Chapter 363: Cornelius Fudge (Edited)

"Minerva~"

?●ω●?

Professor McGonagall pushed open the door just as Fish came running in, and the kitten jumped into her arms as fast as he could.

"Fish? What are you doing here?"

Nimbly hugging the kitten in her arms, Professor McGonagall rubbed his cat's head, asked in surprise, then pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the white "beard" on Fish's lips.

"Hermione and I are here for a drink, nya."

Fisch said as he snuggled twice into Professor McGonagall's arms before pointing to Hermione and the others in the corner.

Looking around, Professor McGonagall saw Hermione and the three Weasley boys sitting at a small round table by the window, nodding and smiling at her with a formal expression.

Professor McGonagall gave them a small nod in response, then led Fish towards the bar, asking as she went, "Are you coming with us or going back to join your friends?"

"Fish is going with Minerva nya!"

?(?ΦωΦ?)?

Without hesitation, the kitten chose the mother cat.

"This little gentleman is Fish McGonagall, isn't he? No wonder you and Dumbledore are so protective of him, he's such a lovely boy!".

A short, chubby wizard in a yellowish-green bowler hat and striped cloak came up from behind, smiled at Fish and patted his head.

Fish quickly dodged the man's fat hand and turned to Professor McGonagall's side, frowning and staring at him.

|?ˇ?ˇ??)

"Minerva, who is this fat man?"

The kitten didn't like this familiar fellow very much, and although he had a friendly smile on his face, Fish had a vague feeling that his smile was fake, as if he were wearing a mask.

Upon seeing Fish's appearance, Cornelius Fudge's expression changed slightly, but soon returned to his smiling appearance.

Fudge's feelings were correct, for when the latter had gone to Dumbledore to demand an explanation for the Dementor injuries, the Headmaster had turned against him, and the Minister of Magic, who had begun to resent Dumbledore, had a rather bad impression of Fish, whom he had not yet met.

So now, although Fudge had been influenced by Fish's animal affinity, he was now more interested in power than in Fish, and wanted to take this particular young wizard under his protection.

So he continued in a kindly tone, "My name is Cornelius Fudge, and I am the Minister of the Ministry of Magic. After you graduate, Fish, do you plan to work at the Ministry of Magic?"

"Ministry of Magic?" Fish cocked his head to one side for a moment, then realized, "Oh, that's the bad place that sends the Dementors here! Fish isn't going there."

The kitten lowered his ears and bared his teeth at Fudge.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fudge," Professor McGonagall moved to the side, completely blocking Fish behind him, and said to Fudge with a stiff expression, "Fish doesn't know much about the Ministry of Magic yet, so he may have misunderstood."

"Yes, yes, Fish didn't mean it."

Both Hagrid and Professor Flitwick spoke up in Fish's defense.

In fact, even if they did not speak, as a qualified politician, Fudge could not show anger towards Fish, he quickly regained his cheerful look, waved his hand and said, "I also know about Fish's situation. Of course, it's impossible to blame him."

Professor McGonagall was relieved to see that Fudge was not going to pursue the matter, but at the same time she was still teaching the boy.

"Fish, the Ministry sent the Dementors here to protect Harry, it's a place that deals with everything magical in England, Mr. Weasley works in it, and Mum worked in it before she came to Hogwarts."

Explained Professor McGonagall to Fish, as she patted the back of the cat's head and then nudged it towards Fudge.

"Oh~"

?(●?ω?●)?

The little cat scratched his head and said sincerely to Fudge, "Sorry nya."

It wasn't that Fish didn't know, but he didn't usually care about it, and the fact that Fudge didn't think well of him, and his dislike for Dementors, made the cat say something so rude just now.

"All right, all right." Fudge smiled and waved his hand.

He wasn't putting on a show, except for his recent separation from Dumbledore over the years and his misunderstanding that Dumbledore was trying to steal his own position as Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge was still the same generous man he had always been.

As they talked, they went to a corner where there were relatively few people and sat down.

Professor McGonagall patted Fish on the back and said, "Shouldn't you go talk to your friends first? And, have you finished your drink?"

"Good!"

∑(?ΦωΦ?)

Fish turned and ran over to Hermione and the others.

"Fish is going to sit with Minerva and the others for a bit, she'll be back later nya."

Said the kitten to Hermione and the others as he picked up his half-drunk milk, and then added a special word for Harry, "Harry, don't wander off, it would be terrible if Minerva found you."

Having said this, and without waiting for Harry's reply, he jumped back to Professor McGonagall's side, cup in hand.

"Ahem," George asked mysteriously, clearing his throat as Fish left, "Do you want to know what the Minister of Magic has come for?"

Everyone already knew from Harry that the fat man in the bowler hat was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

"What are you up to again?"

Hermione frowned, folded her hands over her chest, looked at the twins and asked.

Fred cleared his throat as George had done, pulling a thin, flesh-colored string from under his robes.

"I'd like to introduce you all," Fred said as he placed the flesh-colored cords on the table and introduced them in a theatrical tone, "Weasley's Trickery's newest product: extendable ears!"

"Extendable ears? What are these for?"

Ron asked curiously as he poked his finger at the thin cord on the table, admiring his two brothers' inventions.

Especially...

They were also making money.

A lot of money.

"It's very simple," George said as he picked up one of the retractable ears, tucked the smaller end into his ear and pointed to the slightly larger, ear-shaped end, "We can use this to pick up sounds far away and on the other side of the door. "

"I must remind you that eavesdropping is a very bad thing."

Hermione, who folded her hands, splashed cold water with a straight face.

"But... Don't you want to know what Fish and Professor McGonagall are talking about?"

George said with a mischievous grin, making Hermione hesitate for a moment.

So George took advantage of the juncture and said, "Besides, Fish has heard so much about us, thanks to his ears, that it wouldn't be a big deal if we found out what they talk about, would it?"

"Yes, yes, and I'm sure Fish can hear what we say." Fred interjected, "If he didn't want us to eavesdrop, he would have told Professor McGonagall."

"So... listen then..."

A self-conscious Hermione lowered her head shyly, but her hand firmly grasped the extendable ear on the table.