Author's Note:
Disclaimer: Mrs. Norris and Filch belong to J.K. -insert sob- The song belongs to Billy Joel. I don't think they mind me playing with them for a while.
So, I was challenged to write about Mrs. Norris. I was agonizing over this all of yesterday. Then, while I was lying in bed, tossing and turning at four in the morning, I started thinking about it and had an epiphany. I had to listen to the song twice on my iPod before I could go to bed. So I really hope everyone likes this, otherwise I lost an hour of sleep for nothing. ;)
Always a Woman
The streets of Diagon Alley were filled. Argus sighed as he looked out the window of his family's shop at the crowds of children outside, roaming the Alley, buying supplies for school next month. He'd long ago gotten over his jealousy of those children, of his brother and sister who were now successful Ministry workers. Still, crowds of children hardly ever wanted to buy stationary, and as he was frequently told, working in the family shop would probably be the only job he could ever get in the wizarding world in which he'd grown up.
The door opened, ringing the little bell overhead. Argus straightened and smiled at the group of teenage girls. They giggled as they walked around the cramped store, selecting scented parchments and various colored inks. They were just digging around in their pockets for enough galleons to cover everything when the door opened again. Argus looked up and he felt his heart rate speed up.
Carrie-Ann was the girl of Argus' dreams. She was not what anyone but him would call gorgeous, but she was pretty. Shoulder-length chestnut hair and warm brown eyes. She was wearing a white summer dress with a dingy grey apron that had 'Eeylops' written across it. The Emporium was just across the street from the Filch stationary store, and Carrie-Ann would come in on her lunch breaks to buy more parchment and ink to write to her muggle family in Scotland.
"Hello, Argus," she greeted, heading for her favorite pile of parchment.
He gave the teenagers their shopping bags and the girls left. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Norris."
She glanced at him and smiled. "Are you ever going to call me Carrie-Ann?"
"Probably not, Ma'am."
She laughed. "I'm hardly old enough to be a ma'am, not cut it out. We've known each other for, what? Twelve years?"
"Fourteen," he corrected, and smiled as she laughed again.
"And you still refuse to call me by my first name?"
"Yes."
"And what can I do to change that?" she asked playfully as she came up to the counter with her parchment. He thought fleetingly of leaning over the wooden surface and kissing her quickly, but knew it would be wrong to do so.
"Just keep being your lovely self, Ma'am."
She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child
But she's always a woman to me
It was raining now. Cold October winds rattled the glass panes in the windows and door. It was nearly closing time. Just another twenty or so minutes. Argus considered closing early. Hardly anyone had been in the Alley all day with this bad weather, and not one of them had come into the shop. He thought of going home to his nice, warm one-bedroom flat and watching some muggle telly before going to bed. His thoughts were interrupted as the door slammed open and a tall, muscular man entered, wand in hand and looking furious.
"You worthless rat," the man spat at him. Argus took a few deep breaths to keep from yelling back.
"Something I can help you with, Sir?" he asked in the same bored tone he used with any other customer.
"Yeah, you can stay the hell away from my wife!" He lifted his wand and shot a couple of hexes Argus' way, but he ducked in time and they hit a shelf of ink bottles, shattering them all.
Argus glared at the man then. "I never touched your wife."
"Liar. I see the way you look at her. I know she was with you last night."
"Last night? I wasn't here last night - no one was. It was my brother's birthday."
"You filthy liar!" He made to shoot another curse, but stopped when he heard his name being called.
"Conrad, wait!" Carrie-Ann ran into the store, dripping wet from the storm, and still in her Eeylops uniform. "Please, don't hurt him."
"Why? So you can run away with him? Not likely."
"We're not running away together," she insisted.
"Then where were you last night? You weren't at home."
"I told you, I needed some time to myself. I went to visit my sister and-"
"I don't believe you." Mr. Norris turned back to Argus, who was standing up again, but ready to duck back under the counter at any second. "I'm going to kill you, and no one's going to care. You're as useless as an umbrella underwater. No one will even notice you're gone." He said a string of words that Argus couldn't recognize, but then he'd never been very good at remembering spells.
