Cat and Mouse

Don't wake the sleeping bear

     The morning broke with nothing less than pure chaos. Nic's mum rushed in ushering us into consciousness with the bright morning light of the window. The first sounds I heard were Nic's groaning for just-

"Five more minutes!" muffled by her pillow that she was now smothering herself with, "Please mum, I beg of you!" I stretched out on my side to give Francis a small scratch behind his right ear, which he returned with a quiet mewl of appreciation and a slow blink of his seafoam eyes.

Nic's mum left as quick as she came throwing "C'mon girls! You'll be late!" over her shoulder before finally moving down the hall to presumably do the same to Seamus. I sat up looking over at Nic, who was still trying to crawl farther into her mattress. I thanked all kinds of Gods that we didn't share a dorm, I had heard only horrors of Nic first thing in the morning. I can't imagine any of her dormmates were sunshine either. It was nothing like the warm embrace of waking in the Hufflepuff dorm to the lingering scent of fresh breakfast about to be served and the soft melody of silence.

"Remind me to never live with you if this is how you behave in the morning," I muttered collecting Francis's food to feed him. Nic simply flipped over and watched me with a scowl. Francis mewled once again in waiting for is food to be served.

"The feeling is mutual." Nicole sat up dramatically, swinging her legs over to the side of her bed. "Anyone who can be awake right now is-" She paused to yawn, not bothering to hide it, "Excommunicated!" I giggled at her antics. Before I could tell her she had no clue what she was saying Francis yowled demanding his food. I poured his food into the bowl and left him to eat as Nic and I cleaned up for the day.

True to Mrs. Kent's word, we were running late. A series of events delayed our departure (from a sleep-deprived Seamus to Nic forgetting her toothbrush in the bathroom, and a cat that refused to get in his carrier being only the beginning). It's times like these I am eternally grateful for the Floo network.

Once we finally made it, with little time to spare, to the station I was overwhelmed by the bustle of families seeing off their children. This was arguably the worst part of the trip, watching everyone else bid farewell to their parents while I watched impatiently to the side.

The Kent's were very kind in treating me like a second daughter, but there is something to be said about the last hug lingering with Mum's perfume or Dad's last comforting promise to stay out of trouble. As the families around me were left preoccupied I let my eyes wander around the platform. All kinds of people clumped together; a large clump of red made me chuckle under my breath. Oh, the Weasleys. Just to the right of them though stood the very person who I was looking for, someone I was always looking for in the back of my mind, Neville.

He stood with his small toad carrier in his hands as his grandmother talks down at him. His hair had grown significantly over the summer, and he grew at least three inches more than I'd last seen. His nan said something and he blushed significantly and I could see it traveled to his ears which still poked out from his hair. There was something different about the Neville that stood before me, he was looking all around the platform for something, or someone. There was a small tug at the back of my head as if to say he's looking for you!

From behind me, I heard the sound of the train's doors open, signaling it was time to board. I turned and collected my things to load them on the train. Nic gave me an excited smile, which no amount of self-wallowing would be able to stop me from returning. I actually was excited about this term, and to be back doing what I do best.

Mr. Kent helped load our larger bags before one final goodbye with extra promises not to tell him about every detention (on Nic's part), and to try and keep each other out of trouble (on my part). An extra hug, a couple of sneaky galleons to get sweets from the trolley, and a teasing remark about not pushing Nic off her broom, and we were squeezed into the narrow hall of the train to find an empty compartment.