"OK," panted Ron. "I think we gave them the slip. Check the map, Harry."
Harry nodded and hastily mumbled that he was indeed up to no good at all, and could the bloody piece of parchment please get on with it? When the corridors appeared on the map he groaned as he saw how they were all surrounded by labelled dots, in fact one of them being right behind...
"Aw. What a cute kitten!" Luna exclaimed, bending down and doing ths-ing sounds. The other watched in horror how the grey-ginger kitten slipped around and disappeared in the shadows of the corridor.
"RUN!" Harry screamed and they did.
"Off to tell mommy," Ron growled bitterly, shooting Hermione a mean look.
"Don't you start," she panted, dragging Luna with her. "Is the path clear to the portrait?" Harry quickly glanced at the map.
"Think so. We'll have to try it." He saw on the map how the spot labelled "Dusty" had reached the spot labelled "Mrs Norris" and how the spot named "Filch" quickly began to move in their direction. Forcing themselves to run even faster they reached the portrait of the fat lady.
"Gobblestone!" They cried in unison and then spent several anxious moments waiting for her to wake up properly, tell them off and open up. When they ran through the portrait hole Harry turned around and he saw no less then five stripy grey-ginger kittens with lamp-like eyes staring at them. He could hear Filch running steps in the corridor, but they were already through the hole, breathing out in relief as the portrait shut behind them.
"That was a close one," Harry whispered, sitting down in the sofa.
"Too close, mate," Ron answered. "Good on Filch having a whole bunch of new little spies. Right, Hermione?" She gave him a Look.
"Are we back to complaining at Crookshanks again? It is not his fault that his children are curious."
"Curious? They are just as bloodthirsty as their mother... and father too, come to that. Why did he have to bonk that bloody student catcher anyway?"
"Just because HE happens to know how to please a lady-love doesn't mean..."
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Ron screamed. Harry anxiously looked around, hoping that the shouting of his friends would not wake any of the other Gryffindors up. To his great relief Luna interrupted them.
"Well, thanks for tonight. It was very enjoyable. But now I have to go back to my dormitory." And she made a move towards the portrait. Harry caught her in the arm.
"What? Are you mad or something? No offence... You can't go out there now. Filch will have you thrown in the dungeon if he gets half a chance." She regarded him with an air of polite interest.
"I do have to sleep, Harry. And I am sure that I can persuade Mrs. Norris and her adorable offspring to see things my way."
"Wanna bet?" Ron murmured. But Hermione cut in.
"You are sleeping with me tonight Luna," she said matter-of-factly. "Then we can go to breakfast together and no one will have to know you were in the wrong dorm."
"If there are not cats around to tell on you, of course," Ron mumbled, but no one commented. Luna nodded and allowed Hermione to steer her towards the bedroom. But as they started to walk the stairs, something ginger and fluffy in the moonlight caught their eyes. Crookshanks softly purred at them and stroke against Hermione's leg. She bent down to pat him.
"This is all your fault," Ron told him. "If you could just control your children we would not be in this mess every other night."
Cat and mistress shot him equal scornful looks.