Chapter 444: Chapter 443: Two Cats Walking Side by Side (Edited)
"Nya~"
?(? ′Д`?)?
As Fish yawned, he stretched a lot.
"It's finally over nya..."
?(??)?
He groaned as he hunched over his desk, eyes dazed.
Even though he had to take a thirty minute break for every hour of class, it was a very exhausting study session for a cat who normally slept through classes.
It's only the beginning of the course and there's no homework yet, so Fish will be able to study for about three hours tonight, but when there's more homework, he'll only be able to study for an hour at most.
However, registration time is in October, so Fish counted his fingers, as long as he persisted in such painful days for a month or two, he would be fine.
"Thanks nya..."
?(??)?
Fish continued to lie on the table, breathlessly thanking Sharpay and the others.
"You're welcome," Sharpay smiled, rubbing the cat's head, "While we're teaching you, we can also review, especially since I took my N.E.W.T. this year, it will do me good to review what I've learned..."
"Nya?"
?()?
Fish looked sideways with his head, for the good memory provided by the Fragment of Nature, as well as the cat's kindness and his aversion to reading, prevented him from understanding the meaning of the act of "reviewing".
But...
What the heck, it's time to rest anyway!
Fish turned his head and pushed it out of his mind, then tugged Hermione who was standing next to him.
"Hermione, come on."
(?ΦΦ?)?
Ever since Hermione learned to turn into a cat, Fish has gotten used to taking her for a walk outside every night, yesterday it was because Hermione had gone back to her bedroom to sleep after coming back, and today she couldn't miss it.
Hermione pursed her lips, half shy and half proud, at the surprised looks she got from Sharpay and the girls, and then she changed into a black cat right in front of them, and Fish into a tabby.
The two cats rubbed their heads together before slinking into the hole in the wall, diving head first and disappearing.
"Damn, damn, he's even learned how to transform into Animagus! He's so intriguing!"
One of the young witches said reluctantly, biting her sleeve as she managed to recover from the shock of Hermione's transformation.
Then everyone else started talking about it.
In fact, practicing the Animagus Charm had always been much discussed among Hogwarts students, but the Charm was so tedious and complicated, and there was a lot of luck involved... that not many people actually decided to try it, and the only students who had managed it were Hermione and the twins.
"It's not an easy thing to do, Hermione is good at what she does."
Sharpay shook her head and defended Hermione.
"Actually, I tried to practice the Animagus Charm last year, and even with Professor McGonagall's guidance, I failed twice, and with the N.E.W.T. exams I had to take this year, I had to give up for now."
He then gave some advice to those students who were unwilling, "Actually, it's not a good idea to practice the Animagus Charm at school, especially with the Triwizard Tournament this year, you can learn more about it from Hermione or Professor McGonagall during the week, and then wait until the summer vacations to try it again."
"And us, and us!"
Unwilling to be alone, George and Fred waved and shouted at the bickering girls.
Sharpay looked puzzled at the bouncing twins and said as an afterthought, "Oh, ..., yes, you two are Animagus too, I forgot."
George and Fred: "..."
But the depression they felt at being ignored was soon dispelled by the girls who had gathered around them, the twins sharing their experiences about the Animagus Charm with a smile on their faces and Harry and the boys listening intently to the two of them.
The situation in the common room was unfamiliar to Fish and Hermione, who had already left the common room, and the two cats wandered around the castle, stopping to play from time to time, or lick their fur.
Occasionally, they would return to their human form and play kissing in some of the more remote areas.
It's only because Hermione strongly asked Fish not to play this in front of the others, otherwise he would have kissed her during the tutoring break....
He didn't know why, but Fish was liking kissing Hermione more and more, even though the game wasn't much fun and the only opponent was Hermione.
They ended up going to the observatory to look at the stars for a while, before Fish and Hermione went back to the common room together.
"Nya~!"
(=??=)
Fish and Hermione touched noses and rubbed their heads against each other's necks before heading back to their rooms.
Once back in his room, Fish reverted to his human form, as he found he slept better in it and was less likely to be woken up.
Hermione, on the other hand, had the opposite idea to Fish and went under the covers in her cat form, because in her cat form she could sleep for three to four hours and be energetic the next day, which is why she could run around with Fish every night.
As for school rules...
Hello, she's a Gryffindor!
...
The next few days were quiet, nothing much happened. Fish didn't go after Moody, as Professor McGonagall had feared.
The reason for his quietness was not only that the twins' words made his look forward to Thursday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but also that the cat had been too busy studying to pick a fight with Moody.
In the last few days, however, everyone, especially the Gryffindors, had been very aware that Professor Snape seemed to be a little afraid of the new Professor Moody, and generally avoided him.
This, coupled with the constant blustering of the twins and Lee Jordan, had Harry and other fourth years looking forward to their first lesson with Moody.
Fish, on the other hand, disliked Moody even more....
Soon Thursday arrived, Harry and the rest of the class hurried to drop off lunch and were lined up in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom before the bell rang, except for Fish and Hermione who, as usual, waited until after the bell had rung.
When they entered the classroom, the rest of the class was already seated, and Harry and Ron had taken the best seats in front of them.
Fish took Hermione's hand and sat down in the seat the girls had reserved for him.
Soon, Professor Moody entered the classroom with his characteristic sound of heavy footsteps.
Although he was on crutches, he took very long strides, and others could easily see his claw-like wooden foot appear and disappear under his robes.
Professor Moody approached the dais and sat down; his blue, magical eye swept the classroom and lingered on Fish and Harry for a couple of seconds, before pointing to the copy of Black Magic: A Guide to Self-Defense, which Ron had in front of him and saying dryly, "Put these things away, these textbooks, you don't need them."
An initial statement similar to Lupin's got everyone a little excited, and they eagerly stowed the books in their backpacks...except Fish.
Because Fish had never taken his books out from the beginning, to be exact, he usually only brought them to class when he remembered, and the amount of times Fish could remember... they were very few.
Especially after Professor McGonagall started telling Fish stories, she hardly ever resorted to her books.
Fish's textbooks were as new as the day he bought them, but the picture storybooks and the book Hermione had given him, The Feline World, were a little worn.
"Well," Professor Moody said as he closed the list, "I received a letter from Professor Lupin about the class. It seems you have some basic knowledge of how to deal with dark magic animals..."
His magical eyes glanced at Fish again, Lupin had explained in detail to Moody in his letter how special Fish was, but he hadn't planned on teaching Fish and Harry with dark magic animals, so his magical eyes lingered on the cat for a moment before quickly moving away again.
"But in terms of how to deal with spells, you haven't learned enough..."
Moody continued, blurting out the fact that he would only be at Hogwarts for a year.
After some boring explanations and banter that bored the cat, Moody finally got to the point
"So... Do any of you know which spells are punished most severely by the Magic Act?"
"Fish knows nya!"
(?ΦΦ?)?
Fish raised his left hand high in the air.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone