Chapter 11: The Ferret
The next morning, Asia woke up way earlier than Hermione or Ginny as she had to collect her things from the Room of Requirement. Checking the clock on her bedside table, she saw that she had an hour before any one she knew would wake up. So she pulled the comforter off her and grabbed the cloak that hung off the foot of her bed before climbing out and slipping on a pair of slippers.
She went into the bathroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had come lose from her bun and was sticking out in different directions. Her bruises and wounds no longer hurt and even her ribs were almost as good as new. She smiled happily at the thought while she rearranged her hair back into a messy bun.
She brushed her teeth, pulled on the cloak, and grabbed her wand from under her pillow before walking out of the dormitory to collect her things. She did not care what she looked like at the moment, she only wanted to grab her clothes before it was time to go down for breakfast.
Walking out the portrait hole, as quietly as she could, she rushed down the corridor that led to the Room of Requirement. She reached the tapestry that represented the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet. She always found it amusing.
Who tries to teach trolls ballet? She would always think at seeing it, with a chuckle.
She walked thrice up and down the corridor, beside the wall opposite the tapestry and thought, I want to get my belongings back…the ones I hid before going away for the summer… I want my belongings back…
She stopped short halfway through her third lap, when a door appeared on the wall. She smiled widely and opened it by turning the knob and pushing it into the wall.
She peered inside and found the familiar looking storage closet. It was the same every year; she thought the same thing and paced three times up and down the seventh floor corridor until the door appeared that opened to a tiny closet that stored her trunk and broom.
Picking up the broom from behind the door, Asia held the trunk from its handle tightly, before starting the short walk back to the dormitory.
It took her a little longer to get back to the common room than it took to get to the Room of Requirement because of the luggage she dragged with her this time. She said "Balderdash" to the Fat Lady quickly as the password and entered the common room, which was as empty as it was when she had left. She pulled the trunk with her, with difficulty, as she had to be extra careful with her wounds and bruises, up the staircase that led to the dormitory she shared with Hermione and Ginny and placed the trunk at the foot of her bed when she reached inside.
Another half hour later, Asia had taken a bath and had changed into her uniform robes. Her school bag was ready with a textbook for random reading during lunch and dinner, along with rolls of parchment, a couple of quills she had bought in Diagon Alley, and ink. She had decided to grab a cloak along with her because of the gloomy and cloudy weather outside.
She went back to the bathroom to take one last look in the mirror. Her black hair was tied up in a lose bun and she wore the locket Dobby had given her as a good luck charm for the first day of classes. Exiting the bathroom, she grabbed her bag and cloak before walking out of the dormitory, with a couple of minutes to spare before Hermione and Ginny woke up.
Asia rushed out of the common room, her bruises and wounds not paining at all, through the portrait hall and down the spiral staircase to the Great Hall for her usual early breakfast.
She sat down on the empty Gryffindor table, like the rest of the Hall, and pulled out her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and started to read a random chapter, which turned out to be Bubotuber. She read while slowly loading her plate with the already prepared breakfast and eating at leisurely pace, aware that there was time before other students started to file in to start their day.
Half an hour later, Asia was halfway through her third chapter and was done with her breakfast. She looked up to see that the Hall was now almost full of students eating breakfast, and the staff table was also full. Professor McGonagall was giving out schedules to all the students around the Gryffindor table, when she noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione entering the Hall together. Asia returned to her textbook and was almost done when Professor McGonagall came up to her.
"Good morning, Ms Malfoy" she greeted, "How are you feeling now?"
"Good morning to you too, Professor," Asia replied, "And I feel much better, thank you. What about you, Professor? Peeves did not give you any more hard time than last night, did he?"
"Oh, I'm very well, thank you, Asia," she said with a very small smile on her usually stiff lips, "And no, Peeves has been well behaved so far this morning. Here is your schedule for the year. Good luck, Ms Malfoy."
Asia smiled at Professor McGonagall and watched as she walked away from her, to Harry, Hermione and the Weasley siblings to hand them their schedules. She read hers and saw that she had all her morning classes outside and Divination class in the North tower after lunch.
