My Beloved Ferret
by StopBlowingHolesInMyShips/Krystallia

Chapter One
Draco Discovers his Inner Rodent

It was not funny, he would have been very quick to reassure you of that fact. It seriously was not funny. Things just weren't supposed to turn out this way. It was twisted, it was cruel, and it was just plain wrong. A person of his character and stature should have had the Animagus form of a wolf, a snake, or most ideally (he would think with his trademark smirk) a dragon. Yes, a dragon. That would fit a particularly fine specimen such as himself just perfectly.

He was not supposed to undergo all the preparations expecting some magnificent creature, undergo the transformation expecting some magnificent creature, turn to the mirror expecting some magnificent creature, only to be faced with… with… my goodness, he couldn't even think it. It was total embarrassment, complete humiliation. He could never face the wizarding community again, not knowing that his inner animal was a… was a...

Damn that Mad-Eye-Moody. Damn Potter, damn Weasley, damn Granger, and damn that insufferable Creevy just for good measure. And that Finnegan git. And that annoying little 2nd year in Hufflepuff… actually her whole little group of friends, too, and… but that was beside the point. The point was that he was a ferret, and he just knew, knew that somehow that unbearable Golden Trio was to blame. Or perhaps just bad luck, they were all the same to him in his state of fury.

Draco looked sourly at the tiny paw that now replaced his hand, and smirked evilly at the sight of the claws that he could use to maul that damn Weasley's face in the middle of the night. Maybe it was useful, but this ferret thing was much too shameful to be taken unnoticed. He would ask Granger...yes, he would definetly bully that ugly, beaver-toothed bookworm into telling him everything she knew about changing your Animagus.

Draco sighed and scampered out of the bathroom and back to McGonagall.

"I'm ready to change back now, Professor," he chattered in a small, high voice that was not quite his own.

McGonagall gave him the directions and within minutes Draco had mastered yet another talent: changing out of Animagus form.

Or so he thought.
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A lioness and a lion both burst out of a closet, literally roaring with laughter. Draco's heart nearly stopped until he realized that the wild felines both had a humanly grin on their faces, and that the male had bright green eyes and hair as unruly as the lioness's was bushy.

"Potter! Granger," spat Draco, safely back into human form. "I could report you to a professor for bursting out like that in such a dangerous form."

"Since when do you care about rules, Malfoy?" snarled Hermione Granger, her teeth sparkling pointedly at Draco. He swallowed. Those were some large teeth...Forget the tiny ferret claws, the ones on the bottom of Granger's paws could give that Hagrid oaf a great bloody wound and Potter's menacingly bared fangs could snap up a thinly sculpted seventeen-year-old like Draco whole.

Draco just sneered, and tried not to let on that his pride was hurt by an unpleasant surprise. How could he, Draco Malfoy, get such an unimportant creature such as a ferret, whereas some bloke probably got something as marvelous as--

"A dragon," squeaked Granger. She tackled Potter back into the closet and returned to human form, snatching the door shut behind her.

Draco looked up. A particularly tall beast, the dragon was most likely a Chinese Fireball with blazing brown eyes that sparkled impressively at him. The delicate snout and dainty features gave Draco reason to believe that it was--

"Ginny Weasley!" cried Professor McGonagall. "How dare you run about Hogwarts without having figured out how to control your fire?"

Just as the Professor said this, students came running out to gaze upward at the burned hole in the ceiling through which Ginny's snout poked through and the singed portraits around it. "I'm dying, I'm dying!" cried one portrait, clutching what would be the missing half of its occupant's body.

"Sorry, Professor," snorted Ginny, her voice ringing through a large puff of steam that seemed to everlastingly surrounding her head. And with that she changed back into a sixteen-year-old girl, her long red hair reaching her hips.

"I'm afraid I'll have to give you a detention...Help Professor Slughorn take care of the frogs. Be in his office at 10."

Ginny nodded obediently, walking away without a word. Neville Longbottom hurried down the hallway. Just as the idiot opened his mouth to speak, Potter and Granger the Lions burst out of a closet and nearly gave the boy a heart attack.

"Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry!" shrieked Granger, transforming back into a normal teenager. Well, at least normal in body, except for the beaver teeth.

Neville took no notice of her apology and ran after Ginny, calling her name.

The redhead turned around swiftly, her hair flying out behind her. "Yes?" she asked.

"You--you--" he panted, taking a moment to look into her dark brown eyes. His face seemed to struggle, and then he sighed and slumped over. "You left your diary in the library," he mumbled, handing a small pink journal to her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ginny, taking it while giving Longbottom a warm, caring smile, her eyes with a glow so bright and filled with warmth that it made Draco shiver. "Thank you so much." Her expressive face now conveyed concern. "You didn't read any of it, did you?"

"N-no, of course not!" denied Longbottom. Draco snickered. The oaf.

"Good. Okay, then...well...um...Thanks, Neville!" Ginny grinned at him again and ran off, her sweet smile shining back.

Longbottom stumbled off, stopping by Draco long enough to ask what his animal was. Draco feebly transformed into his brave ferret form. And Longbottom--Longbottom dared to laugh! He walked away, snickering, whilst Draco made a sneer in his direction and opened his mouth to comment on his stuttering manner when all of the sudden he heard a booming "STUPEFY!" behind him.

Draco turned around, dizzy, and heard another yell of "STUPEFY!"

The tiny white ferret fell to the floor in an exhausted heap.