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Chapter 3- The Agony of Argus

Marisa Norris was my girlfriend. I couldn't hold my own in any subject, but she was wonderful. Top of her class, she was, and she was always trying to help me. I used to always tell her it was hopeless, but Marisa would just wave my statement away. "Pish-posh," she would always say. I loved her little quirks and phrases more than anything.

My family was always ashamed of me, even when I was young. "Couldn't magic himself away from a Manticore," Mum used to tell people. "Don't think he'll even get a letter, unlike our little princess."

I couldn't stand the way they would say 'our little princess'. My sister was five years older than me, and did everything perfectly; she would always get things right on the first try. "Let me help you," Kate, my sister, would say when I was in my third year and she had graduated. I hated her for that more than anything…no I didn't hate her, I hated myself, because every time Kate would help, I only did worse.

Marisa, though, she was an angel.

"Who cares if you can do it or not," Marisa would say which eased my mind, "You're better than twenty wizards who can do it right."

It would lift my spirits high enough to keep trying whatever it was she was teaching me, even though it never worked. One time, when Marisa was teaching me Lumos, a glimmer started coming out of the tip of my wand, even though it extinguished quickly. I'm not a Squib, I thought as I smiled. Marisa came over and kissed me on the cheek. That was the first time that had happened, and we were in our second year. I remember blushing furiously and trying Lumos again, though none of the times after that worked.

I asked Marisa to the first Hogsmeade visit in our fourth year. I didn't know how to get the words out, so flustered by how pretty she was with brown hair and natural highlights throughout it. Most of the people in our class didn't like her eyes. They were red because of a pigmentation disorder Marisa had as a child. I loved them, though, they had a sparkle in them that never faded, and they seemed encouraging. "I was, uh, won- uh, wonder-," I remember stuttering out.

"Did you want to go to Hogsmeade together?" Marisa asked me.

I looked her straight in her smiling red eyes, "y-yeah. How di- did you know?"

"I saw it in your eyes," Marisa said before going back to her book.

We went that Saturday, and many other Hogsmeade visits throughout the next few years.

I wanted to ask her to marry me. I knew it was silly of me to want that when I was only a fifteen year old teenage boy, but I knew we were soul mates, meant to be together forever. My favorite thing about her was the games she would come up with me. "Take all the vowels out of your name and see what it says," she said one afternoon when we were sitting together underneath an oak tree near the lake.

"Uh, R-G-S," I said, after thinking for a bit.

"Rugs…or rags. Maybe it stands for Regular Genius Stud," Marisa said, leaning over and kissing my cheek like she often did.

The corners of my lips turned up into a smile. "What about yours?"

"M-R-S," Marisa said taking only half the time. She made the perfect Ravenclaw for that reason. Always knew things right away. After thinking of those initials she looked toward me. "Hey, Mrs. Norris," Marisa laughed, and it was impossible for me to do otherwise when her laugh was so infectious.

It was two weeks before O.W.L.s that it all happened. I had prepared myself for anything that would come up in the written part of the exam, but I still couldn't do even the simplest of spells. "You can do this," she said. "I bet you'll do just fine if we put in some extra practice time.

I agreed to meet her in an empty classroom. "I-I think I can do this," I told myself.

"Of course you can," Marisa said with confidence.

"Okay, here it goes," we were practicing Transfiguration, and I had a small stone in front of me. I tapped it twice and concentrated hard on what I was doing. I closed my eyes as my wand began to shake slightly. My other hand came to help support the first in the grip, when suddenly it stopped. I kept my eyes closed, knowing I had failed again, when Marisa squealed with delight.

"You did it!" she shrieked.

I opened only one eye and saw a little mouse crawling around on the table. I opened both then, blinked, and rubbed my eyes, hoping I wasn't just seeing things, but sure enough, there was a mouse on the table, crawling around as if it had always been a mouse, instead of a rock. "I did it… I really did it," I couldn't believe it. Mum would be so happy.

"Yes you did," Marisa said, then started to do a little jig around the table before wrapping her arms around me and kissing me. "Now, let's try one that'll be a bit more difficult."

Marisa went to the other side of the table while I took a deep breath. She placed a larger rock onto the table top and said, "A cat this time."

"Are you sure?" I asked nervously.

"Sure," she said confidently. "Just like before, concentrate on what you're doing and hold on tight."

