Chapter 303: Remus John Lupin (Edited)

Lupin, who had pretended to be asleep or to have his eyes closed... had to open them.

If Fish kept talking, Harry would have seen him as an enemy.

At the same time, his heart trembled slightly. Harry and the others might not be able to understand what Fish was talking about, but Lupin himself understood that when he turned into a wolf without drinking the aconite potion, he was as aggressive as an Acromantula.

"Well, cough!"

Lupin cleared his throat, remembering the little ones still whispering that he was awake.

They all turned to look at Lupin, and Fish lowered his ears, bent his legs slightly, and crouched down.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin, nice to meet you."

Lupin, unconcerned by Fish's cautious gestures, greeted them amicably and introduced himself, his voice hoarse and weak.

After introducing himself, Lupin shifted slightly to adjust his sitting position.

Because of what Fish just said, Harry and the others didn't respond, but like Fish, they all eyed Lupin warily.

"I take it you're the Fish that Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall told me about?"

Lupin took no offense at the cold treatment, and his tired face broke into a weary looking smile as he continued to try to dissuade Fish and the others.

"You know Minerva and Albus nya?"

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

The kitten didn't let his guard down at the kindness shown by the other.... Tom Riddle in the diary was much friendlier than he was.

"Of course... I was one of their students, but now I'm going to be buddies with them."

Lupin shrugged and continued in his hoarse, weak voice, his eyelids drooping as if he was going to fall asleep again at any moment.

Because his appearance was so unthreatening, the wary Fish relaxed a bit, but the kitten's eyes were still fixed on Lupin's every move.

Although he wasn't sure what the strange aura was due to, his encounter with Voldemort two years in a row had brought back some of the wariness he had felt during his wildcat days.

"Excuse me, are you our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this semester?" asked Hermione, who was standing behind Fish.

"Yes," nodded Lupin: "Don't worry, I'm not a liar or possessed by Voldemort."

Seeing Ginny's complexion change drastically, he quickly apologized: "Ah... sorry, I didn't mean to mention that name."

He then glanced at Hermione and Ron, who were showing only slight signs of fear, and then looked at Fish and Harry, who were completely unresponsive, with an interested expression on his face.

"You...don't seem to be too afraid of You-Know-Who," Lupin said with a smile: "I take it you're both Gryffindors like me, right?"

Fish needed no introduction, he had sabotaged Voldemort's plans two years in a row, and the kitten hadn't suffered at the hands of the Dark Lord since then, so of course he couldn't be afraid of a defeated opponent.

Before Harry and Hermione came to Hogwarts, they had no contact with the magical world and their fear of Voldemort was not as deep.

And last semester, Harry was lucky enough to see the... sad side of Voldemort, and Ron heard Harry share, so his fear of Voldemort has weakened a lot.

Only Ginny, who grew up listening to the legend of the Dark Lord, was controlled by Voldemort last year, so her behavior was most normal.

"Fish, he's not a bad guy."

Harry patted Fish's shoulder and spoke for Lupin.

It was the first time he'd seen anyone other than Fish and Dumbledore say Voldemort's name so normally, and Harry had a natural affinity for Lupin.

"Is that so nya?"

?ω?

Fish wagged his tail,

He looked at Lupin for a moment and finally withdrew his wary gaze.

Not only because of Harry's help, but because after all this time, Fish didn't sense any malice from the other man, and a hint of danger was no big deal.

Both Fluffy and Uroboros had a similar aura, it was just a bit more subdued than Lupin's, and it had diminished even more as they had known each other longer.

Besides, Lupin was the first human with this kind of aura that Fish had seen, and even Quirrell didn't give him this feeling back then, so Fish would pay special attention to it.

Although they had recognized that he was not a bad person, Harry and the others had no desire to talk to Lupin.

For one thing, what Fish had said earlier had affected their perception of Lupin; for another, he was an adult and their future teacher, so there was a natural generation gap, and no student would normally like to talk to a teacher; and the last reason....

In less than two minutes, Lupin was back to sleep leaning against the window.

"Do you think he can really teach us well?" Ron brought up the subject again: "I'm worried he'll pass out while talking in class in the future."

"It should be fine..." said Hermione uncertainly: "After the mess Lockhart made last year, Dumbledore will find a reliable teacher this year no matter what."

"The problem is... the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher position at Hogwarts is cursed. It's not easy for Dumbledore to find a suitable person, is it?"

Harry shrugged, somewhat pessimistically.

After two years at Hogwarts, the subject had had two different teachers, and Harry was becoming more and more convinced of the rumors of Voldemort's curse.

Then they talked about Sirius Black and how this year they might be going to Hogsmeade for the weekend.

Fish was interested to hear about Black, but Hogsmeade didn't interest him, as he had wandered the town so much that he knew it well.

So the kitten idly listened to the chatter of Harry and the others, while he ate the sandwiches he had just bought.

After finishing his snacks, Fish looked at Lupin, who was sleeping soundly, and remembered the sound of his faint voice, and felt a little sleepy.

Then Fish transformed back into his tiger-spotted cat form and jumped into Hermione's arms, lying in her lap and falling asleep as well.

The train continued on its course, during which Fish woke up and ate lunch again, then dragged Harry and the others around the carriage, but the kitten soon got bored....

"Train rides are boring nya!"

?(●`△′●)?

Back in his compartment, Fish slumped into the seat and complained loudly.

"It's no fun here nya!"

He had tried to climb out the window and onto the roof of the car to sunbathe, but Hermione and the others had stopped him.

"How long is it going to take to get here?!"

(〃｀3′〃)

Fish, who had been bored enough to play with his tail for less than ten minutes, began to mutter again.

"Well...he probably won't get to the station until tonight."

Hermione said soothingly to the kitten: "Why don't you go back to sleeping on my lap?"

"Fish has slept enough! I just want to sunbathe on the roof of the train now nya."

?(●`Д′●)?

Although he could understand why Hermione and the others had stopped him, in Fish's eyes, getting on the roof of the train to sunbathe was not a dangerous thing to do, so he still wanted to fight for it.

However, before Fish could convince Hermione and the others, the sky outside suddenly clouded over and soon raindrops were falling from the sky, getting heavier and heavier as the rain crunched against the window glass.

Fish: "The sun is gone nya!"

∑(●ΦΦДΦ●)

The kitten instantly lowered his ears and tail, and collapsed into the chair with a lost face, his mouth pouting.

"By the way, Fish, do you want me to read you a story?"

At that moment, Hermione quickly pulled a storybook she had prepared out of her suitcase and beckoned to Fish.

"Nya~!"

?(=｀? ′=)?

Fish immediately transformed into a cat and jumped onto Hermione's body, stepping on her thighs with his four little paws, and then plopped down happily, triangular ears erect, listening quietly to the story.