Ron stood up and put his arm around my shoulder, "you won't lose us."
I gave him a small smile, not trusting myself to keep the tears in. Harry also stood up and even though he didn't say anything, his eyes said it all as he put a hand on my shoulder. Taking a shaky breath I hugged Ron first and then Harry, who gave me an extra squeeze before letting go.
"Do you guys know where Ariel is?" I asked after sitting with my two best friends on the couch.
"No, I thought she was in your room?" Harry answered, lifting his head off his hand.
"No, I was up there earlier and she wasn't on my bed." I stood up.
"You check the girls dormitory, we'll check the boys in case she went into a different room." Ron said as he and Harry stood up.
"Thank you." I nodded and ran up the girls staircase.
"Ariel here kitty kitty kitty." I called as I opened up my door.
I didn't hear a response, but I checked under every bed anyway. I know I shouldn't have, but I also opened up everyone's trunk to make sure she didn't get stuck in one on accident. Not finding her I checked the bathroom and didn't find her in the bathtub. Giving a sigh, I grabbed the cauldron from under my bed and grabbed the map I had placed in there. Putting it in my waistband of my skirt I tucked my shirt in with it and fixed my clothes to make it look like I didn't have anything in my clothes.
"Ariel, kitty kitty." I called and then clicked my tongue one last time before exiting the dorm with a sigh.
Going up to the next dorm, I knocked before opening the second year dorm. Looking around I saw two girls sitting on a bed facing each other with their legs crossed. They were both looking at me as a third girl came in from the bathroom.
"Have you guys seen a cat? I'm missing one." I asked, taking a step the room.
"No, sorry." The one from the bathroom shrugged.
"Do you mind if I look under the beds anyway?" I asked again.
"No go ahead." One of the girls on the bed waved for me to look.
"Thank you." I smiled and started to crawl around the floor, looking under the beds while saying 'kitty kitty kitty' to try and find Ariel.
Standing up I slumped my shoulders.
"Can't find her?" A voice asked as a hand landed on my shoulder.
"No, and I haven't seen her since this morning." I answered.
"We'll help look, you go up the seventh year dorm and we'll work our way to each other." The two girls got off the bed and put on their shoes as the girl from the bathroom started to walk me to the door.
"Thank you so much." I smiled before racing up the stairs as fast as I could.
'Why do there have to be so many stairs?' I asked myself as I finally made it to the seventh year dorm.
Knocking, I slowly opened the door. Looking in the room I saw six girls sitting on their beds. Two of them had their eyebrows raised while the rest just tilted their heads at me in confusion.
"I'm sorry, but have any of you seen my cat? She's been missing since this morning." I asked, stepping into the room.
"You mean the Turkish Van?" A dark skinned girl asked as she stood up from her bed.
"Yes, her names Ariel." I nodded to her.
"I haven't seen her since this morning either. I'm sure she's fine." She knelt down in front of me.
"I'm sure she is, but she's my first cat that I ever got and I really don't want anything bad to happen to her my first month of school." I shrugged sheepishly.
"She doesn't come up this far, but we can help you." Three of the other girls stood up and were putting on their shoes.
"Do you mind if I look under your beds? I want to check and make sure for myself." I asked with a small smile.
"Go ahead, but she won't be under there." An Indian girl said after standing straight up.
"I believe you, I just want to check." I admitted before repeating the process I had done in my dorm and second year dorm.
"Alice and I will check the rest of the girls dormitory, get their help. Sylvia and Janette you should look in the boys dormitory and get them to help us also. Maggie and Vanessa, to be on the safe side, you should go to the other students at Hogwarts and ask if they would look for a Turkish Van that answers to Ariel." One of the girls above me started delegating.
"There are second year girls and first year boys already looking." I said as I stood up.
"Good then we have a good chance that Gryffindor is already helping." The dark skinned girl nodded.
"Thank you guys so much." I sighed to them as we began to the trek down the stairs.
