Chapter 451: Ignored (Edited)

"Why are you all doing here? Is Emond in a bad mood again?"

(??w??)

On this day, when Fish returned from feeding the Blast-Ended Skrewt at Hagrid's and saw a group of people crowded in the foyer, the curious cat immediately approached them and asked.

"Don't throw me! Ah... Is that Fish?"

The student who had been grabbed by the cat held out his arms impatiently, but changed his attitude as soon as he realized it was Fish.

"There's an announcement on the notice board that students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, will be arriving at Hogwarts next Friday afternoon." He excitedly shared the information with Fish, "Classes will end half an hour earlier that afternoon."

"Great!" cheered Harry before Fish had time to be happy, "Last class on Friday is Potions! Snape doesn't have time to poison us all!"

"Harry, Severus was talking about poisoning people before Christmas, not Halloween nya."

(??w??)

Fish reminded gently from the side.

The cheerful expression on Harry's face froze for a moment and then collapsed....

"Can't you just let me be happy for a little while, Fish?" he groaned weakly.

"Nya?"

(??w??)

Fish bowed his head and said earnestly, "Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are here, so soon we'll be able to enter the Triwizard Tournament and won't have to study extra afterwards, isn't that something to be happy about nya?"

"Ahahahahaha..." Harry laughed dryly and scratched his cheek.

He was embarrassed to tell Fish that with the increasing class load of late, he had no time left to study the knowledge of the higher grades, and that the only one still going strong was Fish, who had a group of girls to help him with classes.

And if you put yourself in Fish's place....

Harry thought about it for a moment and decided it didn't seem like much to be happy about.

The cat, who was already in a good mood all year, became even happier at the news, even swinging his arms widely as he walked, and Harry, who hadn't felt much joy, seeing the way the cat walked, felt inexplicably happy as well.

Fish wasn't the only one excited about the impending arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and for the next week there was only one topic of conversation: the Triwizard Tournament.

Rumors spread quickly among the students, like highly contagious bacteria: who would compete to be the Hogwarts Champion, what events would take place at the tournament, and how the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would differ from them.

The only ones who were less than thrilled were probably the girls who tutored Fish.

In contrast to the students' enthusiasm, the staff was very nervous: no one wanted to embarrass Hogwarts in front of the other two schools.

So Keeper Filch was more fussy than ever, the school was cleaned over and over again, and the unlucky ones who had recently been punished often took on the job.

The teachers had focused on the worst behaved students, the typical ones being: Neville, Longbottom, Neville Longbottom.

"Longbottom, please be nice and don't show the people at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang that you haven't even mastered a simple transfiguration spell!" shouted Professor McGonagall as the class ended.

The lesson had gone particularly badly, as Neville had inadvertently grafted his ear onto a cactus.

When Professor McGonagall left the classroom, Neville immediately looked like a deflated balloon, slumped in the seat, staring at the ceiling, like a dead person.

This torment continued until October 30.

When Fish awoke in the morning and went to breakfast in the Great Hall with the group as usual, he found that it had been decorated overnight.

On the walls were huge silk banners: a golden lion on a red background, a bronze eagle on a blue background, a black badger on a yellow background, and a silver python on a green background, all hung near the tables they represented.

On the wall behind the professors' table hung the largest banner with the Hogwarts crest: lion, eagle, badger, and snake joined around a large letter H.

"Is there a feast today nya?!"

(??w??)

The cat's eyes lit up at the sight of the arrangement.

Hermione nodded and said, "There's a feast today for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang."

"Great nya!"

?(?≧?≦?)?

Fish cheered, besides not having to take classes right away, there's actually a feast! Fish immediately liked people from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang.

They all made their way to the table, talking animatedly about what they had already talked about many times, the two schools and the Triwizard Tournament.

The twins, however, seemed disinterested, poking at the food on their plates with their forks and exchanging silent glances from time to time.

"They've been very secretive lately," Ron whispered in Harry's ear, "I don't know what they're up to."

Despite this, Ron had no desire to pry, he remembered the unfortunate experience of Fish finding out the twins' secrets and him being mistreated afterwards, and he had no interest in doing it again.

"Maybe it's because of the entry in the Triwizard Tournament."

Harry whispered as he looked at the apathetic twins. But after thinking about it, they were equally excited when they heard that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were coming.

Unable to understand, Harry walked over and asked, "So how are the preparations for the Triwizard Tournament going?"

"More or less," George replied grumpily. "We've asked several professors for information, but unfortunately they all kept tight-lipped, and now we can only hope that what we've learned during this term might come in handy."

As they chatted for a while, a large number of owls flew over, dropping letters and parcels in front of the young wizards, splashing a lot of soup.

As in previous years, Fish had received several book-sized packages of Halloween candy from the Hogsmeade Flume and others, and was always inundated with similar treats in the waning days of October.

Only this year, with the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, even Fish hadn't given Halloween much thought, and trick-or-treating had ceased last year.

Not only Fish, but also the others were not thinking about the upcoming Halloween, and there was a sense of anticipatory joy in the air of the castle.

No one was paying attention in class, and when the bell rang early, everyone hurried back to their dormitories, dropped their bags and books as instructed, put on their cloaks, and ran down the stairs to the hall.

The deans of the houses were ordering their students to line up.

"Weasley, put your hat on properly." said Professor McGonagall sternly to Ron.

"Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair."

Parvati frowned in disgust and removed a large butterfly tiara from the top of her braid.

"And Fish..." Professor McGonagall turned her attention to Fish, who was standing next to Hermione.

?w?

Fish looked at her innocently and wiggled the cat ears on his head.

"... Never mind, behave yourself. Hermione, keep an eye on him for me."

Professor McGonagall sighed and instructed Hermione.

"What do you mean, Minerva?"

? (? `w′?) ?

Fish protested indignantly as he felt attacked.

Professor McGonagall didn't bother to pay attention to him.

"Please follow me," she said, ignoring Fish's protests and calling to the rest of the students, "First years to the front... don't crowd..."

Fish: "..."

(?w?)