The first Saturday in mid-October.
The sun had finally come out, and Morris took his pet cat Guantou for a walk around the grounds.
That was the trouble with Britain’s weather. Most days were overcast and rainy, and sunshine this clear and bright was rare.
It was strange, really. It was perfectly normal for the living to like sunny days, but Morris had never expected Guantou, an undead creature, to have such a fondness for sunlight too.
He had thought undead creatures only liked dark, damp places.
It seemed that had merely been a stereotype of his.
The boy and cat strolled slowly along the lakeshore, enjoying a leisurely morning.
Much as Morris loved studying, he needed to relax now and then too.
Quite a few people greeted Morris along the way, and he returned every greeting.
Most of them were Ravenclaw students.
The aptitude for learning he had inadvertently revealed seemed to have earned him a certain amount of recognition within his own house.
He did not mind that.
He would not deliberately hide his abilities.
Of course, he still could not let anyone know he was a necromancer.
That title did not sound particularly respectable to the outside world.
He was well aware of that much.
Around noon, Morris reached the garden at the center of the castle. In the corridor beside it, he ran into Harry and Ron coming the other way.
Harry and Ron seemed to have become close friends. Most of the times he encountered them, they were together.
Incidentally, Morris got along quite well with both of them too.
Especially Ron. After hearing that Morris kept a spider as a pet, he had kept asking Morris to help him overcome his fear of spiders.
Ron's arachnophobia was so severe that even a spider the size of a fingernail would leave him trembling with fear.
There was nothing Morris could do about it.
He had tried using Transfiguration to create a fist-sized spider.
As a result, Ron, who had not known a single spell at the time, had actually shot a fairly powerful beam of light from his wand in his extreme terror, blasting the spider to pieces on the spot.
Worse still, they had conducted the experiment in the garden, and the beam had ricocheted into another student's backside, splitting it open on the spot.
Oh, right. That unlucky boy's name was Neville, the one who had lost his toad on the train.
"Hey! Morris, over here." Sharp-eyed Ron spotted him from a distance and waved.
"Hello." Morris stopped, and Guantou lazily lifted his chin from his perch on Morris's shoulder by way of greeting. "Where are you two headed?"
"The library." Ron shrugged, then seemed to remember something and quickly asked, "Oh, right, Morris, what's your Potions Class homework this week? Is it the same as ours?"
"Describe the appearance and uses of some basic ingredients," Morris replied. "Daisy roots, fig skins, porcupine quills, ginger roots, sopophorous beans..."
"All right, all right." Ron cut him off at once, sounding rather pained. "I can't believe you remember that many ingredient names. Still, luckily, you've got the same homework as us. I suppose you've already finished it?"
"I have." Morris nodded.
Looking at the mixture of hope and guilt on Ron's face, he immediately understood what he meant.
He had his eye on Morris's homework.
Sure enough, Ron's eyes lit up.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice, a slightly ingratiating smile on his face. "Sorry for the trouble, but could you lend it to us as a reference? You'll help Harry and me, won't you? I think we're friends now."
Beside him, Harry wore a somewhat peculiar expression, but made no attempt to stop him.
He needed this "reference material" too.
Morris smiled. "I'll lend it to you to copy. Don't worry."
He did not particularly mind.
Ron sighed with relief, but still stubbornly insisted, "How is that copying? We're just using it for reference!"
Morris could only go along with him. "Whatever you say, as long as Snape doesn't catch you."
"Don't worry, he definitely won't!" Ron declared solemnly, but then seemed to realize something and turned to his friend. "Harry, you might need to be a bit more careful. You know, Snape clearly has a bit of a problem with you... all right, a serious problem. He's bound to pick holes in your homework."
Harry's expression immediately grew rather gloomy and helpless.
By now, everyone in the house knew that Snape was singling him out.
Even now, he still did not know why.
"I don't understand," he said, irritation seeping into his voice. "I've never done anything to him. Ever since our first lesson, he's acted like he really hates me. But I'd never even met him before!"
"Maybe it's because you're the Chosen One." Morris shrugged and casually added, "Or perhaps some relative or older family member of yours had a grudge with him, and you don't know about it."
He did not know what had happened in the original story, so all he could offer were guesses.
"I don't get it." Harry sighed. "This is the first time I've ever... hated someone this much, and he's a professor, too."
"Me too." Ron nodded emphatically.
As Harry's friend, he had received more than his share of Snape's attention by association.
"I actually think Professor Snape is all right," Morris said honestly.
"What?"
"What!?"
Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison, both pairs of eyes snapping toward Morris in utter shock.
They had never expected Morris to put in a good word for Snape.
For a moment, Harry even felt a little dislike for the boy in front of him.
But then he remembered that Morris was still lending him his homework to copy.
Well, he chose to forgive him.
"Professor Snape's lessons are actually very well organized," Morris said calmly. "Just looking at the steps for processing potion ingredients, the principles and key points, he explains them very clearly and precisely."
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"Besides," Morris continued, "I rather admire Professor Snape. I found some papers he published in the library. He seems to have published them while he was still a student, too. They were about..."
"All right, all right."
Looking into Morris's clear eyes, Ron waved a hand, looking rather pained. "But that doesn't change the fact that he's a nasty git, does it, Harry?"
Harry opened his mouth. Seeing how matter-of-fact Morris looked, he suddenly felt as though his anger and sense of grievance had nowhere to go.
Of course he knew Snape was highly capable-someone who became a head of house and a professor could hardly be mediocre.
But that was no reason for Snape to treat him so differently!
Watching Harry's shifting expressions, Morris suggested, "There's no disputing that Snape treats you differently. Why don't you... ask him yourself why he hates you so much?"
Sometimes, sincerity was the ultimate finishing move.
Perhaps asking him face-to-face might clear up the misunderstanding.
After all, barring anything unexpected, Snape would be their Potions Class professor for seven years.
Whoever you were, it was important to build a good relationship with your professor.
Harry Potter was no exception.