Chapter 631: Wine and Cat (Edited)

Just as he met Harry's gaze, Fish felt a violent tug behind his navel, the ground disappeared beneath him, his hands firmly stuck to the teapot, colliding with the others', hurtling forward in a whirlwind of colors and whistling wind.

The teapot continued to pull them, and after a few moments, Fish felt his feet suddenly collide with the ground, shaking slightly and bending his knees. The teapot, which had remained stuck to his hand, detached and was picked up by Dumbledore.

At the same time, Kreacher's gruff voice reached his ears: "Again with these mudbloods, is their father dying?"

"Get out!" Sirius roared.

However, none of this mattered to Fish. The moment he saw Harry's hostile gaze, he instinctively swung his free fist towards Harry.

(`ω´)=o

The activation of the Portkey didn't affect Fish's punch, but during the teleportation, the motion of Fish's punch seemed to slow down, and it didn't hit for a long time until they landed. It was only then that Fish's fist returned to its normal speed and forcefully struck Harry's cheek, leaving the people around unable to react as they watched Harry suddenly fly backward.

"Boom!"

Harry crashed into the wall and slid to the floor, unconscious.

The suddenness of the situation left everyone stunned, even Dumbledore, who looked bewilderedly at Fish, who remained in his punching position.

"What the-?"

∑(ΦωΦ)

Fish was the first to come to his senses, rushing to Harry's side and administering a rejuvenation injection.

"Harry, are you okay?" Fish shouted while patting Harry's gradually swelling cheek.

"What are you doing, Fish?"

"You didn't kill him, did you?"

"Well done! Master Fish!"

The others gathered around, bombarding him with questions mixed with cheers for Kreacher.

Even Dumbledore frowned and asked, "Fish... Did you feel something?"

At that moment, Harry slowly woke up and, covering his still throbbing cheek, asked dejectedly, "Why did you hit me, Fish?"

"Nya... well..."

(?ω?)

Scratching his head, Fish looked away in embarrassment and replied, "Who told you to look at Fish like that a moment ago, nya?"

With that, Fish justified himself, "Yes! It was you who provoked Fish first! Fish instinctively defended himself, nya!"

"Ah..."

With that reminder, Harry recalled that when he had touched the Portkey, his scar had suddenly burned and throbbed as if it had reopened, and a strong and inexplicable hatred had surged within him.

That hatred was directed at Dumbledore and Fish, who were so close that Harry wished for nothing more than to attack and sink his fangs into both of them, as he had done in his dream when he attacked Mr. Weasley.

Harry quickly explained what had happened to him a moment ago.

"Sensing that Harry was attempting to attack Fish, Fish made the first move, nya! Fish has a lot of experience in fights!"

(?ω?)

Fish nodded smugly, saying that he didn't cause any trouble on purpose at this moment.

"Master Fish is still too kind! A little mudblood like that should be beaten to death!" Kreacher said with a smile on his face.

Everyone except the two of them looked at Dumbledore with nervous faces.

"What's happening to me, Dumbledore?" Harry asked anxiously. "Fish said that you and Professor McGonagall wouldn't let him tell me... Is it because of Voldemort?"

In his mind, there was a vague sense that his situation must have something to do with Voldemort.

Dumbledore looked helplessly at Fish, who wasn't revealing the secrets but was no different from doing so, and he half-said, "Do you remember what I told you before? Voldemort left a part of his magic in your scar when he attacked you, and that's why you speak Parseltongue..."

The twins, hearing this for the first time, let out a gasp.

"... But with Voldemort's resurrection, your scar seems to have developed a slight connection to him," Dumbledore continued.

"But, the sight I see is not..."

"The snake," Dumbledore took over, nodded, and said, "My guess is that the snake is in a similar situation as you, with Voldemort's magic inside it, and that's why you're seeing things from its perspective, and now you're starting to be affected by it."

"Is there any solution, Dumbledore?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"Of course," Dumbledore nodded again, "Occlumency should solve the problem, I will arrange it then."

Harry and Sirius let out a sigh of relief in unison, while Fish looked at Dumbledore with disdain.

The old rogue was lying again, and just like Riddle in the diary, mixing lies with the truth.

Dumbledore ignored Fish's disdainful look and said again, "I must go back, I have matters to attend to at Hogwarts, wait here for news, if Arthur's condition is not good, someone will come and take Fish to St. Mungo's to save Arthur, remember to transform into a cat to hide."

He turned back to Sirius and indicated, "Keep an eye on them."

"Wait! Let's go to St. Mungo's now!" George shouted.

Just as he shouted, Dumbledore had taken out the teapot that had previously served as a Portkey and disappeared with a whistle.

"You can't rush to St. Mungo's now." Sirius stopped him. "Harry's situation is not suitable to be made public, do you know what the Ministry of Magic will do about it?"

But it was clear that the twins didn't want to think about the Ministry, they looked at Sirius with such hostility that if they didn't know the exact location of St. Mungo's, they would have Apparated and rushed to see Mr. Weasley themselves.

