Chapter 22
The Rabbit Trick
Cassie swallowed hard. Great. She could get up there and pretend she knew what she was doing so she could change an ugly rat, which she did not even want to be in the same room with, into a rabbit. Oh, this was going to be so fun. Professor McGonagall called out a student's name and the girl (Hannah Abbott) went to the front of the room. Cassie watched carefully to see what she did.
"All right, Miss Abbott. Choose a rat for yourself." The girl opened the cage and reached inside to grab one of the struggling little rodents. Cassie swallowed hard. There was no way she was going to be able to touch one of those without gagging or running out of the room. The girl put the brown rat onto the table in front of the professor. She then waved her wand, said the words McGonagall had told them to, and there was a rabbit sitting there where the rat had been a moment before. Cassie blinked in some surprise. She hadn't, despite everything she had seen, really expected it to work. "Hm. Very good, Miss Abbott. The ears are a little short and the tail is not quite right, but all in all a very nice effort." She then opened another cage and put the rabbit inside, where it started nibbling on lettuce and hopping around. Cassie watched it in amazement, thinking it might change back into a rat if she stopped looking. But two students later, it was still there and had been joined by two new rabbits although one of their tails was distinctly long and one only had one ear. Cassie felt kind of sorry for the slightly deformed rabbits and wondered if the Professor was going to fix them at some point. Or maybe turn them back into rats. Of course, maybe they would be happier being deformed rabbits than perfectly nice rats but who could say. She doubted they could offer an opinion on the matter.
The next student to go had a rather difficult time catching one of the rats and it was while watching him struggle that Cassie got an idea. Maybe she wouldn't have to touch one of the disgusting things after all. Hermione was next and she stood up extremely confident in her ability to do the spell. "If you see one in there with a silver paw, don't bother to change it into a rabbit, Hermione. Just kill it, would you?" Ron said as she walked away from the table. Harry and Ginny both laughed.
"What did Ron say? What did he mean?"
Ginny was still smiling as she explained. "Ron had a pet rat for three years that turned out to be an evil wizard in disguise. He was actually working for Voldemort but he managed to escape."
Well, that didn't really answer Cassie's question but she let it go because Hermione had picked a rat out of the cage, a large white one, and was getting ready to transform it. It was no surprise that the rabbit was absolutely perfect a moment later. Professor McGonagall praised her work extensively, examining the rabbit from all sides before she put it into the cage with the other rabbits. Hermione had a rather smug expression on her face as she crossed the room to return to their table but Cassie didn't blame her. If she could have done that, she would have been smug also.
The next student was a boy and he had all sorts of problems with his rat, uh, rabbit. The ears didn't transform at all and the tail was definitely long and rat-like although it had turned white. The Professor was beside herself. "I can't even put that in the cage with the others. They might attack it. What in Merlin's name are you doing?" She transformed it back into a normal looking rat and returned it to the original cage. "If you don't work harder, you'll never pass your N.E.W.T. exams this spring."
"Yes, Professor. I'll practice more."
"Good. This is difficult, but there is no reason all of you cannot be doing it well. Look at Miss Granger." Hermione flushed and stared down at her desk.
There were a few mutterings from the far side of the room and Cassie could have sworn she heard Draco say quite loudly, "Do we have to?" which earned him a sharp look from the professor.
A girl was the next student on the list and she was extremely nervous, Cassie could tell, about getting one of the rats out of the cage. "I don't really like rats, Professor McGonagall. I'm much more of a cat person, really." Everybody laughed, including the teacher.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, MacDougal, but I do appreciate it. Just reach in there and get one. They won't bite. " Cassie had not understood that exchange at all but she didn't ask Ginny. The class was completely quiet, watching the girl as she finally grabbed the rat and hurriedly threw it on the table. She actually did the spell fairly well and the much cuter looking rabbit joined its compatriots in the second cage a few moments later.
