Chapter 25: Scabbers

It wasn't until the song ended that Fish, who had been sleeping soundly, was called by the little witch beside him.

"Fish, it's time to go back to the bedroom," Alicia Spinnet called in a soft voice, afraid to startle Fish.

"Have you ever seen such a kind Alicia?", Not far away, Oliver Wood nudged Lee Jordan.

"Never!", Lee Jordan replied firmly, followed by another groan from the boys.

"Meow?" (??ω??).

Fish lifted his head from his front paws and looked questioningly at the girl in front of him.

"Go back to your bedroom if you want to sleep, you'll catch a cold in here," Spinnet continued in a low voice.

"Is it over? can I go home now?", Fish, who had no idea what a bedroom was, jumped off the table, took his human form and ran back to the hut where he had been living.

He was then stopped by Percy, who couldn't laugh or cry, "Hogwarts is a boarding school, we should go back to our dorms and rest now."

"Meow? what does boarding school mean? and what's a dormitory?" asked Fish, blinking and looking puzzled.

Only after Percy and the surrounding witches explained the details did Fish understand.

"So this is where I'll be living? Why haven't I heard about that? Minerva! You lied to me again!", Fish snorted, glancing towards the teachers' table, only to find that Professor McGonagall had disappeared, "Meow! Minerva is a big liar!"

It wasn't a big deal for Fish to change where he sleeps, unlike ordinary cats, he didn't get too attached to his "territory" and didn't get nervous about strange places, he was just angry that Professor McGonagall was cheating him again.

Professor McGonagall has a lot of credibility in Gryffindor, and at Hogwarts in general, not to mention the fact that she just showed off her dazzling shapeshifting abilities.

So the Gryffindors looked at each other and decided to ignore Fish's complaints.

"The Gryffindor dorms are very nice, I think you'll like them, and there will be other people living there with you, much more than if you lived alone," As Prefect, Percy felt the need to defend his Head of House's authority, and reassured Fish pleasantly.

"The others,? are we going to fight to decide who owns the territory?"(●?ω?●). Fish's mood lifted and his hands twitched twice, as if he was interested in the matter.

"No, no, no!" Percy waved his hand, "The school has arranged for you to have your own bunks, there's no need to fight, and if you're not happy with your bunk, I'm sure your housemates will be happy to change it."

Having seen the earlier encounter between Professor McGonagall and Fish, Percy himself wasn't sure he could beat the little man in front of him, let alone the other freshmen.

Wiping the sweat from his head, Percy didn't want to pursue the subject any further and said, "Anyway, you can follow me and see."

The new students swirled around Fish and Harry, following Percy through the Hogwarts castle, through hidden doors and up several changing staircases.

Good thing there were plenty of little witches chatting with Fish along the way, and he didn't get bored seeing a lot of new things.

After Percy shooed Peeves away, the group finally reached the Gryffindor dormitory.

It was a hallway with no doors and a portrait of the Fat Lady hanging at the end.

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady from the portrait.

"Dragon scum," said Percy, and the portrait moved aside, revealing the circular hole behind it.

The new students, led by Percy, stepped through the hole in the wall and into the Gryffindor common room.

"The entrance to the girls' dormitory is that way," Percy pointed to a door a short distance away and the witches bid Fish goodnight before leaving, while Fish and the others were led through another door and up a spiral staircase to their bunks.

Harry and the others finally had time to talk to Fish, but despite their intentions, they merely said hello and introduced themselves before changing into their pajamas and getting ready for bed: it had been an exhausting day.

Fish, a creature of the night, was at his most energetic at this hour.

He came up behind Ron Weasley quietly, his green eyes fixed on Ron ...(●?ω?●).

There was something good about this redhead!

Fish smelled prey on Ron, and even though he was full, he wouldn't mind a workout after dinner.

"Ow!", Ron turned his head without realizing it and saw a pair of green eyes staring at him in the dark bedroom, so he was startled.

Startled, Ron took a step back, only to trip over his robes and fall to the floor.

Harry and the others were taken back by the noise he made.

"Don't look at me like that, it's scary," Ron grumbled as he rubbed his butt and picked himself up off the floor.

"You smell like a rat!", Instead of listening, Fish leaned closer, looking at the faintly twitching pocket on Ron's chest.

"Scabbers is my pet! You can't eat him," Ron was stunned for a moment, then panicked and covered his chest pocket, turning to the side to protect himself from the creepy sight of Fish, who had affection for Scabbers, even if he was his brother's unwanted pet.

It was clear, however, that the willful Fish was beyond the reach of a young wizard like Ron, whose small hand reached down like a viper and clawed at Ron's breast pocket.

"Squeal!"

"Oh, my God!"

Sensing danger, Scabbers fled from Ron's pocket, landing on the ground and hurtling toward the corner.

"Meow! Don't run," Fish transformed back into his cat form and chased him without hesitation.

Cat and mouse chased each other around the bedroom, messing up everyone's luggage and blanket.

"Scabbers!"

In the end, Scabbers couldn't escape Fish's chase and was pinned under his paws, struggling frantically.

The fat mouse was quite strong, but not beyond the strength of a normal mouse, and since Fish himself was no ordinary cat, he was able to hold him down.

"Please, Fish, let go of Scabbers!" pleaded Ron loudly as he saw Scabbers in Fish's clutches.

"Meow?", Fish cocked his head toward Ron and released his paws.

Scabbers ran towards Ron, but after two steps he felt a pain in his tail and was pushed back by Fish.

After pulling Scabbers backwards, Fish let go again and, when he got a few steps away, held him again.

After a few times, Scabbers seemed to know that he couldn't escape, or that his strength was exhausted, so he just lay on the ground and let Fish give him a swat.

When the mouse stopped playing with him, Fish lost interest in him, he wasn't hungry, and Fish understood the relationship between Scabbers and Ron.

When he was wandering around outside, he had seen quite a few of the same type that had formed a similar relationship with humans, as well as dogs and owls. While it was rare for humans to have mice, it wasn't uncommon.

Fish had pretended not to know, and so he was chasing the mouse leisurely.

Now that he'd had enough, Fish naturally wouldn't eat Scabbers.

"No fun, meow!", Returning to his human form, Fish tossed Scabbers to Ron and muttered to himself, "Still more fun to play with those owls."

At that comment, Harry and the others, who had been watching the show, tensed.