Mrs Norris Attacked

Mrs Norris Attacked

After leaving the office, Silvan could not help glancing back.

He had not expected things to be settled so easily. He had assumed Gryffindor simply had too few dormitories, which was why they could only fit five people to a room.

Nice. Silvan turned and headed toward the tower.

The corridors were completely empty, and the silence around him was almost frightening. The only sound was his footsteps echoing through the floors.

At some point, a gaunt cat appeared directly in Silvan's path.

The cat was truly skinny, with dull gray fur and bulging eyes like two lightbulbs.

Wait, a cat?

Silvan halted.

He had kept feeling as though he had forgotten something, and now he finally remembered.

Where was Tom?

Before the Sorting, he had tossed Tom onto the floor and had not seen him since.

However, a moment later, Silvan stopped thinking about it and calmly continued onward.

If it was Tom, the other students' pets were the ones who should be worried. He felt that cat could thrive even in the Forbidden Forest.

Silvan wanted to leave, but some people were unwilling to let him.

The skinny cat kept following him, letting out a howl every now and then. A few minutes later, an equally gaunt man sprang out from the end of the corridor ahead.

"Aha, a student out of bed..."

"I just came from McGonagall's office," Silvan said, cutting him off. "If you don't believe me, you can go ask her right now. And let me add this: your cat can't tell time, but can't you? There are still ten minutes until curfew!"

The words Filch had yet to say were forcibly swallowed back down, and his face turned green.

But Silvan did not care. He walked around him and kept going.

"Don't let me catch you..." a threatening voice came from behind him.

Without slowing down, Silvan said, "Thanks for the reminder."

The new dormitory was also in the first-year area. It was clean and spotless.

Although he was exhausted after sitting on the train all day, Silvan still decided to write his grandfather a letter first, updating him on his current situation.

The letter was not long. It mainly described the Sorting and how he had secured a single dormitory that would make it easier for him to continue making wands.

At the end of the letter, he also asked his grandfather to send his regards to his parents and pass this news along to them.

They were both abroad at the moment, and Silvan was not sure whether the school owls could fly that far across the ocean, so it was better to leave it to the owl post office.

After finishing all that, Silvan had originally wanted to complete the half-finished wand at hand, but he was far too sleepy. Feeling utterly dazed, he simply found the nearest bed and collapsed onto it.

The next day.

Silvan got up early, went to the owlery to send out last night's letter, then had breakfast in the Great Hall.

Hermione and Neville were both there. Hermione seemed perfectly normal, just like yesterday, but Neville was acting a little strangely. His voice was very quiet when he greeted Silvan, and afterward, he kept his head turned away, deliberately avoiding looking at him.

Even Hermione noticed that something was off.

"What's wrong with you?" she could not help asking.

"N-Nothing." Neville shook his head at first, then struggled for several minutes before finally looking at Silvan and gathering his courage. "Do you... look down on us?"

The question seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. After asking it, Neville's breathing became much more hurried, but his expression remained firm. His eyes were red, his neck stiff, and he stared straight at Silvan.

"What makes you say that?"

"We all heard that you applied for a single dormitory yesterday. Wasn't it because you didn't want to live with us?"

"You... Wait, so you were my roommates? Who else was there?"

"Harry, Ron, Seamus..." Neville listed three names.

"Oh, it was you guys." Silvan raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't know?" Neville froze.

"No." Silvan spread a layer of butter over his bread. "I never even entered that dormitory. I took one look from the doorway and went to find McGonagall. How would I know who my roommates were?"

"Why did you change dormitories, then?"

"Well, it can't be explained in just a sentence or two." Silvan thought for a moment. "If you really want to know, come to my place at seven tonight. Then you'll understand."

"All right, we'll come."

It was not Neville who said that, but Harry and Ron behind him. They had come for breakfast and happened to overhear Silvan's words.

Judging from their expressions, they too were unhappy about Silvan switching dormitories for no apparent reason. Ron in particular muttered a whole lot to Harry, saying things like, "That's how pure-bloods are..."

Silvan did not care about that.

Hermione wanted to ease the tension and took the initiative to change the subject. "Oh, um, how did you deal with all those staircases?"

"The easiest way is to follow older students," Silvan said. "Or you can ask a ghost for help. Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Friar can both help."

Interestingly, throughout every class that day, Neville, Harry, Ron, and Seamus acted as though they had agreed on it beforehand. None of them spoke to Silvan.

Harry had considered it, but before he could say anything, Ron pulled him away.

Fine, then.

Silvan merely found it a little amusing.

That continued until evening. After finishing their stargazing with telescopes, they returned from the Astronomy Tower to the common room together.

As they passed through the entrance, Fred and George were loudly talking about something. Judging by their animated expressions, it was probably good news.

"Hey, did you hear?"

When they saw the first-years, one of the Weasleys immediately came over and laughed loudly. "Just last night, Mrs Norris was attacked! Hahaha!"

"Who?" Harry blinked, not catching on.

"Mrs Norris."

"Who's that?"

"Filch's cat," Ron reminded him.

"Oh." Only then did Harry understand.

He remembered now. That morning, when he and Ron got lost on the fourth floor, they had run into Filch, the caretaker.

But they had not seen the cat.

"What happened to that cat?" someone asked excitedly. "Tell us already."

The cat called Mrs Norris often patrolled the corridors with Filch, searching for students who broke school rules, and she had caught quite a few.

Among the curses echoing through the detention room, Mrs Norris's name came second only to Filch's. Many people wanted to get rid of her once and for all.

But they did not dare.

In a sense, Filch represented the school as well.

Who would have thought that the school had produced a true hero this year?

How impressive!

"Don't know." One of the Weasleys said it, and Silvan saw his wand... it was Fred.

"But it probably wasn't done by a person," George added. "We snuck into the school hospital. One of Mrs Norris's legs was broken, she was covered in claw marks, and there was a bald patch in her fur."

"Judging by those injuries, the hero who got rid of that menace for us was probably also a... cat? Maybe. But definitely not a student."

Apparently, no one had expected such an answer. The once-lively common room fell silent for a moment.

But the silence was quickly broken.

"Come on, no matter what, today is a day worth celebrating!" Fred raised a hand.

George followed right after him. "To Hogwarts's hero!"

"I really hope it gives Filch the same treatment!"

Fred and George stepped aside, revealing the biscuits, cakes, and butterbeer they had been blocking.

"Oh, where did those come from?" Ron's eyes lit up.

"The school kitchens."

"I meant the butterbeer."

"Oh, that... secret." George winked.

Everyone began celebrating wildly. Silvan was given a bottle of butterbeer too, but he was not in the mood to drink it.

Mrs Norris had been beaten up, and the culprit was most likely another cat.

That domineering style... how should he put it? It felt a little familiar.

(End of Chapter)