A/N: I thought of this the other night as I started to re-read the Half Blood Prince again, based on the part in the first chapter when the Prime Minister of England meets with Fudge and he recalls the first time they met and Fudge turned his teacup into a gerbil. It then states that he gave the gerbil to his "delighted niece" and never told anyone about his meeting "the Other Minister" as he called Fudge. I just couldn't resist writing this, and I love one-shots anyway. Hope you enjoy.
The Prime Minister was still shaken by his meeting with Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He still thought it was all rather absurd; he still wanted to believe it wasn't true, that it had all been a dream. That maybe he had, due to the draining election and all the excitement of the day, his beginning of term that he had fallen asleep at his desk and had one of the weirdest dreams ever. He so wanted to believe that, but he looked again at the painting on the wall that announced Fudge's arrival, the little ugly man in it appeared to be napping, snoring just ever so slightly.
Also, he thought there is still the problem of the little gerbil scurrying around his desk now. Fudge had turned his teacup of delicious Earl Gray tea into a gerbil, whether he had meant it to prove to the Prime Minister that he was indeed a wizard or if he just had been showing off or looking to impress him, he did not know.
However, he needed to do something with the rodent, less one of his staff come in and see it and think the building was infested. He couldn't have that, then exterminators would be called in and who knows how long it would be then before he got to be able to go back into his new office. The whole place would be evacuated surely. And it was still nibbling on the edge of one of his speeches, no, this would not do. The gerbil had to go.
He took off one of his shoes and raised it up into the air, but thought better of it. He didn't like the little creature but he couldn't bear to kill it, plus it would make a right mess of his shoe, the desk and the speech. Besides, who ruins good Italian leather shoes by squishing a gerbil with them? He'd have to think of something else, maybe let it go in a park? Yes, that could work but well, he would definitely attract attention no matter which park it was and then he'd still have to find a way to explain why he was taking time out of his day when he as a newly elected Prime Minister must have so many more pressing matters, to simply release a gerbil in a park? The press would have a field day and his opponents would make him a laughingstock.
He went to sit down in his plush chair behind his new desk, it had been his dream forever to become Prime Minister, he knew that once he had gotten the office that he would be trusted with the highest of government secrets. He just never thought that one of them would be that there's an entire community that no one else knows about and he can't even discuss it with anyone on his staff. Not even his junior minister.
He looked at the little gerbil again; it was sitting by a picture of his little niece and was washing its face. His niece was a sweet little girl; she adored her uncle's visits because he always brought her a little gift of some sort. Looking at the picture, he recalled to mind how elated she had been with his last gift, a stuffed pony because her mother had said she couldn't have a real one.
Then it came to him, that's it! He thought, hadn't his niece been begging for a pet of some kind for a while now? She had wanted a dog, but her father was allergic so her uncle that she adored so much bought her a mechanical one to play with, she wanted a pony but where would they keep a pony her mother had said. So her devoted uncle had bought her a glittery stuffed one, this would be perfect!
It was small enough that she could keep it in her room and maybe it would even teach the girl some responsibility, her parents could show her how to clean out its cage and to always make sure it had plenty of food and water. Also, it was a rather inexpensive pet and small enough that if desired, she could even travel with it in a small case. He was very happy with his decision, he phoned straightaway to square it all with her parents, and they thankfully agreed that she may have the gerbil.
He hung up the phone and grabbed his coat and hat, slipping the little gerbil into his coat pocket and buttoning the top flap over it so the little guy couldn't get out he made his first business order to take a trip to see his niece. He warned his secretary that he would be going out for a while on 'family business' and to take a message if anyone called.
The Prime Minister pulled up to the house and got out of his car, a spring in his step as he rang the doorbell. He heard the sound of enthusiastic running toward the door and a moment later it swung open, and he looked down into the face of his excited niece. She squealed and threw her arms around his middle.
"Uncle! I didn't know you were coming to see me!"
Chuckling, he hugged the child back and entered the house; her parents had come into the foyer, smiling brightly. "I've brought you a present my dear. I hope you like it."
"A present?! For me?!" She was jumping up and down and then she stopped, "Wait, what for?"
"For being such a great little supporter of your old uncle the whole time he was trying to get his new job as Prime Minister, you did a great job of cheering me up those times when I didn't think I was going to win."
"But I knew you were going to win Uncle! I just knew it!"
"And you were right my dear; and no one else believed in me as much as you did. So, I got you a gift." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gerbil, handing it to his wide eyed niece who seemed too surprised for words.
"Do you like him?"
Grinning broadly she said, "Oh Uncle! I love him! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She threw her arms around him again, letting go she quickly turned and showed the gerbil to her parents. "Now I have a pet of my very own!"
Her parents smiled at their delighted daughter and her mother spoke up and said, "Now sweetheart you'll have to take good care of him, it's not like a stuffed toy or a doll, you'll have to always be sure to feed him and clean out his cage."
"Oh, I know! I promise I'll take real good care of him! I'm feed him and give him new water every day! And I'll clean his house too; can we get him one of those plastic balls to run around the house in?"
"Yes dear, of course we can," her father said.
"He's just perfect! Uncle, what's his name?"
He hadn't even thought about that, he had figured his niece would want to name it, but now here she was asking for a name for the gerbil. He thought of his cup of Earl Gray that the gerbil had once been, before looking at his niece and declaring,
"His name is Earl, unless you want to give him a different name, now that he's yours."
"No, I like that, he does look like an Earl it sounds like a Prince's name. Prince Earl the Gerbil!" She declared happily, "but, I'll call him Earl for short."
He was glad his niece was so happy with her new pet, he pulled his coat back on and said, "I really am sorry I can't stay any longer, I have urgent business to get back to though, I'm sure you understand. I just wanted to come bring her the gerbil before starting on a mound of paperwork and meetings that I have waiting for me."
"We understand, it is a shame you can't stay longer but I can only imagine the workload you have waiting for you," the girl's father said. "But maybe next week sometime you can come over for supper and a longer visit."
"Yes, I'd like that."
"Do you have to go? You just got here," his niece pouted, he thought she was utterly adorable when she did, and it was how she had been able to get just about anything she wanted from him too he knew.
"Yes, my dear. I am sorry but I have to go, now that I'm Prime Minister, your Uncle has a lot more work for him than ever before, and you've got little Earl to take care of now. He'll be needing lots of nice gerbil supplies, maybe you can convince your mother and father to take you to the pet store before supper and get everything he needs. I'll see you soon though my dear, I promise I'll come by next week and stay longer."
"It was so nice of you to come by and give her the gerbil, have a safe trip back," her mother said as she gave him a hug in farewell.
"Yes have a safe trip, and good luck with that conference tomorrow, we'll see you soon," her father said, clapping him on the back and shaking his hand as he opened the door for him.
He started out the door and turned again, holding out his arms for his niece as he knew she would run into them, as he hugged her he said, "goodbye my dear. Take good care of Earl, I'll be back to see you before you know it."
"Goodbye Uncle, Earl's the bestest present ever!"
He waved to them as he climbed back into the car and drove off; smiling to himself he wondered what Fudge would say if he ever told him what he did with the gerbil that he had turned his teacup into.