"Who is it?" Snape's voice came from behind the office door.
Hearing that ominous tone, Harry nearly jumped in fright. She instinctively ducked behind Kasenhis, hiding herself completely.
"It's me, Kasenhis," Kasenhis replied.
Snape quickly pushed the door open and glanced at Kasenhis. "What is it?"
With a stiff expression, Kasenhis pulled Harry out from behind him.
"...So? I remember Dumbledore hiding the Mirror of Erised," Snape said in confusion.
"No, no, no, this isn't the Mirror of Erised... Do you remember the gender reversal potion I asked you for before?" Kasenhis stopped mid-sentence, staring at Snape with a strange look. "Wait... the Mirror of Erised... you—"
Kasenhis saw Snape's expression suddenly turn awkward, and the latter reacted just as quickly. "Wait—who is she?!"
"Harry... Harry Potter," Kasenhis said, forcing the words out.
After hearing that answer, Snape looked at the red-faced Harry, and his previously steady breathing suddenly grew rapid.
"Huff....."
Kasenhis pressed his lips together. "We came here to ask whether there's an antidote. I think our Miss Harry needs one."
Snape nodded in a daze. "Alright. I'll go look for it. You wait outside for a moment." After saying that, he shut the door directly, and Kasenhis soon heard the sounds of drawers being rummaged through.
"See? Severus is still reliable. From the sound of it, he's already started looking for the antidote."
Harry felt a bit more at ease. Then the two of them heard the unmistakable sound of a toilet flushing.
"???" Kasenhis and Harry exchanged glances, both wearing utterly baffled expressions.
"What is he doing in there?" Harry asked, a hint of fear in her voice.
"I... how would I know," Kasenhis replied awkwardly.
Soon, Snape opened the door again and invited them inside.
Just as Kasenhis was about to sit on the sofa together with Harry, he was stopped by Snape.
"No, Kasenhis. You sit across from me. As a sign of my respect for you."
Seeing this, Kasenhis had no choice but to sit on the chair in front of Snape's desk. Snape then very deliberately adjusted the angle of his seat, allowing him to look straight past Kasenhis and fix his gaze on Harry, who was sitting on the sofa.
She was clearly feeling a strong physical discomfort from that eerie gaze—nothing else involved, just specifically because it was Snape. If it had been anyone else looking at her like that, she wouldn't have cared.
After all, with the scar on her forehead, she was already used to this kind of outright staring.
"So... about that potion of yours... does it have an antidote?" Kasenhis asked cautiously.
"No," Snape shook his head.
"But you just said you were going to look for one," Kasenhis said awkwardly.
"That's right. I looked. I didn't find it. Therefore, there isn't one," Snape replied matter-of-factly.
"Then how long will it take to brew the antidote?" Kasenhis continued.
"The brewing cycle for the antidote is extremely long. It would take at least over a month," Snape explained.
"Oh... in that case..." Kasenhis turned back with some helplessness to glance at Harry. After all, an antidote that took a full month to brew was basically pointless, considering the effects of the gender reversal potion only lasted about a month anyway.
"I'm fine, Professor. Let's go," Harry nodded. She understood the implication as well. The potion's duration will last for a month or a little more than a month while the antidote will take a month to be made. Hmm...
To shave off just a few days at the cost of owing Snape a favor… no matter how you looked at it, it simply wasn't worth it. After all, a favor from Snape was… probably not a good thing for her.
"Then we'll be taking our leave. Oh right, Severus—are those antidotes finished brewing?" Kasenhis asked.
"They're already done. You'll be able to use them directly when the time comes," Snape nodded.
"Good." Kasenhis stood up and waved to Harry, and the two of them prepared to leave.
Suddenly, Snape spoke up from behind them. "Pot—… Harry… never mind."
Both Kasenhis and Harry felt something was off, but neither of them said anything as they left the Potions office.
"Professor, what am I supposed to do now?" Harry said with a look of despair.
"What do you mean, what do you do? Eat when you should, drink when you should—what else can you do?" Kasenhis looked at her in confusion.
"I mean, with me like this, how am I supposed to… um?" Harry shrugged.
"Oh... maybe you could go find Dumbledore and ask him whether he can arrange a single room for you..."
The two of them chatted idly on the way back to the first floor of Hogwarts. At the stairwell, Lupin and Sirius were already waiting there.
"Harry! My goddaughter!" Sirius shouted excitedly, instantly making Harry's face flush bright red.
Lupin also walked over slowly. "Looks like her… really does. Too alike. Truly."
"Looks like? Like who?" Kasenhis asked in confusion.
"Harry's mother," Lupin murmured. "It's like she was made from the same mold."
Harry's expression grew rather strange. After all, she clearly remembered what Snape had said when he first saw her like this.
He had said Mirror of Erised.
And she had encountered that mirror before, back in first year. Dumbledore had said it could reflect the deepest desires of a person's heart.
Snape had seen her like this and said Mirror of Erised, and now Lupin was saying she looked like her mother...
Sss......
She had very likely discovered a terrifying truth.
Had that old bastard Snape already been using such vicious language to curse her in his heart?
And how many times had he done it, for it to turn into psychological conditioning?
Just how much did that old bastard hate her?
Then what was that just now, when he called out to her?
Waiting for the right moment to throw a few Avada Kedavras her way?
Thankfully, thank-fucking-fully Professor Kasenhis was there...
_________
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon: Dragonel