The Amazing Bouncing Ferret
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!
I have some announcements:
-I am now an official beta reader, so if you would like a beta for your story, feel free to PM me; I can only be a beta for one, maybe two stories at a time, however, it'd be unfair to the person if I can't find enough time.
-Go and check out 'Red and Green' by TheoryofFangirls, it is about what would happen if Neville Longbottom had a sister, and it's Draco/OC.
Enjoy the next chapter of 'The Years of Change!' :)
Lina
"I'm probably going to head to the library today after classes," I tell Hermione the next day. "I need to research the Aging Potion."
"You can do all the research and potion making you want, Lina, but rest assured that, I am not helping you with this, and it's not going to work. Dumbledore knows that some of his more...reckless students will pull something like this. It's illegal! Plus you should have seen Harry's face when you talked about the Aging Potion, he looked pale white." Hermione says.
"You're not stopping me," I say stubbornly. "And neither is Harry, I'm fed up of his overprotectiveness."
"I didn't say I was," Hermione says. "I just want to be the one to say, 'I told you so,' and don't even think about blaming Harry, he cares for you!"
No. He cares for Cho Chang.
"No one's saying 'I told you so' but me." I say.
"Fine by me," Hermione says.
We leave the dormitory and meet up with Harry and Ron and go to the Great Hall.
"Today's not bad..." Ron says, looking at his new schedule. "Herbology with Hufflepuff...Care of Magical Creatures...ugh we're still with the Slytherins."
"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry groans.
"You should have given up the subject," Hermione says.
"Or never have taken it," I add, causing Hermione to scowl at me.
"You're eating again," Ron comments to Hermione.
"There are better ways to make a stand to elf rights," Hermione says haughtily.
"And you were hungry," I smirk.
"Oh shut it Lina," Hermione says. "It's like this year you're doing everything you can to get on my nerves."
"You love me." I smirk.
Hermione shakes her head fondly as we walk to Herbology.
Professor Sprout showed us these really ugly plants called Bubotobers and tells us that we have to squeeze pus out of them.
"That's disgusting," I sneer as we start to squeeze the pus.
Once we're done with Herbology, we head to Care of Magical Creatures. "I can't wait to see Hagrid," I say breathlessly.
"Same," Harry says. "I wonder what he as planned for us."
"Blast Ended Skrewts!" Hagrid announces as us Gryffindors approach him.
"What did you say?" I ask.
Hagrid points to the crates.
"Eurgh!" Lavender squeals, jumping backward. I agree with her: 'Eurgh' pretty much summed them up. They looked like deformed lobsters.
"They jus' hatched," Hagrid says proudly. "Yeh'll be able ter raise them yerselves!"
"Why would we want to?" A cold voice says. I turn around. That was Draco Malfoy, and the Slytherins were right behind him.
Hagrid looks stumped.
"What's the point?" Malfoy asks.
"That's next lesson," Hagrid says. "For now yeh'll just be feeding them."
"First pus and now this," I grumble to Harry. "What's today, day of gross lessons?"
"Considering the fact that I have Divination after this...maybe." Harry says.
"I'm only doing this because I like Hagrid," I say, picking up some of the liver and started to feed the disgusting Skrewts.
Dean Thomas got bitten by one...I love Hagrid, but...he...needs to tell the difference between wild and domestic animals.
Lavender comments on how they have pointy things that I also saw.
"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid says enthusiastically, which made both Lavender and I pull our hands from the crates.
"I see why we want them alive," Malfoy drawls. "Who wouldn't want pets that burn, bite, and sting all at once?"
I agree with Malfoy...and now the world's ending...because I agree with Malfoy.
"Just because they're not very pretty, doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snaps. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"
Harry, Ron, and I grin at Hagrid. You see, during our first year, he owned a dragon that he called Norbert. Hagrid had a taste for lethal creatures...
"At least they're small," Ron says as we head to lunch.
"They're going to grow, you know," I shudder.
"Once Hagrid's figured out what they eat, they'll be six feet long." Hermione says.
Ron and Hermione bicker all the way to lunch. Those two are like the Hogwarts version of Percabeth, seriously. Which means...
Hermione started eating really fast.
"Er—is this a new stand on elf rights?" Ron asks. "You're going to make yourself puke?"
"No," Hermione says. "I just want to get to the library."
This would be a perfect time to do my Aging Potion research. I'll pass it on to Fred and George when I'm done.
"Me too," I say, starting to shovel food into my mouth like Hermione.
"What?" Ron says. "It's the first day back! We don't even have any homework yet!"
We shrug and continue eating, "See you at dinner!" We call out.
When Hermione and I get to the library I say, "Don't tell me you're working on Elf Rights."
"Don't tell me you're working on that Aging Potion," She shoots back. "You're lucky I'm not going to tell anyone."
Neither of us says anything as we each do our respective research. I manage to find a book of various potions, meant for N.E.W.T students that had the Aging Potion in it, and make a list of the effects, amounts, and ingredients.
Hermione grabs my arm, "Ancient Runes." She says.
