For the first time, the corridors of Hogwarts failed to become Lia's personal display rack.
For the entire day, she was like a cat that had been wronged, deliberately maintaining an arm's length of safety from Hermione.
When they passed each other, that long, fluffy tail would even flick to the other side as if in a huff.
Harry and Ron looked at each other in bewilderment; this was more bizarre than Snape announcing that Gryffindor had won the House Cup.
The truth was, the "settling of accounts" in the bathroom last night had completely spiraled out of control.
Hermione had clearly underestimated her own possessiveness after being teased all day, and overestimated the delicacy of Lia's skin in her Cat-girl form.
She hadn't controlled her strength well and ended up hurting the Cat-girl.
The result was Lia bristling her fur and avoiding her all day, even only giving the Dried Fish Hermione offered a sniff before turning her head away, using the back of her head to express her displeasure.
It wasn't until evening, when Hermione went to the kitchen herself (with the help of the House-elves) and brought back a plate of top-grade salmon—drizzled with honey gravy and roasted until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—that she managed to coax back the little cat, whose pouting mouth and tail tip were in silent protest.
Lia ate the fish in small bites while stealing glances at Hermione.
One day, she would definitely defeat the evil Hermione! Let her taste being bullied too! Let her beg for mercy too!
However, the sweetness of reconciliation didn't last long before a problem more intense than Baruffio's Brain-Sharpening Potion hit them.
An owl that looked shifty and rat-like dropped a roll of parchment onto their table in an almost crude manner, delivering an official document from the Ministry of Magic.
The content was cold and bureaucratic: Given the special nature of the "atypical intelligent creature" Lia's enrollment at the school, the Ministry of Magic would conduct a mandatory academic year assessment. If she failed to reach the "Pass" standard in any subject, her "student" status would be immediately revoked, and she would be "taken over" by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for a comprehensive "ability definition and risk assessment."
At the end of the document was a scrawled and malicious countersignature: Lucius Malfoy.
Retribution had come so quickly.
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