“Miss Patil and Miss Brown!” Snape barked across the dungeon. “Put that magazine away at once.”
Parvati quickly stuffed Witch Weekly into her bag and rolled her eyes to Lavender, who grinned.
“Tell me, do you add Death-Cap mushrooms to the Draught of Sleep, or do you not?” he sneered.
“Er…” Parvati said.
“Um…” Was Lavenders response.
“You don’t?” Parvati answered weakly.
“You do!” Snape’s voice was nearly livid. “Detention today, for both of you. My dungeon, at seven o’clock. Perhaps that’ll teach you to pay attention in my class! You’re fourteen, far too old for such arrogance and ignorance.” His gaze wandered over to where a messy haired boy was whispering to his friend. “Wouldn’t you agree, Potter?”
Potter’s head snapped to attention. “Huh?”
“This is ridiculous.” Snape said. “I want four parchments on the use of Death-Cap mushrooms in modern day potion making, AND-” he yelled over the groans. “A diagram showing the rise and fall of the popularity of using Death-Cap mushrooms in potions. Dismissed!”
“This is SO unfair!” Parvati exclaimed as she and Lavender waited for Snape to show up. “I mean, Pansy Parkinson was showing Tracey Davis that exact same horoscope, and Snape didn’t do anything about it!”
“It’s just because he likes his own House better,” Lavender said, looking equally upset.
Snape entered the Dungeon, his robes billowing around him. “Well, I see that you can arrive on time.”
Lavender fidgeted under his gaze and Parvati stiffened. He smiled smugly. “Today you will be making a potion to cure aching feet for Filch.”
Lavender giggled. “Aching feet!” she mouthed to Parvati, who started giggling as well.
“Is something funny?” They stopped giggling. “You will boil water for about thirty minutes, and then you will add seven eel eyes…”
“His left nostril is larger than his right,” Lavender whispered to Parvati.
“Ew, you’re right,” Parvati agreed.
“Then you will stir five times to the left and three to the right…” Snape continued.
“You know, Hermione really smells bad. I mean, lately it’s been sort of disgusting to be around her.” Lavender whispered.
“It’s because she has cat treats in her left pocket for her cat.”
“Next you will add three baneberries, this is very important because if you don’t, you will make the Draught of Unknown Desires, which will be effective for about an hour. Then stir seven times to the right…” Snape droned on.
“Do you mean Crookshanks?” Lavender asked Parvati. “Oh, he’s so cute!”
“No, he’s so ugly!” Parvati said.
“Then add star grass and moonseed- are you listening to a word I’m saying?” Snape looked furious and glared at the girls.
“Yes, sir,” Lavender said sweetly.
“Very well. Stir ten times to the left and then you’re finished. I’ll be discussing some important matters with Professor Dumbledore.” With that Snape left the dungeon.
The girls got out a cauldron and boiled the water. “What do we do now?” Parvati wondered.
“I heard something about seven eel eyes,” Lavender offered. After adding the eel eyes, they stirred three times to the right and then five times to the left.
“Then we need some star grass and moonseed.” This was added as well, and then it was stirred ten times to the left.
“I think we’re finished,” Parvati said after about an hour.
“Great, then we just have to drop this off with Filch so he can cure his aching feet…”
Giggling, the two girls left the Dungeon, leaving the untouched Baneberries behind.
They gave the potion to Filch, who was writing an essay for Dumbledore, about why the old fashioned punishments should be put to use, with Mrs. Norris at his feet, and went to dinner.
Mrs. Norris stretched out and yawned. “How lovely. Maybe Argus won’t be so bad tempered now that he has a potion so his feet don’t hurt.”
Filch was having the most awful day, especially since a third year Hufflepuff had dragged mud into the castle, and now Filch had to take care of it. This is why he was eternally grateful for the potion and extremely angry when he accidentally knocked in onto the floor with his elbow.
Mrs. Norris could already sense that Filch was going to blow up if he had to get a mop and clean it up, so she decided to help out the poor man by licking it up and drinking it.
