Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I do not have any rights to Harry Potter and I do not make any money from writing these fics.
A/N: Written for the A Bit of Motivation Competition, the One Million Words Added Challenge, the Chocolate Frog Challenge, the Pairing Diversity Boot Camp Challenge, the 335 Pairing Bonanza Challenge, the If You Dare...Continued Challenge, the Disney-A-Thon Challenge, the Camp Potter Archery Bit Challenge and the Quidditch League Competition.
Prompts: Mrs. Norris/Gideon Prewett, Macaw, Pentagon, Write about someone being curious (Jane Porter), Write about an obsession that gets out of hand, "Where did you find it?", Forgery, Raining, Queen Bee, Write about Gideon Prewett's first Hogsmade weekend, pencil, sealing, calculator.
First Hogsmade Weekend
Excitement filled Gideon as he stood in the courtyard with the rest of his year, waiting early for their first trip to Hogsmeade. His twin brother had decided to wait until the next Hogsmade weekend to go down to the village, but Gideon had decided to go. Curiosity burned brightly inside him and he just had to see the village that so many of the upper year students bragged about.
I cannot wait until I get there, Gideon thought with excitement while he waited. He listened absently as other students were ticked off of the list that Professor McGonagall was reading through. I hope I can find a few muggle pencils for Molly's boyfriend.
With a plan of action in his head a glint of determination shone in Gideon's eyes. He stood tall and proud as he waited for Professor McGonagall to lead them down to Hogsmade. In his mind he ran through several possible shops and which route he would take, so quickly and easily it was like a muggle entering a basic sum on a calculator.
While the last few students stood in line and waited their turn to give Professor McGonagall their permission slips, Gideon fidgeted about and looked over the group.
I wonder if anyone tried to sign their parents signatures, Gideon thought as Professor McGonagall took another permission slip from a student and added it to the growing pile in her hand. Forgery must be common, though, I don't know why. I thought they placed a spell on the permission slip to prevent this sort of thing.
"Has everyone who has permission given me their permission slips?" Professor McGonagall called out, causing Gideon's attention to snap back to her. He hoped this was what he thought it was.
"Yes Professor," came a collective reply from Gideon and the rest of the students.
Gideon let out a low groan when Professor McGonagall began to give out the normal speech about staying safe in Hogsmade. Her voice sounded like a squawking macaw to his impatient ears. Over the past few years at Hogwarts, Gideon had sat and watched various older students come and go on their trips to the village, though he was too young to go himself. So, he was very familiar with Professor McGonagall's speeches, especially since they were exactly the same every single time.
I wonder if there are any muggle pencil's with pentagons carved into them, Gideon thought as he allowed his mind to drift to his obsession. He had taken to collecting various muggle items for his sister's boyfriend, Arthur, because he was one of the few people he actually trusted with his sister and Arthur loved muggle devices. So, Gideon would find little muggle trinkets for Arthur to add to his collection. After all, Gideon wanted Arthur to stick around. Not only for his sister, but also because he was a good friend. So far it was going extremely well.
With his eyes still firmly planted on Professor McGonagall, and Flitch who was standing beside her, Gideon never noticed a certain feline slowly making her way through the crowd of students towards him. Her glowing cat eyes shone with a hidden intelligence as she headed towards the young, unsuspecting Weasley.
I hope it does not start raining, Gideon thought as he tore his attention away from Professor McGonagall and looked up at the sky where the clouds were growing dark and heavy. I do not want to be stuck in the rain and have to act like a Queen Bee while I ask everyone if they have found any new muggle objects.
Turning his attention down to the ground in an attempt to find something interesting to stare at, Gideon jumped in surprise when he found himself looking down at Mrs. Norris. The feline stood silently at his feet with a pointed look on her face.
"What?" Gideon asked the feline, backing a few steps away from her. His back-peddling only enticed the cat to step toward him. "I didn't do anything wrong. I haven't broken any school rules, so you can stop following me around."
Mrs. Norris let out a loud meow and took another step toward him. The third year student took several more steps backward, trying to distance himself from the annoying cat. He didn't trust her as far as he could kick her!
"If you are all ready and know the rules, you may go down to the village," Professor McGonagall announced, though Gideon took no notice of her. Instead he continued to stare at Mrs. Norris in confusion. "Please return to the school by no later than five O' Clock. If I do not see you at the evening meal I will hunt you down and you will find being stuck in detention to be the last of your worries."
With those words spoken the students quickly turned and hurried towards the village, excitement and happiness filling the air as they began to talk among themselves. They did not notice that they had left Gideon alone to continue his staring contest with Mrs. Norris.
"I have nothing for you. I haven't got any fish in my pockets!" Gideon said as he followed Mrs. Norris' gaze to one of his robe pockets. "Why don't you just go back to Flitch where you belong?"
Without waiting for a reply or even giving Mrs. Norris a chance to respond Gideon quickly turned on his heels and ran down the path to the village, not even casting a glance over his should as he went. He used the groups of students walking down the path to help navigate his way to the village so that he didn't get lost. As he passed them by, he kept an ear out for some of the conversations, just in case one of them said something that would give him a heads up about Mrs. Norris.