It was Draco Malfoy's turn next and he practically swaggered the short distance to the front of the cage. Ginny muttered under her breath and Cassie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. "Maybe his father is in there with the other rats. Lucius would look very cute as a bunny rabbit." Draco grabbed a fat black rat out of the cage quickly and it squeaked in protest. "That could be daddy right now . . ." Cassie did laugh then, which earned her a quick scowl from Professor McGonagall.
"Pay attention, please. Your turns will come soon enough." Draco looked over at them, trying to catch Cassie's eye as he placed the rat on the table. Cassie looked hard at the wall, unwilling to look at him. He changed his rat flawlessly into a black rabbit, just as sleek and fat as the rat had been. Then he waved his wand one more time and the rabbit turned into a beautiful green color - an exact match for the green in his tie. Cassie couldn't help it now, she glanced at his face and their eyes met. He was smirking and she knew he was showing off for her. She stared determinedly down at the table and listened as he was chewed out by Professor McGonagall for making the rabbit green, which was, apparently, vulgar and unacceptable.
Harry was not too much further down the list and he walked confidently across the room toward the cage. He was able to select a rat rather quickly and Cassie realized that P was not that long before R, uh, S, and she was going to be expected to go up there very soon. She glanced at her watch. How much longer was this class? Was there any chance that time would run out before she actually had to go up there? No. There was still another 20 minutes and since each student was just barely taking 2-3 minutes for the entire process, she knew she was doomed. Harry returned to his seat after getting kudos from Professor McGonagall for his beautifully done transfiguration. Ginny squeezed his arm as he sat back down and Cassie knew her turn would have to be fairly soon. There were only about six more rats in the cage and Ron and Ginny would both be after her.
She reached into her book bag, fingering her unicorn-core wand softly and then moving her hand into another pocket to draw out another. She really hoped this worked. Hermione had assured her it would, but she was extremely nervous. Finally, "Miss Spencer?" and she stood and walked with slow steps up to the front of the class. "Have you ever attempted inter-species transfiguration before?"
"No. But I have done some inanimate to animate and vice versa. I think I'll be all right." She had memorized that little speech this morning, Hermione assuring her that it made sense.
"Well, you can't do worse than some of the other students today. Let's see what you can do. Get a rat out of the cage, please."
"Professor McGonagall? Would it be all right if I Accio'd the rat out to me rather than reaching in the cage for it? I just really don't want to stick my hand in there." The Professor blinked, obviously surprised.
"Of course, good thinking. I wish all my students were as creative as you, Miss Spencer. It is obvious that you use magic well." Cassie took a deep breath. She really hoped this worked.
She opened the door to the cage and pointed the wand at the rats inside. Very clearly she said, "Accio rat." The wand instantly exploded, and a dragon head erupted out of the end, belching a thick cloud of green smoke which engulfed the cage and drifted over the students in the first row of desks who coughed in reaction. Cassie's eyes opened wide in fright and surprise. Then, she scrunched her eyes togther and yelled, "Ron!!!"
"What is the meaning of this, Miss Spencer? What happened? What is wrong with your wand?" Cassie at least had the presence of mind to slam the door to the rat cage closed before she turned to the Professor, hoping her expression of innocent surprise and righteous indignation at Ron would work.
"This is obviously not my wand, Professor. Ron was showing me some of George and Fred's fake wands after lunch today. I must have accidently picked up the trick one rather than mine. I swear, Ron . . ." Cassie turned and glared at him and he at least had the grace to look sheepish. " . . . I'm going to kill you!"
"Mr. Weasley. I thought I had warned you about bringing your brothers' equipment into this school."
"Sorry, Professor. But I didn't tell her to take the trick wand."
"Well, where is her actual wand?"
"Yeah. Where is my wand? I'm going to need it later."
The entire class was laughing now and Ron flushed. Cassie knew he couldn't have faked this. He had been very kind offering to take the blame for this entire fiasco when he got so easily embarrassed. "I guess it's up in my dorm room with the other trick wands. Do you want me to go get it?"
