Chapter 149: Soul Separation Potion
The air in the Potions classroom was always thick and foul, filled with the stench of slugs, rat spleens, and the damp, mouldy smell that had accumulated over many years.
As the last wisp of purple smoke rose from the cauldron, the bell signalling the end of class finally rang.
The students scrambled to pack their bags and surged toward the door as if escaping a torture chamber.
In this period of widespread panic, no one wanted to remain in the gloomy dungeons for even a second longer, especially not while facing Professor Snape, whose expression was darker than the bottom of a cauldron.
Tamara unhurriedly wiped her small silver knife clean and tucked it into her sleeve.
She was in no hurry.
As the most composed person in all of Hogwarts at the moment, she enjoyed this sense of superiority, the feeling of being the only one awake while everyone else stumbled about in fear.
Just as she straightened her robes and prepared to be the last one to leave the classroom, a low voice sounded behind her.
"Miss Riddle."
Tamara stopped and turned around, unsurprised.
Severus Snape stood behind the lectern, his black robes wrapped tightly around him.
Those hollow, deep black eyes looked across the empty desks and fixed firmly on Tamara's face.
There was none of the usual loathing he showed Potter in his gaze, nor the impatience he showed toward idiots.
Instead, there was a profound scrutiny.
And a hint of wariness and testing that he was doing his best to conceal.
"Professor?"
Tamara tilted her chin slightly, her expression calm and open.
Snape slowly walked out from behind the lectern and stopped in front of a row of glass jars. With his back to Tamara, he seemed to be observing a bloated toad preserved inside one of them.
"The castle has become somewhat... empty lately, has it not?"
He spoke with pointed meaning, his voice echoing through the vacant classroom.
"Dumbledore has left, and Hagrid has been taken away."
Snape turned around abruptly, those sharp eyes attempting to pierce straight through Tamara's defences.
"Some feel fear because of this. Some feel despair... but I do not seem to see these vulgar emotions on your face, Miss Riddle."
"On the contrary..."
He took a step toward Tamara and lowered his voice, his tone dangerous.
"I seem to see a hint of... anticipation in your eyes."
Tamara looked at the man before her, once her most capable Death Eater.
From her perspective, the meaning behind these words was incredibly obvious.
That old madman Dumbledore was finally gone. The mountain pressing down on the heads of Dark Wizards had been moved.
As a servant who had once sworn loyalty to her, Snape was testing his future master. He was assessing the situation, confirming whether she, the Heir of Slytherin, was ready to take over everything.
"Fear is the privilege of the weak, Professor."
Tamara spoke calmly, a meaningful curve touching the corners of her mouth.
She did not avoid Snape's piercing gaze. Instead, she met it and spoke in a tone full of implication.
"To those who can see the situation clearly, this so called chaos is nothing more than a necessary cleansing before the dawn."
"Cleansing?" Snape's pupils contracted slightly.
"Exactly."
Tamara reached out, her slender fingers closing around the air as if grasping some invisible authority.
"The old order is collapsing. This is an inevitable conclusion."
"Though right now, it may seem somewhat noisy and... out of control."
She thought of the Basilisk running loose in the castle and that crazed remnant soul, and a flash of disdain crossed her eyes.
"But this is only temporary."
Tamara looked at Snape, her gaze certain and arrogant.
"Order will eventually return, Professor."
"And it will be an order that is more perfect, purer, and more... in line with Slytherin standards."
In Snape's ears, however, those words took on a completely different flavour.
He looked at the girl before him, who was only twelve years old.
The ambition and ruthlessness revealed on that youthful face were exactly the same as that person from years ago.
She was enjoying this disaster.
She was anticipating the fall of the school.
Perhaps... she was even one of the masterminds behind it all.
But what made Snape feel extremely confused and conflicted was this.
If she truly was this evil, then why had she saved Potter time and time again?
Why would she get herself battered and bruised just to protect her classmates?
This fragmentation in her behavioural logic caused the double agent to sink into deep self doubt.
"...I hope so."
After a long silence, Snape squeezed these words through his teeth.
He withdrew his aggressive aura and reverted to the gloomy Potions professor.
"Then, as a member of Slytherin, I hope that while you enjoy this new order, you do not forget your identity."
"The nights have not been peaceful lately. I do not wish to find your corpse in some corridor, or to find you creating corpses."
This was a warning.
It was also the end of his probing.
"Thank you for your concern, Professor."
Tamara performed an elegant curtsy and turned toward the door.
"I will... act within my capabilities."
After leaving the dungeons, Tamara went alone to the deepest part of the library, a corner where no one usually went.
"That damned Weasley..."
Tamara slammed a heavy book titled Soul Deconstruction and Reshaping onto the table with a dull thud.
Over the past few days, that little red haired girl's behaviour had become increasingly unbearable.
Bringing her food, giving her flowers, even wanting to wash her clothes.
That sticky gaze, that pervasive care, was like a suffocating net, threatening to strangle her, the Dark Lord, in a bed of so called love.
Worse still, whenever she wanted to lose her temper, that damned system would pop up and use all sorts of bizarre excuses about virtue to force her to accept these kindnesses.
"This cannot go on."
A flash of ruthlessness appeared in Tamara's eyes.
"I must get that remnant soul out."
As long as she dealt with that ghostly thing inside Ginny, the little girl would return to normal and stop pestering her like a lunatic.
But the problem was how to extract the remnant soul.
Forcibly strip it away with magic?
If she did that, Ginny would most likely become an idiot, and the system would immediately electrocute her into an idiot as well.
