💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎
🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch
⏰ Resets Monday!
Anthony walked down the grassy slope by the lake. Faint shouts and cheers drifted from the Quidditch pitch—Hufflepuff practice, by the sound of it.
Two familiar figures walked ahead.
The Davis siblings moved slowly through the deep shade. Roger gestured mid-air—something Quidditch-related, judging by Wood's similar hand movements earlier. Tracey Davis reached up, playing with sunlight filtering through the leaves. She let it fall on her hand, then on the dead leaves at their feet. Nodded occasionally.
Several coal tits flew down from the branches to forage in the clearing. A cat scared them off.
"Shoo, shoo!" Roger tried to chase the cat away. The ginger cat jumped into a tree and glared at him. "Wait, isn't that Professor Anthony's cat?"
Tracey sounded worried. "What's it holding in its mouth?"
"Can't tell." Roger shaded his eyes, squinting up. "Weird. Looks like... mouse-shaped jelly?"
Tracey joined him under the tree, staring up. "Jelly?"
The cat walked carefully along the branch, then leaped straight to the oak tree beside it. Both students went "Whoa" in unison.
Roger frowned. "No, wait. That thing's moving... Are there mouse-shaped jellyfish?"
"Where'd it go?" Tracey searched.
Anthony caught the cat as it jumped from tree to tree into his arms. Looked down. The cat carefully released the wraith mouse from its mouth. The mouse squeaked softly, grabbed Anthony's button, started climbing.
"Professor!" Roger spotted him. Sharp eyes. "What is that?" He pointed at the mouse on Anthony's chest.
Anthony glanced down. The ginger cat was adjusting itself into a comfortable position. "A cat."
Roger shook his head. "No, that mouse-looking thing."
Anthony looked surprised. "You just said it's mouse-looking. So it's a mouse." He lifted the spectral mouse, held it out to the approaching third-year. "See? Mouse."
Roger frowned at the creature—the kind usually found in kitchens and sewers. Hesitated. "But... why is it transparent?"
Anthony spoke mysteriously. Honestly. "Magic."
The Davis siblings accepted this immediately. Tracey carefully extended her hand, let the mouse sniff her fingertip—she'd wanted to pet the cat too, but the hissing feline scared her off. Roger tried to figure out what magic could make a mouse transparent.
"I heard there's a ritual that turns mice yellow," Roger said. "Is the principle similar?"
The mouse closed its eyes contentedly when Tracey's finger touched its head. Tracey made a soft "oh" of delight. Gently stroked the wraith mouse's fur.
Anthony couldn't help wondering what kind of person would specifically develop a ritual to turn mice yellow.
He asked Roger, who was staring longingly at the mouse. "What ritual?"
Roger scratched his head. "Don't know. Other students told me. Some pure-blood family secret, I think. You need specific weather, some herbs, eat something, then recite an incantation."
That did sound like a proper magical ritual. If Anthony remembered correctly, the Animagus ritual followed a similar pattern.
"To turn mice yellow?" he confirmed.
Roger nodded seriously. "Yes, Professor."
Anthony gained newfound respect for pure-blood families. They had quite an interesting sense of humor after all.
After saying goodbye to the Davis siblings, he walked deeper into the forest, cat in arms. Most students clustered on the lawn by the Black Lake or the lakeside path. The forest held mostly couples whispering against tree trunks. Go deeper still—no one.
Where the trees thinned and sunlight fell, Anthony set both creatures down. Sat on the ground.
"Spring," he said. Lay back. Looked at the rare sight in British weather—especially unpredictable February-March weather—of cloudless blue sky.
The cat wandered off somewhere. To control his necromantic magic—growing daily after consuming the basilisk's soul—Anthony had stopped trying to sense his summons. On a warm spring day like this, he saw no need to track the cat.
The mouse burrowed around his neck. Anthony grabbed it, held it up overhead. Looked at it. "Go on. Beautiful day. Find something you like."
He set the mouse beside him. Gave it a little push. The mouse circled a few times. Ran off too. Left Anthony alone with rustling leaves, chirping birds, sharing a patch of sunlight.
"Professor Anthony?" A familiar voice called softly.
Anthony opened his eyes. Neville Longbottom and his toad were also out walking.
"Longbottom." He sat up, nodded at Neville. "What brings you here?"
Neville said, "Fewer people here, Professor." He seemed to regret waking Anthony. His round face flushed red. Desperately searched for conversation. "I... This is Trevor, Professor." The toad he solemnly introduced croaked politely.
Anthony smiled. "Hello, Trevor. I'm Henry Anthony." He tentatively touched Neville's toad.
The living creature stared at him calmly under his touch.
Just then, the mouse returned. The little mouse seemed to have taken Anthony's "find something you like" as a direct order. Now it struggled to carry a daffodil.
Anthony helped, tucked the daffodil into its favorite pocket. Introduced it to Neville. "This is Mouse."
The mouse looked alertly at Neville. Anthony told the mouse, "This is Neville Longbottom. This is Trevor."
Neville couldn't help laughing. "Is this your pet too, Professor?" he asked. "It's so lively. I wish Scabbers could be this lively. Ron was supposed to come out today. Harry went to practice, and he had nothing to do in the dorm..." He muttered something about Hermione, essays, and revision schedules, then said, "But Scabbers was dead asleep. Ron thought he'd died... Scabbers is very old."
"If Weasley wants, he could talk to his brothers," Anthony suggested. "End of term, Fred and George Weasley are going to a Muggle pet rescue. Might adopt some pets."
If all went well, he was even considering giving the Weasley family an owl. Mr. Weasley had complained many times about how useless the Ministry's public owls were.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
Read up to (50+ ) advanced chapters on Patre\on
Visit us here:patreon.com/GoldenLong
Happy reading, everyone!