Well, I was smart to carry a cloak, she thought happily.
She finished reading the third and last chapter for the day that was about Shrivelfig and snapped the book shut, startling a couple second year students sitting beside her in the process.
She was about to get up when she heard the flutter of wings. Asia looked up and saw the usual start of the year mail being brought by owls. She looked behind and saw Draco and Annika receive the regular parcels of candies and sweets at the Slytherin table. They showed off their parcel to those sitting around them in loud drawling voices. Annika sat with her regular posse of fake friends, Pansy Parkinson being the best out of them, and Draco sat between his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.
Asia ignored the arrogant smile Annika was sending her and turned back to her schedule. She glanced at Harry, he looked disappointed.
Sirius' letter has not arrived yet… she thought to herself.
She looked down at her schedule to assess her routine for the rest of the year and was suddenly glad that there was no Inter-House Quidditch Cup this year. She would get more chances to go down to the pitch to try out the moves she had seen the players do at the World Cup. She had them recorded in her Omnioculars, and she was going to make good use of them.
She smiled and stuffed her book and schedule into her bag, grabbed her cloak, and rushed out of the Hall after waving at Ginny. She had to go to the common room to grab her dragon-hide gloves for Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures.
Her first class was Herbology with the fellow Hufflepuff students at the greenhouses, which was taught by Professor Sprout. She was the second person to reach the greenhouse, Neville being the first as usual. She grabbed a seat right next to Professor Sprout's table, beside him.
"Hey, Asia," Neville greeted her as she sat beside him.
"Hey, Neville," she smiled back.
A couple of minutes later, other students began to file in and took a seat with a chosen group or partner; Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together as usual.
When the entire class had settled down, they were introduced to what Asia immediately recognized as Bubotubers. She had read about them just half an hour ago and the information was still fresh in her mind. Even if they had good uses, they looked utterly hideous. They looked less like plants and more like thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid.
"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout told them briskly. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -"
"The what?" said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted.
"Pus, Finnigan, pus," said Professor Sprout, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus."
They spent the entire hour squeezing the bubotubers for pus. It was disgusting but they had to do it, nevertheless. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints.
"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."
"Like poor Eloise Midgen," said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. "She tried to curse hers off."
"Silly girl," said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. "But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end."
A bell echoed across the wet grounds from the castle, indicating the end of the first lesson. The class dispersed and the Gryffindors headed over to Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, for Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins.
Oh no… Draco will be in this class! She thought, dejectedly.
When they reached the edge of the Forest, Hagrid was standing outside his hut with his black boarhound, Fang, whimpering and straining at his collar that was tightly held by Hagrid. Asia noticed that there were many open wooden crates next to Hagrid's feet that rattled quite strangely making it sound like there were tiny explosions going on in them.
"Mornin'!" Hagrid said while grinning at Asia, who was the first to reach him, and then to someone behind her. She followed his gaze and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiling back at him, "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this - Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
"Come again?" Ron asked.
Hagrid pointed down into the crates.
"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward after having a look at what was inside.
Asia stepped forward to see exactly what was so 'Eurgh!' about the contents of the crates. And she could not have described them any better. Lavender's description just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches.
The name suits them well, she thought.
"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"
"And why would we want to raise them?" Asia heard Draco's voice from a few feet behind her.
She turned around and saw that the Slytherins had arrived and Draco's two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, were chortling at his not-so-amusing words.
Hagrid, however, looked perplexed at the question.
"I mean, what do they do?" Draco asked, "What is the point of them?"
Hagrid opened his mouth and closed it back like a fish, thinking hard at for a sensible answer. A few seconds passed, and he finally answered, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things - I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer - I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake - just try 'em out with a bit of each."
"First pus and now this," muttered Seamus.
