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

5 – 'Tis a merry thing to see

Minerva cast her former Hogwarts student a disapproving look, before she responded, "Luckily, there is a small magical shopping area in Lexington, which is about half an hour walk from here. All classes will take turns going there, accompanied by the Head of year and another staff member. Your and the first years' turn will be next Saturday, the second and the ninth years will go next week, and so on, so that you'll be able to visit about once a month."

A huge rumour began as the first years began to whisper with their new classmates, until Minerva instructed them to be quiet. She explained that the teachers had decided to always pair an upper class with a lower class, so that the older students could help the younger ones with their studies and other matters, while the younger students were asked to help the older students, who were busy studying for their exams, with small chores.

"Since we only have two students in the tenth years class, this will be difficult here; however, I will be here for you as well, and Professor Pomfrey, who is not a Head of year due to her double work load as Herbology professor and Healer, will take care of this class as well for some reason." Seeing that everyone looked at her in expectation, she let out a long sigh, glancing at Pangur.

"It's all right," Pangur said in a small voice, casting his guardian a hesitant smile.

"My grandson, Pangur, is magically disabled," Minerva explained slowly. "Don't misunderstand me. He is very powerful; however, he is not allowed to do much magic, because it makes him sick. He suffers from Magica Incensio, of which most of you have never heard before. Therefore, he needs Professor Pomfrey's additional supervision, and he might not be able to participate in all of your classes. If necessary, he will receive special education. He is also a year younger than everyone else here; however, since he is living here at the school anyway, my colleagues and I have decided to make him a first year now rather than wait a year. Please help him if you notice that he has problems with magic. In return, I am sure that Pangur will love to assist in case you get lost or need help in any non magical way."

"Will do," Hermione spoke up immediately. "Pangur, will you show me to the library?"

Pangur, who had averted his eyes to the floor, feeling terrified at the unwanted attention, looked up in surprise and began to smile. "Of course; I love the library, and I'm sure you'll like it, too," he said in a soft voice.

"Very well then, I suggest that you make yourselves familiar with the building and the classrooms, and I'll see you all for dinner in the Atrium. All of you will attend breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. No exceptions. Classes are going to commence tomorrow morning, and you will find your timetables on your night tables by curfew tonight. I'll be in my office in case you need me." With that Minerva released everyone, inwardly chuckling upon noticing that the whole group gathered around Pangur.

猫のパジャマ

As much as Pangur had hated the attention earlier, as much he felt relieved knowing that all of his classmates were aware of his problems, so that he wouldn't have to hide anything from everyone. 'This makes it a bit easier,' he thought, trying to suppress his anxiousness towards the beginning of classes. 'Will I be able to do any magic in classes like Transfiguration or Charms? Maybe they'll tell me that I'm not able to attend the KFC school and have to go to some Muggle school.' Very deep in thoughts, he led his classmates to the library, which was a large and very bright room on the top floor of the main building. Huge bookshelves filled the room from the floor up to the high ceiling. Here and there, the bookshelves were interspersed by small alcoves leading to the outside, which were completely surrounded by glass and had small benches, on which they could sit, giving the impression that they were suspended in the air.

"Oh Pangur, this is absolutely fascinating," Hermione blurted out, causing the boy to smile.

"That's true. I've been here quite a few times, because I really love this room. It's my favourite place," Pangur admitted, shyly smiling at the excited girl.

During the next hours, Pangur showed his classmates around the school and over the grounds as far as the animal clinic, where he happily explained everything he knew about the magical patients.

"You know a lot about animals," Amelia said in amazement. "Do you like animals?"

"I love them," Pangur admitted in a small voice. "I especially love the cats and the snakes, because I'm able to communicate with them. Unfortunately, I can't understand the other animals. I can only check on them to see what is ailing them with Professor O'Leary's help."

"You can speak with cats and snakes?" Hermione queried, giving him a sharp look. "How do you do that? I'd love to speak with the cats. I love cats, although my parents never allowed me to have one."

Pangur shrugged. "I don't know why I can speak with snakes, but I can understand the cats ever since I became a cat Animagus."

"An Animagus?" Eddie asked in disbelief. "I think you can't do magic."

"He can," Hermione replied on Pangur's behalf, "but he is not supposed to do that, because it makes him sick. Is that right, Pangur?"

"Yes," Pangur responded in a small voice, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. "Through this door, you can go outside, but we're not allowed to go there at the moment, because there is a dragon with a respiratory infection. He is breathing fire continuously, so that it's very dangerous to go near him. I think we should go back to the school, so we'll be back in time for dinner."

"Thank you, Pangur," Nymphadora, the second tenth class girl, said warmly. "This was a very interesting introduction to the school."

