Blaise Zabini and the Magical Cat

Balkis woke up some time in the morning. The Gryffindor Common Room was empty. She washed herself with her tongue, leapt from the chair, went to the door, transformed into her human form, pushed the door, went out and turned herself into a cat again. The Fat Lady stared at her, and Balkis went to explore the Hogwarts Castle. She passed the Library, the Hospital Wing, and went further. She saw that the suits of armor along the walls indeed moved, and the people in the portraits, wearing strange clothes, indeed moved and talked to each other. She saw a spiral staircase. She didn't go there. She went past a door, through which a dull drone sounded, talking something about Goblin Rebellions. It was a History of Magic lesson, Balkis assumed. Lord, how boring the man was! The students must be asleep throughout the lecture. Then she passed a door through which was heard a pleasant male voice, talking with emphasis of mountain trolls. This must be a Defense against the Dark Arts lesson, Balkis thought. She must meet this Professor Lupin; he had to be a charming person. Then she saw a fork - another passage to the left opened before her. She went there and heard from the right some man explaining about 'Muggles' and their society. The Muggle Studies, she thought, whoever the Muggles were. She reminded herself to ask Blaise about them. Then she saw a few staircases and a door, behind which there was silence. She came to a fork again. A passage with windows in its farther wall led to the left and to the right. Balkis went to the left and came to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Balkis turned back and went along the passage, by the fork. She passed a door behind which a man was talking about Younger Runes. Blaise may be there, Balkis thought, but I won't hinder him. She walked a little further and saw a portrait of a wizard in blue robes and tall pointed hat in the corner. Someone's common room, she thought, and went around the corner. She passed several doors, behind one of which thin voices were heard. Whoever was this? The voices were too thin even for the students. Then she saw another portrait in a corner - a beautiful red-haired witch in yellow robes. Balkis rounded the corner and saw an open door. She went in and found herself in a room filled for some cause by piles of chamber pots. In one corner of this room was an arched tall mirror with legs in the shape of a lion's paws and some mysterious words on its frame. Balkis sat before the mirror, wanting to see how she was looking, but what she saw was her, Balkis in her human form and not a cat, locked in Blaise's arms. She took fright and ran away, out of the room. She went to one of the staircases and descended it. She found herself in still another passage. She walked to a door behind which a thin old male voice was explaining about a Levitating Charm. A Charms lesson, Balkis thought. She passed other doors, the rooms behind which were empty, judging by the complete silence in there, a door behind which owl hooting was heard, the place where students and teachers kept their owls, she thought, then an open door to a room full of cupboards with silver cups, and another open door to a room full of armor, swords, shields, daggers, longbows and crossbows, the Armory, she thought. She went to a staircase, which she saw earlier and descended to the second floor. There were more oak doors, behind which silence reigned, and a door behind which a female voice explained the symbolical meaning of numbers. This was an Arithmancy lesson, Balkis thought and descended one floor more. She found herself in an enormous entrance hall with lots of portraits, oak-paneled walls and a magnificent luster hanging from the ceiling. To the left, there was an open double door, and behind it was a still greater hall. This must be the Great Hall of the castle, Balkis thought and slid in. The Great Hall was so large that Balkis was overawed. It had a high vaulted ceiling, oak-paneled walls with what seemed thousands of portraits, an enormous fireplace in the middle of the left long wall, four very long tables which Balkis assumed were for the four Houses, and one less long table at the further end of the hall, on a dais, this, Balkis thought, was the teachers' table, and when she looked up, she saw what seemed to be the blue clear sky, but Blaise warned her, and she knew there were many floors above, but she was fascinated by the magic. The hall had a double door to a lawn outside and other doors on the same side as the first door. She passed empty rooms, and one behind which an austere female voice scolded a boy for transfiguring a mouse into a spider instead of a guinea pig and scaring a Mr. Weasley. Balkis was surprised - Weasley wasn't a common name, and she would never think Ron was afraid of spiders. But eventually, he was. She returned to the Entrance Hall, from which a staircase went down. She descended this staircase and found herself in low-vaulted, dark, damp dungeons. She passed a couple of closed doors, one behind which a deep, sharp male voice was explaining about the ingredients and the effect of a Polyjuice Potion. It was a Potions lesson, and Professor Snape, Balkis thought. Yes, the man sounded very unpleasant, and she had no wish whatsoever to make acquaintance with him. Then she saw a portrait on the left wall - a tall, lean, pale wizard with black hair and black eyes, wearing dark-green robes and a haughty scowl. No way am I telling him any passwords, Balkis thought, I have no wish whatsoever to go within, and I am glad I'm not a Slytherin student. Balkis returned to the staircase, ascended to the first floor and went out of the front door between two suits of armor, to the front lawn. To the right of her, at the foot of the rocks on which the castle stood, she saw a very big lake, stretching far beyond the horizon, to the left, far away - a great wood. This must be the Forbidden Forest, she thought. She went in that direction - she wanted to meet that Rubeus Hagrid and his pets. She walked along the castle, as she saw the sun setting in the front of her. She marked a path leading to the east, and she followed it, down the cliffs covered by grass and shrubbery, on top of which the Hogwarts castle stood, a magnificent gray bulk of a building, with towers and crenellations and pitched roofs, much bigger than the royal castle at Bordestang, the capital of Merovence. What must the castle of the king of this country be like then? Balkis thought. She followed the path, the lit windows of Hogwarts to her right, myriad of them, a building of very strange appearance behind her. At length she descended the rocks and followed the path among grass and trees. The forest was nearer and nearer, and she heard a bloodcurdling howl coming out of it. No, she wasn't going there, she thought. Blaise must have known what he was speaking. But surely, the creatures didn't venture out of the wood, or the entire place would be very dangerous to live in, and they wouldn't have a school in such a place. Thinking so, Balkis saw at a distance, on the fringe of the wood a hut, a shed, and a vegetable garden, well, more of a pumpkin patch. Balkis hastened there. She came up to the house, approached the door with two windows on both sides of it and a rain barrel under the left one. Balkis asked from outside:

