The pulse of the corner boys sprang into action [Hunter]

It was the day after the Northern lights had apparently been visible from the Hogwarts grounds. Billy couldn’t confirm this himself however, seeing as he had fallen asleep by the river and missed the entire display. He was furious. The Hufflepuff had so been looking forward to experience, especially after finding out that his elder brother had recently been arrested, again. Seeing as he had missed out on his last attempt of cheering himself up, Billy decided he would take the opportunity of a visit to the local village of Hogsmeade.

Being born and raised in London from infancy, the Eastender enjoyed the difference of the much calmer pace of the village - as well as all the magical shops he could browse. The Hufflepuff had managed to scrape together his remaining few sickles so he could purchase a Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. Yes – Billy thought, a Butterbeer was exactly what he needed. The trip would be the perfect opportunity for him to get away from the castle and vent his frustrations, then relax with his favourite drink of choice. Afterwards, Billy decided that he would browse a couple of the shops. It would have been nice if he could purchase some sweets from Honeydukes or some supplies from one of the other fun stores, but the boy simply didn’t have enough money to do so. Browsing would have to do.

Billy took his time on the journey down to the village; he didn’t have anything to rush for.  Once at Hogsmeade, the Hufflepuff decided to venture to the far corner of one of the paths so he could enjoy the view of the vast landscape. He felt himself escape in the scenery for a few minutes. Starting to get cold, the boy decided that maybe it was time for that Butterbeer. As he turned to walk back, he felt something crunch under his foot. As he looked down, he found a shining gold galleon. Billy quickly picked up the coin and began inspecting it. The gold shone bright in the light – it was real!

Not believing his luck, Billy began the run straight for Honeydukes. The money already burning a hole in his pocket, he was ticking over all of the possible things that he could buy in his mind. Before he got to the infamous sweetshop however, something else caught his eye. Billy noticed a man that looked a little worse for wear slumped by one of the gardens. Around him were several rats. Upon closer inspection, the Hufflepuff noticed that the rats were doing tricks! Having grabbed his attention from sweets and chocolate, he decided to take a closer look.

“Sooooooooooooooooo cool!” Billy cried with excitement.

Hunter was reclining comfortably in Hogsmeade. That is to say, he was half-sitting, half-slumped a little way off the main shopping street, on a nice patch of grass that wasn't quite part of anyone's garden.

It wasn't something he made a habit of...well, not so much these days, anyway. But this had been an exception. When the man had heard the Northern lights were going to be visible from Hogsmeade, he had immediately made plans to go and watch the spectacle. Not that his plans amounted to much, considering that he'd only heard about the natural show at 5 the previous afternoon. Luckily he hadn't got plans for the evening, so he'd apparated up here with only the clothes he stood up in, half a dozen galleons in one pocket and half a dozen rats in the others. Things like finding a place to stay would be easy enough, he imagined.

Hunter had reckoned without what seemed like half the wizards in the country also turning up for the event, most of whom had been far more prepared than he was. All the rooms at The Three Broomsticks had been booked weeks earlier, and most of the witches who took in lodgers already had people sleeping in their living rooms as well as their guest rooms. Undeterred, Hunter had looked up at the sky and grinned. it had been a clear night, a bit cold but dry, and he had spent a great evening drinking beers with some new friends as they watched the light show. Rather more beers than he should have done, if the truth be told. Still, it had all worked out for the best, and they'd ended up spending the night in the back garden of the Hogs Head. Given the amount they had spent there, it was a reasonable deal.

But now, the young man had risen with a heavy head and wandered out of town, the sound of doors unlocking too much for his currently oversensitive ears and brain that was at least two sizes too large and knocking enthusiastically on his skull as it searched hopefully for a way out. Had he been thinking straight he might have gone in search of a good breakfast, but right now that seemed like too much effort. The small furry denizens of his pockets had no such qualms, though. They had already been out to patrol the surrounding area and returned triumphant with various scraps of bread, cheese and other rodent delicacies which had long since been enjoyed. Upon attempting to return to their cosy pocket nests though, Hunter had stirred enough to push them temporarily away.

"P*ss off. Do tricks." he mumbled, eyes still mostly closed. The two youngest rats ignored him and continued to snuggle, but the older three recognised their magic words. No matter that they had already eaten. No matter that there was no audience. Tricks meant treats, and these rats would do anything for a bit of chocolate or a raisin or two. One got up on his hind legs and balanced in a perfectly straight line along a nonexistent tightrope as the other two performed a series of complicated jumps and leaps.

