Chapter 25

For the entire Astronomy class, Harry barely heard a thing; his mind was filled with thoughts of Peixu. Indeed, this cat had been unnervingly clever from the very beginning, and Hagrid had also said that the smuggler was "in a hurry to get rid of him."

Thinking from this perspective, he even suspected that what the smuggler was truly in a hurry to get rid of wasn't that dragon egg, but Peixu. He might have kidnapped someone's child, but accidentally discovered he was a natural Animagus. This situation must have surprised him greatly, which is why he was so anxious to get away.

Harry's young mind couldn't yet conceive of anything too dark, but even just the parts he could imagine made him feel very pained.

As soon as class ended, Harry hurried back to his dormitory. He saw that Peixu was still in cat form, so he threw on his Invisibility Cloak and took him to an empty place.

It was the same abandoned classroom where he had discovered the Mirror of Erised; since the mirror had been moved away, the place had returned to its cold and desolate state. Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak and said to Peixu, "I know you can understand me. Hurry and change back into your human form; I want to have a word with you."

Peixu didn't act pitiful like before, but instead transformed back into his human form cleanly and efficiently, muttering with some dissatisfaction, "Found out by Scarhead, meow."

Hearing the nickname "Scarhead," Harry found it somewhat funny, but he still feigned anger and said, "I'm not Scarhead. My name is Harry, Harry Potter."

"I've remembered it, Scarhead's name is Harry Potter." Peixu was still stark naked, and while he spoke, Harry draped a robe over him. "I don't need a name, and I don't want to wear clothes."

"Peixu, I don't know if your parents are..."

"I don't have parents, and I don't care. I am a cat unlike any other."

Harry vaguely felt that this matter was a bit tricky; it seemed Peixu had never received any human education, yet his English was indeed very fluent.

"I know, you hairless monsters call yourselves humans," Peixu said dismissively. "I am not a human; I am just a cat that can turn into a human. I know what you're going to say; everyone says that."

"Then do you mean you wish to continue being a cat, and I should pretend I don't know you have this ability to turn into a human?" Harry asked tentatively.

"That's right, and the dried fish must be plentiful!" Peixu said triumphantly. "Also, if you intend to tell those adults, I will run away. No one can catch Peixu!"

When Harry returned to the dormitory, Peixu had already transformed back into his cat form, lying quietly in Harry's arms. Seeing his dejected expression, Luo En asked him with concern what was wrong.

"Peixu said he wants to stay a cat forever," Harry said worriedly. "And he won't allow me to tell the professors."

"That's fine too, I quite like Peixu," Luo En said. "He's obedient and cute, and he's nice to Scabbers too. You can keep raising him."

"But..." Harry was about to speak, but he remembered Peixu was still in his arms and that he understood English, so he changed his words. "But we can't feed him cat food anymore; we need to prepare more good things to eat."

The next day, while in class, Harry and Luo En discussed a strategy. They felt that letting Peixu stay in cat form was definitely not appropriate, but if they told a professor, it was hard to guarantee he wouldn't secretly run away. Or rather, at the very least, they should raise him for a period of time to let him lower his guard before suddenly handing him over to a professor.

Doing this, although Peixu might not be very happy, was undoubtedly the best thing for him.

During Friday's Potions class, Malfoy found Harry and said he was going to send the dragon away this weekend. This made Harry feel something was wrong, because if that were the case, he might not necessarily see Malfoy get caught by a professor.

But compared to seeing Malfoy make a huge fool of himself, Harry felt that properly handling the dragon Norbert was more important. He and Malfoy agreed to go to Hagrid's that afternoon to tell him about it.

Norbert had grown quite large, and his appetite was also increasing. The floor of Hagrid's hut was piled high with empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers. Hagrid felt he could barely keep hiding him, but under Harry's persuasion, he could only stroke Norbert sadly and agree with tears in his eyes to send the little dragon away the next day.

On Saturday, Hagrid's hut welcomed an unusual guest. His face was pale, his features sharp, and a pair of gray eyes revealed an unconcealable arrogance. From his facial features, Harry recognized at a glance that this was Malfoy's father. Accompanying him were seven or eight people wearing black robes and thick leather gloves, perhaps workers from a dragon sanctuary.

"Take this dragon away," the man commanded coldly. Then, he seemed to notice Harry's displeased expression and added, "Be gentle."

"That's how it has to be with dragons, sir," one of the men in black said, as they were roughly trying to tie Norbert up.

