Mrs. Norris Goes Walking Options

[evlpez]

Argus Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, is a busy girl. Write a short post, picking her up from her location in the previous post and taking her through a few moments in her life. Don't kill her or signal the end of the world. The next writer should be able to continue from the end of your post.


Mrs. Norris smelled something unusual wafting under the door of her and Argus' chambers. It was early morning and they'd only just come back to their chambers to rest until their afternoon duties. It had been a relatively quiet night, but not the sort of time she'd spend laying about like other cats, doing nothing. She had a duty to Argus and even to the castle to work those corridors at night, searching for any rule breaking or security breeches.

She was used to smelling breakfast from the kitchens at this time. In fact, she'd just come from the kitchens where the little ones had given her some liverwurst and strawberry jam on toast for her shift's end dinner. She wasn't expecting this smell. This smell was something she'd expect to smell inside Horace's classroom, or even in his office. It was too strong to be something that belonged out of there.

Argus was snoring already, bless him. It was up to her to look into things. She sighed and rose from her bed, exiting their chambers through a secret passage under a tapestry, which seemed to move in anticipation of her passing.

[McGonagall's Cat]

This was one of her favourite passageways in the Castle. Few students knew of its existance, and fewer still used it. Occassionally a House Elf would dash by carrying a towering pile of freshly laundered sheets, but generally it was a quiet deserted and quick way to every floor.

She was about to pass through the appearantly solid wall that lead to the dungeons when she notice the aroma seemed to weaken there. Her lamp-like eyes turned to delve into the shadowy depths to her right. An ever-so-slight noise had drawn her attention.

"Students!" she thought. "What foul deeds are they up now?"

But the sound and smell weren't what she and Argus usually encountered. It piqued her intrest even more and she trotted along toward the mysterious goings on.

[zymurgy]

To her surprize, it was Snape who, as usual, was stirring some sort of sludge in a cauldron.

Not as usual, however, was the fact that it smelled pleasant. The smell was undefinable, with the appeal of catnip, fresh fish and Argus all rolled into one, but somehow empty of any actual scent of its own.

"Mrreeew?"

Snape turned to scowl at her. Also not as usual, his face brightened almost imperceptibly when he saw her. He turned from the cauldron and let the stirring rod schloop to one side as he squatted on the floor. He snapped lightly making a clicking noise to beckon her forward.

"Mrow?"

Perhaps the smell had gone to his head, she decided. Or, perhaps, whatever that undefinable wonderful something was, he had decided to let her have some. She advanced cautiously and nudged his hand.

He patted her awkwardly, reaching for something behind her. Like lightning, he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and nipped out a whisker with a pair of tweezers.

With a howl of pain she clawed at him with little success as he held her away from him at arms length, dropping her whisker into his sludge with his other hand.

"On your way, madame," he said mockingly, setting her on the floor.

She scurried off, furious. If Argus only knew!

[chad13]

Her face felt oddly lopsided with the whisker missing, (Mrs. Norris was very sensitive.) Wandering back down one of the less than secret corridors she kept having to twitch her nose; Argus would undoubtably notice the difference, then heads would role. She couldn't help purring to herself.

Coming back around from her own fantasies of punishment just in time, she stopped in her tracks and retreated around a suit of armor. What was going on here?

[McGonagall's Cat]

The tall boy, obviously bent on mischief, peered out from around the next corner. His dark hair drooped across one eye and he seemed to be shushing someone behind him that she couldn't see.

Then a movement in the shadows directly across from him caught her eye.
Another student was pressed flat against the wall, though she doubted a human would have noticed as he'd draped the stuff over himself that made him smell of Demiguise hair. Even dear Argus seemed to miss seeing the students *actually THIS student come to think of it* when that cloth covered him.

She twitched her tail.

The tall one dashed across the walkway and ducked behind the covered one.

*This can't be good* she thought.

[evlpez]

"Do you see anything?" asked the one she now recognized as Black. Argus had complained to her of him a few times, now. She agreed that he was bad news. He smelled of mischief, or would if his friend Potter would get rid of the demiguise hair. She realized it must be him under it, as they were said to be inseperable. She'd have to leave a clue about this to Argus and get rid of that smelly thing once and for all. She sniffed her displeasure.

"You're the one looking, Pads. I can't see a darned thing from behind you now can I?" Potter complained.

"Oh yeah. Well, I can't see much in this dark like this. Hang on."

Suddenly, Black 'pulled a Minerva' and turned himself into a hairy black, smelly dog. Mrs. Norris wanted to run in the other direction lest he detect her spying, but she was more interested to find out what they'd do when they found Snape cooking in the dark corner. She heard some footsteps far off behind her and approaching. They'll all be caught soon enough, she thought. I won't even have to bother Argus this early. Another few minutes and this will all be done and I can go back to my nap.

[timeturner]

Slinking into the shadows, she watched the scene unfold from a safe distance. There was indeed someone coming.

It was the portly one. The boy who could turn himself into the perfect cat toy. And I almost had him last time. The memory caused her whiskers to twitch.

"Hey, wait for me," the boy called, huffing and puffing as he came to a stop behind Potter and his smelly dog friend.

"Keep it down, you're going to wake the whole castle," Potter complained.

[lupinsmyman]

“Where’s Remus?” The boy squeaked in a whisper.

Remus Lupin.. Wasn’t he a prefect? Mrs. Norris hissed to herself. He shouldn’t be mixing him self in with this lot. I’ll have to tell this to Argus when I return.

“Shut up, Peter! You should know by now that he ‘let himself out’ earlier. We were supposed to meet him an hour ago like usual,” Potter replied.

Mrs. Norris was interested. Like usual? How many times had these boys snuck off grounds? She decided to follow them for a while, for entertainment only, but she wouldn’t admit that to herself.

