Chapter 99: Gifts (Edited)

It wasn't that Fish was stingy, it was just that Professor McGonagall had suddenly asked him to send presents, which made Fish feel a little confused.

In the kitten's mind, Christmas was supposed to be a time for other people to give his presents, so why did he suddenly have to give presents to others?

"It is a rite of friends to exchange gifts, and while no one would say anything if you didn't, Fish's friends would be very happy to receive a gift from you at Christmas." explained Professor McGonagall patiently as she played with Fish's cat ears and tail.

"You don't need to take old people like me and Dumbledore, just think of your friends who are about your age."

"Friends around the same age? like Scarhead and the like, meow?"

Fish reached up and covered his cat ears, avoiding being pinched by Professor McGonagall, and tilted his head to think for a moment.

"Fish will have to prepare a lot of presents in that case...," Fish muttered as he frowned in some distress. ?ω?

Professor McGonagall regretfully removed her hand from Fish's head, and could only grab her tail and curl it back and forth as she muttered, "Okay, make a list and I'll help you prepare the presents together."

"Well..." Fish wiggled his fingers and started counting, "Scar Head, Fatty, Redhead 2, 3, 4, Blackie, Explosion.... "

The first to come to mind, naturally, were his five roommates, and the twins who had been confined together.

"Wait, aren't you missing someone?"

"Meow?"

"The Weasleys still have Percy, you sent gifts to the other three, it would break his heart if you left him out."

Professor McGonagall still admired Percy, otherwise she wouldn't have recommended him for the Headmaster position.

"But number one is so much older than me, didn't you say, Minerva, that you only had to send gifts to someone the same age as me?"

Fish cocked his head, puzzled.

"Well... when I say about the same age, I mean every year."

Professor McGonagall had no choice but to correct his words.

"Oh... so there's Redhead No. 1, Curly Hair, Big Brain, Big Dummy..."

"Three Eyed Sisters, Rat Teeth, Round Face, Ponytail One, Two, Three, Four, Braid One, Two, Three, Biscuit, Cream, Cup..."

As Fish counted them off one by one, Professor McGonagall struggled to match the nicknames Fish said with the person, but it gradually seemed to her that the more she heard, the more wrong she felt...

Fish had mentioned more girls than boys?

But when she thought about the cat's inexplicable affinity and cute appearance, and the fact that he was usually dominated by girls, it was understandable.

But Professor McGonagall couldn't help but sigh, "Fish, when you grow up, you won't be able to play with girls' feelings."

"Meow? what are you talking about, Minerva?" ?ω?

"Nothing," Professor McGonagall laughed and shook her head, Fish didn't understand any of this, she was thinking too much, so she quickly interrupted, "Keep counting, we're going to have to spend a lot of time getting all these presents ready. "

"Oh..." Fish wiggled his ears, not really thinking about what had just happened, and kept lowering his head and wiggling his fingers, "Fish Head, Squinty, Comey, Comey, Norris, Fluffy, Scabbers, Fawkes, Fang. Brandvarden, Tina, Austin, Buckbeak, Mork..."

Professor McGonagall was confused to hear the names mentioned by Fish instead of nicknames, and wondered who the students were, before realizing that Fish was talking about his animal friends.

"You don't have to send your animal friends..."

Professor McGonagall laughed and stopped Fish, who was still calling names.

"Meow?"

"Because they don't celebrate Christmas, it's a human custom, so you don't have to give them presents."

Knowing that Fish still considered herself a cat, Professor McGonagall carefully considered the words, explained to Fish, and then added, "Of course, if you really want, I'll help you with the presents."

"Centaurs don't have Christmas, meow?"

Fish wasn't as sensitive as Professor McGonagall thought she was, she had exchanged gifts with her animal friends, so it's okay not to prepare special gifts for Christmas, she just thought that because centaurs were more similar to humans in appearance, they must have the same customs.

"Yes, centaurs have their own holidays, but if there were centaurs living in human society, they would have no objection to spending Christmas together, it's supposed to be a time to get together and have fun." Said Professor McGonagall

"Like us?" asked Fish.

"Yes, like us."

Professor McGonagall nodded helplessly, knowing what she meant was: just like the two cats lived among humans.

It seemed that it would take some time for Fish's perception of himself to change....

Though helpless, Professor McGonagall was confident that Fish had grown a lot since coming to Hogwarts and that, in time, he would be able to truly integrate.

"What about Comey and the others?" asked Fish, not knowing what Professor McGonagall was thinking, when he brought up the subject of house elves again.

Seeming not to expect Fish to give the house elves anything, Professor McGonagall froze for a moment before replying, "I think the house elves will be happy as long as it's not clothes, and since they're almost all together, we could give them a big bag of chocolates, or something."

"Okay meow! So without Fluffy and the others, we have to prepare..." Fish silently counted the human friends he had just named, then added the house elf one, raised his hands high, and with one hand, the two, and another, shouted, "That's two hundred and fourteen presents!" ?(●ΦωΦ●)?

"Really? Fish has a lot of friends."

Professor McGonagall snorted, curling up Fish's tail, slightly distressed that this was nearly two-thirds of the school's student body, a happy worry about having such a popular kitten.

It's not that Professor McGonagall isn't worried about money, it's just over 200 Christmas presents, and as long as they're not expensive, they don't really cost much, the problem is wrapping them and writing the cards.

Good thing she excluded his animal friends, because even then, 214 gifts would have taken a long time to prepare.

Besides, the school's owls will probably be sold out by Christmas.... Even with the help of the house elves, it's still a lot of work.

We may have to go to Hogsmeade and borrow owls from there.

After thinking about how to deliver the presents, Professor McGonagall asked, "And what is Fish going to give his friends?"

"Food, Meow?"

Fish wiggled his ears, and food was the first thing that came to mind.

Professor McGonagall nodded silently, it was very much Fish's style, and for her it would be simpler to simply buy a large quantity of snacks at Honeydukes.

As for asking Fish to choose the gifts according to each person's preferences....

Even Professor McGonagall has times when she wants to be lazy, and this sort of thing should wait for Fish to worry about it later.

"I know, I'll bring you the presents."

Professor McGonagall continued, not wanting to cause herself any more trouble, "But you'll have to write the greeting cards yourself."

"Meow, why do I have to write?" ∑(●ΦДΦ●)

If there was one thing Fish was most resistant to, aside from Minerva's scolding, it was writing.

And Professor McGonagall knew that Fish didn't like writing, but she was just looking for an opportunity to get her used to it.

So Professor McGonagall patiently explained, "It's part of the festival, greeting cards are your wishes for your friends, didn't you used to get greeting cards with presents at Christmas?"

Fish remembered that there were indeed some small cards in his Christmas presents, but he had always had an aversion to writing and had never read them carefully.

"Can't Minerva write for me, meow?"

Fish tugged gently on Professor McGonagall's robe, his cat ears flopping against his head, looking pitiful.

"Sorry, no!"

Professor McGonagall refused Fish's request with great perseverance.

"Fish doesn't like Christmas anymore, meow!" ?(●ΦДΦ●)?