Login
MuggleNet Fan Fiction
Harry Potter stories written by fans!

Rat by Vindictus Viridian

[ - ]   Printer Table of Contents

- Text Size +
Chapter Notes: A little present for my dear betas, with a little help from DH who made useful suggestions during our road trip.

Peter giggled to himself as he set up his splendid new idea. Sirius thought he knew everything, and James thought he could handle anything, and Remus – well, Remus was just so Remus. But how would they handle this? They’d be back from their sixth-year Herbology soon, so he’d need to be quick to find out.

He took the rat carefully out of the box while it scrabbled and squeaked. Unforgivable Curses were only illegal and immoral if they were applied to humans, he thought. Surely one little rat would not put him in Azkaban for life. He weighed the charm he needed as well and the practical considerations about which should go first, and started with the hard one. “Imperius!” The rat became docile. “Engorgio!”

Soon it was dutifully pulling on a set of his robes and his spare trainers. Peter smiled. Everything was working perfectly. Once it was settled on his bed with a book, he tucked himself into his wardrobe and watched through the crack. He had a good angle, just able to see the door and the spot his friends would probably skid to a halt.

“You should be really careful about your Animagus transfigurations, Peter,” Sirius droned on. “We all know you’re not really good at a lot of things, and you heard Professor McGonagall.”

“Maybe,” Remus added.

“She said it could be very dangerous to attempt the transfiguration without a more experienced person around to help you through if you needed him.”


Sirius really did like to lecture. Peter thought that just might be his first response when they all trooped in…

And feet clattered on the stairs. “Peter!” James’ voice floated ahead. “Come on! We don’t want to be late for Charms just because you have a lie-in on Tuesdays.”

And James really did like to jump to conclusions. Peter stifled another giggle and waited to watch the jumping.

“Oh. Blimey.” Remus had pushed the door open and borrowed a James word.

“What? Oh.”

“Peter?” Sirius boldly stepped forward to peer more closely at the stretched-out rat and its book. The rat responded correctly; it hopped to its hind legs, caught up Peter’s satchel, and headed for the door.

The Marauders responded as they ought – they all put their arms out to block the animal’s path. It squeaked and struggled as they steered it back to the edge of the bed, its naked tail lashing and nearly catching the wardrobe door. “Peter, you can’t go to class like that!” James scolded.

“We did warn you,” Sirius said, sounding more than a little smug. “Come on, everyone, wands out. At this size it may take all three of us to put him back.”

“Can we? This might be something for Madam Pomfrey.” The edge of Remus’ face visible through the slit looked worried. Peter tried to picture the nurse’s face when she was presented with a rat in Hogwarts robes and very nearly gave away his hiding place.

“That’s an awful lot of corridor to steer through. Peter, old chap, you do know you didn’t make it back, right?” The rat struggled and fussed, trying to go to Charms as it had been bidden. With a not-so-nice word, James actually sat on the animal, then wrestled its head down to prevent a bite. “Peter?”

“I think he only half remembers he’s a person. He knows he’s supposed to go to Charms, but the rat reflexes are making him snap at you.” Sirius was now working his way toward full know-it-all mode. “We’d better put him back. Can you reach your wand in that pose, or should Remus and I do the spell while you sit on him?”

“Thanks ever so!” James grunted. “You sit on him. You’re bigger.”

“But… Remus, you’re a little bigger than James, and a little less good at Transfiguration; swap places with him.”

Remus had moved out of Peter’s line of sight, but Peter could just feel him rolling his eyes and drawing his wand. “I have a better idea. Incarcerous! ”

Sirius could be so dumb when he didn’t think. It hadn’t even occurred to him to pin the rat with magic. “Peter’s not going to like that very much,” James observed, his voice a little breathless. His back filled Peter’s view.

“It’s a desperate situation. Come on, then. James, Remus, wands ready, and go!”

James was right. Peter would have liked being bound up about as much as, by the sound of the ever-louder squeals, the rat did. A flash of light filled the room, followed by a vehement swearword. “Well, that didn’t work,” Remus observed.

“Try again?” James suggested. “I’m not sure I fancy the idea of him nibbling holes in my Invisibility Cloak all the way to the Hospital Wing. Maybe we weren’t quite together.”

“On three, then?” Sirius suggested. “One. Two. Three! ”

Another flash was followed by a resounding and despondant silence. “Now what?” Remus asked. He sounded – was it amused? Did Remus feel as Peter did about the other two’s perpetual pride in their Transfiguration skills? Or perhaps their insufferable pride, now down a notch or two?

“I guess it’s Pomfrey for you, mate,” Sirius said to the rat. “Someone’s going to hear you if you keep squealing like that, and then where will you be?”

“Where will we all be?” James asked. “You know nobody would think he dreamed up the idea to become an Animagus all on his own. We’d be prime suspects for having changed him ourselves as a joke, then not being able to put him back, too.”

“Madam Pomfrey never asks all that many questions,” Sirius said. “You know if she did Snivelly would have been expelled ages ago.”

“We could take him there.” Remus sounded entirely calm Peter realized he was sitting on his own bed watching the little rodeo from a safe distance. “But if you do, I think you should grab his cloak first.”

“Wrapping his nibbly teeth in his own things. Good idea,” James said briskly.

“Hogwarts is cold.” The springs of Remus’ bed squealed, and his voice grew clearer as he approached the wardrobe. “We wouldn’t want to give poor Madam Pomfrey a rat with a cold to try to change back into…” Surprisingly, he whipped the door open and left Peter blinking in the sudden increase in light. “… dear old Peter.”

There was a squawk of indignation from Sirius and James that nearly drowned out the rat’s protests. Perhaps the joke had gone far enough at that. Peter pointed his wand at the poor tied animal on his bed and said, “Silencio!” rather than explain himself.

“You sniggered too much,” Remus told him.

“Well…” Peter looked around at his friends. “It was pretty funny, watching you through the crack.”

Sirius looked at the floor, his shoulders squaring. Peter braced himself for a flare of temper. James stared at Peter for a long minute, then burst into laughter. “Nice one,” he gasped after a moment. “Very well done, I say.”

Sirius kicked his foot. “James, my friend, we have been had. Had, I tell you. The master pranksters of Hogwarts have been pranked. Our room has been defiled and our friendship and generosity abused. Our treasonous little chum has made fools of us. Have you no better response than to lie there giggling on the floor like a big girl’s blouse?”

James wiped his eyes, looking up. “Not while he’s standing there expecting it, I don’t.”

“Ah.”

Remus was grinning. That made it safe to grin back. “Good job saving me from myself, you lot. I do appreciate that you didn’t just let rat-Peter walk off to Charms, you know. Flitwick might have noticed that.”

“Probably,” Remus commented. For some reason that set James off all over again. Sirius stood over his gasping friend for a long moment, then let his shoulders relax as his head fell into a nod.

“Pretty good,” he said. “Now, what should we do with the thing?”

James gathered himself up and sat against the side of the bed with his feet out. “I say we take Peter’s clothes off the beast, convince it to act like a rat again, and set it loose in the dungeons near Slytherin.”

“Same size?” Sirius asked, though the answer was perfectly clear. “Let’s. By the way, how did you get the thing to lie around and read?” His glance up was suddenly sharp.

Peter shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. “Another charm. It’s all in the library.” And that was true. Imperius was basically Charmlike, and he really had learned it in the library. Still, he knew Sirius wouldn’t approve.

“Charms. We really should go to Charms,” James said from the floor.

“Oh, let’s skive off. It’s nothing new, just old spells nonverbally again.” Sirius grinned and barked a laugh. “We have a giant rat to play with.”