It was either Sylvia or Janette who had grabbed my hand as we walked down because two of the girls had disappeared into the sixth year dorms and when we reached the common room the other two had walked towards the door as I was led to Fred and George.
"Weasley and Weasley, have you guys seen her cat anywhere?" The Indian girl holding my hand asked as she pushed towards the twins.
"No, not since last night when she followed Cassie up the stairs." George stood up from the table to put an arm around my shoulder.
"Alright, Cassie right?" The dark skinned one asked.
"Yeah?" I turned to them.
"I'm Janette, Sylvia and I are going to look in the boys dormitory now. If you know anyone else who could know where she could be I recommend you ask them." She patted my shoulder before going up the boys staircase.
"How long has she been missing?" Fred asked.
"Since this morning." I turned to him.
"Fred, we might-" George started.
"Have to use the thing." Fred finished, giving him a nod and walking up the stairs.
"Thing? What thing?" I asked George.
"Nothing you need to worry about this minute." George poked my nose with a finger.
Swatting his hand away, I saw Neville come down the stairs and look around the room before spotting me.
"Cassie, Harry wanted me to tell you that he and Ron haven't found Ariel yet." He said as he walked up to me.
"Oh no, she might not be in Gryffindor tower." I looked up to George.
George nodded and ran up the stairs after his brother. Turning to Neville, I grabbed his hand.
"Neville, could you tell Harry and Ron that I went out to look for Ariel?" I asked as he looked down and blushed at our conjoined hands.
"Y-ye-y-yes." He stuttered.
"Thank you!" I gave him a quick hug before hurrying out of the common room.
After I was down several staircases I found a spot where I could see if anyone was coming up or down the stair case I was on. Pulling out my wand from my hair and the map from my waist I said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." And watched as the ink appeared on the map. Giving a quick look around I opened it up and started looking for Blaise's name. I found him walking down the hall on the fourth floor.
Muttering a quick, "mischief managed." I put the map back in my waist line and my hair back up in a bun with my wand through it as I started to walk down the stairs again towards the fourth floor. Once my hair was up and I wasn't going to lose my wand, I began to pick up speed before running and jumping down stairs and through hallways. I am extremely grateful that these are really long hallways because when I reached the fourth floor, I heard Blaise's voice from the far end.
Giving a pant I ran the last few meters to where I hoped he was. Turning the corner he was only a few meters away from me and he was walking with Draco. I managed to get in front of them and get them to stop walking, but I was trying to catch my breath when I did so.
"What do you want Zwart?" Draco snapped at me when I took to long.
"Have - you guys - seen - Ariel?" I managed to get out.
"Who's Ariel?" Blaise asked before Draco could open his mouth.
"My cat, I was holding her as we were walking towards the hat for the sorting ceremony." I explained, finally catching my breath.
"No, I haven't seen a cat around actually." Blaise answered.
"Oh no... Well thank you for your help." I nodded to them before jogging back the way I came.
"Do you need help looking for her?" I was surprised that it was Draco who asked.
Turning around, I looked at the both of them before nodding.
"We can get Slytherin to look around the dungeon." Blaise offered.
"Would you please? If you find her, could you hold onto her until dinner?" I asked.
"We can do that." Blaise nodded as he and Draco took off for downstairs.
'Two houses down, two to go.' I thought to myself.
As I was running down another hallway I saw two Ravenclaws jogging my way from the other end.
"Excuse me, have you seen a cat? A girl from Gryffindor has lost one." The girl called to me.
"I'm Cassie, I'm the one with the missing cat." I called back sheepishly.
"Oh, do you remember when and where you last saw her?" The boy asked me as we met up in the middle.
"This morning when I let her out of Gryffindor tower." I answered.
"She isn't in Gryffindor tower?" The girl asked with a slight pant.
"No, all of Gryffindor is looking for her. I actually just got some Slytherin's to look in the dungeon." I explained.
