After solving the twins' problem, Fish left the Great Hall with Hermione and the others to go to Professor Binns' History of Magic class.
Professor Binns' class was the most boring of any at Hogwarts, so as soon as he arrived, Fish transformed into a cat, hid in his desk, and fell asleep.
The rest of the class was pretty much the same, and within ten minutes they were asleep, or chatting, and none of them were paying attention, except Hermione.
Seamus had even pulled out a Weasley Magic Chess set (the ultimate version of George and Fred's Monopoly) and was playing with Dean, Harry and Ron.
"One more time and I'll have to punish you!".
Hermione warned as she approached the boys after the boring History of Magic class.
"Until then..."
Ron pointed at Fish, who had just woken up and was stretching.
Hermione's face flushed slightly, knowing she was in the wrong, but she still glared angrily at Harry and the boys.
"Anyway, if you're only aiming at us, we won't be convinced." Said several of the boys to Hermione, making common cause.
Hermione pursed her lips reluctantly and, after a moment's hesitation, turned to grab Fish, who was lying on the table licking his fur.
"Fish, you're a Prefect now, so set a good example for everyone."
She said demurely as she grabbed the cat by the armpits and lifted it up to her face.
"Nya?"
?ω?
The cat cocked its head to one side and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"For example, listen carefully in class and stop sleeping." said Hermione, by way of example.
Fish froze, and then....
"Nya!"
?(=`Д′=)?
Fish kicked wildly, twisted to escape Hermione's grip, and bolted without looking back.
Hermione: "..."
Hearing the giggles of Harry and the others behind her, Miss Know-it-all sighed, knowing she had been a bit hasty and should have taken her time guiding Fish.
So she packed her bag and left the History of Magic classroom, intending to go talk to the runaway cat.
Hermione had just left the classroom when she spotted him around the corner, hiding behind a wall with his head half peeking out, watching Hermione.
`ω′=)
Hermione ran towards him, but the little cat turned and ran away. Hermione quickly chased it around the corner, only to find the cat around the next corner, looking at her with half a head.
"Stop running!" Hermione yelled at Fish, "I'm not making you! Come here!"
"Nya?" Fish looked at her suspiciously, and didn't come over immediately.
Hermione was furious too, and snorted, "It's okay if you don't believe me!". and prepared to leave.
Only then did Fish rush to Hermione's side, standing up and wrapping his little legs around her front paws.
"Nya!"
?(=?ω?=)?
The cat nuzzled Hermione's leg with its head and purred flatteringly.
Hermione's anger subsided instantly, she reached down and grabbed Fish, then buried her face in the cat's furry belly and took a deep breath.
Her action was a signal to Fish.
Fish quickly returned to his human form and, pursing his lips and kissed Hermione.
(Φ3Φ?)
"That's not what I meant!".
Hermione shyly averted her head, then looked around shyly, and breathed a long sigh of relief when she realized there was no one else around.
"Isn't it a kissing game nya?"
(??ω??)
Fish cocked his head in confusion, as he had always kissed before.
"Of course not!" Hermione stomped her foot shyly, then forced the conversation again, "Well.... Fish, about sleeping in class..." seeing that Fish was trying to escape again, she was quick to tug on Fish's arm and quickly "I'm not trying to force you!"
"Really?"
(?ω?)
Fish looked at her skeptically.
"I mean, if you can, try not to sleep during class, so Minerva will be happy too." Hermione said to Fish in an advisory tone instead.
"Well..." Fish pondered for a while, then resolutely refused, "No!"
There were plenty of ways for Fish to make Professor McGonagall happy, and he wasn't going to sacrifice his dream for it....
Unless both Hermione and Professor McGonagall forcibly demanded it of him.
However, neither Hermione nor Professor McGonagall could force Fish to do it over such a trivial matter.
So Hermione sighed reluctantly and gave up trying to persuade him to do it, since Harry and the others wouldn't have dared to do it in any class other than History of Magic.
Just then the bell rang and the two hurried into Potions class.
Professor Snape taught how to make potions in this class.
Instead of a lecture, Professor Snape wrote on the board the ingredients and how to brew a potion.
Fish liked the hands-on class, so he didn't fall asleep, but followed the instructions on the board.
There was little to say about the brewing process, which Fish found fairly easy with a potion that had all the steps written out.
Harry skipped a step and Snape erased his potion, giving him another zero for the class.
So when the bell rang, an angry Harry was the first to run out of the classroom.
"That's so unfair," Hermione said in Harry's defense. "Harry's potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's."
"Well... Fish actually asked Severus, if he couldn't be as specific about Harry nya."
(??ω??)?
Fish, who was on his way to the Great Hall to have lunch with the group, scratched his head and said.
"What did he say to you?"
Ron asked worriedly, and the others looked at Fish curiously, even Malfoy, who was some distance behind them, couldn't help but prick up his ears.
"Severus says, he's not targeting Harry..."
All the Gryffindors pursed their lips in contempt, and Fish knew that Snape's words had little credibility, but he continued to tell them what Snape had said in response.
"He subtracted points from Harry because Harry didn't know how to make nya potion well."
Fish actually agreed with this, because, in his opinion, as long as Harry didn't make a mistake, there was nothing Snape could do to target him. And, what Fish couldn't understand was....
Severus had written the preparation steps so clearly, why could he keep making mistakes? It wasn't as if they had been asked to memorize it...
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Harry was already sitting down eating his lunch, Ron walked up to him quickly and repeated what Fish had told Harry.
"Oh, come on, when has Snape ever treated me fairly?" Harry snorted, picking at the food on his plate. "Even if he did manage to brew a potion, he'd find another excuse to be snarky."
"What do you say..." Fish suddenly offered a constructive idea, "Have Cold apologize to Severus, and wouldn't he treat Harry a little better nya?"
Ψ(?Φ~Φ?)