Chapter 46 How to Abduct a Cat
"What?" Hermione immediately stood up, glaring angrily at the bushy-browed Hagrid. "Absolutely not, I don't agree.
And Hagrid, how could you even think of such a thing?
Asking us to steal a cat, how could you even come up with that idea?"
"Shh!" Hagrid made a shushing gesture, looking awkwardly at the three of them. "I didn't say steal, I said borrow, borrow a cat."
"No way." Hermione said, speechless. "Hagrid, I think you might not know, Aaron treats Abey like a treasure. He takes it to class, to eat, and to sleep. It's practically inseparable."
Hagrid nodded. "I've also discreetly inquired, which is why I'm asking for your help."
"But…" Harry was very puzzled. "What do you need a cat for?
There are so many cats in the school, can't you just pick another one?"
"Hahahaha!" Hagrid laughed triumphantly. "You don't understand. I have a special intuition about animals.
I noticed that cat wasn't ordinary when you first came to Hogwarts."
"No matter how extraordinary, it's still just a cat!" Ron said.
"No, you're thinking too small, too narrowly. I even suspect it's not a cat." Hagrid said with great certainty. "You've interacted with Abey more often than I have, so you should be able to feel more directly that the little fellow's intelligence is unusually high."
"And unusually gluttonous." Ron murmured.
"Gluttonous?" Hagrid immediately became interested. "What does it usually eat?"
"It eats everything.
Candy, biscuits, cake, pudding, chocolate, potatoes, but mostly drumsticks.
Five out of ten times, it's gnawing on a drumstick." Ronsuddenly paused here, wailing in disbelief, "Oh my god! My life is actually worse than a cat's?"
Harry, feeling a similar sentiment, patted Ron's shoulder. One lived under someone else's roof, the other came from a poor family. Compared to Abey the cat, their lives were truly difficult.
"You see, just from its diet, you can tell Abey is special. Do ordinary cats have such a good appetite?" Hagrid said.
"That only further proves Aaron's Pay attention to of Abey." Hermione shook her head. "Hagrid, I advise you not to have any ideas about it."
"I didn't intend to do anything to it.
Those who know me know that I never mistreat animals; I genuinely treat them as friends.
I'm just curious and want to observe it closely. If you don't trust me, you can supervise."
Harry gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Hagrid, it's not that we don't trust you.
It's just that this matter is too…"
"Too embarrassing." Ron said.
"Yes, too embarrassing."
"Embarrassment is secondary." Hermione's face was grim. "More importantly, it will cause Aaron's goodwill towards us to plummet."
"Exactly!" Harry was a little puzzled. "Hagrid, why don't you borrow it yourself?"
"If I could borrow it, I wouldn't be asking you." Hagrid said helplessly. "Ever since I showed interest in Abey in the Library last time, he's been very wary of me."
"That's even worse. If Abey goes missing, Aaron will think of you first." Hermione said.
"That's why I'm asking you to borrow it.
I've inquired, and at Hogwarts, besides a few substitute Professors, Draco is the only one he's closest to.
But he's a Slytherin, so there's no way he'd help me, and he might even tell Aaron.
So I thought of you. Among Gryffindor, you three can still talk to him." Hagrid said with a smile.
A few seconds later, he noticed the three of them were silent, and he sighed slightly. "If you're also unwilling to help me, it's okay. There will be other opportunities, but those involved in designing the mechanisms…"
"Wait, Hagrid." Harry pondered and made a decision. "We can help with this…"
"Harry?" Hermione interrupted him, shaking her head at him with a grim expression.
"Hermione, I know what I'm saying.
But the Philosopher's Stone and a pet cat, which is more important, is clear at a glance."
"I also agree with Harry's decision." Ron said. "We're borrowing, not stealing.
Besides, we'll supervise Hagrid the whole time, ensuring Abey won't suffer any grievance or harm. We'll return it in a few hours at most.
It shouldn't be a big deal… right!"
Hearing this, Hermione was a little angry, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Was that borrowing? No matter how good the excuse, it couldn't hide the essence of deception.
"You'll regret this.
