Chapter 210: Why Not Ask the Magic Cat? (Edited)

The Weasley twins were not in a very good mood....

It was nothing for them to be caught wandering around at night, and get points deducted or punished, they were used to that by now.

Besides, Professor McGonagall only deducted 10 points symbolically and had no intention of prosecuting them further for breaking school rules, but she supported them in learning how to become animagi on their own and gave them lots of useful advice and help.

Still, George and Fred were a bit depressed.

They had planned to work quietly and surprise everyone, and now that it was known beforehand, they were inexplicably less motivated.

Besides, the twins don't want to sign up for the Ministry of Magic's Animagus registry after their success....

Although it is possible for an illegal Animagus, if discovered, to be sent to Azkaban for a few days until it is confirmed that nothing illegal was done with the spell before being released.

But for George and Fred, two boys who broke school rules as much as they ate and drank, this was not on their minds at the moment.

Their thinking in this regard was surprisingly consistent with Fish's: just don't get caught.

Unfortunately, now that Professor McGonagall knew, she would drag them both down to the Ministry of Magic to register.

"Sigh..."

Fred and George looked at each other silently and sighed again in frustration.

But it was good that they had a better chance of success with Professor McGonagall's help, and that they wouldn't have to be as sneaky as they were today when preparing the materials.

In particular, Professor McGonagall had looked at the dew spoon and Skull Sphinx Moth Chrysalis they had prepared and had pointed out that, while there was nothing wrong with them, they were not of very good quality.

The quality of the material would affect the time it takes for the potion's effect to appear, and would increase the duration of pain during the final transformation, the time it takes to regain sanity after the initial transformation, etc.

These are details that George and Fred don't see in the books, so if you think about it, it's not so bad that Fish caught them.

The main reason, of course, is....

They couldn't blame Fish either.

"By the way, what made you think of following us?"

A depressed Fred couldn't help but ask, though he couldn't blame Fish.

"It was Ron who came to Fish to ask about you guys nya..."

?(●φωφ●)?

Anyway, Ron hadn't said anything about keeping his secret, so Fish told him exactly what had happened.

"Ha! I didn't think little Ronnie cared so much about his brothers."

George and Fred gritted their teeth together.

Because of their good brother's curiosity, the two of them had wasted a month's worth of mandrake leaves, as well as seven days of collecting dew in places where there had been no sunlight or human contact and Skull Sphinx Moth Chrysalis and they had to go back and collect them.

The bottom line is that if they had become Animagus discreetly, they would have had a new way to avoid accountability after breaking school rules... but now that Professor McGonagall knows, it's impossible to fool her, at least in the future.

This is the unhappiest part for the twins... Anyway, let them play Filch and Snape a few times, and then get caught!

The twins exchanged glances and agreed that they would go see their brother Ron and "thank" him for his concern for them.

Over the next few days, Ron was devastated by his two brothers.

It was as if Fred and George were trying to throw all the pranks they had saved up for the previous month at Ron, and he was having a nervous breakdown from all the pranks he was getting a dozen times a day.

"George and Fred must be mad!"

Ron, who was now too scared to stay in his dormitory, pulled his best friend Harry into Hagrid's hut and shouted.

"I'm their brother! They treat me like an enemy.... I bet even Filch hasn't been as badly treated by them as I have!"

Hagrid wasn't too interested in the children's arguments and, after serving them some food and drink, ran off to tend to the pumpkins in the field.... Halloween was just over ten days away and he had to prepare enough pumpkins for the school.

"Uh... Did you piss them off somehow?"

As the saying goes, it's hard to settle a family matter, and Harry couldn't get involved in the Weasley brothers' feud, after all, even Percy hadn't bothered with it....

Of course, it also had to do with the fact that right now he was busy with his relationship with Penelope.

Anyway, George and Fred had bullied Ron more than once or twice, and his girlfriend was more important.

In any case, Harry could only help him analyze things, "The two of them weren't like George and Fred a month ago, and now they're suddenly back to their old selves, and they're focused on you, so it's possible you've pissed them off."

"How is that possible?!" Ron retorted angrily, "I've been doing nothing but Quidditch training lately, and it's not like you don't know that!"

Harry thought about it and nodded his head, as housemates and close friends, Harry and Ron were pretty inseparable when they were at school and he didn't remember Ron doing anything in particular to upset George and Fred.

"And I'm not stupid, so what's the point of pissing them off? I've been bullied by George and Fred since I was a kid..."

Ron continued to grumble indignantly.

"How about... asking Fish to ask them about you? Or asking him to intercede with George and Fred for you?"

Like Ron, Harry was now in the habit of turning to Fish if he didn't understand something.

Then his comment enlightened Ron....

"Wait...ask Fish...he might know what's going on..."

Ron slapped his forehead, showing a tearful expression.

Then, without waiting for Harry to ask, he took it upon himself to tell the story.

"I was chatting with Fish a while ago and casually asked him if he knew what had happened with George and Fred, since they weren't talking much lately, and then Fish offered to go find out..... He probably found out about them and ruined their plans?"

"But ... Aren't you worried about them? They don't have to be so angry, do they?" Harry asked, not really understanding.

In fact, Ron didn't quite understand why, but he couldn't think of any other reason than that.

So Ron just walked out of Hagrid's hut with Harry and found Fish sleeping by the lake.

Under the murderous stares of the girls around, the two bravely woke Fish up and took him aside to ask.

"George and Fred? what's wrong with you nya?"

(●φω??●)

Fish, who had been awakened by the two, rubbed his eyes, yawned again and asked groggily.

Fish, who was used to sleeping in the arms of a group of girls, was sleeping better and better and had not heard Ron's question.

So Ron had to repeat it again, and only then did Fish understand.

"Fish already knows what they're doing!" The kitten lifted his chin in triumph, "But I promised George and Fred I'd keep it a secret, Fish has it well guarded!".

"Uh, no matter what they did exactly," Ron was now just trying to understand why exactly he was being targeted by his two brothers, "Did anything in particular happen when you found them?"

"Yeah nya." Fish nodded and then snorted, "I was stalking George and Fred when I was also stalked by Minerva...".

The kitten said nothing about ruining the twins' efforts for a month.

"Must have learned from Albus nya!"

Fish cursed, and his mouth puckered.

"Hmph!" (〃｀3′〃).

Ron: "..."