First Night Back (Victoria)

Derek was happy to be back at Hogwarts, and no longer the youngest and bottom of the pecking order. He was probably still one of the smallest though, which sucked a lot, because he wanted to be big and strong and tall with big muscles, not little and skinny. At least he still had his stunning good looks which made the girls go crazy. Home had been fun and spending time with Trev and his parents was great, but he loved the school and had often stared at the huge castle in the distance from his Hogsmeade home. He’d probably miss home to start with, but he’d get over it. Next year he could visit home whenever he wanted anyway.

After the feast, he sauntered up the stairs to the Common Room, exhausted already. The answer to the riddle was easy - they must be going easy on them, since it was the start of the year. “A hat,” he muttered, before making his way in and taking a seat. It was fairly empty at the minute, but soon people would be coming back from the feast and it would be all noisy and busy and hustly and bustly.

He took out a book, his cool new second-year textbook for Transfiguration. Better get some studying done now, so he could start as top of the class and stay there throughout the year. Derek could be competitive sometimes, even when nobody else was being competitive with him, and school was always one of those times. Not only could he do well in exams and build a bright future for himself, he could beat everyone else and show them how it was DONE. He’d already read through half of the majority of his new textbooks, so he was prepared.

The spells didn’t look too hard. He was sure he could manage most of them with a little bit of practice. Because there was no point just reading through the spells, he took out his wand for the first time in ages and ages, held his Potions book in his hand and said, “Snufflifors!”. It turned the book into a tiny mouse and he laughed in triumph. Aw, what a cute little mouse. He would have to change it back soon because he needed the book, but for now it wouldn’t do any harm to play with the mouse, Mr Snuffly!

Laying on her bed with her hands and feet spread apart and her head buried deep within a line of pillows, Victoria was happy to be back. She had already unpacked and arranged her room just as she did every year. Her clothes were neatly placed in the closet on her right, a pile of books were stacked on her desk and her cat Sophie was silently sleeping on the bed next to her. The Ravenclaw had thought about getting an owl this year, seeing how it would make sending and receiving letters from her parents a whole lot easier. But then Hogwarts did have a rule about pets - only one per student. And she couldn't leave Sophie behind, not after spending four years with her in this place. It was home for them both.

Since it was her first day back, she decided to take a nap and just lounge about until she felt like getting up. There wasn't anything better to do anyway. Closing her eyes, Victoria slowly drifted to sleep until a loud, high pitched noise had woken her up. Raising her head, she saw her cat anxiously run towards the door and meow loudly. "Oh where are you going!", she asked rolling her eyes and placing her head back onto the soft pillow. She was considering just going back to sleep and ignoring the whole thing. But then imagines of her cat breaking Ravenclaw symbols and scaring the little first years came to her mind. If Sophie was trained at all, this wouldn't be a problem. But Victoria didn't have the heart to scold her, she was just too cute to be yelled at.

"I am coming...", she muttered as she rolled out of bed and followed her cat downstairs. She had probably heard an owl fly by or a student knock over something. Her cat was annoyingly sensitive to sudden movements and noise. Whenever she saw a fly she would stalk and prey upon it as if she was a lion of some sorts. Victoria picked up her wand as she had a feeling that she would need it. 

As soon as she reached the common room, Victoria saw a young Ravenclaw boy and what was presumably his pet rat. Oh no, this wasn't going to end well. "Sophie!", she yelled as she ran after her cat. "I am so sorry. I promise she is harmless. She wouldn't actually eat your rat - just play with it", Victoria quickly apologized to the boy. While her cat wasn't a fan on eating her pray, that didn't mean she wasn't a fan of killing them. But she wasn't going to tell this to the boy in front of her. "I'm Victoria", she introduced herself as Sophie was safely restrained in her arms.

What could he name this mouse? How about Betsy? Yes, this was Betsy the mouse. But Derek felt like naming her wasn’t a good idea. He would only get too attached to this mouse who he wasn’t even sure was real and not some sort of weird magic illusion. And soon would come the time to turn her back into his Potions textbook, which would only be more tragic and depressing if he had grown to care for this tiny creature. Still, he ended up letting Betsy run up his arm and back down again. Man, he really needed a mouse. But he had an owl. And he didn’t know if mice were allowed at Hogwarts, with all those cats. Then again, rats were.

