"Welcome to my life," William responded dryly, letting go of his mongoose when it wriggled free to leap back onto the floor. Unlike William, it seemed to have no problem touching Pete's lion, and sat back on its hind legs for a moment before shifting forward enough to brace its front paws on the lion's leg. Definitely not normal animal behaviour.
"What were you doing when it happened?" William asked, sitting on the floor and folding his legs awkwardly underneath him. Maybe if Pete had been casting a spell, or thinking of something, or... There had to be a clue in this somewhere, something that had set it off. At least it didn't appear to be the sort of mysterious magical occurrence that left them all working for days without sleep and ending up in the hospital wing.