Chapter 525: Ferret

"Harry, are you all right?" Ivan rushed over to him.

"I'm fine, though Ron's pretty beat up, Malfoy got really mad at what I said about his parents!"

Ivan, Harry and Hermione helped Ron to his feet, the boy had been completely knocked out by Goyle and Crabbe.

They had hit him very hard, Ron's face was bruised and battered, and his school robes were covered in footprints.

There was a shocked silence in the hall as everyone looked at Moody.

Goyle and Crabbe stared at the trembling ferret on the floor, not daring to move.

"The three of you had better get Mr. Weasley to the school hospital, I'll take care of this!" said Moody, blinking at Ivan with his normal eye, while the other went inside his head.

Ivan and Harry struggled to lift Ron, and before they could get out, they heard another grunt next to him.

"Don't touch him!" shouted Moody.

Crabbe was about to grab the ferret, but when he heard Moody's shout, he froze.

Moody limped toward Crabbe, Goyle and the ferret, waving his wand with all his might.

The ferret screamed in terror, ducked and ran in the direction of the basement.

Moody pointed his wand at the ferret again.

The ferret suddenly rose into the air, and began to move up and down along with the movement of Moody's wand.

"I don't like people who attack others from behind!" said Moody sharply, as the ferret in the air, screaming in pain, "And attacking one person with many, that's the most disgusting, dastardly, cowardly thing to do!"

The ferret leapt into the air, its four legs and tail wagging in despair.

"Don't you ever, ever, ever do that again!" said Moody. Each time the ferret bobbed up and down, he burst out with a word.

"Professor Moody!" said a startled voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble stairs with a stack of books in her arms.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall." said Moody calmly, causing the ferret to bob up and down.

"What are you, what are you doing?" asked Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the ferret in the air.

"Giving a lesson." Moody replied.

"A lesson? What, Moody, that's a student?" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, the books in her arms falling to the floor.

"That's right." said Moody.

"My goodness!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, rushing down the stairs and drew her wand.

A moment later, with a loud crack, Draco Malfoy was human again.

He curled up and lay on the slab, his slick blond hair strewn over his now dazzlingly red face.

It took him a moment to get up, shivering.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment!" Professor McGonagall said breathlessly, "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that."

"I mentioned it, I suppose." Moody said, scratching his chin absently, "But I think we need to scare them to death, see what they've done to the boy."

Professor McGonagall seemed to have spotted Ron standing, supported by Ivan and Harry, and took another breath of air.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" her mouth was tightly pursed.

"Three against one, and a sneak attack, I saw the whole thing from the stairs!" said Moody sharply.

"All right, all right, twenty points off for Slytherin, Mason, Potter, you take Mr. Weasley to the school hospital, and you go too Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall turned to look at Moody, frowned and said, "Moody, this is something Mr. Malfoy has done wrong, but we don't normally punish by transfiguration, take points off, give punishments, or inform the dean of the house the person is in."

"I will." Moody looked at Malfoy in disgust.

Malfoy's light eyes were still watery with embarrassment as he glared viciously at Moody, muttering something under his breath.

Several of the words came out clearly, "my dad."

"Oh, yeah?" Moody limped forward a few steps, and the sound of his wooden leg hitting the floor echoed in the hall, "Yeah, I knew your dad before, boy. Tell him Moody is keeping an eye on his son, and tell him for me. Well, the dean of your House is Snape, isn't it?"

"Yes." said Malfoy resentfully.

"An old friend too!" growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to having a good chat with old Snape. Come on, lad."

With that, he grabbed Malfoy's arm, pointed his wand at Goyle and Crabbe, and led the three into the basement.

Professor McGonagall looked uneasily at their backs for a moment, before pointing her wand at the books that had fallen to the floor.

They all rose into the air and back into her arms.

"They should go to the school hospital." He said with a sigh, "The rest of the people, hurry up and eat, don't gather here."

Ivan, Harry and Hermione drove Ron to the school hospital, the three were still discussing the incident on the way.

"I can't believe Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret, it's a shame Ron didn't see it" said Harry.

"Professor McGonagall said it was wrong for him to do that, to use transfiguration on a student." Hermione said, "He could have really hurt Malfoy, luckily Professor McGonagall put the brakes on him just in time."

"It's Malfoy, Hermione!" Harry pointed at Ron, "They deserved punishment for hitting Ron like that."

Hermione: "But...".

"Moody doesn't care about school rules, he has his own rules." Ivan said, "Besides, he's not afraid of anyone."

He had to admit that this Calesius guy was a real piece of work, that's exactly what Moody would do.

As long as he kept it up, the eyes of the school should be on him, and that would create opportunities for little Buddy Crouch.

It wasn't clear who Barty Crouch Jr. was posing as him, and it's really problematic to find him as soon as possible.

But it wasn't as if Ivan had no idea how to find Barty Crouch Jr. who was hiding in the crowd.

Even if he was hiding well enough to get Harry out of school, sooner or later he would make his move and reveal himself.

When he does, all he had to do was find the person who was deliberately approaching and behaving most erratically.

When Ron was taken to the school hospital, Madam Pomfrey had quickly dressed his wounds.

Ron woke up and everyone told him what had just happened.

Even after hearing that Moody had turned Malfoy into a big jumping ferret, Ron wasn't feeling much better.

"He deserved it, didn't he?" said Ron, shaking his fist loudly, "He couldn't be punished enough for insulting my parents like that. I'd like to get stronger, and kick Malfoy's arse, and Goyle's and Crabbe's, and turn all three of them into slugs, and stomp on them!