Updated: September 27th, 2017
Chapter 15: The Ferret
The next week was pretty much torture for my friend, The Boy Who Lived. Harry had thought that everyone would be used to the idea of him as the fourth champion. NOPE! Everyone, yes even our fellow Gryffindors, had thought that Harry entered his own name in the cup. No one was impressed. In Herbology, the Hufflepuffs were cold to us. I guess since Cedric was the actual Hogwarts champion they were rather upset. But that doesn't mean they had to ignore the entire Gryffindor House. Ron still wouldn't talk to Harry; I guess my lame speech had no effect on him. Hermione and I had to sit between the two since Ron didn't want to sit anywhere near Harry. We forced conversations upon them while working on lessons. Not fun. Hell, even Professor Sprout seemed distant with Harry. Well, okay that one was justified since she is Head of Hufflepuff. But come on!
Care of Magical Creatures was worse, however. We had that class with the Slytherins of all people. Malfoy, being Malfoy, was an annoying little shit. He went on about how we should all get Harry's autograph while we still could. Apparently, Harry was most likely going to be the first (if not the only) one to die. Oh, even better, on Monday Hagrid made us leash extremely angry and killer Blast-Ended Skrewts so we could take them on walks. Of course, Hagrid chose Harry to demonstrate how to rope them to the class. I think someone wanted him to die early. Hermione paired up with Ron so I had to rope a Skrewt with Neville. Scared shitless, we both decided that we better not try to get anywhere near the three foot long and super powerful scorpion-crab thingy. There was a loud bang and Seamus and Dean's Skrewt took off, dragging Dean along behind it. It was a funny sight, trying to see him get back on his feet. Seamus shouted at him to let go and Dean's body rolled down the slope of the hill as he let go of the rope. I winced, felling sympathy pain in my arms.
When classes were over on Friday I found myself walking with Harry and Neville to the castle. Ron had stormed off with a sorry-looking Hermione in tow. Neville wanted to search for something down by the lake, so Harry and I tagged along. The three of us settled down by the big oak tree. Neville dropped his things and headed for the water while Harry and I rested under the shady tree. As I pulled things out of my bag, a copy of The Daily Prophet fell into the grass. On the front page was the absurd article about Harry written by Rita Skeeter.
Harry picked it up, scowling, "You read this rubbish?!"
"Oh, c'mon Harry. You think I believe that woman? For one thing, you aren't twelve and I don't see the ghosts of your past swimming in your eyes."
Harry crumpled up the newspaper and shoved it back in my bag. He stared out towards the Durmstrang ship, lost in thought. As we sat somewhere between an awkward and comfortable silence, Neville's excited voice broke the void. Despite knowing I shouldn't have said anything; I decided to ask Harry if he had heard from my dad. My friend sighed. Dad had, like everybody else, asked Harry if he had really put his name in the cup. Harry then explained about the dream he had had with Voldemort, Wormtail, and the unknown man. Again, Neville's voice rang out with excitement. Harry continued by saying that my dad told him that Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore; spies were all around. Whoever put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire was not a friend. Ron had interrupted the conversation before Harry could hear more. But my dad did get in one last thing, "keep your friends close".
We fell into silence again. Harry mulled over Neville's things as he left me to think about what my dad had told him. It was obvious that safety at Hogwarts was becoming less and less since the Chamber of Secrets opened. Spies? Wasn't all of Slytherin house condemned as spies? I bet they were all divulging secrets to their Death Eater parents whenever they got the chance. What bothered me the most was the thing about keeping your friends close. Harry had lost the entire school and Ron too. Some friends…
"Amazing! Amazing," Neville exclaimed for the thousandth time.
"Neville, you're doing it again," Harry told the clumsy boy, clearly annoyed. He looked up at us and sheepishly apologized. Harry closed the book that was resting in his lap. "Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs?"
"Moody gave it to me," Neville explained as he dug back into the muddy water. "The day we had tea."
Neville suddenly stood up and waved, getting mud all over his uniform. When I turned around I saw Hermione walking towards us, arm-in-arm with Ginny. A sulky-looking Ron followed a bit behind. Before the girls walked over to us, Hermione stopped and turned back to Ron. The two argued about something for a second before Hermione turned back to us, an annoyed expression crossed her face.
"Ronald would like me to tell you that Seamus told him that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid was looking for you."
"Is that so? Well…" Harry looked up at Hermione in confusion. "What?"
Hermione bit her lip and went back to Ron. I watched in amusement as Ron whispered something to her and gave her a light shove forward. "Dean was told by Parvati that…oh please don't make me say it again. Hagrid's looking for you."
