The Cat's Pyjamas

by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
The translation of the Pangur Ban poem is from an unknown author (chapter titles).

This chapter is un-betaed, and I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

#+$

This story is dedicated to my wonderful friend and beta Mushcorn

4 – Hunting words I sit all night

Pangur (Harry) hesitantly sat on his godfather's lap and watched Minerva throw the Floo powder, shouting, "New York International Floo port."

He closed his eyes when the world suddenly began to spin around, faster than during the national Floo travel. 'I hope it'll be over soon,' he thought, feeling a slightly queasy feeling spread in his stomach. He tightly leaned into his godfather's arms and heard the older wizard whisper in his soft, baritone voice, "Is everything all right, Pangur?"

"Yeah," Pangur mumbled miserably, feeling slightly relieved at the calming voice of the Potions Master, who whispered again, "Hold on, child. This will last a few minutes."

After a seemingly infinite time, the fast movement finally slowed down and came to an end. Pangur sighed in relief, when Rolanda held out her hand for him and led him out of the fireplace first. "Wow," he blurted out in surprise, taking in his surroundings in amazement. They found themselves on a tiny island, completely surrounded by the ocean. At one side of the island, a few small kiosks decorated the coast line, and on the opposite side, he could see five huge fireplaces, each of them labelled by the continent, to which they led. In the distance, he could see tall skyscrapers and a green statue of a lady wearing a crown and holding a torch. Pangur could also see, if he squinted, lots of cars; most of them yellow.

Minerva led the small group to the largest one, which was marked 'Domestic Floo'. "Now, even if this side is large, the fireplace at the Manor allows only two people to step through at the same time," she explained and motioned for Poppy and Rolanda to go first. "Either 'O'Leary Manor' or 'Kentucky Foundation for Children' should work."

Pangur absentmindedly listened to his adoptive grandmother, who reassured him that the travel would be short and harmless; while he let his eyes wander around the shore. 'The sea,' he thought in amazement. 'It looks wonderful.' And indeed it was. Green-blue water was gently lapping the white sandy shore.

"Have you ever been to the seaside?" Minerva asked, following his gaze.

"No," Pangur said softly. "It looks extremely beautiful."

Minerva smiled as she pulled him into the fireplace. "During the next few weeks, we'll be very busy with the preparations for the beginning of school; however, if we're ready on time, we'll try to spend a day at the seaside. If not, we'll arrange something for the next holidays," she promised, before she shouted, "Kentucky Foundation for Children."

A mere instant later, Pangur stumbled out of the fireplace at Minerva's hand, finding himself in a large entrance hall. His first impression was that it was very bright. However, before he could even look around, an older woman, who looked exactly like his adoptive grandmother, stepped in front of them. She first hugged Minerva, before she leaned down to him and said, "Hello Pangur, I am Medusa O'Leary, your granny's sister."

"Hello," Pangur said shyly, eyeing the two sisters in awe. 'They look like twins,' he thought, chuckling.

"Patrick, my husband, is still outside, on the grounds, looking after his patients, but he promised to be back in time for dinner," Medusa explained and called, "Bararow!" A small elf appeared in front of the group, and Medusa introduced him, "This is our Head house-elf, Bararow. If you need anything or have questions, just call him and he'll be happy to help. Bararow, please take Misty, Cicero, and Malcolm with you and show them the Manor." When the four elves popped away, she suggested, "Let me take you to your rooms, so that you can refresh yourself a little before dinner."

Minerva glanced at her wrist-watch. "Five o'clock," she said thoughtfully. "Dusa, considering that we're five hours behind in time and it's already ten o'clock at night in England, I believe that it's time for Pangur to go to bed. We already had dinner, before we left."

"Ah all right," Medusa replied in understanding. "We'll just have tea together then, when Pangur is in bed."

Pangur cast Minerva an indignant look, thinking, 'Why do I have to go to bed just when it's going to get interesting?'

Medusa, who had caught his expression, laughed. "Oh Minnie, if looks could kill, you'd already be dead. Wouldn't it be better to allow the boy to stay up for a few hours more in order to get used to the different time? I'm sure he'd love Patrick to show him the animals, right, sweetie?"

