Support the story & read ahead:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/bond501
"Oh, don't overthink it," Morris replied calmly. "I'm from the Muggle side."
Fred and George breathed a sigh of relief almost simultaneously, relaxing back in their chairs.
"That's good." Fred grinned.
A hint of doubt flashed in Morris's silver-grey eyes. "Is there anything wrong with the surname Black in the wizarding world?"
The twin brothers looked at each other.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," George chimed in, waving his hand lightly. "It's just that in the wizarding world, some surnames… well… are rather unpleasant, you know. Like Malfoy…"
Perhaps thinking of the inherent humor in the surname, the two looked at each other and laughed at the same time.
This is the unspoken understanding between twins.
Morris said he didn't understand, but had no intention of investigating further.
It's probably due to the historical connections between wizarding families.
He had previously bought several miscellaneous books about wizarding history in Diagon Alley, and already had a general understanding of the wizarding world.
The origin of Morris's surname is rather ridiculous.
He grew up in an orphanage. Although he was conscious at the time, children's memories are often hazy.
He has forgotten how old he was when he started to have clear memories.
However, he heard from the caregiver at the time that his surname was obtained through a lottery.
Perhaps for fun, the caregiver at the time put a bunch of slips of paper with different names written on them in an old hat and let several nameless children in the orphanage take turns drawing them.
Morris was one of them.
This is the origin of the name "Maurice Black".
A rather uncommon name.
Of course, he had only heard about it; who knows the specifics?
Anyway, he didn't have any special feelings about his name; it was just a code name.
At that moment, Lee Jordan's attention was drawn to the black cat on Morris's lap.
He pointed to the canned food and asked, "Did you buy your cat in Diagon Alley?"
Fred and George immediately turned their inquisitive gazes toward them as well.
They were interested in the cat from the start.
His eyes were vacant, and his aura was chilling.
This was their first impression of canned food.
The undead cat seemed to realize it was the center of attention, lazily lifting its eyelids. Its eerie eyes swept over Lee Jordan, who felt a chill run down his spine.
"No, it wasn't bought." Morris shook his head. "It's just a stray cat we picked up."
This nonchalant answer elicited a look of disapproval from Lee Jordan.
"Hey buddy," he said with an air of experience, "Muggle cats are pretty stupid. They can't do anything but eat and sleep. If you want a cat, you'd better go to the Magical Animals Shop in Diagon Alley. The cats there are much smarter; some can even help you find things or warn you of danger."
Fred and George nodded in agreement.
"Hmm…" Morris stroked his chin, "But my cat is very smart and can even perform acrobatics."
He put the can of food on the ground and solemnly commanded, "Good cat, do a split."
The canned food's eyes were instantly filled with an extremely anthropomorphic and undisguised contempt.
It even tilted its head slightly, as if questioning its owner about whether there was something wrong with their brain.
"What a waste," Morris clicked his tongue in disdain. "Fireworks are much better..."
The canned food immediately obediently performed a perfect split.
"!"
The other three were dumbfounded.
Chapter 18: Staffless Spellcasting
The train takes a whole afternoon to reach Hogwarts.
Morris had plenty of time to chat with the enthusiastic upperclassmen.
"Hogwarts has four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is the best house. By the way, your entrance exam is to defeat a two-headed, ten-foot-tall troll. You need to defeat it to officially enter Hogwarts..."
Lee Jordan seemed to be a chatterbox, constantly telling Maurice about Hogwarts.
However, Maurice did not believe his last few words.
Morris had read about Hogwarts in books and had some knowledge of the four houses.
He didn't really care which college he would be assigned to.
Even if he cares, it's useless—it's not something he can decide anyway.
During this time, George also shared a strange toffee with Morris.
After Maurice ate it, his tongue became enormous, as if it had been inflated, to the point that he could no longer speak clearly.
The effect lasted for almost half a minute.
Seeing this comical sight, George and Fred clapped their hands, looking excited.
"Success! The effect is stable and the duration is precise!" Fred cheered.
"What kind of candy is this?" Morris asked, smacking his lips, a hint of sweetness still lingering in his mouth.
George explained with a laugh, "Fat Tongue Toffee. It's a prank product we invented, and you've already seen the results."
"Then what's it used for?" Morris asked curiously.
Upon hearing this question, the twins exchanged a glance.
George shrugged and replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "For pranks."
Fred added, "To be honest, it's not very useful. It won't help you pass your Potions exam, nor will it make your wand shine brighter... but it's fun, isn't it?"
He opened his arms wide, his face beaming with pure joy. "So, Maurice, how about joining our prank club?"
Lee Jordan looked puzzled. "Does Hogwarts even exist?"
"That's not important," Fred said matter-of-factly. "We just decided to establish it."
Lee Jordan decided to ignore the two idiots. He lowered his voice and said to Morris with a hint of schadenfreude, "Don't be so smug about them now. These two fools were busy making Fat Tongue Toffee during the final exams last semester, and their grades were almost all 'P's and 'D's."
Although he spoke softly, the twins seemed to catch the key words and started playfully fighting with him in a huff.
"They really are three interesting people," Maurice thought.
"Pat-pat, pat..."
Suddenly, a toad appeared in their private room, hopping around on the floor.
"Hey, whose toad is this?" Lee Jordan asked in surprise.
"Uh…didn't you bring it here?" Morris asked, puzzled. "It's been hopping around here for ten minutes now."
"We're not going to keep an ugly toad as a pet," Fred retorted. "This animal is useless except as a test subject for spells. And it costs the same as an owl!"
Poor toad, its status is truly lowly.
George wanted to catch the toad.
However, the moment he reached out, the seemingly clumsy toad pushed off with its hind legs and leaped up with astonishing agility, landing directly on his head.
Immediately afterwards, it started jumping around the carriage, its movements frighteningly agile.
Even three third-grade students working together couldn't catch it.
"Wow!" Morris exclaimed.
As expected of a toad from the magical world, it's truly something else.
Suddenly, the toad changed direction and flew straight towards Morris's face!
"Wailing Curse!"
In desperation, Maurice tried using a spell he knew on the toad.
One of the advantages of curse spells is that they automatically select objects within a range according to the user's will.
This is the best choice when facing a target moving at high speed.
Almost the instant the chanting ended, the toad landed on the floor with a "plop".
Its body trembled violently, its limbs twitched uncontrollably, white foam kept gushing from the corners of its mouth, and a trace of bewilderment remained in its bulging eyes after suffering a huge mental shock.
Morris was somewhat surprised.
Although the target was just a toad, the effect of the Wailing Curse exceeded his expectations.
When he used it on canned goods and fireworks before, the results weren't as dramatic.
Could it be that his two pets have a higher resistance to this type of magic?
Lee Jordan's eyes widened as he looked at the toad still twitching slightly on the ground, then at the calm-faced Morris, and exclaimed in amazement, "Cool, man. What kind of magic did you just use? I've never heard of that spell before. Wait, did you forget to use your wand?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Enjoying the story?
Read advanced chapters on Patreon (early access available)
https://www.patreon.com/cw/bond501
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━