Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins and Lee all laughed themselves sick when they heard the story.
"Why, why would…" Harry panted.
George kept on slapping the armrest of the sofa and Fred was gasping for breath.
Their laughter was contagious, soon Jasmine was laughing too.
"Hats off to you Jasmine," Fred mock bowed pulling off an imaginary hat, Lee and George following suit.
"Never in all our time at Hogwarts did we think to do this," George said, wiping a tear from his eye.
"It wasn't a prank," huffed Jasmine, "we just wanted to befriend Mrs. Norris."
That set the others off again. The other students were now staring at them wondering why they were all howling with laughter.
"You're the worst," Jasmine muttered but there was a smile on her face.
Dear Sarah,
As promised here is the longer letter I promised you. I'm so sorry to hear that you've been sick. Thank God you feel better. I almost cried when you mentioned Miss Eve. You can't imagine how much I miss our dance class. I still dance here at school and have taught Luna bits and pieces but it's not the same.
Anyway we had a bit of a disaster trying to give Mrs. Norris (that's the cat's name by the way) her treats. We were in a corridor when we spotted her and we called her over and held out the treats. She was very shy so we put it on the ground in front of her. So far, so good. Then, just as she was about to eat it her owner Filch comes around the corner screaming and shouting that we're trying to poison his cat. He was yelling that we'd get expelled and Luna and I were actually a little bit frightened because he was so angry.
Luckily two of our teachers passed by and they sorted it out. I swear, I have never seen anyone that angry about cat treats before. Luna and I are not sure if we should try again, I mean after all, no one actually said that we can't give her treats. :)
Right well I'm off to bed now. Write back soon.
Love Jasmine xo
Jasmine had expected that after their little adventure Filch would keep a close eye on them but Luna and Jasmine saw neither hide nor hair of either Filch or Mrs. Norris for two weeks after the incident.
Their second run in with Mrs. Norris went both better and worse than their first. They had just had an astronomy lesson. Luna had joined the Gryffindor/Slytherin lesson because she had missed her own due to being ill.
On their way back Archie a 16th century nobleman, and the biggest gossip in the castle, hanging on the fifth floor had stopped them to tell them some urgent news. Apparently Ursula from the dungeon "the harlot" had been sneaking off to visit Percival the Promiscuous in the Divination Tower and Richard near the kitchens was devastated.
While the girls were suitably horrified, they were also very late and way past their curfew.
"Bugger, if we're caught now we're in so much trouble," Jasmine whispered as they crept down the darkened corridor.
"What if we take the secret passage that comes out beside the library, that way it'll be a shorter distance out in the open."
"Good idea," Jasmine replied and Luna tapped the bust of some wizard standing outside a locked door. Once inside the passage they lit their wands and hurried down the winding passage.
Their luck ran out as they were just about to go their separate ways.
"Oh look there's Mrs. Norris," Jasmine whispered, the eery glow of Mrs. Norris' eyes the only thing seen in the darkness of the corridor.
"C'mon Filch is probably asleep. Let's try giving her a treat now," Luna said, gleefully pulling out her bag of treats.
Mrs. Norris obviously still regretted not eating the treat the last time because this time she took it straight from Luna's hand. In the dim wand light Jasmine could make out Luna's elated smile.
"And what do we have here? Ickle firsties, out of bed."
Jasmine groaned, "Hey Peeves, how are you?"
"Well now that I've found you I'm great," Peeves cackled and Jasmine knew that this would end badly.
Peeves tutted like a disapproving great-aunt for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"No Peeves, please. We'll be in so much trouble," begged Jasmine and Luna turned her wide and pleading eyes on him.
"Students out of bed, firsties out of bed," he screeched and Jasmine was just debating whether they should make a run for it before Filch burst through a tapestry and it was all too late.
He saw Luna on the ground, Mrs. Norris still eating treats out of her hand, Peeves floating and gloating and Jasmine standing with her wand half raised.
"Oh, I have you now," he said, his eyes glinting in light of the lantern he was carrying.
