Chapter 377: The Malfoy Boggart (Edited)

The next day, Hogwarts' already somewhat lax security measures had been tightened again, and even tighter than before.

Professor Flitwick was teaching the castle guards to identify Sirius Black with large photographs; Filch was suddenly busy, running through the corridors plugging holes, from the smallest cracks in the walls to rat holes.

Sir Cadogan was removed from office and his portrait was returned to the cold, empty landing of the seventh floor staircase. In its place, the Fat Lady was restored, but she demanded special protection from the school to return to her post.

So Dumbledore arranged for her to be protected by a group of rough troll guards, who patrolled the corridors in groups of three or five, grunting and comparing the size of their bats.

Of course, Dumbledore had informed Fish before hiring the troll guards, so as not to lose out if the kitten got excited and took out the troll guards he had paid for.

And, naturally, the cat was very unhappy with this arrangement.....

"Fish can get Fluffy or Uroboros to help nya!"

?(?ΦДΦ?)?

Fish suggested to Dumbledore two more powerful guards.

However, of course Dumbledore could not accept such an offer, as the basilisk and the three-headed dog were too dangerous for the other students, and he had not only chosen the troll guards to protect the Fat Lady, but also to give Fish a chance to overcome his weaknesses.

"Don't worry, Fish." Dumbledore patiently explained to the kitten, "Compared to ordinary trolls, troll guards are much cleaner and don't have much odor."

"Really nya?"

?ω?

Fish looked at Dumbledore suspiciously, the old man was so mean that he often didn't tell the truth, he still remembered how the mean old man tricked Tom Riddle last year.

So Dumbledore simply took Fish to see the troll security he had hired.

Although trolls have low intelligence and short tempers, they actually have their own language and can understand a somewhat simple human language.

So some wizards try to train the smartest among the trolls to become troll guards, and then hire them out to other wizards for money.

And to improve the user experience, those mages will naturally keep the troll guards clean under their hands.

Although there was still some body odor, Fish found it acceptable, so he agreed to let them patrol the corridors outside the Gryffindor common room without further resistance.

Even after a few days, Fish got on well with them, they greeted each other as they entered and left the common room, but it was a pity they were only allowed to patrol the school, otherwise Fish would have taken them to the Forbidden Forest, introducing them to Fluffy and helping him clean up the trolls there as well.

In addition to the increased security, Professor McGonagall did not spare Neville, who, as Fish said, was unlucky.

Firstly, point deduction and basic confinement; secondly, he will not be able to go to Hogsmeade in the future, so he has to stay with Harry; finally, Professor McGonagall forbids anyone to tell him the password to enter the common room.

Poor Neville had to sit outside the common room every night, waiting to see who would take him in, while the trollish security guards taunted him.

Especially during the time he was confined, he had to wait for Fish to return from his nightly tour before he could go back to sleep in his dormitory.

In addition, Neville was the fourth student to receive a howling letter after the Weasley brothers, but everyone had plenty of experience with howling letters, except for this year's first-year students, who were startled to hear the voice of the elder Longbottom.

As the only witness to Sirius Black's face-to-face, Ron had long since made a name for himself. For the first time in his life, he was getting more attention than Harry.

It was clear that Ron loved it, and although he was still in shock from the previous night, he was always happy to recount his adventures in detail to anyone who asked.

And as time went on, he would add more details, as well as his own mental activities at the time....

Although the reality is that Ron was so terrified that he doesn't remember anything except the sight of Black with the knife.

But none of that mattered to Fish, all he cared about was how to catch Black, and.... Why Snape thought Lupin was Black's accomplice.

The plan he'd discussed with Harry to catch Black wouldn't work at the moment, because everyone had been paying more attention to Harry recently, and it wasn't proper to go out and lure Black in.

And Fish didn't think Black would be stupid enough to attack Harry at this point.

So Fish was going to go to Snape first and ask him.

After hearing the story at Professor McGonagall's house, Fish approached Snape's office door. He reached out and knocked on the door twice, but there was no answer.

"Is he asleep already?"

?ω?

The kitten cocked his head in confusion and knocked harder, but still got no answer.

"Severus, are you there?"

Fish yelled twice more and hit the door with the palm of his hand, rattling it loudly.

However, after all the knocking, there was still no answer, and it seemed that Snape was not in his office.

He should have borrowed Harry's Marauder's Map....

Fish scratched his head, suddenly realizing how useful the thing was.

Just then the door to the Potions classroom on the same floor opened, and out stepped Professor Snape.

"Nya? Severus, there you are!"

∑(??ω??)

Hearing the noise, Fish looked over, waved to Snape as he came out, and then jumped towards him.

"What are you doing here?"

Fish didn't wait for Snape's reply before poking his head out from his side.

In the Potions classroom, Draco was slumped in a chair with a pale face and his originally meticulous hair was plastered to his forehead in a mess, looking extremely embarrassed, Fish also saw a chocolate bar in his hand.

In front of Malfoy was a wooden box, half a man tall, with the smell of some creature inside.

This scene... it looked very familiar to Fish....

Harry had been practicing the Patronus Charm on a boggart at first, in much the same way.

Malfoy's expression was a bit sheepish at the sight of Fish, as he was a mess, and Malfoy's upbringing made him uncomfortable to be seen in disgrace by anyone else.

If it had been anyone else, Malfoy would have said something to shoo him away, but with Fish... there was no escape.

Malfoy sighed helplessly and took another bite of the chocolate in his hand.

"Are you practicing the Patronus Charm, Draco?"

Fish asked as he entered the Potions class professor and arrived at Malfoy's side, behind him Snape closed the door behind him.

"Yes..."

Malfoy, who had not recovered from his emotions, replied weakly.

"By the looks of you, is your boggart a Dementor as well?" Fish blinked and sighed, "I can't believe it's the same as Harry, you two are obviously not on good terms..."

?△?

Malfoy's face suddenly turned very ugly.

Just like Harry didn't want to buy the 2001 Nimbus, Malfoy felt very uncomfortable after realizing that his boggart transformation was the same as Harry's, unfortunately boggart transformations were not something he could change whenever he wanted, and it would be more useful for him to practice his Patronus Charm.

Then Fish added, "But Harry can now summon a solid Patronus in front of a Boggart, so do the best you can, Draco!".

(???)?

This made Malfoy's face look even worse.