"Good boy, come here."
Maurise held out his hand. Receiving the command, the freshly minted skeletal unicorn immediately trotted over and lowered its heavy skull.
When that bone horn met Maurise's palm, it brought a burst of chilling, but not quite biting, cold.
"How are you feeling?" Maurise asked, stroking its skull.
The skeletal unicorn let out a low, confused grunt.
Maurise sighed and patted its horn. "Never mind. Forget I asked."
It seemed that, just like the skeletal dog at Tier One, the unicorn's intelligence was rather limited. It could only comprehend the most basic of commands.
Right then, Tin silently scrambled up the skeletal unicorn's head. The cat reached out a paw and curiously batted at the horn a couple of times.
The unicorn did not put up much of a fight. It merely tilted its head and tossed the feline off.
Tin did a neat flip in midair, landed gracefully on the floor, and promptly knocked over a precarious stack of Maurise's books.
The blue flames in the skeletal dog's eye sockets flickered as it stared curiously at the newest colleague in the room.
Maurise suddenly realized his room was getting a bit cramped.
He had an entire dormitory all to himself, sure, but squeezing four pets in here was making the space distinctly claustrophobic.
Thankfully, he already had a solution.
A few days prior, a new magic array had appeared in his Book of Magic: The Undead Containment Array.
True to its name, this array could carve out a stable pocket dimension specifically designed to house undead creatures.
He took off his school robe, laid it flat on the floorboards, and began to draw the array.
It was not large, measuring roughly ten inches across.
Once the drawing was complete, Maurise pulled a few Gap Energy Crystals from his bag and tossed them onto the pattern.
The crystals instantly dissolved into mist and were absorbed by the array. The magical pattern flared with light for a brief second before fading, looking like nothing more than an ordinary design branded onto the inner lining of his robe.
Everything was ready.
Maurise threw his robe back on. He did not feel any different.
He gave the edge of his robe a sharp flick toward the skeletal unicorn.
In the blink of an eye, the unicorn's form distorted into a streak of light and silently vanished into the fabric.
The room instantly felt a whole lot emptier.
Maurise could clearly sense a small, grayish pocket dimension closely linked to him. The skeletal unicorn was standing quietly inside, perfectly fine.
He turned to the skeletal dog and gave his robe another flick.
The dog vanished just as quickly, reappearing inside the containment space right next to the unicorn.
What a convenient bit of magic, Maurise mused.
If he had enough undead creatures, he could literally carry an entire army of the dead in his pockets.
It was a shame that Tier One undead had practically zero combat capability. The current versions of his dog and unicorn were essentially just walking piles of bones. No matter how many he converted, they would be utterly useless without going through an advancement ritual.
He shot a glance at Tin.
Well, even if the cat reached Tier Two, it probably still would not be of much use anyway.
After that little experiment, Maurise sorted through the remaining half-wolf skeleton, cobbled together a rather pathetic limping skeletal wolf, and tossed that into the pocket dimension as well.
Over the next few days, Maurise focused his energy entirely on condensing more Gap Energy Crystals. He stopped venturing into the Forbidden Forest to gather materials.
He planned to take the elite route for now, focusing on upgrading the undead creatures he already had. As for an undead horde, well, there would always be time for that later.
Late February, Thursday.
Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Up at the podium, Professor Quirrell was stuttering his way through the lesson, while the students below were fighting a losing battle against sleep.
Maurise's thoughts drifted back to the Halloween incident from last term. Quirrell had supposedly fainted from pure terror at the sight of a mountain troll.
Thinking about it carefully, that made absolutely no sense.
After all, Maurise had personally seen Quirrell skulking around Knockturn Alley. Anyone comfortable navigating that kind of neighborhood had to have some nerve. Being scared to death by a mere troll was a bit of a stretch.
Not that it had anything to do with him, of course. He was just bored out of his mind and letting his thoughts wander.
Beside him, Hermione leaned in and whispered. "We are not learning a single thing in this class, are we? Professor Quirrell cannot even explain the basic principles."
"Agreed," Maurise nodded. "So you are better off self-studying, or at least using the time for something more productive."
To prove his point, he held up the Potions textbook he had been reading.
Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out.
She absolutely refused to blatantly do other coursework during Defense Against the Dark Arts. It felt far too disrespectful to a professor.
Then again, Maurise really did love Potions. He was bordering on obsessed.
She did not hate the subject herself, but considering Professor Snape was the one teaching it, well, her feelings were complicated.
Before they knew it, the bell finally rang.
As Maurise was leaving the classroom, someone completely unexpected sought him out.
"Black." Neville caught up to him, looking absolutely terrified. "I need to talk to you."
Maurise stopped walking, genuinely surprised. What could Neville possibly want from him?
"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Maurise asked.
Neville looked around at the students bustling down the corridor and swallowed hard. "No... actually, yes. Let's go somewhere else."
They walked in silence until they reached the flowerbeds out in the courtyard.
"So," Maurise started. "What is this about? Did Draco Malfoy pick on you again?"
Neville's eyes immediately welled up with tears. He stammered in shock. "How did you know?"
"Lucky guess," Maurise said mildly, raising an eyebrow. "Are you looking for me to help you get revenge? Because if you are, you have definitely got the wrong guy."
Neville shook his head frantically. "No, no! I just wanted to ask how you deal with Malfoy. I remember you saying once that he couldn't beat you in a fight."
Maurise pulled out his wand and pointed at it with his free hand. He kept his tone completely flat. "With this. The next time Malfoy tries to hit you with the Leg-Locker Curse, you just fire a Blasting Curse right back at his face. Trust me, he will never bother you again after that."
Neville stared at him with a look of pure horror and bewilderment.
A Blasting Curse? Was that really something a first-year should be learning?
Seeing Neville look like a deer caught in headlights, Maurise sighed and offered a much more sensible suggestion. "Actually, I think your best bet is to go to Professor McGonagall. She will not just ignore it."
"I don't want to cause trouble," Neville mumbled, looking down at his shoes. "Besides, Malfoy said that even if I tell a professor, they can't prove anything. And he reminded me that his dad is on the school board."
"Then you need to sit down and practice your magic," Maurise said kindly. "I can teach you a few spells that are easy to learn and handy to have. As for anything beyond that, you are on your own."
Neville's eyes lit up instantly. "Really? Thank you, Black. That is more than enough."
Maurise nodded. "Just call me Maurise."
Neville nodded eagerly. "So, what spell are you going to teach me?"
Maurise rubbed his chin in thought. "Let's go with the Fatigue Charm."
It was a neat little spell he had stumbled across in the library. The effect was simple. It made the target feel mildly exhausted. You could think of it as a prankster's version of the Weakening Curse.
The difficulty level was incredibly low, making it absolutely perfect for a beginner.