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  The Slytherin senior, Eirene, led the way, with Eda following dazedly behind her.

  They crossed a rge stretch of grass and approached the Forbidden Forest.

  The lights in Hagrid's hut were still on, and Eda desperately wao break free from the trol, but for now, she owerless against the Imperius Curse.

  Eda couldn't make any sound or movement; she could only act acc to Eirene's ands.

  As the lights from the hut gradually disappeared, they ehe Forbidden Forest.

  The two did not li the edge of the forest; they tinued walking deep into the Forbidden Forest. No animals approached them, and there wasn't even a single i on the ground.

  The figure leading Eda stopped walking. Her inally petite frame suddenly began to grow taller, and the robes she was wearing became ill-fitting. Her light-colored long hair also began to darken and shorten.

  In just a moment, the Slytherin senior was gone, repced by a burly man dressed in Hogwarts robes.

  "..."

  Unfortunately, the only wito this dramatic transformation was Eda, and she couldn't even cp or cheer.

  The fake senior, now a real brute, turo look at Eda. He was her than Be Fawley, the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who had left the school long ago!

  Fawley walked behind a tree to ge his clothes, muttering to himself, "The duration of Polyjuice Potion is still hard to trol. Potions are as irritating as Snape."

  After ging his clothes, Fawley emerged from behind the tree, holding Eda's wand in his right hand, tapping it against his left palm. He walked up to Eda and said, "Today, I'll send you on your way. This is the greatest honor of your life."

  Fawley lightly tapped Eda's face with the wand and tinued, "I inally thought of throwing you into the Aantu ; they'd leave nothing of you behind. But that would be too cruel, and I'm such a merciful person, aren't I? It's better to kill you first, then do it."

  Fawley fshed a sinister smile, raising his wand and beginning to t, "Avada—Augh!"

  But before he could finish the intation, Eda, who had been standing motionless like a wooden post, suddenly kicked him in the abdomen.

  The sudden pain interrupted Fawley, causing him not only to stop mid-curse but also to double over in pain, bending like a shrimp.

  Breaking free from the Imperius Curse, Eda unched herself at Fawley with a rocket-like headbutt, smming into him with full force. The impact caused Fawley to drop his wand.

  Eda knew she couldn't handle Fawley the same way she had dealt with Avery. That approach wouldn't work here. She wasn't a battle mage with both strength and speed; trying to engage in hand-to-hand bat with an adult man would be a foolish move. She might be reckless, but she wasn't stupid.

  Quickly grabbing the wand from the ground, Eda cast a Stunning Spell and immediately turo run, not waiting to see if the spell had hit Fawley.

  Fawley, who had been ko the ground by the ued attack, instinctively dodged Eda's Stunning Spell in the first moment. His ability to react swiftly to danger was a testament to his bat instincts and experience.

  Furious, Fawley drew his own wand, ready to retaliate. He was enraged now!

  "Crucio!" he shouted angrily, his desire to kill Eda no longer enough to quench his wrath.

  But the Cruciatus Curse missed Eda, who had begun zigzagging to avoid being hit. As she fled, Eda had immediately abandoned running in a straight line, opting for a serpeh to make herself a harder target for the enraged Fawley behind her.

  Curse after curse struck the ground near Eda, with Fawley relentlessly closing in on her.

  "Run, keep running!" Fawley roared behind her, his voice dripping with malice. "I'll make sure to torture you thhly before tossing you into the spider's ir, watg you bee their dinner!"

  "Stupefy! fringo!" Eda yelled as she ran, turning back to fire off spells ialiation. This frantic, defensive mode seemed to have bee her new normal.

  But these spells were rouble for Fawley; he easily deflected them with a wave of his wand. "Running is useless, Twist. You won't escape!" he shouted.

  Despite Eda's efforts to put some distaween them, Fawley was steadily closing the gap.

  "Why are you running? Weren't you pretty capable when you were in the castle?" Fawley taunted. "If that foolish girl, Eirene, had been in your pce, you would have succeeded by now!"

  Though Eda's earlier attack had angered Fawley, during the chase, he forced himself to calm down. He didn't miing Eda live a little longer; after all, the prey couldn't escape the .