"Glad we took that instead of Divination," I mutter as we walk to Professor Babbling's class.
"Oh, tell me about it," Hermione says. "Broaden your eyes and see the future!" She mimics. "Also you'd hate it, because you have a July birthday, and every other lesson she'd comment on how they'd have early and violent deaths."
"Don't I already know that?" I ask. "I'm a you-know-what! Gods, it's a miracle I've lived to be fourteen."
It was a pretty good Ancient Runes lesson, and Professor Babbling didn't give us any homework!
We leave and meet up with Harry and Ron, who was grumbling about all the homework he and Harry got.
"We didn't get any at all!" Hermione says brightly.
"Well, good on you two," Ron says moodily.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley! Your dad's in the paper! Listen to this!" I turn around. It was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Ugh.
He reads the article, and it basically belittles Mr. Weasley, even getting his name wrong. By now, everyone in the Great Hall was looking at Malfoy as he read.
"There's a picture, Weasley!" Malfoy says. "A picture of your parents outside their house—if you can call it that! Your mother could lose a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
Ron was shaking with fury.
"Piss off Malfoy," I growl. Mrs. Weasley is a nice woman. No one insults her. "Just leave the git; he's not worth it...I'll get him later..." I mutter to Ron.
Malfoy ignores me, and turns to Harry. "You were staying with them. Tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"
The three of us had grabbed Ron from lunging at Malfoy. "Your mother," Harry says. "She has an expression, like dung's under her nose. Is she always like that, or is it because she was with you?"
"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter." Malfoy snarls.
"Keep your fat mouth shut, then." Harry shoots back. "Come on, let's go—"
He takes my hand and turns around, and then—BANG!
We turn around, and people scream.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" I turn around to see Professor Moody, his wand pointed at a pure white ferret, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. Could it be...?
"Did he hit you?" Moody asks Harry.
"No, he missed," Harry says.
What...that slick git tried to attack Harry when his back was turned!
"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouts.
"Leave what?" Harry asks.
"Not you—him!" Moody growls. Crabbe was going to pick up the ferret, but Crabbe was behind him. Moody can see out of the back of his head!
The ferret squeaks and tries to escape, but Moody points his wand at it, making the ferret bounce. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned." He growls. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..."
Then realization struck me. That ferret was Draco Malfoy. I snicker, and whisper to my friends, "That's Malfoy."
Harry and Ron snicker. "This is just plain awesome," Ron whispers.
"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall calls.
"Hello, Professor McGonagall," Moody says calmly, bouncing Malfoy the ferret higher. We all start to laugh. Okay, I haven't had a lesson with him, but he's already my favorite teacher.
"What are you doing?" She asks.
"Teaching," Moody says, continuing to bounce Malfoy the ferret causing us to laugh harder.
"Teach—Moody, is that a student?" Professor McGonagall shrieks. We laugh harder than ever, an annoying one at that.
"Yep," Moody says. At this point, my sides were hurting from laughter.
"No!" Professor McGonagall cries. She pulls out her wand, and with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy reappears, lying in a heap on the floor. He looked humiliated. I almost felt bad for him, key word: almost. I should not at all. He deserved it. He attacked Harry when his back was turned.
His defeated grey eyes meet my amused brown ones, and his eyes widen in horror. That's right. I saw it all. Now all that's left is to get rid of this feeling of guilt that shouldn't be there in the first place.
"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall says. "Surely you were told that?"
"It might have been mentioned, but a sharp shock—" Moody starts.
"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"
"I'll do that then," Professor Moody glares at Malfoy.
"My father will hear about this," Malfoy mumbles, his eyes glancing to mine again.
"Oh, yeah? I know your father. You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son...now, your Head of House is Snape, right?" Moody growls.
"Yes," Malfoy says resentfully.
"Another old friend," Moody growls. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape...come on, you..." He seizes Malfoy by the upper arm and leads him to the dungeons.
"Don't talk to me," Ron says.
"Why not?" Hermione asks.
"I want to fix this in my memory forever." Ron says. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."
Harry, Hermione, and I start laughing.
"He could have really hurt Malfoy though," Hermione says. "It's good McGonagall stopped it."
"Who cares?" I laugh. "That was the best thing I've seen in ages!"
"Yeah, you're ruining the best moment of my life!" Ron adds.
The next two days passed fairly quickly, and all of us fourth years were excited for Professor Moody's lesson, especially after Fred and George told the four of us how he knew a lot about fighting the Dark Arts. Moody already gained some of my respect during the ferret incident.
We all arrived very early, except for Hermione, who arrived on time. We hurry and get four good front seats.
"You can put those books away," Professor Moody growls. "You won't need them." We put them away and Moody does roll call.
"Right then," He says when he finishes. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about the class. You've had a pretty through background in dealing with Dark Creatures, but you're very behind on dealing with curses. I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"
"Aren't you staying?" Ron blurts out.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son. Your father got me out of a tight corner a few days ago. Yeah, I'm staying the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore...then back to my retirement." He laughs harshly.
