Chapter 239: The Nirvana of the Phoenix (Edited)

The day after the opening of the Dueling Club, there was a heavy snowstorm outside.

Fish and his classmates braved the heavy snowfall and made it to the third greenhouse. As soon as they entered the greenhouse, they began to shake the snowflakes off their bodies and a puddle of snow water quickly formed at the entrance.

"Clean up."

After the group finished shaking the snowflakes off their bodies, Sprout wiped away the accumulated water, then slapped her palms together and shouted, "All right, everyone gather here, our task today is very important!"

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, who were in class with her, leaned toward her, forming a semicircle in front of Professor Sprout.

"Due to the sudden drop in temperature, we need to put socks and scarves on the mandrakes as soon as possible today so that they don't stop growing and even freeze because of the weather."

Professor Sprout reminded with a straight face, "We have Fish and the mandrake will be quieter than usual, but that's no excuse for carelessness, so be careful when dressing them! And, keep your earmuffs on!"

Without Fish, Professor Sprout would not have given the students this important assignment, but with Fish it's different and the level of difficulty has been directly reduced by two or three levels.

Coupled with the fact that Professor Sprout is on the sidelines watching the students, the students can fully operate this issue, which is also a rare experience for the students.

"Remember, you can only take off the earmuffs when I give you two thumbs up," Professor Sprout again solemnly emphasized as she handed out the earmuffs, "The mandrakes have grown so big that hearing them cry again now is really life-threatening! "

Then he looked at Fish, "Especially you, Fish! Don't bring out the mandrake while the others aren't wearing earmuffs."

"Understood nya~"

(●ΦωΦ●●)

Fish wiggled his ears and replied.

After seeing Harry suddenly undress from the fwooper's scream, Fish had already started paying attention to this aspect, and the last time he took Hermione to the Forbidden Forest, he had given specific instructions to his friends who had special voice powers not to speak casually.

"Very well," nodded Professor Sprout, "Now, put on your earmuffs."

Everyone except Fish quickly put on the earmuffs, and then Professor Sprout grabbed a jar of mandrake and pulled it out.

Under Fish's influence, the mandrake did not struggle too much, but showed a state of shivering from the cold.

Professor Sprout quickly picked up the small socks and scarf she had set aside and put them on the mandrake before putting it back in its pot.

After the demonstration, Professor Sprout gave two thumbs up, asked everyone to remove their ear muffs, and gave some tips on how to dress the mandrake before handing out the sets of small socks and scarves.

Fish spent the rest of the morning in the greenhouse, dressing the mandrakes with his buddies, and not just looking for an empty pot to sleep in, as he usually does.

After all, the maturing of the mandrake had something to do with saving Mrs. Norris, and Fish wanted to do his part.

Since the mandrake did not resist at all in Fish's hands, and even cooperated, he was the fastest and most productive of all, and Gryffindor received extra points from Professor Sprout for it, a rare occurrence for Fish.

After a busy morning, the group returned to the castle in the snow, changed out of their snow-soaked clothes, and gathered in the Great Dining Hall for lunch.

Due to the cold weather, the elves prepared hot soup and spicy food, which made everyone sweat.

After sweating out a plate of mapo tofu, Fish was spitting out his tongue and pouring his drink when Dumbledore suddenly approached him.

"Fish, Fawkes' time is almost up, do you want to go see him?"

"Of course!"

(●ΦωΦ●)

Fish froze and then quickly realized what Dumbledore meant, so he dropped the cup, got up from the chair and dragged Dumbledore into the Headmaster's office.

"Slowly, slowly, no need to rush, I can't run too fast with my old bones."

Dumbledore was cheerfully dragged along by Fish, telling lies that Fish wouldn't believe.

"Don't worry, Fawkes sent me to tell you, he won't start his nirvana until you arrive."

The phoenix could control the timing of nirvana a little when he entered the final stage of nirvana, maybe three or four days before or after, and Fawkes had chosen today because the sudden drop in temperature was too much for the old phoenix.

But before that, both he and Dumbledore had promised to notify Fish when Nirvana happened, so it was delayed until noon.

Although Dumbledore had explained it to Fish, the curious cat dragged Dumbledore up to the seventh floor at a trot.

Dumbledore's physical strength was fine, but running up the spiral staircase made his head spin a bit.

"No, I have to slow down." said Dumbledore as he walked into his office and sat in his chair, rubbing his dizzy head.

Fish didn't bother with him, he walked over to the golden perch behind the door and stared at Fawkes, who was about to lose all his feathers.

"Fawkes, are you okay?"

As usual, Fish cast a calming spell on Fawkes, but even that had little effect on Fawkes at this point, except for a slight gleam of light in his dull eyes.

"Caw..."

Fawkes replied weakly, sounding as if he was choking and might die at any moment.

Immediately after, Fawkes' nirvana began.

Flames erupted from all over Fawkes' body, instantly turning him into a ball of fire, the heat of which caused Fish to instinctively take two steps back, but his gaze remained fixed on Fawkes' body.

At that moment, Fish's perception was that Fawkes' life force, which was already weak, had suddenly increased dramatically with the appearance of the flames, but had soon diminished again, and when the flames on the hanger had died down, Fawkes' life breath had completely disappeared.

Fish looked at the pile of ashes on the ground in the wake of Fawkes' self-immolation, an aura of new but familiar life growing rapidly among the ashes.

Then, a small, shriveled chick poked its head through the ashes.

"Fawkes? is that you nya?"

(●ω●)

Fish crouched down and looked at the chick that emerged from the ashes with glowing eyes.

Although there was no doubt that it was Fawkes because of its vitality, Fish confirmed it once again.

"Caw..."

The chick raised its head and answered Fish's question in a crisp, clear voice, much more energetic than the old bird's.

"It's amazing nya, you really have gotten smaller..."

The newly reborn phoenix had only a sparse layer of red fluff on its body and looked no better than an older phoenix.

"Albus, should we feed Fawkes something?"

(●ΦωΦ)

Fish ran over to Dumbledore's desk with Fawkes in his hand.

"Of course, Nirvana takes a lot of effort, I've already prepared for it."

Dumbledore smiled as he opened a drawer, pulled out some sheets and handed them to Fish.

"Come and feed Fawkes."

Fish took the leaves and put them under his nose, "It's fresh." He whispered, then brought the leaf close to Fawkes' mouth and let him peck at it.

Having known Fawkes for so long, he had learned that the Phoenix only ate herbs.

"Well," nodded Dumbledore, "Fresh white leaves keep better and have good recuperative properties, so they are perfect for feeding a phoenix just after nirvana."

"Albus, can you give Fawkes to Fish for a while?"

Fish said as he handed Fawkes the fresh white leaves, "Fish has plenty of fresh herbs in his quarters, all given to me last Christmas by my fellow students at Yellow Mouse College nya."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment....

"That's badger."