Harry Potter: Charlie and the Candy Factory

When he returned to the room, Charlie immediately took off the light green cloak he was wearing and hung it on the hanger next to the wooden door.

Then he stretched, and the expression on his face slowly relaxed. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

From the beginning to the end, he did not think about what happened in the corridor just outside the door, nor did he feel as anxious and uneasy as Quirrell and Voldemort, fearing after thinking, and having all kinds of complicated feelings in his heart.

In fact, to be honest, from the very beginning, Quirrell and the unresurrected Voldemort behind his head were not on his list of "people to contact when returning to Hogwarts."

If it hadn't been for Quirrell in the auditorium, who didn't know the heights of the world, and went crazy and insisted on teasing himself, Charlie wouldn't even pay attention to them.

But from a side perspective, this incident can be said to be a good proof that I have been running a candy factory for so many years and came to shore clean.

After all, even his enemies thought he was just a powerless candy factory owner... Not to mention the ordinary wizards who had never even seen his face and had only heard about Charlie Black's so-called stories.

Already.

…………………………

At this moment, Charlie had taken off the exquisite dress and a lot of complicated accessories.

Wearing just a simple white shirt, the top two buttons of the shirt were unbuttoned for comfort.

The whole person's temperament also changed completely, from the original noble and confident to gentle and lazy.

He was sitting on a chair in the room, leaning on the table with his elbows, quietly waiting for something.

With his eyes half-squinted, he looked at the vague traces of time on the table in front of him that had an unknown age.

His fingers slowly traced along the wood grain on the desk, and from time to time he could feel the bumps and ridges on his fingertips, as well as the wax oil that the candle dripped on the table a long time ago, and now it has become one with it.

I think some previous professor once quietly lit a candle in this room. With the weak candlelight, he wrote something on it with a quill pen. Over time, the handwriting became transparent.

After passing through the paper, it was lightly printed on the wooden tabletop, leaving a unique memory.

Finally, just when Charlie's thoughts were wandering so much that he was no longer bound to the wooden table in front of him, a "dong-dong-dong" knock on the door brought him back to his wandering consciousness.

Charlie looked at the door, listening to the dull knocking sound, but his eyes lit up.

"coming…"

He stood up from his seat, walked lightly on his feet, and walked to the door in a few steps.

"squeak……"

The door was slowly opened by Charlie. Light shone out from the crack in the door, illuminating the originally quiet corridor in front of the door, and also illuminated the man in black robe as always in front of his door.

Severus looked gloomy and calm.

Seeing the door to the room being opened and his former best friend standing in front of him again, Severus felt a little dazed for a moment...

For a moment, he seemed to be back when he was in school, back to the years when he was inseparable from Charlie and Lily.

But in his heart, he was always sober and aware that he could never get back that period of time.

It's like a scar carved on the body...the scar may heal over time, but that ugly scar will always follow you, constantly reminding you why it appeared.

Even if it is decades later, when you touch it again, the pain that was as painful as before will start to boil in your mind again...

At this moment, Severus was touching the scar like this...

"I……"

Severus spoke.

His expression changed for a while, and finally turned into something that even he himself couldn't describe. In his eyes, sorrow and joy circulated at the same time. The corners of his mouth faintly lifted the muscles on his cheeks that had been stiff for an unknown period of time, making a smile.

It looks more like crying.

Severus's already deep voice was even more hoarse. He seemed to have all kinds of things he wanted to say to Charlie. But something was stuck in his throat, and even if he tried his best, he couldn't spit it out anymore.

One word.

For a moment, the two fell into a kind of silence.

Feeling distressed...

This was the first thought that came to Charlie's mind when he saw him at this moment. Looking at the face that had changed so much compared to when he was young, he could also imagine what he had experienced in these years.

Kind of twists and turns.

"Okay, don't say anything else."

Charlie sighed, stepped aside with a smile familiar to Severus, waved to him in the room, and continued.

"You have never been good at saying these things before. Come in, my dear half-blood prince, I have brought you good things."

Severus couldn't help but be stunned for a moment after listening to Charlie's words. Soon, a smile that he had never seen before appeared faintly from the corner of his mouth.

He suppressed the complexity and anguish in his heart, nodded, and followed Charlie into his room.

After the door was closed, Severus finally readjusted his original mood.

"do you know?"

he spoke

"Since graduation, I have never heard anyone call me that."

Severus had never told anyone about this name that was written down in the Potions textbook when he was in his second year of high school.

Only Charlie, after peeking out of it in his potions textbook, began to call him by this name in private.

Although it almost made him angry every time, Charlie himself still enjoyed it and gradually developed a habit.

But now, when Severus heard this name from the other party's mouth again, his state of mind had changed greatly...

He took a deep breath, calmed down the great complexity and emotion in his heart, and continued

"Only you, a bastard, can still find a way to make me angry in the first place, even after so long."

Although he said this, the expression on his face was not what he said. Instead, he relaxed a lot, and his eyes also showed a somewhat different look.

Charlie smiled and continued without revealing anything about him.

"It's my honor..." After saying that, Charlie paused and then said, "Guess what I brought you?"

As he spoke, he pulled out the chair next to the desk, dragged it to the bedside, and sat down in a hurry.

"Is it candy? Charlie's chocolate or something like that?"

Severus raised his eyebrows. There was no taboo, and he sat down on the edge of the bed skillfully, with a bit of inquiry in his eyes.

