Moody's prosthetic eye kept moving, while his normal eye squinted, and an unsettling smile appeared on his face.
He reminded Harry, "Don't forget to come to my office this afternoon."
"Yes, Professor." Harry nodded.
Moody left satisfied, the sound of his wooden leg tapping the ground fading into the distance.
Ron looked at Harry suspiciously and asked, " Professor Moody seems to be looking for you a lot lately. What are you two up to?"
In his view, Moody was simply insane—how could a normal professor possibly demonstrate the Three Unforgivable Curses in class?
"He's helping me prepare for the Triwizard Tournament," Harry whispered. " Moody's a very good professor."
Ron remained noncommittal.
Morris listened quietly to him.
He always felt there was something off about Moody, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Especially during this period.
Christmas is quietly approaching.
Hogwarts was decorated in a completely new style.
Perhaps because they wanted to showcase their work to students at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, this year's setup was particularly elaborate.
Overnight, the walls of the corridors were covered with holly and flowers, even the most secluded corridors.
The same is true in the Ravenclaw lounge, where several huge Christmas trees stand, covered with sparkling little decorations.
The Yule Ball will start promptly at eight o'clock.
In the evening, the Ravenclaw students returned to the common room early and bustled about.
Professor Flitwick, wearing a perfectly fitting new suit, stood on tiptoe and announced loudly, "Everyone, go change into your suits. Don't rush, you'll all need to show your best side later..."
Morris was all ready and was chatting with Kyle.
He didn't prepare a special formal suit; he simply changed the style of his magic robe—it had no fancy decorations, was understated, but flawless nonetheless.
Kyle, on the other hand, was completely different. His tuxedo was gold and red, with a fine gold pattern around the collar, and he even had hair gel on.
Morris thought he looked like a peacock, and said strangely, "I always thought you were a low-key person, Kyle."
Kyle sighed helplessly, reaching out to tug at his collar, as if the decorative band was constricting him uncomfortably.
"My dad insisted I dress like this," he said. "There's no room for negotiation. To be honest, he's just too controlling..."
Listening to Kyle's complaints, Morris walked to the fireplace, sat down in an armchair, and watched the students coming and going, dressed in brightly colored clothes.
The lounges in other colleges must be just as lively.
"Meow!"
Suddenly, a cat's meow rang out.
It's Guantou.
It trotted to Morris's feet, put down the crystal ball from its mouth, and barked at him a few times.
"Did you see any strange noises?"
Morris immediately bent down to pick up the crystal ball and looked inside.
This is the crime scene.
Through the crystal ball, he saw that in the Potions ingredient warehouse, the door of a cabinet was open, and the contents inside were floating in the air, as if being held by an unseen hand and slowly put into a small bag.
There was no one in sight; they must have used Disillusionment Charm.
Morris narrowed his eyes.
This is clearly not Snape; the heads of the houses should be in their respective common rooms preparing for the ball.
Besides, Snape had no reason to stealthily take things.
Morris stood up.
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked.
Morris replied briefly, "I'll go take a look."
"Where to?" Kyle asked with a puzzled look. "The ball is about to start."
Morris glanced at the clock on the wall. "We should make it in time."
There is plenty of time.
After saying that, he walked towards the door of the lounge, Guantou immediately stood up and followed him.
Kyle didn't say anything more; he was going to put some more hair gel on his hair.
Morris headed towards the Potions Classroom.
The corridor was deserted and very quiet.
The Guantou followed cautiously behind him.
Soon, Morris arrived at the warehouse door.
Without hesitation, he pushed the door open.
The warehouse was quiet, everything was as usual.
Clearly, the uninvited guest had succeeded and left, cleaning up the scene thoroughly.
Morris walked to the cabinet door that had just been opened, pulled it open, and inspected it.
Inside were African Tree Snake.
He was unaware of the original inventory levels, and therefore had no way of confirming whether it had been stolen.
After that, Morris walked around the warehouse twice more.
Unfortunately, he didn't find anyone suspicious.
After doing all this, he returned to the corridor, took out his pocket watch and glanced at it; the ball was about to begin in ten minutes.
Never mind, I'll report this to Snape later.
There was nothing more he could do.
Morris put away his watch and turned to walk towards the Great Hall.
Footsteps and the squeak of Guantou echoed down the corridor.
"Thump! Thump!"
As he rounded a corner, he suddenly heard a strange sound coming from ahead—a hard object hitting the floor.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was Professor Moody.
Moody was probably on his way to the Great Hall, just like him.
He wore a large black robe and walked around cautiously, glancing around as if an enemy might rush out at any moment.
Moody quickly noticed Morris walking briskly towards him.
"Good evening, Professor Moody," Morris greeted politely.
" Black!" Moody asked urgently, "What are you doing here? The ball is about to start!"
"Yes, Professor," Morris replied, "I'm on my way to the Great Hall."
He observed Moody discreetly.
To be honest, Moody's is indeed on his list of suspects.
There was no particular reason; it was simply because the other person was the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.
His past experience told him that the person in this position was likely problematic.
"I'm asking what you're doing here!?"
Moody took a step closer to Morris, his tone carrying an interrogative undertone.
"Just wandering around," Morris said.
His gaze inadvertently swept over Moody's waist.
Beneath the other person's wide black robe, a gap opened as they stepped forward.
There was something grayish tied there.
A bag.
At this moment, Morris was almost certain that Moody was the one who broke into the warehouse.
Moody? Stealing Potions ingredients? Polyjuice Potion?
Morris felt as if he had stumbled upon something terrible.
Moody instinctively tightened his grip on the bag at his waist.
The prosthetic eye spun around suddenly, then stared intently at Morris.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
His voice changed, becoming colder and hoarseer.
Okay.
Morris smiled slightly and nodded calmly.
"Yes, Professor Moody."
"I saw it all."
Professor Snape asked me to watch over his warehouse.
He was curious about the other person's reaction.
Moody narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled at Morris.
"Don't tell Snape about this," he said, feigning friendliness. "Just consider it a favor, Morris."
7