My Beloved Ferret
by StopBlowingHolesInMyShips/Krystallia

AN: Prepare to be annoyed by the insufferably annoying twelve-year-old hamster fanatics.
Also, I forget to put this on the first 2 chapters, so this goes for the whole story: The characters you recognize do not belong to me. Sadly, they are the property of JK Rowling, who feels the need to maul certain character's personalities. It is for this reason that I am ignoring most of Ginny and Hermione's character "development" from book 6. Ginny is back to the sweet, kind, shy girl we used to know instead of a raving bitch disguised as Miss Perfect, and Hermione is back to the lovable bookworm, not the catty...thing...we met in HBP.

Thanks for Reading and Reviewing! Keep Reviewing and I will surely update more D

Chapter Two
A Snow-Covered Ferret

Draco scowled as he found that he wasn't the most nimble ferret there was. He picked himself up from his flat position on the floor by Weasel Girl's bed and trotted away, refusing to let his dignity be hurt or even touched by the small stumble. He looked back over his shoulder at the sleeping redhead. Her glistening red hair was gathered in a long ponytail, her pale hands on the pillow beside her head. Her expression was calm and sweet, her face glowing in the cold darkness. Draco continued to strut away. His first mission was to get out of the disgusting Gryffindor environment.

Draco crept through the portrait hole, making sure to spit at the Fat Lady (who was honking like a flock of geese in her sleep) and then scampered down the corridor. He wanted to get to Slytherin house as fast as possible, so he made sure to take the shortcut through the trophy room. Unfortunately, he was oblivious to the fact that Filch and his filthy beast Mrs. Norris were lurking there.

"AHA! Go get 'im, Norry!" barked Filch. Mrs. Norris hissed, her whole body shaking, and darted after Draco, whose clumsy ferret paws seemed too tired to run.

The two animals scurried about the hallways until Mrs. Norris had chased Draco outside, into the chilly snow. He squeaked at her, and she growled and flew away, into the dark shelter of the castle. Filch locked the doors behind her, so Draco decided to simply stay outside and change into human form. He strutted off so Filch wouldn't catch Human Draco and punish him. Finally, Draco sat by the edge of the lake and--promptly, realized he forgot how to change back.

Draco panicked, his tiny ferret teeth chattering in the cold. He paced in little ferret circles around the tree and racked his brain for any memory of what McGonagall had told him. However, he didn't remember a single thing about that day...the only thing he remembered was turning into a ferret for the first time. Everything else about yesterday--or had it been the day before? Or today? Draco didn't know--had gone from his mind.

The snow began to fall heavier and heavier as Draco the Ferret grew drowsier and drowsier...

His dizzy eyes watch the fast flurries until he plopped on the ground, covered by a mound of snow, fast asleep.

Laine Maple opened up her eyes bright and early on Saturday morning. She dressed in her black sweatpants and yellow Hufflepuff hoodie, then smacked awake her four friends who also were in her Second Year Hufflepuff dormitory. Amber, Peach, Sunny and Flo were Laine's best friends, so she waited for them to get up. Flo was the last to tumble out of the bathroom, half-asleep, but soon the five chipper Hufflepuffs were all bounding downstairs to breakfast. After a few quick waffles doused in as much sugary syrup as possibly, they all skipped outside to run around in the snow that was halfway up their short, plump calves.

"Last one to reach the big tree has to eat a bubotuber plant!" screeched Amber. They all darted off, Flo lagging behind considerably, until Laine stepped on something squashy and heard a shrill, "EEEK!"

She stopped and stared at the ground and heard the squeams and squeaks of a small animal.

Her pals trudged back. Amber stuck an ugly, writhing green plant in her face. "Here's your bubotuber," she told her friend. "You did even worse than Flo this time."

"Just swallow it in one gulp, it won't stick as much and the pimples on your face will only last two weeks instead of three!" suggested Flo.

