Chapter nine
Rats in Disguise
Harry woke the next morning to find that Ron had once again beaten him downstairs for breakfast. As Harry joined the rest of the Gryffindors, he noticed that Hermione wasn't there. Ron and Daphne were busy discussing the Transfiguration assignment. "Can you believe it?! She gave us homework on the first day!"
"Ron, where's Hermione?" Harry asked as he sat down beside them.
"I'll give you two guesses…and the first one doesn't count!"
"Not the library!" Harry and Ron looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
Actually, Harry was glad he wouldn't have to face her this morning. He had had a hard time getting to sleep last night, thinking about what she would say and how he would respond.
"Hey, Harry! We've got Defense Against the Dark Arts today!" Ron said, looking over his timetable. *(That's what we call them here)*
This woke Harry up a bit. He had been anxious to talk to Mrs. Figg about why she had never told him the truth, and it looked as though he was going to get his chance today.
They finished breakfast and Ron excused himself. "Hermione asked me to meet her in the library before class. I'll see you two later."
Daphne looked at Harry with a small smile and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, but I think it might be a bit odd. I mean, I always thought of Mrs. Figg as that mad old lady down the street. It will be strange listening to her as a professor."
They gathered up their things and headed for their class. Harry hadn't noticed Draco Malfoy walking up behind him. "I see you found a new girlfriend, Potter."
Harry spun around. "She's not my girlfriend, so shove off!"
"What a shame!" Draco continued. "I think you two are a perfect match, seeing as how you're both rejects!" Crabbe and Goyle laughed, though it looked as though they didn't quite get what was funny.
"What are you talking about?" Harry was not amused.
"Well, no one in the magical world wanted to keep a freak like you when you were orphaned and," he turned to Daphne, "And miss 'I don't do well around people' here wouldn't even come to school until now!" Harry glanced over at Daphne whose eyes had gone very wide.
"Come on guys, we don't want to been seen with two misfits!" Malfoy and his cronies sauntered off, snickering at Harry and Daphne.
"What was he talking about?" Harry asked.
"I have no idea. But from what Ron has told me, that boy has some serious issues in his life. No wonder he's such a mean, dirty rotten troll!" they kept on walking toward their class, but Harry couldn't help but think that there was at least some truth behind what Malfoy had said.
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"What did Hermione want to talk to you about?" Harry asked Ron, taking a seat next to him, with Daphne on the other side.
"Er…nothing…" Ron looked down at his books. "Something's bothering her…I don't know." Harry looked away, too. He was hoping that Hermione hadn't said something to Ron about how she felt towards Harry. Ron looked up as Hermione entered and took a seat next to Harry.
Then it was Mrs. Figg's turn to enter. Harry's jaw dropped. She looked…younger, and much more at home in her long, flowing robes than she ever did in those stuffy, old-fashioned dresses. She smiled at the class, took off her tall, pointed hat, and started in.
"Good morning, class. I am Arabella Figg, but I'm told you need to call me Professor. I am honored to be teaching you this year. I have spoken to Professor Lupin about what you covered while he was you teacher, and Professor Dumbledore informed me that your instructor last year filled you in on many of the curses…specifically the Unforgivables. I will continue along the same lines, but I will also be instructing you on some subtle means of protection."
Harry couldn't believe this was the same woman who had forced him to listen to her feline ramblings since he was a child. She actually sounded knowledgeable and interesting. Especially when she told them that they would be learning disguising techniques.
"We'll start with the basics." She took out a large cage of rats from her storeroom. "Each of you will be given a rat, and your job today will be to change its color. It's easiest to change them to a natural color like brown, grey, or white. We'll work up to changing them more interesting colors like red, blue, and green later. Allow me to demonstrate." She took out a rather plump brown rat and pointed her wand at it. "Alterare White." The rat instantly went white and the class "OOOHH"ed with wonder.
"Now, you may think that this has nothing to do with this class. However, you'd be quite wrong!" So firm was her voice that everyone went silent. "Imagine, if you will, that you are being hunted. You can use this, and the other spells I'll share with you, to disguise yourself. You could turn your blond hair a bright red!" She looked at Ron's flaming hair. "Now it's your turn."
