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kamala amala
I remembered *offhand* how many flights of stairs there are between the Gryffindor Common Room and the Prefects' Bathroom . . .
This Mary-Sue challenge ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
acadine posted is completely addictive, and it doesn't help various people on my friendslist posting Dr. Who Crossovers of terrible beauty and weirdly compelling Pit of Voles archetypes.
You have awakened something ancient and horrible, something better left asleep.
Chapter One: Several BeginningsHermione persisted in blaming the whole mess on Ron. Ron blamed it on Crookshanks. Crookshanks, the one time Hagrid managed to get him to discuss the matter, blamed it on "that sexy tabby pussy with the square frames around her eyes," and they unanimously decided not to press him for details.
They were all right, of course. But it was really nobody's fault, except possibly Peter Pettigrew's. Ron had kept him as a pet rat named Scabbers for three years without knowing that he was really an Animagus, a wizard able to transform into an animal at will, and a Death Eater to boot. Ever since then he'd had a mental block about working with rats in magic, which was perfectly understandable, of course.
"All the same," said Hermione, as they pored over their transfiguration textbooks in the common room that night, "Turning rats into teacups is on the NEWTs curriculum, Ron. I don't think they'll accept that story as an excuse, since the Minister of Magic himself still denies it was true."
"I know that, Hermione," Ron answered crossly. "But I don't think I'm going to learn it by reading more theory. I need to practice on a real rat."
"We don't have a rat, Ron. And McGonagall won't let you use the practice rats anymore after you turned that one into a Faberge egg and sat on it."
"We could catch some," Ron suggested. "I'll bet there's loads of rats running loose in this castle, especially now that the basilisk is gone." He stood up hopefully, shoving the book off his lap, but Hermione glared him back into the seat.
"I don't really think that's smart, Ron," she said. "You can't guarantee it would be just a stray rat, not at Hogwarts. What if you accidentally caught someone's pet? Or worse. Anyway, remember what happened with your last rat."
"I do know what happened with my last rat. That's why I need more practice."
"I think you're just drawing this out because you like turning all those poor animals into horrid things and leaving them stuck halfway."
Ron turned red, but didn't deny it. "Anyway, what would the chances be of something like that happening twice? No, that was a rhetorical question, Hermione, don't pull out your arithmancy notes. Please. Look, if you're so worried we can get them vetted by Crookshanks first--"
At the sound of his name Crookshanks interrupted them with an oddly muffled purr, followed by frantic squeaking noises. They looked down to see him standing at their feet, holding by the scruff of its neck a frightened rat, struggling weakly.
"Crookshanks!" said Hermione sternly. She took the rat from him and held it carefully in her lap, where it promptly emptied its bladder and began to desperately tremble.
Ron grinned. "Look! He knew we needed a rat, and brought us one! Good boy, Crookshanks!"
Crookshanks gave a mewping purr in their general direction and curled up in front of the fire.
"C'mon then," said Ron, "Put it on the table so I can get a good aim."
"Ron," Hermione said warningly, dabbing at her robe with a handkerchief with one hand and coralling the rat with the other.
"What, Hermione? I needed a rat for practice, and look who turns up! It's perfect! It even looks sorta like Scabbers!"
"I don't know if that's a good thing, Ron."
"Hermione. Would Crookshanks have given it to us if there was something wrong with it? Don't you trust your own cat?"
"Well," she said, visibly weakening. "All right. But don't blame me if--"
"I won't, I promise," he said.
She gave him a doubting look, but put the rat carefully on the table, where it was apparently too scared to run off. "Start with something easier, then. Try turning its fur yellow."
"Right," said Ron. He pointed his wand and screwed up his face in concentration. Swish and flick-- "Xanthium!"
The rat sprouted a collar of daisy petals around its neck and its tail turned green.
"Really, Ron," said Hermione. "You can't let your mind wander like that. Stand away and I'll turn it back."
They had attracted the attention of the few other students in the common room, and several of them, especially the others in their year who had seen Ron's more spectacular failures in Professor McGonagall's class, gathered around to watch.
But they certainly weren't expecting what happened when Hermione pointed her wand at the rat and said, very clearly, "Primus!**"
A flash of blue-white light sped from her wand. The rat was thrown up into midair, and began squealing, an awful sound which as its body twisted madly in midair blended down into a very human scream. The rat hit the tabletop hard, there was another flash of light, and the rat transformed into a naked human girl, crouched trembling on the table.
Everyone froze. Neville covered his eyes. Ron, pausing only a second, trained his wand steadily on the strange girl and yelled for someone to get Professor McGonagall, now!
The girl cowered away from them, making a inhuman high keening noise, her arms curled awkwardly up against her face as her strange blue eyes flitted nervously around the circle, her tangled blond hair falling in her face. Hermione, shaking slightly, didn't take her eyes off her. Ron was backing slowly away. Finally he broke the silence, asking, "What spell did you do, Hermione?"
