"Hermione, what's wrong with Severus, nya?"
?ω?
After the two of them were expelled from his office by the stern-faced Professor Snape, Fish asked, confused.
"Ahem..."
Hermione looked at Fish gratefully...
Luckily, Fish was there, or she would have died!
The know-it-all Miss, who had narrowly escaped death, hugged Fish tightly and kissed him on the cheek.
This left Fish even more confused.
"What the hell happened?! Tell it to Fish quickly!"
(`н¨)
Fish protested, disgusted.
Hermione then explained to Fish Snape's psychology in general.
"Well... he can't understand..." Fish crossed his arms, tilted his head in thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "What's so embarrassing? Half-Blood Prince may not be as good as Greasy Git, but it's still a good nickname."
No, I think Greasy Git is worse...
Hermione looked at Fish speechlessly, but she wasn't going to argue with Fish about it.
"That doesn't matter, don't you have to go to the Forbidden Forest to get the ingredients for the Felix Felicis Potion?"
"Yes!"
∑(ΦДΦ)
Fish immediately stopped dwelling on the matter and, transforming into a cat with Hermione, sneaked out of the castle and headed to the Forbidden Forest.
With the entire Forbidden Forest as their support, it didn't take much time or effort for Fish to gather the ingredients for the Felix Felicis Potion. He simply mentioned it to his friends in the Forbidden Forest, and they put it all together for him.
"It takes six months to make the Felix Felicis Potion, so you'll have to wait a bit."
Snape told Fish as his eyelids fluttered upon receiving the ingredients Fish had gathered the next day.
"What? Does it take that long?"
(?ω?)
Fish scratched his head, looking a little distressed.
"Are you in a hurry to use it?" Snape asked curiously.
After all, Fish had always had a good life, one could even say that all his wishes come true, and he didn't need the effects of the Felix Felicis Potion.
As far as Snape knew about Fish, he probably just felt curious and wanted to try it, so there shouldn't be any time requirement.
"Well... Fish actually wanted to see if he could awaken a spell that would cure Albus with the help of Felix Felicis Potion, nya," Fish replied sincerely.
Snape was the one who knew, so there was no need to hide it from him.
But it wasn't that urgent. Fish twitched his ears and added, "It's not so urgent, Albus shouldn't die so soon. And if I can't do it, I can borrow Felix Felicis Potion from Harry first and then return it with the one you made."
Then Snape started thinking about adding something to the Felix Felicis Potion.
After leaving the topic of Felix Felicis Potion to Snape, Fish resumed his "doing nothing" school life.
Although Defense Against the Dark Arts class this year was no longer the same as last year's, and even Snape's class was the most practical among all the teachers, the activities of the Order of the Cat continued.
This year's gathering was much more relaxed than the exhausting training sessions of last year, which basically consisted of reviewing what had been covered in Defense Against the Dark Arts and engaging in wizard duels among themselves.
Zacharias Smith, who had been hung on a tree by the other members, came up with the idea of challenging Fluffy again before Ginny knocked him down with a spell.
And so, Saturday soon arrived, when Fish found Harry after dinner.
"Are you going to Dumbledore's office tonight?" Harry asked in amazement upon hearing Fish's reason for coming.
"Yes, to teach us stories about other people," Fish said, nodding his head and purring. "Albus didn't want to teach it to Fish when you weren't there the other day!"
(〃`3〃)
Harry looked at him astounded.
"Couldn't you have told me a little earlier so I could be prepared?" He had planned to talk about Quidditch trials with Ron this afternoon.
"Fish forgot, nya!"
(`´)
Fish responded casually.
What could Harry do? He had no choice but to inform Ron that the Quidditch trials had been postponed until tomorrow.
As eight o'clock approached, Harry put on the Invisibility Cloak and followed the two cats, Fish and Hermione, out of the portrait hole...
Then he complained again about how uncomfortable his Animagus form was.
Speaking of that... Ron had said he was going to practice the Animagus Charm this term...
Harry chuckled suddenly, thinking about the "plan" his friend had been postponing for years.
"Nya~"
(=?ω?=)
On their way to the headmaster's office, they ran into Professor Trelawney, and Fish immediately approached her to greet her.
"Ha! I'm Fish, good afternoon."
Professor Trelawney tucked away her dirty deck of cards and knelt down to scratch Fish's chin, while looking at Hermione, the black cat standing beside her, hesitated and extended her other hand.
Hermione hesitated, but accepted Professor Trelawney's offer.
Harry, hidden under his invisibility cloak, huddled next to a statue and watched Professor Trelawney with conflicted eyes as she petted the cats.
His opinion of Professor Trelawney had changed since he had learned about the prophecy... Although she was usually a fraud, she seemed to have some genuine abilities, and the trick she and Fish had used to deceive Umbridge the previous year had actually worked...
Furthermore, though it was foolish, Harry couldn't help but think that if Professor Trelawney hadn't made that prophecy, maybe his parents wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't have been the "Boy Who Lived."
When Professor Trelawney had left, the two cats continued their way to the third floor.
"Nya!"
Fish's meow caused the corridor's gargoyle to jump aside, and the wall behind it split in half to reveal a moving spiral staircase behind.
Harry followed the two cats up the spiral staircase, turning in circles as it ascended higher and higher until they reached the brass-ringed door of Dumbledore's office.
Harry knocked on the door.
"Come in." It was Dumbledore's voice.
"Albus! Fish has brought Harry, nya!"
(?ω?)
Fish resumed his human form and jumped onto Dumbledore's desk, urging, "Hurry up with that story you were going to tell, nya!"
"Good evening, Professor." Harry and Hermione, who had also resumed their human forms, followed suit.
"Good evening, Harry, and Hermione. Please have a seat." Dumbledore smiled and pointed to the chair opposite his own before turning to Fish. "Take your time, Fish. Would you like something to eat beforehand?"
"No! Fish wants to finish the story before eating!"
(ΦωΦ)
Not feeling hungry yet, Fish decided to read the story first.
"Professor, did Fish mention that he was going to show us some memories from others?" Harry asked, curious, as he sat down.
"Well, now that you know what drove Voldemort to try to kill you fifteen years ago, I believe it's time for you to get some insight."
There was a moment of pause.
Harry sat up straighter, and Hermione nervously twisted her hands.
"So, wait, is the story about Voldemort?"
?ω?
Fish asked with curiosity.
"Yes, haven't I mentioned before that to defeat Voldemort, we need to find his hidden Horcruxes? In the absence of clear clues, we will have to journey together through the murky and elusive swamp of memory, into the depths of daring speculation."
Dumbledore stood up, retrieved the Pensieve from the cupboard, and placed it on the table in front of Fish and the others. He then took a glass jar from his pocket, containing a silver-white object that spun and floated.
"Next, we will take a stroll through Bob Ogden's memories." He shook the glass jar he held in his hand and said, "In this memory, there are hidden things, let's see if you can find them... Well, this might be a bit of a test."
With that, he uncorked the jar and poured its silver contents into the Pensieve, where it swirled slowly, glowing with a faint shimmer, neither liquid nor gas.
"Enter," Dumbledore said, pointing to the Pensieve.
Impatient, Fish let out a joyful cry and was the first to dive in.
"Yippee-hoo!"
(≧≦)