Inside Hogwarts Castle, the colorful Christmas decorations were arranged as usual, although not many students stayed to admire them.
Holly and mistletoe garlands were strung along the corridors, and mysterious lights glittered in the crevices of every suit of armor by the walls. In the Great Hall, as usual, stood twelve Christmas trees of unknown age, their golden stars twinkling brightly.
The tempting aroma of food permeated the corridors, so rich that the newcomer Lina couldn't resist poking half her head out from William's pocket.
Yes, William had returned to his faithful Hogwarts.
From England flying all the way to Greece—this wasted about two days for William, but if using a Portkey, it would only take an instant, aside from brief stomach discomfort. Portkeys are considered one of the most convenient, swift, and simple travel methods in the entire Magic Realm.
When William went, he originally planned to use a Portkey, but at that time he had just acquired his Animagus form, and it was hard to resist the urge to flap his wings a bit.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Richard, I thought you might forget our agreement—"
As William pushed the door open and entered the castle, Professor Meow appeared on the left side of the foyer, holding Hermione's cat in her arms. Crookshanks had a circle of gold foil decoration around its chest, and it wore a stern expression, seeming quite grumpy.
"Oh, Professor, of course I haven't forgotten, but doesn't the Ministry of Magic take a break during Christmas?"
William sighed. He was well aware of the reason Professor Meow was waiting for him here, which was the registration process for legal Animagi. Actually, Professor McGonagall also hesitated a bit about this matter, considering William had transformed into a Thunderbird, an XXXX-rated Magical Creature—a precedent in the Ministry of Magic's Animagus registration.
Attempts to transform into creatures like Fire Dragons, Phoenixes, and Hippogriffs were not unheard of, but invariably, they all ended up becoming mindless beasts—these contradictory entities they became would suffocate to death from bodily function loss within just a few hours.
The mainstream speculation was that maybe the operational essence between Wizard Magic and Magic Creature Magic was fundamentally different.
If this is true, William understood why he could transform into a Thunderbird without going insane, and he also set some scope and goals for his second Animagus form.
William wasn't bothered by the registration. If there's no precedent, then he would create one; nobody could capture him for research anyway.
Besides, he was prepared to keep a card up his sleeve—
"So, my scheduled time is the day after tomorrow, the Office of Misuse of Magic starts operations then." Professor McGonagall nodded, her gaze passing over William's shoulder.
"Oh, this gentleman is... you shouldn't need an introduction?" William also turned to look at the old man who came back with him.
"Of course not, Merry Christmas, Newt."
"Merry Christmas, Minerva—"
The two elderly friends warmly greeted each other, their friendship dating back to a time when they were among the few who witnessed Dumbledore's terrible moment in 1945 as he decided to confront and utterly defeat the Black Wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
It could be considered... a bond forged through shared battle?
"Merry Christmas, William—"
Hagrid's booming voice caught the attention of everyone in the foyer. The Half-Giant casually pushed the door open and walked in, brushing snowflakes off his beard with one hand while raising the other to slap William's shoulder, causing William to instinctively sidestep to avoid it—
Hagrid had never had a grasp of his own strength.
Wiping away the nonexistent sweat on his forehead, William felt a bit relieved to have escaped skin and muscle pain this time, largely due to his Animagus form. It's uncertain whether this is a special case with Magical Creatures Animagus, even in human form, he seemed to possess the Thunderbird's extraordinary sensitivity to impending danger.
Examples are few, so he hadn't summarized any patterns.
But Professor McGonagall had expressed that she never felt the urge to mimic a cat.
"Squeak squeak—"
Meanwhile, Kabuda, rubbing its shriveled belly, climbed out from William's pocket. For calling upon Mundungus to find a useless stash of "shiny treasures," it was punished by having its small vault cleared. In addition, after hearing Norbert talk about the splendid temple gilt statues, and seeing its gangling Niffler minions thriving, Kabuda wasn't in high spirits today, dismissing Crookshanks' 'greeting' with a flimsy wave.
However, someone... no, a dog was shocked by the appearance of this Niffler.
Trailing Hagrid into Hogwarts Castle was Sirius, now hiding under the fir tree Hagrid dragged by his armpit, staring in amazement at the black Niffler standing on William's shoulder, frantically cozying up to him.
He clearly remembered this Niffler, as it had once given him such a backflip that his spine was crooked for three whole days.
At this time, Sirius had already removed the collar from his neck. Since then, he had behaved very much like an ordinary dog, except persistently rejecting Fang's mating invitations. He hadn't done anything abnormal, so Hagrid, thinking he had successfully trained the dog, loosened his collar.