Hunter jumped himself at the sound of a voice. "S'alright, I'm going" he mumbled, before persuading one eye fully open and seeing a teenage boy a few feet away. Helpfully, the other eye also reported for duty, though the resulting flood of light sliced through Hunter's brain unmercifully. "Oh. Hi" he greeted, dragging himself into a sitting position. "Got any beer?"

Billy had never seen anything so amazing in his entire life! Well, he probably had, but at this moment in time the lad couldn’t believe his eyes. Rats.  Doing tricks… How amazing! The Hufflepuff squealed with delight when he saw one of them walking on his hind legs in a perfectly straight line.  Others were flipping and twiliring as if they were in a circus and performing a complex acrobatics routine. Billy couldn’t contain his excitement and insisted in clapping and cheering the rats on and was quite vocal and causing quite a lot of noise in the process.

As the man who the rats were surrounding sat up, he asked Billy if he had any beer. “Well actually, I was just on my way to Three Broomsticks for one” the blonde lad replied. This wasn’t actually a lie, Billy told himself in his head. He was actually planning on going for a beer in the Three Broomsticks. Just the man asking wasn’t talking about one of the butter variety. Judging by his stale breath and less than sanitary appearance Billy assumed that the man slumped by the fence had certainly enjoyed more than a few butterbeers the night before.

Before the man could reply, Billy asked another question. “Are these your rats?” What a stupid question! Of course they were his rats. No wizard in their right mind, even a homeless one, would happily sit around while wild rats ran all over them. The curious Hufflepuff had several more questions that he was simply dying to ask, but he held them in. Billy didn’t want to bombard the man, who was obviously homeless, with too many questions when he’d clearly had a rough night the one before. This all went out the window however when one particularly cute fat white rat began performing roly-polies and Billy couldn't contain his excitement any longer.

“Are they magic rats?”

“Have you charmed them?”

“What charm did you use?”

Billy was still quite taken by the cute fat rat and couldn’t take his eyes off him. Oh how the lad would love to take him back up to the castle and make him his own. He’d look after him, feed him, play with him and give him everything he needed. He would make him a cool den and climbing frames. This was out of the question however; the man clearly wasn’t going to hand over one of his own pet rats, especially to a squealing idiot like him. Then Billy remembered. He put his hand into his pocket and cold ran up his fingers as he clasped his hand around the single gold galleon that he had found a few moments prior. He took it out of his pocket. Surely a cool new pet was worth more than all those sweets?

Now he was conscious, of not yet fully awake, Hunter got a better look at the newcomer and felt a small jolt of shock. This was no adult, but a boy of...sixteen? Fifteen? Probably not old enough to even drink, yet. Hunter was about to lie and claim that he had meant butterbeer when the boy said he was heading to the Three Broomsticks. Okay, so maybe someone like him, who looked younger than he was. Even now, at the grand age of twenty four, Hunter was often asked for ID both in wizard and muggle bars, so he could understand that particular frustration. He struggled to his feet, brushing the dirt from his clothes; while the remaining two rats jumped to the ground and went to join their companions.

"Yeah, they're mine. Born and raised in London, bless 'em. That one there's Flea, and the one doing the somersaults is Trilo, and..."  he was cut off with a bunch of other questions that, far from annoying his hungover brain made him grin. A lot of people didn't like rats, but this lad seemed positively delighted. He rubbed a slightly grubby hand over his face while he gathered his thoughts. Now he was standing, the headache was worse, but that was nothing a drink and a decent fry-up wouldn't cure. A soft drink, he told himself now he was coherent. A good strong cup of tea or something. "Naah, not magical. And no charms, just training. Not really by me, though. I've had rats since I was a kid. Lived in squats, so not surprising my first pet was a rat. Probably a sewer rat, though she came into our house and sat on my sleeping bag one night. Gave her a bit of chocolate and she decided to stay. She was a brainy one, was Jacko the First. I taught her a few tricks, then after a few months she goes off and I'm gutted, think that's it, but she comes back with a fat belly and suddenly I've got six rats instead of one. Two of them stuck with me, the rest decided they wanted to be wild and...yeah" Hunter suddenly realised he was telling half his life story to a total stranger " Anyway, these guys are her great great great great...something...grandkids. They know my command words, but the younger ones pretty much learn from their parents and cousins. Except when one of them comes up with a new trick. Now that's cool. Intelligent guys, rats." he grinned.

