Chapter 126: The kitten who likes to listen to stories (Edited)

Under Hagrid's strong opposition, Fish was unable to eat the huge, delicious-looking dragon egg.

"So, how are you going to hatch the egg, Big Man? Hold it all the time, meow?" ?﹃? Fish asked curiously as he sat cross-legged on the bed, looking regretfully at the dragon egg Hagrid held in his arms.

Although Fish's gaze was still a bit dangerous, Hagrid believed Fish's promise, and put the egg back on the bed, then awkwardly wrapped it in the quilt.

"Actually, I don't know how to hatch it..."

Hagrid looked worried, scratched his messy hair with his thick fingers and said, "I originally wanted to wrap it like this first, and then go to the library to find out if there are any books related to dragon breeding and borrow one."

"Let's go then," Since he couldn't eat the egg, Fish was curious about how to hatch the dragon egg, "It's okay if we don't go to the Forbidden Forest today, I can even ask Minerva for you, maybe she knows how to hatch a dragon egg."

"Wait!" Hagrid was quick to raise his voice, stopping Fish, "You can't tell Professor McGonagall!".

"Meow?" ? ω?

Puzzled, Fish looked at Hagrid, who suddenly became nervous...

So hatching dragon eggs was doing something wrong!

The experienced Fish instantly perceived the point of the matter.

Thus, the smile on young Fish's face gradually became significant (??ω??).

Of course he wouldn't tell, but with this in hand, he could use it as a bargaining chip if the Big Man caught him sneaking into the Forbidden Forest, so he wouldn't tell Minerva either.

Fish suddenly felt that reading more books was good for him, whether it was for his awakened clouded leopard form, the fact that he hadn't been caught doing anything wrong lately, or even seeking revenge against the Acromantulas, he had been helped a lot by the books.

The text gave the cat such a headache that he lost interest after a while.

So surely it's more convenient to ask Minerva to read him more books!

"Don't worry, Big Man, Fish will keep your secret!"

Fish stood up and patted Hagrid's arm, promising, "Go to the library soon, I'll stay here to keep an eye on you."

For a moment, Hagrid was suspicious of Fish's positive attitude.

He had reason to suspect that Fish intended to eat the dragon's egg once he had left.

But Hagrid had seen the changes in Fish over the past few days, he was no longer as reckless as he had been at the beginning of the term, and he had learned to look out for others, so Fish's promise could be trusted... probably.

Hagrid hesitated for a few seconds before nodding and saying, "Yes, wait for me here, I'll be right back.... Don't eat it!".

"Don't worry, meow, Fish always keeps his word!"

With Fish's assurance again, Hagrid quickly got up and, with big, quick steps, left the hut.

As soon as Hagrid was gone, Fish again pulled the dragon egg out from under the blanket, and put his nose close to it and sniffed it, and put his cat's ear close to the shell, and listened intently to what was going on inside.

"It doesn't seem to be any different from the other eggs..." ?﹃?

He tapped his fingertips on the eggshell and occasionally sucked the saliva from the corners of his lips.

After all, he wanted to taste the dragon egg, AND it was a pity he couldn't eat such a big egg!

With great perseverance, Fish tucked the egg back under the blanket, fearing he wouldn't be able to resist if he continued to watch it.

Wiping the saliva from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, Fish began to think about how he could obtain a dragon egg.

I'll get Minerva to give me an egg for my birthday...

Professor McGonagall had wanted the day she adopted Fish to be her birthday, but Fish didn't know what a birthday was, so he asked her.

Professor McGonagall patiently explained to Fish and promised her that on his birthday she would ask his for one thing and she would do her best to fulfill it.

And without hesitation, the resourceful kitten made that day (June 25) his birthday.

So, when Fish thought about how to get a dragon egg, the first thing he considered was asking Professor McGonagall for one on his birthday.

However, Fish soon gave up on this tempting idea.

