Thank you everybody that reviewed! Remember, this is a whole semester long
experiment so its going to be awhile before Harry changes his mice back.
However Hermione overachiever that she is is going to make a break through
soon.
Harry rolled over and yawned. He blinked one sleepy eye open and saw a bit of wire gleaming beyond the foot of his bed between the curtains.
He sat up with a start and pulled the curtain away, certain he would be able to tell which mouse was real. No such luck. Nothing had happened. They were supposed to be spotted loud colors. Instead, the mice were still plain white mice.
Harry sighed and got up. Ron was still asleep. His mice hadn't changed either. Harry dumped a little more food into the cage to top off what he gave them last night.
It looked like Vernon hadn't eaten anything.
"I am not going to have a mouse that's a picky eater!" Harry informed it. It sat in the corner and quivered. He sighed annoyed. "Fine, I'll bring you some toast or something. Don't die on me." The other mouse was happily burying the extra food in all the paper in the cage like a normal mouse.
Harry stumbled down the stairs into the common room and dropped his book bag on the table. He briefly thought about skipping breakfast and going back to bed when Herminione bounded down the stairs.
She was skipping in happiness. "Oh it worked!" She exclaimed. "What? No it didn't." Harry said. "Not on mine and Ron's mice."
"Ron and I." She corrected him automatically. "What do you mean? My mice are flashing quite brightly. The one in cage 1 is the real person."
"I don't know. I just didn't work for our mice." Harry said glumly as Ron came down the stairs and they all went to breakfast.
At that very moment Severus Snape was sitting in his own chambers next to the window reading essays written for the 'Advanced Flying Techniques' class for sixth and seventh years.
"Severus, why are you reading my homework?" Kristy asked as she arranged her hair in the short spiky style she preferred when she was teaching. It was easier to keep neat then a bun.
He snorted. "Entertainment. Listen to this," He started to read from the essay in his hand. "To counteract the north wind during a Quiddich match cast the Blokantium charm and then- hey!"
"These essays are none of your business. Especially since they are not your students." She huffed at him as she lifted the stack of scrolls up and marched into her office.
"You can read my potions essays." He offered her grandly.
"No! I've seen some of them, I don't fancy reading about the seventeen uses of snail's eyes as entertainment." Kristy Hooch-Snape shouted at him as she made room for the essays on her crowded desk. It sounded like a stack of papers just hit the floor. The profanity Kristy uttered confirmed it.
Snape smiled a quiet little smile to himself. Who knew being married would be so much fun? Certainly not Lucias Malfoy. He wasn't married when he introduced Snape to Lord Voldemort. As quick as that his thoughts drifted away from listening to Kristy putter about in the next room to that fateful night.
"Come on Severus, he's very powerful." Lucias had bothered him, "I'm sure whatever it is that plagues poor Kristy he can cure."
So, like a trusting fool he had gone with him to his first meeting with Death Eaters. The things he saw there had sickened him but Lucias had told the truth.
This wizard styling himself 'Lord Voldemort' was quite powerful.
"Come forth Severus Snape." Voldemort had ordered him.
Almost without knowing what he was doing, Snape stepped out of the circle from where he was standing beside Lucias to the center.
"I know all, Severus Snape." Voldemort had told him, in that dry slimy voice. "I know of the nightmares that will forever plague your wife."
"How do you-" Snape started to ask but Voldemort cut him off.
"I know all. Join with me and I can show you." Voldemort extended his hand. Like a fool, Severus took it.
That night he received the Dark Mark. That night he became an outcast to wizarding society. He was quite foolish. For a while he labored under the impression that if he brewed one more potion, murdered one more person, then Lord Voldemort would lift the curse from Kristy, or show him how to do it.
'I was foolish,' Snape thought bitterly as he relived that time. 'So foolish.' Kristy broke into his mood. "Severus? Are we going to breakfast or not?" She asked, tapping her foot by the door impatiently.
"Course." Smoothly, he rose to his feet with no hint of what he'd been thinking reveled on his face.
At the Gryffindor table a girl with bushy brown hair pondered the problem of why Ron and Harry's mice didn't flash colors.
"I've got it!" She suddenly shouted. "I know why the spell only worked on my mice!"
"Wrf?" Ron asked around a mouthful of toast.
"He said that each mouse only had one spell that could transform it back! So there must be some kind of rotating charm on all the test mice to be sure no spell works twice." Hermione pondered.
