Chapter 74: The Night Before School

When Ivan and Hermione left with Crookshanks, Ron and Harry had just returned, with Scabbers quivering inside Ron's pocket.

"My God, Hermione, how could you buy that monster?" said Ron in surprise.

"So what, Ivan and I thought it was cute," Hermione replied with a smile.

Seeing Harry and Ron look at him, Ivan quickly shook his head and his eyes went back to Hermione.

"Hermione, you can't buy it. I mean, what about Scabbers?" said Ron as he pointed to his bulging pocket, "She needs rest and relaxation! How can she rest and relax with that monster around?"

Hermione shook her head and said, "That reminds me, I was going to help you buy the rat tonic, but Ivan said he could make the potion. With that, Scabbers would be better in a second."

"Easy, leave it all to me!" Ivan said as he patted his chest and thought of some interesting potions he was going to experiment with with Peter Pettigrew.

"Leave it to you?!" Ron wrinkled his nose and glared at Ivan angrily, "If it wasn't for your stupid idea, Hermione wouldn't have bought the cat."

"It's not Ivan's fault, I was the one who insisted on buying Crookshanks." Hermione said, "Poor Crookshanks, the witch says he's been there a long time."

"It's obvious, who else would.... But you." said Ron sarcastically.

"Come on, Ron!" Ivan hastily interrupted what he was about to say, "Crookshanks will sleep in Hermione's room, while Scabbers will sleep in your room, so there's no chance of them meeting."

The discussion was over for the time being, and by the time they finished the rest of their shopping and returned to the Leaky Cauldron, the rest of the Weasley family had also returned.

Everyone enjoyed dinner that night, Tom had set three tables together for the Weasley Seven, Ivan, Harry and Hermione ate together.

As they were all trying to eat a fancy chocolate pudding, Mr. Weasley told them all that the ministry would be providing a couple of cars to take them to Kings Cross tomorrow.

They were curious as to why the ministry was sending cars to pick them up, especially Percy, he asked a lot of questions, but Mr. Weasley gave him vague answers.

Ivan noticed that Mr. Weasley's ears were red, just as they were when Ron was being pressured.

Apparently Sirius Black's disappearance had made the Ministry very nervous, and they feared that Black would attack Harry.

He wondered how many Aurors would be accompanying them tomorrow.

By the time dinner was over, it was after 10 p.m. and everyone was feeling full and sleepy, so they all went up to their rooms to check what they had brought for tomorrow and get ready for bed.

Ivan headed towards the bar to ask Old Tom for a cup of hot chocolate, but as he passed one of the rooms he heard two angry voices coming from a small room.

Immediately he knew it was Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, they were arguing about whether to tell Harry about Sirius Black, Mr. Weasley insisted that Harry should know everything, that he shouldn't be treated like a child.

But Mrs. Weasley didn't want to add to Harry's mental burden.

Ivan chuckled a little, of all people, he had the biggest mental load.

Mrs. Weasley was right, sometimes it wasn't good to know too much.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still arguing.

"Molly, you should know that although everyone says Sirius Black is mad, and he might be, but he is smart enough to escape Azkaban, something no normal person could do." Mr. Weasley said heavily, "There has been no progress at the Ministry, the only thing we know for sure is what he is after."

Mrs. Weasley protested, "Arthur, Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry!"

"If Black can escape Azkaban, he can find his way to Hogwarts." Mr. Weasley paused, "The boys always sneak off to play and last semester they even broke into the Chamber of Secrets, fought a basilisk and you know who. Think about it, if that night the Knight bus hadn't picked Harry up before the Ministry of Magic found him, he would have been dead by now."

Mrs. Weasley rebutted, "No one can be sure that Black is after Harry."

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you! This wasn't reported in the paper because Fudge wouldn't allow it, the dementors told her that Black had been talking in his sleep for some time, he kept saying, "He's at Hogwarts, he's at Hogwarts," Mr. Weasley said uncomfortably, "Black is mad, Molly, he wants Harry dead."

Ivan didn't feel like listening to their fight any longer. He tried to slip away quietly. He didn't intend to disturb the Weasleys because it would be too painful. Just then, there was a sudden sound of footsteps at the top of the stairs behind Ivan, someone was coming down.

He hurriedly transformed into a black cat, and when he looked back, he saw that it was Hermione, who had left a book on the dining room table.

Hermione heard the Weasleys' scuffle, but ignored it when she saw Ivan as a black cat.

Ivan tried to pretend to be a cat.

Before he knew it, Hermione walked over to him and took him in her arms.

Ivan's face reddened, his body stiffened, he could feel her body heat and something soft. His thoughts went back to last year in the chamber of secrets where Hermione held him for a long period of time.

He was so nervous that he thought Hermione was hugging him in her human form.

It was clear that Hermione had not recognized that the black cat in her arms was Ivan, she had just felt a sense of familiarity with the cat and unconsciously held him in her arms.

Hermione also heard the Weasleys arguing, she didn't want to listen to their conversation, she stood there for a while, but finally decided to go back to her room, the book could be found in the morning.

Ivan did not dare to move and was taken by Hermione to his room.

In the room, Crookshanks was lying on the bed, and when he saw Ivan he jumped up and growled angrily, he acted like he was going to jump on him at any moment.

Ivan meowed quickly a few times, he didn't want to fight Crookshanks.

Crookshanks bowed his head and looked at Ivan for a while, because of Ivan's yelps, it seemed Crookshanks recognized who he was.

Crookshanks calmed down and showed some intimacy.

"Get along with this little one, Crookshanks!" Hermione looked at the two of them happily, "I don't know whose pet this is, it's too late now, maybe I'll ask old Tom tomorrow."

Hermione rubbed Ivan's head, then jumped off the bed.

"Crookshanks, you need a bath before you go to bed and the little one can have one with you," Hermione said as she smiled.

The next moment, Ivan's eyes widened as he saw Hermione begin to undress.

'Oh my god, am I supposed to watch or not?' Ivan thought, 'Wait, she just said she's going to give us a bath, does that mean that....'

A few moments later Ivan shook his head, not daring to think about it, he ran out of the room as Hermione entered the bathroom. Crookshanks looked at Ivan strangely, he wondered why Ivan was in such a hurry to leave, as if he was running away.

Crookshanks thought, 'What a strange cat, didn't we agree to take a bath together?'