Chapter 545: Good and Evil (Edited)

At first, Fish was uncomfortable eating and drinking with a mandrake leaf in his mouth, but soon the clever boy found a way around it: he transformed his tongue into the tongue of a cat.

Both the thinner, more flexible structure of the human tongue and the tiny barbs on the top of the tongue that Fish can control keep the mandrake leaf firmly in his mouth, where it simply won't fall out or get swallowed....

As long as Fish doesn't eat it like a vegetable leaf when he eats it, he'll be fine.

It's not a difficult problem to solve, and after a few times of accidentally eating it, Fish was getting used to it, as long as he's careful when eating.

The only thing that bothered Fish was that he couldn't turn into a cat when holding the leaf...a cat's mouth is too small to hide the mandrake leaf.

Unless he turns into a white tiger, which is too big to move, and he tends to get sleepy when he turns into a tiger, he has to stay in his human form.

With the leaf problem solved, Fish was free again, and the summer homework that used to be a problem for Fish was no longer a problem with the help of the shorthand pen that Rita Skeeter had given him.

As for the job of cleaning Black's house.... Fish didn't add to the problem, the twins and Ron should be grateful, how could he be involved?

Furthermore...if they really did involve Fish, their mother and sister would definitely scold them to death. twins aren't that stupid!

So Fish, who had nothing better to do than go talk to Kreacher and Mrs. Blake twice a day, hadn't given up on his original idea, especially after talking to Professor McGonagall.

But Fish's persuasion didn't go well, and although Mrs. Blake was less difficult to talk to thanks to Phineas and Kreacher, her stubborn nature hadn't changed.

And since Fish was not very eloquent, there was no progress, rather nothing, and both Kreacher and Mrs. Black continued to show utter antipathy and hatred towards Sirius.

In contrast, Regulus, the late youngest son of the Blakes, was all bluster in both of their mouths.

...

"Well, Fish? Is Mrs. Black still refusing to forgive Sirius?"

Asked Fish a purple-haired young woman, who had just returned from the foyer at lunchtime.

Her name was Nymphadora Tonks, a new member of the Order of the Phoenix and a Metamorphmagus, whom Fish had met when she was a member of the Animagus Club.

Aside from Tonks, there were other members of the Order of the Phoenix who came in from time to time to spend the night or have dinner, such as Moody and Snape, whom Fish knew, as well as Dedalus Diggle and Kingsley Shacklebolt, whom he had not seen before.

Only most of them came and went in a hurry and seemed busy, and even Professor McGonagall didn't always stay, occasionally staying a night or two at Hogwarts or elsewhere because things were going too slow.

"Yeah nya," Fish replied with a despondent sigh, scratching his head, "And Fish looks like he's about to get talked into it by them, Sirius deserves it a bit nya."

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Sirius rolled his eyes and shouted, "I told you you're not spending all day with those two lunatics!".

"Kreacher and Walburga aren't lunatics nya." replied Fish seriously. "They're just normal Slytherins, and you're just getting told off because you don't listen to your mom."

Without waiting for Sirius to retort, Fish continued, "Fish knows there's something wrong with her ideas, but you obviously have a better way, don't you? When Fish didn't want to listen to Minerva, he sneaks off and goes against her wishes, as long as he doesn't get caught nya."

"That's so true! Ours was sneaky and ready for years before mom found out too!"

George and Fred agreed with a wide grin, only to be met with a scathing look from Mrs. Weasley, and quickly shrugged with a smile.

"If I'm going to agree with them against my will, I'd rather disown my relatives!". Sirius said with a sullen look on his face, "I've had enough of their stupid ideas for long enough, no way am I going to agree with them!"

"That's why Fish said you deserved it nya."

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Repeated Fish vaguely as he ate his lunch, "No wonder Walburga and Kreacher prefer Regulus."

"Of course, my stupid brother, who believes in the Black's stupid idea about purebloods, is going to be liked by them!" said Sirius, seemingly unconcerned by Fish's comment, but actually defending himself.

"But..." said Fish as he stuffed another slice of roast into his mouth, "Fish also likes Regulus better nya, Kreacher and Walburga talk about him a lot, Fish thinks he's a good man... much better than you nya."

"He's a Death Eater!" Sirius was instantly offended.

In fact, Sirius had always been jealous of his brother. Only in the past, the people who thought Regulus was better than him were either members of the Black family, which Sirius hated, or Death Eaters, so he hadn't noticed.

He had always talked about Regulus' stupidity, but it was a reflection of his hidden competitiveness.

But now that Fish had said it, his hidden competitiveness was coming out.

"Severus is a Death Eater too," Fish said, swallowing his roast, not too slowly, "And you and Remus and Harry's father were much worse than him at Hogwarts nya. And Scabbers, he was with you before he killed Harry's father."

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If he had learned anything from talking to Kreacher and Mrs. Black these past few days, it was that Fish had become much more composed and eloquent than ever.

"Besides, didn't Regulus end up renouncing the Death Eaters? He died for it."

Sirius was speechless.

If Fish had used the same excuse as before, "It's good because Fish likes him," he wouldn't have minded, he would have simply laughed it off as a childish joke.

But when Fish stated his reasons so justifiably, Sirius couldn't help but take it to heart....

Especially when he felt Fish's reasoning made some sense.

"You can't believe everything they say the old.... well... Mrs. Black and Kreacher, can you? Just like what they said about Sirius, it wasn't fair." As Harry's best friend, Ron came to Sirius' defense at this point and argued.

"Kreacher doesn't know, but Walburga shouldn't lie." Fish cocked his head to one side and thought for a moment before saying, "Because she talks about Regulus just like Minerva talks about Fish. And she's pretty much like Jacqueline when she talks about Hermione and Molly talks about Percy, so, I don't think she's lying nya."

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