Ron had to explain everything, pretending that Harry had somehow slipped through the bars and escaped on his own, of course – they were in enough trouble already.
When he had finished, the rooster had finally started eating, and Fred and George had written their letter and went outside to send it with Hedwig.
“Sure she’ll listen to you?”, Mum asked. “I can ask Percy if we can use Hermes, it is, after all, an emergency.”
“She is Harry’s owl, isn’t she?”
“And I bet she is a very happy owl right now”, Ron admitted. „She, uh, might be eating one of our chickens. The hen who tried to murder Harry.”
Before they could discuss it more, Hedwig flew through an open window, circled through the room and let something fall over the box Harry was in.
“Ewww, a dead mouse!”
“She’s trying to feed Harry!” Ginny exclaimed. “How sweet!“
The rooster didn’t seem to approve, though, it grabbed the mouse with its feet and let it fall outside the box before returning.
Hedwig was, indeed, easily persuaded to take a letter to Professor McGonagall. After giving the rooster a look that seemed to say ‘Harm a feather on his head and you’ll be lunch’, she took off.
Not long after that, the rooster began to peck at the empty feed dish. Ginny took it out of the box.
The rooster responded by climbing out of the box, leaving Harry-the-chick behind.
Ron peered inside the box. “You alright, mate?”
„Cheep!“
“Does that mean yes? Hey!” Ron tried to shoo the rooster away from his glass of pumpkin juice, but the creepy animal didn’t back away.
“He’s thirsty!”, Ginny declared.
“Oh dear, of course he is! I should have given them water. They don’t have a pond in here, after all.” Mum hurried to fetch some water.
“Cheep? Cheep?“ Harry seemed rather unhappy, but Ron wasn’t sure why.
„Cluck.“ The rooster went back into the box – was it normal that chickens could fly that well? Ron wasn’t even sure he had seen one do more than just move its wings a bit.
Harry-the-chick immediately ran to hide under the rooster’s wing again.
A saucer full of water was carefully placed in the box, and Ron watched closely. The demonic rooster didn’t drink any of it!
It dipped its beak in it all right, but then it just said “Tuck!” in a commanding tone, which caused the Harry-chick to peek out from between the black feathers and drink some.
“Oh, they’re so cute!”, Ginny cooed.
“Hey! That’s Harry you are talking about!”
“Well, he is cute!” Ginny insisted, then blushed a deep red. At least she seemed to be properly ashamed!
It wasn’t long before Dad got home, carrying an exhausted Errol in his hand.
The black rooster made a strange vibrating sound that caused Harry to stop drinking and hide under his wing.
“What a night”, Dad mumbled and collapsed in an armchair, placing Errol on the armrest. “Everything alright, Molly, dear? Something seems off.”
“Nothing is alright. Fred and George have gone and turned Harry into a chicken, if they are to be believed. And I have to say, this chick does look a lot like him.”
“A chick? Could you turn him back?“
„They used a potion of their own design, and I am not going to risk Harry’s wellbeing by trying to undo that. Professor McGonagall will hopefully know what to do. Meanwhile, we keep him in this cardboard box.”
“If it was a potion”, Dad said, closing his eyes and placing his glasses in his lap. “Then perhaps we should consult a potions professor.”
“A potions professor?” Ron knew only one, and he definitely didn’t want him to be anywhere near a Harry who had been turned into a chick.
“A splendid idea, Arthur. Yes, I do think you should write a letter to Professor Snape, don’t you agree, Fred?”
Ron was really glad he wasn’t responsible for this mess. Mum must be really angry.
“It is a transfiguration. I am sure McGonagall can turn him back, no need to - ”
“Professor McGonagall”, Mum corrected Fred sharply. “What did I do wrong with you two? Nothing but disrespect for your parents and teachers!”
“Now, now, Molly, they are good boys - ”
“Good boys don’t turn younger boys into chicks!”