"Anyway. Guess I don't really want any more beer." he shrugged ruefully " But breakfast would be good. The Three Broomsticks used to do a great Full English last time I was here. Want to join me and talk about rats some more?" Hunter glanced around and spotted a water pump a little way up the street. Pumping out some water, he stuck his hands under and washed them, then splashed water on his face, then turned back to his new friend "What d'you reckon? They going to let me in?" Then, belatedly he thought to ask "What's your name, by the way?"

[I am so, SO sorry for the horrendous wait on this. I really hope I won't take so long again because this is such a fun thread xD]

“London! Cool! That’s where I’m from, the East End. Do you know Bethnal Green?”

How cool! These rats were from the same city as Billy. The boy was filled with a slight feeling of sadness as he began to reminisce about back home. He often wondered how different his life would have been had he not inherited magical powers from some distant relative he had never met. Would he be working on his father’s market stall selling knock of fruit and vegetables that his brother had stolen from the Tesco waste bins? Billy thought that these pet rats would love the stuff from the stall. Hang on. Do rats even east fruit and vegetables? Suppose they’d eat anything given them, Billy assumed.

After he had finally stopped bombarding the man with the rats with spitfire questions, Billy listened to him talk about his pet’s heritage along with a little backstory as to how they came to be together. Learning that the rats listened and responded to commands, Billy’s imagination ran wild with all the exciting things that they might possibly be able to do. The Eastend lad had trained a puppy he once owned to sit, but a rat would be so much cooler. After the man had freshened up by washing his face, the two set off to the Three Broomsticks.

Apparently the man had lost his interest for beer and was now interested in a cup of tea and a full English. Billy loved a greasy fry up and regularly gorged on bacon, sausage, eggs, toast and all the regular trimmings of the fatty breakfast. For such a skinny boy Billy could eat. He could gorge on crazy amounts of food without ever being sick and still retaining his slender figure. He was a growing lad. Billy was also a little relieved that the man no longer wanted an alcoholic beverage. The young Hufflepuff would have squirmed with awkwardness when he would have undoubtedly have been refused service for being underage.

“My name’s Billy, Billy Mudchute” he replied when the older man had asked his name. “What’s yours?”

The two talked more of rats and London until they arrived at the Three Broomsticks. Billy was careful to avoid the topic of age, as he figured that the man who was a fair few years his senior may feel a little weird hanging around a pub with a fifteen year old boy. Eventually they arrived at their destination and as they entered Billy ran to find a seat at the back in the corner hidden away. Even though the pub was an old and at times dirty place, Billy figured that the owners wouldn’t exactly welcome the idea of rats running around the tables and Billy wanted to see them perform some more.

“Should we order that full English then? I only have this, will they have change?” asked Billy, holding up the gold galleon he had found earlier.

"Into the pockets, lads!" In a well-practised routine, the rats swarmed up trouser legs and into their hiding places, so anyone who wasn't in the know would assume that this was NOT a man with several small furry creatures secreted about his person. At least in the wizarding world people didn't scream when they saw a rat. "You serious? 'Course I know it! Jimmy - that's my Dad - had a place there for a while. Whole floor, deserted block of flats. Think was nine or ten, wasn't old enough for Hogwarts anyway. Good times..."  he shook his head, grinning as he remembered.

"Hunter Street. I know, don't say it! It's a good story, just not one I'm quite awake enough to share yet" he admitted, before remembering the reason for his hangover. "You see the lights last night then? Pretty cool, I thought. Even Jimmy would admit there are some things you can't get in London if he'd seen that!" Then the topic turned back to rats, and Hunter pretty much dominated the conversation, but Billy didn't seem to mind; he was positively fascinated. Once they reached the pub it was already open (thank Merlin licencing laws didn't apply in the Wizarding World, thought Hunter) and a delicious smell of frying sausages wafted out the door. Unsurprisingly there weren't many people in here at such an early hour, an old couple who were obviously staying in one of the guest rooms, and a man who looked like he'd had an even heavier night than Hunter. The boy ran to a table at the back and Hunter followed, happy to stay out of the way.

"Yeah, they should do. Think I'm down to my last few sickles for now, but..." he glanced up at the specials board "yeah, got enough to cover it. Hang on..." he strolled over to the bar and ordered two breakfasts. "Tea or coffee?" he yelled across to the boy, relaying the reply as if the woman behind the bar didn't have ears of her own and ignoring the scowl from the other hungover man in the corner.

"Okay. She's doing the bacon fresh so it'll be a couple of minutes. You can pay for yours when it arrives" he said, sliding into a seat and holding out a sleeve for two of the rats to wriggle out and explore the table. He stretched, staring up at the ceiling and closing his eyes before shaking his head slightly and refocussing on the boy. "So. You still at Hogwarts?" he asked casually.