Scabbers Has Starved, Why Don't We…

Hermione rolled her eyes. What kind of wizard would study such a boring subject? However, she couldn't help but ask when she saw Ivan frowning in thought.

"Ivan, why are you asking?"

"Nothing, just curious," Ivan said casually.

Although he agreed to let Hermione join the research into potion-making, Ivan felt it was his business and did not want her to get too involved.

Perhaps Snape would have an idea… With a thought, Ivan decided to ask him about it in Potions tomorrow.

Hermione was not at all convinced by Ivan's patronizing words, but she knew that he would never tell her, so she made a mental note of his words.

If Ivan couldn't think of something, could she?

Hermione's grip on the Time-Turner on her chest wavered…

They ate their lunch in silence.

Shortly after, Harry and Ron arrived from the main entrance of the Great Hall, having just finished their Transfiguration lesson.

"Ivan, Hermione, how did you get here so fast?" Ron asked curiously.

"Yeah, I just saw you guys back there…" Harry nodded.

Over the course of the year, Harry became acutely aware of the problems Ivan and Hermione were having, as if they could appear anywhere at Hogwarts at any moment.

A few days ago, Hermione was heard hitting a Slytherin girl in the corridor of her Divination class.

Hermione, on the other hand, was in the same class as them, having left Professor Trelawney's Divination classroom at a distance.

However, when he and Ron heard the news, they both agreed that it was a rumour, as Hermione would never resort to violence.

That was against school rules!

Ivan was very calm. "We came through the secret passage, of course… as you know, we have a lot of classes to attend, and we're not going to be able to get through them in the normal way."

You're not going to make it to the secret passage in time, are you? Harry wondered.

Harry and Ron didn't ask, as Hermione told them fiercely that it was best not to know so much unless they were prepared to take all the lessons…

Harry and Ron's heads shook like rattles, and they stopped asking questions.

"By the way, Ron, where's your mouse? I don't think it's been well lately," Ivan said, turning to look at Ron.

"Is there?" Ron asked, pulling Scabbers out of his pocket. The rat was round and grey with shiny black fur…

Scabbers was in a good mood when he finally managed to get some fresh air out of his sealed pocket, but when he turned around, he saw Ivan looking at him with an evil gaze. Scabbers let out a scream of fear and clawed at Ron's thumb.

Despite the summer break, Scabbers had not forgotten how the demon had treated him during his first two years of school…

"It doesn't just seem to be in poor health, it seems to be a bit manic, possibly ill!" Ivan concluded at once.

Are you sure it wasn't you who scared them? Hermione and Harry had strange looks on their faces, and Scabbers on Ron's palm was shaking his head frantically, indicating that he was perfectly fine and not at all manic!

Yvonne saw what they were thinking and countered, "Ron, if I'm not mistaken, Scabbers has been acting strangely more than once this term, hasn't he?"

Ron thought about it, and it seemed to be true. Scabbers had been acting very restless lately, and on one occasion, when Ron ran into Professor Lupin in the corridor, Scabbers seemed to have lost his mind and was burrowing into his trouser pocket…

Ron grew worried at the thought. Was she really ill?

"What should we do? Is Madam Pomfrey a part-time vet?" Ron asked, thinking it was time to check on her.

"I think Hagrid will! He's got so many, and he's a Professor of Magical Creatures!" Harry reminded her.

"Oh, come on, look at the kind of monsters Heig keeps. We've had enough trouble with dragons and three-headed dogs," Ron complained.

"Ron, I can brew some soothing potion for Scabbers, maybe it'll make him feel better," Ivan said, looking at Scabbers with "care".

No! I don't need it! Scabbers shook his head with a shudder. He didn't think Ivan would be so kind.

Scabbers remembered Ivan experimenting with its body on the train at the end of his first year, and he was sure that Ivan wanted him to experiment with magic again…

However, when Ron saw Scabbers like this, he felt more and more that he might not be feeling well, so he looked at Ivan gratefully.

"Is that so? Well, thank you very much, Ivan!"

"It's no trouble at all. I happen to like this rat, too!" Ivan put a meatball in Scabbers's mouth with his fork.

The latter, however, was ungrateful and stubbornly pushed the meatballs around his mouth with his little paws, trying to refuse Ivan's offer.

"I'm sorry, Ivan, Scabbers isn't always like this. He's probably had too much to eat today." Ron was a little embarrassed. In his opinion, Ivan had always been very good to Scabbers, often buying and feeding him multi-flavoured beans.

It was thanks to Ivan that Scabbers was so dark and fat.

Now Scabbers was being so ungrateful that even Ron, the host, could not stand it anymore.

Ivan duly stated that he did not care. He knew how much Ron valued Scabbers, so he did not rush Ron to give him Scabbers.

Ron was so pleased that Ivan liked his mouse pet that he excitedly shared with him some of Scabbers's interesting experiences during the summer holidays.

For example, during the summer holidays, George and Fred made Scabbers a beautiful mouse roller, all-magical and capable of forcing Scabbers to exercise non-stop…

"No wonder I get the feeling it's lost weight…" Ivan shook his head. It seemed that his plan to fatten it up since his first year had failed…

It's not skinny at all! Harry looked at Scabbers' fat, round body and wanted to complain.

Hermione noticed that Ivan seemed overly concerned about Scabbers,

Recalling Ivan's request for lab rats, the witch had a strange look on her face.

However, Scabbers was Ron's pet, and it's not like there aren't other mice at Hogwarts.

Hermione thought better of it.

Ivan was not like that!