#37 - Hermione's Notice

Returning to the dormitory, Moon originally planned to polish a few more branches, hoping to try dividing the wand several more times in the morning.

Because he discovered that as long as he continuously tried a movement, he could find that subtle feeling.

And he now needed to practice mastering this subtle feeling of division.

However, after hearing Ron's shout, Moon also curiously stopped and watched the motionless gray rat lying on the bed.

"Is it asleep?" Neville asked, looking uncertainly at the rat in Ron's arms.

"It should be. Scabbers usually sleeps peacefully like this when he's very tired."

Ron's voice was a little choked with sobs as he spoke, his hand constantly touching both sides of the rat's nose.

The original seven or eight whiskers that remained there had all disappeared.

Seeing the neat cut on the broken whiskers, Moon immediately ruled out Crookshanks' suspicion.

Because he knew very well that Crookshanks' small paws couldn't do that.

However, what Moon didn't know was that at this moment, a pair of small eyes also peeked out from the tree house, aiming at the gray rat Scabbers not far away.

Harry had just returned from the bathroom. After class, he was called by Wood to train for Quidditch and didn't have a good dinner.

After understanding the reason for Ron's sadness, Harry comforted his good brother.

"Don't be sad, Ron. Why don't we find a box or something to keep Scabbers in, so we can protect him."

Harry's suggestion was supported by everyone, but they didn't find a box, and instead used a laundry basket.

......

Before going to bed at night, Moon polished three wand blanks. By this time, most people had already returned to the dormitory to sleep.

Moon also didn't choose to read anymore, because tomorrow's classes didn't require preparation.

A Defense Against the Dark Arts class filled with the smell of garlic in the morning, a very relaxing Herbology class in the afternoon, and then an Astronomy class at eleven o'clock in the evening.

Of these three classes, Moon disliked Defense Against the Dark Arts the most, because after a whole class, he felt like he had been contaminated.

......

The next morning, unsurprisingly, three more bright flames appeared in the fireplace.

Moon had no choice but to polish new sticks again.

Fortunately, none of the daytime classes assigned homework, which gave Moon more time to do his own things.

However, when Moon was concentrating on his work in front of the fireplace in the evening, Hermione finally couldn't help but come over.

"I think you should pay attention to Crookshanks."

Moon was sanding the wand. Hearing Hermione's inexplicable words, he raised his head and looked over in confusion.

"I took the wrong staircase when I came back from the library today."

Hearing Hermione's rambling words, Moon was even more confused.

He had been quite busy recently, so he didn't go to the library to read with Hermione.

But taking the wrong staircase was something any little lion would encounter. What was there to say about it?

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Moon asked his question.

"I am..., I wanted to say that I took the wrong staircase and then saw Crookshanks riding on Mrs. Norris."

"Oh, Filch's cat. They're friends. There's nothing strange about that."

Moon said, lowering his head to continue polishing his work.

Seeing that Moon still didn't understand, Hermione became even more anxious.

"But they were chasing Ron's rat!"

"Huh?"

......

Case solved!

Moon finally knew why Crookshanks had been so well-behaved these past two days.

It turned out he was secretly doing big things behind his back.

"Thank you for telling me."

After Moon thanked Hermione, he hurried back to the dormitory.

At this time, everyone in the dormitory was gathered around the old basket where Scabbers lived.

"What are the claw marks on his body?" Seamus asked curiously, looking at the three bright red claw marks on Scabbers' body.

"Could it be an owl?" Neville's unexpected words made everyone suddenly feel like they had found the culprit.

There were many owls in Hogwarts, and they all ate rats, which made Ron very uneasy.

"Uh~, Ron, why don't you send the rat to the school infirmary first? I don't think he's feeling very well."

Moon only glanced at the scratches on the gray rat's body, and he knew very well that they were cat claw marks.

At York Farm, whenever spring came, he would always see some wild cats fighting due to estrus, and the claw marks on them were exactly the same as those on Scabbers.

After Moon reminded him, Ron sadly carried the gray rat out of the dormitory, and Moon also carried Crookshanks to the common room.

He found a secluded spot and put Crookshanks on his lap.

"Crookshanks, what you did was wrong."

"Chirp?" (What happened?)

"Someone saw you, with Mrs. Norris."

"Chirp chirp!" (Impossible, we hid very well!)

Crookshanks said, realizing that he had been exposed, and quickly covered his long mouth with his small paws.

"Promise me you won't bother that gray rat anymore, okay?"

Moon's expression was very serious, and Crookshanks' small black eyes stared at him, blinking.

"Chirp~"

"It doesn't matter whether that rat is bad or not, you just need to know that if he gets hurt, Ron will be unhappy, it's that red-haired boy, he even brought you lamb chops back."

Crookshanks stared at Moon intently, as if thinking about the meaning of such a long sentence.

After a long while, he reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, don't be unhappy. Next time we go to find Hagrid, let's ask him for more dried insects, okay?"

"Chirp~"

After getting Crookshanks' response, Moon was also slightly relieved. He was really afraid that Crookshanks would go and bother that rat again.

Although Moon didn't like that rat from the first time he saw it, it was Ron's pet after all, and he had no right to interfere.

Seeing Moon send Crookshanks back to the dormitory, Hermione quietly walked over again.

"I'm very sorry, I don't know if what I did was right."

Hermione was referring to the fact that she had just snitched on Crookshanks.

Moon didn't care about this matter, and he even wanted to thank her.

However, Hermione's attitude made him curious.

In his eyes, Hermione had always been a very strong person. After spending a month together, he had never seen Hermione apologize to anyone.

"It's okay, Crookshanks has already agreed not to bother that rat anymore."

Hearing Moon say this, Hermione obviously breathed a sigh of relief.

"Actually, he's very smart, isn't he? I mean Crookshanks. You see, he knows to find the rat's natural enemy to subdue the rat. This is not a skill that ordinary animals can master."

"That's right, I didn't expect it either."

It was only tonight that Moon figured out why Crookshanks had such a strong fishy smell on his body some time ago.

He must have been catching fish for Mrs. Norris to eat, and then got on the line with this caretaker's beloved pet, and then started bothering the gray rat.

Judging from this, Crookshanks was even smarter than Hermione imagined.

After Hermione chatted for a while, she left on her own. Although she didn't know why Moon was so obsessed with making wands, she didn't want to interfere too much.

When Moon was about to go to bed at night, Ron came back with Scabbers in his arms.

A large band-aid was plastered on the gray rat's body, as if he was raising a white flag of surrender.

"Chirp~" (٩(◕‿◕｡)۶)

"Crookshanks, keep your voice down~"