Chapter 10: Scabbers! What's Wrong with You, Scabbers?
"Scabbers! What’s wrong with you, Scabbers?"
"Fear Induction!" Ivan waved his Wand and pointed it at Scabbers' head.
"Squeak! Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!"
The Spell took effect, and the grayish-black rat immediately went berserk. Its tightly closed eyes suddenly bulged wide open, and it let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream.
Then, with a powerful leap from its front paws, the rat tumbled off the table, knocking over several cups and decorations, and started dashing around the dormitory in a frenzy.
Seeing the Spell work so well, Ivan finally felt relieved. He hadn’t expected that the Fear Curse and the Patronus Charm had opposite principles. The latter required the caster to recall happy and joyful memories, while the former involved the caster implanting a terrifying scenario or experience into the mind of the target.
It was like a reverse Dementor’s Kiss, but with an extra dose of terror.
When casting the Spell on Scabbers, Ivan had visualized a scene where Scabbers was being chased by a black dog. Perhaps because Scabbers was asleep before the Spell, the power of the Fear Curse combined with the dream, making the dark magic more potent than Ivan had imagined.
While Ivan was still elated at successfully casting the Fear Curse, Ron and Harry, who had heard the commotion from the common room, burst into the dormitory.
Seeing the mess in the dorm, Harry almost thought he had walked into the wrong place. Just as he was about to ask, Ron spotted the grayish-black rat dashing around.
"Oh no! Scabbers! Scabbers! What’s wrong with you, Scabbers?" Ron shouted in distress, rushing into the dormitory and diving onto Neville’s bed, trying to catch the grayish-black rat.
But Scabbers, terrified by Ivan’s Spell, mistook Ron for the black dog in his nightmare. With a swift movement, it darted through a gap at the edge of the bed and hid underneath, making it difficult for Ron to find.
"Ivan, what happened here?" Harry asked, looking at Ivan, who was standing by the table.
"I was just practicing some Spells", Ivan shrugged, then added somewhat guiltily, "It’s exactly as you see. There might have been a small mishap."
Harry glanced at Ron, who was under the table, covered in dust and dirt, still trying in vain to catch the rat. He felt that this was far from a small mishap and sighed in exasperation.
"Looks like we’ll be rat-hunting all night."
Fortunately, things didn’t turn out as badly as Harry had feared.
After a while, Ivan, remembering he was a Wizard, seized an opportunity and used the Levitation Charm to lift Scabbers, who was trying to hide under a book, along with the book itself. This finally brought the commotion to an end.
Over the next few days, Ron was in a foul mood. Feeling guilty, Ivan apologized repeatedly and even bought some Every-Flavour Beans for Scabbers as a backup food supply. With Harry’s help in persuading him, Ron finally let go of his anger over Scabbers.
It’s worth noting that when Hermione heard about the incident, she openly mocked Ron for valuing a rat more than his friends, leading to a heated argument. Ron nearly lost his temper.
Ron became even more protective of Scabbers, even bringing him to classes, always feeling that someone was out to harm his pet.
Ivan, on the other hand, continued his routine of classroom—library—dormitory, reading through several basic books. He managed to gather enough knowledge to use the Scholar Experience Card again, and with the accumulated practice, his Spell proficiency improved significantly.
This led to the professors giving Ivan a higher grade during class compared to before!
Except for Professor Binns, who always gave average evaluations in History of Magic, Ivan had received excellent marks in other classes.
Especially in Spells and Transfiguration, where Ivan's Transfiguration Spell and Levitation Charm had successfully advanced to the second level.
Once, when transfiguring a piece of wood, he was even a bit faster than Hermione, leaving Harry and Ron stunned.
However, it wasn't so easy to upgrade again, as the proficiency required for the next level doubled each time a Spell's level increased.
Apart from studying, Ivan was also searching for the location of the Room of Requirement, a place where he could test the power of his Spells in the future.
It was always inconvenient to do so in the Gryffindor common room.
Unfortunately, after so many years since reading the original story, Ivan no longer remembered the exact location, only that it was opposite a tapestry. As a result, he spent several days without finding it.
It wasn't until Friday of the second week that Harry received an invitation letter from Hagrid, disrupting Ivan's regular routine.
Of course, good news often comes with bad news.
The bad news was that they had to take two Potions classes with Slytherin on Friday.
"If only we could skip this morning's class. Professor Snape, the Potions teacher, is the Head of Slytherin. George told us to be careful", Ron said to Ivan and the others in the corridor, while still feeding Scabbers, who was perched on his right hand.
"Not really. Professor Mcgonagall is also a Head of House, and I haven't seen her favor anyone", Hermione couldn't help but retort.
"Not just me, many older Gryffindors say the same thing!" Ron was dismissive of Hermione's argument and turned to Harry and Ivan.
"You guys feel the same, right? Professor Snape is always so gloomy, and there are even rumors that he used to be a Dark Wizard", Ron said, lowering his voice to avoid being overheard.
"Impossible. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let a Dark Wizard teach at the school", Harry shook his head.
Although during the opening feast, Harry had felt that Professor Snape, the Potions teacher, seemed to dislike him, the professors teaching other subjects were all quite fair.
Snape couldn't be that bad.
Hermione nodded in agreement, and Ron reluctantly turned to Ivan.
At that moment, Ivan was holding a Every-Flavour Bean, teasing Scabbers. Hearing the conversation, he glanced at Harry and said,
"I don't know if Professor Snape is biased against Gryffindor, but he certainly is biased against us."
Ivan was a bit frustrated, as he doubted he would get an excellent evaluation in Snape's class.
After all, love and hate go hand in hand. Even if Snape gave him a poor evaluation after class, Ivan wouldn't be surprised.
Harry was a bit confused by Ivan's look, unable to understand what he meant.
"Are you saying Professor Snape hates Harry?" Hermione frowned, guessing Ivan's thoughts from his earlier glance at Harry.
Ivan inwardly admired Hermione's sharpness but couldn't say it outright, so he shook his head, "I just suspect it. Don't you think Professor Snape looks at Harry strangely every time?"
(End of Chapter)
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