Chapter 111. The Kelpie's New Move
On the way back to the Hufflepuff common room, he could already see many students putting up decorations.
They had hung a lot of streamers around the common room, and had even brought back the banner that had been flying over the Quidditch pitch.
The moment Duncan stepped through the door he saw everyone's teasing looks, then he looked up and saw his abstract cartoon likeness bending over and wiggling its backside.
Duncan's face flushed red, he coughed awkwardly twice, and dashed towards the dormitory, leaving the common room ringing with laughter.
Back in the dormitory, Neville hadn't returned, probably still hanging out with Ron and Harry.
Duncan locked the door, picked up the trunk, opened it, and climbed in.
He went down the stairs to the workshop, and before he could make out the scene in front of him, a shadow leapt into his arms from ahead.
"Duncan, save me!"
Pro clutched Duncan's school robes and scrambled up onto his shoulder.
"What happened? Did you get up to mischief again?"
Duncan pinched the roll of fat at the back of Pro's neck and brought him in front of his face.
"It's nothing, they're the ones bullying me!"
Pro huffed, his little paw pointing at the doorway.
Before long, click-clack, click-clack, several Acromantulas came scuttling over in a fury.
But just as they were about to cross the threshold, Duncan raised a hand to stop them.
"Stop, stop, don't come in. We'll talk outside."
The workshop was already cramped, with all sorts of apparatus taking up a great deal of space, and the remaining passage was very narrow.
If those huge spiders were allowed to surge in together, they would definitely turn the workshop into a complete mess.
Leading the spiders to Kray's area, Duncan sat down on a rock and set Pro down beside him.
Kray dropped from the air at just the right time, paced along a little slope at the side, and looked down at the Niffler and the Acromantulas with a bystander's expression.
"Why are they chasing you?"
Duncan fixed a stern gaze on Pro and asked.
"They stole our thing!"
Pro said angrily.
"I took it back, and they actually got mad!"
"Oh?"
Duncan said.
"What did they steal?"
"That sculpture we found at the Black Lake last time!"
Pro said.
"I rinsed it off and set it out to dry on the grass over there, and when I came back they'd stolen it!"
Duncan nodded and looked to the Acromantulas.
"You stole his sculpture?"
The Acromantulas looked at each other, and one of them replied.
"We didn't know the thing belonged to him."
"Why did you do that?"
Duncan asked, puzzled.
Acromantulas weren't like Nifflers; they had no desire for treasure.
In their eyes any treasure wasn't as valuable as a piece of meat.
"We sensed a familiar aura on that sculpture, similar to the one in our original lair, so we took it back, hoping to make the new lair feel a bit more like home."
One spider explained to Duncan.
"Mm?"
Duncan leaned forward slightly.
"Are you sure?"
"Mm-hmm."
One spider replied.
"The aura on that sculpture is very much like the aura of our hatching pool.
We grew up there, so we're very familiar with it, and we noticed it the moment we saw the sculpture."
"Where is the hatching pool within the lair?
Can you tell me a bit more specifically?"
Duncan became interested.
He wanted to go back to the spider lair another day and see what connection there was between the sculpture he had picked up from the Black Lake and that lair.
"From the place where you found us that day, go further in for a distance, and you'll see a smaller opening.
Crawl in through there and that's the hatching pool."
One spider answered.
"Alright.
Next time I'll bring the trunk over and dig out some of the soil inside to sprinkle in your new lair," Duncan said with a smile.
"That way you won't need to rely on that sculpture to add the feeling of home."
"Really?
That would be wonderful!"
Several Acromantulas excitedly clicked their great mandibles.
Pro, waiting to the side, seemed to be scared by the spiders' excitement, and he zipped onto Kray's sturdy back.
Hooking his claws into the feathers, Pro peered down carefully and asked, "Duncan, what are you discussing?"
"Telling them not to steal your things next time!"
After Duncan spoke, he looked over.
"Why did you suddenly run so far away?"
"N-no reason.
I just felt the air on Kray's back is a bit fresher…"
Pro let out a breath.
Seeing the Acromantulas' crazed posture just now, he had thought Duncan was going to throw him to those ugly fellows to apologise.
"Did you make another mistake you haven't told me about?"
Duncan said suspiciously, motioning the Acromantulas to return to their nest.
Pro hesitated, and before he could speak, the Acromantulas that had just left quickly crawled back.
"Duncan, there's one more thing we need your help with," said the spider closest to Duncan.
Duncan saw Pro guiltily bury his head into Kray's feathers, raised his eyebrows, and turned his head.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Our lair was collapsed by that little fellow.
We'd like to ask you to come help us restore it," that spider said.
Pro muttered in a very small voice, "I didn't mean it.
I just wanted to go in and look for my stuff, but their lair was really too fragile.
I casually dug a few tunnels and it suddenly caved in, which gave me a fright…"
No wonder the spiders had been so angry at first; it turned out Pro had destroyed their home.
Duncan flicked Pro's head lightly with a finger and said to the spiders, "Let's go.
I'll help you fix it now."
Following behind the Acromantulas, Duncan passed through the Graphorn's area and came to the huge lake where the Kelpie was.
Mori burst up from the water, leaping into the air amid a spray, happily greeting Duncan and shooting a jet of water from his mouth.
Duncan had just raised his hand to respond when a cannonball-sized mass was about to streak right into his face.
"Merlin's beard!"
Duncan fumbled out his wand and, at the last second, cast quickly.
The water jet was successfully deflected back and, as it flew, it kept drawing in lake water and getting bigger and bigger.
Mori's pupils widened round, and though he flicked his tail to try to escape, he was still struck by the jet and slammed heavily into the middle of the lake.
"Whew…"
Duncan blew on his wand, twirled it with a flourish, and holstered it.
Seeing Mori's "corpse" slowly float to the surface, Duncan teased, "Mori, need a hand?
Don't drown!"
At his words, Mori rolled twice in the water, swam faster towards the shore, and complained, "You hit too hard…"
Duncan raised an eyebrow.
"Weren't you the one who struck first?
How are you the one complaining?"
"I just wanted to test my newly developed ability.
How was I to know you'd hit that hard…"
Mori replied.
"That water jet just now?"
Duncan said in surprise, not expecting Mori to have a research streak.
"Mm, I came up with it a couple of days ago.
I can condense a water ball in my mouth, like this…"
Mori suddenly opened his mouth and lobbed another one at Duncan.
This time the distance was too close and the reaction time too short, and Duncan failed to dodge.
Fortunately, Mori hadn't prepared long, the water ball was small, and Duncan was only soaked through to the bone with cold water, without any other problem.
"Mori!"
Duncan wiped the water off his face and shouted in exasperation.
"Good-bye, Duncan, I suddenly remembered I've got something to do…"
Mori turned his body and dived into the depths of the lake.
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