"No. It's too close to the end of class. All right, Miss Spencer. You're excused. Please sit down. Next class period, though, I will expect you to do this transfiguration as well as the one we will do for that lesson."
"That's fine. I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to cause problems."
"I understand. Just please don't let it happen again. That was quite a display." Cassie returned to her seat, trying to catch Ron's eye in gratitude. At least he hadn't gotten detention. He had been fairly positive that he would and had even told Harry they may have to cancel Quidditch practice tonight since he would be scrubbing floors or something. She had felt terribly guilty but it hadn't been as bad as he had feared. The rest of the class, including Ginny and Ron, finished their transfigurations quickly and the class streamed out of the room a few minutes later, everyone grumbling over the 18-inch essay they were assigned for homework.
As they were leaving, Cassie felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Draco Malfoy standing beside her. "Does that mean you like dragons?" He wasn't exactly holding her in place, but he was definitely closer than she wanted. It was the first time he had ever actually touched her and she was glad it was on her robes. She was not sure she could have avoided shuddering if he had actually touched her skin.
"Not particularly. They have sharp teeth and bad breath." She tried to pull away but he just increased his hold on her shoulder. Ron intervened, though, grimacing at the blond boy and grabbing Cassie's arm, pulling her away from him.
"But you haven't given this one a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised."
His hand had fallen away as she was being pulled down the corridor to where her other friends were waiting. "I definitely will not be finding out, Malfoy. I'm not interested, at all." Could she make it any clearer?
"Why not? I don't bite . . . much. Unless you want me to." This was called down the hall after her and her face flamed almost to the color of Ron's hair as the other students laughed. She glanced back down the hall at the 7th-year Slytherin who was grinning at her. Niles Caden had just exited the classroom and had obviously heard what Draco said. He scowled at him and that was the last thing Cassie saw before Ron stepped behind her and she was ushered away toward the Gryffindor common room.
As they walked through the school corridors, several of the students from the class asked Ron about the possibility of buying one of the trick wands because they had been extremely impressed with how realistic it looked and with the big explosion. Ron wound up collecting money for five of them and told the students he would order them immediately and they should be here within a day or so. "You're good for business, Pia. And my brothers told me I got a commission on anything I could sell for them - 20%, so I just made a cool 10 galleons. Thanks. That'll really help for Saturday. I can even buy Hermione a great Christmas present."
"That's nice, Ron." Cassie was feeling extremely frustrated at the moment and was not in the mood to discuss Ron's sudden windfall. It was now 8 at night and she was unbelievably exhausted considering how early it was. After dinner (which had been bad enough - expecting Draco Malfoy to sneak up behind and grab her any minute), the three Quidditch players had gone off to practice and she had started on her homework. She had not been dreading the homework too much tonight because it was basically two essays. However, she was having a lot more difficulty with this set than she had with those she had done just yesterday.
Since Remus had not actually cast the pain curse on either her or Ginny, she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to talk about in her 12 inches of essay. She had thought about talking about her friend's mother's experience with her natural childbirth. However, Hermione had nixed that idea because (she said several times) if someone else should happen to pick up that scroll and read it, they would be able to figure out immediately that she was a Muggle. That left her with a big fat nothing to say. So, she had wound up sitting in the library with some large volumes in front of her which discussed the history and theory of the Cruciatus curse. It was boring, very boring, although Hermione did not agree and kept going into raptures about how fascinating the history of the Unforgiveable curses was. Right. Fascinating. She wished Hermione would just have agreed to write the stupid essay but she refused, leaving Cassie to stumble through as best she could. She had finally managed to come up with about 8 inches that talked about what had happened in class and how nervous everyone was. She also added on about how frightened she had been and how she really had not been able to volunteer for Remus to curse her. Hermione had been quite disturbed about the fact that the essay was not the full 12 inches, but Cassie had managed to pacify her by promising to come back and add more to it even though she knew it was a lie. Remus was just going to have to endure 8 inches. If he complained about it, she would add more to it, but she seriously doubted that he would care.