If Asia did not like Hagrid as much as she did, she would have run for the hills. But she adored him and did not want to disappoint him so she picked up the frog liver, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and lowered them into the crates for the skrewts to devour. She tried her best to keep a blank face, so that Hagrid would think that she was enjoying it, but apparently she was not doing a good job of it, because when Harry glanced up at her while picking up another handful of liver, he burst out laughing, dropping the disgusting material back into the crate in the process.
She gave him her best blank look, but failed miserably and ended up laughing as well. Ron and Hermione, along with the rest of the class, gave them weird looks, apparently confused about what was so funny about the gross task. When they both were done laughing and were trying to get their breathing back to normal, Asia glanced at Hagrid and found him staring at the two of them with an odd expression on his face. Harry followed her haze and also stared back at him as he looked lost in thoughts.
Asia waved at him and said, "Are you there, Hagrid? You seem lost in thought?"
Hagrid snapped out of his reverie and just shook his head before saying, "Come on, yeh two. Get ter work."
And as much as she was grossed out at the feeling of the slimy liver in her hands, she still kept going to keep Hagrid satisfied. Harry followed her example, and they both resumed feeding the skrewts.
"Ouch!" yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. "It got me."
Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious.
"Its end exploded!" said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.
"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," said Hagrid, nodding.
"Eurgh!" said Lavender gain. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"
"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically as Lavender pulled her hand away from the box, "I reckon they're the males… The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies… I think they might be ter suck blood."
"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said sarcastically, "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"
He was getting on her nerves again and she wanted to shut him up so badly. But before she could say anything Hermione spoke up.
"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," she snapped at him.
Asia saw it an amazing chance to continue for her.
"Dragon blood is amazingly magical, but you would not want a dragon for a pet, would you, Draco?"
She said that despite knowing the fact that Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew too - he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal; the better.
They all started walking back to the castle for lunch as soon as the bell rang, after saying bye to Hagrid; this time, Asia walked beside Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Well, at least the skrewts are small," said Ron.
"They are now," said Hermione in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long."
"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?" said Ron, grinning slyly at her and Asia.
"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Draco up," said Asia, "As a matter of fact I think he is right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all."
They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that the other three stared at her.
"Err - is this the new stand on elf rights?" Ron asked, hesitantly, "You're going to make yourself puke instead?"
"No," Hermione answered, with her mouth full of sprouts. "I just want to get to the library."
"What?" said Ron in disbelief, "Hermione - it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!"
Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days.
"Don't tell me you're going to go too?" Ron asked Asia with exasperation.
"No, Ron," Asia answered him, while loading her plate with another helping of mashed potatoes, "We have Divination, remember? Question is, who will I sit with this year? Hermione has dropped out, I have no partner… Maybe I could sit with Parvati and Lavender…?"
"No, sit with us," Harry said, "I'm sure Trelawney wouldn't mind her subject having a second partner."
She nodded, just as Hermione leapt to her feet.
"See you at dinner!" she said to the three of them before practically running out of the Hall to the library.
The bell for the start of the third class of the day rang and the three of them headed for the North Tower for their Divination class.
They emerged from the stepladder, to be greeted by the sweet fragrance that signified Professor Trelawney's presence in the circular room. There were many lamps around the room that spread a dim, reddish light around, these lamps were covered with shawls and scarves and the curtains were also closed. Harry, Asia and Ron walked over to the same table Harry and Ron had occupied since last year and sat down.
"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump.
Asia and Ron silently laughed as they saw her staring at Harry with the same tragic expression she always wore when looking at him.
"You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas… most difficult… I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass… and perhaps sooner than you think…"
Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes, while Harry looked stonily back at him. Asia simply smiled at the exchange and turned to face the front where Professor Trelawney had seated herself in a large, winged armchair.
"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," she said. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle…"
Asia was hearing what she was saying, but she was not listening. She had drifted off into her thoughts. She thought about the true prediction Professor Trelawney had made at the end of last year. She thought of all her dreams. All her efforts to ignore her thoughts and occupying herself in her classes had now caught up to her and she was thinking of all the possibilities the dreams could mean.
