Stimulation

Snape felt that his day had been quite eventful.

First, as soon as Lucius discovered something amiss, he was confronted by Fawkes, then he once again saw that scrutinizing and intensely oppressive gaze on Dumbledore's face. Afterward, Dumbledore's reminder informed him that Grindelwald might have been led out of Nurmengard by Cyberlina.

Snape looked at Dumbledore, who had defeated Grindelwald in the past – the old headmaster, now lowering his head and fiddling with candy wrappers – a rare seriousness and solemnity on his usually peaceful and calm face.

Grindelwald. Snape wasn't as familiar with him as he was with Voldemort, but he had heard all the stories. Furthermore, thanks to Cyberlina, the families investigated by her recently had unearthed the old Wiccan Party's affairs, opening the eyes of the young wizards in the British wizarding world.

So, was the main reason Dumbledore asked him to watch Cyberlina actually because she had a connection to Grindelwald?

Snape thought, his lips tightening.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound.

Snape snapped back to attention, withdrawing his hand from the table, but his gaze remained on Dumbledore's face. The old man's lips twitched, his beard shaking slightly before he looked up at Snape. The scrutinizing gaze that had once been so familiar and unsettling was gone, replaced by a solemn expression tinged with a hint of conflict.

Seeing Dumbledore about to speak, Snape took a shallow breath, anticipating a difficult task from the headmaster. Then, amidst the sweet scent of strawberries, he heard—

"Severus, if I apologized to you now for past events, would you forgive me yesterday?"

"...?" Snape carefully considered the sentence, then thought about it again, finally deciding to give up. "Did you just say something?"

Dumbledore crunched down on the candy in his mouth with another "crack," then paused. Under Snape's silent gaze, he reached for the nearest potion bottle, poured some into his mouth, swallowed after a few seconds of silence, and then smiled at Snape, reverting to his kind and amiable old self.

Snape: "..." Something was wrong. Dumbledore was not himself.

"Alright, I know that was a ridiculous question," 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 lightly. "You did notice, didn't you?"

Not noticed, she told me herself that night.

Snape thought to himself, his expression blank.

However, that morning, Snape had indeed noticed some of Cyberlina's protectiveness. After all, her later lenient attitude was a stark contrast to her initial obstruction, but Dumbledore hadn't finished speaking, and Cyberlina's words had been ambiguous, leaving Snape uncertain.

He couldn't quite describe his feelings. He only felt that his direct departure after being healed seemed rather impolite, but at the same time, he was relieved, as he had no idea how to express his thanks. Now that it was all over, if he hadn't said it, he hadn't said it.

But who could have imagined the existence of the Weasley twins at Hogwarts, who gave him a wound that necessitated thanks—though he had already regretted saying that word of thanks after Cyberlina stopped him from deducting points from Gryffindor.

Snape wasn't slow-witted. Connecting Dumbledore's two sentences, it was easy to understand: Cyberlina had targeted his school days and criticized Dumbledore—Snape believed the word "criticized" was appropriate, given their teacher-student relationship.

Suddenly, he felt he could stand tall and turn a full circle in front of Dumbledore.

"Actually... I regretted it later, Severus," Dumbledore said, his eyes full of guilt as he looked at Snape. "That incident—all of it, I know it caused you a lot of pain."

"But you would still do it again," Snape blurted out subconsciously, driven by a hint of smugness. He then froze, awkwardly shifting his gaze, and said slowly and dryly, "After all, an upright Gryffindor versus a Slytherin already in contact with Death Eaters—everyone knows how to choose."

Snape had intended to state a fact, but the words came out with a sarcastic edge. He closed his eyes, ultimately not correcting his tone.

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

"The rivalry between the two houses was quite common back then. I did blame you for favoritism, but later, I didn't really betray your distrust, did I?" Snape turned back, looking at Dumbledore calmly. "Shall we discuss something important, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore met Snape's gaze for a few seconds, then said with a helpless expression, "But this is important, Severus." He explained, "That day, I didn't properly explain my favoritism to Cyber and apologize, and I even tried a little trick to gloss over it. Cyber got angry because of it. She was bound to teach me a small lesson, so—" Dumbledore suddenly stopped and sighed, falling silent.

"So she let Grindelwald out?" Snape found it preposterous. How could such an act—releasing an enemy with whom you had a decades-long life-or-death struggle—be considered a "small lesson"?

He felt that no matter how arrogant or eager to show off her abilities Cyberlina was, she wouldn't go that far.

Seeing Snape's incredulous expression, Dumbledore fell completely silent. He couldn't possibly explain his delicate relationship with Grindelwald, and further explain how Cyberlina's actions had unsettled him in various ways—it could indeed be considered a "small lesson."

"Don't worry too much," Dumbledore reassured him. "Grindelwald... was also a student of Cyber's for a time. With Cyber there, there won't be any problems."

Snape paused, looking at Dumbledore questioningly.

Dumbledore nodded helplessly. "We are Cyber's only two students who still receive instruction after leaving school."

"...So you and Grindelwald are like... fellow disciples? Then—" Snape's eyes widened slightly. He wanted to ask why Cyberlina hadn't stopped them at the time, but as the words reached his lips, he realized how foolish the question was and immediately changed tack. "Then, your 'small lesson' meant... because you wouldn't admit your favoritism, Sekerei chose to favor him and abandon you?"

Now it was Dumbledore's turn to pause. He said hesitantly, "Cyber... would think that?"

"Wouldn't she?" Snape frowned slightly. "Making you experience what it's like not to be favored—isn't that the best lesson for your favoritism?"

Honestly, Snape felt a sense of satisfaction.

"...Indeed... that makes a lot of sense," Dumbledore said slowly, nodding. "As expected, Slytherins understand Slytherins..."

