Trick 17: Magical Punishment!

The next day

Ace was reading in his cat form when he was suddenly picked up, Ace was stunned and turned his head all around, meowing in confusion. He saw Hermione looking at him, saying "Aw! What a cute kitty!"

Ace was stunned, touching his fangs only to realize that they were gone! He was a ball of confusion at the moment, not realizing what had happened to them, did they just disappear?

Is this a cat rite of passage!?

Hermione held Ace up by the armpits and said "What are you doing here, silly kitty~?" Ace stared at her and meowed, pointing at the book. Hermione paused and asked "You can understand me?!"

Ace rubbed his face with a paw, waving the other as he meowed. Hermione was shook and said excitedly "How magical! A cat that can understand people! Do you have an owner? Do you want to come with me?! Meow once for yes, two for no."

Ace froze and stared at Hermione with his jaw slacked, unable to comprehend what was happening. He struggled in her hands and flipped to the floor, hopping up onto the table. He meowed at Hermione, patting the table as he searched around, jumping to a bookshelf and walking on the rows.

He found what he was looking for and pulled the book out, making it fall to the ground. Hermione looked at the book and said "Animagus?" before opening it. She read a bit and froze, turning her head to Ace stiffly, clearing her throat as she said "I'm so sorry… Sir? Ma'am?"

Ace jumped down, landing on her shoulder as he pointed to letters spelling out 'Ace'. Hermione gasped "Ace?! You! How?! Mr. Brand! What happened to you?"

Ace pointed at the book and swiped his paws on his chest before jumping back to the table. He paused and meowed, walking to a stack of books. He pushed a few out of the way before sliding a huge book in front of her, patting it as he meowed.

Hermione looked at the book and said in surprise "I was looking for this one! How did you know?" Ace made glasses with his paws and Hermione nodded, "Harry told you. I see." Ace nodded and laid down on the table, going back to reading.

Hermione picked up the book and buried her nose in it as she walked away, muttering "Nicholas Flamel, hmmm…"

Ace turned, watching her almost slam face first into a bookshelf, he shook his head and sighed, turning back to his own book. Today was Enchantments.

A few days later

Ace was writing in a book with a stack of library books in front of him. McGonagall walked up to him and said "Ace, I have a job for you." Ace looked up at her in confusion, asking "Huh? Me?"

She nodded and turned around saying "Well? Come on." Ace turned to see Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Draco walking over with sad looks. Ace was stunned and looked at McGonagall, who turned to him saying "You shall bring these 4 to Hagrid's Shack and accompany them to the Dark Forest." Ace blinked and replied "I refuse." as he gestured to the books next to him, adding "As you can see I have a lot of work to do here, I can't just-"

McGonagall cut him off saying "This is punishment for you as well as them." Ace was startled and repeated in shock "Punishment? For what?!" McGonagall crossed her arms and looked at him teasingly, "Illegal Animagus transformation? Or even the fact that you clearly botched the Spell resulting in your failure of a transformation."

Ace was dumbfounded, asking in disbelief "How did you know?!" before pausing and saying "I mean, I don't know what you're talking about." McGonagall rolled her eyes and said "We will talk tomorrow. On you go." as she escorted Ace and the 4 out of the castle.

Ace led the 4 to Hagrid's shack as he sighed to himself, muttering "These damn walls are like paper around here… Everyone knows what you're doing all the time, where's the privacy, eh?"

Draco looked at him, asking "You became an Animagus?" Ace rolled his eyes and replied "Yes, why would I be here suffering with you all if I didn't?" he sighed again, adding "Now I have to go on a boring trip to a boring forest with nothing going on…"

They reached Hagrid's shack and Hagrid looked up saying "Oh.. hello…" Harry asked "What's wrong, Hagrid?" Hagrid sniffed and wiped his nose, replying "Professor Dumbledore sent Norbert to a camp in Romania. He's gone!"

Ace was confused, asking "Norbert?" Ron looked up at him, saying "A baby Ridgeback Dragon." Ace's eyes widened and he shouted "A real live dragon?! Cool!" then he slapped his hand, cursing "Damn! I fucking missed it!"

Before catching himself and coughing, "I mean I fricking missed it."

Draco asked Hagrid while swallowing his saliva "We're not really going into the forest are we!?" Hagrid got up and fixed his crossbow, nodding "Course we are, lad. Why else would we be here?"

Draco seemed shocked and said "But there- There's Werewolves!" Ace's eyes lit up and he looked at Hagrid, who chuckled "There be more than Werewolves in these woods. Come on." as he trotted away.

Ace walked next to him, asking excitedly "Hagrid, what other types of creatures exist in the woods?" Hagrid thought for a moment before replying "Well I suppose there's all types. Centaurs, Unicorns, Ghosts, Ghouls, Vampires, Werewolves, Wendigos, Trolls, Giants, Ogres, and the rest of 'em. You know, I found Fluffy in these woods."

Ace's eyes had stars in them as he asked "Fluffy?" Hagrid smiled happily "A 3 headed dog, he is!" Ace gasped, saying sharply "A cerberus?! Cool! Do you have a hard time cleaning his teeth?" Hagrid pursed his lips and replied "Clean his teeth? Not really, don't even do it!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione groaned at the back in unison while Draco was confused.

Ace took out a notebook from his back pocket and started asking Hagrid all sorts of questions about creatures that Hagrid knew.

Meanwhile, the group walked deeper into the forest.