Title: From Door To Door, The Black Cat Strays, Spreading Bad Luck, But Never Stays
Author: Euanonyma
Summary: We all know Hermione's "furry little problem" in Second Year, don't we? **coughcough** Don't WE?! So… what if it was during Halloween? What would the population of Hogwarts have to say about it?
Challenge(s) this is for: Halloween Drabble Challenge
Harry Potter scanned the front page of the Daily Prophet whilst mindlessly spooning breakfast in his mouth until his eyes snapped to a headline.
October 31, 1992
Black Cat Threat Upon Our Revered School
"It's a menace. It wreaks havoc upon Hogwarts with its bad luck! I'm just scared, personally, that it will look at me, and then… then… kill me or something. I mean, it's not a basilisk, but the black cat is SCARY," said Lavender Brown, self-appointed gossip queen of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when I interviewed her along with other students of all houses yesterday. Other students, such as Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff House, have just shivered, sighed, and told me, "It's frightening. That cat… it's like the rabbit in the Monte Pithon thing that Justin told me about, innocent-seeming turns demented and evil." Many accounts include words like "evil", "demented", and "hellish". This cat has become the bane of some of the wizarding world's children. Extermination is the only way left. Help override Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's request for it to stay. Think of all the children!
He facepalmed. "The two girls interviewed were Lavender and Hannah?! One is a gossipmonger, and the other is the most easily frightened girl in Hogwarts! How do the others stand this hogwash at all?! I… I… have no words to describe how incredulous I am," Harry declared loudly with a hint of incredulity in his voice.
Heads turned, ever so fast.
"Excuse me," spit Lavender with venom pouring from her voice.
Hannah's voice, so small usually, screamed, "What did you just say?!"
His eyes widened in realization as to what he had done: he had evoked the fury of a gossiper. Thinking "F—K! Why do I have to be so… idiotic", he barely realized Hermione was not berating him. Confused, he turned in her usual direction, but alas, Hermione was not there. Mouth dropping open like a python, Harry sprinted towards the doors of the Great Hall, no clear thought of where he was going. Dimly, he heard Malfoy shout derogatory terms, but paid no attention to them.
Before he had truly realized what he was doing at all, he had arrived at a destination Hermione was nearly all the time: the library. Amidst the Ravenclaw students was Hermione, or so he thought. He shouted out to her, before realizing it was not his bushy-haired best friend, and instead, a third year he recognized as Marietta Edgecombe. She merely raised her eyebrows, and he blushed scarlet.
"Well then," he thought, "Where could Hermione be? Hmmm… how about the hospital wing?" Turning around, he tore across the corridors and stairs to the esteemed area of Madame Poppy Pomfrey. There, he found a shadowy feline-woman mix with eyes the mahogany of his best friend.
Endnote: I suppose this is a cliffhanger, but you could try and make a continuation to this, if you'd like to.