章節 178: Chapter 178: Gilderoy Lockhart (Edited)

As Fish wallowed in the Sorting Hat, Dumbledore hurried back.

Although Fish had had free access to the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore had been alerted when he entered the Headmaster's room.

Normally, Dumbledore wouldn't be in such a hurry to get back, but the problem is....

School starts today!

If Fish stole the Sorting Hat and had the opening ceremony fail, it would have been a big joke.

Although Fish is said to be much more sensible now, after all he has a criminal record, and Dumbledore had to be careful.

"Meow~" (=ΦωΦ=).

Hearing Dumbledore enter, Fish poked his head through the Sorting Hat and greeted him.

"Hello, Fish."

Dumbledore responded with a smile, not looking at all anxious as before.

He walked over to his desk, opened a drawer and, as usual, pulled out a roach cone and handed it to Fish.

"Come and have a snack, I have plenty more."

"Meow!"

Fish immediately jumped out of the Sorting Hat, tapping the pile of cockroaches in Dumbledore's hand on the table with one paw, watching them scurry away on their six feet, then grabbing them, dragging them back, and releasing them with one paw.

After several repetitions, the piles of cockroaches stopped moving, and Fish picked them up and chewed them in his mouth.

After patiently watching Fish chew the cockroaches away, Dumbledore asked, "What brings you to my office today?"

Fish transformed into his cat-person form and sat cross-legged on the table, picking up his Sorting Hat and placing it on his head as he replied, "I've come to play with Fawkes and the Sorting Hat nya, I don't suppose Fish will be able to attend tonight's Sorting Ceremony?"

He remembered that at the beginning of last term, the seniors had not joined the newcomers, but had been seated in the Great Dining Hall early, and only a small group of them wore the Sorting Hat.

"So that's it."

Dumbledore was relieved to see that Fish wasn't going to make a scene at tonight's opening ceremony, it seemed that Professor McGonagall's education had paid off.

So he pulled out more sandwiches and handed them to Fish as he chatted.

"Did you have a good summer?"

"Yes! But it's too short, Albus, can't you make it longer?" ?ω?

"Hahahaha! I can't do it, although I had the same idea as you did when I was a student."

"Aren't you the principal? Fish already knows, what the headmaster means, is that this school is all his territory nya."

"Oh, it's still a bit different..."

Dumbledore, who was already thinking of making Fish his successor, took the opportunity to explain to him how the whole school worked and the concept of the Council.

Of course, Fish wasn't interested at all.

"Then it's really boring being headmaster nya." Fish, who had been prying during the process, commented with contempt at the end, "I can't believe you have to do so many boring things."

"Being headmaster of Hogwarts is already fun compared to most other professions," Dumbledore was in no hurry, he had plenty of time to hold Fish's interest, "Like meeting a charming and interesting student like you in the process." "

"But you're the one who captured Fish!" (ˇˇˇ).

Fish suddenly remembered how he had been harassed by the mean old man in front of him and immediately got up from the table, baring his teeth at him.

"Bad old man, you must be trying to trick Fish again! Fish won't fall for it." (●ΦДΦΦ●)

With that, he jumped off the table and ran for the door...with the Sorting Hat on his head.

"Ugh...kids these days, they think so fast...this old man can't keep up..."

Dumbledore laughed and shook his head, then snapped his finger and the Sorting Hat flew back into his hand.

After Fish left, the group of sleeping Headmasters opened their eyes and began to speak their minds.

It was Phineas, the only Slytherin Headmaster, who had a problem with the choice of Dumbledore's successor and had been trying to convince the other Headmasters to join him in opposing Dumbledore's move.

However, most of the other headmasters were indifferent, and a few, such as Dilys Derwent, who valued Fish's special spells, were very supportive of Dumbledore's ideas.

After Dumbledore shushed Phineas again, and seeing that it was almost lunchtime, he left his office and headed for the Great Hall on the first floor.

By this time, there were already several people seated in the Great Hall, not in their usual places, but at the same long table, as there were not many of them.

Fish, who was the most active eater, was naturally there, along with Professor McGonagall and the deans of the other three Houses, who had arrived early to prepare for school.

In addition, there was Hagrid, Filch, Madame Pince and Madam Pomfrey, the school staff and some of the professors who usually lived at Hogwarts.

In addition to these familiar faces, there was a handsome blond who was relatively new to the school, Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who had been hired this year.

At the moment, he was talking non-stop, ignoring the unpleasant expressions of others around him, and his body movements and facial expressions were very exaggerated, looking like an actor in a play.

Fish listened with interest to Lockhart's boasts and was occasionally amused by his expressions and gestures.

Professor McGonagall had a complicated expression, fearing that her cat would get carried away by Lockhart.

Although Professor McGonagall had changed her mind a bit about Lockhart because of the books he had written, his vain nature had not changed, and Professor McGonagall did not want Fish to become like Lockhart in the future.

"Looks like we're all here," Dumbledore interrupted Lockhart's speech with his arrival, smiled and looked around the room, then said, "So, let's eat."

At Dumbledore's command, the house elves placed the prepared lunch on the table, except for a few distinctly different style dishes, and everyone centered themselves in front of Fish.