Professor Dumbledore had said yesterday that the impartial judge would choose a 'champion' from each school. Harry had said in her dream that the 'champions' had to open the first dance…
Will he be one of the champions? But there were four couples who were entering the Great Hall…
But, there were only three schools participating! And then there was the dragon. Was that one of the tasks?
Harry said that Pettigrew was with Voldemort in his dream. Professor Trelawney had predicted last year that servant will reunite with master. She said Voldemort would return…
Would it be this year? Would he return this year? And who was the faithful servant at Hogwarts…?
"Harry!" Ron's muttering snapped her out of her thoughts.
She looked around her.
"What?"
Harry too looked around; the whole class was staring at him. Apparently she was not the only one to be lost in thought.
"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," Professor Trelawney said him, in an offensive tone.
"Born under - what, sorry?" he asked her, as confused as Asia.
"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" said Professor Trelawney, sounding irritated, "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth… Your dark hair… your mean stature… tragic losses so young in life… I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"
"No," said Harry, "I was born in July."
Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough, and Asia bit her lip to stop her lips from twisting into an amused smile.
Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles.
"I've got two Neptunes here," Harry said after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"
"Aaaaah," said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney, "when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry…"
Asia laughed quietly and Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly too.
As they walked down the spiral staircase to dinner, Ron complained about the large amount of homework they had received for Divination. Asia thought that the main reason for Professor Trelawney to give them so much homework was because she had heard Ron make a comment to Lavender which made her mad.
"Miserable old bat," Ron said, bitterly as they joined the crowd heading down to dinner, "That'll take all weekend that will…"
"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"
"Well, bully for Professor Vector," said Ron moodily.
They had just reached the entrance hall when a familiar phoenix made its way through the Great Hall and landed right in front of Asia who had paused to let a few first years pass to the front. The few people who stood beside her screamed surprise at the phoenix's sudden arrival, but kept moving. Asia smiled at Fawkes and untied the familiar black pouch and a letter from its foot, before it gave her fingers an affectionate nibble and flew away. She looked around her and saw that the Harry, Ron and Hermione had already reached the end of the queue for dinner. She walked faster and caught up with them while reading Professor Dumbledore's letter:
Dear Anastasia,
I hope your summer went well.
The pouch contains a couple or more hundred Galleons and a few Sickles and Knuts. You will need the money this year more than any of your last three. If you ever need more, send me a letter or come talk to me about it.
I know you will have an exciting year and will also find it in yourself to prevent your friends from doing something we both know they will regret later, if you know what I mean.
Have a good day and the rest of the year, Asia.
Signed,
One of your many well-wishers
Asia smiled opening the pouch and peered inside to see many gold, silver and bronze coins. She had just reached Harry, Ron and Hermione when someone from beside her snatched the letter and pouch from her hands, making her turn sharply to get them back.
It was Annika and Pansy Parkinson. They both were staring at her with wide, malicious grins as they opened the pouch and the letter, respectively.
Asia sighed internally, Here we go…
"What do you want, Annika?" she asked them, "Give that back."
"I don't think so, Nastya," she said, with a sickly sweet smile, "Care to answer what this is?"
"No," she said shortly before completely turning herself around, "Now, give it back."
"Tsk… selling yourself now are you?" she said reading the letter Pansy had handed her.
She opened the pouch and saw the money in it, her face going from taunting, too greedy in a second. Asia felt someone come up on her either side. She did not have to look to know that it was Harry and Ron, and Hermione would be somewhere beside them.
"Who is this "well-wisher", Nastya? The one who gives you money and sends you letters in code words? Father would love to know what you have started not even a day after they let you on your own…"
Asia's blood ran cold. She did not want Father to find out about the money she got from this person every year. She did not mind Annika accusing her for something she had not done, she was used to it. But informing Father would be equal to putting her in mortal peril. She did not want Father knowing about the money. It was one of her many secrets that she had hidden from her foster parents and many others around her. Her terror must be visible on her face as both the girls laughed at her, more like cackled in glee.
"It would do you good if you left her alone, Annika," Harry said threateningly from her right side.
