Chapter 686: Today's Meal with McGonagall's Family (Edited)

"Master Fish! Miss Hermione! Dinner is ready! Professor McGonagall has sent me to call you for dinner."

With a deafening bang, Comey appeared deep in the Forbidden Forest and shouted for Fish and Hermione, who were curled up in their cat forms and sleeping on top of Fluffy's head.

"Nya!"

(=`=)

Fish immediately opened his eyes, jumped off Fluffy's head with Hermione, and turned to bid farewell to Fluffy.

"Woof!" ×3

Fluffy's three heads barked in response to Fish, and then it rose from the ground and walked slowly toward Hagrid's cabin.

Fish planned to go to Hagrid's house for some food and to intimidate Grawp for some exercise after dinner.

The magical and non-magical creatures that had gathered around Fluffy had dispersed to find their own food.

"Comey, take us home!"

Fish, who had returned to his human form, grabbed Hermione with one hand and placed the other on Comey's shoulder, urging him to follow.

"Yes! Master Fish!"

Comey nodded sharply and immediately Apparated, taking Fish and Hermione back to their home in the village of Hogsmeade.

"Minerva~!"

?●ω●?

Fish shouted Professor McGonagall's name as his feet ran straight to the fragrant kitchen.

"Go wash your hands! I don't need to remind you every time!"

Professor McGonagall scolded Fish as she caught up with him along the way.

"But Fish has already licked his paws very carefully, nya!"

(`ω´)

Fish was annoyed because he had already cleaned his paws, so why did he have to wash them again when he returned to his human form?

"There's no reason! I've told you many times, washing your hands before eating is the most basic form of etiquette!"

Professor McGonagall didn't use the excuse that licking paws wasn't clean because when she first became an Animagus, she had been influenced by her animal form to groom her fur occasionally.

Although she could control it now, she understood the feline instincts that Fish experienced, so Professor McGonagall never tried to stop him from grooming his fur... Well, except for certain specific parts.

She didn't force Fish to change some of his feline instincts, but she did expect him to adopt some of the same habits he had in his human form.

So Fish couldn't resist Professor McGonagall and was reluctantly dragged by Hermione to the washroom to wash his hands.

Once he had washed his hands, Fish leaped onto the table as quickly as possible, grabbed the knife and fork, and rhythmically tapped the ends of them against the table.

"Minerva! Hurry up! Minerva! Faster!"

Ψ(??ω??)

At Fish's quick but rhythmic insistence, Professor McGonagall, Hermione, and Comey took their seats at the table before Fish immediately danced with his knife and fork, swiftly and elegantly serving the food from his plate to his mouth.

As the family dined at the table, a loud crash was heard from the living room.

Professor McGonagall and Comey dropped their knives and forks and rushed out.

"Albus? What are you doing here? Is something wrong with the Order of the Phoenix?" Her series of questions made Hermione stop moving as well, except for Fish, who remained focused on his food.

"No, the Order of the Phoenix is fine." Dumbledore's voice sounded a bit lighter. "I apologize for interrupting your dinner, but I have an urgent favor to ask of Fish."

He said as he and Professor McGonagall entered the kitchen side by side, with Comey following behind them.

It was then that Fish diverted his attention from the food, looked at Dumbledore, and before he could say anything, Fish exclaimed in surprise, "Albus, why do you look like you're dying, nya?"

∑(ΦДΦ)

The first thing Fish felt was the fragile breath of life from Dumbledore, as if Fawkes was on the verge of nirvana.

He tilted his head and said, "Are you also going to use Nirvana?"

"What? Is it true what Fish just said, Albus?" Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore, surprised.

Actually, Fish hadn't thought that Dumbledore would use Nirvana, of course, but based on Fish's earlier comment that Dumbledore was going to die.

It was no secret that among those who knew Fish well, Fish could sense the strength of a creature's life breath, so when he said that, Professor McGonagall believed him immediately.

"That's why I came to see Fish..." Dumbledore said with a bitter smile and extended his right hand, which he had been hiding under his sleeve.

"Oh my!" Hermione exclaimed, covering her mouth in astonishment as she saw Dumbledore's carbonized right hand.

"By Merlin's Beard!" Professor McGonagall's eyes widened, and she asked, "What happened? Did you escape to fight Voldemort?"

"It's not..." explained Dumbledore as he waved his dry, carbonized right hand, "I found another one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, I destroyed it, but I also fell into the trap Voldemort had set there."

=??? (?ω?)

As soon as Fish realized that Dumbledore was unable to use Nirvana, he leaped towards him and cast several recovery spells.

A soft green glow surrounded Dumbledore's right arm, the carbonized blackness faded at a visible rate, and the dry arm gradually swelled.

However, Fish's expression remained dignified.

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Because in his perception, Dumbledore's life breath had not increased in any way; it had only slightly stabilized the state that was on the verge of dissipating.

And after the green glow dissipated, Dumbledore's palm remained dry and carbonized, while the shrunken arm had regained some flesh, transitioning from a "dry corpse" to a lean state, and the black color had only slightly faded, with the elbow appearing a greenish purple, gradually deepening in color, while the wrist began to resemble its previous appearance. Only the upper arm was completely recovered.

"Thank you, Fish, that makes it much easier for me." Dumbledore, the "patient," was satisfied with the result and smiled gratefully as he moved his still carbonized fingers.

Although Fish couldn't completely heal him, Dumbledore was not as weak as before and had regained most of his strength, which was more than enough for him. Besides... there was the [Serenity] spell that hadn't been tested.

Dumbledore was optimistic about it.

"But..."

(?ω?)

"It's just not fully healed at the moment, Fish," Dumbledore interrupted Fish's words, "Didn't you have many people before at St. Mungo's whom you couldn't heal all at once? It's enough to give me some relief; we'll have time to fix this little problem later."

He gave a playful wink to Fish, then rubbed his stomach with his intact left hand and said, "Speaking of which, to deal with Voldemort's Horcrux, I haven't had dinner yet. Do you mind if I join?"

"Of course, no problem, take a seat, Albus." Professor McGonagall, unsure of the seriousness of Dumbledore's condition, smiled and invited him to sit, ordering Comey to bring another set of cutlery.

After all, she believed that Dumbledore was so strong that not even Voldemort himself could harm him, it was just a magical trap, so it couldn't be much worse.

And...

She also had faith in Fish's healing abilities, especially in the [Serenity] spell that could drive everyone at St. Mungo's crazy.

Fish blinked, sat back down, and continued eating.

It wasn't that he was worried about Dumbledore taking his food, but Fish was very aware that Dumbledore didn't seem to want anyone else to know about his condition...

Although Fish wasn't sure why he was doing it, he cooperated and kept silent.

Ψ(??~??)