Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Rowling's except for the solution and last line which I sort of lifted from Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest anthology.
A/N: Thank yous and recommendations at the end.
Wand Waving Gone Wrong
"I mean," said Katie, "her DADA is rubbish, because if you've never practiced, you don't know what you're doing and if you don't know what you're doing, you could just easily wave your wand," she did so, "and turn somebody into a cat or something, don't you think so, Alicia?"
"Meow" replied Alicia.
"That's not funny, Alicia" said Angelina who was already on tenterhooks about tomorrow's game what with Ron's abysmal Keeping and Harry's temper, "Stop it."
"Meow!" Alicia said more vehemently causing the other two Chasers to whip round. They stared. Sitting on Alicia's robes was a small tabby cat with bright green eyes. Alicia was nowhere to be seen. Angelina rounded on Katie.
"Katherine Louise Bell, what have you done now?!"
Katie picked up the cat, unfazed by Angelina's tirade, "Turned our best friend into a cat, I think"
"Well, turn her back, we need all three Chasers for this game!"
Katie shrugged, waved her wand and said "Finite Incantatem!"
Nothing happened. The cat yowled unhappily. Katie looked sheepish.
"I forgot. Finite Incantatem mainly works when you have an idea of what the spell someone is under is. I have no idea what I did to change Alicia"
Alicia meowed indignantly clearly meaning "Kit, you idiot"
"Kit, you idiot" said Angelina, "Good timing too, the day before the first game. Well, we'll take her to Professor McGonagall, she ought to be able to do something," She took Alicia from Katie.
"I'm not letting you near her now. Who knows what you'll turn her into next?"
"One mistake and you pay for the rest of your life," Katie grumbled.
On their way to Professor McGonagall's office, they were stopped by a familiar "Hem, hem"
They looked round.
"Miss Bell, Miss Johnson, what is that?"
Angelina thought fast, "It's my new cat, Professor. She escaped onto the grounds, I'm bringing her back."
Professor Umbridge looked at them and her ugly face seemed to soften, "Well, that's all right, then. You know, I love cats, have several myself," she held out her hands, "I would like to hold her, what is her name?"
Angelina cringed not wanting to hand Alicia over, but not knowing what else to do, "Her name is Lady Green-Eyes."
She handed her over to Umbridge's waiting be-ringed hands. Alicia protested this via violent meows and writhings, but it was too late. Umbridge already held her and was in the process of engaging in typical pet baby talk. Angelina and Katie sent silent apologies to Alicia with their eyes. When Umbridge finally handed Alicia back, they hurried to McGonagall's office as quickly as they could.
She looked at them over the top of her spectacles, "Miss Johnson, Miss Bell, and where is Miss Spinnet?"
"Er, well, she's right here" Katie indicated the cat.
"Meow" Alicia agreed emphatically.
"And why have you not turned her back?"
"That's what we wanted to see you about, Professor. Katie doesn't know what she did, so she doesn't know how to turn her back. We thought you could help"
Professor McGonagall picked up the cat and looked her over carefully.
"Miss Bell, how could you be so irresponsible? 20 points from Gryffindor and be glad it isn't more! I don't see that there's anything to do except wait for the spell to wear off. It will wear off, I can tell you that much, but I don't know how long it will take."
Alicia gave a strangled yowl of horror.
"I'm sorry, Miss Spinnet," said Professor McGonagall to the cat, "In the meantime, I suggest you make yourself comfortable by the common room fire."
"But what about Quidditch? The game is tomorrow" Angelina sounded anxious.
"I'm sorry, Miss Johnson, but there's nothing I can do"
Angelina rounded on Katie, "Kit, how could you? You could have just destroyed our chances for the Cup!"
"I'm sorry," wailed Katie, "Honestly, Angie, I am. I just waved my wand and . . .and I wasn't thinking"
Alicia gave her a look that said "When I am human again, you will get it!"
"Waved your wand?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply, "How?"
"I don't remember," Katie said forlornly.
"Try"
Katie knitted her brows and gave an experimental wave with her wandless hand.
Professor McGonagall took out her own wand and imitated the wave while saying "Finite Incantatem"
Again, nothing happened. The tabby cat remained a tabby cat.
Three more times, they tried the experiment. When they stopped to look at Alicia, they discovered that she had curled up on Professor McGonagall's desk and gone to sleep.
"Again, I'm sorry, but the only thing to do is take her back to Gryffindor Tower and let the spell wear off"
"All right" said Angelina sounding hopeless. She picked up the small cat and carried it back to Gryffindor Tower. Alicia promptly curled up in front of the fire and went to sleep. It was clear that she hoped that she could go to sleep and then wake up and be herself again.
In the meantime, Angelina and Katie took out their Transfiguration textbooks and looked up everything they could about accidental transfiguration. But there was nothing that seemed to address an accidental wand wave.
Then Angelina slapped her forehead, "Kit! We're such idiots. The twins! They can help. They're always trying to cause this sort of thing, maybe they'll know how to cure it!"
"Yes! You're right! Let's go find them!"
Fortunately, the twins chose that moment to come through the portrait hole. They were laughing at the success of some prank.
"Did you see his expression? Priceless" laughed George.
Alicia, at the sound of his voice, awoke and shot towards him. Obviously, she had come to the same conclusion as Katie and Angelina.
"Whose cat?" he asked as Alicia twined round his legs, clearly taking advantage of her feline form.
Frantic as they were, Angelina and Katie had not lost their senses of humor.
"Yours, actually" said Katie giggling, "Don't you recognize her?"
George bent over, picked her up and looked closely at her. The two girls along with Fred burst out laughing as realization spread over his features.
"Alicia?" he asked the cat.
She purred.
He turned back to Katie and Angelina, "What did you two do to her?"
"Not me, Katie. McGonagall couldn't do anything so we thought we'd ask you two to help"
"McGonagall couldn't do anything and you're asking us?"
"Well, we thought maybe you might have some unconventional ideas" Katie replied.
Alicia meowed in agreement and looked pleadingly up at George.
"Poor Lady Green-Eyes, we'll think of something" he said sympathetically.
"Why don't you kiss her?" joked Fred, "That's supposedly the universal Finite Incantatem plus you''ll know if you're her," he lowered his voice ominously, "true love"
"Actually, that's an idea," said Angelina, "Why don't you try it?"
Katie brought out Alicia's robes, "If this works, she'll need these right away."
George shrugged, "All right"
He kissed the tabby cat's nose and instantly, the cat began to change lengthening into Alicia's slender form. Katie threw the robes over her friend to preserve her modesty and waited for Alicia's fury to break.
Alicia turned around, looked her friend straight in the eye and said, "Kit, you're one of my best friends and I love you, but, but you idiot. What were you thinking?!" She rounded on Angelina "And you! How could you let Umbridge put her hands on me?"
"Erm, Alicia, that sounds wrong" commented Fred.
"That's because it is wrong. I feel filthy and dirty now. I'm going to take a shower. By the way, Fred, you are a genius. And thank you, George," she flashed him a mischievous grin almost the equal of his own, "but next time, try a little lower down."
The End
Thank you to
Star2717 who has reviewed all of my G/A stories and very kindly recommended my stories in the acknowledgements of her story Not Myself which, if you haven't read, you should run, not walk to and enjoy it. I'm going to be greedy and ask for yet another update. Thanks also for telling me I did a good job with Fred and Angelina in The Night Before series.
Jagged Epiphany who has also reviewed all my G/A stories and who has a story up entitled Sugar and Spice which is not G/A but still a must read. Another chapter, pleeease?