I took another deep breath before tapping on this rock twice and thinking of a fluffy little creature. When the wand started to shake I went through the same motions as before: closing my eyes tightly and gripping the wand with both hands. When it ended this time, though, there was no squeal of success; just a lone 'meow'. I opened my eyes, and the rock was still where it had been placed, but Marisa was no longer there. What have I done? I wondered as I looked beneath the table to find a cat with long brown fur, natural highlights running through, and the eyes…my darling's eyes. I didn't know what to do. I sunk to my knees and started to cry, thinking of how much she would hate me, but instead she came over and rubbed up against me, purring. I ran my fingers through her fur and took her into my arms, rushing toward the Transfigurations Professor's office.

"You're the only one who can change her back," Dumbledore told me.

I told him that I had never done that before, but he encouraged me to try anyway. I did, and it didn't work. I've tried many more times since then, but still I've had no success. Dumbledore explained it to her Grandmother, since Marisa's parents had died when she was young. Marisa's grandmother never did forgive me, but when she passed on, she left me her 'cat' to care for anyway. I swore off magic from that day, and dropped school, though Dippet convinced me to stay as the caretaker of Hogwarts.

When I first started, kids would throw hexes at me, knowing I couldn't do anything about it. They would make the most tremendous messes in my hallways, and I had to clean it all the Muggle way, now being a full-fledged Squib. I don't trust any of the students, because they all think they're better than me. I was so excited to find out about Kwikspell, since it might have been a way for me to get back my Marisa. Dumbledore had told me to rename the cat, for the sake of anyone to find out. I remembered that afternoon of removing vowels from words and decided it would be perfect, since that really was her name.

It's taken me a while, but I've been able to learn to communicate with Marisa again. It's always there… in her eyes.

A/N: Whoa, okay, that one was a little harder than the others, but I liked the idea of it. I came up with this theory when I was reading in OotP and came to the part where Harry writes to Sirius about something. He's making his way to the owlery when he runs into Mrs. Norris who runs off, as if to tell on Harry. Filch comes in just after Harry sends the letter accusing him of making a Dung Bomb order, saying someone had told him. Harry asks who told him that, and Filch fumbles for a bit before changing the subject back to getting Harry in trouble.

Somehow he obviously communicates with Mrs. Norris, so this was just one theory. That and it would explain his extreme bitterness toward the students. These are, of course, not what Rowling says is the case, but she hasn't said anything so I think I'll speculate while I can.

Please Review!!!

Thank you:

Daisaigai697832: I'm glad you're enjoying this! I'll keep this one open to as many characters and scenarios that I can think of, so I make no promises on the length. I'm trying right now to think of other people I could do a chapter on, but again no guarantees when I'll think of a good one to throw in here.

Kikyous Spirit: That makes me smile that you don't think they're OOC, especially since these are all based on why I think Rowlings version of the characters might act the way they do. I don't think I'll write any that have to do with scenarios of the future (meaning from things like what will happen with books 6 and 7) but I'll try to think of more. I feel really bad for Snape in the second chapter, and I think that's kind of my point of doing this, is for people to see things in another light that they wouldn't have seen it in before, but not to make it way unrealistic, if you know what I mean.

JamieBell: As always, thank you for your review, and you had the analysis right on the nose. I love seeing your name on any review, and unless I have a purpose, I generally won't post on something until I see your review (knowing how dependable you are with that). I think Snape has his own problems that the Marauders just enhanced, which made them the general direction that his anger flowed to. Everyone is looking for someone to blame, and I think it was easy to blame them because they did pick on him.

I like the fact that Lily had that strong of an impact too, because you really never know who you're helping just with a smile or a kind comment. There's this story about this boy who, around Christmas time, was depressed because he was picked on at school, and he didn't have any friends and he just hated life all together. He decided that when his parents were at this Christmas Party a week prior to the holiday he was going to jump off the local bridge. He had written a note and was taking it to place it in the mailbox and found that one of the articles in there was addressed to him. Out of curiosity he opened it and it was a nice card from a girl who said she'd love to get to know him better and saying that she was sorry she hadn't been able to do so earlier. He changed his mind, taking the mail back into the house and waiting for his parents to come home. Do you know who that person was? None other than Charles Shultz, creator of the Peanut gang and Charlie Brown himself. Amazing what one person can do huh? Just remember that the next time you're walking down the hallway of your school.

Okay, sorry I rambled for so long, hope you liked this chapter!

Angel718: Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this one too!

Hermione30: Thank you for Beta reading for me! You rock! Anyone who hasn't already done so already check out some of her work. She's got a great style, and I'm sure many of you would enjoy her latest, Saved by the Bell. Very entertaining and always well written!