I'm not participating in this. You guys can mess around yourselves!"
Hermione finished speaking and stormed out of Hagrid's Hut, leaving the three of them looking at each other inside.
After she came out, she hesitated whether to tell Aaronabout this, but after thinking it over, she gave up, because Harry and Ron couldn't possibly succeed.
Moreover, if she told Aaron, Harry and Ron would know it was her who leaked the secret without even thinking.
Inside the hut, Harry was also a little embarrassed. "Hagrid, we will do our best to help you borrow Abey, but please tell us who was involved in designing the Philosopher's Stone's mechanisms after it's done. This is very important to us."
"Of course!" Hagrid nodded. "But this is also confidential. I can tell you, but you can't tell anyone else, understand?
If you can't do that, then even if you bring Abey to me, I won't say anything."
Harry and Ron exchanged glances and smiled in unison. Hagrid was still Hagrid, his principles still so strong.
This was good. Snape wouldn't find it easy to get the method to get past Fluffy from him… The next day, Great Hall.
Aaron was having lunch here with Abey. Harry and Ronexchanged glances and began their operation.
Before long, the two of them, acting familiar, sat opposite Aaron. Their plates, in addition to their favorite foods, each had a drumstick.
They had carefully considered it. Directly borrowing it was definitely impossible; their relationship with Aaron wasn't that close.
So they could only take an indirect approach. What's a good idea to lure a cat?
Very simple, four words: play to its preferences.
Doesn't it like to eat drumsticks? Then use drumsticks to tempt it!
Anyway, all food at Hogwarts was free, so it wouldn't cost them anything.
As long as they made Abey happy, and then casually suggested taking care of it for an extra half-day, Aaronprobably wouldn't refuse, and the chances of success were quite high.
Sure enough, they just sat there, without saying a word, and the white cat opposite them was already drooling, staring eagerly at their plates.
"You good-for-nothing, you can't move when you see something delicious." Aaron said, speechless, then tapped Abey's head, snapping it out of its daze.
"It's alright!" Harry smiled, then very kindly pushed the drumstick from his plate in front of Abey.
Abey stared intently at the drumstick, which was within reach, for several seconds, but it strongly suppressed its desire to gobble it up, even wiping its drool with its paw.
Afterward, it looked at Aaron with its big, watery eyes, then extended a white paw and pointed at the drumstick, expressing its meaning: This dragon wants to eat.
These actions truly surprised Harry and Ron, and they understood why Hagrid was interested in this cat. This was simply not something a cat could do.
"Are pets nowadays all so disciplined?" Ron said, astonished, and suddenly thought of his pet rat, Scabbers, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.
Look at someone else's cat, and then look at his own rat. One was well-dressed, incredibly cute, and especially disciplined; the other was slovenly, negatively attractive, and lazy and gluttonous all day. There was simply no comparison.
"Disciplined? This guy just wants an extra meal because its diet is already arranged." Aaron shook his head, then patted its head, saying helplessly, "Just this once, don't let it happen again."
Abey nodded quickly, then picked up the drumstick and started gnawing wildly.
"Aaron, your cat is so smart!" Harry said with emotion. "And it seems to listen to you especially well."
"That's right, Abey has been with me since birth. I raised it to be so plump and white myself." Aaron said proudly. Raising a dragon for a few months was quite fulfilling.
It's just that it's still a little short of evolving. He'll have to use magic points to speed it up later so it can quickly awaken its second innate skill.
"Oh! Is that so!" Ron also handed over the drumstick from his plate, exchanged a quick glance with Harry, then tentatively extended his right hand.
But when his fingers were still a palm's distance from Abey, Abey suddenly stopped eating, turned around, and bared its teeth at Ron, scaring him into immediately retracting his hand.
"Aaron, is its temper that bad?" Ron looked a little embarrassed. "I just gave it a drumstick, and I can't even pet it?"
"Uh… sorry, without my permission, it generally won't let boys touch it.
Besides my family, only Draco and Hermione at school have held it." Aaron explained.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, both feeling that the difficulty of luring this cat had suddenly increased by several notches.