THINKING of cats, there was one! And it was running towards Betsy. Oh no. By the time he was thinking properly again, that nice fluffy cat was trying to viciously attack Betsy. He supposed this was why Potions books should stay books rather than mice. But he was so fond of Betsy. Realising then he had got lost in thought, he lifted the mouse up to stop the cat getting her and eating her alive. A pretty older girl quickly followed the cat. He smiled apologetically at her. It was basic knowledge that cats didn’t like mice. And despite knowing about all the cats here, he was playing with this mouse.

Derek shook his head when she apologised. “My fault!” he announced. “And… er, she’s a mouse. Who used to be a Potions book. Crazy, magic is.” He grinned. “I like your cat, by the way.” The cat reminded him of that girl Deirdre’s cat. Except that cat was a vicious murderer who he was sure would have clawed him to death if it got the chance. But most cats were cute despite their faults.

“I’m Derek! Nice to meet you, Victoria!” He seemed to be great at making friends much older than him. True, he had Lily and maybe Matthew, but then there were all those hundreds of people he’d befriended in older years. Including Victoria, now. Who would almost certainly be one of his best friends, because he was amazing. He glanced at Betsy sadly. He liked her, but she had never had a chance in this cold, hard world that she had poofed into. Without a second thought, he pointed his wand at her and muttered the counter-spell. Ah, now he had that boring book back.

"Oh!", said Victoria surprised about the boy's response. So it wasn't a real rat, or a mouse, whatever. She never knew the difference between the two. Both were gross little animals that could hide in tiny holes and infest your house. How on earth could that be called a pet was beyond her, but still some students brought them to Hogwarts. For some reason the fact that the mouse wasn't actually real but rather a product of a spell didn't change her opinion. It was still gross looking. "Hmm... I'm not sure what would happen if my cat did eat it", Victoria said thinking out loud. 

Would it just stay a mouse? Or maybe poison her cat? Or maybe turn into a book while she was killing it! Who knew. But common sense told her that she shouldn't test her luck on such things. "I will just keep her away from it, I promise", she said with a chuckle, hoping Sophie wouldn't tear up his mouse - well his book. "But that's quite impressive. You're good at transfiguration. Did you use Snufflifors?", Victoria asked curiously. She remembered using this spell in Transfiguration class last year when the whole classroom was crawling with little mice. It was her worst nightmare come true.

"Oh thanks! Her name is Sophie, she is a Siamese cat", she explained as she still held her cat securely in her arms. "My parents got her for me as a gift when I started school. I thought about picking an owl but cats are much more fun". In her mind at least. "Nice to meet you Derek" she finally said with a polite smile. She had probably seen him before, maybe in the common room or in the Great Hall. But Victoria was very bad with remembering faces. She should probably put more effort into noticing the people around her, but oh well.

Derek wasn’t entirely sure what a magic, fake mouse really was. Did it actually, technically exist? Obviously poor Betsy would never fit in with other mice, being a unique misfit. But how WAS she a unique misfit? Oh well, she didn’t exist anymore, so it didn’t much matter. “I imagine he’d probably just get quite bad indigestion,” he nodded. “I don’t think it would result in anything like death, but I’d definitely keep her away from genetic mutation mice, anyway.” It was always best to be on the safe side. Wait - no it wasn’t. If he thought life mottos were cool, his would be to live dangerously and get as close to serious danger as possible without dying.

“Thank you,” he beamed. He liked Transfiguration. Charms was his favourite, but he was probably just amazing at all spellwork, whatever the effects were. Practice made perfect. Or in his case, reading the theory over and over again because he couldn’t use magic when he wasn’t at school. Which sucked. “Yeah, it’s a fun spell!” Even if it did ultimately result in killing a mouse, after you had given it life and the tiniest chance of a real future. Maybe he was just being negative?

Sophie was cute. “That’s cool! I wanted a cat, but my mum’s allergic.” He didn’t get anything in the end. They hadn’t really had much money to spare on a pet for him at the time, but he was pretty sure he’d be getting one next summer. Owl, most likely. “How old’s Sophie?” he asked casually. For the sake of having conversation. And not being socially awkward, like his brother called him. But Trev was just a kid, he didn’t know anything. Derek wasn't at all awkward in social situations.