The sunset's afterglow spilled over the Black Lake, casting golden light that danced across the rippling water.
On the lakeshore, Ino sat quietly in a specially designed chair, holding a delicate fishing rod and intently watching the bobber on the lake's surface.
Suddenly, the bobber began to move violently. A gleam of excitement flashed in his eyes.
Swiftly, he lifted the fishing rod and gave it a strong pull. A silver fish, about a foot long, arced gracefully through the air before landing on the shore.
Though he had caught the fish, Ino remained seated, watching the fish flop around on the ground.
By his side, a suitcase lay open, and in moments, around twenty fist-sized eight-eyed spiders emerged, quickly surrounding the struggling fish.
Within seconds, all that remained of the fish was a cleanly picked skeleton.
Ino lifted his fishing rod with his left hand and waved his wand with his right. The fishhook was now baited with a fat, wriggling worm.
He cast the line and resumed waiting.
After completing this task, he snapped his fingers. All the spiders scurried back into the suitcase, except for one, the largest, which had a touch of blue in its fur.
The blue spider leapt lightly onto his lap.
"Go back now. I'll call you when there's another catch," Ino murmured, gently stroking the spider.
At his command, he felt a sense of obedience from the spider. The blue spider then jumped off his lap and returned to the suitcase.
Eight-eyed spiders, even as adults, could speak and possessed intelligence comparable to humans. They also had a strict hierarchy.
The blue spider was the leader of the twenty spiders that had come out earlier.
Ino stared at the floating bobber, lost in thought.
Two months had quietly passed since Christmas.
During this time, the castle had returned to its routine. The incident with Lockhart was rarely discussed anymore. After all, so much time had passed.
Lockhart had been arrested by the Ministry of Magic, tried by the Wizengamot, and sent to prison. This was an unchangeable fact, no matter what the public said.
As time went on, the castle's atmosphere became less tense and more romantic.
Valentine's Day was approaching on February 14th.
But Ino didn't care about Lockhart or Valentine's Day. He was more concerned about himself, or rather, the miracle within him.
The spider eggs in the sanctuary had hatched, and he now had twenty-three obedient young spiders.
But that seemed to be the extent of his gain.
In the past two months, he had tried various things. Whether placing other magical creatures' eggs, ordinary animals' eggs, or regular insect eggs into the sanctuary, there was no reaction like before.
Not only did he not feel the previous connection, but these eggs felt lifeless, as if devoid of any vitality.
However, he had a theory about this situation.
If his guess was correct, then in future journeys into the fantastical world, he wouldn't just travel. He might consider other actions.
Time flew by.
After catching several fish, the lake became calm.
For over an hour, there wasn't a single bite. Even the bobber didn't move, as if the fish in the Black Lake had wised up and were immune to the Transfigured worms.
"Next time, I'll use live bait!"
Ino grumbled as he canceled the Transfiguration on the fishing gear and picked up the suitcase.
The sanctuary was covered in snow, and the spiders inside were in a semi-hibernation state. The suitcase became their temporary nest.
Walking across the castle lawn, Ino glanced at the distant round stone house, which was still Hagrid's hut.
Realizing the sanctuary could only house one species, he thought of the castle's resident magical creatures expert, Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid had remarkable skills in breeding magical creatures, even crossbreeding different species.
Using a manticore and a fire-crab, Hagrid had created a new magical creature, the Blast-Ended Skrewt.
That ability wasn't something just anyone could achieve.
Mid-February
In the Scottish Highlands, the temperature was gradually rising, and so were the hearts of the castle's young men and women.
In the Gryffindor dormitory, Hermione tightly gripped her bedsheets, fuming as she listened to her roommates' wild discussions. They were anything but ladylike, even though they seemed very demure outside.
Today, they were openly discussing Ino again—his paler hair, his deep, captivating eyes, and how he had exuded an aura of elegance and nobility since last year.
Hermione felt she couldn't take it anymore. Even if she found herself affected, she couldn't allow others to discuss him so openly.
"Parvati! Can you help me for a moment?" Hermione called out to her neutral roommate.
In a dormitory of six, they had split into four factions.
As the representative of the neutral faction, Parvati Patil stood up and walked over to Hermione after hearing her call.
Though the others continued their conversation, their pace had slowed, clearly curious about what Hermione, always so proper, wanted to say.
"I'm here, Hermione. What do you need help with?" Parvati asked as she reached Hermione's bed.
"Can you help me get my luggage down from the rack? They're placed too high, and some are heavy. We'll need to work together to get them down."
As Hermione spoke, she kicked off her slippers and stood barefoot on her bed.
At this moment, she deliberately forgot about magic and Levitation Charms.
Two minutes later...
"It's beautiful! I've never seen anything like this in Diagon Alley. Is it custom-made?" Parvati asked, amazed.
Hearing this, Hermione raised her voice by half a decibel. She had been waiting for this moment.
"Really? I didn't know. Ino gave it to me as a gift when he visited my house for Christmas. Maybe he bought it in Hogsmeade since he lives there."
Without turning her head, Hermione could imagine the expressions on some faces, but she continued, "I visited his house last summer—a lovely two-story house!"
Parvati smiled silently, realizing she had been used as a tool.
But she didn't mind. Being neutral meant accepting harmless exploitation, and she found it rather amusing.
Undoubtedly, the dormitory would soon become lively again.