Very compelling chapter. Those "interviews" with McGonagall and Mr Weasley were facinating. I'm always struck how Ginny is so much like her mother.
Though I was expecting a dragon, but that description of Norman was pricelss. I guess Harry is going get whats coming but that was a cliffie, so you're not certain how this prank is going to turn out.
Author's response
You know, I think I'm going to have to keep a log of which site you leave your reviews on. Tracking the user names and sites as a pattern might just reveal something interesting. Then again, it might just reveal I need more sleep. It just has this feel, though, like you're trying to pay me back for dragging out the list of questions that come up in Echoes and barely throwing any answers out. Damn, my paranoia is acting up again.
I'm glad people are appreciating those interviews. They were hard to write, to put the right "feel" on, and the final version is pretty good in my opinion. A few spots still feel flat to me, but then I'm probably always going to be overly critical.
The Skrewt should have come as a surprise, although if you read the other stories I've done, maybe not that much of a surprise. I can't imagine JKR let such a fun creature just ... disappear. Watch out for the next chapter, it has more fun with Thestrals, too.
And for your closing line... well, yes, actually, I do know how that little prank plays out. So do my betas. They've known for weeks. You, however, may not :) As for a cliffie... now really, no one was unconscious, no one was dying, and no one was alone. That's got to be a pretty mild one, right?