HP North Star's Radiance

"Do you think I'm criticizing you?" Prareas seemed to see right through him. "Everyone has different responsibilities—would you let Hermione use a sword to stab the Basilisk?"

If everyone could understand Dumbledore's intentions and cooperate with his plans, Voldemort would never have been resurrected.

“No. I understand,” Harry said softly. “Thank you.”

"Ok?"

Harry lowered his head: "Thank you for the dreamcatcher. Hermione told me everything."

“Don’t thank me, this is what you deserve.” Praris waved his hand. “I just hope you study Occlumency well and never need the Dreamcatcher again.”

Hermione poked her head out: "Plares! Professor Snape has stopped Harry's Occlumency course!"

"Hermione!" Harry hurriedly stopped her, "I already said I've learned almost everything!"

Praris squinted: "You learned it so quickly? Then look at me?"

Harry immediately turned his head to the other side, avoiding Praris's gaze.

“You haven’t learned it.” Praris straightened up, staring at him. “Did you anger the professor? Make him unwilling to continue teaching you. Have you forgotten what Dumbledore said when he left?”

From across the mirror came Hermione's quiet question: "Harry, didn't you say Professor Snape told you to teach yourself?"

“Oh! I see.” Praris nodded knowingly. “You’re just like your father and Sirius, never listening to Dumbledore…”

“Enough!” Harry interrupted Praris as she continued.

Harry had just experienced a complete reversal of his impression of James Potter. And he wouldn't forget that part of the reason for his parents' deaths was that James and Sirius had secretly switched the Secretkeeper, giving Peter Pettigrew an opportunity.

Prarese's words were very hurtful.

However, admitting that those words were hurtful, the incident itself also made him feel quite uncomfortable.

“Sigh—” Praris sighed, “There’s no better way. I’ll go talk to the professor.”

Harry still refused: "No, let's not talk about this. It won't matter if we don't have Occlumency, will it?"

“Of course it will happen.” Praris glared at him. “If all else fails, I’ll teach you.”

"You know Occlumency?" Hermione was overjoyed. If Harry really resisted Professor Snape, Prader would be a good choice.

Prareus admitted this: "I knew it in fourth grade, but I'm nowhere near as good as Professor Snape, and my Legilimency is terrible."

She practiced Legilimency on Ms. Priscilla, who did not know Occlumency. In other words, if she were to teach her, the results would be much worse.

But now there's no choice; Harry Potter and Professor Snape have fallen out.

The fact that Professor Snape was so angry that he didn't want to continue teaching Potter was no small matter that could be easily resolved.

Chapter 126 Blood Thorns

In Scotland in spring, the rising steam moistens the air, and the grass smells sweet. As the ice and snow melt, the Black Loch rises, almost submerging the windows of the Potions Office.

Yes, Professor Snape's office was underground. The windows were submerged by the lake half the time, and received very little sunlight the other half.

A bunch of fresh-cut yellow daffodils sits on the fireplace mantle, kept in a glass bottle of water, bringing the breath of spring.

Snape scolded Prarese for using a potion bottle to hold flowers, then wondered why he had never seen such a potion bottle before, before finally remembering to get it out of his office.

“In the spring, fresh-cut daffodils would be sold on the streets of London,” Praris recalled. “Some suckers would pay for it, selling a small bunch for a pound (about 3.4 sieverts).

Snape sneered, "So you think you're smarter than them?"

Not spending this unnecessary money makes you look good?

“No, quite the opposite, I almost became one of those suckers.” Praris shook his head. “The nun in the kitchen told me that a lady on the next street had daffodils in her house and that she had adopted four children. At that time, I thought, perhaps you would like daffodils too.”

Snape felt uneasy, as if insects were crawling all over him. He would rather encounter deep malice than this strange kindness.

“You thought I bought it? No, I didn’t.” Praris laughed. “You’ve seen garlic flower stalks, haven’t you? I took the money you gave me to buy flowers, and the florist showed me some unopened daffodils that looked just like garlic flower stalks.”

Not yet ten years old, Praris looked at the unopened daffodils and firmly believed they were garlic scapes. So, no matter what the flower vendor shouted after her, she waved her hands and ran away without looking back.

Snape smirked. "Foolish."

"Yes, it was incredibly stupid." Praris smiled helplessly. "Now that I think about it, even if I had bought it, it wouldn't have reached you."

Snape had Prasris's address, but Prasris didn't have his. Even if she bought the daffodils, where would she send them?

But at the time, she didn't consider this issue at all; she only wanted to buy a bunch of daffodils for the mixed-race prince.

Snape refused to continue the emotional appeal: "You can go now, nothing else."

Snape didn't reject Daffodil, he just wanted her to stop talking. Compared to Daffodil, Prarese was his real weapon.

“Something’s up, sir.” After the preamble, Praris said, “There are daffodils by the Forbidden Forest, Harry and the others told me. And of course, his Occlumency lessons. You’ve decided not to continue teaching them, haven’t you?”

Snape's face instantly darkened, like the calm before a storm: "He sent you—what did he say to you!"

“Harry didn’t say anything,” Praris shook his head. “He didn’t want to continue his studies and told me not to come to you.”

Snape's face darkened further; he had forgotten something very important.

Yes, he didn't want Harry Potter to tell anyone, but even if Potter hadn't said anything—

"Are you feeling smug, Miss Praris?" Snape said with a mocking expression. "After receiving so many gifts over the years, it's finally your turn to give me handouts, isn't it?"

Sympathy? Pity? Or something else?

