The Hamster Wheel

Everyone who heard that voice shivered.

"Edmund!"

The tone was nothing like his usual gentleness, but Cho and Hermione recognized him at once. Both girls looked toward the entrance in surprise and relief as Edmund walked step by step onto the pitch.

He nodded to them softly. Then his gaze settled on Malfoy, and all warmth vanished from it.

"Malfoy," Edmund said, his voice cold. "Would you care to repeat that word in front of me?"

He advanced slowly. His robes stirred though there was no wind, and the pressure of his magic rolled across the pitch, sharp enough to make the watching students hold their breath.

Malfoy's face had already gone pale. The moment the word left his mouth, he had regretted it. He knew Hermione's relationship with Edmund was not ordinary, and after the trip into the Forbidden Forest last year, he had understood one thing very clearly: Edmund Gaunt was not someone he could provoke casually.

Until now, Malfoy had made sure not to clash with him. Today Hermione's words had struck too directly, and his mouth had moved before his sense caught up.

Now Edmund had heard it. Remembering what Edmund could do, Malfoy felt his fear sharpen. Was he going to burn him alive? Marcus Flint stepped forward and put his broad body between Edmund and Malfoy.

"You're Edmund Gaunt, right?" Flint said, puffed up by his size, his year, and his position as Slytherin captain. "What exactly was wrong with Draco calling her a Mudblood?"

In his eyes, however talented Edmund was, he was still only a second-year.

"Depulso."

Edmund moved without warning.

The Banishing Charm struck Flint squarely and hurled him backward into the wall beneath the stands. Stone cracked under the impact. Flint managed only one cry before he collapsed unconscious.

The other Slytherin players were furious. Wands came out at once.

"Densaugeo!"

"Locomotor Mortis!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The Gryffindor players had not expected the situation to explode so quickly. By the time they moved to help, the Slytherins' spells were already streaking toward Edmund.

"Edmund!" Fred and George shouted in alarm.

Then they stopped.

Every spell froze inches from Edmund's body, suspended in the air as though caught in invisible glass. He flicked his hand, and the spells shot back along their original paths.

The Slytherin players suffered for their own aim. One boy's front teeth suddenly grew until they reached his chin. Another locked rigidly and toppled onto the pitch. The worst of them had used the same slug-vomiting jinx Ron had tried earlier, and now he was on his hands and knees, retching up thick, slimy slugs.

The Gryffindor players stared for a second, then burst into laughter. Edmund ignored the chaos and looked at Malfoy.

Malfoy had collapsed to the ground. When Edmund's eyes landed on him, he scrambled backward in panic.

Edmund lifted him into the air with a Levitation Charm and considered how to punish the real culprit. Then he suddenly remembered something from the fourth year of the original story: the fake Moody turning Malfoy into a white ferret and bouncing him around like a ball.

That would do.

With a flick of his wand, Edmund transfigured the dirt on the pitch into a rolling cage. Then he changed the struggling Malfoy into a small hamster and dropped him inside.

The hamster began running wildly in the wheel. Only then did Edmund nod in satisfaction.

"Edmund, will this cause trouble?" Hermione asked.

"Do not worry," he said. "Malfoy used a very ugly word just now. Once Professor Snape hears about it, I doubt he will blame me."

Edmund was not worried. Leaving aside his current relationship with Snape, the word Mudblood was an absolute taboo for the Potions master.

If Snape learned Malfoy had used it, Edmund was certain Malfoy would suffer far worse than this.

"Let's go. The transfiguration will wear off tomorrow, and he will return to normal."

He glanced at the hamster sprinting inside the cage, then spoke to Hermione and Cho.

"All right," Hermione said. "As long as you will not get in trouble. I do not care what Malfoy said. I do not even know what that word means."

She nodded and began trying to comfort him instead. The anger Edmund had shown a moment ago was something she had never seen before.

She liked being protected by him, but she did not want him upset because of her.

Seeing Hermione's worried face, Edmund raised a hand and ruffled her bushy hair until it became even messier.

Hermione puffed up at him. She knew exactly what he was doing, distracting her so she would stop thinking about it.

...

After greeting the Gryffindor team and removing Ron's slug jinx on the way out, Edmund left with the two girls.

Inside the cage, the hamster squeaked angrily as he ran. Unfortunately, no one could understand him.

Harry and the other Gryffindor players exchanged looks. They clearly would not be training today, so they canceled the session and left the Quidditch pitch together.

Behind them remained a field full of miserable Slytherin players and one furious hamster.

News of the incident spread quickly through the students. Several Slytherins tried to undo the transfiguration on Malfoy, but every attempt failed. In the end, they had no choice but to bring him to Snape.

"What happened?"

Snape stared at the hamster with a dark expression. Someone had openly transfigured a student from his House. Was he, the Head of Slytherin, supposed to pretend not to notice?

The recovered Slytherin players looked at one another. Stammering, they told him what had happened while carefully omitting the fact that Malfoy had provoked it first.

When Snape heard Edmund had done it, his expression tightened. He waved them away.

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