4th January, 1891 — Hogwarts Library

Another term: Aubrey knew how this went. The first day back to classes, and hopefully only the keenest students would bother to visit the library until they were given their next bout of homework. In the meantime, the bottom shelf was a cosy place to settle in for a sleep.

Though not hedgehog by birth, there was a growing temptation in a body of this sort to rest the winter away in hibernation. He was slower to react than he used to be as a young footman, and the spines and short fur on his belly did not much spare him from the cold. And Merlin knew Mr. Jailkeeper didn’t bother to swaddle him in blankets, Aubrey thought sourly, remembering the days when Urquart had been coddled as a babe.

But he had drifted off in a cosy spot between books, undisturbed by the Hogwarts mice - he was still mostly asleep when a hand reached his way, and, dreaming of dinnertime, Aubrey reflexively bit down on the finger, clinging on with sharp little front teeth. (Unlike his outdoor compatriots, he made good discipline of sharpening his by regular gnawing.)

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The following 1 user Likes Aubrey Davis's post:1 user Likes Aubrey Davis's post
   Aldous Crouch

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Formerly known as Davis, Elijah Urquart's pet hedgehog.

Absentmindedly trailing a hand along the side of a bookshelf did not usually have very many consequences. A fallen book or bumping into another fellow student was about all that would happen.

It was for this reason that, upon feeling a bite on his finger, Addison recoiled, swearing. He soon realized that the culprit was still attached; a small creature with spines on its back. From his reading, a hedgehog, though he'd never seen one in person due mainly to living in rather cramped quarters. A hedgehog was not, he thought, something one would find under the Chatham roof, or its many holes.

What reason would a hedgehog have to be at Hogwarts? Regardless of the reason, the creature was hurting Addison, so he tried to head to the nearest table to attempt to set it down gently instead of throwing it down the long lines of shelves, though it took a great deal of self restraint to do so.

  

He had bitten children before. ‘Course, that was usually because they had irritated him in some way - a necessary measure to make his escape. This poor boy hadn’t even had time to annoy him before Aubrey found a finger in his mouth, a little bead of blood bursting from it in his mouth.

A rude awakening even for him. The boy was swearing. Aubrey would have been swearing too - whether it came out in a snuffle noise or not - but he couldn’t unclamp himself from the boy’s hand now, because he was being swung up in midair and he was in no mood for a fall to the cold flagon floor, thank you.

GET A MOVE ON, KID, Aubrey thought, though he didn’t know what the boy’s plan for him was. Fortunately, however, Aubrey (a little dizzy from the journey) felt his hind legs brushing against the wood of a table, and, uncertainly, Aubrey pulled his teeth out of the finger to put his front feet down.

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Formerly known as Davis, Elijah Urquart's pet hedgehog.

Addison was grateful that the creature had at least stopped biting him now that it was on the table. He bent down lower so that he was more at eye level with the thing, then opened his notebook. He didn't think any of his peers owned a hedgehog, but he wasn't sure, so he flipped through it to double check what was going on.

"You're probably a bit far away from home. Whatever tower that is...or wherever the other two go." Addison hadn't seen much of a point in investigating the Hufflepuff or Slytherin common rooms, as he didn't have much to do with people from those houses. He'd mistakenly wandered up past the Gryffindor tower a few times, though.

Addison examined the hedgehog closely. Hesitantly, he reached forward to see if it would want to be pet as a kitten or puppy might. He did feel a little bad for disturbing it, after all, and he wasn't sure he wanted to pick it up to go tell the librarian about the found pet. It had to be a pet, didn't it? Hedgehogs did not live in libraries. He'd be more familiar with them if they did.

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The kid was peering at him like he’d never seen a hedgehog before. To be fair, Aubrey supposed, most of the Hogwarts students seemed have to have this reaction to him, and surely some of them were from the countryside and had caught a hedgehog or two scuffling about in the garden.

Probably not in a library, though. Aubrey often forgot, after more than a decade in this state, that Hogwarts was not his natural environment - although it remained a dangerous one, given the audacity of these children. This boy had reached out a hand as though he wanted to touch him, even after the biting!

Aubrey curled, defensively, into a ball. If he wanted to get a spike to the finger, fine. Have at it. (He was mostly focused on not accidentally rolling off the table.)

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Formerly known as Davis, Elijah Urquart's pet hedgehog.

Addison backed away. He was fond of his fingers, and after receiving a bite he decided it was not the best idea to continue to poke around. It was an animal, after all. He decided to go fetch the librarian, who would have a better idea of what to do with the thing than Addison would.

"Er...stay right there, fella," Addison said, feeling stupid for talking to a hedgehog, "I'm going to get help..."

With that, he was off to go grab the librarian's attention. Maybe someone else would have an idea of where this hedgehog belonged.

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Help? Why did the boy presume he needed help? He had been perfectly content until he’d been taken off the shelf! Aubrey sometimes thought he didn’t understand people. (Sometimes, too, he even forgot that he used to be a people. Person. One of them.)

Aubrey unrolled himself slightly as the boy spoke, supposing it was safe if the boy was leaving, and deciding maybe he was going for help himself, for his finger. Aubrey thought that was fair: he still had the taste of human finger in his mouth. He spat out a tiny gob of saliva onto the table and licked his spines in hedgehog fashion to cleanse it, but considered - as the boy went - that maybe it was his time to disappear. He didn’t want to get confiscated by the librarian and thrown out of the library - or the whole castle, because it would take hours to get back in.

Aubrey considered the edge of the table, sketched out a mental map of where he would have to go to get out of the library unscathed. First, though, he eyed the boy’s notebook where he’d left it. Ah, revenge. He left a poop upon it before rolling back into a ball and hurling himself off the table.

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The following 2 users Like Aubrey Davis's post:2 users Like Aubrey Davis's post
   Addison Chatham, Cassius Lestrange

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Formerly known as Davis, Elijah Urquart's pet hedgehog.

Addison returned with the librarian, who scolded him for wasting time when it turned out there was no hedgehog. He was very confused and a little worried. What if the poor thing got lost? He looked at his notebook and let out a frustrated sigh. Hedgehogs were animals, after all so he supposed it was a bit much to expect it not to do its business wherever it pleased. It didn't mean it wasn't annoying, though.

Wiping off the notebook, he decided he would ask a few others if they had seen a hedgehog around or knew someone who had lost a pet. With any luck, the owner of the creature would find it soon enough.

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