Snape looked ashen-faced and his expression was extremely unpleasant. The thought of someone pitying him made him feel utterly disgusted, as if he had drunk a whole bottle of Bone Spirit.

“No, sir, I came by myself.” Praris shook his head calmly. “I wouldn’t say I know you, but I have great trust in your reason.”

Severus Snape was an extremely patient man, and very difficult to sway.

If anything could enrage Snape, causing him to disrupt his own plans and even disregard his promise to Dumbledore, then that matter must be of extraordinary importance and severity to him.

Praris said gently, “Therefore, I know you must be feeling bad right now. But I will never delve into this matter further, just as you never pry into my past.”

Given Snape's status, he could have easily obtained information about the William family if he wanted to, but he never did. He only looked to the present, teaching Prarese and never looking back.

Similarly, even if Harry Potter's actions were riddled with flaws, and even if countless clues suggested what had happened between them, Prader wouldn't give him a second glance; that was her respect for Professor Snape.

Yellow daffodils symbolize respect.

As Praris grew older, she gradually came to understand that most people have a forbidden zone in their hearts.

For people like her and Snape, to pry into their private areas is like having your bathroom door pushed open while you're using the toilet or your bedroom door being broken into while you're sleeping naked—it's an offense against their vulnerability and an extremely rude act.

The only person in the world who can truly understand another person is that person themselves; everyone else is just scratching the surface. Offering platitudes about your own well-being while forcibly intruding into someone's sensitive areas... that's far too condescending.

Snape fell silent again.

When he was in a good mood, he saw Prarese as a younger version of himself. When he was in a bad mood, Prarese was his mother, who loved to offend others with her talents, and the arrogant, cowardly, and indecisive Brown.

As it turned out, his idea was completely wrong.

Prareis is Prareis.

She is not him when he was weak, nor is she Sylvia Prince, nor is she Winnie Brown.

"Tell me," Snape said, his tone softening slightly. "What are your plans?"

That evening, Hermione told Harry that Prader had gone to practice Legilimency. Not long after, Harry was going to the Potions Office for "extra lessons."

Harry had mixed feelings about Prader's upcoming instruction in Occlumency.

It felt like a tiny splinter was stuck in his heart. The wound it caused wasn't big, but it was real.

The mere thought of that day made Harry feel like he'd encountered a Dementor, unable to cheer himself up. It wasn't because Snape had yelled at him, nor because Snape had hit him with something, but because…

His father's actions.

Harry couldn't convince himself, no matter what.

He couldn't tell himself that his father's actions were understandable. He couldn't tell himself that Snape deserved what happened to him.

He knows it all too well... he knows all too well what it feels like to be humiliated in public! That's what he's been going through all these years.

This bullying came from Snape, from Slytherin, from Malfoy, from Umbridge, from his cousins, aunt and uncle, and so on.

Harry hated Snape so much! Even though Dumbledore trusted him, he didn't give up his doubts, just because Snape was a bad guy who always bullied Harry.

But the same humiliation, even more severe than what he had experienced, had befallen Snape.

Ironically, the perpetrator was Harry's father. The father he longed for, the father he was once proud of, James Potter.

Harry couldn't find a reason to exonerate his father. He desperately wanted to talk to Sirius, hoping to get a different answer from his godfather, or even just a little bit of other reason, anything that would ease his conscience.

But he knew that was almost impossible.

Don't say that his father's affairs have nothing to do with him. Snape hated him precisely because of his father, didn't he?

Some of the power that had fueled his hatred for Snape was drained from Harry, and he found that he could no longer see Snape through the same lens he had once used.

Did Prince know about this? She's so smart, did she know that Harry had peeked into her tutor's memories? Did she know what Harry's father had done to her tutor?

Perhaps Prince will regret what she did, regret that she taught Harry Occlumency, and regret that she, as a Slytherin, helped them.

"I'll make her regret it sooner or later!"

Bella cursed viciously in her heart, but smiled sarcastically and said, "Look who this is? Isn't this Winnie Brown, the rising star of our spell research community?"

Winnie walked forward silently with a cold face, too lazy to pay attention to Lestrange, that crazy woman.

Bellatrix Lestrange is jealous of Winnie, but she will never admit it.

Voldemort taught Bella a lot of dark magic, and Bella willingly submitted to him and became his servant.

Things were going well until Winnie the Pooh appeared and became Voldemort's student.

Yes, many people know Newt Scamander, Dumbledore's student. He participated in Dumbledore's fight to defeat Grindelwald and is a renowned hero and magizoologist.

Perhaps it was Dumbledore's repeated refusal to hire Voldemort that provoked Voldemort, making him feel that he should also have a student.

Until Voldemort disappeared, Bella was in a state of hating Winnie but unable to kill her. She couldn't understand what use this bitch was to her master if she couldn't even kill a person!

After Voldemort's downfall, Bella's first instinct was to find her master; she refused to believe Voldemort was truly gone. Her second instinct was to hunt down Winnie; she wanted to make that damned traitor pay!

Her master placed so much trust in her, yet she reached out to Dumbledore!

Unfortunately, Bella was arrested while she was hunting Winnie. Winnie used herself as bait to lure out Bella and several other Death Eaters, allowing the Aurors to carry out a major attack.

In other words, Winnie played a part in Bella's capture—which is why some members of the Order of the Phoenix accepted her more than Snape.

After escaping from prison, the first thing Bella wanted to do after getting the wand was to kill that fickle, slutty woman, but her master wouldn't let her do it!