Chapter 67: Snitch (Edited)

"Have you heard? Professor Quirrell seems to have taken a leave of absence."

"It's only been a month since classes started. ... Could the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's position be getting stronger on its own?"

"Professor Quirrell just had to leave, it's not like he quit..."

"Whatever the reason, at least we won't have to smell that awful smell this morning."

"I just know who the substitute professor is."

"My guess is Professor Snape, who, as we all know, has had his eye on the position for a long time."

"Oh no...then I'd rather be in Professor Quirrell's class..."

As the new week began, Harry entered the Great Dining Hall for lunch and overheard some of some of the students about the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Before he could ask, Fish, who was eating next to him, brightened up, "That's great, meow! The stinky guy's gone!"

"Don't be so happy," Fred grinned, "if I remember correctly, your first year Defense Against the Dark Arts class is on Wednesday, so maybe Professor Quirrell will be back by then."

"Meow! How can that be?" Fish's spirits sank.

The little witches around him immediately looked at Fred, including Angelina.

Fred's smile froze and he regretted his habit of teasing Fish and accidentally ignoring his popularity with the girls.

"Ahem, that's just a possibility," Fred added, "with any luck we won't see Professor Quirrell for another week or two."

Munching on his food, Fish gave Fred a sidelong glance and ignored him.

Fred reluctantly tried a few more times, only to have Fish get angry with him, finish his plate in a few bites, and run off transformed into a cat, earning him more angry looks from the young witches.

Fish, who left the dining table, was naturally unaware of Fred's tragic situation. He stopped and walked all the way to the Charms classroom before class began.

No longer needing to study transfiguration, Fish went back to his old ways, slipping straight into his desk drawer and falling asleep.

As Professor Flitwick stood at the podium and glanced around the class, he quickly noticed that Fish was not among the students, "Where's little Fish? didn't he come to class?"

"Meow~?"

At the little guy's question, Fish poked his head out from the desk and waved at him.

"Oh, there you are," nodded Professor Flitwick, and then asked curiously, "So, did you make it?"

The professors had known the reason for Fish's recent unusual behavior for some time, and Professor McGonagall had given them the heads-up early on to work together to find a way to keep Fish's enthusiasm for learning alive... though they hadn't been very successful.

"It worked meow!"

Speaking of which, Fish immediately stopped being drowsy and returned to his human form, pulling a Snitch out of his pocket and holding it aloft.

"Look! I found this in a strange room, so I don't have to learn that pesky Transfiguration, meow!"

Fish gleefully showed the toy in his hands.

"Oh..."

Professor Flitwick scratched his bald head. This development was something he hadn't expected, and as for the strange room Fish was talking about, as a professor who had been teaching many years at Hogwarts, Flitwick knew a bit about it.

"Well, you're in luck, then," Professor Flitwick said, unable to think of a way to get Fish to keep paying attention for a while, "Go back to sleep, and the rest of the class will turn to page 57..."

"I think I figured out how Wood lost the Snitch last time," Ron nudged Harry beside him, whispering as he flipped through his book.

"I figured that out too." Harry kept his head down, holding back laughter.

The twins had long teased Wood about it, and he'd made an example of him by punishing himself by running five laps around the pitch.

In retrospect, Wood had been very wrong.

But Harry had no sympathy for Wood, even if Fish wasn't to blame, after all, Wood was such a tormentor in training that there wasn't anyone on the team who didn't hate him.

Harry and Ron gloated at Wood, while Hermione sighed in disgust.

It had taken Fish less than a fortnight to become studious, and then he was back to his old self.

But come to think of it, it was good for Hermione that the library was quiet again.

It was impossible to have the best of both worlds.

Hermione sighed quietly again and then took notes in earnest.

When the morning's Charms classes were over, the news that Fish's enthusiasm had finally worn off spread throughout Hogwarts, but it didn't cause much of a stir, it just gave everyone a topic to talk about.

After all, there was nothing surprising about Fish being back to his old self, they were just curious as to why Fish was finally studying so hard.

"I told you it was Professor McGonagall's doing!"

Hermione, who had guessed the reason, beamed proudly at her fellow study group members.

Aside from Professor Quirrell, who was severely punished by Voldemort, Professor McGonagall was the only one who was distressed by this.

She had not expected Fish to be directly a Snitch that was not under Mrs. Hooch's control, and she had no excuse to keep trying to trick Fish.

How about a way to make Fish accidentally "lose" her Snitch? And then use the excuse of finding the Snitch to get him to continue his studies.

Professor McGonagall thought to herself, her little trick had worked, she had found the right direction to take Fish's education, and she had found the fun of the battle of wits between the two before Fish started school.

"Meow!" ? (=>ω<=)?

Oblivious to Professor McGonagall's plans for the moment, Fish, once back in the Gryffindor common room at the end of the day's classes, dropped the Snitch in his pocket and transformed into a kitten to pounce around the common room.

"Actually, Fish is a better Seeker than I am," Harry sighed with Ron as he watched Fish easily maneuver the Snitch between his two little paws.

Originally, he was quite confident in his flying talent, but after seeing Fish's performance, he immediately felt that his talent was nothing.

Ron patted his friend on the shoulder and said, "But we can't force Fish to follow the rules, can we? As you saw the other day, Fish has no interest in Quidditch, Wood can't do anything about that."

"Besides, a Quidditch match doesn't allow players to become cats," Seamus added.

"Seamus is right, you are the perfect Seeker for our team, and..." George reached over and grabbed Ron by the shoulders, "Don't you dare let Wood hear that, my dear brother No. 4."

Although he said he wouldn't let Wood hear it, George deliberately raised his voice, as he looked aside at the crowd, "After all, Fish is so smart, it's only natural that Wood couldn't fool him!"

Harry followed his gaze and saw Oliver Wood looking at Fish, who was pouncing on the ball with red eyes and a resigned look on his face.

At George's deliberately amplified sneer, Wood stared wide-eyed, panting heavily through his nostrils like a raging bull.

"Why are you standing around? Come train with me on the field," Wood reached over, grabbing George with one hand and Ron with the other, and dragged them outside.

"Wait, wait, Wood! Isn't it a bit early for that?!", George, who had the same problem as Fred, instantly regretted it, as he had learned from Fred in the morning, and foolishly made the same comment.

"I don't think the team is competent enough! That's why we have an early practice today - Angelina! Come with us too!", Wood was unfazed and called out to the rest of the team watching him.

Wood was the team captain anyway, and Angelina and the others, albeit reluctantly, went along with him, but they didn't look kindly on George, the one who had started it all.

"Meow?" ?ω?

Fish, startled by Wood's roar, looked at the startled humans and wagged his tail gently.

Inexplicable, meow.

With his head cocked to the side, not understanding what they were shouting, Fish turned his attention back to the Snitch and continued to pounce at the young witches' burning gazes.

"Meow~~~" ?(=>ω<=)?