Chapter 473 - 24: Modern Wand Modifications

Chapter 473: Chapter 24: Modern Wand Modifications

"Couldn’t that potion last a little longer? I could swear it was originally supposed to last a whole day, but after the cat-girl got her hands on it, it only lasted that little while."

Completely unaware of what sort of indecent misunderstanding Malfoy had developed, Ron complained as he walked back toward the common room with Harry.

"Cat-girl? What happened with her?" Harry looked baffled by Ron’s sudden criticism.

"Don’t even mention it. The cat that bullied Scabbers last time was her. She even had the nerve to ask me directly where Scabbers was," Ron answered unhappily.

"Her? Did you actually see it yourself?" In Harry’s mind, Yimi was a little girl first and only catlike second. He had assumed a little girl would run away at the sight of a huge gray rat. Even Hermione was not afraid of Scabbers.

"Come on, Harry. If it wasn’t her, why would she know I have Scabbers?" Ron finished speaking and gave the Fat Lady the password that had only been changed today.

One reason Ron felt safe leaving Scabbers in the dormitory was the new prison-like box he had prepared. Another was that the Fat Lady had happened to change the password today.

The only reason Ron had left Scabbers behind that morning was because the rat had seemed frightened yesterday and was still extremely anxious and restless today. Ron had held him in both hands and soothed him for quite a while.

Why not simply put Scabbers in his pocket and take him to class? Perhaps some easygoing professors would have understood, but they had Snape. Snape was the sort of teacher who, when angered by a student’s stupidity, might say, "Bring your pet next time and let it test the potion. If you make it wrong, it’s dead."

"Smell, Ron. Have you forgotten how she found us when we were hiding under the Invisibility Cloak?" Harry offered a reasonable explanation on Yimi’s behalf. At least that made more sense than her being an Animagus. "Besides, her ears are white. That cat was black."

Ron became irritated. "Of course you’re happy. You found out the house-elf who sabotaged you during Quidditch really did belong to the Malfoys. I still don’t even know why they were plotting against Ginny... Oh, and they were still targeting me. We missed the train and got Dad disciplined because of them too."

Harry grew irritated as well. "Don’t take it out on me. Do you think I’m happy? I just overheard Snape talking. The prisoner who escaped Azkaban is the man who got my parents killed. Even after hearing that, I still drank that disgusting potion immediately to help you! At that point I barely even cared whose house-elf Dobby was anymore."

Hearing that, Ron opened his mouth, and his tone softened considerably. "What exactly happened?"

Harry’s expression darkened so much that he looked almost murderous. "Sirius. He used to be my dad’s best friend, but he betrayed my dad and helped Voldemort find where my parents were hiding. He also killed their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew and blew up an entire street full of Muggles."

"So that’s why the Ministry thinks he’ll attack Hogwarts? Sorry. I didn’t know," Ron apologized quietly.

Harry clenched his fist. "He’d better come looking for me. Then I can personally..."

He froze in the dormitory doorway.

"What is it?" Ron gently pushed past him, then widened his eyes too. "Caught you red-handed! I knew it!"

On Ron’s bed, Yimi in cat form was lying on the pillow and pawing at the little metal box he used for Scabbers. At Ron’s shout, her ears sprang upright and she lifted her head to meet his gaze awkwardly.

"Woof!" the little cat barked, attempting to give dogs a bad name.

The noise successfully made Ron choke back whatever he had been about to shout next.

After a long moment, having learned absolutely nothing from the previous incident, he finally squeezed out, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Levicorpus!"

History had a remarkable way of repeating itself.

Yimi turned and ran off with a guilty conscience. She could smell the rat’s foul odor, the sort that instinctively told her it was no good, but it was still someone else’s pet. By kitty standards, that meant she was technically doing something bad.

Harry did not chase her. Instead, he gestured toward Ron with his wand. "Don’t move, Ron. I’ll try to put you down. I tried to remember the spell when Snape used it."

"Scabbers! Harry, is Scabbers still in the box?" Ron cared only about that.

"Don’t panic." Harry picked up the metal box and weighed it in his hand. His expression stiffened slightly.

He could tell from the weight alone that it was empty.

...

Of course Yimi had not done it. By the time she got there, the rat was already gone.

