Chapter 2

It has taken my cage over. One day, I suppose the universe decided I hadn't suffered enough, because it arrived. Round and fat, with giant globular eyes, two horizontal lines as pupils. Green as puke. A big mouth, which keeps a long and sticky tongue inside. Most of the time, anyway.

The animal. The toad: Longbottom's monster.

It all started with Granger's goodwill:

"Neville, if you want, I can keep Trevor in my cage. He won't escape, I promise"

Longbottom was dubious. He pondered, while he squished the toad with his hand, the creature's eyes sticking out of his face. I was confident that the toad would not end up with me. It was close to dying by Longbottom's mighty hand, and he would be there a long, long time. After all, Longbottom was thinking.

But, alas, the toad managed to escape. I imagine Longbottom's brain could not endure the pressure of thinking and grabbing something at the same time, leading to him releasing the animal.

"Neville, you let him escape again!" Granger said . She sighed. "Accio Trevor" The animal flew to her hand, its tongue leaving a trail of slime that shined in the common room.

"Fine, you can keep him for the time being" Longbottom said. Granger quickly put the toad in the cage with me. Longbottom turned to the animal, much more comfortable in his cage, which I so kindly lent him.

"Well Trevor, goodbye. This is only for a little while, until I get a cage of my own. I'll come visit you all the time, I promise!" Great. Just what I needed. To see Longbottom's face all the time. I wonder if there exists a self-blinding spell

Granger took me and the monster to the girl's dorm. I heard Longbottom mutter: "I hope he'll be alright"

It was heart-warming, seeing him so worried about me.

This happened a few days ago. Now, the toad's cage (previously mine) is more dangerous than the class Care of Magical Creatures. Every morning, the animal seems to get an unstoppable desire to lick me. And not a friendly lick, mind you. It's a lick more akin to a slap, a slap of such might and power that it can live ferrets hairless.

I loved my hair. It was the only thing I liked about being a ferret. Without it, I'm just a worthless animal that can be immobilised by a toad sitting on top of it.

"Oh no! Where has the ferret gone?" Granger asked, with a monotone voice.

If things continued as they had, to the afterlife. I tried to lift the toad, but as I could not breathe, I lacked the necessary strength.

"Was it you, Trevor? Did you make the ferret disappear?" That's it Granger! Now you just have to lift the toad! Come on! Lift the toad! "Good boy!"

Figures. She just wanted me for my fur. The toad is extremely smart. Those empty eyes may seem stupid, but they are just part of a perfected attire made to hide its true intelligence. It knew that the only way to gain Granger's affections was to put me out of the picture. Trevor croaked happily.

Granger opened the cage and took the monster, leaving me behind, squashed against the floor.

"We are going to see Neville. Okay Trevor?" The monster croaked again.

Granger looked at the opened cage. "Huh. I don't remember giving Trevor a rug" She squinted. "And an ugly one at that".

"HERMIONE!" A scream from the common room. Granger hurried to it, like a moth to a flame, squishing Trevor in her right hand.

It was my opportunity. I detached myself from the ground and quickly left the opened cage. Ah, freedom! How good it felt! I ran to the stairs which led to the common room and went downstairs, jumping from step to step. I could almost feel my hair growing back from the excitement.

The common room wasn't quite empty. My previous jailer was there, along with Weasley and Potter, discussing some nonsense about dragons, eggs, and screams. It was a joy to see the toad still gasping for air in Granger's hand. She must've forgotten Longbottom. That's not surprising. I think even Longbottom forgets Longbottom.

The thing is I could not leave the common room until someone opened the door. The painting. Whatever. This place doesn't abide by logic. A painting should just be a painting and a door a door. Mixing those leads to confusion.

I hid under a sofa, to ensure no one could see me. It was close to the fire, which exhumed such a pleasant feeling… The rug was so soft… I felt my eyes closing… And before I knew it…

"Ah! It's alive! Dobby didn't know it was alive!"

Two enormous eyes, as big as tennis balls watched me. The eyes were attached to a small and wrinkled face, with long ears which clapped as the domestic elf moved its head.

"Dobby? What the hell…?"

"Dobby can see it's trying to communicate" the elf said to himself, its ears still clapping. "Dobby will take you to see master Dumbledore! Yes!"

It was my lucky day. I would finally regain my human form. Dobby took me with his two small (and disgusting) hands and, with a crack, we both disappeared.

"I'm sorry Dobby, but I don't see anything strange with this ferret" Dumbledore said. "Maybe a little dumber than most, but that's no reason to bring him here. Give it to Alastor. He'll know what to do with it."

No. I refused. I had gotten too far. I ran out of Dumbledore's reach and looked for a feather and a quill. There was one close by. I grabbed the feather, submerged the tip in the ink and tried to write with it in the table, a herculean task, seeing as the feather was two times larger than me.

"What is he doing…? Ah, he's writing!"

"Dobby told master Dumbledore! This ferret is special!"

Dumbledore looked at what I had scribbled in the table and then at me. He then started to read the table again.

"Draco Malfoy?" He looked at me again, with a perplexed look on his face. He must've been horrified, thinking what my father will do to him when he hears about this.

"Dobby, does that name mean anything to you?"

The slap of the elf's ears gave Dumbledore the answer that he needed.

"Malfoy, Malfoy… I've heard that somewhere before…Something to do with money. And hearing. And a father… No, no idea",

Desperate times require desperate measures. I wrote another name on the table. This time, others would hear about my father.

"Lucius Malfoy? Oh, of course!" The director looked at me "You must be his son, Draco! You've changed a lot since I last saw you!"

Yes. Yes I did.

"But I must say, I never saw you as the balding type"

Notes: I'm sorry for the late follow-up. I imagine I'll publish more frequently from now on (one or two chapters a week). This is my first fanfic, so it's probably filled to the brim with errors. I apologize in advance. Whatever you find, you can tell me about them and I'll do my best to fix them. I hope you enjoy the story!