Review Responses:
Golden lass – thanks for reviewing, glad you liked it. I'll try to check out yours sometime but I'm rushed off my feet with stuff at the moment, as this late update will testify!
ElavielBlack – hehe, Druscilla certainly is a maneater! Glad you liked the chapter, my holiday wasn't wonderful due to non-stop rain but thanks for the good wishes anyway. I think Ron needs the occasional bost, everyone always forgets the poor dear. Thanks for reviewing!
Dark-Lady-Divinity – Ron rules, we all know it! Thanks for the review!
A Subtle Change
Emphasis
"Weasley!" Percy was summoned from his office by a loud yell from down the corridor. It had been over a week since he had caught Remus Lupin hastily redressing in his boss' office and he hadn't been able to look the man in the eye since. His boss however seemed unconcerned by the incident.
Percy trotted down the corridor to her office and put his head around the door, "Yes, Professor Thornfield?"
The woman looked stressed and her hair was rumpled as though she had passed her hand through it many times that morning. She looked up at him and instantly ordered, "We're swapping lunches and whatever you have I hope it's high fat, high salt and through the roof in calories!"
Percy hid his amusement, "I've only got a salad."
"What! That's what I've got!" she groaned. "For future reference, Weasley, when we order something from the canteen you order something fatty and delicious and I order a salad and then we swap, ok?" she grinned mischievously, "You see that way I get to look like I'm sticking to a healthy diet, which I'd rather die than stick to, and you get to stay fit and healthy and in shape, which is how I prefer my staff to look."
Percy opened and closed his mouth looking for a response but was unable to come up with one.
"Weasley, stop impersonating a fish and go and get me a muffin from the canteen, triple chocolate if you please and if anyone asks it's for you."
"Yes, Professor, would you like my salad as well as your own if you're that hungry?" Percy asked dryly.
His boss was perfectly capable of recognising when she was being mocked, "I'm not that hungry, I'm just suffering from calorie withdrawal! That and the knowledge that the minister's junior assistant is roaming around my floor, and I think he's spying on me!" Her distressed and indignant tone sent Percy scrurrying in sympathy down to the ministry's canteen.
XXXXXXX
Thirty minutes later when Druscilla had eaten a muffin, a chocolate bar and her salad she was feeling far more benevolent towards the world. "Right, Percy, have you got that report on the American Ambassador ready yet?"
Her young employee nodded, "Yes Professor it's in my office, I'll just go and get it."
"Oh I'll come with you," she volunteered, "It'll give me a chance to walk off the muffin."
He grinned, "It's a thirty yard walk."
She shrugged and grinned back, "It's better than nothing." Druscilla led the way down the corridor and wandered into Percy's office, "Thanks for that muffin by the way." She paused and stared at his desk. "Percy, there's a rat sat on your desk. Did you know?"
"Scabbers!" Percy rushed across and picked the scruffy creature up, "I thought you were with Ron." He turned to Druscill and explained, "He was my pet rat, I gave him to my brother, Ron, years ago."
The woman looked a little dubious, being someone to whom one rat looked very much like another, "You sure it's him?"
"Yeah, he's lost a toe on his front paw and Oh…!" Percy exclaimed suddenly, "Oh he's lost his other front paw completely, the poor little thing. He must have been fighting with another rat or something."
"Poor little creature," Druscilla responded sympathetically, "Maybe you shouldn't send him back to your brother if this is how he looks after him."
Percy shook his head, "I can't keep him, Hermes tried to eat him once, that's why I gave him to Ron in the first place and he was supposed to keep him company at his first year of Hogwarts. I'll send him on to him, I remember how distraught Ron was once when he thought his friend's cat had eaten him. And look, he's bought him a little collar with a name tag on it, he must care about him."
The woman raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, I've always found that nothing says I love you like a collar, especially a leather one." Percy ignored Druscilla who continued by asking, "Why's he called Scabbers?"
"My twin brothers named him and it stuck to the point where he responded to that and nothing else, I always got the impression he didn't much like me."
"Percy, he's a rat." Druscilla began to wonder how far Percy's insecurities went.
Percy looked mildly embarrassed, "I know but all the same I just got the feeling he didn't. Seemed to like being with Ron better."
"Where'd you get him?" she asked.
"He found me, came up to me while I was reading in the back garden one day and just sat on my foot. After that he wouldn't go away and eventually I bought him a carry cage and moved him into the house. Poor creature didn't seem too good at feeding himself, he was awfully thin. Now he's come and found me again, it's quite sweet really."
