What is wrong with him? Fred asked as he and Hermione now came over from where they had been marveling over their newly restored pokémons.
Hagrid was still bent and examining Magnus Zorua as if he couldn't still believe his eyes.
"Well, Zorua here has been playing tricks on Hagrid... Haven't you, you bad boy?" Magnus said, rubbing the pokémon's mane.
"Like hell he has," Hagrid bellowed.
"I will tell you what my problem is... Someone musta entered this room and turned the poor pokémon into a bowl... That mustta took a powerful transfiguration spell, no doubt. It mustta been a powerful wizard... This can't be allowed to slide, I must let the headmaster know at once."
"Calm down, Hagrid." Magnus intervened as Hagrid turned towards the door.
"Nobody turned my Zorua into a bowl. He was just playing tricks on you and everyone else, he was inside the cage all along."
Hagrid turned to look at him as if he had been hit by a malfunctioning obliviate spell.
And it wasn't him alone. Both Hermione and Fred were looking at him the same way.
"Come on, mate. You're saying your pokémon turned itself into a bowl... That would still require quite some magic... Hagrid has a point."
Magnus smiled, he could understand their confusion, I mean it wasn't something Pokémons were known to do... At least not in this universe.
"It's not transfiguration exactly..." he said, trying to find the proper way to phrase it.
"He was just pretending to be a bowl... He has been trying to do it with the Ravenclaw table utensils every morning. But I always thought that I was hallucinating myself until I confirmed right now."
There was still no sign of comprehension among the people he was trying to explain to.
"Mate, I don't think McGonagall has covered it with you yet... but I think what you're saying is a perfect description of transfiguration," Fred said, now excited. "Sick to think a Pokémon can achieve that... Even animagus are limited to one animal only."
"Exactly my point... See, he gets it," Hagrid affirmed.
Hermione, however, was staring at Fred like he was the dumbest human she had ever met.
"Of course Magnus knows what transfiguration is... I would have thought you would have known that transfiguration is when a wizard or a witch uses magic to change something from its current form to a different form, which is not what Magnus is describing... What Magnus is describing is illusion, if I'm not wrong, which means the pokémon is pretending to be a bowl without having to change its form. It's just playing with your sense of sight."
"Finally someone gets it... Thank you, Hermione."
"Bullcrap," Hagrid cursed, not even caring that he was cursing in front of students.
"Don't insult me intelligence... ya mean ter say this poor hatchlin' fooled me into thinking it's a bowl... I've been lookin' for it for almost the entire day an' all the while I've been staring at that bloody bowl and seeing an illusion."
"Exactly. That is why it's called an illusion, Hagrid... When a Zorua is scared or feeling mischievous it often plays such kind of tricks on people. Like I said, it's been trying with the goblets and other utensils at the Ravenclaw table. I'm actually surprised it has managed to sustain such a strong illusion for that long. I mean, it could have fooled me if I wasn't expecting it already."
But even Hermione's support seemed to disappear at that point.
"Wait, you're saying that you were expecting it and you knew it could do this?"
"Yes, I knew Zorua can do that... The thing that is confusing me is... It's supposed to achieve that kind of strong illusion when it becomes a Zoroark, which means there should be some transformation in its physical form."
Magnus didn't recall exactly what was required to achieve this in Pokémon lore. But he knew just like Fred's Espeon, there had to be a close bond as a requirement, which he had been keen on of late.
He had been trying to make Zorua feel as comfortable as possible, seeing that they were shy pokémons. But other than that, he could not fully remember what other requirements were needed to trigger evolution from Zorua to Zoroark.
But still, the tiny pokémon had been able to achieve an impressive illusion.
Both Harry, Hagrid and he himself had been able to be fooled into thinking it was actually a bowl. Not to mention probably other ministry officials as well as teaching staff. That alone meant it had mastered powerful illusions.
Then again, when he thought about it, maybe those powerful illusions as he was referring to them weren't that powerful compared to the Zoroark's capability when it had fully evolved.
Maybe this was just the beginning, and just thinking about it had Magnus now trembling with excitement at the thought of what he could achieve when the pokémon had reached the height of its powers.
Hagrid seemed too confused to decide whether he should be angry or flattered at the revelation. But seeing that Magnus himself was not troubled and seemed to have an answer to what had happened seemed to ease things for him.
After all, when it came to these creatures, he had already established himself as an authority and could be trusted to know what he was saying.
Magnus turned his attention to Fred's pokémon.
"Can I hold him?" he said to Fred, who looked a bit confused for a few minutes before quickly realizing that Magnus was asking to hold the newly evolved Espeon.
"'Course you can, mate. Here you go. Be a good boy, fweg," he said, handing over the Espeon.
The intelligent Pokémon hesitated as it recognized him as the man it had stopped when trying to attack its master... But then, sensing Fred's calmness, it let Magnus hold it.
"That guy is the reason you're the talk of the town," Fred added gleefully.
Magnus' Zorua purred threateningly and right in front of their eyes seemed to disappear, and there were two Espeons facing each other.
The illusion lasted only a few seconds before the Zorua was back.
"Holy... did... you guys see that right?" Fred exclaimed.
Magnus had, and by the look of it both Hermione and Hagrid too.
If there was any doubt, it disappeared right there.
"Merlin's tooth. That's bloody magical," Hagrid declared.
The Pokémon had been trying to intimidate Espeon for taking its owner but seemed to decide it was fine.
It suddenly jumped onto his shoulders and then almost immediately onto Hermione's, who gave a gentle squeal of uncertainty.
The pokémon quickly transitioned into her palms, where the Pichu was nuzzled.
"Careful, you will make her zap me," Hermione screamed.
"She can't zap you, Hermione. You are its owner," Fred taunted.
"You think I don't know that? That hasn't seemed to matter for the last week or two."
Fred giggled.
"Well, that shows your lack of trust in Magnus' endeavors. He's been helping you train the Pichu, hasn't he?"
"...Of course he has," she said. "That is not what I meant." Hermione began to go defensive, not knowing Fred was actually pulling her leg.
Halfway, however, she seemed to realize it.
"Magnus knows what I mean."
Magnus, however, was busy petting the newly transformed Espeon.
A soft lilac shimmer from its fur gave an aura that was too powerful to ignore. There was no doubting it, this was a full psychic type. His plan had succeeded.
At that moment, the door to the hatching room burst open, and two more figures came streaking into the room.
Hagrid stood up. "How the bloody hell have you managed to enter?" he began. But George cut him as Harry also joined the new arrivals.
"Of course the door is visible as long as there are people inside, Hagrid. I'm thinking you did not do that thing you do to make it vanish. Anyway, you should check your hut. With the sounds coming from inside, I think you will be lucky to find anything standing."
Hagrid suddenly looked more despairing than he had been when he had thought somebody had interfered with the Pokémon.
"I think Ron's shield spell has broken. I mean, with all the nagging Mom and Dad are giving him, I would expect it to be," George went on giggling like Ron's suffering meant Christmas.
"In which case, I think a Zweilous is wreaking havoc in your hut... again."
That is all Hagrid needed to hear. He didn't even bother to show them out of the hatching room.
And even worse, when he stepped outside in a hurry, he shut the door behind them.
George turned to the rest of them.
"Anyone willing to wager a Galleon with me? I say there won't be nothing standing in that place by the time he gets there."
Fred smiled.
"Well, I was going to wager on that too, so no bet, bro."