A Young Wizard's Journey - Prisoner of Azkaban

Remus' Tale

'No one else in Gryffindor has anything even close to a ginger cat,' said Y/N as they sat around in the Transfiguration Classroom. Y/N had told his mother what he'd done and, after a very stern telling off, having points deducted from him and several detentions the following week, she'd allowed them to spend the evening in her classroom whilst she stayed in her office, so the three of them could avoid the pointed stares of their classmates.

'And you're sure Crookshanks has been in your room all day?' asked Hermione.

'Positive,' said Ginny as she watched the ginger cat now lying lazily on one of the nearby desks. 'There's no way he could have gotten out. Remember, the Dormitories are locked by all means bar the door, which I locked myself and stayed in with him all day. I skipped classes to make sure everything was okay.'

Hermione span around to look at Y/N, aghast.

'You didn't say-!'

'It was the only way! You saw how Crookshanks was with Scabbers? I wasn't exactly going to leave him with two mice unattended. I offered at first, but Ginny said you'd notice and bite my head off.'

'It was better if I did it. I still get to use last year as a partial excuse,' said Ginny. 'Just say I'm feeling off and they tell me to take the time I need.'

'But that's lying! You could get in so much trouble!'

'We will if you don't keep it down,' hissed Y/N, nodding over towards his mum's office door.

'And besides, you two helped me catch up on all of it immediately. We needed to know how he'd react. It was my dorm and Y/N couldn't have done it anyway. Boys can't get into the girls' dormitory.'

'Someone else has actually read 'Hogwarts, a History'?' asked Y/N, raising his eyebrows at her.

'You two are a bad influence on me,' said Ginny with a shrug.

'You can't say that when you just told us you skipped a day of classes,' hissed Hermione. 'We don't do that!'

'Anyway,' said Y/N pointedly, dragging the conversation back, 'Crookshanks has now deliberately not gone for the mice nor Ves. And yet the moment Scabbers' name is even mentioned, he's waiting around and watching. It's something specifically about Scabbers that Crookshanks seems to not like.'

'Maybe it's the fact that he's ill? Crookshanks sees him as easy prey?' suggested Hermione.

'It's possible,' said Y/N, 'but like I said before, they hunt for fun. Hunting a sick animal isn't really sport to creatures like him. I imagine if he needed the food, it's just whatever you can get, but you feed him so he isn't exactly going hungry.'

'I don't really know how much we can do with all of this,' said Ginny. 'It's all well and good to sit here stirring the rumour mill, but we don't even know if Scabbers is alive. And whilst we know it wasn't Crookshanks, there is the question of how it happened. That was very real blood, and Scabbers is definitely missing.'

'So then it's the question of where he's gone if he is still alive. He's a rat, he could be anywhere,' said Y/N.

'There has to be a reason for it,' said Hermione. 'It's not like Scabbers could fake it himself. Someone must have done it, so there must be an end-goal.'

'Maybe they'll send a ransom note and Ron will regret yelling in your face,' muttered Y/N darkly.

'Be surprised if you get anything out of him for a while,' said Ginny. 'He is mildly afraid of both of you. Mostly because he knows you can duel circles around him.'

''Mione can duel circles around most of the school. There are 5th years who can't do some of the things she can.'

'Oh stop,' said Hermione as she tried to hide her smile.