Chapter 133: A Farewell (Edited)

Upon returning to the castle, Ron wrote a letter for Hedwig to send to Charlie.

As Charlie was away in Romania, it was not until Wednesday night of the second week that the dusty Hedwig returned with a letter from Charlie.

Harry, who was sleeping, was awakened by Hedwig's tapping on the window and, groggily, put on his glasses and let Hedwig in.

"Mail at this hour?"

Seamus, who had also woken up, stretched his head to look around, grumbled irritably, and then went back to sleep.

Harry cautiously approached Ron's bed and woke him up, before they both slipped gingerly into the Common Room to read Charlie's letter together.

Fish was still out playing and they couldn't go into the girls' dormitory, so they had to read the letter first.

Charlie replied that his friends would be visiting him in Romania next week, so he hoped Ron and the others could deliver Norbert to the tallest tower at Hogwarts on Saturday at midnight, so his friends would come and take Norbert.

"We have the invisibility cloak," Harry said, after a moment of staring at each other, "It shouldn't be too difficult; I think it will be enough to cover the two of us and Norberto, and Fish doesn't need to be invisible."

"Then why in the tower?" ?w?

When the next morning Harry and Ron told Fish and Hermione about Charlie's answer, Fish cocked his head in confusion, "Wouldn't it be easier to go to the Forbidden Forest and find Hagrid?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other again, they didn't know why, and they never thought about this problem before....

"Maybe... because it's better to locate the highest tower?"

Ron forced himself, and Charlie and his friends, to redeem themselves.

Harry, who hadn't thought of that either, laughed dryly in embarrassment, then sighed helplessly, "Whatever the reason, it's too late to change the plan, we don't have time to send another owl to find Charlie."

"So we'll have to use the invisibility cloak to bring Norbert back?"

Hermione also sighed helplessly. She was now a bit used to breaking school rules.

"Don't worry, Hermione, with Fish around, Norberto will behave himself and we won't get caught by Filch or the other teachers so easily." said Ron reassuringly.

After listening for a while, Fish understood their concerns and stepped in again, "Why don't you ask Comey and the others for help? They can send Norberto in with a 'pop'." ?w?

Fish had already tried to get Comey and the others to send him out of the castle, only to be denied, but it would be no problem to get them to help bring Norberto into the castle.

"Comey? Who is he?" Hermione asked curiously, having never seen Comey before.

"Oh, he's a house elf that works at Hogwarts that Dumbledore lent to Professor McGonagall to look after Fish, so Fish knows him well." Harry explained.

"House elves! I know them." Hermione suddenly perked up, "I've read about them in books, they're basically only found in old wizarding families and they're great life helpers for wizards, I've never seen one before!"

"You only have to go to the Hogwarts kitchen to see them, there are at least a hundred of them."

Ron shrugged, a small smile in his eyes, it was rare for him to see Miss Smarty Pants so insensitive.

"Well," Harry interrupted their conversation about house elves, "After class, we'll let Hagrid know, and Fish, you can check with Comey and the others when you're out for the night, if they can help, okay?"

"No problem! Leave it to Fish."(●ΦwΦ●)

Fish thumped his chest and readily agreed.

Things were going very well, Hagrid was reluctant but knew it was for the best, and Comey and the others agreed to help without hesitation.

So soon it was time for Saturday night.

"I'll be in Minerva's office around eleven to have a story read to me, so you should go to the top of the Astronomy Tower, and don't worry about Big Eyes, Mrs. Norris has promised to distract him for me."

That was what Fish told Harry before leaving the Common Room.

"We have Fish to thank, otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to get Norbert up to the Astronomy Tower." sighed Ron.

After leaving the Common Room, Fish wandered around the castle for a while, as he always did, going first to the kitchen, telling Comey and the others to help Harry carry Norbert, and then running up to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Minerva~" ?●w●?

Fish jumped into the arms of Professor McGonagall, who was about to leave on patrol.

"What took you so long to get here?" Professor McGonagall rubbed Fish's head and said helplessly, "I'm on duty tonight, I should go out on patrol now."

"Then I'm coming, too!" Fish threw up his hands and volunteered, "I'll help Minerva on the meow patrol!"

And with that, he took the form of a cat and ran towards the door.

"Meow~!"

The kitten turned to Professor McGonagall, urging her on.

Forcing Minerva to stay and read a story would only make her suspicious, so it would be better to do the opposite and join the patrol with Minerva, then lure her in.

There is no concrete example of such a maneuver in the storybook, but Fish was not a cat who merely copied actions, but had already learned to think.

So, under the deliberate direction of Fish and Lady Norris, Filch and Professor McGonagall wandered around the fourth floor, occasionally popping in for a quick glance and not noticing Harry slipping away in his invisibility cloak.

Harry reached the top of the Astronomy Tower and saw a large crate that was making a lot of noise, and the house elf, Comey, standing next to it.

Harry lifted his invisibility cloak and greeted him, "Good evening, Comey, and thank you for your help."

"It is Comey's honor to serve Master Fish, and Mr. Harry Potter!"

Comey replied pointedly, and bowed deeply to Harry.

Hermione shot him a questioning look, but Comey ignored it as he straightened up and said briskly, "Then it's time for Comey to go, I still have a lot of work left to do!"

With that, he bowed once more to Harry and disappeared before them with a deafening "pop".

"Is that a house elf?" Hermione frowned, "That rag he's wearing, that's just a curtain, isn't it?"

"Yes," Ron shrugged indifferently, explaining to Hermione, "House elves don't wear normal clothes, I remember you can't give them clothes, as that means you're banishing them, that's probably why they don't wear normal clothes."

"Why would they have that strange habit?" Hermione continued, very puzzled.

Unfortunately that was all Ron knew, who shook his head and replied with some annoyance, "I don't know, I don't have any house elves in my house."

Hermione was about to ask another question, but was interrupted by Fish's late arrival.

"Meow?" Fish returned to his feline person form and looked around, "Big Brain isn't here, meow?"

"Big Brain?" Harry was taken aback, "Did you tell Malfoy that too?"

"Yeah meow," Fish nodded naturally, "But he said he wouldn't come then, either that or he said Norberto didn't like him too much meow.... That guy is really cheap." ?w?

"Slytherins, they're all like that."

Ron didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to slander all the members of Slytherin.

The group stayed on the top floor of the Astronomy Tower for a while longer, before four brooms fell from the sky.

Charlie's friends wanted to have a nice chat with Harry, the famous boy who lived, but when they saw Fish with cat ears, they lost control and all gathered around him.

The first time they saw Fish, they couldn't resist the cat-eared Fish, and only after they had adjusted to his strange affinity did they turn to Harry and the others and talk to them for a while, and then tied up Norbert's box.

After saying goodbye to everyone (especially Fish), Charlie's friends got on their flying brooms, pulled the crate containing Norbert, and left the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower.