Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 184, Section 183: The Missing Banban and the Professor's Gathering
According to Rita, she racked her brains and used all her persuasive skills to convince Fudge that the stupid pig understood the key point of the matter. At least Fudge no longer angrily declared that he would label Harry a dark wizard and send Aurors to capture him, just like he did when they first met and he explained his purpose.

Rita's letter was full of self-aggrandizement, and she didn't even try to hide it, while Harry... he didn't mind rewarding those who made contributions.

But that's all for the future; at least Rita isn't qualified yet.

Bang bang bang!!

"Harry? Harry! Are you there?!"

Just as Rita was thinking, Harry heard his office door being pounded on and Ron shouting.

"Right away!" Harry shouted back, tossing the letter into the fireplace and watching it quickly turn to ashes before snapping his fingers to open the door.

“Harry! You have to help me!” Ron cried out to Harry, his face still streaked with tears, “Scabbers is gone!!”

Holding his earth elemental companion Hercules in his arms, Ron was followed in by Hermione and Neville.

"Don't rush, sit down first," Harry reassured. "Tell me slowly, what happened to Scabbers?"

“It’s gone!” Ron said sadly. “I thought it had just gone out to play as usual or gone somewhere to slack off, but I suddenly realized today that I haven’t seen Scabbers for two whole days.”

“I think it will come back, Ron. It recognizes you and knows you are its master,” Neville said softly. “It’s probably just been delayed by something.”

"What happened?" Ron turned around, looking annoyed. "What could possibly hold up a mouse? Merlin's socks, they've probably already been eaten by the castle cats, maybe even Filch's cat! Lady Lorris! Or some other student's pet!"

“That’s impossible, Ron,” Hermione said bluntly. “The students’ pets are all exceptionally intelligent. They won’t harm other pets, let alone Lady Lorris. She’s lived in this castle longer than any of us have. She knows what she can and cannot do.”

“Oh, then tell me—where can you possibly go, Scabbers?” Ron said, his face flushed. “Just tell me!”

Ron was very dissatisfied with Hermione's answer. He thought that Scabbers must have been eaten by something in the castle, poor thing, and there probably wasn't even a bone left.

During this time of extreme sadness, instead of comforting her, her best friend said that those awful things wouldn't hurt Banban.

"I remember you said that the mouse was given to you by Percy?" Hermione continued, ignoring Ron's attitude.

“...Yes, Scabbers was Percy’s pet before,” Ron said reluctantly. “It was his pet before Percy went to Hogwarts, until he became a prefect last year. As a reward, my mother bought him an owl, and then he gave Scabbers to me.”

Although Ron often spoke ill of Scabbers, complaining that it wasn't pretty enough and couldn't deliver messages, he was still very sad when Scabbers actually disappeared.

"That means Scabbers has lived for at least seven years," Hermione said with a strange look, skipping over Ron's sadness. "Do you know how long the average lifespan of a mouse is, Ron?"

"Huh?" Ron looked bewildered. "How long?"

“Three years at most!” Hermione said decisively. “Even three years is a long time. I don’t know much about magical pets, and I don’t know if rats in the magical world can live longer, but it’s definitely very old—just think about its fur that’s already starting to fall out!”

“…You’re right.” After a moment of recollection, Ron sighed and said, “Spotty’s fur has started to fall out in many places, and the color has become very dry.”

“Right?” Hermione’s words flowed more smoothly as she spoke. “We all know that wizards’ pets are much smarter and more intelligent than Muggle’s pets—but did you know, Ron, that Muggle dogs generally have a certain habit?”

"What habit?"

"If you consider a dog as a member of your family and it is very loyal, then when it reaches the limit of its age, it will foresee its own death and quietly leave its home, dying quietly in a place where no one can find it."

“My God, why would it do that?” Ron said, dumbfounded.

“Because it doesn’t want to upset its owner’s family,” Harry continued. “I’ve heard of such things too. I have to say, a loyal war dog is indeed the best companion. They are even more reliable than many living people.”

“Alright, since you've said so, Harry…” Ron’s expression immediately became conflicted after Harry’s confirmation. “So, you mean—”

“I think Hermione is right. After all, Scabbers is quite old, isn’t he?” Neville said seriously. “Just like my Rafer, they are indeed very intelligent, so they don’t want to make you sad.”

“Oh, this damn stupid thing,” Ron cursed, but tears welled up in his eyes again. “You all know, I would rather it be with me—I mean, I could get it a nice little box or something.”

“And flowers,” Neville added, “I planted them myself, and I can plant them in front of its, uh, tombstone.”

“Thank you, Neville, you’re so kind—and you, Hermione, though what you said was certainly harsh,” Ron sniffled, wiped his face with the tissue Harry handed him, and said, “but anyway, I still want to see it again.”

"Although it's not quite what I imagined before I came here, Harry, could you use your divination skills to help me find Scabbers' location?"

"Of course," Harry naturally wouldn't refuse such a small favor.

Harry now has a dedicated area for divination. He brought a few friends to the area outside the totem building, where tents provided shade from the intense sunlight. As the blue smoke of herbs rose, Harry divined for Ron, searching for the pet to whom he had developed feelings.

Before long, a clear water curtain was reflected in the stone bowl in front of Harry—a lush forest, and under a tree, a rat was lying in its burrow, its fur all over its body, looking sickly and on the verge of death.

"This is... the Forbidden Forest?!" Ron exclaimed, dumbfounded, staring at the scene in the stone bowl. "My God, where in the Forbidden Forest is this?!"

“I don’t know,” Harry said, stroking his chin. “This should be some area of ​​the Forbidden Forest, but there are no obvious signs around—look, even when I zoom in, I can’t see anything more.”

“It’s obvious, Ron, Hermione is right,” Neville patted Ron’s shoulder with a sympathetic look. “Scabbers is really going to die, and he didn’t want to make you sad, so he found a place to hide in the Forbidden Forest.” Without answering, Ron just stared at the scene in the water screen for a good ten seconds before looking up at Harry.

"Is there really no other way?" Ron pleaded.

“The Elementals can’t do anything about it, Ron,” Harry said with a helpless expression. “You know, there are just too many rats in the Forbidden Forest, and from the Elementals’ perspective, it’s actually quite difficult for them to distinguish the specific faces of other races.”

"Oh, Brutus, you heartless little thing," Ron groaned in pain.

He hugged the earth elemental in his arms even tighter, while Hercules touched Ron's arm with his stone arm, as if to comfort him.

No matter how painful it was, Ron eventually accepted the reality—fortunately, he now had Hercules, and it was a good thing that Scabbers could die of old age.

Not to mention his friends comforting him. Neville offered to give Ron a new magical plant that would secretly blow bubbles when no one was looking, while Hermione comforted Ron by saying that if he didn't mind, she could give him a new pet, but there would be no Christmas present this year.

Harry prepared a minotaur feast for Ron, hoping the food would cheer his friend up... Well, Ron ate with gusto, and his mood did indeed improve considerably.

Listening to his friends' voices, Harry took a sip of mead, but he couldn't help but recall the image he had seen when he was doing a divination for Ron—the bald rat, Scabbers.

As a former roommate of Ron and a close friend who often shared meals and accommodations, I know my friend's pet Harry quite well.

He always looked listless and sickly, with hair loss all over his body, and... he was missing a toe.

A toe.

Perhaps because he had been thinking about this issue for a while, Harry suddenly thought of Sirius Black's case when he saw Scabbers—twelve years ago, Peter Pettigrew caused an explosion, and the Aurors who arrived at the scene afterwards only found one of Peter's fingers and a laughing Sirius Black.

But one finger—Peter was missing a finger.

Perhaps because of Rita, Harry's thoughts inevitably turned to the Animagus... Most importantly, there was a feeling in his heart that was drawing him together, making him connect the two things.

Thinking about it more carefully, Ron said that Scabbers disappeared two days ago—and two days ago—wasn't that the day after Rita's bombshell report was released?

The smile on Harry's face gradually faded, and he became serious. However, he did not tell his friends about this speculation, but kept it to himself.

Harry trusted his intuition, a powerful weapon that helped him face countless life-or-death situations.

After seeing Ron and his two companions off, Harry performed a ritual with the elements, solemnly requesting the omnipresent wind and earth elements to identify the rats living in the Forbidden Forest and find one unique rat that was completely hairless and missing a front toe.

From the perspective of elements, this is truly a delicate task.

If things aren't as I imagine, that's fine; it'll just be Ron finding his pet again. But if Scabbers really has a problem... hah.

A cold glint flashed in Harry's eyes.

....................................

By the time it was getting dark, Harry had arrived at Hogsmeade.

Compared to the previous scene of crowds and tents pitched all over the village, Hogsmeade is much quieter now.

Harry had already selected the first group of official Squib apprentices from the Squib group that had come to Hogsmeade seeking hope, so after consulting Harry, Professor McGonagall contacted the Ministry of Magic to drive away the remaining Squibs.

As the vice-headmistress of Hogwarts, she was responsible for the safety of the students. The presence of so many strangers in Hogsmeade, a small village near the school, had already put her on edge, fearing that something unexpected might happen.

Now things are much easier.

The Three Broomsticks pub is located on Hogsmeade’s main street, near the post office and Devis-Bans shop. Harry and Hagrid had been here before. It’s a very historic old wooden building with a sign made of three broomsticks hanging at the entrance, creaking in the evening breeze.

"Hey, look who's here?" Harry heard a cheerful greeting as soon as he entered the room. "Isn't this my favorite Professor Harry? You're a little late compared to the other professors."

“I’ve been dealing with some things… It’s been a long time, Ms. Rosmerta,” Harry greeted her with a smile.

Rosmerta is the owner of the Three Broomsticks bar. She has beautiful long blonde hair, a slender figure, and a languid smile on her face.

“It has indeed been a long time,” Rosmerta said with a rather resentful tone. “If I remember correctly, the last time you and Hagrid came here was last year… behind the other professors’ backs, hehehe.”

As she spoke, she laughed. Rosmerta still remembered the little figure from last year who was taken out for drinks by Hagrid, who looked like a thief. She never imagined that the child would become a full professor at Hogwarts this year. It was truly amazing.

"Wait, Harry," a voice interrupted their pleasantries. Professor Flitwick, holding a wine glass, approached and said, "If I heard correctly, you already sneaked into Hogsmeade last year?"

The Hogwarts professors sat at a long wooden table at the back of the pub. Harry saw Hagrid secretly turning his head to look at him, his mustache twitching as if he were giving a coded message.

“Yes, Professor,” Harry shrugged, meeting Hagrid’s anxious gaze. “The drinks here are quite good… well, if you want to deduct points from Gryffindor, last year is over.”

(End of this chapter)