Chapter 585: Hagrid's Whereabouts (Edited)

Friday was as gloomy and damp as the last few days, and classes were just as intense. But after almost a week of postponing the trip to the Forbidden Forest, Fish planned to sneak out of the castle with Hermione tonight....

He was going to have fun with his animal friends in the Forbidden Forest!

But before that, Angelina came over after dinner and invited Fish to watch the team tryouts, and Fish thought about it, since he hadn't had anything to do in a while.

As for homework, it was Friday night, how could anyone do homework?!

Except Hermione.

Of course, tonight Hermione hadn't done anything special, and had come to the quidditch pitch with Fish and the rest of the Gryffindors.

As it was goalie selection, all the usual players except Harry, the Seeker, were in the air, with the three Chasers attacking the goal, and George and Fred manning the bludger and driving them occasionally towards the keeper.

The first player to take the field was a first year, and because of the precedent set by Harry, there was now no ban on new players.

He failed to stop a single ball and was forced to struggle with the bludger, nearly falling off his flying broom.

"Stupid nya..."

(?ω?)

Fish had only watched for a moment before he lost interest, with his dynamic vision and reaction time, even the national team players looked clumsy, let alone these students who weren't even on the school team.

So without even waiting for the first student to finish the tryouts, Fish transformed into a tabby cat and jumped into Hermione's arms, purring and sleeping.

It wasn't until the tests were over that Fish came to and transformed back into his human form.

"Looks like Harry and the others aren't too happy with these people." Fish flapped his cat ears, and the sound of the selectors conferring in the distance came loud and clear.

(?ω?)

"Actually, a few of them are doing quite well," Hermione said impartially, "Just not as well as Wood."

Fish still had his ears to the ground, and from the sounds of discussion coming through, it seemed they still had a better opinion of Ron, who had been training together for four years, and George and Fred had even offered to pay for a flying broom for him.

But once again, Ron refused, apparently fearing that the others would call him poor like Malfoy.....

"Don't mind them nya." Fish listened for a moment, not bothering to listen.

He had no interest in Quidditch in the first place, and had only come to watch the tryouts to pass the time, so he didn't care who the keeper would end up being.

"Let's go play in the Forbidden Forest." He grabbed Hermione by the hand and walked off the pitch.

It was almost curfew anyway, so he didn't bother coming back, he just went to the Forbidden Forest.

"Fish, what did you do last night? Can you tell me?" asked Hermione as she left the field, suddenly remembering him.

"Nothing really, just a trip to see Severus." With a twinkle in his eye, tight-lipped Fish came up with a solution, "Fish asked Severus for help with a little potion."

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head, deliberately not looking at Hermione, acting as if it wasn't worth mentioning.

He didn't know when he started to unconsciously get nervous when he was cheating on Hermione... he obviously felt very comfortable when he was cheating on Professor McGonagall.

Thanks to the fact that it was nighttime, and the weather had been bad lately, there were few stars out, let alone the moon, so Hermione didn't see Fish's slightly vague look.

Curious, she continued, "A magic potion from Professor Snape? Another multijuice potion? Didn't he already teach you the improved formula?"

"It's not a multijuice potion," Fish said, relieved that Hermione hadn't realized he was hiding something, and his tone lightened, "It's a magic potion called Oblivion Potion."

Without waiting for Hermione to ask, he took the initiative to explain, "Fish wanted to teach that old frog nya a lesson, and with the Forgetting Potion, he won't know it was Fish doing it nya!".

He turned his head towards Hermione, his cat-like eyes reflected a greenish glow in the night, "Hermione, don't tell Minerva nya."

(?ω?)

After a moment of silence, Hermione laughed bitterly, "Even if you used the Forgetting Potion to erase Umbridge's memory, Minerva would still be able to guess what you did it... How many other students in the school besides you would be able to beat the professor?"

"That's not necessarily true nya," Fish said shaking his head, "Maybe she's like Lockhart? Besides, as long as there's no proof, even if you guess that Fish did it, Minerva has no reason to lecture me nya."

(`)

Fish said proudly, his head almost tilted skyward.

"That's... true..."

Hermione hesitated, tempted to tell Fish that, even if it was just a guess, Professor McGonagall would probably teach her a lesson, but seeing how confident Fish seemed, she opted to keep quiet....

It would be nice to teach Fish a lesson, and if Umbridge got hurt by Fish, would the same thing happen as before, when it was arranged for other teachers to cover her classes?

Fish and Hermione walked and talked and came to Hagrid's cottage, which was still unlocked and could be opened with a gentle push.

"Woof!"

U^ª^U

As soon as he pushed the door, Fang, who had stayed inside, came over, circling around the two of them, tail whipping behind him.

"Are you the only one here, Fang? I don't think you were here during Care of Magical Creatures class."

?(ΦωΦ)?

Fish asked as he rubbed Fang's head.

"Woof! woof woof woof! Woof-woof!"

Fang barked vigorously, with a bit of aggression in his voice.

Fish had finally found out from Fang what Hagrid had been up to, who had left right after the school vacations and hadn't returned since, leaving Fang to take care of the house by himself.

After Hagrid left, Professor Sprout came to feed Fang at first, but when Professor Grubbly-Plank arrived, it was her turn to do so. During the day, Fang was almost always in the Forbidden Forest, following Fluffy everywhere, and only came back to the house at night.

"No wonder he didn't come for Fish's birthday, it must be that lazy Albus guy who left the job to someone else nya!"

(〃｀3〃)

Fish grumbled, folding his arms, ignoring the fact that he himself was lazy.

"Fish, ask Fang if he knows where Hagrid went." Hermione poked Fish in the ribs.

"Oh, yes nya." Fish did as he was told, and after hearing Fang's "Woof woof," he turned his head and translated, "Fang said Hagrid went with Olympe to look for giants nya."

"Looking for giants!" exclaimed Hermione, unconsciously covering her mouth.

But after her surprise, the clever girl immediately thought of Hagrid's reason for doing so: Dumbledore wanted to bring the giants before Voldemort did...

Although it seemed highly unlikely to her, the books didn't have good words for giants, unless....

Hermione glanced at Fish beside her, but quickly shook her head.

Not all creatures got along with Fish, there was a group of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest that didn't get along with Fish, and the books described them in similar terms to those used for giants.

"By the way, who's Olympe again?" asked Hermione, a bit puzzled.

"She's Fleur and Gabrielle's headmistress, the aunt who's about Hagrid's size." Fish looked at Hermione in surprise, then opened his arms and gestured.

?(ΦωΦ)?

Hermione was surprised, it seemed that Beauxbatons still believed in Dumbledore, as for Durmstrang... their headmaster had gone somewhere, and probably won't be able to recover for half a year.

The two of them took Fang to the Forbidden Forest, met with the Centaurs and other magical creatures, had a bite to eat, and then returned to their dormitories.