Pesky Rat

[Patrick Vernier]

With the year almost coming to an end, Patrick wanted nothing more than to study so he could do well in his exams. He enjoyed learning about new things but it was difficult to do so without his sister, which he never thought he would admit to. She helped him last year translate some of his notes and what the professors were saying which had greatly helped him but now Patrick was left to doing that on his own. He sat in the courtyard, his head buried in his History of Magic textbook. He had found the subject interesting but the amount of lectures the professor gave the class soon became boring and Patrick much preferred to read about it in his textbook. He had a small English dictionary beside him, translating some words that he didn't quite understand into French. It was quite a long process but it helped him understand it more as he wrote down the translation to the words in his textbook, making it easier for him to read over. As he came across one word he didn't quite understand he reached for his dictionary but it had somehow disappeared. Suddenly panicked, Patrick stood up and looked around before catching a rat out of the corner of his eye, chewing his dictionary on the floor. "Give it back!" he shouted at it in French, grabbing the dictionary and trying to pry it out of the rat's grip. He did not want to hurt the rat but could not believe how strong it was, putting bitemarks in his book that he very much relied on.

 

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

The closest Mervyn had gotten to studying that day was moving his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook from beneath his bed to on top of it. Then, bored before he'd started, he'd left his dormitory in search of something fun to do. The mornings were always slower when Leda was busy - or rather, when Mervyn couldn't persuade her that hanging out with him was much more important than whatever else she had to do. He sighed, wandering into the great hall to pick up an apple pastry before heading out into the courtyard to bask in the April sunshine. He had been stood outside the doors for less than a minute when he heard someone shouting in a foreign language. A boy he recognised from classes seemed to be yelling at a book on the floor, until Mervyn realised there was a rat attached to the other side of it. "I don't fink it knows French," he called, nibbling on his pastry and leaning against the wall.

 

[Patrick Vernier]

Patrick couldn't believe how rude the rat was being. There were plenty of other things that the rat could eat but it chose Patrick's dictionary out of it all. As he heard a voice, he quickly tuned his head to see who it was from and shot them a nasty look, not liking how laid back he was when Patrick was clearly struggling. He recognised the boy from classes and for a moment was glad that he hadn't spoken to him before. "I don't think it would know English either." Patrick spat back at him. Normally he wouldn't be so rude but somehow the Gryffindor's words had annoyed him. "You know how to speak rat?" His step-sister's sarcastic remarks were rubbing off on him and Patrick simply rolled his eyes and shook his head as he tried to get his dictionary off the rat who was putting deep bite marks into his book. He wanted to kick it as it would be easier but did not want to hurt the rat and was very close to giving up.

 

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

Patrick seemed a fairly quiet Hufflepuff, so his remark caught Mervyn briefly off guard. He liked it. "As a matter o'fact, I do," he said, sauntering over to the spot where Patrick was wrestling with his book. "It's called the language of bribery. 'Ere." Tearing off a small piece of pastry, he tossed it to the ground beside the rat. Almost immediately the thing let go to investigate the food. "Piece'a cake," Mervyn said, with a grin. "That ain't a library book, is it? I don't fink they're gonna want it back wiv them dirty great holes in it. You's well in trouble."