Chapter 651: Prison Escape (Edited)

Fish and Hermione had arrived at the Gryffindor common room a little later than the others, and the Weasley twins were selling their new product: Sugar-Free Skiving Snackboxes with three new symptoms.

The younger students had gathered around the twins, while the older ones huddled together, whispering about their experiences with the Patronus Charm they had learned today.

Only the fifth-year students were miserably trying to catch up with their homework... which had increased instead of decreased after the holidays.

"Hasn't Harry come back yet, nya?"

(°ω°≡°ω°)

Fish looked around and didn't see any sign of Harry.

Just as he said that, the sound of the portrait moving and a crunching and scraping came from the portrait hole behind him.

Then, a lethargic Harry poked his head through the hole.

"How's the tutoring going, Harry?"

(ΦωΦ)

Fish asked as he cast a stabilizing spell on him.

Harry smiled gratefully and replied in a dry voice, "Not much different from usual, the content is the same, and of course, Snape treats me the same as always."

He shrugged, not making much sense since there were others around, but Hermione and the others understood, and Fish knew what Snape would be teaching.

When the fun was over, Harry mysteriously dragged Ron to a secluded corner, and naturally, curious Fish followed Hermione.

"Just so you know, I didn't mean to intrude, it just occurred to me during training..." Harry whispered, glancing around sneakily, "I know exactly where the corridor I've been dreaming about for the past few months is. I know exactly where it is, Ron, your father was bitten by Voldemort's snake there too..."

"Is it the Department of Mysteries, nya?"

(?ω?)

Just as Harry was about to share his discovery, Fish suddenly intervened.

Harry instantly felt what Sirius had felt back then...

"How did you know?" Harry looked at Fish, bewildered.

"In that room with Frank and Alice, there was a man named Broderick Bode, the one who believed he was a teapot, he was an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries, nya..."

When Fish said that, Harry and Ron remembered that they had been visiting Mr. Weasley at St. Mungo's and were queuing in the reception area when they crossed paths with an elderly man with a hearing aid who was visiting Mr. Bode.

Fish twitched his ears and continued, "After I healed him, he told Tonks that he was attacked by Death Eaters and turned like this... Didn't you hear, nya?"

?ω?

Harry and Ron stared at Fish open-mouthed, not expecting a pair of cat ears on top of his head.

And Hermione went back to her usual sermon, "So, Harry, you don't have to worry about this, Dumbledore and the others already knew Voldemort's target and were prepared for it... Hey! Why do you have that look on your face!"

As she spoke, she saw Harry suddenly covering his forehead, his facial features twisted and contorted, as if what she said caused him great pain.

However, Harry didn't care about Hermione's questioning at that moment, the sound of mad laughter echoed in his ears... he hadn't been this happy in a long time... dizzy, ecstatic, brimming with joy... something great had happened...

Get rid of distractions! Don't think about anything!

Harry fought against the sudden wave of happiness, but a snort of laughter escaped through his teeth.

At that moment, a refreshing sensation penetrated Harry's mind, lifting his spirits so much that even the pain in his scar felt less severe.

It was Fish's stabilizing spell.

Harry had felt it many times before, and with that coolness, he was able to fight against Voldemort's emotions.

"Harry, are you okay, nya?"

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Fish asked worriedly, casting another stabilizing spell.

"Thank you, Fish," Harry thanked and then sat up straighter. "He's happy... very happy..."

"You-Know-Who?" Ron asked, horrified.

Harry nodded and whispered, "Something good has happened, something he was expecting."

"Could it be that he's obtained what was behind that door?" Hermione asked, covering her mouth, concerned.

"I don't know," Harry shook his head.

The answer to this question came the next day. When Hermione received the Daily Prophet, she opened the newspaper and began reading the front page, suddenly screaming while everyone around looked at her.

"What's happening, nya?" Fish asked, sticking his head out.

She spread the newspaper on the table and pointed to the ten black and white photographs that filled the front page, the faces of nine wizards and one witch, some silently laughing, others arrogantly tapping the sides of their photos with their fingers. Each photo was captioned with the name and the crime for which they were imprisoned in Azkaban.

And as expected, the Ministry continued to deny Voldemort's return, instead blaming Sirius for the escape of the ten Death Eaters.

"I think I know why he was so happy last night," Ron said, pale-faced.

Neville's usually simple face was now frozen, and no one had ever seen such a terrible expression on his face.

"Prewett..."

Fred looked at the Death Eater crime section featuring Antonin Dolohov: the murder of the Prewett brothers, Gideon and Fabian.

"George, if I remember correctly, these two would have been our uncles," Fred asked softly.

George nodded grimly, not speaking.

Ron and Ginny had surprised expressions. Ron was just born, and Ginny had just been conceived when the Prewett brothers were killed. Since Mrs. Weasley found it difficult to accept and rarely mentioned her deceased brother, neither of them remembered their uncles.

In fact, Fred and George, who were babies at the time, didn't remember much about the Prewett brothers either. They had only heard about them from Bill and others.

Few people at Hogwarts, especially after Umbridge's arrival, read the Daily Prophet as much as Hermione did, but as the news spread from Gryffindor, so did the commotion in the Great Hall.

Apart from the Longbottom and Weasley families, many other students had friends and relatives who had been killed by Death Eaters. They were already convinced that Voldemort had returned, but now panic spread, and they expressed their disgust at the Ministry's inaction.

At the staff table, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were engaged in a serious conversation, both with stern faces. Professor Sprout rested the Daily Prophet against a ketchup bottle and read the first edition attentively, spoon suspended in the air, unaware that the dripping egg yolk was falling onto her lap.

At the other end of the table, Umbridge was devouring her oat flakes, frowning and maliciously glancing at Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall from time to time. Upon hearing the voices of the students, Umbridge fixed her sly eyes on them and silently took note of those students who expressed their discontent with the Ministry.

"Fish," Hermione asked in a low voice, leaning toward Fish's ear amidst the noise of the discussion, "Can you contact Rita for me?"