Chapter 594: You still have to thank us! (Edited)

When Fish entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the class had already begun, and Umbridge, as she had done last week, had let the class read the book while she sat at the lectern in a daze.

But unlike last week, when he was all smiles, Umbridge seemed a bit lost in thought.

In fact, earlier, in the Divination classroom, Umbridge had slowly come to her senses after turning away uneasily....

At first, she had been taken in by Professor Trelawney and Fish's joint performance, but soon, suspicious as she was, she began to wonder if it might not have been a show by Trelawney herself.

She hadn't heard of magic that made the body glow, but on second thought, it wouldn't be too difficult to create.

After all, one of Umbridge's hobbies was inventing spells and magical props to torment people, and she had created many.

But Professor Trelawney had her hands on the table and was not seen with her wand, so Umbridge wasn't sure if she had been tricked.

While it is possible to cast a spell without a wand and silently, it is not possible to do so without being a powerful wizard, and it makes no sense for such a powerful wizard to try to fool someone with such a small trick....

And the fact that Trelawney's great-grandmother Cassandra was indeed a famous prophet was something that even Umbridge couldn't easily ignore.

As for the fact that Fish had been left alone, Umbridge didn't particularly care, since she had been at Hogwarts for a week and knew how much they loved the cat-eared boy....

Even her earlier plan to use Fish to fight Dumbledore had been thwarted by Minister Fudge.

So Umbridge was actually inclined to believe in the prophecy, but she was taking a bit of a risk to be careful these days and see if the prophecy that Professor Trelawney had made for herself was accurate....

"Most annoying..." muttered Umbridge, a little confused as to what this was all about.

There were a lot of things she hated, like her Muggle mother and brother, her father who used to be in charge of cleaning at the Ministry of Magic, her colleagues who gossiped about her, Dumbledore and his minions who fought against the Ministry, and....

"Report, nya!"

?(ΦωΦ)?

Fish, with a pair of cat ears, pushed his way through the door, his furry tail still wagging pointlessly behind him.

"Like these half-human, half-beast creeps!"

There was a flash of disgust in Umbridge's eyes. She didn't care if they were some kind of magical creature or some kind of born Animagus. Just the sight of an appearance that didn't resemble a normal human made her feel sick all over!

But Minister Fudge's explanation helped her overcome her discomfort, and once again, she flashed a fake smile and said in a girlish voice, "Go back to your seat and sit down, Mr. McGonagall."

"I hope in the future you will try to get to class on time, if only because of Professor Trelawney..." She pointed to the sleepy crowd reading and said blindly with wide eyes, "They're disrupting our studies. You're disrupting everyone's studies."

"I got it, nya!"

(?w?)

Fish replied nonchalantly, then trotted over to Hermione with a thud, then turned into a cat and jumped onto the desk next to her, squinting and nodding.

Umbridge's expression froze, and she forced her gaze away. Then she clapped her hands and said to the others in a girlish voice, "Alright, please continue reading Chapter Two of the Theory of Magical Defense, 'The Theory of Common Defense and Its Origins.' This is key knowledge that will no doubt be tested on the O.W.L. exam."

The two dull lessons on Defense Against the Dark Arts passed slowly, with Fish snoring under his breath. When Umbridge left, the group made their way to the Great Hall in pairs, arguing and grumbling.

Hermione watched the animated discussion and nodded with satisfaction, thinking that the dueling club she would organize later would have a good turnout.

She had already made her plans and had contacted several of the Prefects, all of whom had shown great enthusiasm for the event. But the problem they had was timing and what to do if there were too many people to tell.

Hermione didn't think Fish's affinity would solve everything. Even if no one was going to tell, what if one or two of the looser-lipped ones leaked the news?

So she was going to find some time to talk to the Prefects she had contacted about what to do and to decide on the first group of people to join.

"Blimey, Fawkes? What are you doing here?"

(≧≦)

As Hermione was deep in thought, she suddenly heard Fish's cheerful voice next to her.

"Caw~"

Fawkes, who had teleported to Fish's side, let out a long, sing-songy chirp as he landed on his shoulder and pecked Fish's ear.

"Is Albus back? Can Fish go and find him tonight? That's good, nya! Fish had another dream about the big tree last night and was planning to go to the Forbidden Forest tonight to see if anything had changed."

Fish swiveled his ears, avoiding Fawkes' beak, and responded with a laugh.

Fawkes played with Fish for a while before disappearing in an instant.

"Let's eat, Fish is hungry..."

(?ω?)

Fish rubbed his growling stomach, grabbed Hermione's hand, and ran out of the classroom.

When the two reached the Great Hall, hand in hand, waving to the others as they made their way to the long Gryffindor table, they saw George and Fred sitting with their heads down.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and their best friend Lee Jordan were comforting them, while the rest of the Gryffindors laughed and watched.

"What's wrong with them, nya?

?ω?

Fish approached curiously.

"They want to give back the goods," George said with a sad face.

"Our candy, the teachers cracked it as soon as they threw it." Fred, who also had a sad face, continued to explain.

Actually, the twins had already predicted that the professors would decipher their candy, so they had developed a different effect from the beginning.

The only one they have deciphered so far is the coma candy, also the Sangradonasal Nougat, the rash one, and the vomit and fever ones that they are still perfecting and haven't been released yet....

But the teachers have cracked it so fast that the twins had lost all confidence in the remaining candies.

"Oh, that's what it is..."

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

It shouldn't have anything to do with him... Should it?

After all, he had only told Professor McGonagall about the state of the first years after eating the sweets, and the different magical potion smells he had detected from the candies. He hadn't handed over the finished products...

And naturally, Hermione, who knew the details, wouldn't betray Fish. She had been skeptical of the twins' product from the beginning and now gloated, "Serves you right!"

But after teasing the twins, she asked curiously, "If they want to return the items, why not give them a refund? They only sell candy anyway, so why the sad faces?"

"They don't have any more money..." Ron scratched his head and chuckled bitterly. "Aside from the money for materials, the rest of their funds went into buying me a flying broom..."

"Uh... Fish can lend you the money, nya, like last year," Fish offered with a guilty conscience.

"Ah, that's not necessary," Fred said with a shrug. "Harry has already lent us some, and the others aren't pressuring us to pay it back."

"It's just..." George sighed. "Our shop's future is uncertain..."

The Skiving Snackbox was one of the twins' main products this year, and they had invested a considerable amount of money in it. Now that they were losing money, their plans to save up and open a shop this year seemed in jeopardy.

"Who told you to develop those products?" Hermione rolled her eyes. She didn't feel sorry for them at all.

She believed the twins deserved it, and even if Fish hadn't leaked the truth, the professors would have eventually discovered it. It was only a matter of time, and the twins would have likely ended up losing even more money in the end.

If they had just thought it through... they would have Fish to thank for it!