The first day of classes wore on slowly, and the excitement of being back in school quickly diminished with each passing second spent in a classroom. The students loved going back to school… but they didn't necessarily go for the homework and lectures.
For the morning block, Talia had two classes—Charms and Herbology. In the afternoon, she had Potions, which she shared with the fourth years. Currently, she was sitting underneath a shady tree out in the courtyard, taking advantage that the previous night's storm had lifted sometime during the morning and that the skies were clear and the sun was out.
Her second year transfiguration textbook was resting on her lap; Talia skimmed through the first two chapters, going over what she had studied during the summer. She wanted to make sure that she was prepared for whatever Professor McGonagall had in store for the second years.
Talia would have Transfiguration first thing next morning, and she did not want any surprises.
Sitting beside Talia was Draco, a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands, and between him and her, there were the remnants of the sweets and cakes he'd received that morning through the mail. His mother always made it a habit to send her son foodstuffs, knowing just how much Draco enjoyed the chocolates, tarts, and cupcakes that she'd pick up from one of his favorite bakeries.
Talia had nearly cried when Draco had informed her that his mother had sent an extra box of chocolate bonbons, specifically for her. They were one of her favorite sweets, and Talia made a mental note to send her Aunt Cissy a thank-you note.
Draco kept snickering and scoffing as he read his paper, but Talia paid him no mind. She was already used to Draco's little quirks, and she had no doubt in her mind that he was currently adding his own little commentary to whatever ridiculous story that the newspaper had to offer.
"Did you eat the last chocolate cake?" Talia asked as she looked down at the pile of wrappers that rested between her and Draco.
"Yeah," said Draco absentmindedly, never taking his eyes away from the Prophet. "There should be a chocolate muffin left, though."
"It's got a chunk missing out of its side."
"Oops."
Talia rolled her eyes, but picked up the chocolate muffin that Draco hadn't finished eating, and proceeded to eat it herself.
It was just then that Harry and Ron walked past the tree they were sitting under, moaning about their Divination homework, it seemed. Talia only caught snippets of words, like "Uranus and Neptune" and "all weekend to finish"—she supposed they were talking about their homework.
Draco, catching sight of Harry and Ron, quickly stood up, straightening out his copy of the Daily Prophet rather obnoxiously, causing the paper to snap loudly.
"Hey, Weasley!" Draco called out, a rather pompous smirk on his lips, "your dad's in the paper!"
Talia immediately set down her half eaten muffin and quickly rushed to her feet, her transfiguration textbook sliding off her lap and landing on the grass facedown with a silent thud. "Draco, please don't—"
However, Draco wasn't paying her any attention. "Listen to this," he said rather loudly, making sure that all the passing students (who had been heading to the entrance hall to queue for dinner) had stopped to look and listen before he began to read from the paper:
FUTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
"Draco, will you just stop thi—"
"Not now, Talia," said Draco, brushing her off. He had a malicious grin on his face as he looked at Ron, and proceeded to say, "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"
All the students were listening aptly to what Draco had to say, some laughing at Ron's quickly reddening face. Amongst the mocking stares, Talia saw Pansy, Goyle and Crabbe on either side of her. The pug-faced girl had on a self-satisfied smirk on her lips as she looked at Ron as if he were the scum on the bottom of her shoes, her arms crossed haughtily across her chest.
"What more does the paper have to say, Draco?" Pansy asked with a teasing grin.
"Pansy, will you just shut up?" said Talia with an irritated sigh, "we don't need you goading on Draco, alright?"
A few students snickered to that, while Harry and Ron both sent Talia small, grateful smiles.
But Draco was not done. He was in the spotlight, and he was not going to miss out on an opportunity to embarrass Ron Weasley.
"Oh Talia, stop it," he said with a roll of the eyes. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, here it is—"
"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene."
"Oh look, and there's a picture, Weasley," said Draco, turning the paper over so that everyone could see. "A picture of your parents outside their house—if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
"Draco!" hissed Talia, swatting his arm.