[McGonagall's Cat]

They snuck past the suit of armor, though with the amount of noise they were making, it was more like they paraded past. Her whiskers twitched again involuntarily and she rubbed the spot where the stolen one was missing with her paw. The students moved a tapestry and disappeared down the passage that was only there on odd numbered days. She slipped through at the heels of the short one, sliding into the shadows before any of them noticed.

[the finicky lady]

As she shadowed the three of them down the hall, it amazed her once again at the lack of proper discipline in the castle. It seemed that someone should hear the three of them, what with all the racket they were making as they "snuck" towards their final destination.

Still, she thought wickedly, her whiskers twitching in anticipation. They are headed right towards Snape She wasn't sure if the thought of the three of them being caught brought her more glee, or the projection of Argus punishing Snape, however that would work.

Their little parade progressed down the corridor, rather noisily. Between listening the round one's tripping and Potter's hissing for him to be quiet, even Mrs. Norris was almost too distracted to catch the scent of Snape's mystery potion. In fact, it was the dog who scented it first, stopping in his tracks, his hair bristling.

"What is it, Sirius?" Potter asked in the sudden silence as they all stopped, the round one with some fuss. Black dropped his tail and began to back up, nose in the air. Potter lifted his head and sniffed; the round one followed suite, rather more loudly.

"What is it is right?" he asked, too loudly. Potter sushed him, but too late. There was a scrambling sound in the passage up ahead. Mrs. Norris began to back up as well, eyes gleaming with delicious anticipation. But as much as she wanted to see what happened, she'd rather not be caught again. One whisker was plenty of damage...

[biochemkris]

Instead of taking a risk and getting caught again, Mrs. Norris slipped behind a suit of armor and peered from between the legs, her yellow eyes, lamp-like eyes seeming to glow in the dim light. The scrambling sound was now accompanied by the distinct clang of a cauldron being shoved into a closet. It took a moment for Mrs. Norris to recall that there was, in fact, a secret cupboard along this corridor.

Her gaze moved from the corner leading around to the aroma-filled corridor, back to the three boys who were giving each other significant looks. The Potter boy was signaling to the dog just as Snape's crooked nose peeked around the corner. "Levi...," shouted someone just as another started to shout, "Expelliarmus!"

Mrs. Norris took cover behind the suit of armor. She abhored the use of unauthorized magic as much as her squib owner. She'd lost count of the number of times she'd been 'accidentally' hexed when her guard was down. And, all personal issues aside, duelling in the corridors was strictly forbidden. She was going to have to wake Argus for this. It was unacceptable behavior and she couldn't abide it, especially after she had been physically impaired by one of the perps.

[the finicky lady]

Unfortunately, the suit of armor didn't prove to be as safe a shelter as she had hoped.
A spell slammed into the breastplate, and with a crashing, clanking din the whole thing rocked on its pedestal and began to fall. Dust rained down on her clean coat, and in a panic, she skittered out from under its menacing bulk, right into the open corridor.

But the spell flinging had stopped at the ruckus, leaving her path out clear. She didn't wait around to see what happened to the renegade students, or to Snape. No, there had been too many close calls. Instead, she took off between the legs of the students, and the dog. As she passed, he snapped at her. She hissed in response, then picked up the pace as the helmet from the armor rolled into her. She skidded out of the corridor, turned the corner, and paused to listen to the final clankings of the disturbed suit, and the beginnings of a shouting match between the students.

[McGonagall's Cat]

When the confusion escalated, she dashed away as though her tail was afire, running until her sides heaved and she had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. She sat, her tail thwapping the floor angrily.

"How dare they!" she said aloud (though it would have sounded like a "merowl" with a hiss to any wizard passing within earshot). "How dare they!"

Her eyes narrowed and she contemplated her next avenue of action. Argus would have little effect at this point, those students would be gone by the time she could get him to that corridor.

"What to do... what to do?"

She absentmindedly rubbed the place where the greasy-haired student had ripped out her whisker. A glimmer of a plan began to take shape in her mind. With a decisive nod she stood and crossed to the moving staircase that tended to drop to the next floor. She had a plan.

[muggle5]

Whether the plan was going to work or not, she wasn't sure. All she cared about now was catching the boys in the act and getting a good night's rest for once. As she scuttled down the stairs, she felt the awkward quiet that often came when one was alone in a dark castle corridor. Even in the escalating quiet, her catlike ears could barely pick up the sound of the boys running down the flights of steps. Mrs. Norris tried desperately to keep up, but at this rate, she'd need to find another passageway more close by to aid her.

She got off the steps at the next floor, and glanced around in panic. "Aha!" she thought as she raced towards another tapestry, this one with a picture of a kingdom upon it. No one ever really took the time to realize the beauty and detail in the school tapestries. This one was all tattered and worn out after the students who disrespected it along with old age. Mrs. Norris always pittied this about other people, but right now, even she had no time to enjoy it. She pushed past the tapestry and ran down the corridor.

[McGonagall's Cat]

Around the corner and partway down the next passageway she stopped. Pushing a paw against a worn stone in the wall, the piece of floor her feet touched started to drop below its normal level. A span of dark rock passed upward and sideways before her eyes as the platform she was on slid downward. In very short order it came to a stop between the floors. A fresh draft made her twitch her whiskers.

Darting through the shrub in front of her, she found herself on the castle grounds very near the base of the west tower. Glancing back up to the windows of the floor where she'd just been, so many floors above, she switched her tail smartly, glad she knew the shortcut. If she hurried she could get to the Greenhouses and duck back into the castle under the Flutterby Bush in the corner of Number Three. Due to the interior of the castle being so much larger than the exterior, this was the quickest route to kitchens from where she'd been. Suspecting that to be the hooligans' destination she hastily continued on.