Although Sharpay was tempted to tell Fish, "Send me a card, you don't have to think about it," she reluctantly pushed that thought away in light of the crowd around her and briefly explained what Valentine's Day was all about.
"Ahem, Valentine's Day... it's a holiday to express your feelings to the person you like..."
"Expressing my feelings to someone I like... Minerva nya?"
Even though she'd been beaten up yesterday, Fish's favorite person was still Professor McGonagall.
"No, no, no," Sharpay explained waving her hands, "Not the kind of affection between relatives, but the kind of love that wants to be husband and wife."
"Fish understand nya, you're talking about boyfriend and girlfriend! Like Percy and Penelope!"
?(●ΦωΦ●)?
Over the summer, Fish had heard a similar description at the Weasley house, so he quickly responded.
"Yeah, right! That's the one." Sharpay looked at the kitten shaking its head in front of her and asked with a hint of apprehension and anticipation, "Who does Fish want to be your girlfriend?"
The Gryffindors around them, both male and female, had stopped talking and sharpened their ears waiting for Fish's answer, and the students at the Ravenclaw table next to them were no exception.
"Who does Fish want to be your girlfriend?" Fish cocked his head to one side, flicked his ears and asked, wide-eyed and confused, "Aren't they all Fish's girlfriends?"
?ω?
"There can only be one girlfriend!"
Sharpay's face instantly darkened, but she didn't get mad at the cat, because surely plain Fish hadn't meant that, someone had obviously led the cute kitty astray.
"Who told you you could have a lot of girlfriends?"
Sharpay narrowed her eyes and turned them to Fish's companions.
Harry and the others were at a loss, unable to understand the situation, but Ron seemed to remember something, his face changed slightly and he turned his gaze back to his two brothers.
"It's George and Fred nya."
(●ΦωΦ●)?
Just as Ron had thought, Fish didn't hesitate to point at the two confused twins.
George and Fred gaped as they felt the sinister looks of the witches surrounding them.
It was only a matter of time before they realized what Fish was referring to, after all it was one of the reasons they had decided to become Animagus in the first place.
It's just that the twins never thought that the fact that they inadvertently encouraged Fish to use the Multijuice Potion as a prank didn't come to light, but that it was an unintentional mistake during the summer vacations that put them in danger.
"Ahem... It's just a misunderstanding!"
The two hastily defended themselves to the crowd.
"Wasn't Fish a guest at our house over the summer?"
George opened his mouth to start the conversation, but attracted even more hatred, so Fred quickly picked up the subject.
"So Percy's relationship with Penelope was exposed."
Percy blushed and gave them both a stern look.
Of course, the twins didn't mind at all.
"And then Fish asked us what a girlfriend is."
"We just explained the meaning of bride to him, maybe not so clearly."
"So he got the wrong idea, thinking a girlfriend was a close friend."
The twins explained word for word and then pointed to Ginny.
"Ginny and Ron were there, they can testify for us!"
When everyone's eyes turned to her, Ginny was silent for a moment, then remembered the time her brothers had "left her for dead..."
"But you guys, including Ron, didn't correct the misunderstanding."
Ginny replied with a straight face, "I wasn't at Hogwarts at the time and I thought Fish had a lot of girlfriends."
The twins: "..."
Ron, who had been caught in the crossfire: "..."
The three looked at Ginny in disbelief, all this time, Ginny had always seemed like an easily shy little sister to her older siblings, how had she suddenly gone dark?
Harry, who had been watching Ginny's abnormal behavior, was a little nervous, she hadn't been possessed by Voldemort again, had she?
Ginny was very aware of Harry's stare, her face flushed and she returned to her original shy look.
This confused Harry, so he gave Ginny a closer look.
The crowd, staring intently at Ron, saw Harry's demeanor beside him, and their eyes became strange.
For a moment, the entire long Gryffindor table was strangely silent.
But soon, Fish, who was unaware of this, broke the strange atmosphere.
"So, Sister Sharpay, what's a girlfriend anyway? Who should Fish send a greeting card to?"
(●?ω?●)?
The kitten pulled Sharpay back next to him and asked in confusion.
He could see that he must have misunderstood what a bride was, but what the cat still didn't understand was....
What is a girlfriend?
"Well, a girlfriend is the kind of girl... that you like so much that you want to spend time with her whenever you're not doing anything, even if it's just lounging around."
For a while, Sharpay couldn't talk to Fish in detail about girlfriends, because the kitten lacked a bit of knowledge on this matter, so he could only describe the supposed girlfriend to Fish from his feelings.
"Isn't she still Minerva?"
?ω?
If Sharpay's description was anything to go by, it would be Professor McGonagall, and Fish would be happy just being near her mother.
"I said she's not the taste type.... well, she's about the same age as you, I mean, pick from our group."
Sharpay had no choice but to force Fish's rank.
"Is that so nya?"
Fish lowered his head thoughtfully, his cat ears twitching from time to time.
Only after a long moment did he look up at the expectant stares.
"Should I send a card for Valentine's Day nya? Fish can't think of a girl he particularly likes" the kitten asked with an anxious look.
Although he preferred to play with Hermione and Luna, it wasn't to the extent that Sister Sharpay had explained, and even Hermione in her cat-person form, Fish liked being around her just because her fur felt more intimate to him.
Not to mention the others, whom he could barely avoid.
"Ugh..."
The young Gryffindor witches sighed in unison, but at the same time sighed in relief.
Fish wasn't old enough to be in love, which meant....
There was still a chance for everyone!
Some of the young witches who had been thinking about Fish for a while instantly perked up and looked at each other warily... especially when they looked at Hermione.
Hermione, who had been playing it safe since the Multijuice Potion incident, could no longer hide the fact that she was now recognized as the most threatening of the girls.
In fact, not only did everyone else think so, but Hermione herself thought she was the most likely to receive a congratulations card, but now that Fish had said he had no particular favorite, Hermione was disappointed.
She soon recovered, however, as she and Fish had the best relationship of all the girls.
Compared to those girls who had keen eyesight, Sharpay's performance was relatively calm, and she allowed herself the luxury of explaining to Fish about the valentine.
To Sharpay, she saw Fish more as a little brother, so she didn't have a strong sense of exclusivity, but of course, she wouldn't mind being with Fish if she had the chance.
"If you don't really have a girl you like, you can't do anything," she said with a smile, stroking Fish's head with a loving face, "But our little Fish is so cute, today I'm sure you'll get a lot of greeting cards."
"Don't you want Fish to return the gift? Minerva says it's more polite that way."
?ω?
"No, Valentine's Day is not like other holidays, if you don't like the person, don't write to them, it's very rude."
Sharpay was trying to help Fish develop the right attitude toward love.
Under her guidance, Fish seemed to understand a little....
He scratched his hair and said, "No wonder Minerva was telling Fish not to play with the girls' feelings, is that what she meant nya?".
∑(●ΦωΦ●)