"Oh? Chinese food?"

The well-informed Dumbledore immediately recognized the different styles of food on the table and moistened his lips and said excitedly, "I haven't had Chinese food in years, I remember the last time I tasted it, over forty years ago."

And that's when Lockhart found something else to brag about.

"Oh, Chinese food, it's a good thing," he said with a smile on his face, showing his white teeth, "If you've read my book, A Year with the Tibetan Yeti, you'll know that I spent a lot of time traveling around Asia, and I tasted a lot of Chinese food during that time..."

He tells of hunting a vulture and trading it to the Tibetans for yak meat and horse milk wine.

What Lockhart didn't know was that the vulture is a sacred bird in Tibet and that, had he done so, he would have been beaten up.

Luckily, no one here except Dumbledore was familiar with such things, so no one could expose him.

"All right, Gilderoy," Dumbledore interrupted once more, "You'd better shut up while you enjoy your meal."

His voice was not loud, but he managed to shut Lockhart up.

But Dumbledore was not silent as he said he was, but muttered with a hint of suspicion, "When did the school's house elves learn to cook Chinese food?"

"Commey did it for Fish! Sister September gave me the recipe nya!". (●ΦωΦ●)

Fish twitched his cat ears and replied triumphantly, as Professor McGonagall whispered to Dumbledore what had happened.

"That's right," Dumbledore said cheerfully, stroking his beard, "Why don't we let the students join us for a taste of the exotic at dinner today."

Just as Professor McGonagall thought, Dumbledore, who was rich and powerful, wouldn't mind the cost of the food, he directly waved his hand and replaced some of the food at dinner.

This was in consideration of the fact that some of the students might not be used to Chinese food, otherwise he would have liked to have a purely Chinese dinner.

Of course, Fish was fine with Dumbledore's decision, as Comey would have given him a small meal anyway.

After lunch, instead of going off with Hagrid to play in the Forbidden Forest, Fish stayed in the hall, continuing to listen to Lockhart's bluster and occasionally asking him something from his textbook....

Professor McGonagall began to regret reading Lockhart's story to Fish.

When Lockhart learned that Fish was a faithful reader, he became even more enthusiastic, blurting out his own fantastic experiences and making Fish's eyes water.

Now Professor McGonagall regretted it even more, if the previous seven books had changed her opinion of Lockhart, now her boasting had made Professor McGonagall wake up again.

For there were some very low-level flaws in his words, not at all on the level of the Lockhart of the books, but in line with what Professor McGonagall had always thought of him....

So there must be something wrong with the contents of those books!

Although she didn't know exactly what was going on, Professor McGonagall wasn't about to let Lockhart keep poisoning her cat, and just as she was about to go upstairs to drag Fish ...

"Gilderoy , you're amazing!"(●ω●)

Fish looked at Lockhart with a twinkle in his eye, swiftly wagging his tail behind him.

Seeing this, Professor McGonagall, who still looked sad, was a bit surprised and stopped.

Professor McGonagall, who had a relationship with cats since childhood and had adopted Fish for three years, could not mistake Fish's tail wagging as a sign of affection for Lockhart.

Slowly, a meaningful smile spread across Professor McGonagall's face.

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章節 179: Chapter 179: Dog (Edited)

Professor McGonagall left the Great Dining Hall in silence, heading straight for the Headmaster's office.

She didn't have to worry about Fish, but she had to talk to Dumbledore about Lockhart's lack of real talent, she didn't think the mean old man didn't see the true extent of Lockhart's abilities.

"Minerva?" Dumbledore, who was checking his letters on his desk, saw the aggressive Professor McGonagall and immediately guessed what she intended, but still smiled and pretended to ask, "Are the preparations for the start of the school year complete?"

"Not yet," Professor McGonagall shook her head and said with a serious look, "I've come to see you about something else, Albus."

Dumbledore put the letter down in his hand and held out his palm in a 'please' gesture towards her.

"What's the matter with Gilderoy Lockhart? Don't tell me you can't see that he's an uneducated liar."

Professor McGonagall raised her tone and rested her hands on her desk, leaning forward slightly, glaring at Dumbledore.

However, Dumbledore snapped his fingers with a calm expression and a chair slid behind Professor McGonagall, then he slowly poured a cup of hot tea and pushed it in front of him.

"Take your time, Minerva, sit down and talk."

Professor McGonagall complied, but did not touch the cup of hot tea in front of her, wrapped her arms in front of her chest and continued to look at Dumbledore aggressively.

Dumbledore didn't mind, smiled, took a sip from his cup of tea and said, "Of course I know that Lockhart doesn't live up to his abilities, and I even know that the stories in his book, are actually the deeds of other great wizards, but..."

At this, he shook his head helplessly, and seemed to wail a bit angrily, "Apparently, Gilderoy has learned the Obliviate spell quite well, aside from his articles, and even Radagast and Otah have fallen prey to it."

"So, did you still recruit him?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow and her expression grew even angrier.

"Because I thought that by putting Lockhart into normal school life, his charade would unravel, especially with Fish around." said Dumbledore playfully, with a wink.

