The Old Ones of Hogwarts

Chapter 32: A string of lies! Snape in a rage!

The curtains in the window were tightly closed.

The house was littered with tattered tarpaulins and scattered corpses. If Snape hadn't known that this was one of his own vacant properties, he would have thought he had stumbled into the lair of some dark wizard.

"You mean you were walking down the street and accidentally bumped into a dark wizard, and a note accidentally fell out of the wizard's clothes."

"And this note just so happens to contain some dark magic, which you didn't notice. Out of curiosity, you inadvertently learned the dark magic recorded on it?"

Snape stared intently at Ian with his sinister gaze. Ian's face was ashen, like a crumpled piece of paper, and his brows were furrowed into an unsolvable knot.

Yes, that's how it is.

Ian nodded his head like a rattle-drum.

"Professor, I'm innocent! I'm the victim! My young heart was so frightened I couldn't sleep a wink last night!" Ian had already widened his green eyes as much as possible.

His words were, of course, only half true and half false.

Even though he wasn't a native wizard in the wizarding world, Ian knew that books like "The Secrets of Advanced Black Magic" were practically equivalent to a certain Lun Gong in the wizarding world.

Was it a gift from Aurora?

Putting aside whether this will exonerate me, that limited edition learning material will definitely be confiscated, and I might even be held responsible for accessing "The Secrets of Cutting-Edge Black Magic"!

after all.

Aurora has a grandfather named Grindelwald.

He doesn't!

Aurora's possession of "The Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic" can be attributed to her family's academic background, but if he possesses "The Secrets of Advanced Dark Magic," he'll probably be labeled a second Voldemort!

"I never imagined this place used to be a cemetery, Professor. You have no idea how terrified I was when those corpses crawled out from under the floorboards!"

Ian continued to play the victim in an exaggerated tone, trying his best to appear as innocent as possible.

however.

Snape was clearly not buying it.

"Kid, do you think I'm as easy to fool as those kids in the orphanage?" Snape's face was still grim, and his voice carried a hint of gritted teeth.

"Do you think dark wizards are everywhere?"

He clearly didn't believe Ian's nonsense.

"It's definitely a dark wizard. I encountered one when I was in London; he kept following me, trying to capture me for evil research. Who knows, the one in the village might be the same one!"

To bolster the credibility of his story, Ian brought up his past experiences.

Unexpectedly.

Snape's expression darkened further.

"Shut up! You idiot!"

He immediately berated Ian.

Tell me the truth!

Snape's oppressive aura intensified considerably.

"That's really true..."

Ian's confidence began to wane. There was nothing he could do; before his transmigration, he was just an innocent college student, the kind who got ripped off with counterfeit money while selling cold noodles at a summer stall.

If Snape hadn't suddenly barged in, and because of the intense emotional fluctuations that made him sense some of Snape's emotions again, he probably wouldn't have dared to continue stubbornly sticking to his story.

"Do you think I'd believe that someone like you, a little wizard who came from a Muggle orphanage and doesn't even know what magic is, could have successfully taught yourself a complex dark spell without anyone teaching you?"

"Ha, a corpse-controlling spell. Even fourth or fifth graders wouldn't dare say they could learn that level of magic in just a few days!"

Snape gave a mocking sneer.

"Perhaps you do have some gifts from God, a natural Legilimency..." Snape began pacing back and forth in the dilapidated living room.

His eyes remained fixed on Ian the entire time. "But there are many, many people in this world who are more talented than you. You don't actually think you can be even more powerful than Mystic, do you?"

A classic Snape-esque sarcasm.

"I didn't say that, Professor."

Ian retorted in a low voice.

"It seems you've been flipping through your History of Magic textbook these past few days and know who the Mysterious Man is... That's good." Snape continued to observe Ian's reaction.

Suddenly.

He then changed the subject and raised his voice.

"In that case, you shouldn't have used your monstrous brain to fabricate such a stupid lie in an attempt to make me believe that you can do things that even the mysterious man couldn't do."

"I can tell you straight, at your age, Mystic didn't know this kind of dark magic." Snape's eyes were so vicious, as if he wanted to devour Ian alive.

"Hiss, you know the mysterious person's true identity?"

Ian attempted to deflect the topic with shock.

However, Snape still didn't take the bait.

He continued to glare fiercely at Ian.

"I could send you to Azkaban right now and let the Aurors use your prized Legilimency to uncover your secrets, and then you'd spend the rest of your life there with the Dementors."

"The reason I didn't do that is because I wanted to give you a chance... You need to understand, it's because you're a Hogwarts student that I'm giving you this opportunity!"

Snape threatened Ian sharply.

"Professor, I don't want to go to Azkaban."

Ian looked at Snape with a panicked expression.

This could be considered a half-hearted act.

They were definitely panicking.

But he wasn't worried about actually being sent to Azkaban—he wasn't stupid, and of course he could tell that he definitely had some kind of relationship with Snape.

If not.

Forget about giving him money or arranging accommodation; being able to take him to Diagon Alley to buy some secondhand textbooks was probably enough to show that Snape was in a good mood that day.

"If you don't want to go to jail, then tell me who taught you dark magic."

Snape stared intently at Ian.

"It was a dark wizard. He had a note that fell in front of me by itself."

Ian still stuck to his original statement; he couldn't bear to part with Grindelwald's personally annotated "The Secrets of Advanced Black Magic."

Knowledge is innocent!

"Snapped!"

Snape was furious and slammed his hand on the table.

"Fine! Very well! You think that if I can't find that dark wizard, I can't verify your ridiculous claim, right?" Snape spoke as if he had something else stuffed in his mouth.

Gritting his teeth.

The bytes seemed to be squeezed out from between the teeth.

"I'm telling the truth."

Ian once again feigned an innocent look, as if he were somewhat at a loss.

Ok.

The truth is indeed the truth, but it's not the whole truth, and it's been embellished with artistic touches... How can it not be called the truth?

"You clever little brat!"

Snape sneered.

immediately.

He grabbed some paper and pen from the table and scribbled a long string of words on the paper.

"What are you doing?"

Ian asked curiously.

"This is a note dropped by a dark wizard. Come on, Mr. Prince, prove your talent—talent that's stronger than the Mystic, perhaps even stronger than Dumbledore's…"

Snape handed the paper to Ian.

The voice was extremely sarcastic and unpleasant.

His eyes also became mocking and sarcastic.

Are you teaching me magic?

Ian's eyes lit up.

He immediately looked at the paper in his hand.

as predicted.

The note did indeed record the detailed principles of a magic spell.