Snape eyed him suspiciously. "Then what did you think the 'small lesson' was?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Severus," Dumbledore suddenly stood up, moving with a briskness uncharacteristic of the slow and steady old headmaster. "In fact, I think our priority now is to find Cyberlina—given her style, bringing Grindelwald out certainly wasn't just about this one small matter."

Snape continued to stare at Dumbledore but didn't say much more. After all, the old headmaster had gone through this ordeal, and he should have contributed to it.

But he could betray the savior.

"Dumbledore, Mr. Potter once asked me how your relationship with Sekerei was recently," Snape said in his characteristic drawl. "If he hasn't said anything bad about Sekerei to you, then I believe... he must have said something to Sekerei."

Dumbledore glanced at Snape's slightly schadenfreude-filled eyes, hesitated, nodded, and then immediately changed the subject again. "I might know where Cyberlina is."

As expected, something is very wrong. Old Bee is acting far too strangely!

Snape thought to himself, giving a perfunctory "Oh" on the surface.

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

"I'm not willing, Headmaster," Snape said, turning to walk out of the office. "I'm a busy professor with many unfinished tasks. You wouldn't want the little monsters to discover on the first day of school that their Potions professor hasn't even graded their homework, would you?"

He didn't want to go from being an innocent bystander in a two-person teacher-student argument to a dead person in a three-person teacher-student argument—and it was Grindelwald!

"Oh, it's alright, Severus, it won't take too much of your time," Dumbledore chuckled, grabbing Snape's robe just in time. Then, raising his other hand, he summoned Fawkes—

Snape understood his intention and immediately cursed, "Old Bee!!!"

"This is the first time I've heard you call me that, Severus," Dumbledore said with a sly smile.

As if I would let this little bat, who is currently favored by Cyber, get away. This is a matter of life and death.

The next moment, the two of them and the phoenix disappeared from the office.

As soon as they landed, Snape yanked his robe back, glared fiercely at Dumbledore, and then looked around—in front of them was a dilapidated village. Judging by the thick, untouched snow, it could be inferred that almost no one lived here anymore. To their right was a narrow dirt path, flanked by tall, snow-covered dead tree branches.

"Thank you, Fawkes," Dumbledore said, smiling as he stroked Fawkes's back. Fawkes nuzzled his face with its small head before disappearing into the air.

"This way, Severus," Dumbledore said, stepping onto the narrow path.

Snape stared at his retreating back, silently cursing "Old Bee" numerous times, then slowly followed with a grim expression.

"Actually, when I saw Cyber deliberately looking at a lot of Tom's memories about the Gaunt old house in the interrogation room, I figured Cyber would come here," Dumbledore said as they walked at a brisk pace. "I also thought Tom might have hidden one of the Horcruxes containing his soul here. So, I came by that night, only to find the house in ruins and no dust on the upper levels—I guessed Cyber had already been here. Therefore, I assumed she had obtained the Horcrux here and didn't dwell on it for the time being."

Snape's mind quickly analyzed several keywords and then said, "Then why do you think she would come here?"

"I should show you a memory, but there's no time. Perhaps after we get back—" Dumbledore said as they walked quickly, "—and after we get back, I don't know if there will still be a need to watch it..."

Dumbledore had once investigated Riddle and delved into Morfin's memories, extracting the true memories of Riddle breaking into the Gaunt old house from behind Morfin's altered memories. At the same time, he also saw the "lost ring" that Morfin kept muttering about.

When he went back to organize these memories, he vaguely saw the Peverell family crest on the gem of that ring, but it wasn't clear. He intended to ask Morfin carefully after getting him out of Azkaban, but unfortunately, Morfin died inside just 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 the ring had already been taken by Riddle and eventually disappeared with Riddle's death.

Now knowing that Riddle was splitting his soul to create Horcruxes, Dumbledore thought it was perfectly normal for him to turn this ancestral ring into a Horcrux. At the same time, he realized—Cyberlina must not have obtained this Horcrux.

Because she had someone she desperately wanted to see, she would have eagerly picked it up. However, Riddle must have tampered with it.

Cyberlina was a bit more rational and decisive than he was, so she would likely cut her losses and choose—to act directly.

The result was the ruins of the Gaunt old house he had seen.

--Dumbledore speculated that the Gaunt family ring, made into a Horcrux, was still in the Gaunt old house.

But he hadn't considered going to the old house to look for it himself. After all, if even Cyberlina, who was quite knowledgeable about souls, had returned empty-handed, he likely wouldn't be able to retrieve it either.

Upon realizing Cyberlina was going to find Grindelwald, Dumbledore's first thought was of this ring—Cyberlina could think of using Grindelwald to get the ring, just as Dumbledore, who understood her, could.

However, his thoughts differed slightly from Cyberlina's—he believed Grindelwald, having no one he wished to resurrect, would not be tempted by the Resurrection Stone.

Hearing Dumbledore mention "memory," Snape felt a little guilty and just followed Dumbledore silently. Anyway, he was still angry about being forcibly dragged here, so it was fine if he didn't speak.

Snape saw a dark forest, and behind the intertwined dry branches, there was a dilapidated house—half of it was missing.

Dumbledore clearly saw the house that was only half standing and quickened his pace.

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

"Cyber—" Dumbledore subconsciously called out, his gaze fixed on the cat that was struggling to get out of Cyberlina's arms. Given Cyberlina's affinity for animals, this was unusual, as even Mrs. Norris could behave herself in her arms.

"Albus, look, I found a kitty that looks a lot like you," Cyberlina turned, smiling brilliantly against the setting sun.

Snape noticed that the cat, which had been struggling in Cyberlina's arms, suddenly stopped moving the moment she turned, lowering its head quietly.