Author's Note:
The Houses Competition (or THC) Challenge 3: Little Mini Drabbles (up to 500 words)
House: Slytherin
Class: Ancient Runes
Prompt: [Character] Filius Flitwick
Word Count: 490
Disclaimers/triggers: No pygmy puffs were harmed in the writing of this fic.
Beta Love: Thanks to my teammates for looking over my story!
Author's Note: I couldn't resist writing this.
Professor VS Puff
Professor Filius Flitwick hummed merrily to himself as he headed back to the Charms classroom. Finally, the students had left the school and there would be no further distractions. It was time to reset his classroom for the new term and head off to his beloved summer cottage.
As he entered the room, however, he heard a little squeaky sigh. Brandishing his wand, Filius looked around. Nothing moved. Satisfied, he began to sing and set to work straightening the bookshelves, cleaning the toad choir tanks, and organizing his papers.
"Achoo!" A tiny voice, not his own, let out a sneeze, and Filius rounded on the rubbish bin.
Peering behind it, though he was only slightly taller than the rubbish bin himself, a small figure crouched. There, humming and chittering, was a lavender-furred pygmy puff. It was nibbling on a discarded piece of parchment that some student had carelessly tossed.
"Oh?" Filius mused, reaching down to pick up the tiny creature.
It had to have belonged to one of the students. This would not do. He had to capture it.
The creature scooted forward to sniff his fingers, but as he made a grab for it, it instead shot away at a curious speed in the opposite direction, leading him to topple forward into the rubbish bin head-first.
"Niffler-droppings!" he swore, pulling himself out and righting the debris with a swish and flick of his wand.
Then, he looked around, looking for tell-tale signs of movement.
The pygmy puff was now sitting on his desk nibbling on his lecture notes, looking rather smug in a pygmy puff sort of way.
"Why, you little—" Filius ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, but it was no use. By the time he reached the desk, the puff had fled. Filius found that the freshly-waxed stone floors were quite a lot more slippery than he'd anticipated. He rammed the desk and vaulted over.
Filius caught his breath, his thoughts no longer on his summer vacation. Oh, he would get that little bastard if it was the last thing he ever did.
Minerva rushed into the Charms classroom.
"Filius, whatever is the matter?" she asked. "It sounds like a herd of hippogriffs have gotten loose in here!"
Filius, who was lying under a pile of books and parchment, his nose plugged up with bloody tissues and his glasses askew, looked at Minerva with a weary expression.
"Puff," he managed to wheeze.
As if on cue, the creature in question skittered across Minerva's path. Minerva leapt into her cat animagus form and pinned down the lavender menace with her paws in seconds. She shifted back into human form and dropped it unceremoniously into a hastily transfigured cage.
"Enjoy your summer, Filius," Minerva said. "Do let me know if you have any further…complications."
Filius looked at his messy classroom and sighed. So much for an easy start to the summer holidays.