Druscilla laughed, "Somehow I never saw you as the animal rescue type, then again you are rather attached to that owl of yours I suppose. Now, send him to your brother, give me that report and get on with some work would you."
"Ok," Percy handed her the report. "Want to go back to Hogwarts, Scabbers?"
The rat looked up at him with bright eyes and twitched its whiskers in what Percy took to be an affirmative. Druscilla decided she didn't need to watch her staff talk to rodents and retreated to her office to spend the afternoon having fun by tormenting the Minister for Magic.
XXXXXXX
Ron was becoming increasingly aware of a strain placed on his and Harry's friendship. After the first quidditch practice Ron had been annoyed at Hermione's remarks and Harry had been annoyed at Ron because Ron had taken exception to being dismissed out of hand by a girl who claimed to be one of his best friends but who had conveniently forgotten he existed.
Ron knew that their cooler than usual attitude with each other however was about a lot more than who was going to be quidditch captain. Ron certainly didn't want the position badly enough to risk their friendship, but Harry had been drawing away from both himself and Hermione since the end of the previous year. At first Ron had thought it was Sirius' death but he was coming to realise that what he and Seamus had said about Harry feeling the need to soldier on entirely alone was more likely to be the problem.
They were sat at the dinner table almost a week after the quidditch meeting when Hermes arrived with a note for Ron. Hermione was engrossed in a book and Harry was staring vacantly at his food in a worrying manner.
Ron soon saw that Hermes was followed by a pair of official looking ministry owls who were carrying a basket them. Confused, he read the note.
Ron,
I gave you Scabbers under the impression you would look after him and instead you lose him and don't tell me! How do I know this, I bet you're wondering? Well the poor little thing was in my office, though goodness knows how he got there! I've sent him to you in this basket, take better care of him this time, he's getting on and I know you didn't mean to neglect him but you ought to be more careful.
Love Percy.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Ron exclaimed after reading the note through twice to be absolutely certain he hadn't imagined its contents. He loosened the basket lid to peep inside. All he could see was a beam of light, coming through a rat-sized hole that had been nibbled in the side of the basket. "Oh Hell!" Ron swore loudly causing Hermione to look up from her book.
"Language, Ron!" Hermione admonished.
"What's up?" Harry asked.
"Percy!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry rolled his eyes, "What's he done now?"
"Sent me Scabbers!" Ron threw up his hands in frustration, "And less of the 'what's he done now'!"
"Sent you Scabbers!" Hermione was suddenly less bothered by Ron's use of language.
"Are you joking!" Harry asked hopefully.
"NO! Says he found him in his office and decided to send him on to me in this basket, but it's empty he must have nibbled his way through!"
"Your brother's a basket case never mind anything else!" Harry retorted angrily.
"Don't say things like that about him!"
"Why the hell would he send us a murderer, even on the off chance he found one in his office!" Harry's voice was getting louder causing a few other Gryffindors to stare.
"Percy doesn't know! He thinks Scabbers is still my pet, I don't think anyone ever told him!" Ron replied.
"Excuse me gentlemen," McGonagall's voice came from behind them, "What on earth is all the fuss about?"
"Scabbers is loose in the school!" Ron explained.
"Who?" The Gryffindor head looked confused.
"Scabbers, my rat who turned out to not be a rat!" Ron was now getting some decidedly funny looks.
"Come with me, you three," McGonagall gestured to them to follow her and led them outside the Great Hall, waving Dumbledore across to them.
Snape accompanied Dumbledore and joined them in the entrance hall. "Headmaster, we have a problem, Mr Weasley says Pettigrew is loose in the school in his animagus form."
"How did this happen?" Dumbledore asked gravely.
Ron poured out the explanation, trying to keep Percy out of it as much as possible and explaining that his brother hadn't known what he was sending.
"When is somebody going to demonstrate the sense to tell your brother what he needs to know to prevent things like this!" Snape snapped viciously, clearly he was no more happy at the idea of Pettigrew running around the school than they were.
"Severus is quite right," McGonagall unexpectedly joined in, "If someone doesn't tell Percy these things it's no wonder we end up with this sort of mess on our hands, he could have handed Pettigrew over to the aurors if only he'd known!"
