Chapter 11: Chapter - 11 :Griveance
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When Harry left the Great Hall with Scabbers, he passed himself on his way back in and gave his other self a jaunty wave. The other him went back in to sit with his friends and finish having breakfast, while the present Harry went to catch a floo ride, when he caught sight of McGonagall out of the corner of his eye, and sensing in her an opportune moment, rushed over to intercept the Professor before she made it to the Great Hall for her own breakfast.
She caught his approach out of the side of her eye and turned to meet him. "Ah, Mister Potter, was there something you wanted? If so, could it be discussed while I'm having breakfast? I wouldn't want to miss it, and my day is rather full."
Harry hurriedly shook his head. "No, Professor McGonagall. I couldn't think of food at the same time as this. Ron started a fight about how his rat and my cat didn't get along, so I bought his rat to stop fights from forming. Now, I know about a 'one pet per wizard' rule, and frankly I care for my cat a great deal more than anyone ever could for Scabbers. He's useless and lazy. So, I was wondering if you knew of a charm that could put him down painlessly?"
McGonagall looked at him with pinched lips. "You know, you could simply send the animal home to your relatives to keep for you."
"Accounting, Professor McGonagall. Cost for benefit." Harry corrected in a prim tone of his own, rather closely resembling Hermione. "Scabbers offers no powers, useful abilities or playful enjoyment, in fact he's so lazy he rarely wakes up. I have no affection towards him, and rats pee over every surface they cross - it's how they navigate, by smelling for their own urine trails. Frankly, it's gross. He's not worth the cost to feed and care for. But it was worth the galleons to save my friendship with Ron."
"Then I suggest you give the animal away, or let it go free," McGonagall primly declared in tones of disapproval, before turning her back and walking off, having nonverbally declared the conversation over.
Harry had a moment when he could see himself pressing the issue. In fact the appropriate words sprang to mind. He could just say, 'Oh, well I guess I'll try this, then, Diffindo!' and cast a Cutting Curse, carefully aiming it between the cage bars.
But he could already see where that would go.
Scabbers would explode into energy, trying to evade the curse (Peter was already terrified, having listened to Harry's conversation with McGonagall). So he might have to cast it several times, shaking the cage as he did so to tumble Scabbers back into the spell's path.
Professor McGonagall would turn around in shock at the sound of the spell, mouth open to deliver a sharp reprimand, and perhaps take House points. If his first spell missed she'd take the rat away, deliver several sharp and stinging reprimands, along with the punishments of House points and a detention or two, and then she would let Scabbers go free out in the forest somewhere, leaving Peter free to go his own way and get up to trouble.
Not acceptable.
On the other hand, supposing he hit, the cage would burst open to reveal Peter Pettigrew, thought dead, who would be trying to staunch the flow of blood out of his stomach, or someplace.
Even if Harry stunned the man to stop him from telling a string of lies to cast his surprising survival in a good light, McGonagall would see him as an old friend returned, squash any of Harry's objections (like she had many times before), and see to it that Peter went to the Hospital Wing, where he'd be put under the best of care by Poppy. And either he would be treated as a hero and welcomed back into the land of the living, or he'd escape to continue hiding out, or going about whatever foul misdeeds he wanted.
Whatever Harry tried would not be listened to, because he was a kid, and none of them had ever listened to him before. So he elected not to go down that path. Instead, he shot McGonagall a shy and disarming grin. "I'm sorry. No one ever taught me how to deal with pets."
He was about to go on, but the professor interrupted him, "You said you had a cat this year? What happened to Hedwig?" she asked in a concerned voice.
Harry gave her the look of a child eager to explain its good idea. "Oh! She is staying with Hermione's parents this year! I figure, I only use her for sending mail during the summer, and if I need to do so at school I can always use a school owl. But, this way they can send their daughter packages and letters without waiting for her to send them something first! Hermione can always use school owls to send mail to her parents, but until now they couldn't start a contact if she got busy with schoolwork or forgot, or whatever. Now they can surprise her, if they want to."
The Transfiguration teacher softened slightly at this explanation.
Harry gave a bright and deliberately charming little shrug, hefting Scabbers in his cage. "Anyway, I'd better go off and get this thing registered, and its powers examined, so that way whoever gets it will know what it can do. With your permission, Professor?"
The professor considered it a moment before sharply nodding, leading him at a brisk pace back to her office. As they did so, Harry muttered, just low enough for her to hear, but as if talking to himself, "Although why anyone would want... I mean, rats pee over EVERYTHING! Even your hands if you pick them up! Which, if you think about it, Ron was handling him all of the time, and NEVER washed his hands before eating, and didn't use utensils much, just grabbing things to put on his plate or into his mouth..."
The professor turned slightly green, but pretended not to hear.
McGonagall led him to her office and opened up the floo, sending him off with a sharp, "Make sure you are back in time for your classes, Mister Potter!"
He nodded and disappeared into the fire, with a sharp call of, Ministry of Magic! as his destination.
'That was rather well played,' Harry congratulated himself on a performance having accomplished his goals more than adequately as he spun through the magical transport system. By igniting McGonagall's fears of him destroying it, she was inclined to speed any alternate option. Giving the animal away was her own suggestion, but registering a beast so it could be certified harmless and not some concealed menace was a standard measure - and one that the Weasleys could never have afforded to take on an ordinary rat Percy had just found out in their garden.
So, rather than having had to sneak out of Hogwarts, McGonagall had sent him on his way herself, following a course of action she herself suggested - preparing papers for the rat so it could get another owner.
Arriving at the Ministry, Harry quickly ducked behind a potted plant and discretely spun himself back two hours, then used the intervening hours to start a number of legal procedures.
The whole Ministry was still in an uproar, which he shamefully used to its full advantage. They'd 'done him wrong' and were eager to be seen making things right, so he got special attention to all of his grievances.
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