"But then, it would be a wasted year for the students, and they wouldn't learn anything useful from Lockhart at all."

Professor McGonagall was more concerned with the students' education than with bringing Lockhart down.

"There's no way around it, it's very difficult to hire a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts these days." Dumbledore shrugged, grumbling.

"I'll try to find a good teacher next year to make up for this year's loss..... Besides, it's not like the students can't learn anything, at least they'll learn from a bad teacher what not to do and what not to be."

Dumbledore was more concerned with the character of his students than the substance of the spells and such, which had been influenced by the two Dark Lords.

"And, if you have read Lockhart's book, you will find that it still contains some useful things."

Now it was Professor McGonagall's turn to sigh, and she said with a little chagrin, "Yes, I read them, and I read them to Fish as a bedtime story, so the little boy now thinks Lockhart is a great wizard..."

But as she talked about it, Professor McGonagall smiled slightly as she remembered how Fish had behaved earlier in the auditorium.

"Oh? I'm afraid poor Gilderoy won't be able to hide it for long."

Dumbledore stroked his beard, pleased and yet a little sad at the same time, if Lockhart was fired too quickly, wouldn't he have to find a new teacher to take over again?

If it was for a short time, Snape, Flitwick and even Professor McGonagall could fill in, but if it was too long, he wouldn't be able to do it, and Voldemort's curse would be a bit of a problem.

Thinking about this, the expression on Dumbledore's face was no longer as calm as before, and there was a trace of distress on his face.

Aside from the respective problems of the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress, Fish and Lockhart were getting along very well in the Great Dining Hall.

Fish enjoyed the messy stories in Lockhart's mouth, and although the cat, who was very good at the matter, noticed a few holes in the stories, he didn't mind too much, since all the fairy tales he used to listen to were more or less the same.

And Lockhart was more than satisfied, for he was so vain that he was glad to be noticed, not to say that he was well aware of Fish's peculiarities.

Aside from his special affinity and his cat ears and tail, the professors, including the grim Snape, adored the boy, and he even had his own house elf at school!

So it didn't take Lockhart long to realize that, if he had a little fan like him, the attention he would receive at school would be enormous, along with the fame of Harry Potter....

The thought of the attention he might receive once classes started made Lockhart shiver slightly with excitement.

As interesting as the story was, it was obvious that Fish couldn't stay idle for long, and after hearing the story of the "Lockhart fights," he rose from his seat and stretched with his arms up in the air.

"I'm off to play with my friends in the Forbidden Forest, does Professor Gilderoy want to come with me?" ?ω?

"Forbidden, Forbidden Forest?" Lockhart asked hesitantly, paling slightly.

"Yes, Fish made a lot of friends there!"(●ΦωΦ●)

At this point, Lockhart recalled his scant memories of his magical animal protection class at Hogwarts. The only magical creatures outside the Forbidden Forest were safe magical creatures like bowtruckles and Crap, so he assumed that's what Fish meant by "friends."

After all, Fish was only a young second-year wizard, so how could he have wandered into the Forbidden Forest?

With that thought, Lockhart felt good about himself again.

Then he laughed and said, "The Forbidden Forest? Sure, I used to go in there and play with the magical creatures when I was a student."

He ruffled his curly blond hair, revealing his gleaming white teeth. "I could take you deeper into the Forbidden Forest if I wasn't worried about Professor McGonagall getting mad."

Fish nodded sympathetically, and with a strained little face agreed, "Minerva really likes to get angry nya."

(ˇˇ)

Having found a "common language" again, Fish and Lockhart were happier and laughed together for a while before leaving the Great Dining Hall and heading for Hagrid's hut.

But Hagrid wasn't at his hut at the time, as he had a lot to prepare as the person in charge of transporting the new students, so he had an early lunch and headed to the Hogsmeade village platform.

"Wow!"

Hagrid didn't take Fang, after sniffing Fish, he immediately walked over to him and kept wagging his tail.

"This is Fang, and he's my best friend."

Fish introduced himself to Lockhart, reassuring him.

Not even a magical animal, just a normal dog, so what did he have to worry about.

"Where's Fluffy?"

Fish finished his introduction and then looked at Fang, a dog that had a good relationship with him, which made Fang, who had been shy, dare to go to the forbidden forest without Hagrid.

"Woof, woof, woof, woof!"

Fang barked and ran off into the forest.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet Fluffy. He's one of Hagrid's dogs, but he's a bit bigger, so he usually stays in the forbidden forest." explained Fish to Lockhart as he followed Fang into the forest.

Lockhart, who had no idea what was about to happen, followed him into the forest as he continued to brag, "Speaking of big dogs, I have to say I found him in the rainforest in South America. That one, that one, that one...!

His words were interrupted when a huge black shadow suddenly obscured his vision.

Lockhart craned his neck stiffly, looked up and instantly his hands and feet went cold.

In front of him was a huge three-headed black dog, all three heads showing a ferocious grimace, saliva slipping from its sharp teeth and dripping onto the leaves of the bushes below with a splintering sound.

With a blank stare, Lockhart spat out the last word in a daze.

"... dog."

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