Luna and Jasmine exchanged a look before they reluctantly followed Filch to their doom.
As he led them down to the dungeons, Jasmine's heart sank further. Snape would not be very lenient and understanding, she had hoped that they would be taken to Professor Flitwick.
"Mr. Filch, why are you bringing us to Professor Snape, neither of us are in Slytherin?" Luna asked, the usual dreaminess gone out of her voice.
"Oh because, Severus is on duty this week," Filch smiled at them and Jasmine shuddered. Any and all sympathy she had felt for him in the wake of finding out he was a squib was gone.
They waited outside Snape's office and when he opened the door he looked as he always did, maybe he slept in his black robes, Jasmine stifled a snigger.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Snape's quiet, silky voice bode nothing good.
"I found them skulking around the library," Filch said triumphantly.
"They were trying to bribe Mrs. Norris with those infernal treats," he spat and Snape raised an eyebrow.
"Explain yourselves immediately?"
He held up a hand as Jasmine was about to speak.
"On second thought, wait a moment while I invite your head of house to join us. He flicked his wand and a silvery mist dispersed in the air. Snape sat down behind his desk, while the girls and Filch were left standing. Jasmine's knees had turned weak at the thought of Professor McGonagall coming, the memory of her docking fifty house points of Harry vivid. Trying to keep calm, she took the opportunity to look around Snape's office. It was similar to the potions lab with all jars of floating creatures and plants on shelves.
Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick entered the office through bright purple flames. McGonagall wearing her hair in the familiar tight bun and a tartan dressing gown, Professor Flitwick in a midnight blue dressing gown, embellished with stars.
Professor McGonagall's lips were pressed so tight, that they almost disappeared, her eyes narrowed.
"What is going on here?"
Professor Flitwick looked more surprised than angry.
Filch immediately told them what he had told Snape too.
"Explain yourselves," she said coldly and Luna bowed her head. Clearly her earlier boldness had left her in the face of McGonagall's anger.
"We were on our way back from Astronomy," Jasmine said, squaring her shoulders.
"Why were you still out of bed an hour after class ended?" Snape said, looking at them intently, "and why was Miss Lovegood in that lesson in the first place."
"Miss Lovegood was ill for her own class so she joined the other lesson," Professor Flitwick was quick to defend his student.
Jasmine wished that McGonagall would also jump to her defence but she was waiting for an explanation, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Archie stopped us, he said it was urgent," Jasmine said and knew immediately that it was the wrong thing to say.
"And who is Archie?" Snape had both his eyebrows raised dangerously.
Now that she had to say it, it sounded stupid to her own ears. She mumbled it anyway.
"Stop mumbling Miss Dursley, it's most unbecoming," scolded Professor McGonagall.
"He's one of the paintings on the fifth floor," she repeated and noted absently that she would love to take a picture of their faces because in a different situation they would be hilarious.
"You stopped to have a chat with a painting," Professor McGonagall eventually said weakly.
"What was the emergency?" Snape scoffed, he knew which painting Jasmine was talking about and thoroughly despised him.
"Well, in hindsight it wasn't really an emergency, or urgent really. Archie can be a little dramatic at times," Jasmine admitted and if she wasn't wrong she could have sworn that McGonagall's lips twitched.
"We weren't trying to bribe Mrs. Norris, we just had the cat treats in our bag and thought we'd give her one," Luna added just in case one of the teachers tried to ask what Archie had actually told them.
"This is still unacceptable behaviour," McGonagall said.
The girls both bowed their heads.
"We have the rules in place for your own health and safety, and it is not safe to wander around the castle alone at night. Also you need your sleep girls," Flitwick said gently.
"Yes, sir," they mumbled.
"You will each lose 25 house points and serve 5 detentions each."
Jasmine's head shot up, "five?"
"Another word and it will be a month, Miss Dursley," McGonagall frowned.
They were escorted back to their towers and with an admonishing "good night" at the portrait Jasmine stumbled into the common room angry and tired.
Stupid Peeves. Everything would have been fine if he had kept his big gob shut.