I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

[alt_sally_anne]

I found a rat. Well Pansy did really, I suppose; Pyewacket brought it up to the dorm. Milli and Daphne weren't here, they were down in the common room, but Pansy hasn't wanted to be down there much.

He seemed really pleased with himself. Pyewacket, I mean. The rat's dazed but otherwise seems alright. It's a magical rat, not a common rat, I can tell because I made it a spot to sleep in my bed and it settled right down, it didn't try to run away like a regular rat would.

It must be someone else's pet. I'll try to figure out who to return it to in the morning, I guess. It's nice to pretend it's mine though, for now. Maybe the Strettons would let me have a rat, it really wouldn't be extra trouble for them, and Finnigan has an owl so I think halfbloods in fostering MUST be allowed to have pets if their foster parents give permission.

Comments

[alt_ron]

Hey. Did you see what Sandoval just wrote?

I think I know where your rat came from. It's one of Carrow's!

[alt_sally_anne]

It is. I think you're right.

[alt_ron]

Has it done anything queer yet?

Tried to eat you alive or anything?

[alt_sally_anne]

Well he licked my ear while he was sitting on my shoulder. Maybe he was testing me out to see if I tasted good?

I got him a biscuit from down in the common room, he seemed to like that pretty well.

[alt_ron]

Heh.

Sandoval just told Percy he couldn't bait the rats with cockroach clusters cause they're on a special diet for the project or something. So you've probably messed him up for being in the experiment. I think means you should definitely keep him.

[alt_sally_anne]

I saw that too.

It was meant to be!

[alt_sally_anne]

I wish I could remember the exact regulations about halfbloods and familiars.

My family DEFINITELY couldn't keep them. I wish I could remember if there's an explicit exception made for halfbloods in fostering or if they're just not enforcing the rules on Finnigan because his foster father is important. I can look it up tomorrow in the library but the Ministry's book of regulations for halfbloods and blood-traitor families is not the sort of thing that gets left lying around in Slytherin House.

[alt_sally_anne]

Because I think the Strettons would let me keep him if I told him he was a gift from Harry. I just need to make sure Harry will back me up, which means

well I don't THINK he'll care that I'm keeping a rat from Carrow's experiment. He doesn't like Carrow any more than anyone else does. But I'd have to tell him now, I think, so that he could back up my story if he had to. Or at least before I went to the Strettons for the summer.

[alt_ron]

Would you even have to tell them, really? I mean, it's just a rat and that's not very big. You could sneak pealings and scraps from the kitchen when they make you cook, right? They might not ever find out.

[alt_sally_anne]

Maybe you're right.

I want to be able to pretend I got him over the summer, though, next year. It's going to be hard to keep him hidden from Milli and Daphne.

[alt_ron]

Well, they'd believe you found him while you were at the Strettons.

Um. D'you think you could get Stretton--Jeremy, I mean--to say it's his if his parents find out and get upset? And if they don't find out, then he wouldn't have to do anything.

I mean, it doesn't seem like he'd want to help Sandoval get her rats back.

[alt_sally_anne]

That's not a bad idea. He can't stand Sandoval.

[alt_sally_anne]

He's curled up in my lap now. No one's seen him but me and Pansy.

Everyone's going to be looking for the lost rats. I can't

It's going to be hard to keep him hidden but I really don't want to give him back to Carrow.

[alt_ron]

Can you transfigure him? Into a hairbrush or something.

[alt_sally_anne]

That's a thought. It wouldn't last, though, not for long enough.

It might keep people finding him when they're first looking, though.

[alt_sally_anne]

Right now I'm enjoying petting him, though. He's got a very soft head.

[alt_ron]

Have you named him yet?

[alt_sally_anne]

No, because I was trying not to get too attached in case they found him and took him back to Sandoval.

Once you name an animal it's yours and it would be MUCH worse if Sandoval had MY rat.

Do you have any ideas for names, though?

[alt_ron]

If I had a rat, I'd call it something like Marlowe the Magnificent.

Well, that was the name of the rat in a book we had when I was small.

Does he look like a Marlowe?

Or d'you it might be an Esther? or a Hildegard?

[alt_sally_anne]

Hmm. Definitely a Marlowe and not an Esther. You know, rats have really big

Marlowe's not a bad name. I was thinking Gerard but he looks more like a Marlowe.

[alt_neville]

Well, I do hope you get to keep him. Any rat that escapes from Professor Carrow's clutches deserves the best possible chance.

I am trying to think of names of famous people who have escaped, say from prison. There's Sebastian the Stalwart, you know. From the comic book, The Alchemical Adventures? The one who wriggled out of the prison sewers. The story's mad, but it's fun. Don't know if you ever read that one.

[alt_sally_anne]

I've hardly seen any comics, actually, so I don't know that one. But escaped prisoners are a good idea and Sebastian's not a bad name.

[alt_ron]

Oh, that's a really wizard comic. And Sebastian would be a great name for your rat.