The Big Man's reaction seemed to suggest that having a dragon egg was not something that could be advertised around, and that it might be a violation of school rules.

While most of the school rules are there for Fish to abide by, it would be a real crime to go straight to Professor McGonagall and tell her that he wants to break the rules.

That's why I can't go to Minerva...

Fish's little brain was still working fine, and he soon came up with another suitable candidate....

Bad old Dumbledore!

Although the bad old man always gave Fish the impression that he was up to no good, when he found out he was up to no good, he often helped cover it up.

Besides, Fish remembered from his Potions textbook that the bad old man had discovered twelve uses for dragon's blood, so it would be easier for him to get his hands on dragon eggs too, right?

His mind was made up! When he went to play with Fawkes and the Sorting Hat tonight, he would mention this to the Bad Old Man!

After figuring out how he could get the dragon egg, Hagrid's dragon egg became less attractive to Fish, so he transformed back into his cat form, lay down on the quilt wrapped around the dragon egg, and took a nap.

...

Hagrid, on the other hand, hurried to the library and began searching the shelves for books about fire dragons.

"Types of fire dragons in Britain and Ireland", "From Eggs to Hell", "A Guide to Breeding Fire Dragons"....

Hagrid quickly skimmed through the books, looking for a more comprehensive one.

Finally, in a pile of books, Hagrid found a book titled "Breeding Fire Dragons for Fun and Profit", which had been published before, but was very comprehensive, from how to identify dragon eggs to recipes for different growing seasons and species of fire dragons.

After a quick glance at the index, Hagrid nodded in satisfaction and returned the other books to the shelves, taking only this old but thick tome to Mrs. Pince to search.

"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" shouted Ron from behind as Hagrid was about to leave with the borrowed book.

"Shut up!" warned Mrs. Pince, glaring fiercely at Ron, who was shouting.

Hagrid took the opportunity to tuck the borrowed book into the back of his moleskin coat and, with one hand behind his back and in that odd position, approached Ron and the others, who were catching up on their homework in the library.

"Aren't you taking Fish to the Forbidden Forest today? What brings you to the library? Where's Fish?" Hermione asked as soon as Hagrid approached.

"Oh... he's in my hut," Hagrid replied in an evasive voice, "Well, I came... to borrow a storybook, yes! Suddenly, Fish wanted to hear a story, so I came to borrow one to take to him and read it to him."

It was no secret that Fish often listened to stories at Professor McGonagall's house, and that from time to time other students read them to him while he slumped down to rest.

So Hagrid's excuse was, in fact, quite plausible.

But alas...

It seemed so suspicious now that no matter how good the excuse, Harry and the others wouldn't believe it.

"Okay, I have to go back and read the storybook to Fish!"

Hagrid, however, didn't think so, he even thought he had acted perfectly, and so he walked out of the library in his strange position with one hand behind his back.

"I'll go see what book I borrow."

Ron ran to Mrs. Pince, asking her for information.

Anyone who had been in the Hogwarts library knew that nothing that went on in the library was hidden from Madam Pince, who had a special knack for finding and immediately punishing students who damaged books.

Although annoyed by Ron's earlier noise, Mrs. Pince reported the list of books Hagrid had borrowed.

When Ron returned to his seat with the stack of books about fire dragons, Hermione couldn't sit still again.

"Hagrid doesn't secretly have a fire dragon, does he? wouldn't that be dangerous for Fish?!"

She jumped up from her seat, shoved the contents of the desk into her large backpack and ran for the door.

Harry and Ron looked at each other helplessly and followed suit....

Then they were stopped by Mrs. Pince.

The vulture-like Mrs. Pince stared at the two of them, not saying a word, but reaching out for the stack of fire dragon books Ron had borrowed and was now casually laying on the table.

"Er... sorry..."

Harry and Ron, who knew they were in the wrong, shrugged their necks, ran back in dismay and shoved the books into the shelf one by one, and Mrs. Pince let them go.