Chapter 195: The brave Gryffindors are not afraid! (Edited)

After agreeing to Harry and Ron's request, Fish put his head back in front of Harry's face and looked at him curiously for a while.

"Is, is there a problem?"

Harry asked, squirming uncomfortably under Fish's gaze.

"Harry, can you talk to the other snakes for Fish?"

Fish tilted his head and asked, twitching his ears.

It was the first time Fish had ever known a human to communicate with an animal other than an animagus like Minerva, so he was very curious.

"Well, yes, but there aren't any snakes around here either..."

No one at Hogwarts would deny Fish a small request like that.

Although it was a bit depressing for Harry to be associated with Slytherin for being able to talk to snakes, he didn't mind putting on a show for Fish.

"There are snakes in the Forbidden Forest!" Fish licked his lips, "Fish has caught them a few times and it tastes good nya!"

(¿?﹃?●)

Fish's mouth watered again at the thought of the delicious snake soup the centaurs made.

"Fish knows some more snakes, they're not stupid, so Fish didn't eat them."

There is a difference between snakes, some are not very intelligent and Fish can eat them without stress, but the ones that can communicate, or other small animals, Fish usually doesn't.

It just so happened that in the Forbidden Forest, Fish met some pythons with enough intelligence to communicate with humans.

In fact, Harry and Ron had long been envious that Fish could move freely in the Forbidden Forest, but they knew that they did not have Fish's affinity, and that sneaking in there without him would be a death sentence.

So when Fish offered to take them into the Forbidden Forest with him, they were tempted, but feared that Hagrid and Professor McGonagall would catch them... yesterday they just finished their punishment.

"Harry, don't you have an invisibility cloak? I'll take you secretly, as long as you don't get caught, it's not a problem!"

?(●φωφ●)?

Fish shouted his code of conduct again.

Harry and Ron looked at each other again and nodded almost simultaneously.

It was too rare an opportunity to pass up.

Besides...

If they didn't dare to take this opportunity, what kind of Gryffindors would they be?

Brave Gryffindors have no fear!

So Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak, covered him and Ron with it, and followed Fish outside.

And once outside the dormitory, Fish took the form of a small tabby cat, tail held high, and walked leisurely out of the castle.

Harry and Ron, who were following him stealthily, saw once again how popular Fish really was.

When they had gone to dinner or class with Fish, the others had been a bit more reserved, but when it was just Fish wandering around the school alone, students and teachers who saw him would almost always come up to greet him, throw him a treat, and try to pet him.

And Fish would also choose to respond according to his mood. Sometimes he would eat the snack and let them touch him, sometimes he would run off with the snack in his mouth, and when he got bored, he wouldn't even take the snack and would turn around and walk away, and the students who didn't get a response wouldn't bother.

Harry and Ron even saw that Malfoy, even after offering the sandwiches and not touching Fish, still seemed happy, unlike the proud and arrogant young man they remembered.

Aside from the students and teachers, even the ghosts and portraits of Hogwarts, Fish could have a chat... although most of the ghosts didn't like Fish putting his paws on them, and the portraits resented Fish sharpening his paws on their frames.

"Harry, do you think Fish has forgotten to go to the Forbidden Forest?" whispered Ron to Harry, for all the way Fish had been walking and stopping, and occasionally looking for a place to lie down, as if he had completely forgotten to take them to the Forbidden Forest.

However, in spite of Ron's efforts to keep his voice down, he could not escape Fish's ears in front of him, and the little cat's ears twitched back a little, then he wagged his tail without explanation, and continued pacing slowly at his leisure.

So said Ron, but he and Harry obediently followed Fish.

For even if Fish had forgotten about the Forbidden Forest, they had made a fortune: Fish had led them through several secret passages they hadn't even known about before, and they had even bumped into Filch in one of them.

"No wonder Filch is always on the prowl..."

Ron continued whispering to Harry, "I keep hearing Fred and George say that there are more secret passages at Hogwarts than they can count, and one of their biggest hobbies is exploring the castle, looking for undiscovered ones.... I feel like the one who knows more about the passages than they do is Fish."

They followed Fish for a while longer, and it was almost noon by the time he left the castle and headed straight for the Forbidden Forest.

Remembering the snake soup the centaurs had made, he planned to stop by their house for lunch, which was one of the reasons he was in no hurry on the way.

The two of them bypassed Hagrid's hut and went straight into the Forbidden Forest before Harry lifted his invisibility cloak.

"Where are we going now?" asked Ron, looking around excitedly.

"You'll have to wait a bit nya."

Fish, who had turned into a cat-man, lifted his head and let out a long meow towards the trees in front of him.

"Nya..."

After a while, a sound was heard in the forest, a distinctly canine panting.

Harry and Ron had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, a huge figure came out of the forest, none other than the three-headed dog, Fluffy, who had been guarding the Philosopher's Stone last term.

"Don't scare them nya!"ツ (●φωφ●)ツ

Seeing Fluffy come out and smile at Harry and Ron, Fish walked over to him and patted him.

"Wow!"

Fluffy cupped his head sadly at Fish, but remembered the smell of these two little guys. It was they who played the flute and put him to sleep. For a dedicated watchdog, but a great pity.

As for Fish doing the same thing.... that's different!

"It's okay, it's okay," Fish said reassuringly, patting Fluffy on the nose, "They got a lesson from Severus too, so don't get mad nya."

"Wow?"

"Severus is the one you bit on the leg last term, with the greasy looking hair nya."

"Wow..."

Fluffy immediately snorted disdainfully through his nose, his opponent defeated.

But for Fish's sake, he let the two little ones pass.

"We're going to go eat at Bane's house, and Fluffy's coming with us."

It was then that Fish explained his purpose.

Fluffy stared at Ron and Harry, who stood rigid, for a moment before he reluctantly let himself fall back down.

"Come on up nya, the centaur tribe is a bit far."

Fish rolled onto Fluffy's back, straddling his middle neck, and waved to Harry and Ron.

The two swallowed saliva, looked at each other hesitantly, and finally decided to trust Fish and leaned forward cautiously.

They were so slow that Fluffy grew impatient and approached them, grabbed them by the neck and had them flung upward, throwing the terrified Harry and Ron onto their backs.

With the three little ones on his back, Fluffy took off running in the direction of the centaur tribe.

"I thought he was dead..."

A stunned Ron followed Fish's example and sat on the right side of Fluffy's neck, wiping the cold sweat from his head.

Harry, sitting on the left side of his neck, nodded his head in sympathy, his legs had gone soft when Fluffy had opened his mouth and to bite them....

"Fluffy's not the kind of bad dog that likes to bite people," Fish said in Fluffy's defense, patting him on the head, "He's only a little aggressive when he's protecting something nya, he's usually very good."

Harry and Ron remained silent at this, especially after seeing all the animals running as Fluffy ran....

They became even quieter.