"Oh that's good, we were asked by a Hufflepuff if we could help find a Turkish Van cat." The boy said.
"Great! All four houses looking for her? We should be able to find her before dinner!" I said happily.
"If we find her, we'll give her back at dinner. Okay?" The two Ravenclaws smiled back at me before jogging back down the hallway from where I came.
Nodding to them I waited for them to turn the corner before checking around to make sure no one else was going to show up. Pulling my wand and map from their respective places I tapped the map and gave the password before putting my wand behind my ear as my hair fell down. Unfolding the map and putting it on the ground I checked it. There were groups from two to seven of dots with names wandering the map.
Giving a relieved a sigh, I started looking for places that didn't have anyone looking. It was just the third floor, but Dumbledore's dot was there accompanied by McGonagall and Sprout. Giving closing password I tapped the map and put it and my wand back and started to run for the third floor. After running up a stair case I made it to a door and just in time to see the three professors I wanted to find.
"Minnie!" I called out before she could get to far away.
"Black, how many time have I told you not to call me that?" She asked before turning around.
"Who's Black?" I asked.
"Is there something you needed Ms. Zwart?" Dumbledore asked before McGonagall could answer.
I watched her eyes widen but her composure was quickly regained before looking back down at me.
"I'm looking for my cat, Ariel. I haven't seen her seen her since this morning." I said, turning to the headmaster.
"I'm sure she's alright Ms. Zwart." Sprout said from Dumbledore's other side.
"That's what everyone keeps telling me, but she's my first cat and..." I trailed off, biting my lip.
'Do I tell them about my shoes and now missing stockings?'
"And what Zwart?" McGonagall prompted.
"Someone took my shoes and stockings and I don't want to think that they took Ariel either." I admitted, bowing my head.
"My dear, you told me you lost your shoes." Sprout put a hand to her heart.
"I did, I didn't want you guys to worry about something as small as shoes when I'm sure there are bigger things going on at the moment." I sighed to them.
"We'll worry about your articles of clothing later, when was the last time you saw your cat.?" McGonagall asked.
"This morning when I let her out coming down for breakfast." I said, internally sighing in relief.
"Didn't you say at the beginning of the year you wouldn't see her when you both were settled in?" Dumbledore asked me.
"I may have, but again someone has been taking my clothes and I don't want them to get a hold of her." I explained.
"Is there anyone else helping you look for Ariel?" Sprout asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"The seventh years have gotten Ravenclaws to help, they told me that a Hufflepuff got them to start help look. I also just got done talking to Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini and they went to get Slytherin to help look." I said taking a deep breath.
"I'm sure she'll turn up, especially since you managed to get the entire school to help find Ariel." Dumbledore did actually sound impressed with that.
I nodded with my face heating up, earning a chuckle from the teachers as they watched my hair turn to a light pink color.
"Now, how are you going to find the person who has your cat when she is found?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow at me.
"I told them to hold onto her until dinner. Since I wouldn't be able to find her." I admitted with a sheepish grin.
"That... That is smart actually." She blinked at me then squinted.
I gave her a smile and even though I didn't hear it, I saw her gasp and she put a hand on Dumbledore's arm. They exchanged a glance but didn't say anything to each other.
'What's that about?' I thought to myself.
"Well, it's only four and dinner doesn't start until six so why don't you go along and try to find your cat? We'll gather the rest of the professors and let them know about the situation." Sprout clapped her hands as McGonagall, Dumbledore, and I almost had a stare down.
"Okay, thanks again." I waved before walking away.
"One more thing Ms. Zwart." Dumbledore called out.
I turned around to face him.
"Don't make it a habit to wander up here. You never know what might be lurking behind closed doors." He said to me with a pointed look.
"Yes sir." I waved again before turning around to go back the way I came.
'You never know what might be lurking around closed doors? What could he possibly be talking about?' I asked myself as I started to wander the castle in search of my cat.