Chapter 192: Whispers (Edited)

"Sorry, Wood, we were too impulsive..."

As the three of them left Professor McGonagall's office, Harry apologized to Wood, who wouldn't have been punished if he and Ron hadn't taken the initiative.

However, Wood didn't care, he waved his hand and said, "I've been wanting to kick Flint's arse for a long time, and today I got my wish.

As captain of the quidditch team, the relationship between Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint was no better than Harry and Malfoy's, and even worse.

That said, they couldn't be happy about being punished, and even in the face of a good lunch, Harry and Ron had sighed.

"Be glad that Professor McGonagall didn't extend your punishment and that she added Wood to polish your trophies."

Hermione had spent the morning in the library and hadn't found out what had happened on the quidditch pitch until lunchtime, she said with a straight face, "You did break a school rule."

"I only helped Ron, thank you," corrected Harry.

At the thought of having to face that troublesome fellow Lockhart in the evening, he scratched irritably at his plate with his fork, scraping the meaty mashed potato pie.

"Even if I had help, there's at least a hundred trophies in that room!" Ron wasn't in a good mood either, "I can't use magic! I'm not as good at scrubbing as Muggles."

Harry, who was constantly told by his aunt and uncle to do chores, envied Ron's work and would rather scrub than help Lockhart answer fan mail.

But alas, they couldn't trade chores.

As the two sighed, it was soon eight o'clock in the morning and Ron and Wood headed for the third floor prize showroom, while Harry went alone to the second floor and knocked on Lockhart's office door.

"By Merlin's beard, there must be over a hundred trophies in here!"

When Ron and Wood arrived in the trophy room, bucket in hand and rag in hand, and saw the rows and rows of trophies and medals, they were in shock.

There were more trophies and medals than they could have imagined.

"Do we have to polish them all tonight?"

Even Wood looked pale as he turned to Filch, who was supervising the work, and asked in a shaky voice.

"Of course," Filch smiled sinisterly, "How else can you see the error of your ways, little villains?"

Then he smacked his lips regretfully and said, "It's a pity that the ingredients for the potion Professor Snape asked for haven't arrived yet, otherwise I was planning to choose one of you to help him with the ingredients.... If you ask me, you should have split them up!"

Ron and Wood shuddered in unison and, not daring to continue talking nonsense, picked up a rag and wiped the trophies from the room.

As they cleaned, Filch paced around them like a ghost, pointing out where they had overlooked...even if it was a tiny speck of dust in a crevice.

With convenient spells, wizards never do housework, so Ron and Wood's arms were sore after awkwardly cleaning up a few trophies and dealing with Filch's prickly comments.

But as time went on, they grew tired, became more skilled at the task and more efficient than they had been at first, and would have been able to do it without a problem if it hadn't been for Filch's constant squeamishness.

However, as time went on, although they both became more and more tired, they became more proficient and efficiency improved a bit more than it had at first. In fact, they would have been able to do it without a problem had it not been for Filch's constant nagging.

"Meow!"

|φωφ=)

Just as the two were getting better and had cleaned about a third of the trophies, a cat meow was heard on the other side of the door, and a small round-headed cat poked its head through the showroom door and entered.

"Fish?"

Filch, who had been grimacing, smiled, his ugly old face wrinkled and softened.

He pulled a bag of dried fish from his pocket, shook it twice, and greeted Fish with, "Here, I just made them overnight, they're fresh."

Fish came through the door, stood slightly to Filch's side and took the bag from him in his cat-man form.

"Good evening, Argus... Are Ron and Oliver grounded nya?"

(●φ~φ●)

As he munched on the dried fish, Fish tilted his head to look at the two still struggling with the trophies.

"Yes, they broke school rules and were punished by Professor McGonagall to polish the trophies here. You can't help."

To stop Fish from using the spell to help Ron and Wood, Filch brought up Professor McGonagall.

"Fish won't help nya!"

In the world of kittens, if you get caught in trouble, you deserve to be punished... Who gets caught by accident? If they didn't get caught as easily as he and the twins did, wouldn't they be okay?

So Ron and Wood were punished for being stupid, and Fish had no sympathy for them.

"I'm here to sleep nya!"

Quickly finishing a bag of dried fish, Fish brushed the crumbs off his hands and explained his purpose to Filch.

Filch knew of Fish's fondness for sleeping in the trophies, and that Lady Norris had the same fondness for coming over for a nap from time to time.

So he pointed to the fruits of Ron and Wood's labor and said, "Oh, those trophies are clean."

Fish looked around, picked out a trophy he usually liked and ran over to it.

Just as Fish was about to return to his original form and jump, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Snif..."

Fish shrugged his little nose and sniffed twice, furrowing his eyebrows.

?ω?

The smell of the stain remover polish was a bit heavy, which Fish didn't like very much.

So he pulled his wand out of his pocket and cast a Cleaning Charm on the trophy.

(●φωφ●●) つ━☆? *.

After casting a Cleaning Charm on the trophy, Fish nodded in satisfaction and transformed into a cat and went inside.

But he didn't sleep, instead resting his head on the edge of the trophy and watching with interest as Ron and Wood polished the trophies.

Anyway, even sleeping would be a rest, so it was better to see them grounded.

Fish wiggled his ears and cocked the tip of his tail, quite relaxed, in stark contrast to Ron and Wood's work.

And after a while, Mrs. Norris, who had been patrolling outside looking for Filch, snuck in, found a trophy like Fish's, and joined the group watching Ron and Wood, occasionally exchanging catty chats with Fish.

Although it was a little strange to be watched by two cats, Ron and Wood were a little more relaxed about it.

Instead of standing near them, Filch moved a chair and sat next to Fish and Lady Norris, giving the two cats chin scratches, feeding them fish, etc.

Fish also took out the magic comb that Professor McGonagall had given him and used it to brush himself and Lady Norris.

After a long while of watching, Fish closed his eyes, adjusted his position, and fell asleep....

"Ah! At last!"

Ron's long sigh woke Fish, who poked his head around the trophy.

Ron and Wood were sitting back to back on the floor, looking exhausted.

Filch carefully examined all the trophies before growling softly, "You've barely passed."

"Argus, is your punishment over nya?" asked Fish as he stepped out of the trophy.

"Yes," replied Filch, somewhat reluctantly, "I'd say they should be given a bit more work, knowing that the work was to be Weasley's alone."

"Gee, don't worry about trivial things like that nya."

(●φφωφ●)ヅ

Fish slapped him twice on the arm and then shouted into the air, "Comey!".

"What can I do for you? Master Fish?"

The house elf appeared in front of him in an instant.

"Bring me some food."

"As you wish!"

The next moment, a wooden table full of food appeared in front of the group.

Fish walked over to the table and sat down while greeting the others, "Norris, Argus, Ron, Oliver, come snack with us."

Mrs. Norris immediately jumped up on the table and grabbed a white shrimp and nibbled on it.

Ron and Wood, meanwhile, looked at Filch for a moment before taking a seat next to Fish somewhat awkwardly.

The only other time they were able to sit down to dinner together was at a school party, and this time, it's only at Fish's invitation.

The three of them ate without saying a word, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

But Fish didn't notice this, as he was eating on both sides.

"Nya?!"

Just as he was eating the food on the table, Fish's cat ears twitched and he abruptly stopped eating, turning his head to look at the ground to his right.

"What's wrong, Fish?"

Ron swallowed the chicken leg in his mouth and asked curiously.

"There's a guy provoking Fish!"

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Said the kitten with a serious look on his face as he put down his food, got up and ran off.

"I'll go fight him nya!"