Chapter 342: Harry: I've seen this play before! (Edited)

Friday.

The weather at Hogwarts hadn't gotten better, it had gotten worse, and it didn't look like it was going to get any better for tomorrow's match.

So neither Harry in Gryffindor nor Malfoy in Slytherin were in a good mood.

Malfoy tried to get Snape to help him reschedule the Slytherin match time, but obviously, since the hippogriff didn't scratch him, he didn't have a good excuse for delaying the game time.

The Slytherins had tried to use their best method, but Harry was now accompanied by Fish, and the other Gryffindors were already wary of them, so that was no longer an option.

But still, Marcus Flint was always hanging around Harry with a couple of big Slytherins.

They talked to Fish about protecting Harry, but in reality, out of sight of the kitten, they were making threatening gestures at him.

In this tense atmosphere, Harry and Fish arrived together in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

They were all sitting in the classroom, chatting in small groups, waiting for the rest of the lesson, and Harry was slightly relieved that Professor Lupin's interesting Defense Against the Dark Arts class was one of the few things he could enjoy.

However, Fish wasn't really looking forward to the class.

Aside from the fact that Professor Lupin had always ignored him in the first class, the main reason was that both the Boggart at first, and the Red Hat and Dugbog afterwards, were too weak for the cat, and Fish could have taken them out with a couple of swipes, not even good for a warm-up.

And then there was the Grindylow, which Fish had seen in the Black Lake, a creature the mermaids kept as a pet, and whose intelligence was so low that it was impossible for them to fight Fish when they saw it.

So after escorting Harry to the classroom, he took the form of a tabby cat and slipped into his desk, as in other classes.

A little later, the bell rang, but the door was pushed open by a grim-looking Professor Snape.

Harry instantly thought of the steaming cup Snape had given Professor Lupin on Halloween....

So he stood up abruptly to everyone's surprised gaze and asked, "Where is Professor Lupin?"

Hearing the other party's inquisitive tone, Snape couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

Although the confrontation with Harry was deliberately provoked by Snape himself, when he saw the hostility in those eyes of Lily, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, not to mention....

Harry's current attitude is exactly the same as James Potter's back then.

So Snape bared his teeth and flashed an icy smile.

"I think you should learn some manners again, Potter, so five points off for Gryffindor. Another five points for Gryffindor, and next time raise your hand before you ask a question. Now, sit down."

Harry clenched his fists and Ron pushed him back, sat back in his seat and raised his right hand high.

However, Snape seemed to be blind at this point, he paid no attention to Harry's meaning at all, but looked around the entire class with cold eyes.

"Nya?"

?(=?ω?=)?

At that moment, a small furry head suddenly peeked out from one of the desks, Fish in the shape of a cat leaned against the edge of the desk, he tilted his head to look at Snape at the podium, his big eyes looked a bit confused.

"Severus, what are you doing here nya?" Fish jumped up on the desk and shifted into his cat-man form, sitting cross-legged on the desk and asked curiously, "Shouldn't Professor Lupin be teaching this class?"

Snape's face was less grim at Fish, especially when he heard the way the cat was addressing Lupin, and he quirked the corners of his lips in amusement.

"He said he was really bad today and couldn't come to class."

It was clear that Fish was asking the same question as Harry, and was acting even ruder, but Snape had a very different attitude, not only did he not pursue Fish's rudeness, he answered his question immediately.

Harry lowered his arm, not feeling unfair, since he was used to being Snape's target anyway, and besides, Fish had asked the question he wanted to ask, so he was grateful to get an answer.

Besides... it's perfectly normal for the cat to be favored.

"Doesn't that feel good?" Fish cocked his little head to one side for a moment, then realized, "Oh! Fish knows what's going on."

∑(●ΦωΦ●)

With that, he returned to his cat form and went back to sleeping on top of his desk in a dignified manner.

Originally, Harry wanted Fish to help him ask what happened to Professor Lupin and if he was in danger...

For example, being killed by a certain professor's potion.

But after seeing that Fish seemed to know something, Harry desisted, for Fish knew it too, it was probably some personal secret of Professor Lupin's, not something that had happened to him.

Harry, who had a secret kept by the Cat, and had known many people to whom the cat kept secrets, quickly guessed the truth.

As to whether or not to go to Fish and ask him later....

Harry thought it would be best not to ask it himself, as Fish might accidentally reveal it at some point.

"Lupin left no record of what you learned..."

As Harry thought this, Snape's voice sounded from the lectern, and the lines sounded inexplicably familiar: the same scene as when he had been standing in for Quirrell, not unrelated, but identical.

Harry looked in surprise at Ron, next to him, and Hermione, not far away, both obviously very impressed by the scene, and there was a bit of a stir among the other students.

Could it be that, like Quirrell, Professor Lupin is actually a bad guy?

An absurd thought popped into Harry's mind.

And, he recalled Fish's reaction to seeing Lupin on the train....

Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, is there really no such thing as a good person?

But when he thought of Professor Lupin's excellent teaching skills and the way he had taken care of him, Harry sincerely hoped he was thinking too much.

But then it occurred to Harry that they had also thought of Quirrell as the good guy who had stopped Snape from stealing the Philosopher's Stone, but it had turned out to be the opposite....

Harry, whose mind was a bit muddled, wasn't in class at the time, so when Snape criticized Lupin's level of teaching there, he didn't have much of a reaction.

Harry's reaction was clearly not normal, so he was soon on Snape's radar again.

"How do you tell a werewolf from a real wolf, Potter?"

Snape ignored Hermione's raised hand and instead named Harry.

"A werewolf?" Harry, who looked back slightly, replied unconsciously, "I don't think we've learned about werewolves yet."

"Five points deducted from Gryffindor, and if you get distracted in my class again, it'll be ten points next time, Potter." Snape raised the corner of his mouth sarcastically, "I'm not like the other professors, and I don't particularly care for you, 'The Boy Who Lived'."

As he said this, Snape completely ignored a certain cat sleeping on the other side of his desk.

Harry opened and closed his lips slightly, but swallowed his retort.

He knew there was no point in doing so, and Harry was a little confused as to whether Professor Lupin was really as bad a man as Quirrell.

Seeing that Harry didn't seem too upset, Snape licked his lips ruefully, and then proceeded to criticize Lupin's progress, and tell the crowd about werewolves.

Everyone dared to scribble notes about werewolves in their books, and survived the sparse Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the face of Snape's occasional snide remarks.

The bell finally rang, but Snape wouldn't let them out.

"You will each write a paper for me on how to identify and kill a werewolf. I want you to fill out two rolls of parchment on this topic, by Monday morning."

Snape set them a lot of homework, which made even Fish, who was the only one unaffected, less happy.

"Fish suddenly thinks, Remus is actually quite nice nya..."

(?ω?)