"We can say someone told us... we found out from somewhere else, not from Harry..." Ginny suggested, not giving up.

Sirius firmly refused, believing it would seriously compromise the mission of the Order of the Phoenix.

"We don't give a damn about the stupid Order of the Phoenix!" Fred shouted.

"Our father's life is in danger!" George shouted.

"That's right nya! Take us there now! Fish can heal Arthur in a blink of an eye!"

Fish even joined in; he wouldn't do what they told him in the absence of Professor McGonagall.

One of the reasons Fish wanted to help was that... St. Mungo's was a name he had heard many times, and Fish was curious to know what it was like.

When a cat is curious, you can't expect it to be very obedient.

"Your father knows what he's doing, and he won't thank you for spoiling the Order of the Phoenix!" Sirius shouted at the twins, and then calmed Fish, who was causing a mess. "Didn't Dumbledore say that if things get bad for Arthur, someone will take you there?"

"Albus can't control Fish nya! And why wait for Arthur to be in a bad condition? Why not let Fish heal him?"

Fish said with a dissatisfied pout. Even if Dumbledore were still here, Fish would continue to argue his case!

"Because we can't say that Harry can dream about things thousands of kilometers away!" Sirius explained once again. "Even if we took you there, we would have to do it after 'receiving the news.' That way, you wouldn't attract attention from the Ministry, or even the Death Eaters!"

"We can have Kreacher take Fish there, nya!" Fish exclaimed with a spark of insight, pointing at a house-elf.

Kreacher, though not thrilled about seeing Fish come to the aid of a pure-blood scum like Weasley, preferred to go against Sirius, not to mention Fish's request, so he quickly bowed and said, "Kreacher will be delighted to serve you, Master Fish."

"I forbid it!" Sirius shouted. "You won't provide them any help! That includes telling them where St. Mungo's is."

Upon hearing this, everyone except Harry, including Kreacher, glared at Sirius.

"We can't risk exposing the Order of the Phoenix in any way!" Sirius insisted. "We would even die to protect the secrets of the Order of the Phoenix!"

"It's easy for you to say that, hiding here like a coward!" Fred growled. "I don't see your life in danger!"

Sirius's face hardened for a moment, and he seemed like he wanted to punch Fred, but he ultimately restrained himself.

Then he heard Fish angrily shouting again, "You've been sneaking around using the Floo Network too, nya! And you planned to go to Hogsmeade to meet Harry! That's not what you said earlier!"

Sirius's face grew even colder as he grimaced and grumbled hoarsely, "I was mistaken about that... I only wanted to see Harry... and since you all prevented me in the first place, you should know better that I can't do it now."

He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and then gently said to the twins, "I know it's hard, but let's all act as if we still don't know and not get impatient, at least until we have news from his mother, alright?"

Fred and George remained unconvinced, but Ginny approached the nearest chair and sat down. Harry looked at Ron, who made a strange gesture between a nod and a shrug, and they both sat down as well.

The twins stared at Sirius for another moment before sitting on either side of Ginny.

Seeing Arthur's children give in, Fish reluctantly had to sit too, feeling that it would have been more worthwhile if he hadn't shared the blame with his companions.

Fish is clever!

So, after sitting down, he stopped sulking at Sirius and turned his head to comfort Ron and the others. "Don't worry, nya. Even if St. Mungo's can't do anything, Fish can still heal Arthur, nya."

Ron and the others, knowing how special Fish's spells were, felt somewhat relieved and thanked Fish.

"That's right, things aren't so bad," Sirius encouraged them. "Come on, let's... have a drink while we wait."

He raised his wand and summoned seven glasses of butterbeer from the pantry with a levitation spell. The bottles slid across the table, clearing Sirius's leftovers, and stopped right in front of the seven of them.

Everyone grabbed their glasses and absentmindedly drank from them. The only sounds heard were the crackling of the kitchen fire and the clinking of glasses on the table.

Harry drank just to have something to do. He was worried about what Dumbledore had said. If Dumbledore could see through the snake's eyes, could the snake see through his? And Voldemort could speak Parseltongue!

They had many secrets, like the Order of the Phoenix and the Order of the Cat, or Grawp, and if Voldemort were to discover them, even if only by revealing them, they would be in serious trouble.

No wonder Dumbledore didn't want to see me or let me get involved with the Order of the Phoenix all this time...

Harry took another sip of his butterbeer and seemed to understand Dumbledore's recent behavior.

Of course, understanding wasn't enough; his frustration hadn't disappeared, in fact, it had grown a little more: Couldn't he just tell me? He's keeping it hidden, if it weren't for Fish...

Wait... it seems like I've forgotten something else...

Harry stared at the bottle of butterbeer in his hand, lost in thought.

Wine and... Fish!

Harry, who had finally regained his senses, looked towards Fish in horror, and saw an empty glass, and...

"Nya-ha-!!!!"

?(●`Д´●)?