Draco merely smirked. Oh, he was enjoying this. He'd been going easy on Potter and his friends, because of Talia and how fond of them she was, but enough was enough. He wanted to have some fun.
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry, seeing that Ron was shaking, his eyes narrowed into slits. "C'mon, Ron…"
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Draco sneered.
"So was I!" exclaimed Talia, shoving Draco none to gently.
"And why you would decided to spend the night in that rat hole, I'll never understand," said Draco with a disgusted crinkle of his nose. "Anyways, so tell me—is Weasley's mother really that porky, or is it just the paper?"
"Draco, you take that back!" shouted Talia, her eyes narrowed in a fierce glare, "Mrs. Weasley is a wonderful woman! She doesn't deserve to be talked about like that!"
"Right," scoffed Draco, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, you just wait until we get back to the common room," Talia said darkly.
"C'mon, you can't seriously be defending that woman? I mean, have you even seen—"
WOOSH.
Several students screamed, while Pansy all but wailed like a banshee. Ron had his wand out, a murderous expression on his face as he stared at Draco. There was a smoking dot on the tree trunk that Talia and Draco stood in front of—the aftermath of the curse Ron had cast.
"How dare you," hissed Draco, glaring daggers at Ron, "do you have any idea how close that was to Talia!? You could have hit her!"
Talia quirked an eyebrow, thinking, well, this is… surprising.
"Sorry," said Ron sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Let's go Ron," prompted Harry, steering his friend away from a fuming Draco.
Draco growled, throwing down his copy of the Daily Prophet, and quickly took out his wand. This was the perfect moment—Harry and Ron had their backs to him, and he could curse them when they'd least expect it!
A curse was on the tip of his tongue, the nastiest one that he could think of, but a startling shout caused him to flinch before he could even wave his wand.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"
ZAP!
Talia watched in muted horror as Draco quickly began shrinking, his features morphing, until there was nothing left of him. A pure white ferret now shivered on the grass, looking around wildly, whiskers twitching.
"Draco?" whispered Talia, tears stinging her eyes, unaware of Professor Moody's quick approach.
The white ferret immediately scurried towards her, and Talia dropped to her knees, scooping the scared little ferret into her arms.
"Aye! You girl, leave him!" yelled Professor Moody at Talia, before he turned to approach Harry and Ron.
Talia's head snapped up, and she stared at Professor Moody's back. A low, rumbling growl quickly began building up in her chest, and her eyes flashed yellow in anger. Gently she set the white ferret on the grass, before lunging at Professor Moody, teeth bared in a snarl. The full moon had only just recently passed…
But Professor Moody was quicker; it appeared that his "bad" eye could see out of the back of his head. Before Talia could even claw at him, he had waved his wand, and Talia was gone. In her place stood a small, little fennec fox, blinking around confusedly, little nose twitching.
"Is that even legal?" asked Ron softly, looking down at the two animals. He felt bad for Talia, she'd tried to defend his mother—Draco he could care less for.
Harry shook his head. Oh, Hermione is just going to have a field day when she learns about this…
"Did he get you?" growled Professor Moody as he stood before Harry and Ron.
Harry shook his head once more. "No, you… didn't give him a chance to shoot."
Professor Moody smirked, before turning away from the two Gryffindors. With a malicious little smirk, he looked down at the ferret and fox. The ferret quickly decided that it was better off elsewhere, and turned around speedily, letting out a terrified squeak before taking off.
The fox bolted after it.
"I don't think so!" yelled Professor Moody, lifting his wand and pointing it at the animals—they flew ten feet into the air, smacking against branches of the tree they'd been under, and then came down hard, before bouncing up once more.
"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned, " hissed Professor Moody as he wove his wand; the animals smacked against the tree trunk, letting out loud, pained squeals. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…"
The animals flew through the air, flailing limbs and tails, scared out of their minds.
