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Chapter 3- Ms. Norris' New Affection

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else of great value for that matter….

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Ginny ran along the school corridor tirelessly. Her red curls clung sweaty to her neck. She brushed it all to her left shoulder then thought otherwise and threw it back behind her head. She wished vaguely that she had a tie to pull it back with. 'Stupid Snape,' she thought savagely to herself, narrowing her eyes. He had pushed that potion on her to give to Dumbledore, without even a thought to her own welfare. He had treated her like his errand girl, and now look where it had landed her. Or rather, where it had landed Harry.

Oh, of all the people she had to meet in the hallways, it had to have been Harry. What must he be thinking of her now? Giving him a love potion like that. What if he misunderstood and thought that she had done it on purpose? The idea made her face burn. Her brothers had always took her crush on Harry to their advantage. Taunting her all the time over summer vacation. Reenacting the many embarrassing moments when she made a prat of herself in front of Harry Potter. Fred made it his personal duty to pretend he was sticking his elbow in the butter dish whenever she was in the room, pretending she was Harry and bating his eyelashes at her. If he didn't watch it, she was going to forget the 'no magic' policy of Hogwarts and jinx both him and George to oblivion.

Out of nervousness, she tried remembering exactly what Snape had said to her when he pushed the potion into her hands, with impatience.

'Now listen very carefully, Ms. Weasley, for I am only going to say this once since I'm short of time. Under no circumstances are you or anyone else to drink, touch, or even smell this potion. As you are well aware the illegal use of this potion can result in spending time in Azkaban. You can only imagine how powerful that must make this. The ingredients alone are very hard to come by and I will not have you spilling any' a smirk cracked on Snape's face. 'If you by any chance wanted to give this love potion to someone like Potter (Yes, I know about your feelings for him, Ms. Weasley. You aren't very secretive about them, you know) the consequences would be horrendous. As this potion makes anyone who drinks it totally and completely irresistible to the opposite sex, you can only imagine the kind of ruckus it would create in giving Potter some... Though I won't say that the idea of him being trampled by hundreds of women isn't very amusing....'

Suddenly an object flashed before Ginny, hampering her thoughts. A thing too blurry to see whizzed by in front of her and all at once something big and green came flying straight towards her head. She tried to duck, but her reflexes were too slow.

SPLAT!

An evil cackle met Ginny's ears as she began to whip large amounts of green goo off her face. She scrapped the gunk out of her eyes and threw the contents onto the floor, glaring up at Peeves, the Poltergeist hovering above her, angrily.

Peeves cackled again. "Weeeell if it isn't icky lil' fourthy Weasley! Where's your friendys, lil' fourthy? No Potty to play with today?"

Ginny threw some of the goo at Peeves, who dodged out of the way easily. There was a bucket of more goo in his hands. "Go away, Peeves! I'll tell the Bloody Baron on you!" she threatened.

Peeves' eyes narrowed evilly. "Oooh, so lil' Weasley-Feasley wanna be mean, does she? Weeeell, I should be mean right back then, I should!"

Ginny gasped as Peeves threw three more balls of goo flew at her.

She shrieked as hit her, and Peeves laughed wickedly, doing a back flip through the ceiling and out of sight. The bucket, slammed into it then fell down, splattering the floor and Ginny's feet with it's contents.

"I'm going to kill 'em," Ginny muttered, hanging her hands limply out in front of her in disgust as goo dribbled off her fingertips. She glared at the place Peeves had exited. "Never mind the fact he's already dead. I'll find a way to do it even if it takes me all year!"

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Meanwhile, Harry Potter was having some problems of his own. He had been running non-stop down the hallways, loosing McGonagall and Hermione somewhere three corridors back. He had used a secret passageway he'd seen on the Marauder's map. This, however, had lead him to a section of the school he had never been in before.

Harry looked around his surroundings. There were rows of pictures lined down the hallway. The occupants were all casting him rather malevolent glares from their frames. He spun around, staring at them and didn't see where he was going.

WHAP! An odd smell met his nostrils as he collided with something squishy.

"Hey, watch where you're going, Potter!" Filtch yelled furiously from above him. The strong odor of fish hung around him thickly and caused Harry to move quickly away from him. A bony finger was thrust into his face.

Harry found himself staring slightly cross-eyed at a large wart on Filtch's left index finger.

"And just where do you think your going, eh?" Filtch asked, narrowing his eyes at Harry in suspicion. "This here passageway's restricted. I have a mind to give you detention for this, I do."

"S-Sorry, sir," Harry stammered. "I was, uh, just leaving right now."

"Ah, you were, were you?" Filtch said sarcastically. "So you're telling me, Potter, that you just came racing into here at top speed, bumping into me, just to be leaving all the sudden? I smell guilt here, don't you, Mrs. Norris?" Filtch looking down fondly at the ginger cat at his feet, but her yellow eyes were glued straight on Harry.