"What is it to you if I have a chat with my lovely older sister?" she sneered at him.
"Give her the pouch and letter back, Malfoy," Ron snarled from her other side.
How he knew that they had snatched a letter and pouch from her, was neither something she knew nor she cared. She was highly aware of the crowd they had attracted the attention of, as they all stopped and stared at the six of them.
Annika rolled her pale blue eyes at Ron and turned to Pansy to sarcastically say, "I think I heard a weasel, Pansy. Did you?"
Ron was halfway to pulling out his wand when they heard a loud voice call from behind Annika and Pansy.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"
Annika and Pansy turned around, curiously, and Harry, Ron, Asia, and Hermione looked up and saw Draco, Crabbe and Goyle swaggering towards them with a smile that said that they were thoroughly pleased about something.
"What?" Ron said shortly, annoyed that he now had to deal with two Malfoys altogether, "As if one wasn't enough," she heard him mutter lowly for only the four of them to hear.
"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Draco shouted so that the entire Hall could hear, while waving a copy of the Daily Prophet, "Listen to this!"
FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office."
Draco looked up and smirked a bit before Annika spoke.
"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasel. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" she said, louder than Draco.
Asia was sure that the entire hall was listening in, and including the ones standing close to the doors of the Great Hall.
Draco straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:
Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.
"And there's a picture, Weasley!" Draco cried as he flipped the paper over and held it up for Ron to see, "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
Ron was shaking with fury.
"That is enough, Draco," Asia said calmly, anger evident in her tone, "No one asked your opinion over anything."
She never liked it when any of the Malfoys insulted the Weasleys. That family was the one who gave her the familial affection she had craved for ever since a kid.
"Oh come on, dear sister," he mocked her, "You really are going to stand up for this, against your own brother?" he exclaimed while pointing at Mr and Mrs Weasley's picture on the newspaper.
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry.
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Draco sneered at him, "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"
"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry said, as Asia and Hermione grabbed Ron's robes to stop him from jumping at Draco "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"
Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink.
"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."
"Keep your fat mouth shut, then, dear brother," Asia said mockingly, then turned to Annika who was already staring at her with resentment and anger, "I would like my things back -"
BANG!
She heard several people scream as something white-hot passed her right cheek, she was sure even Harry had felt it as he suddenly jerked his head away. She reached for her wand in her pocket, but apparently she was too slow for a certain someone. She heard another BANG and a voice bellowed from the marble staircase, Draco and his posse had walked down of.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"
Harry, Ron, Asia, Hermione, Annika, and Pansy snapped their heads to see Professor Moody limping down the staircase. His wand was out and he was pointing it at a white ferret that shivered on the floor. She stared at it with narrowed eyes.
Draco was standing there just now, was he not…? She thought confusedly.
Everything had gone silent, as everyone was terrified about what might happen next. None of them moved a muscle, except Professor Moody, who turned to look at Harry and then Asia. Well, at least his normal eye looked at them; the other blue eye was turned around; apparently looking into it the back of his head.
"Did he get you?" he asked them in a rough and raspy voice.
"No," Harry answered as he glanced at Asia to check for injuries, "missed."
"LEAVE IT!" Professor Moody shouted.
"Leave - what?" Asia asked bewildered.
"Not you - him!" he growled while jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret.
He can see out the back of his head! That eye is magical… she thought, surprised.
He started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.
"I don't think so!" Professor Moody roared, as he pointed his wand at the ferret once again and levitated it about ten feet in the air before letting it fall with a smack and bounce upward.
"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Professor Moody still pointing his wand at the ferret and making it painfully bounce higher and higher, as it squealed, "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…"
The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.
"Never - do - that - again -" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.
"Professor Moody!" Asia heard a shocked voice say.
Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.
"Hello, Professor McGonagall," he said calmly, as if they did this every day, with the ferret still bouncing.
"What - what are you doing?" Professor McGonagall asked as her eyes followed the bouncing ferret.
"Teaching," Professor Moody answered.