猫のパジャマ

When Pangur returned to his dormitory after dinner, he eagerly skimmed his timetable. "Uh... What day do we have tomorrow?" he asked hesitantly.

"Tomorrow is Tuesday," Adrian said, casting him a surprised look. "Don't you know the weekdays yet?"

"I'm sorry," Pangur said sadly, "Granny and Professor O'Leary taught me, but I forgot. I grew up with my relatives, and they didn't teach me anything."

"Don't worry, Pangur," Eddie said kindly. "Just ask us. It's not a problem. What I hate is if people pretend they know and don't ask."

"Okay, thanks," Pangur said, feeling very much consoled by his roommates' words. 'My classmates are really nice,' he thought, 'even the tenth years, although they're girls.' He once again engrossed himself in the timetable, noticing that they had Potions and Maths on Tuesday mornings, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration in the afternoon. 'Oh, that's going to be a long day, but at least we only have to use magic during the last afternoon class.'

猫のパジャマ

The first years were very intimidated when the Potions Master strode into the Potions classroom at the beginning of their first morning class, causing Pangur to inwardly chuckle. 'I wonder why he tries to scare everyone, although he is so nice if one knows him better,' he mused, eagerly following the professor's words. He held a monologue about the necessity of being careful when brewing, before he made a recipe appear on the board in front of the classroom and showed them how to prepare the ingredients and brew the potion from the recipe. Pangur enjoyed himself greatly and was honestly disappointed when the class was over and the professor dismissed them with the instruction to read the first chapter in their book.

Math class passed equally pleasantly. Professor Medusa O'Leary made them take a quiz in order to get to know each of the student's level, and Pangur felt extremely happy, since for the first time in his life, he could answer all the questions without having to fear Dudley's wrath if he received better results than him. 'This is too cool,' he thought, smiling at Hermione, who was sitting next to him and apparently enjoying herself as well.

In Herbology, Professor Pomfrey gave them a tour through the greenhouse and showed them the plants, which the first years would deal with during the first weeks. However, as much as Pangur enjoyed all his classes, the Care of Magical Creatures class with Patrick was the best, even if he found the flubberworms, which they were assigned to raise during the following two weeks, extremely disgusting. However, as soon as the class ended, he slowly began to panic.

"Pangur, are you going to attend Transfiguration together with us?" Hermione asked carefully as they headed towards the Transfiguration classroom, noticing that he seemed somehow different from how he had been the whole day.

"Yes," Pangur replied, letting out a long sigh, before he continued in a small voice, "but I'm not sure how much magic I can do, and the adults don't know either. We just have to try it out, so I'm told to try every spell just once or twice at the most."

"Oh well, don't worry about it. Your grandmother knows that and won't expect that you manage everything after the first try," Hermione said soothingly.

"Maybe you can ask them if you may have another go later on in the common room or in the dormitory," Adrian suggested.

"Where are we supposed to practise for our classes anyway?" Ernie asked, glancing at Pangur. "Or do they expect us to be able to do everything correctly just after practising in class?"

"As far as I know, we can practise in the common room," Pangur said slowly, "which is another reason why they pair the classes with older students, so that the older students can help or watch that the younger ones don't kill each other as Professor Snape said. I'll have to ask Madam Pomfrey if I may practise again later on. I'm supposed to go and see her after the last afternoon class anyway."

By the time they entered the Transfiguration classroom, Pangur was not panicking anymore; instead, he felt very happy at the thought of having gained three friends, and seeing Minerva sit on top of her desk in her feline form, purring at him helped as well to fight his anxiousness. After a short introduction into her subject, Minerva handed out white parchments and taught the children a spell to transfigure these into red ones.

"This is fairly easy," she explained gently. "The more power you put into the spell, the more colourful the parchment will become."

Pangur spent the first few minutes observing his classmates' efforts, which remained unfruitful at first. Only after ten minutes of practising, a light pink parchment was lying on Hermione's desk.

"Very well done, Ms. Granger. Now try to implement a bit more magic," Minerva gently commented the girl, looking questioningly at Pangur.

Pangur nodded and pointed his wand, which he had already used to practise the wand movement, without really casting the spell by applying magic, at the parchment, uttering the incantation. To his surprise, the parchment immediately turned into a light red tone.

"That was well done, Mr. McGonagall, although you should try to put less magic into your spells," Minerva advised him in a soft voice.

'Yeah, probably,' Pangur thought, noticing that he felt very tired. He slid his wand back into his robe pocket and proceeded to watch his classmates' practice. Only a hand full of them managed to perform the spell at all, and only Ernie's magic was strong enough to transfigure the parchment into a red and not a pink one.

