Chapter 576: Occlumency (Edited)

Hermione is looking more and more like Minerva, so nosy nya....

Fish slipped away, muttering this in his mind, and strolled around the castle.

As he had done the night before, Fish slipped down one floor at a time, intending to take a tour of the entire domain and then go to the kitchens to eat and return to bed.

He went downstairs, ran into Filch and Mrs. Norris on patrol, and grabbed a package of Filch's special dried fish.

Once in the basement, Fish was going to head straight for the kitchen, but halfway down, he suddenly raised his furry head, flicked his ears and sniffed the air.

"Nya?"

(=ω≤)

Fish scratched his chin and looked suspiciously in the direction of Snape's office.

What was Draco doing in Severus' office so late at night?

It had happened before, two years before, when Draco learned the Patronus Charm from Professor Snape, at night...

Maybe they were practicing some interesting spell again?

Fish hesitated, but couldn't resist his curiosity and turned in the direction of Snape's office.

When he reached Snape's office door, Malfoy was leaving the office and Snape was closing the door.

Fish's sudden appearance startled them both.

"Nya~"

(=ΦωΦ=)

Fish raised his paw to greet them.

Snape quickly scanned the area for movement, then pulled back Malfoy, who had just taken two steps.

"Come here!" He whispered to Fish.

Fish didn't know what was going on, but he tossed his four little paws to the side and jumped into Snape's office in a jiffy.

=(==(=ω=(=ω=(=ω=)

"Kacha."

Fish hopped into the office, the door was closed by Snape, he looked down at the little tabby kitten crouched at his feet, nodded expressionlessly, then raised his wand....

"Silence."

"Nya?"

(=?ω?=)

Fish cocked his little head, looking at him curiously, not understanding what he was doing.

Then he looked at Draco, whose already pale face looked even paler than usual, with sweat on his forehead ...

"Are you practicing the Patronus Charm again?"

(°ω°≡°ω°)

Fish, back to his human form, looked around curiously for any sign of Boggart or Dementor, as Draco was in a state all too similar to the last time he had seen him practicing the Patronus Charm.

No, what I'm practicing is.... Occlumency." Draco's face changed slightly, as if he was recalling a bad memory.

"What's Occlumency?" Fish blinked and asked with interest, "Is it fun? If it's fun, Fish wants to learn it too!".

(?ω?)

The corners of Snape's lips twitched twice as he finally spoke and explained, "Occlumency is a spell used to keep people from prying into your mind...it's not fun."

"It's not fun what did you learn it for nya." Fish looked at Draco wordlessly, "Would anyone want to spy on your thoughts?".

What he didn't expect was a stony silence from Draco, clearly confirming Fish's suspicions.

Fish looked at Snape, surprised to find him serious as well.

"What the hell is going on?"

(ˇˇ)

Even if Fish had a lot of nerves, at that moment he knew something special was going on, and with a serious countenance, he asked.

"The Dark Lord is in my house." Malfoy said after a few moments of silence.

"What?!" Fish immediately got excited, "Take Fish over there, I want to fight him!".

(?ω?)

"That's not going to happen, Fish." Said Snape, "As soon as the Dark Lord hid in the Malfoy mansion, he asked Lucius to replace the secret guardian there with himself. Without his permission, no one else can enter."

"Is that really so...?"

Hermione had analyzed this situation for Fish earlier, only he figured that since it was at least Malfoy's house, Draco could still take him there.

"Why is that Voldemort guy such a coward nya?!".

(`н)

Fish scolded under his breath, crossing his arms.

Then he asked curiously, "Voldemort has robbed your house, why is Lucius still following him?". But before Malfoy could explain, Fish quickly added, "Ah, yes, that villain kills Death Eaters who want to split up.... That's how Sirius' brother Regulus died."

"That's right," Malfoy pursed his thin lips, nodded and said with a sad face, "The Dark Lord has also sent someone after Karkaroff, and it probably won't be long before he dies."

"Karkaroff? Oh... the guy with the mustache." Fish thought for a moment before realizing who it was.

"Ever since you defeated the Dark Lord head-on, many Death Eaters, including Father, thought he wouldn't get to rule England this time with his resurrection, but they feared betraying him."

Malfoy then explained why he had learned Occlumency from Snape.

"And I have a good relationship with you, and father is worried that if the Dark Lord were to ask me to use that relationship against you in the future, I would resist and he would find out..."

He sighed heavily and continued, "The Dark Lord is very good at Legeremancy, if I show any hint of treachery, then both my mother and father will be in danger...but I can't be away all the time and not come home, so I have to learn Occlumency to prevent this from happening."

"Draco is very talented with this spell, I'm sure it won't take him long to master it completely." Snape took over, "But we're not sure what the other Death Eaters think, whether they have instructed their children to work for the Dark Lord, so Draco will have to perform against Dumbledore in front of the Slytherin students, and to stop the Dark Lord from coming after you, so Draco won't be able to perform too close to you."

"Oh... no wonder Draco was so strange when he was on the train nya..." said Fish to him.

"Yeah," Malfoy, who had been looking sad, finally cracked a small smile and said, "I just didn't think you cared, Fish, I thought you'd be mad at me."

"Well... because in Fish's mind, you're no different than before."

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head and said, "Fish thought it was because you were Prefect... Percy was like that too."

"Heh! Weasley..." sneered Malfoy disdainfully.

It was clear that even if the Malfoy's planned to betray Voldemort, their opinion of the Weasleys would not change, nor would the relationship between Snape and Sirius.

"Only Dumbledore knows, so don't tell anyone, Fish." Snape said solemnly.

If he could have, Snape would have wanted to keep it a secret from Fish, but Draco had just bumped into Fish, and if he didn't explain it to him, with Fish's curiosity, there was no telling what would happen next.

It wasn't impossible to lie about it, but then Fish probably wouldn't take it seriously, and there was a greater risk of being found out if he told the truth, so it was better to tell him everything.

"Don't worry. Fish is very secretive. This time it's true."

(ˇˇˇ)

Fish knew he could be a bit of a big mouth sometimes, but he hadn't said anything really important yet.

That was why Snape had told everyone.

"If I may... no, I'd rather not."

Snape had actually wanted Fish to play along with Draco in his fight drama, but he thought it would be too contrived, and it was hard to tell if Fish would be able to keep his mouth shut... so he swallowed the words mid-sentence.

"What do you mean? Say it!"

(`Д´)

Fish, whose curiosity had been piqued, didn't like it at all.

There are two kinds of people Fish hates in life, one is half-talking, and the other is....