Hagrid was wiping away tears of parting on the side. Seeing them successfully pack Norbert into a crate, Hagrid even stuffed some things inside.

"Poor child, he needs to have some rats and brandy to eat on the way," he said. "And a teddy bear; he will be lonely."

"He actually treats this thing like a child?" one of the men in black muttered.

"I don't think his brain is very bright either, the big oaf," another man in black mocked Hagrid mercilessly, his voice loud enough for Harry to hear.

"Don't talk, focus on your work," Malfoy's father ordered coldly.

Then, the six men in black and white shoes carried the wooden crate on their shoulders and walked away, swaying.

"Nice to meet you, Harry Potter," the man said to Harry. His appearance was carved from the same mold as Malfoy's. "Draco told me you are one of the few friends he has at school."

He bit the word "friends" very hard.

"Is that so? I had thought Draco would be more popular," Harry responded coolly.

"Apologies, perhaps I didn't express myself clearly," the man said. "Draco said you are a friend, not a subordinate or a lackey or anything of the sort. I think this is very crucial."

"I am Lu Xiusi Malfoy, the current master of the Malfoy family," he said. "By the way, I am also a school governor."

"So that's it. Nice to meet you, sir," Harry said politely. "I also think Draco is a very standard Slytherin."

Calling Malfoy a standard Slytherin was very gratifying to Lu Xiusi, but in Harry's heart, it was actually half an insult.

"Very good. I am actually curious why you chose Gryffindor," Lu Xiusi said. "I had thought you would also enter Slytherin."

"I'm not sure either; it was the Sorting Hat's choice after all," Harry said smoothly. "Besides, Slytherin and Gryffindor were friends during their lifetimes; of course, there can be sincere friendship between different houses."

"Well said. If there is an opportunity, I hope to invite you to visit Malfoy Manor," Lu Xiusi said as such.

"That would be wonderful, but I think I should head to the library," Harry didn't want to continue this hypocritical conversation at all, so he feigned anxiety and glanced at his watch.

"Is that so? What is so urgent?" Lu Xiusi sensed Harry's impatience, and his tone was vaguely displeased.

"I have an appointment to..." Harry hesitated; saying "friend" might not be appropriate, after all, Malfoy was also his "friend." "... to do homework with my girlfriend."

Lu Xiusi revealed a teasing smile and let him leave.

"Phew, finally got rid of that annoying pest," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, Luo En had been standing right next to him the whole time, but Lu Xiusi hadn't even glanced at him.

"Why were you so polite to him?" Luo En said indignantly. "I wouldn't bother with him at all."

"Didn't you hear him say it? He's a school governor," Harry said. "I originally intended to mock him a few times, but if he got angry and plotted to have us expelled, that would be troublesome."

"Deng Buliduo would be on our side," Luo En said.

"But being a governor means owning a part of the school's ownership, the Board of Governors..." Harry paused as he spoke. "That's right, screw it. Deng Buliduo is on our side, and that's Deng Buliduo!"

They imagined how powerful Deng Buliduo was, and that the wealth Lu Xiusi was so proud of was nothing but dirt before him. Whenever any danger arose, he would still have to come over and kneel to beg for Deng Buliduo's protection.

The two chatted as they walked slowly back to the castle. Harry discovered Zhang Qiu standing at the main entrance, holding an envelope in her hand.

"I think we should calm down and study the problem of Peixu," she said, while waving the letter.

"Alright, if life is always full of so many frustrating things, I think being a cat wouldn't be bad," Harry remembered his homework wasn't finished yet and couldn't help feeling a bit melancholy.

"After you told me yesterday, I immediately wrote a letter to my Master," Zhang Qiu said. "He gave a detailed explanation of Peixu's situation."

"Your Master is in the Celestial Empire, right?" Luo En was a bit surprised. "Does the Celestial Empire have any special magic? I mean, owls can't fly that fast!"

"It's not magic, it's email," Zhang Qiu explained. "I just need to send the letter to the embassy, and they can use magical Muggle computers to contact my Master in an instant."

"In any case, let's quickly see what your Master said," Harry didn't have any sentiment about the times changing; he was being driven crazy by Peixu's situation.

"He said, Peixu is undoubtedly a Blood-Cursed Orc. It's hard to imagine anyone would cast a Blood Curse on such a small child; this is truly too cruel..."

"Wait?" Harry leaned in to look at the letter, but it was all in Chinese. "I mean, I thought Blood Curses were innate?"