The ruby ​​​​on the ring flashed, and instantly, two wine bottles tightly wrapped in crumpled kraft paper appeared in Charlie's hand.

"Firewhiskey!?"

Severus's eyes flickered a little. He looked at the familiar packaging and couldn't help but say

"You went to the Hog's Head before going back to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I went to visit Aberforth...and brought two bottles by the way."

Charlie smiled and nodded without denying it.

As he spoke, he handed over the wine in his hand.

Snape stretched out his hand to hold the wine bottle, feeling the wrinkled touch on it, and laughed again for a moment.

"The Pig's Head Bar has never changed its packaging in all these years...it's exactly the same as what you sneaked out and brought back every night."

Severus tore open the brown paper wrapping it, then skillfully picked up the wand and pointed it at the cork.

With a "Peng" sound, the tip of the wand flashed with a faint light and knocked the cork straight away, drawing an arc in the air, and then with a "clang" sound, it fell to the ground with a spin.

He pinched the neck of the bottle and carefully poked his head over, sniffing gently at the mouth of the bottle, feeling the pungent smell of strong liquor and a few faint wisps of fruity aroma coming from inside.

Without hesitation, Severus picked up the bottle, put it to his lips, and took a sip like he did when he was a child.

I closed my eyes and felt the whiskey explode in my mouth like a fire, stimulating the whole throat. As I swallowed this mouthful, the burning sensation did not dissipate, but became more intense.

Already.

Severus could even feel his flow, slowly flowing down his throat, entering his esophagus, and finally rushing into his stomach in a twisting and twisting manner.

After a turbulence in my stomach, I finally calmed down.

"call………"

He exhaled a breath of turbid air, and his whole body suddenly became filled with warmth.

"Actually...ahem"

Severus was about to speak when he opened his mouth but was choked by the smell of alcohol and coughed again.

After a while, he calmed down again and continued

"Actually, a few years ago, I also tried going to the Pig's Head Bar and ordering a glass of fire whiskey..."

"How to say?"

Charlie also held the wine bottle, glanced at him, took a sip of his own, and then asked.

Severus shook his head regretfully.

"It's not that good... maybe it's because I can never find that feeling when I drink alone. I left without even finishing a glass."

As he spoke, Severus glanced at Charlie, licked his lips, put the bottle into his mouth again, and took another gulp.

But this time, he seemed to have gotten used to the churning taste of Firewhiskey, and he behaved much more normally, and no longer coughed.

Suddenly, he spoke abruptly and said

"I remember, I seemed to be sleeping that night...and then you woke me up in the middle of the night, saying that you had to go to the forbidden book area to find the magic principle."

"right."

Charlie simply pulled up his sleeves, revealing his strong but scarred forearms under his white shirt, then nodded and continued drinking.

Severus naturally looked at Charlie's arm, his lips trembled, but he didn't ask anything.

He turned his head to the side and looked at other places in the house as if casually.

Because he knew where these injuries came from...perhaps out of self-blame for his best friend, he was speechless at all about the traces left behind when Charlie fought with those "colleagues".

But Charlie didn't care that much. He looked at the wine bottle in his hand, turning it over and over, as if he wanted to see something on it.

He continued to speak

"I remember that from that day on, I would bring a few bottles of this to the academy from time to time... Some were given to Regulus, and some were given to Durrell... You seem to have also brought a bottle to Lily.

But most of them were given to us to drink."

After saying this, Charlie couldn't help but frown, and looked at Severus sitting on the edge of the bed with confusion.

"Actually... I still haven't figured out what you mean by giving Firewhiskey to a little girl."

"..." Severus lowered his head, not looking at Charlie, but just took another sip of the wine in his hand.

After a long time, the alcohol seemed to have taken over, and he finally spoke in a voice that was hoarse due to alcohol.

"You told me that it was a good thing..."

………………………………

The two middle-aged men were just talking and drinking, making everything they had experienced for more than ten years as a side dish... talking to each other quietly.

In this room, there seems to be no concept of time. Except for the wine and friends in front of me, everything has no meaning... There are only two hearts that were originally separated for various reasons, and they are gradually being drawn together.

Distance eliminates barriers and returns to the beginning of time.

"correct……"

I don't know how much time passed, but Severus's voice was slightly muffled.

He turned his eyes sideways and glanced at Charlie, who was lying on the bed with the same bad posture as him, shook his head again, and sat up with difficulty.

"Dumbledore said...have you met Lily's child before this?"

Charlie listened to Severus's words, rubbed his somewhat groggy eyes, and then subconsciously shook the wine bottle in his hand - the bottle was completely empty.

Throwing the bottle aside casually, Charlie glanced at Severus who was sitting up again, nodded, turned over, and sat up reluctantly.

"Harry..." Charlie rubbed his obviously swollen cheeks and said to himself

"Harry Potter...although I hate his father, I have to admit that this child is ten thousand times better than that bastard James Potter."

Severus nodded, closed his eyes, and continued to ask with some difficulty in his words.

"How is he? I mean, does he look like his mother?"

When Charlie heard what Severus said, he was stunned for a moment, then grinned.

"Hahahahahaha..."

He smiled happily, and with a bit of inexplicable drunkenness, he threw himself back on the bed.

"Anyway, he is here...will be your student...why don't you go and take a look?...I guess, I guess you must not have looked at him carefully during the dinner."

"How to say?"

"His eyes are exactly the same as Lily's."