Chapter 22: Pursuit in the Great Dining Hall

It was the first time this had happened to the Sorting Hat.

Only at the beginning of his song, a little wizard jumped up and grabbed it in his hands.

"Minerva! What a funny hat! I want it," No one else could have done such a thing than Fish, who, grabbing the Sorting Hat and holding it up, shouted gleefully to Professor McGonagall.

"Fish! Put that hat down now!", Professor McGonagall was furious, although she had prepared herself for the fact that Fish, the little kitten, was going to be a lot of trouble when she started school.

Just because Fish had been behaving a little out of character, but generally obedient, Professor McGonagall had let her guard down a little.

She had not expected Fish to jump up at that moment and interfere with the Hogwarts selection ceremony.

Professor McGonagall arched her eyebrows and pointed to the four-legged stool held by the Sorting Hat, "You can't have this, hurry up and give it back!".

Noticing how angry Minerva seemed to be, Fish felt conflicted, interested in the talking hat, but worried that Minerva might lecture him....

As Fish hesitated, the twig hat in his hand spoke, "I must congratulate you, little one, on your good sense. But alas, I cannot go with you, finding a house to which the young wizards of Hogwarts belong was a task given to me by the Four Founders back then. But when it's your turn, I can let you carry it for a while longer, for now, give me back, I haven't finished my song yet."

Fish looked at Minerva, who was furious, and then at the hat that was chattering in his hand....

He grabbed the sorting hat, turned and ran.

He wanted the hat more than anything, and if Minerva wanted to be angry, so be it, it wouldn't be the first time!

"Petrificus Totalus!", Professor McGonagall, who knew Fish's temperament well, pulled out her wand almost as soon as she turned around.

But Fish had also accumulated a lot of experience in his confrontations against Professor McGonagall, and when he heard his voice, he didn't even look back, his body suddenly shrank and turned into a half-meter long tabby cat.

Immediately after, Professor McGonagall's spell grazed Fish's scalp and hit a hapless ghost, who fell down stunned.

"Sorry, Holden." Professor McGonagall waved her wand and lifted the ghost's spell. "Break it up, I have some family business to take care of."

The ghosts and the students around them left the long table and retreated to the edge of the auditorium, while most of the professors talked, laughed and mingled, even Snape and the others, who did not know Fish, chose to watch in silence.

Fish arrived at the door with the Sorting Hat in his mouth, and after scratching it twice with his paws and realizing he couldn't open it, he immediately turned back.

Taking advantage of the cover of the still moving crowd, Fish ducked under the long table that belonged to the Ravenclaw.

"Wingardium leviosa!", Once the students retreated to the edge of the auditorium, leaving it empty, Professor McGonagall used a floating spell to lift the Ravenclaw table.

However, the table was empty underneath.

"I'm here!"

At this moment, the Sorting Hat's shout was heard from above, and everyone looked up, only to discover that Fish was hanging upside down under the long table, and the Sorting Hat was still firmly clamped in his mouth.

"Carpe Retractum!", A thick rope shot out from the tip of Professor McGonagall's wand, heading straight for Fish, who dodged it with ease.

But as soon as he hit the ground, several stools turned into cats his size and pounced on him.

Fish didn't bother with his false counterparts and addressed the crowd with the Sorting Hat in his mouth.

"Petrificus Totalus! Petrificus Totalus! Petrificus Totalus!", Sparks flew from Professor McGonagall's wand, one blocking Fish's path, one blocking his back, and one heading straight for him.

Fish twisted, transforming from cat to human, clutching his Sorting Hat in one hand and his own wand in the other.

"Protego!", The protego charm bounced off Professor McGonagall's barrier spell, and Fish took advantage of his daze to wave his wand again, casting a floating spell at the fake cats.

"Wingardium leviosa!", Fish had not been lazy in the last month, he had learned a lot of spells without Professor McGonagall knowing, just so he could surprise his one day.

Professor McGonagall was surprised, but not happy.

In the meantime, she had tried to teach Fish some basic spells, but the boy had pretended not to understand them or had turned into a cat and hid, so Professor McGonagall had thought it was because Fish hadn't gotten used to them yet, but she hadn't realized that the boy had already learned them.

But when she thought about how Fish had behaved since he had been given his wand in Ollivander's store, Professor McGonagall didn't know what the boy was thinking.

"Fish McGonagall!", Professor McGonagall's roar shook the chandeliers in the auditorium, she waved her wand through clenched teeth and the tables, chairs and benches around her turned into all sorts of animals, large and small, and pounced on Fish.

Seeing the animals pouncing on all sides, Fish had no way to escape, so he reverted to his cat form and took the initiative to fight them off.

The Great Dining Hall was filled with meowing dogs and cats, and fur flew everywhere, and every now and then some of the sizable animals were knocked over by Fish and fell to the floor and became tables and chairs.

The young magicians were dazzled and amazed by the spectacle.

"No wonder Professor McGonagall always catches us ... Our pranks are nothing compared to Fish's," in Gryffindor house, George Weasley sighed sympathetically and his twin brother Fred nodded his head in approval.

Although Fish was much stronger than ordinary cats, he had too many opponents, and even if the shape-shifting animals were killed and rendered unconscious, they would quickly rejoin the fray as new animals under Professor McGonagall's spells.

So, after a fierce fight, Fish was pinned to the ground, unable to move, by a group of fake animals.

Professor McGonagall walked over to Fish, pushed the dummies away, bent down and lifted him by the back of the neck.

"Meow!", Fish opened his mouth, hooked his paws around the Sorting Hat and took it to Professor McGonagall with a pleasant purr.

Professor McGonagall, who was used to this by now, merely held Fish in her hand and, with a wave of her wand, returned the animals to their original form and put the Sorting Hat back on the four-legged stool.

"Now, back to your places."

The students around the auditorium hurried back to their tables, and the new students resumed their positions next to Professor McGonagall.

Having seen what Professor McGonagall could do, no young wizard dared to disobey her.

The new students didn't even dare to speak, let alone whisper, and listened in silence as the Sorting Hat finished its song.

Through the Sorting Hat's lyrics, the first-year students also understood what was going on at the sorting ceremony, couldn't help but sigh in relief, and followed the others to applaud the Sorting Hat's song.

After the clapping stopped, Professor McGonagall finally released Fish, shooting her a warning look before taking a few steps forward and pulling a roll of parchment from her robes, "Whatever name you call now will sit on the stool, put on the hat, and wait for sorting."

Professor McGonagall opened the parchment, looked at the list and said, "Hannah Abbott!"