Who would come calling at this hour?
Morris put down the book in his hands, feeling a little puzzled.
He walked to the door and pulled it open.
"Oh, it's you, Prefect Robert."
The person knocking was none other than Ravenclaw's Prefect, Robert Hilliard.
"What brings you here so late?" Morris asked.
"Good evening, Morris," Robert said. "There are two people asking for you outside the common room-the redheaded twins in Gryffindor's third year."
"Asking for me?" Morris said in surprise. "Did they say why?"
The Weasley Twins had come looking for me... could something have gone wrong with that baby Acromantula?
"I don't know." Robert shook his head. "But they came to me, so I came to let you know. Also, they looked very anxious. Perhaps you could go take a look right away. They didn't seem to be here to cause trouble."
"Sorry for the trouble, Prefect Robert," Morris replied.
"You're welcome." Robert smiled slightly. "But please remember to come back before curfew, or I'll be in trouble too."
"And don't go around causing trouble like those twins. The points those two lost last year accounted for nearly half of Gryffindor's total deductions. I don't want anyone like that turning up in Ravenclaw."
Looks like those twins are notorious, Morris thought.
Morris went outside the common room and down the spiral staircase, immediately spotting two redheaded figures.
It was the Weasley Twins.
The two kept pacing by the entrance, looking anxious, their steps almost perfectly in sync.
Morris was just about to greet them when he realized he couldn't tell which was George and which was Fred at all.
They really were twins-even their expressions looked as though they had been cast from the same mold.
"Morris!"
One of the Weasleys spotted Morris approaching and immediately stepped forward, his tone grave. "The worst has happened after all!"
"Don't panic," Morris said. "First, tell me whether you're George or Fred, or we might not be able to carry on this conversation."
"I'm Fred," the other boy answered rather helplessly.
"Looks like I guessed right." Morris nodded in satisfaction. "So? What happened? Did that Acromantula escape?"
At that, the Weasley Twins exchanged a glance.
"How did you know?" Fred asked in surprise.
"I guessed." Morris smiled slightly. "Because neither of you looks particularly reliable."
"What!"
Fred put on a wounded expression. "Is that really what you think of us?"
George silently took out the wooden box that had previously held the Acromantula.
There was a large hole right in the side of the box Morris had made using Transfiguration.
The edges of the hole were jagged, as though something had violently torn it open.
"We left the box in the Charms classroom, and the Acromantula got out while we were eating," George explained. "It can't produce venom yet, but it tore a hole with its mouth. We searched everywhere nearby and couldn't find it. It's small, and there are too many places in the castle where it could hide."
"Is that much of a problem?" Morris asked. "I'd think a spider that small would be harmless."
"Probably," Fred said. "But there are always students who can't handle spiders."
"Like our little brother." George gave a mischievous grin.
"Ah, yes, like our little brother." Fred did the same.
Watching the two grinning foolishly at each other, Morris raised his eyebrows. "Then what are you worried about? Someone just needs to spot the spider and catch it. We can pretend we don't know anything."
As far as he was concerned, this wasn't something serious enough to come looking for him specifically.
Although that spider was a size bigger than his head, it was still only a spider.
After all, the vast majority of spiders were beneficial bugs.
Since it was beneficial, why bother with it?
"There could be trouble." Fred's smile faded, and his expression grew rather serious. "Privately keeping or carrying dangerous magical creatures without permission-even juveniles-is against school rules. We could even end up breaking laws issued by the Ministry of Magic."
"If this spider runs around the castle, whether it's dangerous or not, any professor who finds it is bound to investigate where it came from."
George picked up the thread. "No matter how well we cover our tracks, they always manage to find the culprits. We've learned that the hard way plenty of times."
Now Morris understood.
The twins meant that once the professors discovered the spider, they could use all sorts of methods to follow the trail back to them.
Then there would be all kinds of problems.
Morris sighed. "All right. It looks like we have no choice but to find this spider. You said it went missing near the Charms classroom, right?"
"Right," Fred confirmed. "But we've already searched around there. Maybe we could widen the search."
"Let's go." Morris set off first. "At any rate, let's start by searching the classroom area."
Most of Hogwarts' classrooms were concentrated on the second, third, and fourth floors of the main castle, as well as in some of the towers.
Finding these classrooms wasn't easy for new students; the slightest lapse in attention could leave them lost.
The classroom area was especially quiet at night. Even the portraits hanging on the walls had fallen asleep. Fortunately, the magical lamps on the walls were still lit, providing a little illumination.
The three of them had no intention of splitting up, because a caretaker named Filch patrolled all over the castle at this hour, appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
If they did run into him, the three of them could look out for one another.
Still, even if they were caught, it wouldn't be much of a problem.
It was eight in the evening, with another hour to go before curfew.
Fred examined the nooks and crannies where the spider might turn up, chatting as he went. "At this hour, pretty much all the students have gone back to their common rooms. Even if someone spots the spider, it won't cause much of a panic."
"The problem is," George continued as he checked the gap behind a suit of armor, "tomorrow morning, once it's time for breakfast, the corridors will be packed. If it darts out then and frightens the younger students, or worse-say, takes a bite out of Snape's backside-we'll really be done for."
"Snape?" Morris asked. "Who's that?"
"Our Potions professor." Fred curled his lip. "Severus Snape, head of Slytherin. A guy who likes finding fault. You won't like him when you take his class."
Morris silently committed the name to memory.
After checking two classrooms, the three returned to the corridor.
They had found nothing.
"Where on earth did it go?" Fred sighed.
"Ah-"
Just then, a shrill scream rang out from the adjoining corridor, shattering the night's silence.
All three instantly stopped what they were doing and exchanged a look.
"Let's go take a look!" The twins were the first to run toward the source of the sound.