"Well, that will have to be dealt with later," Dumbledore smoothed over the beginnings of a joint Snape/McGonagall rant, "For the moment, I believe we should keep the students in the Great Hall and search the castle. Go back in you three and I will make an announcement. The students may have to stay put for the night."
It was at this point that Neville came running down the stairway nearby and stopped abruptly at seeing the group of students and Professors.
"Why aren't you at dinner?" Snape asked.
"I didn't feel well, I went for a lie down and fell asleep. I didn't mean to miss dinner, am I too late?"
"No, there's probably still food in there," McGonagall waved him in. "Neville, if you feel unwell or out of sorts or anything, you can come and talk to me you know."
Neville returned her smile unconvincingly and retreated into the Great Hall followed by Ron, Harry and Hermione.
Ron nudged his friend suddenly, "Are you alright, Neville?"
Neville turned to answer Ron but suddenly found himself alone, he glanced around but the other three had gone and goodness knew where. He sighed and went to sit down, "I'll live, thanks for asking even if you didn't stick around for the answer," he muttered to himself.
XXXXXXX
Ron and Hermione found themselves pulled into an alcove behind a tapestry just as they were about to enter the hall.
"Harry!" Hermione protested.
"Look, we need to find Pettigrew before he does whatever he was sent here to do, I've got the Marauders Map in my pocket and I say we go and look for him," Harry poured out.
"Harry, it'll be you he's here for!" Ron argued.
"I've dealt with him before," Harry said simply.
"Still…" Hermione trailed off at the stubborn look on Harry's face. "Alright, Harry, we'll do it your way."
"Don't we always?" Ron muttered, earning himself a glare from Hermione. "Well I'm sorry but I think this is a risky idea, obviously I'll come with you but I withhold the right to say I told you so!"
They waited for the teachers to pass back into the Great hall before slipping down the empty corridor. Harry pulled the map out of his pocket and they pored over it for a long time without finding anything. There were just so many people, even with most of the school at dinner there were a lot of students who had skipped the meal or already left the Hall and there was Filch wandering around with Mrs Norris. Eventually Hermione jabbed the map with her finger, "Got him!"
Pettigrew was on the floor where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was but was moving fast away from it. "Right, let's get him!" Harry had drawn his wand.
They had to get across to the other side of the castle but they could see they were closing on the rat that seemed to be aiming for the third floor and the statue of the one-eyed witch. Harry was about to point out that this was the entrance to the passage out of the school when a voice called out, "Tarantallegra!"
Ron and Hermione whirled around as Harry found his legs begin to do their own demented tap dance.
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were stood behind them looking very pleased with themselves and trying not to laugh.
"Sorry, Potter, mistook you for the rat!" Malfoy sneered.
Hermione cast the counter curse. "What are you two doing out here, you're supposed to be in the Great Hall!" Hermione reverted into prefect mode.
"Actually, Granger, we were sent out to round up any remaining students who didn't turn up for dinner as Dumbledore's worried about some killer rat he's dreamed up or something whilst high on sherbet lemons," Draco's sneer was losing effect as he was trying not to laugh at the fury on Harry's face as Ron held him back from starting a fight.
"Yeah, McGonagall sent all the prefects out." Pansy gave a sly smile, "She wasn't too pleased when she couldn't find you, I don't think you're her favourite anymore, Granger!"
"Oh no! No, no, no! McGonagall's going to kill us!" Hermione came close to hyperventilating.
"Hopefully!" Pansy agreed.
"Out trying to play the hero again, Potter?" Draco didn't seem terribly interested at his girlfriend's baiting of Hermione.
"Out trying to scare the first years, Malfoy?" Harry responded, shrugging off Ron's warning hand on his arm.
"First years. You. Stray rats that have got Dumbledore running scared, I'm not fussy," Draco smirked.
"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, Mr Weasley," Snape's silky voice cut across them before things could escalate further, "Let me guess, you thought that you were much more likely to catch the intruder than the members of staff? Of course you did, Potter, arrogant as ever I see."
Harry opened his mouth to speak only to find Ron stepping hard on his foot and muttering, "Don't make things worse!"
"We need to see the headmaster!" Harry insisted.
Snape simply sneered at them, "Why?"
"We just do!" Clearly this was not the right thing for Harry to have said and Snape instantly began to herd the five of them along to the Great Hall.
"You will go the Great Hall and wait there until the staff are satisfied it is safe, do you understand?"
"Problem, Severus?" Harry was relieved to see his head of house walking towards them. "There you three are, you were told to wait in the Great hall!" she scolded.