The squib watched helplessly as a ball of red light came charging at him. He didn't bother to duck, it would only delay the inevitable. So he stood still and waited for the curses to hit him. But before either of the men knew what was happening, Carrie-Ann ran in front of the counter, blocking Argus, and took the full brunt of the red light.
Argus watched in horror as his love started to glow red, and then start to shrink. He ran around the counter and held onto her as she continued to get smaller and smaller. He knew what was happening long before the magic ran it's course. He could feel her morphing in his arms, turning into something that was not human. When the light finally faded, he was shocked and pleased to see that she had not become a rat - as he assumed her husband would try to turn him into - but a dusty grey cat.
There was silence in the shop for a few minutes. Argus sat on the floor with a cat nestled in his arms. Her eyes were closed, but he could feel her still breathing so he knew she was still alive. Her husband had not moved since he shot the curse. He still stood with his wand pointed at the counter, but his eyes were on the cat.
"Is she ... is she dead?" he finally asked.
"No," Argus said quietly, his eye never leaving the feline.
"Good. That's, um ... that's good." He put his wand away slowly and thought for a few seconds. "Well, I should ... go."
The squib looked up angrily, not caring for once that he was helpless against the larger, older wizard. "You're leaving? What about her? Isn't there something you can do for her? Change her back?"
"No, it's permanent. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt her-"
"Just go," Argus said coldly, looking back down at Carrie-Ann. He heard the door slam shut behind Conrad and sighed. He had to do something to help her.
He stood up with a little difficulty, balancing the sleeping cat in one arm. He got his coat from the back of the store and carefully wrapped it around her so she would get wet from the rain, then he locked the store up and left.
She can lead you to live
She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe you
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free
She steals like a thief
But she's always a woman to me
"Please, Professors, you have to help her," Argus begged.
He'd managed to get to his parents' house where he told them he needed to see the Headmaster. His father had side-along apparated with him to the front gates and left the twenty-five year old to find his own way to the Headmaster's office. Along the way, he'd bumped into Professor McGonagall who had followed him and stayed to listen to the story of Carrie-Ann.
Dumbledore stared thoughtfully at the cat, who was just starting to wake up.
"There may be one way," he said finally. "But I will need help. Minerva?"
"Of course." The two professors took out their wands. "You'll have to hold her still, Mr. Filch."
Argus held the cat to his chest and watched impatiently as white light came from both wands and joined, covering the cat. It lasted for six minutes before the wands were lowered and light disappeared. The cat remained.
"It's stronger than I thought," Dumbledore sighed. "Minerva, is there anything you can do for her?"
"Perhaps. Mr. Filch, could you please place Mrs. Norris on the ground?" When the cat was seated at the squib's feet, McGonagall took off her hat, placing it on Dumbledore's desk, and shifted into a cat herself.
'Are you all right?' she asked Carrie-Ann.
'Yes, Professor. But is there any way for me to get back to normal? Please?'
'Maybe. Try thinking about being human again. Picture yourself as you were.'
'All right.' She closed her eyes and did as she was told, but nothing happened. 'What next?'
'Nothing. That should've done it. You're not an animagus, then.'
McGonagall shifted back and sighed. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."
"There has to be something," Argus said desperately. "Some old spell that can reverse what he did."
"No. The best we can do is continue to work on creating a spell or potion that will cure her." Dumbledore stood and walked around his desk until he was standing directly in front of Argus. "Until then, I think it best you stay close to Hogwarts, Mr. Filch. In case we should find anything and need to test Mrs. Norris."
"I could move to Hogsmeade. Would that be close enough?"
"Actually, I was thinking of somewhere a little closer. We are, currently, searching for a new caretaker. Just someone to keep up with the maintenance jobs around the castle, and perhaps deal with students' detentions. Of course, you would have your own quarters and office right here in the castle. Would you be interested?"
Argus thought about it for a moment. He wasn't sure he could go through with it, living in the castle. For so many years he'd wanted to come here, to go to school here. But this wouldn't be for school, this was for work. Work that would require him to deal with magic on a daily basis, but never be able to use it. If it wasn't for the cat staring pleadingly up at him, he would've turned the headmaster down. As it was, he would do anything to help her.
Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind
"Not much longer now, my sweet," the forty-eight year old told the cat perched on top of one of the filing cabinets in his office. "This course is going to teach me everything I need to know to create a spell to get you back to your old self." He nodded at the purple and silver Kwikspell form he was filling out.
The grey cat jumped from the cabinet to his desk, leaning against his arm and purring loudly. He ran his hand across her arched back and smiled. "Not much longer now."
She will promise you more
Than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you
And laugh while you're bleedin'
But she'll bring out the best
And the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself
Cause she's always a woman to me
The war was over. It had cost everyone so much, but Argus had lost nothing but his job. The Hogwarts castle had been nearly destroyed in the battle. As it was, it was badly in need of repairs. McGonagall estimated it would take the whole summer to fix and they still may not be able to re-open their doors until mid-September or early October.
That suited Argus just fine. After a year of dealing with Death Eaters as his masters - calling him nasty names day and night and treating him no better than they did the house-elves - he was due for a nice vacation.
Of course, he did feel bad about not being able to do more in the end. He grown cold towards all but his sweet Carrie-Ann in the twenty-nine years since her transformation, but every once in a while he would have a moment of compassion. The latest moment had been when he was helping Madam Pomfrey usher young students out of the castle and away from the fight. He knew Carrie-Ann would've wanted him to help, but how could he? He had no powers? He was as much a misfit as he always had been.
He was going over all this while his beloved cat slept on the couch next to him. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and both heads shot up. No one ever visited the flat. Reluctantly, he stood and answered it, the cat following.
"Potter," he said, amazed. There, in the hallway of his building, was Harry Potter.
"Mr. Filch. I was wondering if I could have a word with you."
The squib looked down at the cat and she twitched her right ear, which had come to mean 'yes' over the years.
"I suppose." He stepped aside to allow the teen to enter.
Harry looked around briefly, but didn't bother to sit down or ask for a cup of tea. "I wanted to thank you," he said.
"Thank me? For what?"
"I saw you at the battle, helping Pomfrey. I wanted to thank you for helping us. I know ... I know it can't have been easy for you, working at Hogwarts all these years. I mean, what we've done to you..."
"It doesn't matter. Now, if that's all you came for, you can go."
"Not exactly. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do for you. I've been trying to help people ... anyone who was hurt in the battle or Voldemort."
"I wasn't hurt."
"No, but I want to help you anyway. So, is there anything you need? Anything?"
Argus laughed coldly. "There's nothing you or anyone else can do for me. It's hopeless." Mrs. Norris let out a long meow.
"What is, Sir?"
Argus stroked the cat. "Getting her back to normal. Twenty-nine years, and I've tried everything." He went on to tell Harry the whole story.
The young wizard watched the cat and man together for a few minutes as he thought about the situation. "Maybe you're looking at this the wrong way."
She is frequently kind
And she's suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She's nobody's fool
But she can't be convicted
She's earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me
Hogwarts welcomed students back on September first like always.
After the students had filed into the Great Hall and the sorting had finished, McGonagall, as Headmistress, stood to make the first speech of the night.
"I'd like to welcome everyone back after a very well-deserved summer," she began, smiling at all of the children in front of her. "And to all of our new students: welcome. I'm sure you'll have a very ... interesting time here.
"We have several new additions to the staff this year, as you can imagine. The first of which is our new caretaker. Mr. Filch decided to retire after twenty-nine long years with the school. Please welcome our new caretaker, Mr. Booth."
All students turned to look at the new middle-aged man at the end of the staff table. Beside him on the ground were two cat dishes. One being used by Mrs. Norris, who everyone remembered all too well. The other was being used by a skinny brown cat with thin hair. The name on the dish read 'Argus.'
The End
Author's Note:
I was going back and forth on what to do about that ending. I still don't know if I like it. Do you like it?
I never got a chance to put it in, but the reason Dumbledore didn't automatically let McGonagall handle the situation, if you remember, was because he was the transfiguration professor before her.
So please review and let me know what you think! =)
-Lizzy