As mentioned before, Scabbers had been restless since early morning. Just as Sirius Black had escaped immediately after seeing him in a newspaper photograph, Peter had seen Black in the newspaper and immediately fled too. He knew Black had to be coming for him.

But where could he go? Cleverly enough, he ran to Hagrid’s pumpkin patch, gnawed into one of the pumpkins, crawled inside, and rolled around a few times to cover his scent.

It worked to some extent, but Yimi could still follow the unpleasant trail he had left behind.

The little kitty was not particularly interested in whatever Black had promised her. She had not understood most of the things he rambled about anyway. She simply hated that rat on instinct, and Black had happened to give her a reason to beat it up. Unexpectedly, before she could even hit it, the rat fled on its own out of guilt, confirming that it was an evil rat.

"Hey, you’re the cat that bullied Scabbers!" Hermione, who had slipped away on her own, spotted her.

Yimi had no intention of responding, but Hermione hurried after her anyway. "I know you’re really the cat-girl. I noticed the wand you used that day was white."

"Meow." Yimi glanced back at Hermione.

Apparently her attempt to trick Yimi into admitting it had failed. Hermione followed awkwardly. "What are you going to do? That way leads to Hagrid’s hut."

Yimi climbed up beside a pumpkin that had been gnawed open and stared at it for quite a while.

The scent became fuzzy here. It was not because the rat stopped smelling after rolling in pumpkin, but because Hagrid frequently brought strange creatures back to this area. Yimi had not noticed while in human form, but after turning into a cat, she realized that the area around Hagrid’s hut contained practically every kind of smell imaginable, including scents she had never encountered in her entire life as a cat.

All those smells mixed together and interfered with her judgment.

"Hermione, are you here by yourself?" Hagrid was outside chopping firewood. He did not seem to have noticed that one of his pumpkins had been attacked.

Hagrid bent down to look at Yimi. "Is that your pet? Very distinctive. I mean... that sort of cat comes from the East, doesn’t it?"

"Wait, did bugs get into your pumpkins, Hagrid?" Hermione picked Yimi up. The cat was heavier than she had expected.

"Bugs? I..."

Before Hagrid could say anything else, Hermione interrupted again. "My goodness, is that Scabbers? What’s he doing here?"

"Meow?" Yimi followed Hermione’s gaze and immediately spotted the hiding rat. There was not much vegetation left in November for him to hide behind.

"Squeak!" The moment he saw the cat that had tormented him before, the rat bolted toward the Forbidden Forest at a speed no ordinary rat should have possessed.

At the same time, amid Hermione’s startled cry, Yimi transformed back into a human and drew her wand. "Stupefy!"

"Merlin’s beard! You’re an Animagus?" Hagrid shouted in shock.

"You really are... Wait, why are you attacking him?" Hermione demanded.

"It’s an evil rat," Yimi replied simply, sounding rather puzzled.

Hermione had spotted the rat from quite a distance, and now that it was running, it had moved beyond Yimi’s normal range.

The little kitty considered switching to Adaptive Power, but that was the power she was least practiced with. If she used it to drag a tiny rat over, she might accidentally kill it.

The kitty decided to solve the problem like a wizard instead!

Yimi pursed her lips and, under Hermione’s baffled stare, pulled out the sniper scope she had swiped from the previous world. The groove underneath happened to fit neatly over Yimi’s wand.

After a little assembly, Yimi tucked the wand against herself the way a sniper would hold a rifle. The wand was already rather long for her small body, so the pose looked surprisingly convincing.

"Stupefy!"

With a little "biu," a streak of magic shot an absurd distance and struck the fleeing rat dead-on.

The little rat snapped rigid and dropped.

"Oh my God! This is Hogwarts, right?" Hermione covered both cheeks with her hands in shock.

Then she belatedly realized something else. "Wait! Why are you doing this to Ron’s pet? I even pointed him out to you! Oh no, now that makes me your accomplice!"

"Mm..." Yimi, who had been about to run over and retrieve the rat, turned around. Hearing that, she mistook Hermione’s panic for a request for credit.

The little kitty rummaged through her Storage Space, then simply tossed the sniper scope to Hermione. "You can have it."

If she wanted to play with one again later, she could just swipe another from the detective world.

Hermione stared at her.

"You even want to frame me for it? Hagrid saw the whole thing!"