Filch smiled at the cat and continued to write.
The potion burned on Mrs. Norris’ tongue. It was spicy yet it reminded her almost of strawberries. The liquid was think and hard to swallow, but warm as it went down her throat, contenting her stomach. It made her feel as though she was walking on air.
“What an interesting potion. Maybe my feet won’t hurt me now, albeit now that I think about it, then my feet have always been perfectly fine.”
Mrs. Norris left Filch for the Great Hall, hoping that she might either find a crunchy mouse or a few crumbs. It was then; in front of the statue of Belinda the Bearable that Mrs. Norris first felt it:
The amazingly strong desire to get something- or someone. The desire made her heart beat faster, her chest heave up and down and her mind to whirl- “What is wrong with me?”
The blood rushed through her veins, and her stomach flipped a few times. She wanted something so badly she was about to faint, she realized.
Shaking her head, she looked around the corroder. There was only the famous Harry Potter with his friends Weasley and Granger, and Granger’s cat, Crookshanks.
Her stomach flipped once more and butterflies flew around inside of her as they passed her and Crookshanks winked at Mrs. Norris.
What was it that she wanted? She had to get it- NOW. She wanted it right this moment, but… what did she want?
“You’re being ridiculous,” she told herself. “You can’t want anything this badly. What’s wrong with you?”
She blinked a few times, and the trio and Crookshanks turned around a corner, Weasley eyeing her warily.
The thrill of desire was gone, but she still wanted…it. “Mrs. Norris!” She scolded herself. “You’re an adult! Stop acting so immaturely!”
Taking a deep breath, she said out loud, “I’ll go down to the Great Hall and see if there’s anything worth eating.”
Mrs. Norris walked calmly down the corridor to the Great Hall. She paced back and forth under the Ravenclaw table, eating their crumbs. Licking her lips happily, she set off for the Gryffindor table. She was halfway down the table when she suddenly stopped.
It was as though she had been dunked in the Great Lake on New Years Day. Her blood started racing through her veins, and her breath came out in quick puffs. She needed…it. She WANTED it more than anything.
Mrs. Norris was, for the first time in her life, bewildered at herself. The only sight that met her eyes was a lot of feet and Crookshanks who was snoozing at Grangers feet.
She needed this, whatever it was. It was… thrilling. Thrilling, overwhelming and a little but scary. She hadn’t felt this way since Madam Pince found a mouse in the library and had dangled it above Mrs. Norris head- just out of reach.
“I must be going insane.” She thought. “They might kick me out of Hogwarts for this. I have the strange feeling that they don’t like insane cats.”
She took a few steps closer to the sleeping Crookshanks by Granger’s feet, and poked him with her tail. Her heart rate had started going ten times faster than usual, but that she tried to ignore it.
Crookshanks opened his eyes sleepily. “What?”
“Do I look insane?” Mrs. Norris asked him.
Crookshanks smirked. “No more than usual.”
Mrs. Norris sniffed and left the Gryffindor table. Hopefully it wouldn’t be as disturbing under the Hufflepuff table.
Could it be that she, Mrs. Norris, was in love? Was she in love with Crookshanks? “That’s preposterous,” she muttered, not even convincing herself.
Giving up on her search for crumbs, Mrs. Norris left the Great Hall, racing past the Gryffindor table so she wouldn’t lose control of herself.
She ran to Filch’s office and curled up under his desk. “Hello my precious,” Filch said. “You’ve been gone for almost an hour. You almost never leave for so long. You must have had quite some adventures.”
“I’ll say,” Mrs. Norris agreed.
And then, all of a sudden, the feeling of walking on air disappeared and she was just old Mrs. Norris curled up under Filch’s desk.
“Everything is very strange today,” she observed, as she stood up and sighed to herself. And then it was all clear. She still desired it, but now she knew. Mrs. Norris completely understood what she desired now.
She giggled as she lay down once more and closed her eyes. “Apparently I wasn’t in love with Crookshanks after all,” she murmured. “I just wanted Grangers cat treats.”