"I'd love to," Pangur said excitedly, immediately liking Medusa.

'猫のパジャマ

Patrick O'Leary was a big man with red hair, green eyes and a welcoming smile on his face. 'He is very nice, too,' Pangur thought when Minerva introduced her brother-in-law to her colleagues and him. 'I can't wait to see the animals.'

Finally, the adults finished their dinner, and Patrick O'Leary asked, "Who wants to accompany me to the animal ward?"

"Me," Pangur was the first to reply, thrusting his hand up in the air, unaware of the fact that the adults observed him with amusement. He didn't even hear the chuckles of his companions.

Everyone decided to go, since it was a beautiful, sunny evening. His hand firmly tucked into Rolanda's, Pangur eagerly followed the vet out onto the grounds. They crossed the huge park behind the Manor, along the shore of a lake, which immensely reminded Pangur of the lake at Hogwarts, before they came to a vast, one-stored building, which from the outside resembled a greenhouse. "This is the clinic. I'm going to show you the small animals' ward first," Patrick announced, explaining that he had magical and non magical animals in his clinic. "Muggles won't be able to see our school; however, they can see my practice and can come through the connecting corridor to the clinic, unaware that it is a magical corridor. They think that the clinic is just in the adjacent room and not one kilometre away. Normally, I take the shortcut through the corridor as well. We just came this way, so that I could show you the grounds at the same time."

As they entered the building, Pangur's gaze fell on an orange toad that was surrounded by a small lake of a brown liquid, looking like chocolate. "What's that?" he blurted out in surprise, causing Patrick to smirk.

"That is a very rare magical animal, a chocolate frog spitting toad; however, he is suffering from an illness similar to diarrhoea that makes the chocolate frogs come out continuously and in liquid form," he explained. "I am giving him antibiotics, and I expect him to be better by tomorrow night."

'He's too funny,' Pangur thought in amusement, smiling at the toad that still had chocolate coming out of his mouth. 'I wonder what he looks like when he spits frogs.' He absentmindedly followed the adults through the clinic, seeing many different kinds of animals, he had never heard of before. By the time they arrived in the last indoor room of the clinic, he was dead on his feet. Seeing that the room was full with cats, a small smile spread over his face. Tuning out the vet's voice, who explained about kneazles and magical lynxes, he changed into his cat form and lay down on an empty cushion, drifting off to sleep within seconds.

Only when the adults headed out to the outdoor part of the clinic, Minerva looked around in shock upon realising that her grandson was missing. "Where is Pangur?" she queried, turning back to the door.

The small group headed back into the cats' room, recalling that they had seen him admiring the kneazle cat, and Minerva pointed to the small marmalade cat. "There he is," she said, rolling her eyes in annoyance, sighing as she mumbled, "He has to learn that he tells me when he's tired."

Patrick quickly waved his wand over the small cat and nodded. "It is him," he confirmed, "and he seems to be exhausted. He also has a light fever. Why don't we leave him here for tonight? I'll have to come and check on the animals again in a few hours anyway."

Minerva looked from Pangur to her brother-in-law. "Won't he get sick if he's exposed to whatever these animals are ailing?"

Patrick shook his head. "No Minerva, the whole clinic is under a protection charm, which protects the animals from catching each other's diseases. Otherwise, I'd have to keep them in cages and even quarantine some of them. It's much nicer for the animals and helps with their recovery if they're able to do as they please and even play with each other if they feel well enough."

Apparently noticing that Minerva still didn't feel well at the thought of leaving the child alone, Severus suggested, "Minerva, why don't you transform into your cat form and stay with him? Otherwise, I can remain here with him. I am a magical lynx."

"You're an Animagus?" Minerva asked in disbelief, causing the tall man to smirk and change into a lynx.

A few minutes later, Pangur instinctively nestled into the tabby cat's and the lynx's fur, feeling very comfortable as he continued to sleep between the two larger animals.

'猫のパジャマ

During the following month before the start of the school year, the adults were very busy strengthening the wards around the school and setting up their new classrooms and offices, while Bararow, Misty, Cicero, and Malcolm together with the O'Leary Manor elves and a group of new house-elves that Minerva and Medusa had brought to the school prepared the common rooms, dormitories, and the huge, newly built dining hall. The dining hall was a round building, adjacent to the entrance hall, which was completely surrounded with glass windows and had a ceiling that displayed the sky like the one of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Due to its location at the heart of the school and its open feeling because of its glass walls and special ceiling, the teachers decided to call it 'The Atrium.'

