The Monster in the Attic

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

The pounding on the pipes went on and on. Ron shot upright, ready to scold whoever was making the racket, only to find Luo Bin swinging his pet around by the tail like a gnome.

"Luo Bin, stop! Scabbers isn't a gnome. He's my pet! Stop, he's dizzy! I can't afford to take him to a pet hospital!"

Luo Bin pretended he couldn't stop the swing, gave Scabbers another four or five spins, then let go. With a whoosh, Scabbers landed squarely on Ron's blanket.

"Oh, poor Scabbers. You must be terrified!"

Scabbers' eyes swam, and his head spun. He lay limp in Ron's palm. If his chest hadn't been rising and falling, anyone might have thought he was dead.

"Luo Bin, what did Scabbers do to you?"

Harry knew Luo Bin wouldn't hurt a little rat for no reason.

"Oh, he tried to rummage through my Blue Cloth Pouch!"

"Impossible! Scabbers is so well behaved. He wouldn't do anything bad!" Ron said, stroking Scabbers' forehead.

Well behaved?!

Peter Pettigrew had never been anything of the sort.

"Here. The Remembrall recorded the whole thing. I'm not lying!"

Harry got out of bed and took the Remembrall. When he switched it on, the footage left both him and Ron dumbstruck.

Scabbers wore a sneaky expression as he sniffed around the pouch. His paws had even reached its drawstring.

"Maybe Scabbers was hungry. He wanted to..."

Ron glanced at the cupcakes on the desk, but couldn't bring himself to claim Scabbers had been sneaking a midnight snack.

"Sorry. I haven't trained Scabbers properly. From now on, I'll read the Qualified Pet Bylaws to him every day!"

"It's fine. He tried to steal from me, and I made him dizzy. We're even. When we get back to school, though,