Chapter 21: Classification Ceremony

As much as Harry disliked the arrogant and obnoxious Draco Malfoy, he sharpened his ear when he heard Malfoy talk about Fish.

And Malfoy enjoyed the attention so much, so he raised his voice and told them everything he knew about Fish, "My father told me that Professor McGonagall adopted a boy a few years ago, a boy who was found living as a stray cat in the Muggle world, and then somehow Headmaster Dumbledore discovered him and brought him back, because Professor McGonagall's animagus was also a cat, and so he was given to her to raise."

After telling Fish's origin story, Malfoy smacked his lips, "Though there is speculation that his parents might have both been Muggles and that's why they kicked him out out out of fear...but how is that possible?"

Malfoy sneered scornfully, "How can a muggle family produce such a natural animagus, he's at least half-blood, but the likelihood of him being a pureblood is higher!"

With that, Malfoy raised his head proudly, seemingly certain that Fish was a pureblood wizard, and his gaze swept over the smaller wizards who were not purebloods in a blatant display of his superiority.

The few purebloods standing next to Malfoy had the same look.

However, most of the younger wizards didn't really care if Fish was a pureblood or not, they were more interested in what Fish had been through.

"Merlin's cotton socks! He's so pathetic."

"I'd love to give him a hug."

"Stray cats, it's unbelievable! Good thing Mr. Headmaster found him."

Some of the younger witches even burst into tears, wiping their tears with their sleeves and looking at Fish with growing tenderness.

Harry gave the young wizard an equally sympathetic look, feeling lucky compared to what he was going through, at least he had a roof over his head, and three meals a day to fill his stomach.

Fish, who was peering through the crack in the door, suddenly a shiver running down his back, and he jerked his head back to see a group of young wizards looking at him quizzically.

"Meow?", Fish cocked his head, looking puzzled.

The result was another scream from a group of little witches.

'Strange human beings,' After a few moments of looking at them, and finding that they did nothing but stare at him, Fish ignored them and began to look around the room.

The young wizards did not bother him and watched as Fish paced the room at an unrecognizable pace.

Just as Fish had gone halfway across the room, a group of silvery, translucent humans suddenly jumped out of the walls around him.

One of them passed through Fish's body, making him shiver.

"Meow!", Believing he was being attacked, Fish instinctively lashed out.

And rightly so, he missed.

"Hey! Rude boy!", Although unharmed, the ghost was still surprised, scowling at Fish and the other young mages, "What are you guys doing here?"

Without waiting for the others to say anything, he patted his head with a start, "Ah, right, the sorting ceremony, so you're new to this year? ... Hey, don't try to catch me, I'm a ghost! A ghost, you know?"

As the ghost spoke, Fish kept waving his hands, trying to catch the strange human in front of him.

"Meow? A ghost? What's that?", Fish blinked and asked curiously, but the two little hands kept waving restlessly.

"Merlin's woolen hat! Don't young wizards know about ghosts anymore? Or are you the son of a Muggle family?" The ghost replied angrily, wide-eyed, "A ghost is someone who's dead!"

"But you're still moving, meow," Fish replied, as he continued to pull the ghost with his hands.

"Yes, I can still move, but that doesn't mean I'm still alive! The obsession of the dead to stay in the world produces ghosts.... Stop!", The ghost, who had been depressed when answering Fish's question about his condition, found that Fish didn't even listen to him, but kept pulling himself along.

He suddenly ignored the melancholy and immediately became violent again.

After a few dozen scratches, Fish realized that he could not touch the other party, but only left his "paws" cold, so he obediently withdrew his hand.

The ghost was about to have a good old-fashioned argument with Fish, but then Professor McGonagall returned.

"Now move along, the ceremony is about to begin! And Fish, stop bothering the ghosts and get back here," Professor McGonagall was at the door, shouting at the first years in a high pitched voice.

With Professor McGonagall's return, the ghosts stopped loitering and disappeared through the wall, while Fish quickly ran to Professor McGonagall's side.

"Get back into single file with them," Professor McGonagall said, looking at Fish and pointing to the other young wizards, "and then follow me, and after the sorting ceremony, it will be time for dinner."

And so Fish moved back to the front of the little wizards, his body swaying restlessly and gently in anticipation of the meal that was to follow.

The group of eager young wizards followed Professor McGonagall and Fish down the hall and into a magnificent auditorium.

At the long table at the top of the room, Fish saw several familiar faces.

"Bad old man! The little man! The fat aunt and the wooden leg! I'm here," Fish stood on tiptoe, waving his hands, and greeted Albus Dumbledore, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, and Silvanus Kettleburn in a loud voice.

They were all professors who had been guests of McGonagall's house, and had been there more than once, and Fish had gotten to know them well.

All the professors who were called waved their hands cheerfully in response to him, Fish wanted to run over to chat with them, but Professor McGonagall grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.

Fish looked back in confusion, as he had told him to get along with the mean old man when they were at home.

However, seeing the look on Professor McGonagall's face, which was about to shoot fire, he returned to the line without a word.

When the seniors saw this scene, they gathered together and began to whisper, and the originally silent auditorium immediately became a bit noisy.

"Silence!", Professor McGonagall glared angrily at the initiator and then spoke to silence the students' conversation.

"You, go stand over there, line up," when the auditorium was silent again, Professor McGonagall directed all the freshmen to stand in front of the long teachers' table, lined up in front of all the seniors, and then placed a four-legged stool and a battered, pointy wizard's hat in front of them.

Just as the freshmen were confused, the hat opened a wide slit and began to sing:

"You may not think I'm pretty,

But you shouldn't judge a book by its cover,

If you can find a nicer hat than me--.

Hey, what are you doing, little one?