"It was only Primus," she said. "It's supposed to return a transfigured object to its original state, but nothing else. Which means that either I did something really wrong--"
"Or she was human to begin with," Ron finished grimly. "Who are you? Why are you sneaking around Hogwarts?" he asked, and jabbed his wand harshly toward her.
The girl squealed and jumped back, losing her balance and falling off the table.
"Oh for heaven's sake!" said Parvati, stepping forward and grabbing somebody's spare cloak, which she efficiently wrapped around the girl. "Don't listen to the mean man, dear," she added calmingly. "Nobody's going to hurt you. Right?" she added, glaring around. Everybody, even Ron, automatically nodded. "See? Now calm down. You'll be fine. What's your name? Your name. Name
The girl stopped trembling in Parvati's arms, her eyes still very wide. Finally she looked back at Parvati and opened her mouth, then closed it and folded her arms over her head.
Parvati looked up at Lavender. Lavender looked at Hermione. Hermione started to say something, then shrugged, and turned with relief to the sound of the Fat Lady letting Dennis and Professor McGonagall into the common room.
"What is going on here?" she asked. "Mr. Creevey has just told me some wild story about Miss Granger turning a rat into a human being."
Hermione silently moved aside, directing McGonagall's gaze to where Parvati and the strange girl still crouched together on the floor. The girl made an inarticulate sound and buried her face in Parvati's shoulder. Parvati patted her on the back, while the professor tried in vain to get her voice back.
Finally, she said "Perhaps you could tell me the whole story, Miss Granger."
"Right," said Hermione, gulping air. "Ron and I were working on turning rats into teacups for our NEWTs, and he wanted to practice on a real rat, so when Crookshanks-- my cat-- brought us one, he tried transfiguring it. But he made a mistake," she shot him a glare before he said anything, "and when I did the Primus charm to change it back, it transformed into her instead. Honestly, Professor," she added, "That's all we did."
"I believe you," McGonagall said, then sighed. "Trust you and Mr. Weasley to find trouble by revising for NEWTs. Has she any explanation for how she came arrive so dramatically?"
Parvati looked down at her charge, then up again. "Please, Professor, I don't think she can talk."
The girl echoed Parvati with a pleading gaze at the professor. "That's-- perfectly normal," she said, but she looked worried. "If a person is trapped in animal form for too long, they're apt to forget some of what being human means. If that's the problem, no matter who she is she's unlikely to be a danger to anyone until she recovers. What she needs now is rest and care and being around people who will talk to her and treat her like a person and help her remember how to have a human body. Miss Patil, she seems comfortable with you; would you be willing to take care of her for tonight? The Head Girl will see the house elves put an extra bed in your tower."
"Of course, Professor," Parvati beamed. "I'll take great care of her."
"I'll help," added Lavender, coming forward.
Hermione made a tsk noise in her teeth. "Professor, don't you think we should talk to the Headmaster before we do anything else?"
McGonagall gave her a sardonic look. "Believe me, Miss Granger, I will like nothing more than to place this whole mess in Headmaster Dumbledore's lap the second I can. Unfortunately he is busy outside the school at the moment. On Order business."
The students who were in on the Order of the Phoenix nodded knowingly at that. "He should be back by lunchtime tomorrow. Perhaps we can attempt some investigation tomorrow. Meanwhile," McGonagall continued, "the best we can do for her is try to help her remember how to be human, and you children can do a better job at that than I. Call me immediately if anything changes, of course."
"Of course, Professor," Lavender replied.
"Very well," she said. "It is after 11 o'clock. Lavender, Parvati, I leave this in your hands. Hermione? I expect the rest of you to be in bed within the hour. Good night."
When she was gone Hermione brushed off her robes and Head Girl badge and said. "Right, then. You all heard the professor. Get up to your rooms; they hardly need you staring at her." She started waving the crowd up the staircases, and they reluctantly went, with much looking back and whispering.
When the common room was emptied except for the three seventh-years and the stranger, Hermione turned and gave them an odd pitying look. "If you'd like to . . . wash her up a bit or something, the password to the prefects' bath is 'lauryl sulphate.' I'm going to bed."
*This line is unrepentantly stolen from "Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Rat" by Maya. But you all knew that, because you've read it already, right?
**The Primus charm is equally unrepentantly stolen from the Wolfie Twins' Call of the Wild, which you have, of course, also read, yes?
That part was written last spring and newly revised. The all-new end of chapter 1 is here:
( Rated R for three naked girls in a tub, language, and, um, mpreg. )
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And you managed to include femslash and mpreg, too.
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Er, thank you! I'm just kinda going with it. Rats are awesome.
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