Soon the Easter vacations arrived, but they were not as happy as the Christmas holidays.
Not only were the vacations much shorter than Christmas, but the teachers of each subject also assigned a lot of homework, so there was no time to play.
Because of this, very few students decided to go home for Easter, and most stayed in the Common Room or the library, catching up on homework.
"I hate Easter, meow!" (●qДq●).
Looking at the thick pile of homework in front of him, Fish was in a lousy mood.
Even with all the fancy Easter eggs the house elves had prepared for them, they couldn't make up for the pain of writing so much homework.
For a moment, Fish even thought about challenging Professor McGonagall for the seventy-fourth time, but he knew better than to turn into a clouded leopard, even if he could do it now, but with Professor McGonagall's combination of transfiguration and magic spells, victory was still a long shot.
"Fish, don't worry!" The Gryffindor witches rallied around Fish, "We're not out of school over the Easter vacations, so there's plenty of time to help you with your homework!"
"But I don't want to do my homework, meow~" _(:зゝ∠)_
Fish slumped down on the table, pressing his face against it.
"Fish still wants to read the book Rat Teeth gave me."
It wasn't clear what the exact conditions of his transformation into a clouded leopard were, but at least Fish knew he had to know enough to take his form.
Thus, it was necessary to read the book "The World of Felines" that Hermione gave him.
"Never mind, meow! I'll go finish the book first, I'll do homework later, meow! It's only the end of the school vacations, so there's plenty of time!"
Fish jumped up, pushed his way through the crowd and rushed out of the Common Room, too bored to read alone, better have Minerva read to him!
The other little witches didn't know what was going on, they only knew that Hermione Granger had given Fish a book she really liked.
Besides the fact that Fish liked the book that Hermione had given her...
This woman really is an intriguing girl!
Although they didn't understand how Hermione did it, but the Gryffindor girls admitted that she was clever.
It was Hermione's idea the whole tutoring program they were doing.
They had thought Hermione was a good person when she stopped teaching Fish, but now it seems like...
She must have come up with a more effective plan on her own, bypassing the others and going off on her own to gain Fish's favorability!
So Hermione's concession was not a kindness at all, but a leeway to take the lead.
And so the young witches shot Hermione a look of hostility.
Hermione had been sitting alone in a corner of the Common Room, as usual, holding a book and reading eagerly, while occasionally glancing at the charming Fish to heal her soul.
Before long, Fish suddenly ran off, but this was par for the course for the unpredictable Fish, so she merely sighed at her bad luck today and returned to her book.
No sooner had he lowered his head than he felt a sudden shiver run down his spine to the top of his head.
Hermione suddenly shuddered, raised her head suspiciously and met the complex, hostile eyes of the group of little witches.
Meow meow meow???
Hermione, who had no idea what was going on, was puzzled.
Hermione was one of the few young witches in Gryffindor who didn't rush to tutor Fish.
It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was because Hermione knew that she took her studies very seriously, and if she tutored alone, she would have fallen out with a bunch of "naughty" witches.
And since Hermione had been the first to suggest tutoring, it would have been a shame.
So Hermione had wisely opted to stay out of it, content to watch Fish around to heal her soul while she read and studied anyway.
But, what was the problem now? I had offered to quit my tutoring job, but why was I being looked at with such hostility?
Hermione froze under the pressure of so many stares.
Hermione held her book for a moment, adjusting to the pressure of the strange stares, before asking weakly, "Please, what can I help you with...?"
"Oh, heh, heh..."
A certain Gryffindor major flashed a fake smile before directing a group of young witches to surround Hermione like Fish.
Hermione frowned and put her book in front of her, it didn't help, but at least it made her feel better.
"Don't be nervous, Granger."
The older one reassured Hermione first.
Then she tangled her fingers in a lock of hair that hung over her shoulder as she said in a tone of everyday politeness, "It's just that Fish said earlier that he really liked a book you gave him, so we were a little curious to ask what it was and, can you share it with us?"
Although the tone of his voice was flat and gentle, there was an inexplicable sense of oppression.
Hermione swallowed saliva, and realized what was happening...
Jealous women are scary!
In her mind, Hermione complained fiercely about the group of girls in front of her, and flashed a winning smile inside.
She had been smart enough to guess that Fish would be interested in other felines.
The only strange thing was that she had given him the book at Christmas, but it had taken Fish until Easter to show he liked it, so she had thought the gift didn't appeal to him.
But when she thought it was Fish, Hermione could see why, Fish was so unpredictable, suddenly interested in something and then suddenly disinterested.
"What? you can't even satisfy us with that little request?"
Hermione was only distracted for a moment before her eldest changed her face and became aggressive.
"Uh, no, no," Hermione cursed at the jealous girls once more, then replied eagerly, "The book I gave Fish is nothing special, it's called 'The World of Felines'."
Seeing that almost half the group looked confused, Hermione went on to explain, "It's a book published entirely by muggles, dedicated to the different felines of the world, well... it's a bit like similar to the 'Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them' book in the magical world."
"Remember what Fish said during the sorting ceremony? He doesn't like lions, because they're not good at climbing trees, and he also mentioned leopards, so I guess Fish used to read similar feline science fiction when he roamed, so I gave him a book in that genre for Christmas."
"I'd never seen Fish read it before, I thought he didn't like it."
Hermione added a final sentence in her mind, saying that she was trying her luck too, not deliberately hiding it from others.
"So that's what happened," the older girl looked down for a moment, acknowledging Hermione's explanation, then looked back up at Hermione, her expression serious, "But there's one more thing..."
She stopped mid-sentence, pursing her lips in silence for a long moment.
In this tense atmosphere, Hermione unconsciously shrugged her shoulders and hugged the book tightly in her arms.
And then the older one finally spoke...
"What does that 'science fiction' mean?"
Hermione: "..."