Chapter 431: School starts again! (Edited)

With Estella's advice, Hermione had carefully selected two gala robes for herself and Fish that matched perfectly.

For herself, she chose a black robe with intricate and beautiful patterns outlined with silver threads, and a circle of pleated lace wrapped around the neckline, cuffs and skirt of the robe.

Fish's tunic was white, unlike Hermione's, with a black neckline and cuffs, making it relatively plain compared to the ornate design of Hermione's dress.

The cat was happy with the black and white color scheme, as he wasn't too fussy.

After choosing the ball robes, Estella used the same tape measure that Ollivander had used to measure the two's bodies before pulling the two ball robes out of storage to fit their figures.

"Have fun at the ball."

Estella patted Fish's head and reluctantly escorted them to the door of the store.

After stowing their dress robes in Fish's magical bag, Fish and Hermione didn't feel like hanging around and just walked straight back to the house.

"Minerva~"

?●●?

?(?``?)?

"Why didn't you tell Fish about the Triwizard Tournament?"

Fish ran towards Professor McGonagall, but stopped dead in his tracks halfway and protested angrily.

"Ah... you know all about it..."

Professor McGonagall smacked her lips and rubbed her temples with a bit of a headache.

She hadn't wanted to tell Fish before, not only because of the Ministry's request for secrecy, but also because Professor McGonagall knew that if the puss found out, he would come back to bother her about it.

As for the competition, it was a secondary concern; Professor McGonagall was confident in her cat's ability.

"Who told you about this?" she asked.

"It's Mistress Estella, and she gave me and Fish a dress robe... Well, we haven't paid for it yet."

Hermione answered truthfully, and reminded Professor McGonagall to remember to pay the bill.

Professor McGonagall nodded, then reached out and scratched Fish's cat ears, reassuring him.

"Because the Ministry of Magic asked us to keep it a secret, Estella didn't comply, but I can't do that... Besides, you'll know in a few days, so it doesn't make much of a difference, right?"

"True..."

∑(?ΦΦ?)

Fish felt that he was right when he thought about it, and immediately stopped being angry and threw himself at Professor McGonagall.

"Minerva, what is the competition for the Triwizard Tournament? is there a fight? I would like to participate."

?()?

Just as Professor McGonagall expected, the cat immediately pelted her with questions.

With a flash in her eye, Professor McGonagall said, "Of course, it's impossible to tell you about this year's competition, the last Triwizard Tournament was hundreds of years ago, so I don't remember much, but...".

His words changed, "I have books in my study that contain information about the previous Triwizard Tournament, if you are interested, you can take a look at them."

"..."

(???)

Fish's face changed immediately.

"You know Fish doesn't like to read nya! Shameless Minerva!"

?(?`Д′?)?

"Then there's nothing I can do about it."

Professor McGonagall shrugged, with a smirk.

"Minerva, you wicked thing!"

(〃｀3′〃)

Naturally, Fish had guessed what Professor McGonagall was thinking, and he pouted and glared angrily at the mean mother.

But soon, Fish had an idea.

"Hermione, come and read to Fish!"

The cat decided to abandon his mother, who was trying to force him to read, and ran to his new girlfriend.

Hermione was naturally eager to do so, but....

She glanced warily at Professor McGonagall, only to see her nod with a smile and say, "That book is on the top shelf on the left, it should be in the middle, with the brown cover."

It would be nice if Fish read, but if he didn't, Professor McGonagall would be delighted to see Fish and Hermione approach.

With Professor McGonagall's permission, Hermione dragged Fish into the study, curious about the Triwizard Tournament as well as reading to Fish.

Soon, Hermione found the book about the Triwizard Tournament, and as she read it to herself and Fish, Hermione felt a bit relieved.

Because according to the book's records, most of the frequent deaths in the Triwizard Tournament seemed to be accidents, and at least half of the people were killed by various dangerous magical creatures....

To Fish, this was basically impossible.

Fish listened with great interest, as the Triwizard Tournament was much more interesting than Quidditch, and it made Fish look forward to the start of the school year for the first time.

The next day, Professor McGonagall took Fish and Hermione to Diagon Alley to buy books and supplies for their fourth year, nothing special happened during this time...

The only thing that did happen was that Mrs. Malkin was a bit upset when she found out that Mrs. Estella had given Fish and Hermione their robes first, and had forced Professor McGonagall to wear two very traditional robes.

Although, to be honest, both Fish and Hermione preferred Estella's dresses, while Professor McGonagall, unlike them, was of the opinion that traditional dresses were best.

After shopping, Professor McGonagall took Hermione to the Ministry of Magic to register her as an Animagus, but not to the Animagus Club for the time being, due to time constraints.

For the rest of the day, the Daily Prophet was filled with daily reports attacking the Ministry and making Ministry officials nervous, but Fish and the others didn't care.

Fish and Hermione wandered around Hogsmeade, occasionally meeting their animal friends in the Forbidden Forest, and at night the two would assume their feline form and climb up on the roof to count the stars and watch the moon.

Fish even had time to ask Comey to take him and Hermione to the Granger's house to meet his parents....

And watch a little TV.

A week went by that fast, and in the blink of an eye it was the day school started.

It was pouring rain that day, but thank goodness Fish wasn't going on that boring train, and Hermione didn't go on the Hogwarts Express either, but joined Fish and went straight back to school from Hogsmeade.

"Argus, hello nya!"

?(?≧?≦?)?

When Fish arrived at the castle, he happily greeted the doorman, Argus Filch.

Filch cracked a smile in response, "Long time no see, Fish."

"Nya~!"

Mrs. Norris, who was next door, reached over and rubbed Fish's pants.

Then, both Filch and Mrs. Norris turned their big eyes to Hermione, next to Fish.

"Hello, hello..."

Hermione weakly greeted the cat and the man, Filch and his cat were no less intimidating to students than Snape, and even the good student Hermione was a little intimidated by Filch.

But after looking at her for a moment, Filch revealed a smile and said, "Hello, Miss Granger."

Mrs. Norris emitted a faint "nya" in response, but didn't come over to rub up against her.

"We'll come in, Argus."

Professor McGonagall nodded to Filch and led the two of them inside the castle.