The curtains on the window were tightly closed.
Broken oilcloth and scattered corpses were strewn across the whole house. If Snape hadn't known clearly that this was one of his own vacant properties, he would have certainly thought he had accidentally entered a Dark Wizard's lair.
"Are you telling me you were walking down the street, accidentally bumped into a Dark Wizard, and then this Dark Wizard just happened to drop a note?"
"And that note just happened to record a Dark Art, which you failed to notice, and out of curiosity, you accidentally learned the Dark Art written on it?"
Snape fixed his piercing gaze on Ian, his expression was as unpleasant as a crumpled piece of paper, and his eyebrows were knitted into a knot that seemed impossible to untie.
"Yes, that's exactly what happened."
Ian nodded his head like a rattle drum.
"Professor, I'm innocent, I'm the victim. My young heart was so scared that I didn't sleep well all night!" Ian widened his green eyes as much as possible.
Of course, his words were half true and half false.
Even though he wasn't a native little wizard born and raised in the Wizarding World, Ian knew that books like "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled" were almost equivalent to a certain cult in the Wizarding World.
Saying Aurora gave it to him?
Not to mention if that could exonerate him, that limited edition study material would definitely be confiscated, and he might even be held accountable for coming into contact with "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled"!
After all.
Aurora has a grandfather named Grindelwald.
He doesn't!
For Aurora to possess "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled," it could be called a family heritage. If he had "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled," he would probably be branded as the next Voldemort!
"I didn't expect this place to have been a cemetery, professor. You wouldn't believe it when those corpses crawled out from under the floor, I was almost scared to death!"
Ian exaggeratedly continued to plead his case, trying to appear more innocent.
However.
Snape clearly wasn't buying it.
"Little brat, do you think I'm as easy to fool as those kids at the Muggle Orphanage?" Snape's expression was still grim, his voice carried a hint of gritted teeth.
"Do you really think Dark Wizards are everywhere?"
Obviously, he didn't believe Ian's story.
"It must be a Dark Wizard. I encountered one in London before, who kept following me, trying to catch me for some wicked research. It might as well be the same one appearing in the village!"
Ian tried to strengthen the credibility of his story by bringing up his previous encounter.
Unexpectedly.
Snape's face looked even more displeased.
"Shut up! You fool!"
He directly shouted at Ian.
"Tell me the truth!"
The pressure Snape emitted increased significantly.
"It's really like this..."
Ian's confidence began to falter. After all, before crossing over, he was just a simple university student, the type who could be conned with fake money when selling cold noodles during summer break.
If Snape hadn't suddenly barged in, and because of the intense emotional fluctuations, Ian might not have dared to stubbornly stick to his story.
"Do you really think I would believe that without any guidance, a little wizard from a Muggle Orphanage, who doesn't even know what magic is, could successfully self-learn a complex Dark Art?"
"Ha, the Imperio Spell, a magic of this level, even fourth or fifth-year students wouldn't dare claim they could learn it in just a few days!"
Snape let out a mocking and cold laugh.
"Maybe you do have some divine blessing, a natural Legilimens..." Snape started pacing around the shabby living room.
His eyes were fixed on Ian the whole time, "But there are many people in this world more gifted than you, do you think you could be more powerful than the Mysterious Man?"
A typical Snape-style sarcastic remark.
"I never said anything like that, Professor."
Ian quietly refuted.
"It seems like you at least flipped through your 'Magic History' textbook in the past few days and know who the Mysterious Man is... that's good." Snape continued to observe Ian's reactions.
Suddenly.
He changed his tone and raised his voice.
"Given that, you shouldn't have used your Giant-sized brain to come up with such a stupid lie, trying to make me believe you can do what the Mysterious Man couldn't."
"I can tell you directly, when he was your age, the Mysterious Man didn't know such Dark Arts." Snape's eyes seemed as if they were about to devour Ian alive.
"Hiss, you know the Mysterious Man's true identity?"
Ian tried to change the topic with shock.
Yet Snape remained unmoved.
He continued to glare at Ian menacingly.
"I could easily send you to Azkaban right now, let the Aurors use your beloved Legilimency to dig out your secrets, and then you would spend the rest of your life with the Dementors."
"The reason I haven't done so is that I want to give you a chance... You need to understand, it's because you're a Hogwarts student that I'm giving you this chance!"
Snape sternly threatened Ian.
"Professor, I don't want to go to Azkaban."
Ian looked at Snape with a face of feigned panic.
It was a half-genuine and half-feigned reaction.
He was indeed worried.
But he wasn't really concerned about being sent to Azkaban — he's not an idiot and could see that there must be some connection between him and Snape.
If not.
Setting aside any monetary exchanges or accommodation arrangements, even being taken to Diagon Alley to buy some second-hand textbooks might be considered a rare good mood for Snape that day.
"If you don't want to go to jail, then tell me who taught you the Dark Arts."
Snape stared intently at Ian.
"It was a Dark Wizard. He had a note, which he dropped in front of me."
Ian still insisted on his original story; he couldn't bear to part with the "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled" personally annotated by Grindelwald.
Knowledge is innocent!
"Bam!"
Snape, infuriated, slammed his palm onto the table.
"Fine! Very well! You think I can't find that Dark Wizard, so I can't disprove your ridiculous story, right?" Snape's voice seemed as if his mouth was stuffed with something else.
Gnashing his teeth.
The words seemed to be squeezed out from between his clenched teeth.
"I'm telling the truth."
Ian once again put on an innocent face with a hint of helplessness.
Hmm.
The truth is indeed part of the truth, just not the whole truth, and with some artistic embellishments... how could that not be called the truth?
"Clever little brat!"
Snape sneered.
Then.
He grabbed some paper and pen from the table and started scribbling down a long list of things.
"What are you doing?"
Ian curiously asked.
"This is a note dropped by a Dark Wizard. Come on, Mr. Prince, prove your talent, said to be more powerful than the Mysterious Man's, or even possibly stronger than Dumbledore's... nat! ural! gift!"
Snape handed the note to Ian.
His voice was dripping with extreme sarcasm.
His eyes took on a mocking, ridiculing look.
"You're teaching me magic?"
Ian's eyes lit up.
He eagerly looked at the note in his hand.
As expected.
The note indeed detailed the principle of a spell.