Angelina?

[alt_gredforge]

Sorry about what happened in Care of Magical Creatures today.

We thought the rat would make you laugh, not make you scream so much. Although we'll admit we didn't expect it to do that.

Really, you just about made our ear drums bleed.

Anyway, since Professor Brutka's giving us detention, please don't feel you need to punish us, too.

Comments

[alt_ron]

What'd you do to her?

[alt_gredforge]

Well, some of Professor Brutka's rats are rather...unusual. There was this one that had this knack of polka dancing. We thought we'd give her a laugh by putting it on her shoulder.

Didn't go over quite the way we planned.

[alt_percy]

You two really are brainless. Of course any girl is going to scream if you surprise her by putting a rat on her shoulder.

[alt_gredforge]

Not Angelina! She's made of tougher stuff than that. Anyway, that isn't what set her off.

It was when our rat jumped off her shoulder and started trying to eat her rat that the shrieking started.

[alt_luna]

Really? That doesn't sound like a normal thing for a rat to do. Even a magical rat.

[alt_gredforge]

No kidding. Professor Brutka came up and petrified our rat to stop it and then--well, it was dead weird. Our rat turned into a heap of corn. And then Angelina's rat ate the corn.

That made ALL the girls start shrieking.

[alt_hannah]

Ugh! We've been talking about magical rats in third year COMC classes, too, but they've never done anything like that!

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah. Professor Brutka took one of them, ran it through a bunch of spells afterwards that showed us the transfigurations that have been put on these rats, back and forth. The theory's a bit advanced to explain it, has to do with the third law of commuation, but he explained that they've had so many transfigurations put on them already that their underlying magical structure's now a bit dodgy.

[alt_luna]

Poor rats.

[alt_hannah]

Poor Angelina!

[alt_gredforge]

Poor us, you mean. We're the ones who got detention, remember?

[alt_penelope]

Oh, please do us a favour and give it a rest. As if you've ever not deserved a detention.

[alt_ron]

They'd been transfigured?

[alt_gredforge]

Looks like it.

[alt_percy]

That's not part of the fifth year curriculum.

[alt_gredforge]

Well, we don't think it was Professor Brutka who'd done it. He didn't sound like he approved of it.

[alt_amycus]

The diricawl has no business holding up his beak about what he doesn't understand.

Considering the little matter of theft of property from the pure.

I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

Guess that settles it.

Yikes.

I Solemnly Swear that I Am Up to No Good

[alt_terry]

Bloody hell! Fred and George, don't answer him!

Re: I Solemnly Swear that I Am Up to No Good

[alt_gredforge]

Don't worry, we're not that stupid.

[alt_ron]

Wait. Wait. Wait.

He told us they were experimental rats and that's why we were measuring them and taking their vitals and all to compare with normal magical rats and non-magical rats, but I figured he meant they were a new, y'know, breed that they'd used magic to try to enhance or whatever.

Not that they'd been used for experiments!

That means they're probably-

I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

That means they're probably Carrow's rats.

Like Sebastian.

Uh. I wonder if Sally Anne knows...

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I do now.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

And I thought surely they were Carrow's rats. Wasn't it obvious?

How awful one of them turned into corn.

I really hope that doesn't happen to Sebastian. It was the petrification that did it? Was it just 'petrificus totalis' or some other hex? Ugh. Maybe I should ask Professor Brutka if there's anything I can do. He seems decent, I don't think he'd tell Professor Carrow I have one of his rats.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

Um.

Aren't you a little more worried that Sebastian might turn out to be a carnivorous, attack rat or a cannibal rat like the one Fred and George had?

I mean, maybe Pansy should be worried for Pyewacket! Or maybe you should be worried about letting him ride around on your shoulder like you do. He could bite you in the neck like a vampire!

You don't let him sleep with you, do you?

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_pansy]

Pye could tell if Sebastian were to go all wonky like that. Because he's a kneazle, right? And he seems to like Sebastian just fine.

I think it might just be that he'd be that way with other rats? Perhaps because he'd been training them to... you know...

ewww. The whole thing gets me shuddery. Any ways, maybe it was just habit.

Still.

Gross.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_ron]

Well. I guess it could be good to keep him. That way, if Patil ever decides to curse you with an invasion of rats, Sebastian can just kill them all and protect you.

Re: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

Of course I let him sleep with me. He's my pet. He's never acted odd, though no one else in our dorm has a pet rat.

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah.

[alt_ron]

It did wot?!

We've been studying those rats, too, but it's funny. He hasn't let us handle them much. Not one a piece, anywiz. We were in groups, and the rats were in their boxes while we measured them and took their temperatures and fed them.

Cheese. We fed them cheese.

That's just-

Ew.

[alt_gredforge]

Yeah. Took us all by surprise, believe me.

Dunno, seems like Brutka suspected something was off about them, though. He did say we shouldn't let them get near each other.

Didn't tell us why.