"Professor, we have to talk to you, it's urgent!" Harry cut in.
McGonagall glanced at Snape who seemed to receive a silent communication to take Draco and Pansy back to the hall and out of hearing range.
Harry showed her the map, "Pettigrew's heading for the secret passage on the third floor behind the one eyed witch statue."
To her credit McGonagall showed no surprise at the sight of the Maruaders Map, clearly Dumbledore had filled her in about it. "I'll need to borrow this Mr Potter," the professor took the map from Harry before he could protest, "Though frankly confiscate would be a better word in the circumstances! Get back to the Great Hall and do it now! The other Order members are arriving as we speak and they will go after Pettigrew. Go!" she shooed them down the corridor.
XXXXXXX
Harry wasn't at all keen on the idea of simply going back to the Great Hall to wait with the rest of the students but Ron and Hermione were insistent, Hermione spending most of the way there regaling them in a horrified tone about the disappointed look she swore she'd seen in McGonagall's eyes. Ron was mostly trying to block this out. He was also trying to block out Harry's complaints over the loss of the Marauder's Map. Frankly Ron thought if he was daft enough to show it to their head of house he should expect it to get confiscated.
They slipped back into the hall almost unnoticed because a lot of students were milling around between house tables exchanging rumours about what was happening.
"You're back then." A disinterested voice caught Ron's attention as he reclaimed his seat at the Gryffindor table, still trying not to listen to Harry and Hermione – neither of whom had ceased complaining or worrying. Though neither of them seemed to be worrying about the fact there was a Death Eater running around the school, oh no they both had much bigger concerns than that!
Ron turned to see it was Neville who'd spoken. "Yeah." He felt a twinge of guilt for not being around to hear the boy's response to his earlier enquiry about how he was. "How are you, I didn't catch your answer before."
Neville shrugged, "Fine."
"Really?"
Neville gave him a small smile, "I got a letter from my gran this morning, she sounds better than she has in a while so I feel better about leaving her."
Ron grinned, "That's really good, Neville, I'm glad."
"Well, thanks for asking."
"No problem."
Ron was about to turn to Harry and Hermione and inform them that neither one of them was listening to the other and no one else was either so they might as well be quiet, when Dumbledore stood and called for quiet, sending everyone scurrying back to their seats.
"I am sorry you have been confined in here but it was necessary, there was someone loose within the school who could have posed a threat to you, however they have gone so do not worry unnecessarily. They managed to evade capture but the circumstances which allowed them access to the school will not be allowed to happen again. You may all return to your dormitories now and I would just request that you spend the evening in your common rooms just to be on the safe side. You may leave."
The students began to file out noisily.
"Isn't he going to talk to me?" Harry watched in frustration as Dumbledore left the hall with Professor Snape. "Someone came into this school, probably to kill me and he doesn't even tell me what's happened! How on earth could they fail to catch him!"
"He was probably off the edge of the map before they could get to him and searching for one rat in Hogsmeade, which seemed to be where he was aiming for, would be just about impossible," Hermione pointed out.
Harry didn't look convinced and strode moodily out of the hall, Hermione hurrying after him so as not to be seen as dawdling by any of the teachers. Ron fell into step with Neville, though neither of them spoke until they reached the portrait hole.
Finally Neville's curiosity got the better of him, "So what was all that about?"
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you." Hermione had been waiting on the other side of the portrait hole. "Harry's gone up to the dormitory, Ron, and I'm going to go and get some homework done, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, night, Hermione." Ron turned to Neville, "You remember Scabbers?"
"Your rat?"
"Yeah. Well it turned out he was an animagus and an informant for You-Know-Who before he fell. He escaped and returned to You-Know-Who in our third year and helped to restore him to his power and tonight he got loose in the school but they didn't catch him."
To his credit Neville didn't laugh at the preposterous sounding story, then again there had been many more preposterous stories involving Ron and Harry. The shorter boy frowned suddenly, "A rat?"
Ron nodded, "Yes."
Neville paled, "Before I came down to dinner I saw a rat in our dormitory. On Harry's bedside table."
There was a moment of silence between the two before Ron shouted "Hell!" and they both bolted for the stairs.
The two boys broke into a run and chased up the stairs. Upon reaching the dormitory though there seemed to be nothing to worry about. Harry was sat on his bed and Seamus was rooting through his trunk.