Pangur was very happy to help the adults preparing their offices and classrooms as much as he could do without using magic. Sometimes, when no one else had tasks that the boy could fulfil, Patrick took him with him to the clinic. He told Pangur much about magical and non magical animals, and he showed him how to check on them, which depended on the animal, because his spells worked only partly on the non magical animals, so that he often had to use Muggle methods. Pangur could only watch when Patrick waved his wand over the magical animals; however, he felt very big when he helped the vet check on the non magical animals, looking at their wounds and checking their temperatures. He could also help Patrick to care for his patients and to administer potions and medicine to specific animals. "I want to become a vet when I'm big, too," Pangur said to Minerva, when he entered the Atrium holding Patrick's hand on the last day of the holidays.

"He is a very good assistant," Patrick said gently, smiling broadly as he took his seat at the table.

Pangur looked around the Atrium in amazement. Five large tables had been set up in a circle around the table, at which they were sitting. "This one is the table for the first and the tenth years, the one next to it for the second and the ninth, and so on," Minerva told him, pointing to the table that was right in front of them. "This table will be gone by tomorrow," she added. "The teachers will sit at the students' tables together with the students, for whom they are responsible."

"I can't wait for the other students to come," Pangur replied happily. "When will they be here?"

"Around noon tomorrow," Minerva replied thoughtfully. "Remus and Severus will travel back to England to accompany them here tomorrow morning, while the American students will arrive at the Apparition border at the same time. Medusa and Patrick will accompany them here. Oh and that reminds me," she continued, casting her adoptive grandson a stern look, "don't forget that you must address the professors with Professor and their surnames in front of the other students. Only in private you may call them by their given names."

"Yes Granny," Pangur replied, inwardly rolling his eyes. 'I know that,' he thought indignantly. 'I'm already seven and a big boy.'

'猫のパジャマ

Realising that Pangur was very excited and couldn't wait for the students to arrive, as soon as Remus and Severus had left, Poppy asked him to help her with the herb garden and the greenhouse, which she was setting up for her Herbology classes. Not everything was perfect like it was at Hogwarts yet, since the time had been too short for many of the plants to grow, but Poppy intended to make the specific classes work in the greenhouse, until everything was ready. 'I don't have as much time as Pomona has at Hogwarts,' she mused, 'considering that I also have to get the hospital rooms ready and to look after the sick students when school begins.' Since she had to teach classes instead of just being a Mediwitch like at Hogwarts, the staff had decided to not build one large hospital room but instead add one small hospital room to each floor, so that the professors, who were responsible for the respective floor, could more easily support Poppy.

Unbeknownst to Pangur, Poppy did not only ask him to help her in order to distract him, but also to closely monitor him. She mainly assigned him tasks, which he could do without using any magic; however, she also taught him two very easy spells, one of them being to magically cover mandrakes with earth, and she unobtrusively waved her wand over him before and afterwards, making mental notes of her diagnostic results.

Well in time, Poppy led Pangur to the Atrium, where they waited together with the other teachers for the students to arrive. When they heard the two groups arrive in the entrance hall nearly simultaneously, the teachers headed to their year's table, while Poppy motioned for Pangur to stay with her. "Patrick and I are not Head of any year, because we have to look after sick students and animals in addition to our teaching tasks, so I'm going to sit at your table together with your granny," she whispered into his ear, causing Pangur to smile.

Patrick ushered everyone into the Atrium and greeted the students. "Hello everyone and welcome to the Kentucky Foundation for Children. I'd like to introduce your teachers to you, and I'll ask you to proceed to the tables of your respective year." He pointed at the table, where Minerva was standing. "This is Professor McGonagall, our Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher. She is the Head of the 1st and 10th years. All first and tenth years please head over to your table." He waited a few minutes, before the hall quietened down again, before he continued, pointing to the next table, "This is Professor Hooch, our Flying instructor and History of Magic professor. She is Head of the 2nd and 9th years." While a group of students moved in the direction, he sent the next group to the third table, introducing Professor O'Leary, the Charms teacher, who also taught Math for the younger children and Latin for the older students. The fourth and the seventh years were sent to Professor Lupin, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and the fifth and sixth year students to Professor Snape, the Potions professor. Finally, Patrick introduced Professor Pomfrey as the Herbology teacher and Healer and himself as the professor for the elective subject Magical Creatures.

