Chapter 498: The end of the dance (Edited)

After chatting with Rita Skeeter in her beetle form, Fish let her go.

After all, Rita was a good friend who had given his a feather to do his homework and was only here to collect informational material, not to do anything wrong, so Fish wouldn't bother with her.

As for Skeeter using Animagus to spy on people....

How could Fish have cared?

Not only Fish himself, but even bad old Dumbledore did this sort of thing all the time, so in Fish's eyes it wasn't that big of a deal, probably as bad as if he had knocked over Professor McGonagall's bookshelf.

"Fish, what just happened to you? is something wrong with that beetle?"

Hermione asked suspiciously, seeing Fish calm down before bending down to pick it up.

Although she had taken the form of a cat-woman, unfortunately, in this state, Hermione still didn't understand cat language.

But Hermione, who knew a lot about her cat, knew something had to have happened, otherwise Fish wouldn't have reacted that way when she pounced on an insect on a whim.

"That beetle was Rita nya."

(=ΦωΦ=)

Fish returned to his cat-man form and said to Hermione, "However, she hasn't registered as Animagus with the Ministry of Magic, so keeps her secret, Fish has promised him."

"Rita Skeeter?"

Hermione froze for a moment, before realizing who Fish was talking about.

"No wonder she showed up at school last time." said Hermione, then frowned again, "That's why she has all those scoops, isn't it? So what just happened to Hagrid..."

"What happened to Hagrid nya?"

?ω?

Fish asked, puzzled.

"Didn't you hear him just now? He's a half-breed giant."

"I did, so nya?" Fish still didn't understand.

"Well...if Skeeter reports this, Hagrid might not be able to teach our Care of Magical Creatures class anymore, just like Professor Lupin was boycotted."

"But didn't Remus resign? And..." Fish blinked, scratching his cat-like head, and said, "Fish doesn't seem to like Hagrid's class very much, wouldn't it be better to have another teacher?"

(=?ω?=)?

"Uh..."

Hermione's words were interrupted, and a hint of anticipation rose in her mind, and then she shook her head vigorously, shaking this happy possibility from her mind.

Hagrid was her best friend anyway, and Hermione hoped he could keep his seat, if only, of course, to make the class less dangerous.

"But Hagrid takes his job very seriously, and it would be very sad if he were fired."

"True..."

?ω?

Fish clasped his hands together and nodded bitterly.

"Then Fish will go to her and ask her to keep Hagrid a secret."

?(=ΦωΦ=)?

Fish was about to chase after Rita Skeeter who flew off, when Hermione stopped him.

"No hurry!" Hermione's face burned a little under her black cat fur. "You can write to him tomorrow, let's find a quiet place to play for a while...".

"Nya?"

Fish tilted his head and soon realized something.

∑(=ΦωΦ=)

"Oh! Hermione wants to play with Fish... ummmm..."

And then Fish's mouth was gagged by Miss Know-it-all.

...

The day after Christmas, everyone was up late.

Last night's Yule Ball lasted until midnight and many students were still too excited to sleep when they returned to their dorms, especially the lowerclassmen, both male and female, who couldn't stop talking about their dance partners ... or the awesome people they had met at the ball.

Fish and Hermione took even longer to get back to bed, as they hadn't returned since they had escaped from the castle, and Gabrielle, the girl, had gone out to look for them in the middle of the night, only to be dragged back angrily by Fleur when she found nothing.

It wasn't until after the ball was over that they saw the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students walking towards the carriages and boats in large numbers outside, that Fish and Hermione returned to the castle in cat form.

And even after a long day of fun, Fish was still doing his usual two laps around the castle before returning to the dormitory with Hermione.

So it was only natural that everyone was up late today.

Fish, for his part, had gotten up earlier than everyone else in the dormitory with his usual routine.

"Yawn~"

(?Φω???)

(? ′Д`?)

Fish rubbed his eyes and sat up from the bed, opening his mouth to let out a huge yawn before gradually waking up.

"Nya?"

Fish looked down at his soft hands, the effects of the Multijuice Potion had worn off.

It was to be expected, as it had happened to him two years before, when he had been turned into a black-legged cat-man by the normal formula, the effects of which had lasted far less than Hermione's and Professor McGonagall's.

When he had taken the modified formula some time ago, it had lasted even less because he had consumed so little of it, and the effect had worn off by the next morning.

But Fish didn't mind, he went back to being a cat as usual, lying on his pillow, licking his fur and rubbing his paws on his cat head from time to time.

When the cat finished his routine and the others were still not awake, Fish didn't bother to wake them up and reverted back to his cat-man form and left the bedroom to meet Hermione for breakfast.

"Hermione?"

?●ω●?

As soon as they reached the common room, Fish saw Hermione in her cat-woman form and immediately pounced on her, licking her first.

"Shhhhh."

(?????)

Hermione, who was about to say something to Fish, looked around nervously and was relieved to see that no one else was there.

Hermione pressed her hairy hands against Fish's chest ...

The first thing that happened was that Hermione's hands didn't seem to have the strength to push him, and the push was so gentle that Fish didn't even feel Hermione push him.

If she didn't push Fish away, Hermione was worried, what if someone else was coming?

But...

It was so nice to be licked by Fish ...

Hermione purred unconsciously from her throat as she had done when she was a cat, and Fish purred in response.

This made Hermione even more reluctant to push Fish away.

After a few moments of letting Fish lick her, Hermione's hands suddenly came back to life, nudging Fish a little harder, and throwing him a helpless look, she said, "All right, all right, aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

"Yes! Fish is already hungry nya!".

?(?ΦωΦ?)?

Fish immediately stopped moving, then grabbed Hermione and ran off.

This made Hermione swallow her words once again.

The two trotted into the Great Hall, which was empty and largely filled with professors; most of the students, including those from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, were still asleep in their bunks.

After greeting the others in the Great Hall, Fish and Hermione sat down at the long Gryffindor table and ate breakfast, feeding each other.

After finishing the breakfast that made the other girls angry, Hermione twitched her cat ears....

What was she going to say to Fish earlier?

"Oh, that's right!" Hermione was quick to remember and whispered in Fish's ear, "Remember to send a letter to Skeeter and tell her not to report Hagrid."

"Oh yes, Hermione, I forgot if you didn't tell me."

∑(?ΦωΦ?)

With Hermione's reminder, Fish went with her to the owl hut and wrote a letter and gave it to Hermione's owl, Katherine, to deliver to Rita Skeeter.

A few days later, however, Katherine flew back to Hermione with the letter intact.