Snape stopped looking at the girl and lowered his head again to grade essays. His mind drifted uncontrollably to the lethal potions Iblis had mentioned in class. He had once read a book on ancient Potions, and the information recorded in it was virtually identical to what the girl had described. Had she really gone to the Restricted Section to look up information? But that book was still sitting right in his office...
Lost in thought, Snape stood up, walked over to the bookcase, and began searching. He pulled out a finely bound book with a dark cover and quickly scanned the table of contents, searching for the potions the girl had mentioned.
Line by line, Snape checked the text, realizing that he had not remembered a single detail incorrectly. The girl's explanation matched the book's records word for word.
"Ah, *Lethal Potions*. So you have this book. I remember now—Abner was a rare talent, able to brew potions that suited my taste so well."
Snape slowly looked to his side. Iblis was holding a bowl of spaghetti, eating as she stood on tiptoe to look at the book in his hands. When he had flipped through the pages, the author's name had been written plainly on the very first page: Abner Augury Figlis.
Yet, given the way Snape was holding the book and the girl's height, it was utterly impossible for her to have seen the name that had flashed across the page. The book was entirely pitch-black, with only the title *Lethal Potions* on the cover.
"You..." Snape frowned deeply, wanting to ask how the girl could possibly have known these things. Could she have broken into his office? At that moment, he suddenly realized that the strand of spaghetti dangling from the girl's mouth was about to brush against his robes.
With a sharp snap, Snape closed the book and rapidly stepped back to put some distance between them. Drawing his wand from his waist with a flick, he used invisible magic to hurl the girl straight into the chair furthest away from him.
"It seems you truly have no awareness of your own inappropriate words and actions. Miss Grimm, I sincerely hope I won't have to tie you up during the rest of this conversation."
Snape sat back down at his desk, staring across the room at Iblis. "When, and by what method, did you break into my office to steal books?"
Iblis, who had been caught completely off guard by being suddenly thrown back into her seat, looked down with heartache at the spaghetti that had fallen to the floor, then glared fiercely back at Snape. "Tsh, utterly ridiculous. I spent the whole day in class and then got dragged around by Dumbledore—when would I possibly have time to come read books in your place?"
A barrel of reeking Flobberworms floated out from the cabinet and landed right in front of Iblis. "Disrespecting and insulting a professor earns you an extra barrel of Flobberworms to process."
Iblis crossed her arms. "You were the one who wronged me for no reason; I won't accept the punishment you're deliberately trying to force on me. Besides, a professor has no right to make a student stand in detention."
"Is that so? It appears Miss Grimm's brain has perked up quite a bit after going out with Dumbledore. But right now is detention time, and you need to obey everything I say."
"Tsh."
"Add another barrel of Flobberworms. Get started, unless you want to stay here until curfew ends."
Upon seeing Iblis silently pick up her small knife and begin processing the Flobberworms, Snape let out a triumphant, low hum.
"You claim you never entered my office. Then just where did you acquire that knowledge of potions? This book is not sold in places like Diagon Alley."
Working with nimble speed, Iblis ruthlessly snuffed out the tiny lives of the Flobberworms one by one. Without even lifting her head, she replied without hesitation, "Although I don't often interact with people, when I saw what Abner was researching, I couldn't help but stop and look a little closer. What a pity—mere thirty years later, he died because the poison he brewed leaked out. He couldn't stay, and I briefly lost my amusement."
"Hmph." Realizing the girl had started making things up again, Snape felt his patience wearing thin. "Then might I ask Miss Grimm's actual age? Oh, I almost forgot—you're just the eleven-year-old little witch Hogwarts took in."
"I don't waste time keeping track of the years I've lived; there is no point to it at all. I don't expect you people to understand any of this. After all, even Merlin took quite a while to accept my existence."
"If you persist in this state, I'm afraid I'll have to contact St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Sicknesses on your behalf." Frowning deeply, Snape wondered if Hogwarts was truly starting to accept witches with unsound minds.
Iblis ignored Snape and lowered her head to go back to her work. Snape fell silent as well, simply sitting there quietly watching the girl, completely unaware that his quill had leaked ink and soaked through the parchment.
"Professor Snape, I've always had a question about you."
The girl's voice pulled Snape back to his senses. He straightened up slightly. "What?"
Iblis pointed the knife at herself, her blood-stained fingertips forming a striking contrast with her pure, innocent face. An angel sent to steal souls—that was the closest description Snape could think of.
"Am I really that pretty? You've been sneaking glances at me from the very beginning. And besides, you—mm-mm... mm..."
Snape let out a soft scoff, lowered his hand from his wand, and pinched the bridge of his nose hard. He should never have imagined she would say anything sensible. How on earth did Dumbledore manage to tolerate her and listen to her nonsense with such a calm face?
Having her mouth sealed shut by a charm once more, Iblis simply stopped resisting and walked resignedly toward a nearby basin of Flobberworms. This drew Snape's attention, and not because the girl was working fast. Even fifth- and sixth-year students would pull faces of disgust and nausea while handling Flobberworms, and some even struggled internally...
A cage containing five or six medicinal toads floated over to Iblis. "Process these toads first. Miss Grimm, glaring at me with such dissatisfaction won't make your hands move any faster. You merely need to clear out the internal organs from their bellies."
Iblis seemed to be muttering something, but all that came out were muffled hums. Opening the cage door, she reached straight in, grabbed the toad closest to her, and even brought it right up to her face to pinch and inspect its round belly.
Growing bored of the sight, the girl drove her knife straight into the toad's abdomen. The toad struggled in agony, its four legs kicking wildly, but Iblis's grip locked it in place with no hope of escape. With a gentle flick of the blade tip, organs like the stomach and heart were pulled out one by one.
At first, the girl's actions were simply clean and efficient, done purely to finish Snape's task. Gradually, however, those silver eyes took on a reddish hue. It was as if she were relishing the pleasure of watching her prey die in helpless agony, slowing her movements and pressing harder, desperate to endlessly prolong the toad's breaking point. The sweet smile curling at the corners of her mouth looked bizarrely eerie right then, resembling a bound demon that had finally found a chance to break free.
"If this is your childish resistance, I can tell you it's completely useless. Stop, Grimm."
Observing from the side, Snape noticed the change in the girl and tried to call out and stop her. But the girl was entirely lost in her own world, her eyes fixed solely on the toad pierced through by the sharp blade.
"Stop!"
Someone grabbed the hand holding the knife. Iblis snapped back to her senses, her face twisted in an excited, eerie smile as she slowly turned toward the Snape standing beside her.
"Stop? But it isn't dead yet. It has to die."
"Even for a joke, there's a limit, Grimm." Snape snatched the knife from the girl's hand and tossed it aside. But the moment he turned back, he saw the girl pressing both hands over the toad's mouth until its frantic struggles finally ceased entirely.
With a few drops of blood staining her cheeks, the girl spoke in a calm tone. "This isn't a joke; it's a very serious and solemn matter. These Flobberworms, including these toads—they have to die tonight."
Iblis gestured toward Snape with her chin. "If you want to talk about who caused their deaths, it's the one who made the decision. From the moment I stepped into your office, their fate changed. They weren't going to be processed by you two days from now; they were going to be killed by me. That decision cannot be changed, and I have always upheld it."
"What do you mean it can't be changed... If I told you to kill someone, would you do it?"
"No."
Iblis shook her head. Looking around for a place to wash her hands and finding none, she picked up a handkerchief from the edge of the desk and carefully wiped her fingers clean. "I won't kill people; that violates the rules. I can only watch. Didn't you see that woman when she died? Oh... you couldn't see me back then."