"Never—do—that—again—" said Professor Moody, speaking each word as the animals hit the tree trunk and bounced up into its branches, getting various cuts and bruises as they went.
"Professor Moody!" a shocked voice yelled above all the snickering students.
Professor McGonagall was quickly making her way through the crowd of students who had gathered around the tree to see the show, shoving students out of her way none to gently, and making hasty apologies as she went.
"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Professor Moody calmly, a small smile on his lips as he kept his wand trained on the floating animals, making them bounce in the air, going higher and higher into the tree.
"What are you—what's going on?" sputtered McGonagall, her eyes following the animals as they made their way through the air, weaving in and out of tree branches none to gently.
"I'm teaching," said Professor Moody simply.
"Teaching—Moody, are those students?" cried Professor McGonagall, a disbelieving look crossing her features.
"Yep."
"No!" yelled Professor McGonagall, stepping forwards. She quickly brandished her wand and wove it once, and with a loud snapping sound, Draco and Talia reappeared. They landed on the ground in a heap, red faced, robes askew. Talia whimpered in pain, and Draco winced, eyes watering.
The two Slytherins slowly got to their feet, leaning on one another for support. Tears began streaming down Talia's face, and she quickly brought her hands up to wipe them away, not wanting to give peoples another reason to make fun of her.
"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall, placing her hands on her hips. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"
"He might have mentioned it, yeah," shrugged Professor Moody, not at all interested in the conversation.
"We give detentions, Moody!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, "Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"
"I'll do that, then," Professor Moody said, staring at Talia and Draco with dislike burning in his eyes.
"Don't let him touch me," whispered Talia weakly, pushing herself into Draco's side.
Draco quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close, muttering, "Don't worry. Just wait until my father hears about—"
"Oh yeah?" hissed Professor Moody, cutting across Draco's sentence. "I know your father, boy… You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son… Now, you girl, what's your name?"
Talia didn't answer him. She had her head buried in Draco's chest as the tears kept pouring down her face. She had never been so scared in her life. This was worse than when her Boggart turned into Sirius' animagus.
"Your name, girl," asked Professor Moody impatiently.
"Natalia Snape," Draco answered for her, tightening his arm around her shoulders.
"Snape?" said Professor Moody, disbelieving. "Another old friend… never would have expected him to reproduce. Well, c'mon you two, he's your Head of House, isn't he?"
Draco nodded his head, glaring.
"I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape… Let's go…"
Professor Moody made a grab for Talia, but she quickly screamed and stepped behind Draco, grabbing fistfuls of his robes as she looked over his shoulder at Professor Moody with wide, scared eyes. She did not want that man touching her—she did not want him anywhere near her!
"Don't you dare touch her!" Draco exclaimed, a murderous look in his eyes, his hand itching to take hold of his wand and curse Moody into next year.
Harry and Ron both shared a look, Pansy glared, and Professor McGonagall looked at the Slytherin boy with a surprised expression on her face. Never had she seen Draco so outwardly protective of someone; she knew the boy to be arrogant and only interested when something concerned him, but right now, he did not even care for himself. He stood his ground before Professor Moody, arms partially outstretched so that Talia was safely behind him—Professor McGonagall was astonished.
Professor Moody growled. "Why you—"
"I'll take her," interjected Professor McGonagall, stepping around Draco and placing a gentle hand on Talia's shoulder. Softly she spoke, "Let's go to your father, dearie."
Talia hesitantly nodded, and Professor McGonagall wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, steering her through the crowd of students. Professor Moody followed behind her, his arm grasping Draco's as he pulled the boy along roughly.
Oh Merlin, thought Professor McGonagall as she entered the school and made her way towards the dungeons, Severus will not like this, not at all…
AN: I love this chapter, and I hate it.
I love it because Draco and Talia getting turned into animals was actually something that I was impatient to get out.
I hate it because I actually had to use the book to copy off some dialogue, but some things can't be helped.