Chapter 238: The Tale of the Lucky Black Cat
"Ron, Harry... would you like to join our club?"
The one asking was Parvati Patil, a pretty young witch with large eyes and long lashes. She was the same girl who had told Sean and the others about Hermione on Halloween.
"What club?"
Harry was a bit confused. He had only heard of the Quidditch Club, and as for Ron, he only knew about the Wizard's Chess Club.
"The Castle Kneazle Club. Don't tell me you haven't heard of it?"
Parvati covered her mouth, glancing at Justin and Hermione with an expression of genuine surprise.
Next to her, Lavender Brown's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Sorry, but what exactly is the Castle Kneazle Club?"
Sensing that he might be a bit out of the loop, Ron asked somewhat bashfully.
"Well, I'm actually glad I get to explain it again. You must have seen the Lucky Statue on the third floor? That's one of the proofs of the Castle Kneazle's existence... though it's strange, if you've lost points for being out of bed at night, you should have had a chance to see the Castle Kneazle."
Parvati said all this in a single breath.
Harry and Ron finally understood.
"That statue is real?! But why would being out at night mean seeing the... Castle Kneazle?" Ron exclaimed.
"Good question. I have to tell you about its deeds... It is the messenger of Christmas Eve, the Castle Kneazle who governs good fortune.
"Haven't you noticed? Ever since Christmas, good luck has been constant at Hogwarts. Mr. Green released multiple subjects of Green's Notes, many students out of bed were saved by the Castle Kneazle, Mr. Filch isn't as scary as before, and even Professor Snape has started giving us small tips... And now, a great alchemist has appeared at Hogwarts!
"We believe all of this was brought by the Castle Kneazle of Good Fortune!"
Lavender's eyes sparkled as she handed Harry and Ron two club invitation flyers featuring a photo of a black cat.
"By the way, our club was the fastest to be approved by Hogwarts! So please consider it. We don't have much time left at Hogwarts... If not a single person manages to touch its ears, we'll have failed completely."
Parvati seemed very proud of the club, yet disappointed by their performance so far.
After handing the flyers to Harry and Ron, they left.
The Great Hall was buzzing with noise, with young wizards everywhere recruiting for various clubs.
Their time was indeed running short, so the club's vice-president had come up with this plan. After all, there was strength in numbers.
"Touch his ears, and you'll have good luck for a whole year..."
Ron held the flyer, looking curious. Hogwarts students were always interested in the marvelous things that existed within this magical castle.
Otherwise, so many young wizards wouldn't spend their time researching portraits and exploring secret passages—in this magical castle, anything was possible.
This was magical Hogwarts, after all.
"Interesting. It lists the movement patterns of the Lucky Black Cat. It actually helps students who are out of bed... Merlin's beard, if we had met it back then, we wouldn't have lost so many points..." Ron lamented.
Harry imagined it. If this black cat had helped them avoid Professor McGonagall back then, they probably would have been very grateful too.
"Sean, are you going to join?"
Ron asked Sean instinctively.
Sean saw that Justin was already laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight, and Hermione had her head buried in her arms, her shoulders shaking.
"No, and you'd better not join either."
Sean felt helpless. He packed his things, intending to leave the Great Hall.
He felt that the young wizards of Hogwarts had too much time on their hands.
Before leaving, following some inexplicable intuition, he looked toward the High Table. Headmaster Dumbledore was smiling at him, pausing with his goblet raised in mid-air.
"Er—alright. Harry and I are quite interested. Justin, are you guys joining?"
Ron exchanged a look with Harry, then asked Justin. He felt that since they were a team, they should act together.
Justin, who had been enjoying the show, now flashed a warm, brilliant smile.
"No thanks."
"Oh... I thought you'd be interested..."
Ron's cheeks flushed slightly under the intense glow of the fireplace.
"He said no thanks because he's already joined. He's the vice-president," Hermione said, a smile still playing on her lips.
"Huh?!"
"Really?!"
Harry and Ron were both taken aback.
"Don't tell me that's the reason you never got caught out of bed?" Harry realized belatedly.
"Not exactly," Justin said.
"What about you, Hermione? You joined too?" Ron asked again.
"Mmhmm." Hermione lifted her chin.
Sean, who hadn't left the table yet, put down his book and glanced at them.
"We have to have some entertainment, don't we, Sean?"
Justin explained with a straight face, though anyone could see he was about to burst out laughing.
"And Neville?"
After processing this, Harry saw Neville nod.
"Hannah asked me to join. I... I... couldn't refuse," Neville whispered, not daring to look at Sean.
"So everyone's in!"
Ron got excited, then looked at Sean with a strange, cautious expression.
"Sean, are you really not joining?"
By this point, Justin was laughing so hard he had no strength left, and Hermione turned away, muttering, "Idiot."
"What are you laughing at? You haven't stopped."
Ron was confused.
Harry was completely in the dark too, nodding in agreement.
The group in the Room of Hope rarely had such amusing moments; since the Forbidden Forest incident, they had spent most of their time revising.
Sean sighed. He hadn't even known until now that they had all joined this club.
"What they say is fake..."
Sean paused, suddenly realizing something. Although "governing good luck" was fake, the changes in Hogwarts Castle were indeed related to him.
"Fake... what?"
Ron was very curious about Sean's reason for not joining.
"Maybe it's true."
Sean left the Great Hall.
Ever since the members of the Castle Kneazle Club began their quiet operations, another rumor was added to Hogwarts.
A rumor about a black cat walking the castle.
It was an April filled with rumors. Although there was plenty of rain, the clear days were dry and mild.
On these clear, mild nights, Sean would go into the Forbidden Forest to learn Divination magic from his Centaur teacher, Firenze.
At the same time, Sean faced two problems:
Divination magic was simply too vague, making it impossible to grasp the trick. Aside from that, improving the Cleaning Broom had become a puzzle for him.
One night, he accidentally ran into the Weasley twins outside the caretaker's office.
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