Chapter 179: Dog (Edited)

Professor McGonagall left the Great Dining Hall in silence, heading straight for the Headmaster's office.

She didn't have to worry about Fish, but she had to talk to Dumbledore about Lockhart's lack of real talent, she didn't think the mean old man didn't see the true extent of Lockhart's abilities.

"Minerva?" Dumbledore, who was checking his letters on his desk, saw the aggressive Professor McGonagall and immediately guessed what she intended, but still smiled and pretended to ask, "Are the preparations for the start of the school year complete?"

"Not yet," Professor McGonagall shook her head and said with a serious look, "I've come to see you about something else, Albus."

Dumbledore put the letter down in his hand and held out his palm in a 'please' gesture towards her.

"What's the matter with Gilderoy Lockhart? Don't tell me you can't see that he's an uneducated liar."

Professor McGonagall raised her tone and rested her hands on her desk, leaning forward slightly, glaring at Dumbledore.

However, Dumbledore snapped his fingers with a calm expression and a chair slid behind Professor McGonagall, then he slowly poured a cup of hot tea and pushed it in front of him.

"Take your time, Minerva, sit down and talk."

Professor McGonagall complied, but did not touch the cup of hot tea in front of her, wrapped her arms in front of her chest and continued to look at Dumbledore aggressively.

Dumbledore didn't mind, smiled, took a sip from his cup of tea and said, "Of course I know that Lockhart doesn't live up to his abilities, and I even know that the stories in his book, are actually the deeds of other great wizards, but..."

At this, he shook his head helplessly, and seemed to wail a bit angrily, "Apparently, Gilderoy has learned the Obliviate spell quite well, aside from his articles, and even Radagast and Otah have fallen prey to it."

"So, did you still recruit him?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow and her expression grew even angrier.

"Because I thought that by putting Lockhart into normal school life, his charade would unravel, especially with Fish around." said Dumbledore playfully, with a wink.

"But then, it would be a wasted year for the students, and they wouldn't learn anything useful from Lockhart at all."

Professor McGonagall was more concerned with the students' education than with bringing Lockhart down.

"There's no way around it, it's very difficult to hire a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts these days." Dumbledore shrugged, grumbling.

"I'll try to find a good teacher next year to make up for this year's loss..... Besides, it's not like the students can't learn anything, at least they'll learn from a bad teacher what not to do and what not to be."

Dumbledore was more concerned with the character of his students than the substance of the spells and such, which had been influenced by the two Dark Lords.

"And, if you have read Lockhart's book, you will find that it still contains some useful things."

Now it was Professor McGonagall's turn to sigh, and she said with a little chagrin, "Yes, I read them, and I read them to Fish as a bedtime story, so the little boy now thinks Lockhart is a great wizard..."

But as she talked about it, Professor McGonagall smiled slightly as she remembered how Fish had behaved earlier in the auditorium.

"Oh? I'm afraid poor Gilderoy won't be able to hide it for long."

Dumbledore stroked his beard, pleased and yet a little sad at the same time, if Lockhart was fired too quickly, wouldn't he have to find a new teacher to take over again?

If it was for a short time, Snape, Flitwick and even Professor McGonagall could fill in, but if it was too long, he wouldn't be able to do it, and Voldemort's curse would be a bit of a problem.

Thinking about this, the expression on Dumbledore's face was no longer as calm as before, and there was a trace of distress on his face.

Aside from the respective problems of the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress, Fish and Lockhart were getting along very well in the Great Dining Hall.

Fish enjoyed the messy stories in Lockhart's mouth, and although the cat, who was very good at the matter, noticed a few holes in the stories, he didn't mind too much, since all the fairy tales he used to listen to were more or less the same.

And Lockhart was more than satisfied, for he was so vain that he was glad to be noticed, not to say that he was well aware of Fish's peculiarities.

Aside from his special affinity and his cat ears and tail, the professors, including the grim Snape, adored the boy, and he even had his own house elf at school!

So it didn't take Lockhart long to realize that, if he had a little fan like him, the attention he would receive at school would be enormous, along with the fame of Harry Potter....

The thought of the attention he might receive once classes started made Lockhart shiver slightly with excitement.

As interesting as the story was, it was obvious that Fish couldn't stay idle for long, and after hearing the story of the "Lockhart fights," he rose from his seat and stretched with his arms up in the air.

"I'm off to play with my friends in the Forbidden Forest, does Professor Gilderoy want to come with me?" ?ω?

"Forbidden, Forbidden Forest?" Lockhart asked hesitantly, paling slightly.

"Yes, Fish made a lot of friends there!"(●ΦωΦ●)

At this point, Lockhart recalled his scant memories of his magical animal protection class at Hogwarts. The only magical creatures outside the Forbidden Forest were safe magical creatures like bowtruckles and Crap, so he assumed that's what Fish meant by "friends."

After all, Fish was only a young second-year wizard, so how could he have wandered into the Forbidden Forest?

With that thought, Lockhart felt good about himself again.

Then he laughed and said, "The Forbidden Forest? Sure, I used to go in there and play with the magical creatures when I was a student."

He ruffled his curly blond hair, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "I could take you deeper into the Forbidden Forest if I wasn't worried about Professor McGonagall getting mad."

Fish nodded sympathetically, and with a strained little face agreed, "Minerva really likes to get angry nya."

(ˇˇ)

Having found a "common language" again, Fish and Lockhart were happier and laughed together for a while before leaving the Great Dining Hall and heading for Hagrid's hut.

But Hagrid wasn't at his hut at the time, as he had a lot to prepare as the person in charge of transporting the new students, so he had an early lunch and headed to the Hogsmeade village platform.

"Wow!"

Hagrid didn't take Fang, after sniffing Fish, he immediately walked over to him and kept wagging his tail.

"This is Fang, and he's my best friend."

Fish introduced himself to Lockhart, reassuring him.

Not even a magical animal, just a normal dog, so what did he have to worry about.

"Where's Fluffy?"

Fish finished his introduction and then looked at Fang, a dog that had a good relationship with him, which made Fang, who had been shy, dare to go to the forbidden forest without Hagrid.

"Woof, woof, woof, woof!"

Fang barked and ran off into the forest.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet Fluffy. He's one of Hagrid's dogs, but he's a bit bigger, so he usually stays in the forbidden forest." explained Fish to Lockhart as he followed Fang into the forest.

Lockhart, who had no idea what was about to happen, followed him into the forest as he continued to brag, "Speaking of big dogs, I have to say I found him in the rainforest in South America. That one, that one, that one...!

His words were interrupted when a huge black shadow suddenly obscured his vision.

Lockhart craned his neck stiffly, looked up and instantly his hands and feet went cold.

In front of him was a huge three-headed black dog, all three heads showing a ferocious grimace, saliva slipping from its sharp teeth and dripping onto the leaves of the bushes below with a splintering sound.

With a blank stare, Lockhart spat out the last word in a daze.

"... dog."