Chapter 428: Back to Hogsmeade (Edited)

In the end, Fish still couldn't help them find the unknown Death Eater.

For by the time Mr. Diggory arrived on the scene with him and Professor McGonagall, the crowd had all but disappeared.

Although Fish had picked up the scent of several strangers at the scene and on Harry's wand, Mr. Crouch had refused to bring them all in for the cat to smell one by one, so Fish didn't know which scent was the culprit.

Although Fish hadn't smelled Lucius Malfoy at the scene either, that only proved that it hadn't been him who had released the Dark Mark, but most likely one of the people who had caused the trouble.

And it was clear that Harry and Ron thought so too, as they chattered on about how they had met Draco in the forest... making Fish feel a little worse.

He had thought earlier that Draco didn't know about his father, but from what Harry and the others had said, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Minerva... Fish has something to tell you nya."

|?ˇ?ˇ??)

When they all returned to the tent, Fish immediately opened Professor McGonagall's door, poking half his head out.

"What's wrong?" Professor McGonagall pinched her forehead wearily, "Is there anything you can't tell me tomorrow? I'm very sleepy now."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow then..."

Fish thought for a moment, and felt that the matter was not too urgent, so he turned into a cat and jumped onto the head of Professor McGonagall's bed, lay on his stomach, licked the fur off his body, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

(=?ω?=)

It had been a long time since the cat had slept with his mother, so he simply didn't bother to leave.

With a loving smile, Professor McGonagall reached over and stroked Fish's back, then scratched his chin, making him purr comfortably before collapsing under the covers.

"Good night, Fish."

"Nya~."

After that, the night was very quiet, and Fish and the others slept until dawn.

After getting up, they all met for a light breakfast, and then Professor McGonagall took Rolf to fetch Bazil , who had been in charge of the Portkey's, to return him to New York.

Seamus and the others came to say goodbye to Fish before leaving the camp.

"It's time for us to go back."

After sending Rolf back, Professor McGonagall put away the tent and held up an iron basin in front of Fish and Hermione: the Portkey from Hogsmeade.

"Grab it." said Professor McGonagall.

Fish and Hermione put their hands on the basin and, within moments, there came the familiar feeling of a hook in the navel and, after a moment of spinning, the three of them were back in Hogsmeade village, landing next to the Shrieking Shack.

Professor McGonagall nonchalantly tossed the iron basin aside, then grabbed Fish and Hermione's hands, activated the Apparition Charm, and returned home.

Then he took Fish and Hermione by the hand, cast a ghostly manifestation, and returned home.

"Master Fish! Professor McGonagall! And Miss Hermione! Welcome back!".

Comey, the house elf, was the first to greet them and offered them hot tea, as it wasn't pleasant to use Apparition, not to mention the fact that they had just used the Portkey and then had used the Apparition Charm, so some tea would have been nice.

"Okay, Fish, what did you want to talk to me about last night?"

Professor McGonagall sat on the couch and drank two cups of hot tea before setting the cups down and asked curiously.

"It's about Draco's father nya..."

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Fish, who had also poured himself several cups of tea, licked his tongue and said to Professor McGonagall with a serious countenance, "I smelled Lucius on Dobby once."

"Dobby... My God, isn't that the elf who broke Harry's arm in second year?!"

Hermione exclaimed, nearly knocking over her teacup.

Professor McGonagall, who already knew, froze for a moment, then nodded with a careless smile, "So that's what you've found out, yes, Dobby was indeed a house elf of the Malfoy's from back in the day."

"So... Voldemort's diary is the one he passed on to Ginny, right nya?"

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Fish continued to ask with a sullen little face.

"Ah... He had a fight with Mr. Weasley back then!"

Hermione's exclamation was a partial answer to Fish's question.

"Well, Dumbledore speculated that way too," Professor McGonagall probably guessed what Fish was thinking and reassured him, "But the situation may be a little different than you think, Lucius probably wasn't aware of the dangers of that diary."

He told Fish what Dumbledore had speculated, much to Fish's relief.

"So, Draco's father isn't a bad guy?"

"Well... that's hard to say."

Professor McGonagall shook her head, "He was a follower of You-Know-Who, or rather, almost all of the Slytherin students were Death Eaters and did many bad things... but after You-Know-Who failed, the Death Eaters, led by Lucius, broke away from You-Know-Who in time so they could continue to live in peace. now they can continue to live in peace, without being imprisoned in Azkaban."

As much as Professor McGonagall wanted Fish to continue with his innocent nature, she didn't want him to be damaged in the future by being gullible enough to trust Malfoy, so it was important to warn him.

"I know Draco and many of the other Slytherin students are good friends of yours, but many of their parents were Death Eaters, and if You-Know-Who ever comes back, your Slytherin friends will most likely be on the opposite side of us, so, Fish, be prepared for that."

"Minerva... Is You-Know-Who really coming back?"

Hermione asked fearfully, she had read all the evil Voldemort had done in the books and knew that a muggle-born wizard like her was a natural target for Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

"I hate to say it, but... yes," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, nodded heavily and then smiled and comforted her, "But don't worry, Dumbledore is here, he's the person You-Know-Who is most afraid of."

"Don't worry Hermione, Fish will protect you nya!"

?(?ΦωΦ?)?

Fish said as he patted his chest, "Voldemort was already defeated by Fisch, no big deal nya!".

As for Malfoy and the others, Fish didn't think it was a big deal, as long as he killed Voldemort first, he wouldn't have a chance to coerce his friends.

Professor McGonagall talked to Fish some more, and finding that the cat really wasn't bothered by the incident, she left him alone, as she was busy sending the Hogwarts students a list of items for this year.

Good thing this year the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher didn't do anything like Lockhart and Hagrid, but just used the old list with a few modifications.

The copying spell that Professor McGonagall had taught Fish to use for writing Christmas cards was actually a spell she had developed specifically for the lists and letters she prepared each year.

Professor McGonagall went off to work, while Fish wandered around the house, as he was getting a little bored without the television....

There was a wizarding radio station in the magical world of England, even one based in the village of Hogsmeade, but the content of the station didn't interest Fish, not nearly as much as the stories Professor McGonagall used to read to him.

So the cat circled a few times and ran back to Hermione's side.

"Hermione, what are you looking at?"

?●ω●?

Fish was lying on the couch behind Hermione, looking over his shoulder and asking.

"Today's Daily Prophet," Hermione replied, cocking her head to the side and rubbing her cheek affectionately against Fish's, "It's reported on what happened last night."

Fish looked down at the paper in his hand, ignoring the dense text, next to a drawing that took up a quarter of the paper, showing the Dark Mark and his own Cat's Mark facing each other left and right.