Kurumi entered the Charms Practice Hall with a small bag and Walnut trailing behind her. She had been so caught up in her own family research that she had almost forgotten about practicing the Freezing and Banishing charms. Well, it was more that she didn't want to be reminded of the chocolate disaster that had been banishing chocolate frogs from last class. She still couldn't look at chocolate and not feel sick to her stomach.

Looking down at Walnut, she smiled and the cat trotted off to the side to observe Kurumi. She didn't understand why Walnut had insisted on coming with her, but she didn't want to leave him howling in the Gryffindor common room and become a bother to everyone else.

Kneeling down on the ground, Kurumi opened up her bag and searched through the objects until she found what she was looking for:


The animatronic hamster had been a gift from her brother, Takashi, for her fifth birthday since her mother wouldn't allow her to have any pets. It had three speeds, slow, medium, and wicked fast - the label literally said wicked fast. Deciding that slow and medium wouldn't be much of a challenge for her now that she had dealt with chocolate frogs, Kurumi turned the setting to wicked fast and put the hamster back in its ball.

Bad idea...very bad idea...

The hamster zoomed off towards the wall, hit it, bounced backwards, and continued its mad race around the Charms room. Kurumi groaned while Walnut's ears perked up with interest.

Oooooooooooooooh?! What is this? The cat hunched down low and began to wiggle his bottom as he waited for the opportune moment to pounce.

THERE IT WAS!

Walnut took off after the hamster, swatting this way and that, but always missing the ball by mere centimeters.

"Walnut!" Kurumi squeaked knowing full well that calling her cat was not going to make him stop.

Folding her arms across her chest, Kurumi realized she had her work cut out for her. At this rate she was going to have to freeze two objects before she would be able to banish anything. Granted, if she hit the hamster first then she would be ready to banish...but seeing as Walnut managed to situate himself between her line of vision and the hamster, Kurumi resolved to just freezing him first and then the robot hamster.

Wait?! Was that an opening?! Kurumi flicked her wand twice towards the hamster. "Immobulus!" she commanded.

But, it wasn't the hamster that froze in place. Instead, the spell hit Walnut's hind legs and the cat face planted into the floor. "Oh sorry, Walnut," she said as her eyes flicked towards the hamster. "I'll fix it in a minute." Repeating the wand movement, Kurumi cast the charm at the hamster ball that was now moving towards the door and...it stopped.

Before banishing it, she turned her attention back to Walnut. "Finite," she said and Walnut found his hind limbs able to move once more. The cat glared at Kurumi. She better have a bunch of those tuna fish cookies in her pocket for doing this to him.

Sending Walnut another apologetic look, Kurumi pointed her wand at the now frozen hamster ball. "Depulso!" she said as she guiding the object through the air until it was above her bag. She dropped her want, which allowed the ball to fall into it...but it also removed the Freezing Charm she had set on the ball. Now it took off once more, but this time racing around the room while inside the bag.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG!

She glanced over her shoulder at Walnut who showed no interest this time. His nose was still stinging from the initial faceplant, thank you.

Kurumi returned her attention to the seemingly possessed bag and flicked her wand at it twice. "Immobulus!" she shouted and the bag froze. She then ran over to it, pulled the hamster ball out, and turned it off. Why she hadn't thought of that in the first place was beyond her. "Walnut," she said looking back at the cat. "Let's go back to the common room. I have a fresh batch of those cookies you like."

And with that, the two left the practice hall.