"Oh, one more thing," Professor McGonagall said, suddenly realizing something. "Where's Hagrid?"
She had clearly left Morris in Hagrid's care.
Yet now Morris had returned alone, riding a Thestral.
Something was clearly not right.
"If you're looking for Hagrid, he's still in the Forbidden Forest," Morris said. "We didn't find last night's Thestral. Instead, we were attacked by wild beasts, and he's dealing with the aftermath. Neither of us was hurt, though, so please don't worry."
"Wild beasts?" Professor McGonagall froze for a moment, then looked as though she understood. "I see."
She thought that Hagrid had probably sent Morris back ahead on the Thestral after the two of them had run into danger.
Under emergency circumstances, that was understandable.
As Hogwarts' deputy headmistress, she was naturally familiar with the situation in the Forbidden Forest.
Being attacked by wild beasts was perfectly normal there.
She was not particularly worried, though, since Hagrid had plenty of experience handling such incidents. Besides, the boy before her did not look frightened, so presumably they had only encountered ordinary wild beasts.
As for whether they had found that Thestral-she no longer cared.
On reflection, letting a first-year enter the Forbidden Forest, even under Hagrid's supervision, had been a little rash.
"May I go now?" Morris asked.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall said with a nod, then suddenly noticed the little box in Morris's hands. "Oh, wait. That wooden box was made using Transfiguration, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Morris replied openly.
"What's inside?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously.
"A little insect," Morris answered truthfully. "I caught it in the Forbidden Forest. I've never seen anything like it in the Muggle world, so I'm a little interested. Maybe I'll keep it as a pet."
Keeping an Acromantula... shouldn't be a problem, right?
After all, the students here kept toads, didn't they?
To him, there was no difference between spiders and toads-apart from the number of legs.
"I see."
Professor McGonagall withdrew her probing gaze.
Since Morris was being so open about it, she paid it no further attention.
There probably wasn't any contraband in the box.
What pets students kept was their own business. She had no need to interfere.
She was more interested in Morris's proficiency in Transfiguration than in the contents of the box.
"Goodbye, then, Professor McGonagall." Morris bowed slightly.
Professor McGonagall nodded in response and watched Morris disappear around the corner with the wooden box in his arms.
"Not a student who'll let me rest easy." She sighed and turned toward the Forbidden Forest.
Now she had to remind Hagrid to keep a close watch on those Thestrals.
At the very least, they could not be allowed to take young wizards into the sky at will again.
Since it was already lunchtime, Morris headed straight for the hall after saying goodbye to Professor McGonagall.
The Great Hall was already bustling with people.
He found a random seat at the Ravenclaw table, set the box containing the Acromantula beside him, and focused on enjoying his lunch.
Though the food could not compare with last night's feast, it was still plentiful.
Roast beef, fried fish fillets, some sort of pie, and sausages with a very vivid color.
Morris put a sausage on his plate and took a bite.
Mm, those cheap ones at the orphanage, thirty pence for a big bag, couldn't begin to compare.
Just as expected.
"So this is where you are, Morris."
A voice came from behind him, and then two redheaded figures sat down on either side of him.
It was the pair of twins named Weasley.
"What is it, George and Fred?" Morris chewed his beef and glanced from side to side. "Come to think of it, how am I supposed to tell you two apart?"
To his eyes, the twins looked exactly alike.
Even their way of speaking was much the same.
"Take a guess," Weasley Number One said with an obnoxious air.
Morris immediately decided to ignore them and concentrate on the fried fish before him.
"All right, I'm Fred, and he's George." Fred abandoned the tired twin routine and turned serious. "Let's get down to business. Were you flying in the sky yesterday? Oh, don't rush to deny it. We saw you waving at us."
Morris remembered that he had indeed crossed paths with them while riding the Thestral last night.
"Oh, yes." He nodded. "I was riding a Thestral then."
"A Thestral?"
"You don't know?" Morris was a little surprised. "They're the animals that pull your carriages."
The twins shook their heads in unison.
So Morris briefly explained the existence of Thestrals to them.
"Only people who've seen death can see Thestrals?" Fred exclaimed in astonishment. "I always thought those Hogwarts carriages could fly on their own!"
"Me too," George added, his gaze drifting to the wooden box Morris had placed on the table.
As luck would have it, the box shook twice just then.
"What's in there?" he asked curiously.
"An insect," Morris replied casually, reaching out to hold down the lid. "Caught it in the Forbidden Forest. Quite unusual."
Fred's eyes immediately lit up. "The Forbidden Forest? You went into the Forbidden Forest?"
"Hagrid took me," Morris said, his expression unchanged. "It was because of that Thestral ride yesterday. But it wasn't a big deal, and I wasn't punished."
"Cool!" George leaned closer to the box as he spoke, trying to peer through the gap. "What kind of insect is it?"
Morris did not think this was anything he needed to hide.
He openly lifted the wooden lid, revealing the unconscious Acromantula inside for the two of them to see.
"Merlin's beard!"
The twins immediately sucked in a breath and shrank back.
"This is an Acromantula," Morris introduced it matter-of-factly.
"Of course we know it's an Acromantula!" Fred glanced around and unconsciously lowered his voice. "But why did you bring this thing out?"
"I'm planning to keep it as a pet," Morris said earnestly.
"..."
The twins were momentarily speechless.
Were all the new students like this these days?
Keeping an Acromantula as a pet?
Compared with their younger brother, Ron.
Well, their little brother was simply a useless lump who could do nothing but cry for his mum.
Seeing that neither of them spoke, Morris looked puzzled. "What's wrong? Is it unsuitable?"
"It's not a question of whether it's suitable," Fred said with a sigh. "Although we think it'd make a brilliant pet, a fully grown Acromantula can get as big as a car. If you're caught with it then, you could be expelled!"
So that was it. Morris nodded.
A spider this big was only a baby. It seemed the animals of the magical world were even more outlandish than he'd imagined.
Although he did not dislike spiders, he would pass on one bigger than a person. He could not handle that.
Morris calmly closed the lid and said, "In that case, I'll find some time to kill it."
His tone was as casual as if he had said he was going to return a book to the library.
The twins froze for a few seconds, then George abruptly grabbed Morris's arm.
"Wait! Don't be rash!" he said urgently. "This isn't something you get to see every day!"
Morris raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to do?"
"Lend us the spider to play with for a few days... er, no, to study for a few days," George said, looking rather excited. "We're very interested in this kind of creature."
Morris rubbed his chin.
He did not particularly mind lending out the spider.
"Of course," he said with a slight smile. "But I have one condition."
"What?"
"I want a dozen of your Ton-Tongue Toffees."
"Deal!"