  After running for a while, Eda finally stopped, panting heavily as she hid behind a thick tree, trying to catch her breath and steady herself.

  It wasn't that she couldn't run anymore and had decided to give up; it was that she realized she had been running in circles the whole time...

  Everything around her looked familiar—she hadn't left the area at all.

  She was trapped.

  At first, Eda thought the ck of distaween them was because she hadn't been running in a straight line. But after a while, she noticed something strange: no matter how far she ran, she was always cirg baear Fawley.

  Behind her, Fawley ursui a leisurely pace, more like a cat toying with a mouse. Gasping for breath, Eda hid behind the tree, knowing she roup and prepare for one final attempt.

  "Why did you stop running? Maybe if you ran a little faster, you'd actually escape," Fawley taunted, his voice dripping with mockery.

  Nonsense!

  Eda didn't believe a word of Fawley's lies. After causing such a otion in the castle and now finding herself trapped as if in some kind of cursed loop, there was no way she could escape. If she could, Fawley might as well slit his own throat.

  "It seems you've finally figured it out. You're not as dumb as I thought," Fawley sneered as he saw Eda stop running. He slowed his pace, approag the spot where she was hiding.

  He cast a spell, deliberately aiming it o the tree she was hiding behind, as if he were merely toying with her.

  "I have a bit of talent for Banishing Charms," Fawley said, his voice ced with arrogance. "And I'm quite skilled at trapping people. So, you won't escape, and no one will e here to interrupt me. You're as good as dead."

  From behind the tree, Eda broke her silence, her voice ced with sarcasm. "Professor Fawley, you sure are impressive. Going to all this trouble just to trap a first-year student."

  "A first-year student? You're being modest," Fawley replied, taking aep closer to her hiding pce. "What first-year student master Occlumency? Who render my Legilimenpletely useless? What first-year cast so many spells so profitly? And who break free from the Imperius Curse so easily?"

  "Maybe I'm just naturally gifted?" Eda quipped, trying to find humor in her dire situation.

  "You are ialented, but you don't deserve such talent!" Fawley's voice suddenly boomed with anger. "Avada Kedavra!"

  Fawley cast the Killing Curse directly at the tree where Eda was hiding.

  The powerful curse draihe life from the sturdy tree instantly, causing its withered leaves to cascade to the ground.

  "Expelliarmus!" Eda shouted, as she dashed toward aree, casting a Disarming Charm as she moved. "Since I 't escape, Professor, at least grahe courtesy of knowing why I'm going to die."

  Fawley watched as Eda hid behind aree, ughing loudly. "Do you really think that by ging your path, you avoid my sight? Once or twice might have been a ce, but you were foolish enough to retrace my steps!"

  "Was it you who trespassed into the Forbidden Forest earlier, Professor Fawley?" Eda asked.

  "Indeed," Fawley replied, his tone dripping with disdain. "That barbarian Hagrid thought he could catch me. Ridiculous."

  "And the thefts from all four houses—was that your doing too?"

  "It was. That wasn't difficult."

  Eda thought for a moment, then tinued her questioning. "What about Daniel Bell?"

  "Who?" Fawley seemed momentarily fused before recalling, "Oh, him. Yes, that was me."

  "Why?" Eda was frustrated by Fawley's half-answers. "I'm going to die anyway. 't you satisfy my curiosity?"

  "Very well, after all, I am so merciful," Fawley said, his tone dripping with mockery. "I simply wanted him to assist me with something, but he had the audacity to resist my trol. Naturally, he o be taught a lesson."

  Fawley's nont attitude infuriated Eda.

  She had just been uhe Imperius Curse herself, and the feeling of being pletely powerless was terrifying. It was no wohe Unfivable Curses were named as such—the people who used them were truly unfivable.

  "So you turned him into that state?"

  "I merely rewarded his bravery with the Cruciatus Curse. I didn't expect him to be sile."

  Fawley paused, then tinued, "In a little while, I'll reward you with the Cruciatus Curse as well. I hope you e lohan that little crybaby who only knew how to call for his mother!"

  With every answer, Fawley fired a spell at the tree where Eda was hiding, taunting her with his cruel game.

  "O question," Eda called out. "If you had already left, why did you e back? And why target me?"

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