"No, no.." Laine whimpered, and tears fell from her eyes as she began to cry. "I think I stepped on something!"

Sunny dug through the snow, grabbing a limp white rodent from under a pile of snow.

"What is it?" asked Amber eagerly.

"I think it's a bunny-rabbit," Flo said stupidly.

Laine began to cry harder. "I HURT THE BUNNY-RABBIT!"

"Is it dead?" asked Amber, just as eagerly.

"I think so," chittered Flo, her stupidity increasing by the second.

Laine wailed, tears streaming down her chubby face. "I KILLED A BUNNY-RABBIT!"

"No, it might not be," chattered Sunny. "How are we going to tell?"

"Oooh, I know, let's poke it!"

Peach stuck a fat finger out and poked the 'bunny rabbit' hard in the chest. He squealed, shrieked, and flumped down on the ground.

Laine snorted, sniffling and crying. "THE EVIL BUNNY-RABBIT HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

"A-shush-er, Laine, I don't think he was ever dead."

"He wasn't?" Laine brightened. "HOORAY, FOR THE EVIL ZOMBIE BUNNY-RABBIT LIVES!"

Draco opened his little ice-blue eyes and tried to grumble. He hadn't had a very nice sleep, and now he felt as if someone had stuck something in his chest. He looked around and saw the insufferable Hufflepuff girl, Laine Whatsit, and her idiotic little friends, all beaming down at him.

"AWW!" piped up Peach. "LEMME SEE THE BUNNY-RABBIT!"

BUNNY RABBIT? Draco shouted in his head, outraged. I just might be able to accept ferret, but I am NO bunny-rabbit!

"He's adorable!"

"Let's keep him as a pet hamster!" Flo suggested. The idiocy hurt Draco's brain.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Let's give him a name!" shouted Amber.

"BUNNY!" cried Laine eagerly.

"HAMMY!" shouted Flo.

"BUNNY!"
"HAMMY!"
"BUNNY!"
"HAMMY!"
"BUNNY!"
"HAMMY!"
"BUNNY!"
"HAMMY!"
"BUNNY!"
"HAMMY!"

"SHUSH!" interrupted Amber. "I declare the half-dead beast...BUNNY-HAMMY!"

Draco gagged. Laine picked him up and squished him around his middle. Draco felt his eyes bugging out. What was the beastly little girl trying to do, kill him? Draco wriggled desperately, but nothing could defeat the deadly hold of the second-year. Draco thought back. Was he this obnoxious at this age? No! He couldn't have been!

"Let's take Bunny-Hammy to the common room and play dress up with him and all of those fluffy puff-ball hats the House-elves gave us!"

"Which ones?"

"The ones they found in Gryffindor common room but didn't want."

"Oh yea! Cool! Bunny-Hammy can be a puffball rabbit-hamster!"

Draco felt like he was about to weep. How could he have been raised in such an elegant, sophisticated, nearly ROYAL environment as the Malfoy Manor only to end up as a twitchy albino ferret who was being repeatedly mistaken as a rabbit-hamster who enjoyed being dressed in fluffy Gryffindor hats that had once belonged to house-elves?

Staying with Weasel Girl was starting to look really good.

SNEAK PEEK-CHAPTER 4
Ginny's Distress

"Hey, Hermione!" called Ginny cheerfully as she entered the seventh-year girl's dormitory. "I have to come show you my pet ferret!"
"A ferret?" Hermione looked up in interest. "Aww, I want to see!"
They went back to Ginny's bedroom, where Ginny proudly rummaged through the bundle of blankets where Cocoa slept at the foot of her bed.
But, much to her surprise, Cocoa was not in his blanket. "Cocoa?" Ginny called, peeking under her bed and checking under the comforters. She looked in every nook and cranny of her dorm, her lower lip trembling.
Hermione and Ginny scoured Gryffindor Tower, calling Cocoa's name and asking everyone if they had seen a little white ferret. Still...
Cocoa the Ferret was nowhere to be seen.