Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 54 - Lost and Found

By the time Harry and Hermione got back on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione had managed to track down a book—not a chapter or an academic paper, but a whole book—about otters. It still disturbed Harry a little how easily she could work the library.

“Is all that for your you-know-what training?” he asked when she started reading it on the train before their compartment filled up.

Yes, she replied primly. “Sirius says I need to learn about otter anatomy and behaviour so I can more clearly visualise the change. It’s really very interesting.”

“Wow. I’m glad I could just do it naturally.”

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. “Maybe you should read up on cats. A fuller understanding couldn’t hurt.”

“Mione, I lived as one for two months, and—” He cut himself off as the compartment door opened. “Oh, hi, Neville.”

“Hi, Harry. Hi, Hermione.” Neville gave Hermione a strange look at her book, but he shook his head and dismissed it. She read strange things sometimes. “How was your holiday?”

“It was good,” Hermione said. “It was nice to get away for a while. I just hope this term is less exciting than the last one.”

“Don’t we all,” Harry said.

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The term did, indeed, get off to a smooth start. Dumbledore announced the new class attendance policy and the dungeon closure at dinner the first night. No one made any suspicious overt reaction, but after a couple weeks, there were no new attacks, so people started to calm down. It was only the Slytherins who kept trying to stir up trouble.

“So, Mr. Potter, it looks like my father managed to rip off your godfather on an elf trade,” Draco Malfoy said one day when he cornered Harry in the entrance hall.

“I’d hardly call it a rip-off, Mr. Malfoy,” Harry said. “Sirius wanted an elf that got along with him better, and he got that. He’s well aware of how the prices work.”

“Must’ve wanted it pretty bad with what he paid.”

“We’re all fine with how the deal turned out for him,” Harry said. “I don’t see any reason for you to complain about it.”

“I just thought you’d like to know what a bad deal it was, Mr. Potter.”

“Well, obviously you can’t expect this lot to have good business sense, Draco,” Theo Nott said.

“I don’t think that’s fair, Mr. Nott,” Hermione said.

“Nobody asked you, Granger,” Nott snapped.

“Excuse me,” Harry jumped back in. “I’ll thank you not to talk to her like that. And I’ll have you know our business sense is just fine. Sirius just chose to make that deal for his own reasons. And Malfoy, if you and your family are happy with Kreacher, why are you trying to make an issue out of it?”

Malfoy didn’t have a response for that, but Hermione decided to press the issue further. “Incidentally, Mr. Malfoy,” she said sweetly, “I looked Dobby over after he moved into Sirius’s place. He looked pretty beat up, and he really seemed to appreciate the change of scenery.”