Harry would have given anything to be able to get his mind off the Triwizard Tournament. Thoughts of it loomed over him like his own personal rain cloud. He constantly wondered how on earth he was going to survive the tournament without losing at least a couple of body parts or his sanity. Even Hermione's usual lecture, a wizard's chess tournament, the letter from Sirius he had received, nor the Potions essay he was supposed to be writing could change that.

There were only a few days before the first task and Harry knew he desperately needed to be working on the new spells that he'd been learning, but he had given up on trying to focus on anything and now found himself wandering aimlessly through the corridors of Hogwarts.

A loud noise, sounding something like an explosion, interrupted his thoughts. Harry was brought back to reality rather quickly, leaving behind his waking nightmares of third degree burns, his torso latched in the jaws of a dragon, his wand snapped beneath the giant foot, and whatever other horrifying scenarios his terrified mind could come up with.

Glancing cautiously around, Harry realized with surprise and a little bit of worry that he had somehow wandered down into the dungeons, somewhere between the Slytherin Common Room and the potions classroom. The sconces on the wall, alight with tiny flames, flickered light into various corners of the corridor. The shadows that lined the rest of the space created a tiny flame of fear in Harry as he eyed them carefully, looking for any human-like figures.

Breathing a sigh of relief that the corridor was empty and no Slytherins had caught him in their territory, Harry relaxed slightly. But he was startled yet again by the same loud bang.

Harry spotted a door that was open a crack and quickly crept toward it. Peering inside, he found himself oddly intrigued by the scene that met his eye.

Snape was standing over a cauldron, greasy hair partially hiding a scowl that seemed more intense than usual. His wand was pointed threateningly at a small cage that seemed to be made of thicker, stronger metal than what was called for. The cage, after all, held nothing more than a simple grey rat.

Shooting the rat a final glare, Snape slowly withdrew his wand and tucked it back into his robes. He grew calmer over the next few minutes, peeling and slicing ingredients with ease before slipping them into the cauldron before him. He worked quietly, all the time unaware of Harry's curious gaze latched upon him.

"One final ingredient," Snape murmured, his hand stretching toward the cage.

Harry felt suddenly sick. Snape was going to put the rat in the potion... alive!

But Snape paused, then pulled his hand back. "On second thought, powdered moonstone would do more good than harm," he mused.

As Snape reached for a vial on the other side of the cauldron, away from the rat, Harry's heart raced. He had a chance, he knew, to save the creature while Snape was occupied. If he levitated the cage slow enough, the movement might not be noticed.

So Harry withdrew his wand and murmured "Wingardium Leviosa" under his breath. The cage was lifted from the counter and slowly floated its way toward the door.

Snape turned back to his cauldron and spotted the cage halfway to the door, catching sight of Harry as well.

Harry's eyes widened and he felt a moment of panic.

"Accio cage!" he yelled, just as Snape growled,

"Potter!"

With the cage securely in his arms, Harry turned and ran. His long, drawn out scream wavered in pitch in a way that would make him, when he recalled the incident later, flush with embarrassment. Snape's shouts of irritation and anger intertwined with Harry's scream, echoing off the stone walls.

Harry sprinted as fast as he could toward the main staircase, well aware of Snape following close behind, and started up the stairs three at a time. As he reached the ground floor landing, Harry realized that while Quidditch and being the Dursleys' house elf may have kept him in shape, that did not make it possible for him to sprint up all eight flights of stairs to the Room of Requirement like he had originally planned. Therefore, Harry made a split second decision and took off down the main corridor off the Entrance Hall.

A quick glance behind him revealed that Snape had not yet made it up the stairs. Muttering a "thank Merlin" under his breath, he returned his gaze to the corridor to watch where he was running. He was surprised to see Hermione walking down the corridor toward him, eyes on the book in her hand.

"HERMIONE!" Harry cried.

Her head snapped up and her eyes widened at the sight of him. Harry grabbed her elbow as he ran, pulling her into an abandoned classroom.

"Lock it!" He yelled, slamming the door behind him.

Hermione complied and with a wave of her wand, the door gave an odd squelching noise.

"What is it, Harry? What's going on?" Hermione asked worriedly, still holding tight to her book.

Harry set the cage gently down on the nearest desk before looking back at Hermione and answering vehemently, "Snape was going to put the rat in a potion, Hermione! Alive!"

"Alive?" Hermione repeated, aghast. "There are very few potions that use live animals and-"

"Let me guess," Harry interrupted dryly. "They're all dark."

"Most of them, yes," she confirmed cautiously. She silenced Harry with a single, stern look worthy of McGonagall when he opened his mouth to comment on this.

Slowly approaching the cage, Hermione observed the rat carefully. Her eyes lit up suddenly.

"Harry, this isn't just a rat!" She exclaimed excitedly. "It's a tree rat! A black-footed tree rat! They only live in Australia."

"I wonder how he got it... Probably bought it illegally," Harry muttered. Glancing down at the tree rat again, Harry assured the frightened creature, "It's alright, little buddy. I won't let big, bad Snape use you as a potion ingredient."

It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn the tree rat scowled at him.

Suddenly, the door burst open, bouncing of the wall with a thunderous crack. Harry and Hermione both wheeled about to face it, their wands in hand.

A dark figure loomed in the doorway, his pale face sporting a positively livid expression.

"Potter," Snape hissed menacingly.

"I won't let you do it, Professor!" Harry asserted. "I won't let you kill it."

Snape sneered. "Then let it out of the cage."

"You'll just capture it again!" Harry protested.

"Ms. Granger, if you would," Snape said pointedly, looking on the verge of rolling his eyes.

Hermione, looking uncertain, took a step toward the cage and hesitated. But she caught sight of Snape again and continued reluctantly forward. Shooting Harry an apologetic glance, she set the cage on the ground and opened it. The tree rat skittered out, eyeing Harry and Hermione with what could only be described as distaste. It then looked to Snape.

"I apologize, Mr. Nott. The potion is much less painful than the spell. However, it seems Potter is not going to allow you the more comfortable way of transforming back to your original form," Snape lectured briskly.

Then he raised his wand, pointing it directly at the rat.

"Animagus Detego."

Suddenly, where the tree rat had been not a moment before, stood a fourth year Slytherin, Theodore Nott.

Nott grimaced uncomfortably, but shot Snape a grateful glance.

Both Harry and Hermione stared, Harry with his mouth open.

"Y-you're an Animagus?" Harry sputtered, blinking wildly.

Nott rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

It didn't seem possible! Even his father and the other Marauders hadn't managed to become Animagi until their fifth year. Nott was only a fourth year! Then again, Nott was a Slytherin. He was most definitely from a dark Pureblood family and had been taught all sorts of dark magic before he'd even come to Hogwarts. He probably knew an awful lot he shouldn't. Aside from that, Nott was a generally quiet, smart sort of boy who kept to himself in class and often went unnoticed. Hermione, however, had spoken of him more than once when he'd achieved the same grade as her on a test or paper. Who knew what he was capable of!

"Potter," Snape called in an almost civil tone, breaking Harry away from his thoughts. "Ten points to Gryffindor for consideration of animal rights."

Harry's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

"Professor!" Nott protested loudly, looking betrayed.

"Quiet, Mr. Nott," Snape said coldly, eyes narrowed. "I expect to see you in my office this evening. We have a need to discuss your idiocy."

Snape turned back to Harry. "One hundred points from Gryffindor for stealing from a professor." The corners of his lips twitched upward slightly before he spun on his heel and strode from the room.

"I knew it was too good to last," Harry muttered.

Nott turned to them with a scowl and said scathingly, "Little buddy?"