“It was an accident, Mum! We’d never harm Harry - ”
“Did you make sweets that would turn anyone who eats them into a chick or not? It was only a matter of time until anyone ate it – really, we are lucky it happened while someone was watching!”
“I’m sorry!”
“You will be even more sorry when Professor McGonagall arrives!”
That prediction turned out to be completely true.
Ron had never seen the professor that angry. There was no telling how long she’d have rebuked Fred, and to a lesser degree George, if she hadn’t been distracted by poor Harry’s condition.
She performed some spells on Harry-the-chick, confirmed that the chick was really a young wizard, and said she couldn’t turn him back. “Polyjuice potion is not meant for transformations into animals!”, she scolded. “I have no idea how to reverse this mess.”
“We didn’t use Polyjuice.” George didn’t sound like he was even trying to defend himself anymore. “We, um, modified it a bit. It should be reversible, but we haven’t really tested it on anything but garden gnomes and they didn’t turn back, so ...”
“Do you have a sample of this unholy concoction? Professor Snape might be able to figure out how to reverse it. Might. And he will not be happy.”
Ron suddenly realized what the black rooster reminded him of. He did look a lot like Snape.
Well, except that Snape wouldn’t give anyone his custom glare for attacking Harry. And he certainly wouldn’t try and get Harry to eat. But apart from that ...
If Snape ate one of those chicken sweets, he’d probably look exactly like the black rooster.
Fred handed McGonagall one of the sweets.
She pocketed it and nodded. “I shall take Harry with me and consult with the headmaster.”
“Harry stays here”, Mum said firmly. “You don’t know a lot about chickens, do you?”
“I will have you know that I grew up in the countryside”, Professor McGonagall replied. “Though admittedly ... my knowledge might not be up to date. For example I did not know you could get roosters to care for chicks.”
“He’s probably an exotic breed. You know, Pandora was always so enthusiastic about trying new things ... so far he has been doing really well, and Harry would be upset without any other chickens around, and he’d be cold, too, so I think we should keep them both here. I haven’t ever had a mother hen turn against her chicks after feeding and warming them, so I don’t think there is much risk.”
“Hrrmph. Professor Snape will not enjoy having to visit here, I can tell you that much. May I use your floo?”
Her attempt to firecall Snape failed, much to Ron’s relief.
She did, however, succeed in contacting Dumbledore, who soon stood in their sitting room, wearing a dressing gown decorated with moons and stars.
“Well”, he said after the situation had been explained to him. “That could have been worse.”
“How on earth could that have been worse?!” Mum said, and Professor McGonagall looked like the only reason she didn’t ask Dumbledore if he had gone mad was that she didn’t want to do it in front of the students.
“I fully trust Professor Snape to handle the situation”, Dumbledore said calmly. “Harry will not come to any harm, and, in all probability, will not even remember what happened after we turn him back.”
“What about that rooster? I don’t trust him, he looks creepy.”
“Ah, of course. You are right, Ronald, I should make sure this rooster is, in fact, not a danger to Harry. It will not harm the chick if I borrow that rooster for a short while, Molly?”
“I daresay he will be alright for a couple of minutes, but do hurry. ”
Dumbledore held out his arm and the rooster hopped onto it as if it had been trained. “Is there somewhere I can conduct an experiment without being in the way? Your garage, perhaps?”
“I’m sorry, it is rather untidy in there ...” Dad got up.
“You should see my office during the summer holidays! No reason to be ashamed of a bit of creative chaos, I am sure. Don’t inconvenience yourself on my account, I am sure I will find the way.”
Dumbledore walked out of the door, carrying the rooster on his arm as if it was an owl, or his pet phoenix.
“Cheep?” Harry tried to hide under the cushion in his box.
“Poor thing, you must be cold.” Ginny put her hand in the box and petted Harry and – he snuggled into her hand!
Ron really, really hoped Harry wouldn’t remember any of this. And perhaps Dumbledore would modify Ginny’s memory so she didn’t remember, either?
“He really does look like himself. Look, his eyes are green! I’ve never seen a chick with green eyes!”
Chapter 3