Chapter 598: A journey in vain? (Edited)

In the afternoon, during the Care of Magical Creatures class, the persistent Umbridge appeared once again.

First, she bothered Professor Grubbly-Plank about Hagrid's whereabouts, but Professor Grubbly-Plank tricked her and then continued wandering among the students after the class started.

Umbridge took a different approach in this class, asking the students about magical creatures.

Thanks to Fish, the animal lover, the entire Hogwarts class had more knowledge about magical creatures than ever before, and their class was far ahead of the rest, with even Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle answering well.

After asking and finding nothing, Umbridge turned back to interrogating Professor Grubbly-Plank. She tried several times to get Professor Grubbly-Plank to express her discontent with Dumbledore and Hagrid, but she didn't succeed.

However, Umbridge was still not satisfied, as she equally disliked Hagrid's condition as a half-giant and knew from Minister Fudge that he was absolutely loyal to Dumbledore.

So she refocused her investigation on the students and targeted only the Slytherin students.

Malfoy and the others had a good relationship with Fish but not with Hagrid.

"Actually, Fish is more like the professor of the class, magical creatures pay more attention to him. And..." Malfoy said in his slow tone, "Professor Hagrid..." Here he made a disgusted face, "He always likes to introduce dangerous magical creatures to us, like the Explosive-Tailed Skrewt he bred last year, many students got injured because of him."

And then several Slytherin students came forward to say they had been burned by an Explosive-Tailed Skrewt.

Harry, Ron, and other Gryffindors close to Hagrid were outraged, but they didn't know how to argue with them... after all, Malfoy and the others were speaking the truth.

And even among the Gryffindors, there were a few who wanted Professor Grubbly-Plank to replace Hagrid, but they didn't show it due to their friendship.

Umbridge scribbled for a while in her notepad before putting it away satisfactorily.

Although Malfoy's answers seemed correct to Fish, he became even more hostile towards Umbridge for asking those questions. Even Fish, as stubborn as he was, could see that Umbridge was specifically targeting Hagrid.

Hagrid had cried like a half-ton baby last year at the prospect of being fired, and naturally, Fish didn't want his best friend to be sad.

So...

It was very important to teach Umbridge a lesson as soon as possible.

Fish, who had planned to wait for another week or so before taking action, wondered if he could do it a bit earlier.

...

Two days passed in a peaceful manner, after another nighttime tour in the castle with Hermione, and observing Umbridge's usual whereabouts, Fish returned to his room, closed his eyes, and fell asleep...

A few moments later, a cute kitten with tiger-like spots opened its eyes.

The first thing that caught Fish's attention was a massive tree that covered the sky and the green grass surrounding the cat, almost as tall as he could see.

"Nya?"

?(=?ω?=)?

Fish tilted his head in confusion.

It was only the day after tomorrow, so how could he be dreaming about the giant tree today?

Although he wasn't sure why he was dreaming on a school day, Fish happily rolled on the grass before snuggling under the tree and rubbing against its trunk for a while.

"Nya~"

?(=?ω?=)?

As he didn't want to venture into the boundary of the dream world, he tried to communicate with the giant tree...

After all, she had saved his life before with her large, leafy hands, and she gave him the impression of being Professor McGonagall, so Fish thought she was intelligent.

However, Fish had been rubbing and meowing at the tree for a long time, but it didn't respond at all.

"Nya~!"

?(=`Д´=)?

Impatiently, Fish stood up, placed his two front paws on the tree trunk, and began to threaten it.

Of course, the tree continued to remain unresponsive.

Fish lifted his left paw, hesitated, and withdrew it...

Fish didn't dare to do it, even though the tree was so big that Fish's little claw wouldn't harm it for a few minutes.

Consequently, Fish quickly turned his left paw and slammed his pink pads against the tree trunk with a series of feline punches...

Still, there was no reaction.

Fish crouched under the tree, staring at it for a while, and finally decided to explore the boundaries of the dream world.

Not that he followed Dumbledore's orders or anything like that, but Fish wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

Once decided, Fish didn't hesitate to choose a direction and leap.

?(=?ω?=)?

Although he couldn't use any spells in the dream world, Fish's body, enhanced by the heart of nature, perfectly mirrored the dream world, so Fish wasn't too slow when running.

Moreover, perhaps because he was in a dream, he didn't feel even the slightest fatigue.

So, after running for a long time, Fish finally reached the edge of the dream world.

As he approached, Fish realized that the misty light green was actually a fog that obscured his vision, moving slowly less than a meter in front of him, but not extending even a millimeter beyond...

It was as if there was an invisible barrier blocking the light green mist.

"Nya?"

?(=ΦωΦ=)?

Dumbledore's warning was effective as Fish didn't immediately enter the light green fog but meowed twice first.

After calmly waiting for a moment and receiving no response from the fog, Fish crouched again and cautiously approached.

?(=ΦωΦ=)?

Fish lifted his left paw and scratched the fog as quickly as he could before retreating.

However, the fog only flowed a little faster due to his disturbance and soon settled down.

Fish looked at the paw that had touched the fog and...

?(=ΦωΦ=)?

After licking his paw, Fish felt the same as always, so he stuck his paw out again.

After several attempts, Fish finally took the first step, and then the second and third...

Soon, Fish was completely inside the green fog.

After about ten seconds of cautiously moving through the indistinguishable green fog, Fish's eyes widened...

The first thing that caught Fish's attention was a massive tree that covered the sky and green grass that surrounded him almost as high as he could see.

"Nya?"

(?ω?)

Fish looked at the enormous tree in front of him, and then turned around...

The light green fog had disappeared at some point, and as far as the eye could see, there was lush green grass stretching as far as the eye could see.

Albus had fooled me again!

Feeling that his efforts had been in vain, Fish didn't hesitate to give another mark to Dumbledore.

It's just that the next morning, Fish suddenly discovered...

It doesn't seem like that trip was in vain.