Chapter 3: Hermione and the Rat
The next twelve years was long. And boring. And miserable. I'm surprised I even lived that long, must be my Kneazle blood.
The day I had found out that Sirius was a "traitor," the old lady (her name was Theresa) had taken me to this place called Magical Menagerie, a wizarding pet shop. It had lots of creatures in it: Anything from your Average Joe dog or cat to giant jewel-encrusted tortoises and poisonous orange snails (those things are interesting, let me tell you).
Anyway, Theresa brought me there and locked me in a cage before doing anything else. For the first few days, I was too sad to do anything really. Losing James had left me heartbroken and angry, which was a lot for a cat to feel. My heart felt numb with pain of losing someone I loved, but I could still feel it burning with anger at Peter.
But after a while, I found that it was best to occupy myself so that I didn't think about it anymore, and soon the pain wore off. Don't get me wrong—I was still sad. It's like…when you lose a loved one, you're sad for a few months, but then the sadness kind of melts away until you're just left with a hollow, unfilled whole in your heart that you knew can never be occupied again.
Sorry, I got deep right there.
Eventually, Theresa gave me free range of the store. I could go wherever I pleased, do whatever I wanted. I played with other cats, hid in dark corners until she found me again, chased the black rats she kept and pretended they were Peter, y'know, normal cat activities. And I guess I should mention that Theresa named me Crookshanks. Don't know where she got that name from; I preferred James Jr.
In a paragraph, it doesn't seem to bad. But I was doing that every day for twelve years. It got boring. Nothing interesting happened. Literally nothing. Okay, Okay, I'm probably exaggerating, but…
Point is, life in Magical Menagerie was boring.
That is, until they started putting the posters up.
It happened in mid-August of 1993. I was sitting on a shelf watching the new puppies play with the Puffskeins when Theresa walked in with a worried look on her face and a stack of papers in her hand. She plucked one from the pile and began sticking it to the window.
"Sirius Black… escaped from Azkaban… I can't believe it," she muttered to herself.
Sirius Black?! As in my Sirius Black? He escaped? I was so shocked that I almost fell off the shelf.
My heart raced as I looked at the wanted poster. If you hadn't known him before, he wouldn't be recognizable. He still had that long dark hair and dark eyes, but his skin was sallow, and his face and hands were thin. He still had the ghost of good looks around his face, but he looked… there's no other word… deranged.
Theresa went around the pet store tacking up more posters. Then another lady entered. She was wearing a red dress and long earrings. She had shiny brown hair and sparkly turquoise high heels.
"You got the posters too Theresa?" she asked.
"Rosemerta!" Theresa jumped. "Merlin's beard you scared me. What are you doing in Diagon Alley?"
"I was just coming to get some supplies," Rosemerta answered.
"Well, yes of course, I got the posters," Theresa changed the subject. "First person ever to escape from Azkaban."
"Yes, well," Rosemerta sighed. "The Ministry's also going to send Dementors into my pub."
"Dementors of Azkaban?" Theresa shuddered. "They really think Sirius Black would be there?"
While the two women gossiped about that horrible man Sirius Black, I was thinking about the real Sirius Black. I thought about all the hours spent as cat and dog, playfully chasing each other around the Potters' house. It was terrible to think about him spending twelve years in prison, knowing that the whole entire Wizarding world believed he was the reason his best friend was gone. I stared sadly at the poster of Sirius.
It only got more interesting from there.
A few days later, I was sitting atop a stack of pet cages thinking about Sirius. I was planning my revenge on Peter, that rotten traitor. My, uh, hypothetical revenge of course. Peter was gone, I could never find him again.
That was what I thought. Apparently, I was wrong.
Theresa was helping this wizard with proper care of double-ended newts when three kids walked in. My heart nearly stopped. One of the kids was James.
Wait a minute.
It couldn't be James. James was…dead. But this kid… he had the same stubbornly untidy black hair, the same nose, the same skinny body, the same round glasses. But he had green eyes. Eyes just like…Lily's. Then he could only be…
"It's my rat," the other boy told Theresa. He was long and gangly with bright red hair and lots of freckles. And really big feet. "He's been a bit off-color ever since I brought him back from Egypt."
"Bang him on the counter," Theresa answered casually as she took out her glasses.
The gangly boy took a beat up, skinny, sickly-looking rat out of his pocket and set him on the counter, next to the cage of black rats. This rat was uber-disgusting, it was even missing a toe.
"Hm," Theresa considered, picking up the rat, "How old is this rat?"
"Quite old. He used to belong to my brother," Long-and-Gangly answered.
"What powers does he have?" Theresa asked.
"Er—" Long-and-Gangly hesitated.
"He's been through the mill, this one," Theresa commented.
"He was like that when Percy gave him to me," Long-and-Gangly said defensively.
Theresa pointed to her sleek black rats, and offered one to the boy. While the customers and Theresa talked, I studied Harry. He looked exactly like James, it was a little freaky. Like good freaky, though, not scary freaky. But his eyes were Lily's beautiful bright green eyes.
Then my gaze shifted to that disgusting rat. It made me sick just looking at it. And its missing toe…ew. That's funny, I thought, Peter is a rat and he cut off his finger…
Suddenly I was filled with so much anger and hate that it was surely going to burn me. I thought that rat had seemed a bit funny. I had that ability, to sense when humans are disguised.
I lept from the cages and down onto Long-and-Gangly's head.
"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" Theresa cried.
Then I sprung at Peter, hissing madly and frantically slashing my paws, trying to hurt every inch of that stupid backstabber. But Peter was too quick, he lept between Theresa's fingers and ran out of the store. Harry and Long-and-Gangly followed.
I sat there panting and seething with rage. Then the girl who had accompanied Harry reached out and timidly pat my head. I looked up.
The girl had bushy brown hair and brown eyes that were glowing with admiration (not surprising, I'm pretty adorable). She kind of reminded me of Lily.
Theresa sighed and then noticed the girl petting me.
"You like him?" Theresa asked hopefully.
The girl nodded enthusiastically. "How much is he?"
"He's only three Galleons." Theresa replied happily, "How nice! No one's ever wanted him before."
Boy, was that a lie… sort of. A few people had bought me, but I made sure that I had come right back here. Any home that wasn't with James wasn't for me. But this was different. This girl was sweet, and she reminded me so much of Lily. Plus, she was friends with Harry. And Peter's owner, Long-and-Gangly. If I went with her, I could maybe finally get Peter.
The girl payed for me and some rat tonic and we left the store, me purring contentedly in her arms. Long-and-Gangly and Harry were waiting for us.
"You bought that monster?" Long-and-Gangly asked.
The girl scratched me behind the ear, "He's gorgeous, isn't he?"
"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" Long-and-Gangly gaped.
"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" Hermione cooed. I meowed to say, Of course, I did. And my name isn't Crookshanks, it's James Jr., but whatever.
"And what about Scabbers? He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing hanging around?" Long-and-Gangly asked.
"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic," Hermione gave him the small bottle, "And stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages; no one wanted him."
"I wonder why," Long-and-Gangly said sarcastically as we headed down the street. I purred happily as Hermione pet me.
A/N: That chapter was fun to write. Hoped you like it! Feel free to leave reviews, anything you think I could improve on.
Oh, and the dialog was directly quoted from The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling.
:D