She handed out the rats, trying to learn students' names as she went. When she reached Harry, she bent down and said, "It's nice to see you again, Harry. We'll talk after class."
The students had fun trying to change the color of the rats. After a while, they started catching on and were chatting up a storm about it. Seamus Finnigan kept turning his from black to white, calling it a "Harlequin Rat." (What's that?) Lavender Brown made certain that hers stayed brown so that it would match her name and couldn't wait until she would have the chance to turn the rat lavender!
When the bell rang, the students all filed out, depositing their rats back into the cage. Harry stayed behind, watching as Mrs. Figg put the rats back to their original colors and returned them to the back room. She walked up to Harry and took a seat next to him. "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about the beginning. I mean…why…how…" Harry had so many questions he didn't know which to ask first.
"Albus sent me to live in your neighborhood when you were, oh, three or four. See, he had not intended for you to live with the Dursleys for very long. He knew your parents wanted you to go to Mr. Black, but with all the turmoil, he thought it best for you to live with your family for a time until Mr. Black could get settled."
"But Sirius got arrested and sent to Azkaban." Harry inserted.
"Yes, exactly," She sighed heavily. "Being a master at disguises and an expert on muggles, Albus sent me to live close to you…to keep an eye on you. And, to try to keep your whereabouts a secret." At this, Harry was puzzled. "Very few people knew exactly where you were. You'd be surprised at how many of our kind are terrified of venturing into the muggle world. You were better hidden than you could have imagined, especially whilst at my house."
"Is that why Sirius wanted me to stay the summer with you?"
"Precisely. And that is why I couldn't tell you who I really was. You would have wanted to discuss the magical world. I couldn't risk it."
Harry wrinkled his brow. "But you talked to Daphne about it. I heard you!"
Putting her elbow on the desk, she rested her head in her right hand. "That conversation was…a bit necessary. I had to contact Mr. Black about you visiting Diagon Alley. And I had to remind Daphne that she needed to stay quiet, too."
Suddenly understanding, Harry said, "Sirius knew I'd be in Diagon Alley that day!"
"Yes, didn't he give you the amulet?"
Harry pulled at the chain about his neck, bringing the Amulet of Arma out to lie atop his robes. Mrs. Figg examined it without having Harry take it off. "He wanted to make sure you got that as soon as possible. They did a good job with it. Excellent work!"
She stood up. "Well, I don't want to make you late for your next class. If you need to talk, my door is always open. And Harry, I do hope that you don't hold it against me that I didn't tell you all of this sooner. Believe me, it was for your own good."
"I seem to be hearing that a lot lately." He gathered up his things and walked to the door. He turned before he exited and asked, "How did you live without magic for so long?"
"I didn't. Only when you were around." She smiled at him and Harry smiled back. "Oh, Harry," she added. "I transfigured all of my wizard photos to muggle photos of cats. That's why I was so fond of them."
On his way down the hall, Harry thought about all the stories Mrs. Figg had ever told him about he cats. He remembered some of them and envisioned witches and wizards doing those mischievous things. He was laughing at the thought when he slammed right into Colin Creevy. Both of the boys fell to the floor, dropping all their school items.
"I'm so sorry, Harry! You know how clumsy I am!" Colin muttered as he scrambled up and hastily began shoving his school things back into his rucksack.
"No, Colin, I wasn't watching where I was going," Harry said, and bent over to grab a quill that had fallen.
As Harry bent over, the amulet slipped from under his robes, and before he could shove it back, Colin exclaimed, "OH, Harry! That's wicked! Did you get it in Diagon Alley?"
"Er…yeah…" He lied. "It was bought as a birthday present."
"I thought I'd seen one like it in one of the shops," Colin said.
Harry nodded his head and stuffed the remainder of his school things back into his bag. "Well, I'll see ya later, Colin." Harry walked off, ready to tell Ron and Hermione all about his chat with Mrs. Figg, not noticing Colin Creevy staring after him with a small, twisted smile.
**** Daphne Affigo is an Alphie creation. Harry Potter and all other characters are property of J.K.Rowling and Warner Brothers.
