Snape stared at the list, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
Of course he knew this method.
"Lazy."
Snape squeezed the verdict through his teeth and waved the list aside.
"Only that mouth of yours could make slacking off sound so grand."
"Do you take Hogwarts for your factory? Or your source material library for novels?"
"I truly have no idea how that brain of yours, stuffed with rubbish, manages to produce so many... so-called bestselling novels."
At the mention of novels, Snape's expression changed.
His earlier sarcasm vanished, replaced by a dangerous gravity.
Snape reached beneath the exam papers and pulled out the copy of "Magic Apprentice," handling it roughly, as though touching something filthy.
"Speaking of novels, Holmes. Congratulations."
Snape's voice suddenly rose, accompanied by a chilling false smile.
"You have another new reader. A fanatical one. You might even say an obsessed one."
Douglas raised an eyebrow, not surprised in the slightest.
He uncrossed his legs and sat up straight.
"Oh? What did he think?"
Douglas sounded like an author awaiting reader feedback, with even a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Did he say the pacing was too slow? Or that the protagonist's cheat ability was too overpowered?"
"Are you playing dumb, Holmes?!"
Snape growled, bracing both hands on the desk and leaning his face toward Douglas.
"The Dark Lord... whatever you call him, he is studying this book! Word by word, sentence by sentence!"
"He's like a lunatic under the Imperius Curse, making notes in it with a quill! He's analyzing your system mechanics! He's calculating the magical circuit formulas mentioned in your book!"
"Do you know what I saw there? Not just your novels, but a pile of assorted rubbish books on Muggle biology!"
There was a sense of absurdity