Chapter 659: Fish is very patient when hunting (Edited)

In the third greenhouse of Hogwarts, Professor Sprout was explaining to the students how to take care of the Venomous Tentacula.

In a nearby empty pot, a tabby cat was curled up inside, its body coiled and gently undulating as it breathed.

Neither Professor Sprout nor any of the other students in the class had seen this scene before, and no one had any issue with Fish's behavior.

Just as Professor Sprout was in the middle of her class, Fish suddenly twitched his ears in the pot and emerged, quickly returning to his human form and acting as if he were listening to the lesson.

A short and plump figure entered through the door moments later.

With toad-like eyes wide open, Umbridge scrutinized the students, but mostly her gaze settled on Fish, and she frowned upon seeing his exemplary student appearance.

"Is something the matter, Professor Umbridge?" Professor Sprout asked calmly. "Also, could you please close the greenhouse door? The plants here are very sensitive to temperature."

"Oh, of course."

Umbridge smiled falsely and took two steps inside the greenhouse, closing the door behind her.

She then continued in her girlish voice, whispering, "Did the lesson go well, Pomona? Has any student misbehaved?"

As she said this, she looked at Fish again.

(?ω?)

Fish looked at her expressionlessly.

"No, they are all good students," Professor Sprout replied with a smile.

"Is that so? Then I'll leave you to it." Umbridge's face turned slightly grim, and she glanced at Fish once more before exiting the third greenhouse.

"I don't think Umbridge is going to let this slide," Hermione reminded Fish as they walked back to the castle after class. "Sooner or later, she'll figure out why she can't catch you, and Silencing and Odor-Erasing Spells aren't complicated spells."

"Don't worry, Hermione, Fish is already prepared, nya!"

(`´)

Fish wasn't foolish enough to rely solely on his hearing and sense of smell. He had marked Umbridge as his opponent from the beginning, monitoring her movements at all times.

In addition to evading Umbridge's attempts to catch him, he was preparing to confront her later on.

Subsequently, Umbridge made several incursions into Fish's classes and spent one or two hours outside Gryffindor Tower every night, but she failed to catch Fish breaking any rules.

To teach Fish a lesson, she even came to listen to History of Magic class. Originally, Harry and the others secretly lamented, but it turned out Umbridge fell asleep first...

As Hermione had predicted, Umbridge finally discovered how to conceal her footsteps and scent after a week of wasting time.

However, with Fish's [Wild Mark], she had no way to hide her tracks. Fish always returned to his human form before she entered the class, appearing to pay attention, and none of the professors or students in the class would betray him. Umbridge couldn't do anything.

The same applied to their nightly excursions. Fish had basically given up sneaking around the castle, leaping out of the window every night with Hermione, landing on Shadow's back as he came to pick them up, and heading straight to the Forbidden Forest to play. Occasionally, he wanted to wander around the castle, so he simply asked Harry to lend him his Invisibility Cloak...

Anyway, no one could make Fish obey the school rules!

Unaware of all this, Umbridge, after observing Fish for some time, believed her tactics were working. She had managed to make Fish behave and stop flouting the rules with impunity, or so she thought.

She even wrote to Fudge to take credit for her efforts.

Fudge, who had no idea what he was thinking, had the story published in the Daily Prophet as a display of his wisdom in meddling with Hogwarts affairs. Even Fish, a student whom Dumbledore couldn't control, had become a good student thanks to Umbridge's efforts, the Senior Investigator.

Then Fudge and Umbridge received a heap of Howler letters from the patients and their friends and family who had been treated by Fish at St. Mungo's.

They didn't care about the Minister of Magic or the Senior Investigator; they simply couldn't allow Fish to be wronged!

Umbridge's smug face froze and disappeared as a sullen expression appeared on her face upon receiving the Howler letters at Hogwarts. She hurriedly fled the Great Hall in disarray, without even having breakfast, amidst the laughter of the other students and professors.

Although Umbridge felt humiliated by the letters, she could, of course, not revoke the Twenty-Ninth Educational Decree. However, after (what she believed to be) Fish's admission of defeat, she gradually refocused on the matter of Dumbledore.

One of the first things Umbridge did was find some insignificant errors and expel Hagrid from his probationary period. But apart from Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors, Hagrid himself didn't react too much.

"I knew this day would come from the moment they put me on trial." Hagrid reassured Harry, who was upset, and then said with a relaxed expression, "Now I just go back to my gamekeeper duties; it's not like they'll kick me out of Hogwarts."

With Dumbledore nearby, Umbridge could dismiss Hagrid as a teacher, but she couldn't throw him out of the school, which she found particularly distasteful.

Umbridge had even considered the possibility of asking Minister Fudge for an additional educational decree to remove the dismissed staff from Hogwarts, but she had eventually abandoned the idea after considering her current situation.

"There's nothing wrong with your teachings these days..." Harry reluctantly said, unintentionally revealing that he had an issue with Hagrid's past lessons.

Fortunately, Hagrid, with his great kindness, didn't notice anything wrong in his words.

"Don't worry about me, Harry," Hagrid said as he reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees.

"Oops, sorry," he apologized as he bent down and lifted Harry off the ground. "Now I have more time to teach Grawp."

Hagrid spoke enthusiastically about his half-brother. "He's learning to say thank you to people... although sometimes not in the right context."

And Harry was so distracted by his "interruption" that he stopped dwelling on the matter and chatted informally with Hagrid.

While Harry and Hagrid talked, Fish, who had been dragged by Hermione to comfort Hagrid, rarely joined the conversation. He simply sat there, chewing on Hagrid's special rock-cake, his green eyes sparkling and his tail swaying like a pendulum.

The fact that Hagrid had been dismissed was indeed a signal to Fish that it was time to act against Umbridge.

(??~??)