Chapter 48: The bold cat

When Harry and his group finished the tests, they returned to the dormitory talking and laughing all the way, and then everyone was stunned.

Their belongings were strewn all over the floor, their bed curtains and wall posters had been ripped off, and the clean sheets were covered with little paw prints that looked like plum blossoms, and if you looked closely, you could see some small footprints in the sheets.

During non-holidays, if there is no special request, the Hogwarts house elves will tidy up the common room and not enter the dormitory.

After all, tidying is not a particularly difficult spell to learn, and even first-year Muggles who have been at Hogwarts for a while can learn to use it to tidy their rooms.

"Oh my goodness, it's Scabbers!", Ron, the owner, was the first to notice the smaller footprints, and reacted in an instant.

He hurried over to his bed, lifted the tent that had fallen down, and looked near the pillows.

A slightly plump mouse was lying on its back next to Ron's pillow, looking like it had died.

"Merlin's broken hat! Are you alive, Scabbers?!"

Ron grabbed Scabbers, held him under his nose and looked him over carefully, and discovered that his chest was still up and down, and there seemed to be no obvious scars on his body except for a few missing strands of hair, so he took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh of relief.

It seemed that Fish had shown some mercy.

It was true, although Fish tended to be a bit more animated, he was generally a nice guy.

After ascertaining that Scabbers' life was not in danger, Ron relaxed.

However, he still worried about his pet.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone in the dormitory," Ron whispered his apologies to Scabbers, hugging him.

Scabbers, who had already woken up, turned his green bean sized eyes and looked at Ron, snorted in response and then followed in Ron's hand with no intention of moving.

Although Scabbers had been half dead in the morning, he had recovered from a long rest. Now he was only motionless, due to the fact that he wanted to show Ron the consequences of leaving him alone.

If he could, Scabbers, or Peter Pettigrew, would be tempted to run away.

After all, he was so weak in his animal form that there was no room to cry if Fish ate him for a snack before he had a chance to change back.

It was a shame to give up the identity of Scabbers after so long, and since Ron happened to be Harry's roommate, he would have had a hard time finding another identity that would give him easy access to Harry Potter.

Above all, of course, after two chases, Peter Pettigrew was convinced that Fish was no real danger to him, otherwise he would have fled.

But Peter Pettigrew also swore in his heart that if he ever regained his identity, he would make the little wizard named Fish suffer!

The hatred of being frightened was deeper than the inexplicable feeling of affection.

As Peter Pettigrew gritted his teeth and thought of his future revenge, Fish, who had been gone for a long time, returned to the dormitory.

Having been hiding inside a suit of armor, Fish had noticed Harry's return and waited until everyone was in the hole in the wall behind the portrait of the Fat Lady before exiting the suit of armor.

Using the password he had just heard to pass the Fat Lady's portrait without trouble, Fish returned to the dormitory a step slower than Harry and the others.

As soon as he entered the dormitory, Fish began to whine, "Meow! What a mess you've made in the room." ?(ΦωΦ)?

Everyone else turned their heads to look at Fish in the bedroom doorway, with a look that was three parts reproach, seven parts helplessness and. ninety of affection.

"Fish, your little footprints are still there," Seamus pointed to the obvious trail of cat prints on the sheet.

"We don't have our claws that sharp either," Dean removed the soccer poster he'd taped next to his bed, revealing the claw marks on the back wall.

"The bottom line is... no one is going to chase poor Scabbers but you," Ron picked up Scabbers, who was still motionless in his hand, taking the opportunity to express his pet's displeasure.

"Meow... (●?ω?●)"

Fish sheepishly averted his gaze and began to play dumb: "Your English is so complicated that Fish doesn't understand, meow!"

"Who are you kidding?"

Seamus Finnegan held Fish's head and rubbed his hair hard.

"Meow meow meow meow...?" (●>ω<●)?

Knowing better, Fish didn't resist and let Seamus rub him hard.

Harry and the others got hot; it was the first time, apart from Professor McGonagall, that Fish had let someone else do it without resistance.

Even Seamus himself hadn't expected it to go so well, he had started out thinking about delivering as many blows to Fish's head as possible.

As Seamus stared in amazement at his right hand, Harry and the others leaned silently towards Fish, hands slightly curled, eager to get their hands to Fish's head.

"Meow!", The alert Fish instantly sensed that his housemates were up to no good and jumped back, still looking human, but posing a menacing stance on all fours with his back arched.

"Ha-!"

Seeing Fish's obvious resistance, the children stopped in their tracks.

"Ahem! So... let's tidy up the bedroom and clean it up!"

Seamus, who had managed to rub Fish's head, broke the ice by pulling out his wand and waving it over his messy bed.

The others had to give up their plans to pet the cat for the moment and followed Seamus to tidy up the mess Fish had made.

The two spells, Cleanse and Restore, were simple and common, but it took some effort to get it to work perfectly.

New wizards tended to use the Cleanse spell for personal hygiene, but the more difficult Restore spell was something only a few of the new students could learn, so it took a lot of effort for Seamus and the others to fix up a dormitory.

Harry Potter and Dean Thomas in particular, who hadn't been exposed to the wizarding world, weren't even very good at the 'cleanse' spell.

Fish watched as his companions struggled to return the room to its original state and, after a moment's hesitation, decided to give them a hand.

He was a good cat who dared to do something... only if he got caught, of course.

But instead of pulling out his wand and joining in, Fish took a deep breath....

"Comey!!!", Fish shouted at the top of his lungs.

Ron and the others were startled by the shout and stopped their movements to look at Fish.

Before Fish's voice could lower, they heard another piercing rustle next to Fish, and then a short, wrinkled figure wrapped in old curtains appeared in the bedroom, "What can I do for you... Master Fish!"