Scabbers and the Rat's Tonic

For Kyle, who was used to traveling by plane and high-speed rail, riding the old-fashioned steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express was nothing short of torture.

Especially after sitting for several hours, once the novelty and the Hogwarts buff wore off, its shortcomings were magnified infinitely.

First, it was slow—truly, agonizingly slow. Kyle felt this thing could reach eighty at best, not even comparable to some decent cars.

Furthermore, the comfort was abysmal; the constant swaying and jolting made Kyle doubt his life choices, and he barely managed to keep his breakfast down.

Under these circumstances, trying to pass the time by reading a book was basically impossible.

Fortunately, Cedric, who shared the same compartment, was very talkative, which kept the journey from being completely unbearable.

After talking about the professors, Kyle asked about other things. Cedric answered everything he knew and even took the initiative to share interesting spots around Hogwarts or amusing portraits.

Many of these were things Kyle didn't know, which piqued his interest. In return, Kyle waved his hand grandly and covered all the snacks for the rest of the trip.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes—he provided as much as they could eat.

There was only one thing that left Kyle speechless: when it came to the Sorting, Cedric predictably continued the wizards' bad sense of humor and didn't tell the truth.

"You have to catch the Golden Snitch in the Great Hall within ten minutes to be sorted?"

Kyle politely twitched the corner of his mouth and didn't respond.

Fine, Quidditch is at least more reliable than a Dragon, and this is very Cedric.

"By the way, Kyle, have you thought about which house you'll be sorted into?" Cedric popped a bean into his mouth. "It would be great if you could get into Hufflepuff, though a clever little wizard like you would probably want to go to Ravenclaw."

Before he could finish, Cedric's mouth twitched violently, and his whole face scrunched up involuntarily, looking incredibly funny.

"Oh, damn it, it's my least favorite—liver flavor."

Despite saying that, Cedric still gritted his teeth and swallowed it.

"I've thought about it, but I don't necessarily have to go to any specific house." Kyle also picked up a bean. "Besides, my Seeker skills are average; I might not be able to catch the Golden Snitch in ten minutes, so I'll be lucky if any house is willing to take me."

Hmm... it's the new black pepper steak flavor, not bad.

"Don't worry, you'll definitely be fine," Cedric said with a laugh. "It's not that hard."

Just as he was speaking, the compartment door was suddenly opened from the outside.

Kyle and Cedric turned their heads at the same time.

It was the familiar red hair, but not the twins; it was another Weasley.

Percy walked into the compartment and said, "Kyle, Fred told me you were here... Oh, you must be Cedric Diggory. I'm Percy Weasley, nice to meet you."

Cedric, who had been curious about the newcomer, suddenly heard his own name and nodded quickly in response. "Nice to meet you too, Percy Weasley."

The other boy's serious demeanor made Cedric feel for a moment as if he were at some formal occasion rather than on the Hogwarts Express.

In short, he was bewildered but very polite.

Kyle suppressed a laugh and waited until they finished their pleasantries before asking, "Percy, is there something you need?"

He was familiar with all seven Weasley children, including Percy, though they didn't interact much.

"Sorry to bother you, but there is actually something." Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a large rat.

"Scabbers hasn't had much energy lately, so I wanted to ask if you still have that rat tonic you gave him before.

If possible, I'd like to buy some."

"Rat tonic?"

Kyle looked at the gray, bedraggled rat in Percy's hand, which was missing a claw, and narrowed his eyes with a smile. "Of course, just a moment."

With that, Kyle retrieved a bottle filled with red liquid from his trunk and turned to press it into Percy's hand.

"You know the drill: once a week, three drops at a time. This should last you a long time."

"Thank you." Percy quickly took the bottle of red rat tonic, then hesitantly pulled out three Silver Sickles, blushing as he said, "I know this might not be enough, but this is all I have right now. I'll pay you the rest as soon as I can."

"You don't need that much." Kyle only took one Sickle and pushed the other two back. "It's just rat tonic, not anything precious. It's not that expensive; one Sickle is plenty."

Percy looked at the Sickle in his hand, his face flushing red and then turning pale. After a long while, he sighed softly and said, "Thank you, Kyle."

Kyle replied, "Don't mention it. I'm charging you; it's a normal transaction."

"No, I know."

Percy smiled, though it was a bitter smile. "If it were ordinary rat tonic, how could Scabbers have lived for eleven years? This must have been made by Mr. Scamander, right? After all, only a legendary figure like him could make an ordinary field mouse live this long.

If this tonic were on the market, it would probably cost at least ten Galleons."

Uh...

Kyle rubbed his gums. He actually wanted to tell Percy the truth.

Scabbers living this long had absolutely nothing to do with the rat tonic, and furthermore, it really was his own creation—it wasn't worth ten Galleons.

But the whole Peter Pettigrew situation was too much trouble. He was only eleven, and he didn't want to attract Dumbledore's attention just yet.

However, he hadn't done nothing.

Besides the rat tonic, he had told Percy a long time ago that rats were different from other pets; if they were tainted with too much of a wizard's scent, they would be rejected by their own kind.

At first, Percy had been skeptical, but after Kyle draped the banner of Scamander over that statement, he believed it—and treated it as gospel.

Percy was indeed very attentive toward his only pet.

Not only had he set up an exclusive little nest for Scabbers in his room, but he had also significantly reduced physical contact; except for special circumstances like the present, where he had no choice but to carry it with him, he basically let it roam free the rest of the time.

On the other side, seeing that Kyle remained unresponsive, Percy did not intend to stay any longer.

"Anyway, thank you, Kyle. If you have any questions regarding your studies in the future, you can always come and ask me. And once I graduate, I will make up these Galleons to you."

Having said that, Percy hurried out of the compartment, leaving only Kyle and Cedric staring at each other in silence.

In the end, it was Cedric who first broke the stalemate: "Um... can you still get rat tonic from Mr. Scamander?"

"I should say that I'm the one who brews it, and not just for rats—I can make tonics for basically any pet." Kyle couldn't be bothered to explain too much and shrugged, saying, "It's not that difficult, just a bit troublesome, which is why very few people bother to learn it."