That had been an hour ago. Now, she was staring at a still blank piece of parchment that had to be filled with 18 inches of something concerning inter-species transfiguration. She had read through her textbook. She had gone through her own notes and Ginny's notes. She had even begged Hermione to explain to her what exactly she was supposed to put on this paper and the older girl had taken pity on her and given her the bare outlines of what McGonagall would want to read. "I can't write it for you, though. She would recognize my writing style immediately and then we'd both be in trouble." That made sense, Cassie had to admit, but it didn't make her any happier. At least she had finally made peace with the quill. She still had to write slowly and carefully but at least she didn't have to have her parchment cleaned up after she was done with an assignment. But at this moment, that was not her problem. Right now she wished she had something on the parchment to clean up. It's blank whiteness was starting to freak her out.
Ginny slid into the seat next to her and pulled out her own homework.
"How was practice?"
"Good. We've got a while before we play again so it was pretty low key. It was freezing, though. I was glad for a hot shower."
"Where's Harry?" Ron and Ginny were there but she had yet to see Harry since he left the dinner table for practice more than two hours ago.
"Snape. It's one of those nights."
"Ah. Does that mean he's going to be grouchy tonight?"
"Most likely. Either that or he'll just go right to bed. Sometimes his head hurts so bad after this that he just goes to sleep. Poor guy."
"What is it exactly that Snape is teaching him? I don't see that Potions would be terribly helpful against Voldemort." Ginny laughed loudly and Cassie smiled. She didn't know what she had said, but apparently it had been fairly witty.
"He's not teaching him Potions. He's teaching him something called Occlumency. Last year Dumbledore taught him, but Harry thought he could handle it from Snape again this year. They hate each other but he is learning the stuff, I guess." Cassie had no idea what Occlumency was so she asked Ginny. "It's blocking someone from reading your mind. Remember how I told you that Snape could do that? Well, he tries to read Harry's mind and Harry tries to keep him from doing it. It's hard."
"Yuck. He lets Snape read his mind?" Ginny nodded with a scowl on her face.
"Yeah. It would give me the creeps, believe me."
"Poor Harry." Cassie thought for a few minutes about how much Harry went through all the time, just because he had been born. But, in general, he didn't seem too unhappy with it. She thought that if it was her, she would be a lot more unpleasant. She smiled faintly as she watched Ginny flip through her Transfiguration textbook to the right section. Ginny was good for him, obviously. They were good for each other. "I need some help, Ginny. I'm desperate. I don't even know where to start."
"McGonagall's essays are tough, but they don't have to be terribly creative. She just wants to make sure you know the material. I have sort of a template I use for them. Just plug in the appropriate spells and formulas and you're set. Don't tell Hermione, though. I think she approaches each essay as a separate work of art." Cassie glanced over at Hermione but she hadn't overheard Ginny's comment because she and Ron were paying attention to something else that had absolutely nothing to do with Transfiguration and a lot to do with physical education.
By the time the two of them had started on their own essays, Cassie and Ginny were almost done. Cassie was extremely relieved to have the parchment almost filled. She really needed to write a letter back home to her parents and planned on doing that as soon as her homework was done. It was now almost 9 o'clock and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out without collapsing completely.
"Let's go on back to the common room," Ginny suggested a few minutes later. "I think Harry should be back from Snape soon and he may want to talk." The Fat Lady assured the two girls that Harry had not come back from his torture, uh, class, yet and Ginny was happy about that. "He may not want to talk to me. Sometimes that's how it is. But it's nothing personal."
"Does that hurt your feelings?"
"Honestly?"
"Yeah. Honestly."
"I try not to let it. But . . . well, sometimes it does. 'Cause maybe I want to talk to him but that doesn't matter. He sort of guides it, you know what I mean?"
