Ferret of the Tower

Stephanie planned to find somewhere quiet to study. Somewhere that did not involve her sister breathing down her neck or noise all around her. The fewer the distractions the more likely she would get on with her work. Daydreaming was still an issue but she thought she had it more or less in hand for the most part. The improvement in her marks proved it though there still was more room for improvement. It was just difficult for Stephanie to get motivated about it.

She walked up to the northeast tower, figuring that the unused classroom up there was probably the best one to use. With the Prefects room up there it was unlikely the more distracting elements of the school would choose this tower to cause havoc. What she hadn't counted on though was a ferret just a few feet from the door she wished to enter. "Shoo. Shoo." The ferret wouldn't budge. Actually it did. Toward her and Stephanie had her back up against the wall as it advanced.

Learning the vera verto spell in Transfiguration class didn't work out nearly as well as Malachi had hoped and found that his specimen often resembled more of the animal it began as than as a drinking goblet. In fact, most of the time, the goblet was still able to move around and Kai worried that he might be hurting the small animal. He wanted to perfect the spell, so that he could be guaranteed that no creature would be harmed in the transformation of a creature to a glass performed by him and, given permission to do so by the professor, he was allowed to borrow one of the small animals they practiced on.

Malachi had brought the practice ferret with him in it's carrying cage to an abandoned classroom to give it a try. He unlocked the carrying cage and stuck his hand in, grabbing the ferret as carefully as he could, and then lifted the small weasel out. However, the ferret was alarmed and squirmed in Kai's grasp a bit before sinking it's teeth into his hand. "Ouch!" Malachi squealed, immediately letting go. His eyes teared up a bit from the pain, but it was no matter to him then, for the ferret jolted right out of the classroom.

Sucking at the wound on his hand, Malachi chased after the ferret, finding it to be quite a task. Though the ferret was able to run past the feet of students in the corridors, Malachi was not, and found himself constantly bumping into people. Eventually he found himself out of breath, and climbed up the stairway at a slow pace. Fortunately for him, the ferret apparently found itself a dead end and a girl already had it cornered.

"Many apologies, Fraulein. I believe I startled this ferret and now it is a bit, erm, cranky," Malachi explained, trying to duck down and coax the creature back to him. "I don't think he wants to be turned into a drinking glass." But then again, neither did he. However, he needed to do so in order to pass Transfigurations with a decent grade.

"Cranky?" she asked the boy with her voice raised a pitch as she stared at him. Oh great. Transfiguration coming at her in a way she hadn't anticipated. "So he isn't yours? Just one of the ones the transfiguration professor keeps?" She stared at the ferret again and felt for her wand. There was one way out of this dilemna and thankfully it was something she'd managed to master after many weeks of practice back in second year.

She pointed the wand at the ferret. "Vera verto." The spell was perfect. Unfortunately the ferret had gone. "Oh blast it all," she muttered. "Now where has he gone." She may be free from the animal but now there was a new problem. Whether the ferret was this boy's pet or not, Stephanie knew she couldn't let it continue running away. "We need a strategy. Can you think of something other than..." She trailed off as she saw the ferret zip into the classroom she'd earlier aimed to enter. Stephanie held her finger to her lips and pointed the boy to go to the door and wait.

It had slipped his mind that perhaps he ought to do less talking and more ferret catching, but as questions were asked, Malachi felt obligated to answer them. "Yes, I was practicing for class. I do believe I need to return that ferret, either as a ferret or a drinking glass, either would be fine," Malachi explained and then watched as the girl casted a perfect version of the spell in the ferret's direction. Unfortunately for her, the ferret was much faster and slipped away out of sight.

"Ach! He got away!" Malachi stated the obvious and looked around himself in attempt to spot the small bandit. "Perhaps we can set a trap for it," Malachi suggested, but before he could elaborate on his plan, he was being hushed. Conscious of the importance of his silence, Malachi fell silent and stared at the ferret pacing the room. He wondered what it was that the girl had planned and wanted to offer help but that required talking, which he was not allowed. Instead he followed quietly behind and waited.

Stephanie could see the ferret running up and down in the classroom he'd entered. The room was otherwise empty. Good. The boy was quiet and Stephanie didn't have to hush up anyone else either. Her problem now was how to catch the ferret. Casting a spell at it was problematic since he kept moving. Or perhaps the transfiguration spell took longer than one of the other spell she could possibly use. Thus she trained her wand on the pacing ferret trying to figure out the speed and pattern of his movement. Maybe if she had the wand just a little bit in front of him it'll hit. She moved the wand back and forth before saying, "stupefy." It worked? The witch held the wand up and stared at it before staring at the stupefied ferret. She'd actually managed to judge the distance between the shooting of the spell and where the ferret would be at that point.

She shook her head and stepped further into the room. There was time later to wonder how on earth she managed that fluke. Right now there was a ferret to retrieve. Stephanie turned to the boy again. "Since he's not in a position to move now's your chance. A non-moving ferret might be easier than a moving one." That's what she should have done to the toad she'd had trouble with back when she'd been this boy's age. It'd been to fast to cast the spell on it too.