"So—straight into it, curses. According to the Ministry, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you illegal Dark Curses until your sixth year. Professor Dumbledore reckons you all can cope. I agree. How can you defend yourself against something you've never seen? So...do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding Law?" Moody says.
Some people tentatively raise their hands. Moody points at Ron.
"My dad told me about...the Imperius Curse?" Ron asks.
Moody takes out a glass jar, in which three spiders lay. "Imperio!" Moody mutters, pointing his wand at the spider. The spider starts to tap dance. It was so funny, everyone was laughing, including Ron, who feared spiders.
"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody growls. "How'd you like it if I did it to you?"
We all fall silent. I imagined myself being forced to do that and shudder.
"This curse can be fought, but it takes strength of character. Not everyone's got it. Better avoid getting hit with it when you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He barks and we all jump.
"Anyone else know another illegal curse?" Moody asks.
"The Cruciatus Curse," Neville says in a small voice.
Moody nods, "Your name's Longbottom?"
Neville nods nervously.
"Engorgio," Moody mutters, pointing his wand at the spider. Ron pushed his chair backward.
"Crucio!" Moody points his wand at the spider.
The spider jerked in pain violently.
"Stop it!" Hermione says shrilly, glancing at Neville, whose face was pale and eyes horrified.
Moody stops the curse and puts the spider back in the jar.
"Any others?" Moody asks. "Yes?" He says, looking at Hermione.
"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispers.
"The last, and worst. Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse." Moody says.
Moody raises his wand at the spider, "Avada Kedavra!"
"There's no countercurse," Moody says. "No blocking it. There's only one known person that's survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Everyone swiveled around to look at Harry, who had a sudden interest in the blackboard.
"It requires a powerful bit of magic. You could all get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get as much as a nosebleed." Moody grunts. "If there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to appreciate what the worst is. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He roars and we all jump again.
We spend the rest of class taking notes on the three Unforgivable Curses until the bell rings.
I was sitting on the couch, half "helping" Harry and Ron with their Divination homework, and half working on an essay Snape assigned us for Monday. I'm not making any progress. Here's what I have so far.
Uses of Aconite
By: Lina Quimby
I heart Potter...x12
Malfoy makes a good ferret...x12
Yeah, that makes a lovely Potions essay...
"You got stabbed in the back by a loyal friend." I tell Harry, who writes it down.
"You are in danger of having burns." I tell Ron.
"You will drown." I tell Harry.
"You'll get trampled by a Hippogriff." I tell Ron.
They both write down what I said. "Goodness gracious, your Divination teacher's insane!" I exclaim.
"Well, she seems to like death," Harry grumbles. "She's always predicting mine every lesson."
"Hey, I'll be right back," I walk over to where Fred and George were sitting and pull out a piece of parchment. "You might want a look at this." I tell them. "It's research on the Aging Potion."
"Lina—" Fred says.
"Have we ever told you how awesome you are?" George finishes.
I smile as I walk away, "You might have mentioned it a couple times. Just give it back when you're done. I need it too, you know." I smirk.
"You got it!" They say in unison.
When I walk back, I see that Hermione had arrived from the library, and she was showing Harry and Ron something. I look at it. "What's Spew?" I ask.
"It's not spew, Lina, its S-P-E-W. It stands for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare." Hermione explains.
"Never heard of it," Ron says.
"Of course you haven't," Hermione says. "I just started it."
"How many members do you have?" Ron asks.
"Four if you three join." Hermione says.
"You think the three of us want to walk around with badges saying 'spew,' do you?" Ron says.
"S-P-E-W!" Hermione says hotly. "I've been researching it thoroughly. Elf enslavement's gone back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything before now."
"Hermione, I told you this at the beginning of the year feast, and I'll tell you now. They. Like. Being. Enslaved."
"Our short term aims," Hermione says, pretending to ignore me, "are to give House Elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long term aims include changing the law about non wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
"And how do we do all this?" Harry asks.
"We start by recruiting members," Hermione says happily. "Two sickles to join—that buys a badge—and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer Ron—I've got you a collecting tin upstairs, Harry—you're secretary, so you might want to be writing down everything I say now, and Lina—you're the vice president, which means we'll be doing the major campaigning together—isn't this great, guys!"
Harry, Ron, and I just sit there, gaping at Hermione.
There was a soft tap on the window.
"Harry, its Hedwig." I say. Harry runs to the window to let her in.
"She has an answer!" Harry says, untying the parchment and reading it aloud, his face growing more furious with each word.
"He's flying north, why's he coming back?" I demand.
"I shouldn't have told him my scar was hurting!" Harry says furiously. "It's made him think he's got to come back! And I haven't gotten anything for you, you'll have to go back to the Owlery if you want food," he snaps at Hedwig.
Hedwig flies away, looking extremely offended.
"Harry," I start.
"I'm going to bed," he says shortly. "See you in the morning."
A/N: How'd you like The Amazing Bouncing Ferret, and Lina's 'Potions Essay?' Lol. This is just a filler chapter; the next chapter will be better! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, however ;)
Next chapter: The Durmstrang Boy and Aging Up
-Ana