"Uh-huh. Makes sense." Cassie rolled up her Transfiguration essay and tucked it into her bag, pulling out yet another sheet of parchment and settling down at one of the tables. She noticed another couple in the corner at one of the other tables and smiled broadly. "Hey, Ginny. They make a cute couple, don't they?" Colin and Elspeth were working on their homework together, consulting over some essay, maybe Remus's. Elspeth looked completely thrilled and Colin was looking pretty happy himself.
"They look cute together, but I don't know if it will work out." Ginny pulled out another piece of parchment. "I mean . . . Saffron wasn't kidding when she said Elspeth's parents would have a fit if they knew she was dating a Muggle-born. I met them once. Don't like Muggles at all."
"She just shouldn't tell them."
"Maybe that will work. I don't know."
Cassie watched the other two for quite a long time before she buckled down to write the letter to her parents. Harry had come in soon after her conversation with Ginny and the two of them had gone out on a walk. Harry looked tired but not unhappy or angry which Cassie could tell made Ginny very happy.
She finally started the letter, carefully forming each letter with the quill pen, trying to decide how much to tell them. She still had to be careful even though chances of the letter being intercepted were small. It sounded like Remus or Arthur was going to take it personally rather than it going by owl post, but she would still have to sign it Pia and not rant too much about the amazing things she saw at school.
"Dear Mum and Dad,
I got your letter yesterday night but have not had time to write back before now. It has been a very full day of classes here. I started with Charms which was fun because we each made a snowstorm above our desk and then built snowmen out of the resulting snow. Then, we made them come to life and dance around. Ginny's snowman and my snowman had a snowball fight. It was really great. I wish I could have taken a picture for you.
Then we went to Care of Magical Creatures which would have been fun if the Magical Creature we were supposed to be caring for was a little more, um, cuddly. Hagrid, the teacher, had found a chimera somewhere. Yes, they are supposed to be completely vicious and have been known to eat people, but Hagrid calls it Shimmy and thinks it is cuddly and nice. According to Ron and Harry, this is typical for him. The scarier the animal, the more Hagrid likes it.
Defense was good, but I don't know where to even begin describing it. Professor Lupin teaches it and he's really nice and really good. But it is a hard subject.
For my last class of the day, I was supposed to turn a rat into a rabbit. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to do that because of a wand mistake. Can't do that again or my professor will be really mad. All in all, I'm having a pretty good time. I miss you, of course, but it shouldn't be too much longer before I can come home.
Arthur told me, Dad, that you were sick this weekend and I've been worried about you, of course. I hope that whatever got you down is gone now and that you will take better care of yourself than you were. Remember that you are only human and can get sick easily if you insist on pushing yourself.
We have a Hogsmeade visit this Saturday which means I can shop for candy for everyone. I'll make sure and get some good stuff for Matthew and John. And Mum, I know how much you like Honeyduke's chocolate so I'll pick up a good supply.
I'm happy here, so don't worry.
Love, Pia"
Cassie read over the letter several times. She didn't want to let them know how really hard it was here. But she also wasn't sure they'd really believe that she had done all this stuff. Maybe Colin could take a picture of her at some point and she could send it home to them. Of course, that might cause other problems, so maybe not. But she also wanted to let her dad know not to take any more foolish chances. He didn't realize, because he had never seen it, how scary a wizard could really be. Arthur and Remus were nice and friendly. And she had never told him about the battle in June. Maybe that had been a mistake. Maybe she should have told him once he knew about the entire trip. After all, what could he do at that point? He could ground her, but that wouldn't be that bad. Being forced to stay home with her family might be nice. But there was time for worrying about that later. Right now she had to concentrate on getting back home safely when she was no longer in danger of being blasted by dark wizards. She hoped it wouldn't be too much longer. She folded the letter and wrote "Mum and Dad" on the outside. She would lay it on her bed in a few minutes and hopefully sometime tomorrow her parents would know that she was happy and adjusting well to being a student at Hogwarts.
