Walking out of the Headmaster's Office, William stretched lazily.
Having learned quite a bit about Harry's mother from Dumbledore, he somewhat confirmed his inner suspicions, but it was of no practical use, since she was already dead, and this ability didn't seem to be hereditary—
At least, before being possessed by Little Tom's soul, Harry had never shown any talent in Ancient Magic.
As for why he came to find the headmaster, naturally, it was because Dumbledore was probably the most knowledgeable person left in the world about Lily Evans. Lupin wasn't really familiar with Lily either; after all, the four of them as Marauders were somewhat at odds with Lily up until fifth or sixth year—
"Back then, Evans was like... Miss Granger now."
When William asked, Lupin thought for a moment and finally directed his gaze towards Hermione, who was busy finishing her homework.
"No wonder you didn't get along well."
William nodded, instantly understanding what Lupin meant, because as Lupin mentioned before, the four of them were even more unruly than the Weasley twins now. Whenever he spoke of the old days, a reminiscent look always appeared on his face...
And with such a group, how could they possibly get along well with someone like Hermione, who valued the house distinctions above all?
Even Lupin wasn't familiar with her, so the others didn't need mentioning; the older professors only knew Miss Evans as a student, Hagrid simply said she was a kind person, and her sister Petunia didn't even know where the doors of Hogwarts opened... Of course, there was actually another option.
But considering the impact on the mental health of the staff, he decided not to seek out Snape.
Even though he didn't like this former Death Eater, Dumbledore had solemnly asked him not to trouble Snape, so he decided to let it be.
William cleared his mind, and looking through the corridor window, the dark rain clouds hung heavy on the horizon, the damp sticky air carrying an unusual sultriness, a clear sign of an impending storm, even though the last storm was only two days ago—temperate oceanic climate is truly terrifying.
But unfortunately, the previous storms hadn't come with lightning, causing William's Animagus plans to be repeatedly delayed—if he couldn't resolve it before Christmas, he might have to use the "Room of Requirement's" fulfilling nature, although he wasn't sure if it would work, as there was no precedent.
Watching the light gradually fade in the sky, William pressed the tip of his magic wand to his left chest, "Amado, Animo, Animado, Animagus..."
"Thump, thump thump—"
As the spell paused, a dull sound suddenly rang in William's ears—a heartbeat. This wasn't the first time; it signified that with a storm, William could truly accomplish the Animagus transformation.
Rubbing his ears that were a bit dazed by the pounding heartbeat, William couldn't help but grin—he didn't know if this was normal, after all, according to Professor Meow's account, that kind of heartbeat was no different from human's regular heartbeat, even finer.
However, William speculated that the reason may be that Professor McGonagall's Animagus form was just a normal-sized tabby cat—
Maybe his transformation would be something larger?
Imagining his Animagus form with some anticipation, William was about to get up and leave the windowsill, but then caught sight of some moving black dots outside the castle—it was the trio, with Harry holding his broomstick.
Didn't he tell them not to leave the castle after dark?
Watching the boy's direction, William frowned—but he didn't plan to stop them; teaching usually worked best when they learned through experience. For instance, Daphne often complained that the battle difficulty in the Dream Game was too high; she could "die" more than ten times in one class, really unbearable.
And William's approach was to give her a bottle of Draught of the Living Death, dying several more times until she got used to it.
So, no matter what others said about the dangers, Harry probably wouldn't feel it, and it would be better to let him be. When he really gets caught by Dementors and feels the consequences, then he'd learn.
However, no need to worry too much about his safety; William placed a Teleportation Rune Card, the same as Kabuda's, on him, like the teleportation jade token given by sect elders to prodigies in fantasy novels—Speaking of Kabuda's kind... what was that little mouse up to lately?
Need to figure out how to assign it a ton of homework again, lest it causes him more trouble.
...
...
"Squeak, squeak!"
The dim daylight barely filtered through the impenetrable dark green canopy, casting mottled shadows on the damp earth and tree roots.
A ginger-yellow shadow quickly shuttled between the thick brown trunks, and the Niffler, whom William had been thinking about, was clinging tightly to Crookshanks' perked-up "smart fur" between its ears, doing its utmost not to fall off.
Perhaps it was brushed by leaves while moving, or for some other reason, Kabuda suddenly felt the urge to sneeze.
But before it could do so, the scene before its eyes abruptly halted, and as Kabuda loosened its claw's grip because of the impending sneeze, it flew off Crookshanks' back, its black body tumbling three or four times in mid-air. Just as Kabuda began rummaging through its pockets, it was caught by a gentle force—