"Where did you find it?" a Ravenclaw asked as Gideon ran past her. "I would like to buy one for myself."
"My sister brought it for me last year from a cute little shop in Hogsmade," the Ravenclaw's friend replied happily."Maybe we can go into the shop and-Ahhh! Is that Mrs. Norris running towards us?"
Damn, Gideon thought as he forced himself to increase his speed. Why is that cat following me? I did nothing wrong! I followed all of the rules. I made sure of it so there would not be a single thing stopping me from going to Hogsmade.
Not daring to look behind him, Gideon continued to run down the path towards the village, ignoring the sights and sounds that met him for the very first time. In his mind he was cursing up at storm that was aimed at Mrs. Norris. He had not wanted or expected his first Hogsmade weekend to end up like this- chased through the village by Mrs. Norris as if he had rolled around in cat nip and broken several important school rules within five minutes of each other.
I am seriously going to have a talk with Professor McGonagall and Filtch about Mrs. Norris when I get back to Hogwarts, Gideon thought as he entered the village and then ran along the road with the obsessed cat still following behind him. There has to be something wrong with her. She's definitely gone mental!
With wide eyes Gideon looked around the village for some sort of shop that might help him to get rid of his feline chaser, only to find none. Not wanting Mrs. Norris to catch up to him and do Merlin knows what, Gideon continued to run taking in every sign above each shop. He was desperately looking for anything that could help him.
I should have taken that map that was offered to me by Professor Sprout last week.He was beginning to hate hindsight. But then again in this situation, a map would be no good. He would have to stop to read it and that would give Mrs. Norris chance to catch up.
A sudden loud, happy meow caught Gideon's attention, causing him to groan and swear under his breath. It seemed that Mrs. Norris had not given up the chase yet, nor did she show signs of getting tired.
"Man, what a first Hogsmade weekend this is," Gideon muttered under his breath, only to come to a screeching halt when he spotted a shop hidden away amongst the others.
The words 'Peter's Pet Shop' was written above the door in bold red letters that stood out from the rest of the sign . A large grin of relief appeared on Gideon's face. If there was anyone who could help him with Mrs. Norris, or a shop that could sell him something that he was able to use against the cat so that she would leave him alone, this would be the one.
Without a second thought Gideon ran over to the pet shop, not bothering to take in any of the details or the strange magical creatures that were displayed in the pet shop window, and threw the door wide open.
"Please help me!" Gideon yelled into the shop, shocking several animals and customers, "I have-"
"Mrs. Norris, the caretaker of Hogwarts' cat, chasing after you like a child obsessed with having the newest toy," the man behind the counter said with a sigh that caused Gideon to do a double take. The man seemed to be extremely calm, as is this was something that he was rather used to. "Honestly, this happens every time the Hogwarts students come down to the village."
"You...you mean this is normal for Mrs. Norris?" Gideon asked in surprise. The third year looked behind him to see if the cat was still after him. Seeing that Mrs. Norris was still barreling toward him, Gideon pushed deeper into the shop. His eyes flickered from the shop keeper to the door nervously. "Do you know why? What is going on? Why is Mrs. Norris acting like this? I thought that she wanted to get me into trouble. Is this normal for her?"
"This behavior is very normal for that damn cat," the pet shop worker replied as he reached behind the counter and pulled out a muggle self-sealing plastic bag that had what looked like a cat toy in the shape of a mouse."I swear that she behaves this way because she is getting on inher years and she thinks that some of the students are her owners. But, when I see the speed at which she travels at I find myself changing my mind. Only a very fit and healthy cat can travel at the speed she does."
Gideon watched as the shop worker took out the mouse toy from the bag and threw it down onto the floor. Frowning in confusion and wondering just what good a mouse toy would do against Mrs. Norris, Gideon looked to the shop worker and saw that he wore a bored expression on his face.
"Do not worry kid, it will all be over in a few minutes time. Once Mrs. Norris is distracted by the cat toy I will floo call her owner to come and get her," the pet shop owner replied, the bored look on his face suddenly turned into a very sympathetic one. "What a way to start your first Hogsmade weekend huh?"
"You are telling me," Gideon groaned, but that groan turned into a shocked yelp when Mrs. Norris pushed the door open and ran into the shop, heading directly toward the toy mouse on the floor. "What did you put in that cat toy? She went from chasing me all the way from Hogwarts to completely ignoring me in nothing flat!"
"Catnip," the store worker replied calmly and plainly. "Well you should be safe now kid if you want to go and explore Hogsmade, though from the looks of you, I would recommend you go and have a drink at the pub and enjoy yourself for the rest of the day."
"I...I will, I think I will take you up on that suggestion," Gideon replied as he turned to the door. But a loud meow came to his ears and he froze on the spot, not daring to turn around to and see what the crazy cat was up to now. "Uh...Mr. Pet shop worker..."
"Mrs. Norris is only interested in the toy," the pet shop worker replied with a chuckle. "She will not follow you kid."
"You sure?"
"I am definitely sure," the pet shop worker replied. "Go and get yourself a drink before that caretaker shows up and tries to blame everything on you, kid."
Gideon did not need any more encouragement. He was sure he would not forget his first visit to Hogsmade anytime soon.
End.