"So it only worked on your mice because you did the spell?" Harry summed it up.
"Yeah, basically. Oh dear, this means that the more people are changed back, the fewer spells there are to try." The girl announced darkly. "Oh, this is a hard experiment."
Neville, who was sitting on the other side of Ron, gulped loudly. "Oh dear." He said mournfully into his cereal.
Classes that day went by in a blur. That evening Hermione was still happily sequestered in the library so Ron and Harry were playing with their mice.
"They need names. Even if two are violent criminals and already have names." Ron said as he watched his mice glumly.
"I already named this one, he's Vernon." Harry picked up Vernon's cage and held it eye level. He had eaten a little of the toast Harry poked in there after lunch. Right now the mouse was sitting in the farthest corner of the cage, glaring at Harry.
Suddenly it jumped sideways and nipped at his fingers. "Hey!" Harry shouted as he nearly dropped the cage. "Don't do that!"
"Isn't Vernon your uncle's name?" Ron asked absently as he let one of his mice run up and down his shoulder.
"Yeah, see how fat he is? And the beady eyes? Really this mouse looks like him. Except he's not fuzzy. And Dudley's the one with the tail." Harry chuckled at that memory.
Ron grabbed his mouse off his shoulder. "I'll call the tamer one Josie." He fastened Josie into her cage and bent over to stare at the other mouse.
"This one's mean, tries to nip at me every chance she gets. What's a mean sounding girls name?"
Harry bent over to study the mouse in question. It was glaring regally around the cage and for a mouse, actually managed to look…prissy?
"I don't really know any mean girl's names. Maybe someone in Slytherin?" They pondered the problem.
"I got one!" Ron was inspired, "how about Pansy? She's always hanging after Malfoy."
"No, how about another flower name?" Harry grimly smiled, "Petunia after my aunt."
Ron stuck his finger by the wire of Petunia's cage, she leapt from her position to try and bit him. Harry watched his friend bait the mouse for several minutes. Ron would move his hand around the cage and Petunia was working herself into a frenzy trying to get him.
Harry leaned back and studied the creature. She had a really long neck for a mouse he thought idly.
A/N: RL and midterms have reared up. I'll try to have the next part up in two weeks. In the next chapter Harry going to start trying out spells.
Harry rolled over and yawned. He blinked one sleepy eye open and saw a bit of wire gleaming beyond the foot of his bed between the curtains.
He sat up with a start and pulled the curtain away, certain he would be able to tell which mouse was real. No such luck. Nothing had happened. They were supposed to be spotted loud colors. Instead, the mice were still plain white mice.
Harry sighed and got up. Ron was still asleep. His mice hadn't changed either. Harry dumped a little more food into the cage to top off what he gave them last night.
It looked like Vernon hadn't eaten anything.
"I am not going to have a mouse that's a picky eater!" Harry informed it. It sat in the corner and quivered. He sighed annoyed. "Fine, I'll bring you some toast or something. Don't die on me." The other mouse was happily burying the extra food in all the paper in the cage like a normal mouse.
Harry stumbled down the stairs into the common room and dropped his book bag on the table. He briefly thought about skipping breakfast and going back to bed when Herminione bounded down the stairs.
She was skipping in happiness. "Oh it worked!" She exclaimed. "What? No it didn't." Harry said. "Not on mine and Ron's mice."
"Ron and I." She corrected him automatically. "What do you mean? My mice are flashing quite brightly. The one in cage 1 is the real person."
"I don't know. I just didn't work for our mice." Harry said glumly as Ron came down the stairs and they all went to breakfast.
At that very moment Severus Snape was sitting in his own chambers next to the window reading essays written for the 'Advanced Flying Techniques' class for sixth and seventh years.
"Severus, why are you reading my homework?" Kristy asked as she arranged her hair in the short spiky style she preferred when she was teaching. It was easier to keep neat then a bun.
He snorted. "Entertainment. Listen to this," He started to read from the essay in his hand. "To counteract the north wind during a Quiddich match cast the Blokantium charm and then- hey!"
"These essays are none of your business. Especially since they are not your students." She huffed at him as she lifted the stack of scrolls up and marched into her office.
"You can read my potions essays." He offered her grandly.