Pangur was torn between relief and embarrassment, when Hermione, Ernie and Adrian insisted to accompany him to Professor Pomfrey's office after the Transfiguration class. The Healer quickly waved her wand over him and gave him a sharp look, before she asked him a few questions and finally instructed him to try using less magic the next time. "Go to bed early tonight and don't do any more magic before your afternoon classes tomorrow," she advised him, before she dismissed the children, happy that Pangur had already found friends.

The following days passed in a similar way. Apart from the fact that he was not allowed to properly practise during his Transfiguration and Charms classes, Pangur thoroughly enjoyed himself. The teachers decided to completely exempt him from Defence for the time being, and instead, Patrick gave him additional classes in Care of Magical Creatures and Animal Healing.

猫のパジャマ

On Friday evening, the first and the tenth years were equally excited, knowing that they were going to have their first day out in town in the morning. Right before curfew, Minerva gave out their pocket money, since the students were not allowed to keep money whilst being at the school, and the first years wondered what they would be able to buy with their money, listening to the tenth years, who told them about their Hogsmeade visits, with amazement.

Patrick O'Leary accompanied the group, together with Minerva and Poppy. They left the school through the main entrance, turned right, and a few metres ahead was a small, green gate. "You must go through the gate. It'll take us right outside Lexington," Patrick explained, causing Pangur to wonder why he had not noticed the gate before. As if he was able to read his thoughts, Patrick added, "The gate is only visible if we conjure it before leaving the house."

One after the other, the group headed through the gate. When Pangur hesitantly followed Hermione, he suddenly found himself at a completely different place. The school building and the forest that surrounded it were gone. Instead there were houses, streets, and lots of cars. 'This must be Lexington,' he realised. Looking back, he saw the same green gate right next to the street. 'Won't other people go through the gate?' he wondered, glad when Hermione voiced the same question.

"Muggles won't be able to see the gate," Patrick explained patiently, "and it is a so-called return gate. You can only enter from this side after travelling from the school to here first."

After thirty minutes of walking through the streets, the adults motioned for the group to stop. Pangur looked around with interest. There was a gate beside the road in a green area in the middle of the city, which looked like an access gate used by workmen to maintain the park.

"This is the access portal to the magical downtown area of the city," Patrick informed the group. "The main street has the form of a circle, in between you'll find a few small side streets. In case you need one of us, you'll find at least two of us on the main street. We'll meet here again in three hours' time to have lunch together. If anyone is as much as a minute late, he or she will be suspended from the next Lexington visit."

Pangur looked at the vet in surprise. Never before had he heard the man speak in such a strict voice. He resolved to never ever get on his bad side. While the two tenth years and some of the first years headed away as soon as they had stepped through the portal, the majority of the group, including Pangur and his friend, stayed with the adults. Minerva looked at her students and smiled. "Of course you may remain with us if you wish. Being used to the Hogwarts first years being eleven, I did not consider that most of you are only eight years old and not used to exploring the town on their own. This shopping area, however, is quite small, and in contrary to, for example, Diagon Alley I'd deem it safe for you."

"I'd feel safer together with the adults," Hermione whispered to Pangur, who nodded his agreement, looking around with interest.

He had been to Diagon Alley, before they moved to America, and even if this street looked very similar, there were shops, which he could not recall having seen at Diagon Alley. 'The Hoopitch Shop,' one of the signs over a very old looking shop said, causing Hermione to turn to the adults.

"Excuse me, Professors, but what is Hoopitch?"

While listening to Medusa's explanation about the basketball game that was played on brooms, Pangur's gaze fell on a much larger shop that was decorated with... "A horse?" he asked in disbelief.

"That is not a horse, Pangur, but a hippovol," Medusa gently corrected him. "It is very similar to the normal Muggle horse, but it is a magical horse that is able to fly."

"But it doesn't have wings," Hermione observed.

"It has," Patrick disagreed. "However, the hippovol is able to pull in its wings and pull them out if necessary, just like a cat pulls in and out its claws."

"Is it possible to ride on there?" Hermione queried, looking at the hippovol with a mixture of interest and fear.

"Yes, it is the main sport of the wizarding community here around Lexington, while the mostly played sport in Kentucky is Hoopitch," Patrick explained patiently.

"Are we going to do any magical sports at the KFC?" Adrian asked with interest. "I heard so much about Quidditch being played at Hogwarts, and it sounds like great fun."

"We will at least play Quidditch and Hoopitch at the KFC School," Minerva replied, smiling at her eager students. "We just wanted to give everyone a little time to adjust to the new surroundings, before your Sports class Professor Hooch will commence."

"Maybe we should consider buying at least one hippovol," Patrick said thoughtfully, glancing at Pangur. "Riding on a hippovol involves magic, but not as much as the riding on a broom."

Pangur jumped aside in shock when all of a sudden something dark and huge swept down from the sky, nearly crashing into Hermione and him.

tbc...

Thank you so much for your kind comments!