Chapter 272: What exactly did Peeves mean? (Edited)

The Easter vacations passed quickly, and during that time it was discovered that several disused, or soon-to-be disused, parts of the school had been sealed off for renovation until after the vacations.

Among them was the second floor girls' bathroom, where Myrtle lived.

Even Myrtle had been temporarily relocated to the Prefects' bathroom, much to the chagrin of the Prefects, especially the male Prefects, who were not only a symbol of their power and status, but had more luxurious facilities.

They disliked having to return to the regular bathrooms because of Myrtle's presence.

Fortunately, the school promised that this was only temporary, so the seven prefects would have to hold their noses and accept it.... Percy knew exactly what was going on, and since his sister is one of the main participants, he didn't dare say anything.

Also, it seems that Peeves knows something about the reason for these room renovations, but every time he tries to tell anyone else, his mouth is automatically shut and rumors spread throughout the school.

Some thought it was a normal renovation, but many thought there was something fishy going on.

Some said the rooms had been occupied by evil spirits from outside, others said there was a terrible curse inside, and naturally some linked it to the Chamber of Secrets that had been the subject of so much fuss.

But there was no real proof, and the question of what Peeves was trying to say became another great mystery at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As final exams approached, and professors gave more and more homework, and there was always something interesting going on at Hogwarts, the discussion about locked rooms and what Peeves was trying to say faded after a while.

Dumbledore did this, naturally, to prevent Voldemort from controlling someone, from getting into the Chamber of Secrets and releasing the basilisk.

The diary had been destroyed, but who knew when the Death Eaters would slip another Horcrux in, or Voldemort would sneak into the back of someone's head.

In fact, the best way is to transfer the basilisk to another place, but, firstly, there were still students at the school and it was too dangerous to move the basilisk, secondly, Dumbledore couldn't find a safer place to put the basilisk, and thirdly.... Fish wanted to go play with the basilisk from time to time.

So Dumbledore simply sealed off the girls' bathroom on the second floor, leaving only a small entrance and an exit in a hidden corner for Fish to enter and exit.

He was going to wait until summer vacation to tear down the washroom, and add other protections to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets...like a stone statue guarding the Headmaster's office.

The other rooms, of course, were meant to serve as distractions, and were renovated to take advantage of rooms that had been abandoned.

But these were minor details, and with the destruction of the diary, the matter of the Chamber of Secrets was finally over, and Hogwarts was still as noisy as ever.

After all, it was hard to keep quiet at school with Fish the cat, the Weasley twins, and Professor Lockhart, winner of the Best Smile Award.

...

After the weather gradually warmed up, Fish had resumed his visits to the Forbidden Forest, since he no longer had to go to Dumbledore's office from time to time to talk to Voldemort, and now that the diary had been destroyed, he had more time to spend in the Forbidden Forest.

Then, one weekend, after breakfast, Fish was about to run into the Forbidden Forest when the twins stopped him.

"Fish, can you take us to the Forbidden Forest too?"

Fred slipped his arm around Fish's neck, dragged him into a corner and asked quietly, while George watched from the side.

George and Fred had been itching to go to the Forbidden Forest ever since they found out that Ron and Harry had been taken there by Fish.

Aside from sneaking in once when they were first years and running away in a hurry after being chased, they had also wandered around the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest a few times during their Care of Magical Creatures classes, so they had been thinking about it ever since they found out that Fish could take people.

"Yeah nya."

Fish nodded casually, he hadn't gotten a big lecture from Professor McGonagall the last time Harry had spilled the beans, so he figured it wasn't that big of a deal, and since the twins wanted to go, it wouldn't hurt to take them.

But...

The kitten sniffed, caught a familiar scent from Fred's mouth.

"I don't know if you will be able to drink the soup of the centaurs, they put so many spices and herbs in their soup that it might conflict with the mandrake leaves in your mouth."

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Fish flapped his ears and said with a straight face.

He still remembered when he wanted to give the twins the Multijuice Potion, but Professor McGonagall stopped him, saying that if they drank the Multijuice Potion, becoming Animagus might fail....

The kitten was quite curious as to what the two would become.

"All right, all right, we'll take two loaves of bread." said Fred quickly.

As long as they can play in the Forbidden Forest, what they have for lunch isn't important to them.

This time Fish didn't call Colin, or ask Harry to lend him his invisibility cloak....

Professor McGonagall had only said a few words to Fish before Harry interrupted him and turned his attention to Voldemort's diary, which made her forget to forbid Fish to do so, so naturally Fish assumed that Professor McGonagall had agreed to do so.

So, he took the twins into the Forbidden Forest with him.

After that, it was the usual trip into the depths of the Forbidden Forest riding Fluffy and a meeting of friends to identify them.

George and Fred were much more daring than their brother, they trembled when they first saw Fluffy, but soon became excited when they rode him, and then were surrounded by a group of magical animals, they showed no fear, but jumped around the magical animals with great interest.

They even met the bicorn that had chased them and remembered George and Fred.

It's just that after recognizing the twins, his attitude became a bit cold, and he might have chased them again if it hadn't been for Fish's sake.

As for the reason, the bicorn also told Fish.

When the twins entered the Forbidden Forest, they wandered into the bicorn's territory by mistake, and then urinated on its territory....

The act of urinating, which in many animals means marking territory, is also a habit of the bicorn, so in their eyes George and Fred were provoking it by doing so.

And since the bicorn is not a very good-natured animal, it was only natural for it to go after the twins.

"That's right nya."

Fish relayed the bicorn's words to George and Fred, and they realized why he chased them in the first place.

The twins were puzzled as to why, but at least now they knew not to urinate on the animals' territory....

After a while, most of Fish's animal friends scattered. It was spring, courtship time for many animals, and even though they were close to Fish, they had to think about breeding their colony.

It was almost noon, so Fish simply took the twins to the centaur tribe.

After entering the tribe and seeing the scantily clad Centaur women, George and Fred immediately understood why Harry and Ron liked coming here.

But the twins were much more natural than Ron and Harry, who had their hands tied...although they couldn't help but glance at the Centaur women from time to time.

Fish introduced the twins to the centaurs, and the adult centaurs treated them with a little more equanimity, just because they were Fish's friends and "foals," and showed no displeasure.

In fact, when they had brought Harry and Ron, the centaurs just looked at Harry differently, and their attitude toward Ron had been lukewarm; they hadn't even liked Dumbledore much, except for Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn, who had been able to get along with them.

But George and Fred were too content to go into the Forbidden Forest and be guests of the centaur tribe to worry about their attitude.

After lunch, the three played with the ponies for a while before leaving the tribe with the reluctant twins.

Then, they came across something interesting....