"Well you can tell Ronald that…"
"I'm not an owl," Hermione spun back around, dragging Ginny and Ron with her.
The moment the three were out of sight, Harry stood up. He brushed himself off and grabbed his bag. "I'm done with this," he muttered darkly.
"Harry! Wait," I jumped up and followed him.
My friend, having longer legs than me, made it all the way to the courtyard before I could even catch up with him. As I looked around I noticed that almost every Hogwarts student was wearing a bright yellow badge with Cedric's face on it. They then spun green with the words "Potter Stinks" appearing. I tried dodging the students as Harry weaved his way through, getting insults thrown at him a mile a minute. I finally caught Harry when a Hufflepuff blocked an archway. They laughed as he pushed his way through.
I took ahold of Harry's cloak to stop him. I was breathing hard when he swung around. "Don't run off like that," I scolded him.
"And why shouldn't I? Look around Cora. Everyone is against me. Ron managed to turn my whole dorm, Hermione and Ginny included, against me. It's just a matter of time before you will join them. Just leave me alone!"
Harry began to walk off again. I grabbed his arm, digging my nails into his cloth covered skin, "No! No way! Don't you dare start talking shit like that. I am your friend, Harry. I'm not an idiot, okay? I believe you. I support you. Fuck those badges and fuck those assholes who think they know better! I –" I never got to finish my little speech. Harry began seething as he walked away from me. I started to protest until I saw what made Harry leave me. Ron standing in the courtyard talking with Seamus.
"You're a right foul git, you know that," Harry called out to Ron. Shit. I came up behind the dark haired boy, ready to stop a fight if it came down to one.
The two duked it out like little boys. They went through the whole "You're stupid", "Yeah?", "Yeah!", "Really?", "Yeah!" fight. It ended with Harry blowing off Ron's friendship and Ron being weirdly okay with that. I shook my head in disgust. Boys. As Ron and Seamus moved away, I placed a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder. That's when a voice called out from above us.
"Why so tense, Potter," Harry and I looked up simultaneously. Oh, great… Draco was lounging about, his dumb-as-doorknob cronies gathered around the trunk of the tree. "My father and I have a bet, you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five."
Harry sped towards the Slytherins as they all laughed. I followed Harry dutifully. If someone was gonna give Draco a piece of their mind it would be me or Harry. "I don't give a damn what you or your father thinks, Malfoy," Harry bit back.
This wasn't worth our time. Draco was just trying to get a rise out of Harry. "Come on," I whispered to Harry, pulling him around. "Forget them."
Harry kept going, however, "He's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic."
I finally got my friend to walk away. "How dare you," Draco shouted, making people stop and stare.
"THEN KEEP YOUR FAT-ASS MOUTH SHUT," I yelled back at my cousin.
There were several gasps of shock as something white-hot shot between mine and Harry's heads. I made a grab for my wand, but before I could cast a counter-spell someone had shouted at Draco, getting his attention. Professor Moody had hit Draco with a spell, turning him into a white ferret right before our eyes. The little ferret which was Draco Malfoy was shivering on the stone. Laughter rang out around the courtyard as the Looky-Lous' came to witness the hilarity. Moody cast the hover charm and floated Draco around.
"That'll teach you to cast when someone's back is turned."
The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail twitching helplessly. "Professor Moody! What are you doing," McGonagall's shocked voice rose above the laughing.
"Teaching," was all Moody had to say. The ferret bounced higher.
"Is that a student?!"
"Technically it's a ferret."
Crabbe had been reaching for Draco the entire time the two adults were conversing. I cleared my throat a bit. When Moody looked at me, I motioned towards the fat tub of lard. With a flick of his wrist, Moody made the ferret shoot down Crabbe's pants. The boy squirmed, shouting and patting his bottom half as the ferret was tossed around down there. I don't believe I have ever laughed so much in my life. McGonagall pulled out her wand and with a snap the ferret was out of Crabbe's pants and turned back into Draco.
Draco was on his hands and knees with all the students laughing above him still. His bright eyes shone with pain and humiliation. Now, it's usually in my nature to feel sorry for those in bad situations, but this was an exception. I smiled widely as Draco threatened to tell his father about what had just happened. Draco ran off as Moody shouted back at him things he could tell the boy about his father.
"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment," the older woman scolded. "Surely Dumbledore told you that?"
When Moody shrugged, McGonagall told him to remember to give detentions instead of changing students into animals. I don't know about anyone else, but I think the animal punishment is more fun. As the crowd dispersed, Harry followed Moody away without telling me. I was left alone once again.