"And while the Draught of Living Death induces a powerful hypnotic sleep, it also has a fairly good suppressive effect on feelings such as remorse, sorrow, and grief. Many patients with anxiety disorders like to take this potion alongside their treatment..."
"Of course, the Draught of Living Death only suppresses these emotions; it cannot truly eliminate them. According to the conclusions drawn by the greatest wizard of the twentieth century-Mr. Albus Dumbledore..."
"Negative emotions like these, which arise from positive emotions, generally have to be resolved through 'love'..."
After answering Snape's question, Harry added a few remarks drawn from knowledge outside the textbook.
Yes, nothing else to it. Just a little supplementary information. No other intentions.
There really weren't any. It had absolutely nothing to do with his mother, Lily!
Of course, it had nothing to do with his mother, and naturally, nothing to do with his own "love," either~
It was all Professor Snape's own thinking. Harry accepted no responsibility whatsoever. Hehehe...
"You, I..."
Upon hearing the textbook-perfect answer, Professor Snape had been ready to make a few more sarcastic remarks.
But after hearing Harry's last two remarks, Professor Snape was completely speechless.
Yes...
Remorse...
Sorrow...
She had regretted that one utterance of "Mudblood" back then more times than she could count.
She had grieved for countless years over having once joined the Death Eaters.
Lily's death was inextricably tied to me...
Whether she had actually been involved or not, in Snape's heart, she could never forgive herself.
She had loved her so much. Why had it ended in such a tragedy?
Professor Snape did not know, but the child Lily Evans had borne stood before her, her only child...
Love?
What was love?
Love was not possession. The love she had pursued for the sake of possession had already left her...
Perhaps...
Compensation? Atonement? Or transference?
Whatever it was, she had to try. Perhaps it could ease the anguish in her heart and bring her some measure of redemption?
Professor Snape looked at Harry with a complicated gaze. It was hard to say exactly what she was thinking now.
By now, Professor Snape had almost let go of her prejudice against James Potter.
Yes, the shape of this child's face did look very much like James Potter's.
Bah, like him, my ass. Whoever Lily had had a child with, the child would surely have had those rosy lips and pearly teeth!
But his eyes, his words and actions, his diligence and serious attitude toward learning magic...
They were exactly like Lily's. Even his habits were exactly the same!
Besides, back then, when James Potter and Black had bullied her because her sexual orientation wasn't normal...
The way Lily had protected her seemed just like the way Harry had acted toward Malfoy now...
No unnecessary words, just silently shielding someone behind them...
Back then, she had been protected by Lily. Now Lily's child was protecting his friend in the same way...
So alike. They really were so alike...
"Very good. Five points to Ravenclaw."
"Mr. Potter, come to my office at seven tonight. It's right next to the Potions classroom."
At this point, although Professor Snape was still speaking in a very calm tone,
she had actually already begun to change the way she addressed him.
At the very least, Snape's tone was no longer cold and indifferent.
Harry could tell that Professor Snape had been trembling slightly all over when he said those words.
"Yes, Professor."
Harry nodded, desperately suppressing the corners of his mouth as they threatened to rise.
It had worked. It really had worked.
Sure enough, Professor Snape was practically unshakable in every other respect, with no desires to exploit. Yet when it came to his mother, he was especially easy to move...
The faint memory of Lily's voice and face, and the tears and disappointment when she had left...
Spilled water could not be gathered again, but there were always people who wanted to try to make amends...
He just wondered what would happen when he went to Professor Snape's office tonight.
Harry was actually rather looking forward to it, because he knew that, given how Professor Snape was now projecting Lily's image onto him, she would not do anything to make things difficult for him.
She could hardly atone fast enough. How could she possibly keep making things difficult for Lily's orphan?
Hopefully, he could get some of Professor Snape's unique potion-making secrets, so his efforts wouldn't go to waste.
Oh, right!
Professor Snape was also a master of Legilimency and Occlumency. He absolutely had to learn those properly!
Besides, Snape himself was highly skilled in Dark Magic. If he could squeeze a little magic out of Snape...
The more Harry thought about it, the more promising it seemed!
Learn magic from Snape, then use the [Spellbook] to synthesize it...
The future looked bright!
After a long silence, Snape looked at the young wizards, none of whom dared speak up to urge him to begin the lesson.
He raised his head, blinked back the tears he had almost failed to hold in, and returned to the lectern.
"Now, open your textbooks to page one..."
"Study the definition of potions and the relationship between Potions and Alchemy yourselves when you go back. It will be on the exam, but I won't be covering it. It's all in the textbook."
"Now, page two. How to use a cauldron..."
Ravenclaw: !!!
Slytherin: ???
Wait.
Had the sun risen in the west today, or had Merlin suddenly come back to life?
Never mind the textbook material for a moment. What on earth was wrong with Snape today?
His strange mood was one thing.
But why had he started awarding points to Ravenclaw, too?
Didn't she only ever award points to Slytherin?!
Even the Slytherins were now so stunned that they did not know how to react.
Why wasn't their Head of House favoring them anymore? Boohoo, their Head of House was so mean...
Besides, hadn't everyone said Professor Snape was notoriously difficult?
Supposedly, there had been a third-year Gryffindor boy who had answered three of Professor Snape's questions in a row.
As a result, Professor Snape had immediately begun drawing on knowledge outside the textbook, continuing to question the boy to make things difficult for him.
Only after forcibly docking fifteen points from him had Professor Snape let him off and continued the lesson.
Why wasn't Professor Snape making things difficult for Harry?
And not only was he not making things difficult for him, he was actually awarding him points?
Wait, was Harry Snape's illegitimate son or something?
How could anyone cheat like this!
Of course, however surprised or indignant they were, none of the young wizards dared show it now.
The reason was very simple.
If they did not pay attention, Snape was about to erase the previous set of notes from the board!
If they failed to write them down and then could not answer Snape's questions next lesson, wouldn't they be done for?!
Amazing, a Master Certification and a Character Summon. All right, I'll add an extra update right away!
Before you continue