In May, Hogwarts entered its review month.
The atmosphere inside the castle became tense; the library was packed, and students could be seen everywhere in the lounges, engrossed in their books.
Morris had already experienced this kind of atmosphere last semester.
The Heir of Slytherin incident has ended, and an official notice was posted on the bulletin board a few days ago – the gist of which was that the attackers had been apprehended and the campus was safe again.
Of course, the notification did not mention Morris's name, only the result.
But this was enough to put the students' minds at ease and allow them to turn their attention back to their textbooks.
In addition, Professor Sprout's batch of Mandrake had fully matured.
Professor Snape prepared the potion in just a few hours, saving all the petrified students.
It's foreseeable that those students will be completely bewildered when they wake up.
How did finals start so early after just one night's sleep?
To make matters worse, Professor McGonagall arranged special tutoring for them, requiring them to catch up on all the missed lessons within just a few weeks.
How pitiful.
Of course, this has nothing to do with Morris.
He doesn't need to worry about the exam at all.
With his level of ability, he would almost certainly get a perfect score without needing to study.
He was still confident about that.
One afternoon, Morris was leisurely strolling alone in the library when Harry and Ron suddenly approached him.
" Morris!" Harry's voice was urgent. He pulled Ron along quickly through the aisle between the bookshelves and stopped beside Morris.
The library was quiet, and the noise drew the ire of several Slytherin students nearby.
Harry seemed oblivious to the stares he was receiving, and asked to himself, " Morris, Hagrid said you found the Heir of Slytherin, is that true?"
Ron nodded vigorously beside him, " Hagrid was reluctant to talk at first, but you know, he can't keep secrets."
They both kept their eyes glued to Morris, afraid of missing any information.
Seeing their tense expressions, Morris said calmly, "It was me. Hagrid was right. I even killed the monster in the Chamber of Secrets."
"I knew it." Harry's expression was complicated.
When he learned that Hermione was in danger, he wanted to do something, Morris told him not to act rashly.
As a result, the other party quietly dealt with the heir and the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.
He didn't know how to describe his current feelings.
"Just you alone?" Ron's eyes widened. "You're all by yourself? I mean, you should have called us, Morris. He's the heir. Think about it, if we were together, we might be able to help!"
" Ron's right," Harry added in a low voice, "We're friends, Morris. You should at least have told us."
Morris said helplessly, "It happened so suddenly."
It's easy to guess that in the original story, Harry Potter and his friends will find the Chamber of Secrets and defeat the Basilisk.
But what's done is done... it doesn't matter anymore.
If it were last year, he might have had some reservations and not wanted to interfere too much with the plot.
However, as his own strength increased, he was no longer afraid.
So what if we intervened?
It's not like a bolt of lightning will suddenly fall from the sky and kill him.
If he could, he would like to confront Voldemort again.
It sounds pretty exciting.
"By the way," Morris looked at Ron, "How is your sister?"
"She's still in the Hospital Wing," Ron sighed, his expression darkening. " Madam Pomfrey said her life force is severely depleted and she needs time to recover. Mom and Dad are terribly worried."
He knew that Ginny was also involved in the Chamber of Secrets incident and that her life force had been absorbed, but he didn't know the specifics.
"Can you tell me everything, Morris?" he said. "I need to know what Ginny went through."
"Certainly."
Morris gave a brief explanation.
Throughout this time, Ron's expression remained very serious.
Mid-May, Friday.
At six o'clock in the evening, Morris knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door precisely on time—she had informed him of a short meeting.
He pushed open the door and entered, only to find Hermione there as well.
Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, her expression calm.
"Very good, everyone's here," she said, gesturing for Morris to sit down. "Please sit, Mr. Black."
Morris sat down in the chair next to Hermione and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"
"I don't know," Hermione whispered. " Professor McGonagall only said she had something important to tell me."
Her voice sounded a little nervous, as if she was afraid she had made a mistake.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and gave a faint smile. "Relax, you two. I called you here simply to explain the elective course issue."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, while Morris seemed lost in thought.
"I've looked at your elective course preference forms," Professor McGonagall said, taking two pieces of parchment from her drawer and laying them out on the table. "You both checked off all the elective options."
Hermione's face flushed slightly. "Yes, Professor. I hope to learn as much as possible."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "While I don't really recommend this approach, the school won't refuse if you insist, but it will be very tiring for you."
"It's alright," Hermione said firmly.
Morris stroked his chin and cautiously began, "In fact, Professor McGonagall, if we were to take all the electives, one day's schedule might not be enough."
"I'm glad you noticed that, Mr. Black." Professor McGonagall gave him an approving look. "That's exactly the core issue."
She asked with great interest, "If it were you, how would you handle this difficult problem?"
Hermione fell into deep thought.
Morris immediately replied, "Just remove a few of my main subjects. I'm already at least in fifth grade, there's no point in going any further."
Yes, that's the solution he came up with.
He felt that as a school for training wizards, it should still have this degree of freedom, especially for students with extraordinary abilities.
"Fifth year?" Hermione exclaimed, then realized her mistake and whispered, "Are you serious, Maurice?"
Professor McGonagall also looked at her with surprise.
"Apart from the History of Magic," Morris said calmly, "Last year at the end of the semester, Professor Snape gave me the fifth-year Potions exam, and I got almost a perfect score."
"This is against the rules," Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses. "I need to have a serious talk with Snape."
"... Uh, okay."
Morris suddenly felt that he might have unwittingly caused his dear Potions Class professor a little trouble.
Hopefully, Professor Snape won't be too angry with him.