocent bystander caught in an argument between two teacher-and-student pairs to a casualty caught in an argument between three of them. This was Grindelwald, after all!

"Oh, it's all right, Severus. It won't take too much of your time." Dumbledore chuckled and promptly caught Snape by the robes. Then, as he raised his other hand, Fawkes came flying over.

Snape understood what he intended and immediately cursed, "Old Bee!!!"

"That's the first time I've heard you call me that, Severus." Dumbledore grinned slyly.

As if he were joking—how could he possibly let go of this little bat who had recently become so favored by Cyber? This was a lifesaver.

The next moment, the two men and one phoenix vanished from the office.

As soon as they landed, Snape yanked his robes back into place, glared viciously at Dumbledore, and looked around. In front of them was a very dilapidated village. Judging from the thick snow, untouched by any trace, the place was practically uninhabited. To their right was a narrow dirt road, with tall, withered branches laden with snow on either side.

"Thank you, Fawkes." Dumbledore smiled and stroked Fawkes's back. Fawkes rubbed his little head against Dumbledore's face, then vanished into the air.

"This way, Severus." Dumbledore stepped onto the narrow path as he spoke.

Snape stared at his back and silently cursed Old Bee many times before following slowly with a dark expression.

"Actually, when I saw Cyber deliberately examine so many of Tom's memories concerning the Gaunt old house in the interrogation room, I thought she would come here." Dumbledore walked at a brisk pace as he spoke. "I also thought Tom might have hidden one of his Horcruxes here, so I came by that night. But I found that the house was already in ruins, and there wasn't any dust on top. I guessed Cyber had already been here, so I assumed she had obtained the Horcrux here and set the matter aside for the time being."

Snape rapidly analyzed several key words in his mind, then asked, "Then why do you think she would come here again?"

"I should have shown you a memory, but there wasn't time. Perhaps when we return—" Dumbledore walked at a brisk pace as he spoke. "Though by the time we return, there may not be any need to see it anymore..."

Dumbledore had once investigated Riddle and visited Morfin in prison. He had extracted the true memory behind the memory Riddle had altered—the memory of Riddle breaking into the Gaunt old house. At the same time, he had also seen the "lost ring" Morfin kept muttering about.

When he returned to organize that memory, he had faintly seen the Peverell Family's symbol on the ring's gemstone, but it had not been clear. He had planned to question Morfin carefully after bringing him out of Azkaban, but unfortunately, Morfin died inside only a few days later.

Later, after repeatedly confirming that memory and the history of the Gaunt Family, Dumbledore confirmed that it was the Resurrection Stone.

But Riddle had already taken the ring, and it had ultimately vanished along with Riddle's death.

Now that he knew Riddle had split his soul to create Horcruxes, Dumbledore felt it perfectly natural that he had turned this heirloom ring into a Horcrux. At the same time, he realized something else: Cyberlina definitely had not obtained this Horcrux.

She had someone she desperately wanted to see, so she would have eagerly picked it up. But Riddle must have tampered with it.

Cyberlina was somewhat more rational than he was, and she acted more decisively, so she had probably stopped herself in time and chosen to—attack directly.

That would explain the ruins he had seen inside the Gaunt old house.

—Dumbledore guessed that the Gaunt Family's ring, which had been turned into a Horcrux, was still in the Gaunt old house.

But he had not considered returning to the old house to search for it, because even Cyberlina, who had conducted extensive research into souls, had returned empty-handed. He probably could not retrieve it either.

After realizing that Cyberlina had gone to find Grindelwald, the first thing Dumbledore thought of was this ring. Cyberlina could think of using Grindelwald to retrieve the ring, and Dumbledore, who understood her, could think of it too.

The only difference between his thoughts and Cyberlina's was that he believed Grindelwald had no one he wanted to resurrect and would not be tempted by the Resurrection Stone.

Hearing Dumbledore mention "memories," Snape felt somewhat guilty. He simply followed Dumbledore with his head lowered. He was still angry at being forcibly dragged along, after all, so there was no harm in remaining silent.

Snape saw a pitch-black forest. Behind the withered branches that obscured one another stood a—dilapidated house missing half of itself.

Dumbledore had evidently seen the half-destroyed house as well, because his pace quickened.

When the two of them reached the front of the house, they happened to see Cyberlina picking up a cat from the ground—a somewhat dirty white cat.

"Cyber—" Dumbledore called out instinctively, but his gaze fixed on the cat struggling desperately to escape from Cyberlina's arms. Given Cyberlina's affinity with animals, this should not have happened. Even Mrs. Norris could sit obediently in her arms.

"Albus, look! I found a kitty that looks just like you." Cyberlina turned around, her smile exceptionally radiant in the setting sun.

Snape noticed that the cat struggling in Cyberlina's arms suddenly stopped moving the instant she turned around. It quietly lowered its head.