Harry watched her fearfully as a purr began to erupt from her throat. She stalked over to him and started rubbing against his leg lovingly. He tried to shake her off, but she gave a piteous meow and started batting his leg playfully.

Filtch's eyes widened at this uncharacteristic display of behavior in his cat. "Mrs. Norris?" he said in surprise.

"Er...." Harry shook his leg violently as the cat started to try and claw up his pants.

The veins in Filtch's temples began to bulge while his neck turned deep red. He fixed his eyes back on Harry, who was trying his hardest not to look guilty. "What have you done this time, Potter?" he demanded.

"Uh..."

"You've stolen something, haven't you? Ms. Norris smells it on you."

Harry strongly doubted that because, even if he had stolen anything and Ms. Norris wasn't just being effected by the potion, there was no way something could smell anything over the horrible smell Filtch was giving off, himself.

"Fess up, Potter! I know you're hiding something. What is it? You always were a sneaky little snot."

"I don't have anything," Harry protested, taking a step back from Filtch. "Honest," he added upon seeing the accusatory expression on Filtch's face. He clearly wasn't buying a word.

"Empty your pockets," he commanded.

"What?"

"I order you to empty your pockets now, Potter. Or do you want me to get a Professor?"

Harry grimaced at the thought of trying to explain to someone like Snape what had happened to him and why he wasn't in class. He quickly started emptying his pocket, dropping the contents on the floor.

Filtch surveyed the booty with his beady eyes narrowed. "A couple o' Sickles, a few knuts and…. Well, well, well, what is this," he picked up a dungbomb and smirked gleefully, examining it carefully in his dirty hands. "Well, Potter, I think you've just won a few hours of detention. Dungbombs are strictly forbidden on the grounds. Number twenty-eight on my list if I'm not mistake, and since you shouldn't even be down this hallway to begin with…" the gleefulness spread. "This could be quite a few detentions. Actually, I think I'll tell Professor Dumbledore about this." He pocketed the item. "You'd best come with me then, Potter, so I can write a note to the Headmaster about this."

If Filtch was wanting Harry to be upset by this, he had quite the opposite effect. Even though the idea of cleaning bedpans in the school infirmary for a week wasn't the most pleasant one to him, at least he would be safe in Filtch's office for a while, and hopefully the potion would wear off before then. Also, if he went to go get Dumbledore, he could cure him! Harry's heart skipped a beat with joy, but he quickly subdued it and screwed up his face in a dismal look. He didn't want Filtch to catch on, and he was sure the more depressing he looked, the longer Filtch would keep him in his office.... To relish in his torture.

"Upset are you, Potter?' Flitch asked, his crooked, yellow teeth bared in a grin as he watched Harry force a grimace. "Weeell, now you'll know better next time, won't you? Come on then."

He grabbed the back of Harry's robes roughly and jerked him forward.

Harry stumbled for a moment. Ms. Norris was rubbing against his legs and tripped him up. The cat nipped affectionately at his heels as Filtch pushed him along.


Harry trudged with Filtch back upstairs towards his office. The hallways were all deserted, except for a few ghosts here and there. Classes must've started now, then. When they finally arrived, the slimy, rotten door of Filtch's office loomed impressively ahead. Harry found a knot start to come in the back of his throat. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Already the fishy smell that Filtch was emitting was getting stronger, stinging Harry's nose. He was going to the source of Filtch's smell. Why Filtch's office smelled of fish was quite beyond Harry. He didn't really want to know.

"This way," Filtch ordered, kicking open the door, making sure he didn't loosen his hold on Harry's.

Harry swallowed hard as the door was shut quickly behind them. He was very surprised, though, to see that they were not alone.

"Well hello, Harry! What a pleasant surprise!" Fred greeted jubilantly. He quickly jabbed his twin who was dozing next to him in the ribs with his elbow. "Hey, George, look who's here."

George grunted and opened one of his eyes to see what Fred was talking about. He sat up in mock pleasure. "Why what do you know, the famous Harry Potter's come to visit us. Filtchy's got his talons on you too, has he?"

An angry growl echoed from Filtch's throat as he glared in complete hatred at the twins. Harry nervously scooted away from him. He smiled sheepishly back at the twins, not daring to answer while Filtch still had the back of his robes.

I don't want any of you three talking, you hear?" Filtch growled at Fred and George as Harry tried to get his robes loosed from his iron hold. "I'll be right back with the Headmaster, so don't you go no where."

He let go of Harry at last and pushed him forward towards where Fred and George was seated: a rather moldy looking couch with ends of feathers and springs sticking out of it at odd angles, and swung around back towards the door. "Watch over them for me, Mrs. Norris," he ordered the ginger cat that was weaving between Harry's legs. Harry thought his order seemed somewhat ridiculous since he doubted Mrs. Norris would have it any other way.... Unfortunately.

Filtch's eyes narrowed even more at this odd display and left the room with a huff, locking the door behind him.

Fred snorted. "Good riddance to that smelling slime-ball," he stated indignantly once he was out of earshot.