"After lunch, your Head of the year will lead you to your common rooms. Now let's have something to eat first." With that Patrick ended his announcement and randomly took a seat at the second and ninth years' table between two identical looking boys, who willingly made space for him.

猫のパジャマ

Pangur, who was still sitting next to Poppy, listened with interest as the two older students introduced themselves: Nymphadora Tonks and Amelia Bones. Both of them had finished their sixth year at Hogwarts and were going to take their NEWTs at the end of the school year.

"We only have few students in upper years, because they have nearly finished their education elsewhere," Minerva explained gently.

"Well, our parents did not appreciate having to send us to a completely different school, but we managed to convince them when we pointed out that you were the Headmistress," Amelia said, smirking, and Nymphadora nodded in agreement.

The group of the first years were much larger and consisted of twenty-five students, twenty of them coming from different parts of the United States, the others from Britain. The two boys sitting next to Pangur were Eddie Carmichael and Adrian Pucey, and Pangur liked them immediately. He hesitantly told his name, blushing deeply when the girl opposite of him asked, "Pangur McGonagall? Are you related to Professor McGonagall?"

"I am her grandson," Pangur replied shyly, averting his eyes to the floor.

"Hello Pangur. I am Hermione Granger, and I only knew that I am a witch, when Professor McGonagall came and invited me here a few weeks ago. I can't wait..."

She was interrupted when the girl next to her introduced herself as Katie Bell, and the students at the other side of the table continued with the introductions. 'They all seem nice, and being together with so many other magical children will be great fun,' Pangur thought happily, standing close to Adrian and Eddie, when Minerva asked them after dinner to form to groups of three, because always three of them were going to share one bedroom. As soon as everyone was grouped, she assigned each group a room number, before she led them to the first floor, where the first and tenth years' common rooms and bedrooms were situated.

Pangur's room was the first on the right side, and he eagerly stepped inside after Eddie and Adrian, looking around with amazement. One wall was completely taken over by a huge window, leading out onto the grounds and the lake. When he stepped out onto the balcony, he could even see as far as the clinic. The three other sides of the room were each furnished with a four-poster bed and a huge wardrobe. Three large desks with comfortable looking chairs were placed in the middle of the room, and the whole room was decorated in different shades of blue. On the wall opposite of the window were two doors, one of them leading into the corridor, the other to a small bathroom.

"That's brilliant," Eddie blurted out. "Much better than everything I heard from Hogwarts."

"Not bad," Adrian agreed as he let himself sink onto the bed on the left hand side.

"I love it," Pangur said in a small voice, heading over to the last free bed to unpack his luggage, which had appeared out of nothing as soon as Eddie had chosen his part of the room.

The three boys busied themselves unpacking, until the girl with the bushy brown hair, who had talked so much earlier, stuck her head into the room. "Pangur," she began to talk right away, "do you know where the library is? I'd love to..."

She was interrupted when Minerva entered the room. "Are you finished unpacking?" she asked kindly. "I'd like to ask everyone to come into the common room for an orientation." Shooting a disapproving glance at Hermione, she left the room, and everyone hurried to follow her.

'What are these doors?' Pangur just wondered, when Minerva explained that the doors to the right of the wide corridor all led to the bedrooms, while the three doors to the left were connecting doors to her office, to the hospital room, and to the common room. The first years and the two tenth years gathered in the common room, sitting on the floor in a circle, and everyone waited for the Headmistress to begin to speak with excitement.

However, before Minerva could explain anything, Nymphadora Tonks spoke up. "Professor, is here anything like Hogsmeade nearby, where the older students can go shopping on the weekends?"

tbc...

Sorry for the delay. I updated this story in small bits and parts on Facebook and completely forgot to post the chapters here. Next update will be much faster, since I have already written on up to the end of chapter 6...