Chapter 741: The Studious Fish (Edited)

Chapter 741: The Studious Fish (Edited)

On the first day of class, the night before to be exact, a large announcement was posted on the notice boards of all the common rooms in the school. It read:

Apparition Class

If you are at least seventeen years old or will turn seventeen before August 31st, you can attend a twelve-week Apparition course taught by the Apparition Instructors from the Department of Magic.

Please sign below if you wish to attend.

Tuition: 12 galleons.

The two names at the top of the Gryffindor notice were Fish McGonagall and Hermione Granger. They had returned from a night of revelry to find the house-elf who had posted the notice, and eager Fish had approached to sign it.

Not only Fish was excited about the event, all sixth-year students were equally thrilled. Throughout the day, the course was the topic of conversation, and everyone was eager to be able to Apparate and Disapparate at will.

"How exciting, if only I could..." Seamus snapped his fingers to represent Disapparition. "My cousin uses this trick to deliberately annoy me. When I learn... he won't have a moment of peace..."

He was so absorbed in his vision that he waved his wand too forcefully, turning the fountain he was supposed to transfigure for the Charms class into a water dragon that shot up to the ceiling and bounced back down, hitting Professor Freeway right in the face.

"The truth is, we have quite an advantage." After Professor Flitwick dried himself with a wave of his wand and reprimanded Seamus for copying the phrase "I am a wizard, not a baboon waving a stick," Ron said to a somewhat embarrassed Seamus, "The house-elves Apparated us, which is very useful for learning the Charm, and George and Fred passed the test on their first attempt."

His words further excited everyone, as they imagined what it would be like to learn Apparition, and Harry and Ron were a bit more specific since they had seen skilled wizards use Apparition in combat.

But there was still time before the first Transfiguration class because the school needed to tally the lists and make sure that no one had secretly signed up without being of age before informing the Ministry, which would send someone to the class...

So Fish felt deceived.

"Didn't Albus and you say that I could learn Apparition as soon as the holidays were over?!"

(`н´)

Fish questioned Hermione discontentedly.

"Anyway, it's less than a month away, so be patient," Hermione reassured him, giving Fish a kiss on the cheek.

"Alright then..."

For the most part, Fish behaved well. He pouted and grumbled for a while, and then he left.

...

"Severus, are you there?"

|ΦωΦ)

That night, Fish pushed open the door of the office that had once been the Potions classroom but was now the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Fish?" Snape, who was sorting herbs, looked at the head that emerged from the door and whispered, "The Felix Felicis potion is not ready yet, it will take another fifty-two days or so."

"Fish is not here to hurry the potion!"

(〃｀3〃)

Fish entered Snape's office, closed the door behind him, and handed him a small box from his pocket. "This is what Fish specially asked Newt for... Severus, happy birthday nya!"

The gift was something Fish had asked Newt for on Christmas Day. The box contained feathers and Thunderbird eggshells, as well as some naturally shed claws.

The potion ingredients weren't particularly valuable, but they were not easy to obtain. The Thunderbird, being a magical creature exclusive to North America, was scarce, and its numbers were not large enough for most materials to be sourced locally. Only a small percentage was sold abroad.

Snape froze for a moment, a faint smile appearing on his face. Fish and Draco had indeed given him a birthday present throughout the years, a rare day he had eagerly anticipated all his life.

Snape had forgotten it was his birthday because a lot had been happening lately, and Draco had been trying to keep him away and hadn't given him any gift this year.

"Thank you." Snape took the box from Fish, regardless of its contents, and set it aside.

"And this, nya," Fish continued, pulling something out of his pocket, this time some food. "Fish got these from Horace, they're delicious, nya!"

Knowing that Snape didn't like celebrating in the kitchen, Fish had brought him food directly on several occasions since then.

While Fish rummaged through the food, he continued, "Hermione still isn't coming this year either, Severus, you have to change your temper."

Snape snorted and said nothing, simply eating the food Fish had brought in silence.

But Fish kept murmuring, and after a good late-night snack under the pretext of celebrating Snape's birthday, he was content to leave...

Although Fish and Snape had a good relationship, it was generally too boring. Fish couldn't touch the bottles and jars on the shelves, so his office was not at all entertaining, and Fish didn't stay for long.

And Snape didn't mind. He was just happy that Fish had come to celebrate his birthday, so he couldn't care less.

After Snape's birthday celebration, Fish returned to the comfort and routine of school life.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore had stopped summoning them for story time and had been away from the school most of the time, apparently busy with something important. Even when Fish contacted him to resume his treatment, Dumbledore had replied several times that he was not available. This led to the fact that although Fish's healing spells had improved, he still couldn't prevent his vitality from gradually declining.

The good news was that, in Fish's perception, even if Dumbledore didn't accept his treatment for the rest of the term, he would at least hold on until the end of it. Especially when Snape's Felix Felicis Potion was ready. So, although Fish was a little annoyed with Dumbledore, he wasn't particularly worried.

And so, February soon arrived, and as the temperature rose, the snow melted around the school, replaced by a cold, damp humidity. Gray clouds loomed over the castle, and the continuous cold rain made the grass slippery and muddy.

As a result, the sixth-year students' first Apparition Charm lesson was moved from the courtyard to the Great Hall. It was scheduled for Saturday morning to avoid disrupting regular classes.

When Fish and Hermione arrived at the Great Hall, they found that the tables had been removed. Rain pounded against the tall windows, and the enchanted ceiling swirled faintly above them.

They gathered in front of McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Professor Sprout, along with a small wizard. The strange wizard must have been the instructor for the Ministry's Apparition Charm class.

He was surprisingly pale, with translucent eyelashes and thin hair, and he had an unreal quality, as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

"His size gives him an advantage in Apparition," Hermione whispered to Fish, "The difficulty of Apparition increases with the size of the person being transported."

"That's right, Charlie was too tall to pass the Apparition test," Ron interjected.

At the same time, he showed a hint of concern, being the tallest of the Weasley siblings, if not one of the tallest sixth-year students in the entire school.

Neville was also nervous... He had always been a bit chubby, and with his less-than-stellar grades, he remained somewhat fearful, even with the confidence he had developed over the past two years.

Even Hermione was anxiously scratching her hair at that moment. For some time now, she had been going to the library whenever possible to look for something related to Apparition.

Even in the Hogwarts library, there were no specific instructions for practicing the spell, despite the requirement of a Ministry of Magic certificate to legally use it, only something that constantly emphasized its dangers and difficulties. So Hermione didn't find much to help her learn Apparition; instead, she got caught up in the horrors of failure.

In fact, once the excitement subsided, everyone was more than nervous because it was no secret that failing the Apparition would result in a splinch, and almost every year a wizard would appear in the Daily Prophet due to such accidents.

Of course, Fish couldn't be nervous; he had never failed in learning magic before.

Fish stared intently at the small wizard, eager to learn the Apparition Charm.

(?ω?)