Chapter 669: I Don't Want to Write... (Edited)

Fish's career orientation ended up being unsuccessful.

There was no way Professor McGonagall would have approved of Fish becoming a bounty hunter, but since Fish hadn't shown interest in any other career at the moment, she didn't pressure Fish to make an immediate decision...

It was just career guidance, not a decision about future work direction.

After talking with Fish for a while, Professor McGonagall realized that Fish's problem wasn't choosing a job but rather getting him to think about joining one. As for Fish's job, she didn't have to worry at all as long as Fish truly wanted to work. Basically, no job would reject him.

So all she had to do was gradually guide Fish to stop resisting work in the coming days.

After all the fifth-year students received career guidance, their homework load increased to a new level, and Fish, who already hated homework, felt so frustrated that he tried to use shorthand quills several times, but Professor McGonagall rejected him.

"I knew Fish should have asked Umbridge to expel me nya..."

(ω"∠)

Fish collapsed onto the table, desperate, murmuring and grumbling.

"Well, there are less than two months left, and after the O.W.L. exams, there won't be as much homework." Hermione said softly as she stroked Fish's hair.

"Why two more months? Couldn't we have had the exams a bit earlier?"

∑(`Д´)

"There's no help for it, the O.W.L. exams are organized by the Ministry of Magic, and they'll send someone to examine us."

"Why the Ministry of Magic again? Fish doesn't like the Ministry of Magic nya..."

Fish's words made Hermione hesitate a bit about her future career choice.

But she quickly regained her conviction and reminded him quietly, "Minerva also worked at the Ministry, and Mr. Weasley, Tonks, and Percy were also there, right?"

Fish tilted his head, looking at Hermione, and then realized, "Yes, Minerva said you were also going to work at the Ministry of Magic... Well, Fish can stop hating the Ministry of Magic so much now..."

For Fish, it wasn't a big deal, but after saying that, he lay back down.

"But Fish still doesn't want to do his homework nya..."

(ω"∠)

Fish was lying on the table with his ears drooping and his tail wagging behind, expressing his anxiety for his owner.

"Then at least you should finish your Charms and History of Magic assignments," Hermione reminded without looking up as she wrote her own: "They're due tomorrow."

"Nya!"

∑(ΦДΦ)

Fish suddenly lifted his head. "Then why did Hermione ask Fish to do the Transfiguration, Potions, and Divination homework first nya?"

Miss Know-It-All laughed but didn't say a word, hiding her work.

"You and Minerva are evil nya!"

(`н´)

Fish huffed and turned his head away, deciding to ignore Hermione for the next hour.

But as he turned his head, the cat ears on top of him slightly tilted toward Hermione.

Hermione didn't keep Fish waiting for long as she lightly tapped his ears with the quill in her hand and then smiled at the grumpy cat.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I'll tell you two more stories tonight, okay?"

It was because of Fish's occasional childish temper that Hermione felt a bit guilty when she hung out with Fish, feeling like one of those villains in dramas who deceive little children.

Fish, still sulking, was coaxed by Hermione and immediately turned around, showed his fingers, and bargained, "Five nya! Five more!"

(?ω?)

"To hell with guilt! I'm not giving in Fish to anyone else!"

Hermione instantly pushed aside those inexplicable thoughts, approached Fish, and gave him a passionate kiss, then said, "Five is too many, and don't forget there's an Order of the Cat event tonight."

"Then three nya!" Fish pondered for a moment and withdrew two fingers.

This time Hermione accepted without hesitation and gave Fish another kiss.

"Then hurry up and finish your Charms and History of Magic homework," she urged.

"Awwww..."

(≥△≤)

Fish let out a sad cry and slumped again.

"Fish still doesn't want to do the homework nya..."

Hermione: "..."

Despite Fish's resistance, Hermione sweet-talked him into completing his homework, which was due tomorrow.

But the idea of two more months of this kind of life caused Fish's ears and tail to droop, and he seemed very unhappy.

This withered state continued until...

Dinnertime.

"Hermione, this roast chicken is so good!"

Ψ(??~??)

Fish ate from side to side, leaving behind his frustration.

This routine persisted until June.

If there was something worth mentioning, it was that Gryffindor had defeated Ravenclaw and narrowly won the Quidditch Cup on the last weekend of May.

Harry and the others were excited and threw a big celebration in the common room, but neither Fish nor Hermione were interested enough in Quidditch to join in.

What interested Fish were the fireworks that George and Fred had brought out during the party, which they had made themselves, but the twins had only set off two before Hermione sternly stopped them.

In June, to Fish's delight, the teachers stopped assigning them homework, and Fish was able to roam freely all day.

It was Hermione who spent most of her time in the library studying, to Fish's slight dismay.

Even when she was with Fish, Hermione would occasionally drift away; even when she was brushing Fish's hair, she would stop in the middle of brushing and start daydreaming with the brush in her hand. Or she would suddenly mutter something from her textbook.

In fact, as the O.W.L. exams approached, Hermione wasn't the only one behaving strangely.

Ernest Macmillan, for example, was always interrogating people about their revision, regardless of whether they could handle it or not, while Ron kept in touch with Percy, trying to get some "exam advice" out of him until Piglet was so exhausted that he turned to Fish to complain, and Ron was threatened by Fish to stop doing it.

Furthermore, there was a black market frenzy among the fifth and seventh-year students, where those who had achieved good results in their exams or their O.W.L. exams were selling all kinds of things to help them concentrate, refresh, and stay awake while preparing for their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams.

Except most of them were fake.

For example, the potion Harry and Ron bought from their sixth-year Ravenclaw classmate, Eddie Carmichael, turned out to be nothing more than a bottle of mint water with salt and toad bile after Fish examined it.

Compared to Harold Dingle, who used dried fox droppings to pass them off as dragon claw powder, Carmichael was a conscientious businessman.

The most frustrating part of the business were the twins, George and Fred, who used their own sources to get some of the real stuff and try to make a profit, only for no one to buy their merchandise given their track record of pranks and their less-than-stellar results on the O.W.L. exams two years ago.

They even tried to sell it to their own brother at a low price, but Ron, who had already been deceived once, refused.

In this atmosphere of anxiety, the O.W.L. exam day was approaching closer and closer each day.