"It must be a gentle method, one that the system will not judge as harmful."
Tamara's fingers moved quickly across the yellowed pages.
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on a line of twisted text.
Soul Separation Potion.
This was an extremely obscure Dark Arts potion, usually used to expel possessing evil spirits from a host.
The only issue was that it had a slight side effect. It might cause the host to lose consciousness and become a true puppet.
"But if I add my blood..."
Tamara narrowed her eyes, her mind rapidly constructing a potion formula.
Her blood was a perfect alchemical medium, the highest grade fusing agent and stabiliser.
Using her blood as a primer, mixed with the highly corrosive yet nerve numbing venom of an Acromantula, then adding Mandrake roots...
"I can brew a perfect batch of Soul Separation Potion."
A cruel and excited curve touched the corners of Tamara's mouth.
Though it might leave Ginny weak for ten days or half a month, what did that have to do with her?
"This isn't harm. It's treatment."
"I am helping my... dear friend escape the entanglement of an evil spirit. I am saving her poor soul."
Tamara's fingers tapped lightly on the windowsill.
"...I'm still missing one key ingredient."
"Acromantula venom."
And it had to be fresh, highly corrosive venom extracted directly from a living venom sac.
Only such a potent toxin could corrode the adhesive barrier between the remnant soul and the host's soul.
This kind of thing might be found in Knockturn Alley, but processed, aged venom had too little activity to achieve the effect she wanted.
If she wanted the best, she had to get it herself.
Tamara turned her gaze toward the dark, dense forest outside the window.
The Forbidden Forest.
Hagrid had been taken away, and Dumbledore was not there either.
This meant that the forest was currently in an unmonitored state.
And according to her previous observations, that idiot Hagrid had raised a whole nest of Acromantulas in there.
It was practically a natural pharmacy Merlin had prepared for her.
But to be safe, Tamara still asked a question in her mind.
"System, cleansing these... magical creatures that could threaten student safety does not count as violating the Virtue Code, does it?"
[Ding. System is judging.]
[Target Analysis: Acromantula.]
[Biological Trait Scan: This species is inherently cruel, possesses human intelligence, and enjoys eating human flesh.]
[Although their hunting instincts are temporarily suppressed due to Rubeus Hagrid's special rearing, biological logic analysis shows that they only promised not to eat Hagrid.]
[Current Status Update: Rubeus Hagrid has left the school. The sole constraint is gone. For other students of Hogwarts, this is a starving and unmonitored high risk biological colony.]
[Judgment Result: Passed!]
[System Tip: Eradicating such dark creatures that pose a major threat to campus safety is a noble virtue of protection and justice! Not only can the host hunt them freely, but the system will also grant extra Virtue Points based on the number cleared!]
[Please, for the peace of Hogwarts, feel free to... eliminate these pests for the people!]
A satisfied, even somewhat sinister cold smile touched the corners of Tamara's mouth.
Finally.
For once, this damned system was not going against her.
"Protecting campus safety..."
Tamara softly repeated those words, her tone full of mockery.
"You said it."
She straightened the hem of her robes and turned toward the door.
Even though her purpose was selfish, to obtain the venom and to vent the anger of being tormented all day by that mad girl Ginny, since she had donned the skin of justice, she no longer needed to have any scruples when she made her move.
"Since it is pest control..."
Tamara's fingers lightly brushed the shaft of her wand, a bloodthirsty red light flashing in her eyes.
"Then there is no need to leave any survivors."
Late at night.
Hogwarts Castle had fallen into slumber. Aside from patrolling prefects and professors, the corridors were deserted.
Tamara changed into clothes suitable for action and threw on her dragon hide cloak.
She did not alert anyone. She even knocked out that stupid cat with a Sleeping Charm.
But that was not enough.
As she stepped out of the shadows of the dungeons, a bone chilling cold suddenly struck her.
The Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost who struck fear into the hearts of teachers and students alike, was floating quietly beside the stone wall.
His robes, covered in silver bloodstains, looked exceptionally gruesome in the moonlight. His hollow eyes stared fixedly ahead.
Facing this terrifying ghost, Tamara showed no fear. She did not even pause.
Instead, she tilted her chin slightly and issued a command in the tone only the true master of Slytherin could possess.
"Baron."
The usually taciturn and sinister ghost, upon hearing this voice, actually lowered his head with extreme respect, letting out a dull, submissive rattle of chains.
"Go keep an eye on that Squib caretaker."
Tamara spoke coldly, her gaze as if she were commanding a lowly servant.
"No matter what method you use, making noise or frightening him, tonight, I don't want to see him anywhere below the third floor."
The Baron did not speak. He only bowed deeply once more, a gesture of submission.
Then, like a wisp of silver mist, he passed through the thick stone wall and floated straight toward Filch's office.
Tamara withdrew her gaze with satisfaction.
"Very good."
This was the treatment a Slytherin should have.
Like a phantom, she slipped gracefully through the common room, avoided the patrolling prefects and Filch, and sneaked out of the castle through a little known side door.
The air outside was damp and bone chilling, carrying the scent of earth and rotting leaves.
Tamara took a deep breath, feeling every cell in her body leap with joy.
This was the smell of freedom.
She tightened her grip on her holly wand and stepped lightly into the Forbidden Forest, shrouded in darkness.
"Wait for me, little spiders."
She whispered softly in her heart, a greedy and cruel red light flickering in the depths of her eyes.
"It is time for you to show your worth."
.....
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