"Harry, Neville thinks he saw Pettigrew in here," Ron was still concerned.
"Well I saw a rat anyway," Neville said uncertainly.
Harry however wasn't paying attention but was staring at something lying on his bedside table. "What's this?" Harry put out a hand to pick up the small blue collar which was lying there until Neville suddenly grabbed his arm. "What?" Harry asked in surprise.
"That's where I saw the rat!" Neville said.
"So?" Harry frowned.
"So that looks like a rat collar?" Neville was beginning to sound impatient.
"So?" Harry repeated.
"So what if it's been left there on purpose for you to pick up! We don't know what it could do, we should not touch it and get McGonagall!" Neville insisted.
Harry shrugged, "Alright, but it doesn't look that dangerous to me."
Seamus was looking confused and had withdrawn his head from his trunk, "What are you all on about now?"
"They'll explain," Ron said, "I'm going to get McGonagall."
Ron raced down the stairs and through the common room, diving through the portrait hole and sprinting down the corridor towards McGonagall's office. Upon reaching the door he flung it open, revealing Snape and McGonagall deep in conversation.
"Mr Weasley," the potions master was the first to recover his shock, "What do you think you're doing!" Without giving Ron time to speak he smirked at the Gryffindor Head of House, "Your students really do have appalling manners."
"Mr Weasley, what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall asked sternly, ignoring her colleague's jibe.
Ron's story tumbled out in a rush of disconnected words but his head of house seemed to understand and shooed him from the office and towards Gryffindor tower.
Snape followed them out into the corridor, "I will go and speak to Professor Dumbledore about this."
McGonagall nodded and continued after Ron.
XXXXXXX
Up in the dormitory Seamus and Dean had been filled in on the details regarding Scabbers by the time McGonagall and Ron appeared, having greatly surprised the common room first. The sight of their head of house suddenly appearing in the tower had sent many students into a frenzy of supposed activity with guilty expressions on their faces.
"Where is it?" the transfigurations teacher asked immediately.
Ron pointed to the cabinet beside Harry's bed.
McGonagall ran her wand over the collar and paled, "It's a portkey. Set for activation by your touch it looks like, Potter, and Mr Weasley tells me you nearly picked this up!"
Harry nodded dumbly, "Where would I have ended up?"
"At the Dark Lord's feet most likely!" his head of house snapped in worry, "I'll talk to Severus and see what he knows. Thank heaven Mr Longbottom had the sense to stop you picking that thing up!"
Neville ducked his head at the praise and so missed the approving glance his head of house sent his way. "That was good thinking, Neville."
The professor cast a charm on the collar and carried it from the room.
The five boys looked at each other in shock. The seemingly simple plan had very nearly succeeded where others had failed. Harry looked torn between shock and fury and Ron sat down heavily on the nearest bed. "Bloody hell!" he swore.
XXXXXXX
The teachers remained in conference until late that night, eventually dispersing to their rooms until the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin were left alone.
"What a day!" Minerva sat down gratefully in the comfortable armchair Dumbledore had just vacated.
"Indeed." Severus agreed, passing her a cup of tea
"That was a close one, Severus. Too close."
"Yes, and who knew Longbottom had his uses!" the man smirked.
"Severus!" Minerva chastised, but with a smile at seeing that there was more humour than malice in his words. She had noticed that his attitude towards her student had improved subtly since the death of the boy's parents.
"It's alright, I do realise your house in general lacks both purpose and common sense, not to mention intelligence, so I don't expect wonders from them."
"Severus, you'll be laughing on the other side of your face when you lose the quidditch game next week!" she warned him.
"Alright, why don't we bet on the quidditch game? Put your money where your mouth is, Minerva. Twenty galleons says Draco gets the snitch before Potter."
"Alright, so you wager twenty galleons on Slytherin to win," McGonagall agreed.
"No, I said for Draco to catch the snitch," he corrected her.
"It'll be the same thing, whoever catches it is bound to win," she objected.
"Minerva, don't argue with me."
"Fine, Severus, whatever you say," the woman sighed in exasperation but after all it wasn't as though her money was in any danger.
XXXXXXX
A/N: Sorry this was so late but I've been rushed off my feet with all sorts and I've been having some internet connection problems as well! Anyway hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to post! Next chapter's about Percy after his little hiccup in this one! lol! Also there's another encounter between Remus and Druscilla. I'll post soon. Please tell me what you think and reassure me that there's anyone still out there:o)