"No! I've seen some of them, I don't fancy reading about the seventeen uses of snail's eyes as entertainment." Kristy Hooch-Snape shouted at him as she made room for the essays on her crowded desk. It sounded like a stack of papers just hit the floor. The profanity Kristy uttered confirmed it.
Snape smiled a quiet little smile to himself. Who knew being married would be so much fun? Certainly not Lucias Malfoy. He wasn't married when he introduced Snape to Lord Voldemort. As quick as that his thoughts drifted away from listening to Kristy putter about in the next room to that fateful night.
"Come on Severus, he's very powerful." Lucias had bothered him, "I'm sure whatever it is that plagues poor Kristy he can cure."
So, like a trusting fool he had gone with him to his first meeting with Death Eaters. The things he saw there had sickened him but Lucias had told the truth.
This wizard styling himself 'Lord Voldemort' was quite powerful.
"Come forth Severus Snape." Voldemort had ordered him.
Almost without knowing what he was doing, Snape stepped out of the circle from where he was standing beside Lucias to the center.
"I know all, Severus Snape." Voldemort had told him, in that dry slimy voice. "I know of the nightmares that will forever plague your wife."
"How do you-" Snape started to ask but Voldemort cut him off.
"I know all. Join with me and I can show you." Voldemort extended his hand. Like a fool, Severus took it.
That night he received the Dark Mark. That night he became an outcast to wizarding society. He was quite foolish. For a while he labored under the impression that if he brewed one more potion, murdered one more person, then Lord Voldemort would lift the curse from Kristy, or show him how to do it.
'I was foolish,' Snape thought bitterly as he relived that time. 'So foolish.' Kristy broke into his mood. "Severus? Are we going to breakfast or not?" She asked, tapping her foot by the door impatiently.
"Course." Smoothly, he rose to his feet with no hint of what he'd been thinking reveled on his face.
At the Gryffindor table a girl with bushy brown hair pondered the problem of why Ron and Harry's mice didn't flash colors.
"I've got it!" She suddenly shouted. "I know why the spell only worked on my mice!"
"Wrf?" Ron asked around a mouthful of toast.
"He said that each mouse only had one spell that could transform it back! So there must be some kind of rotating charm on all the test mice to be sure no spell works twice." Hermione pondered.
"So it only worked on your mice because you did the spell?" Harry summed it up.
"Yeah, basically. Oh dear, this means that the more people are changed back, the fewer spells there are to try." The girl announced darkly. "Oh, this is a hard experiment."
Neville, who was sitting on the other side of Ron, gulped loudly. "Oh dear." He said mournfully into his cereal.
Classes that day went by in a blur. That evening Hermione was still happily sequestered in the library so Ron and Harry were playing with their mice.
"They need names. Even if two are violent criminals and already have names." Ron said as he watched his mice glumly.
"I already named this one, he's Vernon." Harry picked up Vernon's cage and held it eye level. He had eaten a little of the toast Harry poked in there after lunch. Right now the mouse was sitting in the farthest corner of the cage, glaring at Harry.
Suddenly it jumped sideways and nipped at his fingers. "Hey!" Harry shouted as he nearly dropped the cage. "Don't do that!"
"Isn't Vernon your uncle's name?" Ron asked absently as he let one of his mice run up and down his shoulder.
"Yeah, see how fat he is? And the beady eyes? Really this mouse looks like him. Except he's not fuzzy. And Dudley's the one with the tail." Harry chuckled at that memory.
Ron grabbed his mouse off his shoulder. "I'll call the tamer one Josie." He fastened Josie into her cage and bent over to stare at the other mouse.
"This one's mean, tries to nip at me every chance she gets. What's a mean sounding girls name?"
Harry bent over to study the mouse in question. It was glaring regally around the cage and for a mouse, actually managed to look…prissy?
"I don't really know any mean girl's names. Maybe someone in Slytherin?" They pondered the problem.
"I got one!" Ron was inspired, "how about Pansy? She's always hanging after Malfoy."
"No, how about another flower name?" Harry grimly smiled, "Petunia after my aunt."
Ron stuck his finger by the wire of Petunia's cage, she leapt from her position to try and bit him. Harry watched his friend bait the mouse for several minutes. Ron would move his hand around the cage and Petunia was working herself into a frenzy trying to get him.
Harry leaned back and studied the creature. She had a really long neck for a mouse he thought idly.
A/N: RL and midterms have reared up. I'll try to have the next part up in two weeks. In the next chapter Harry going to start trying out spells.