"Teach - Moody, is that a student?" Professor McGonagall shrieked letting the books fall out of her arms.
"Yep," Professor Moody answered simply.
Student…?
"No!" she cried, as she ran down the rest of the stairs and pulled out her wand, instantaneously transferring the ferret back to a student with a 'snap'. Draco Malfoy had reappeared with his face a bright pink and his platinum blonde hair all over it. He got to his feet wincing, from his previous position of lying in a heap on the floor.
Asia pursed her lips to stop the smile from breaking over her face.
"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall said weakly, "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"
"He might've mentioned it, yeah," Professor Moody replied, scratching his chin as if nothing wrong had happened, "but I thought a good sharp shock -"
"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"
"I'll do that, then," he said, all the while staring at Draco with utter dislike, before turning to Annika who stood a few feet away, staring at him in fright, "And if I were you, I would give Ms Asia, here, her stuff back."
Annika bristled for a moment before snatching the letter from Pansy's hand and walking over to Asia, who stood beside Harry and Ron. She handed her the pouch and the letter and went back to her previous place before giving her a threatening glare.
Oh dear… she thought, I am definitely dead now.
Draco muttered something that sounded something like, "my father will hear about this" as his eyes still watered with pain and humiliation, while staring spitefully at Professor Moody.
"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father of old, boy… You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son… you tell him that from me… Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"
"Yes," said Malfoy grudgingly.
"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape… Come on, you…"
With that, Professor Moody grabbed Draco's upper arm and dragged him off to the dungeons, while Professor McGonagall stared at them anxiously, before waving her wand at the fallen books that flew up and landed back into her arms.
The crowd was broken out of the trance when she glared at all of them once, making them resume their walk into the Great Hall for dinner. Asia stuffed the pouch and letter in her bag before following Harry, Ron and Hermione to the Hall too.
"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to them as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.
"Why not?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," he replied as he closed his eyes with an elated expression on his face, "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."
Harry, Asia and Hermione laughed, and Hermione began loading all their plates with beef casserole.
"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," she said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -"
"Hermione!" said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again.
"You are basically ruining the best moment of his life, Hermione," Asia said jokingly.
"She is as a matter of fact," Ron said.
Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again.
"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?" said Harry, watching her.
"Got to," said Hermione thickly. "Loads to do."
"But you told us Professor Vector -"
"It's not schoolwork," she said.
"Oh, and Harry," Asia said suddenly, after swallowing a bite of the casserole, "It has always been like that."
"What has?" he asked utterly baffled as he could not get what she was trying to say.
"Mother's face," she shrugged, "It does not matter if Draco is around or not."
Ron burst out laughing, spraying the Pumpkin juice he had been taking a sip of, all over Hermione. She had been laughing too, but stopped to stare at Ron horrified and disgusted. If Harry was not laughing before, he definitely was now. In fact, she noticed, more than half of the Gryffindor table was laughing at what she had said.
Asia bit her lip really hard to avoid laughing out loud, as Hermione glared at the still-laughing Ron and used her wand to clean herself up.
Five minutes later, everyone had relaxed and had gone back to eating their dinner, including Harry, Asia, Ron, and Hermione. Another five minutes later, Hermione had had cleared her plate and was about to stand up to leave when Asia stopped her.
"Do you mind waiting for me a minute, Hermione?" she asked her, "I want to get started on the Divination homework tonight…"
"Of course," she said before seating herself back and helping herself to some treacle tarts.
After a few more minutes, Asia was done dinner and she and Hermione left the Hall after saying goodbye to Harry and Ron. Asia was sure she could finish almost half of her Divination homework tonight. She wanted her weekend to be free so that she could spend most of her time at the Quidditch pitch, even with homework she was sure they would get for other classes.
She had completed more than half of her Divination homework before leaving the library for the night. Hermione had left almost an hour earlier than her, but Asia was still not aware what she had been working on if it was not homework.
There was something else she had not noticed before and the thought had suddenly struck her as she got ready for bed that night.
No one asked me about where the money had come from… with that as the final thought, she drifted off to dream world.