'May I come in, please?'

'Who are yeh?' a very loud male voice asked.

'Balkiss, Blaise Zabini'ss new cat. Blaise told me you arre a good perrsson,' Balkis said. 'Ssaid to me not to be afrraid of you. You arre Rrubeuss Hagrrid, arren't you?'

'Aye, I am,' the man answered. 'Well, come in.'

The door opened, and a very tall and strong man with long dense hair and beard, in a coarse woollen jacket, yellow woollen shirt wide brown trousers and high black boots appeared in the doorway. Balkis slid in quickly, and Hagrid closed the door. Balkis saw a scrubbed wooden table with several wooden seats, a fireplace in the far left corner, a huge bed covered with a quilt in far right corner, a chest of drawers by the bed, along the left wall, a huge basket in the near left corner and some cupboards in the near right corner. In the fireplace, the fire was burning, and a large boarhound sat near the door. The dog barked as it saw Balkis, but Hagrid said to the boarhound:

'Bi samhach, Fang! Sguir dheth!'

The dog stopped barking at once. Balkis went to one of the seats and leapt on it. Hagrid sat on another.

'What language was it, Hagrrid?' Balkis asked.

'Gaelic,' Hagrid said. 'I'm from around here.'

'And what does it mean?' Balkis asked.

'Be quiet, Fang! Stop that!' Hagrid said.

'I will rrememberr it,' Balkis said.

'Yeh are an unusual cat, yeh are,' Hagrid said. 'I didn' know Blaise has anither cat.'

'Blaise adopted me yessterrday evening,' Balkis answered. 'He is verry kind to me.'

'Aye, that our Blaise is, kind to the beasts and birds always,' Hagrid said.

'I gatherred thiss,' Balkis said. Morrtie ssaid Blaise is apt to pick up everry sstrray that comess hiss way. He was teasing, of courrsse, I gatherred, but sstill.'

'Aye, indeed.' Hagrid smiled. 'So is our Blaise.'

'He is verry unhappy in that House of Sslytherrin,' Balkis said. 'Those dungeonss, I ssaw them only oncce mysself and do not want to rreturrn therre anymorre, and thiss horrrrible placce is full of awful perrssonss, as I underrsstand Blaise'ss cat to ssay.'

'Aye, that it is,' Hagrid said. 'The worst people in all the school are in that House. There are exceptions, o' course, as our Blaise.'

'Sso he passssess all hiss frree time with the Grryffindorrss and in the Grryfindorr Towerr,' Balkis said. 'They arre nicce'.

'So they are,' Hagrid said. 'The best House, is Gryffindor. Been a Gryffindor myself.'

'I can guessss,' Balkis said.

'But I've been awfully inhospitable, I have,' Hagrid said. 'Pour some milk fer yeh?'

'Yess, thank you, Hagrrid,' Balkis said.

Hagrid rose, went to a cupboard, opened it, took out of it a jar with milk and a saucer, poured some milk into the saucer, put the saucer onto the table and the jar back into the cupboard. Balkis leapt on the table and lapped the milk out of the saucer. Having finished, she said:

'Thank you, good Hagrrid.'

'Yeh surely are a nice cat,' Hagrid said. 'How do yeh like the castle, lil' one?'

'It is verry beautiful, and all thiss magic's wonderrful,' Balkis said. 'I'm glad I'm herre.'

'Yeh surely may be,' Hagrid said.

'Tell me, Hagrrid, what is thiss sstrrange building wesst of the casstle?'

'That? That is the Quidditch pitch,' Hagrid said.

'Ah, the Quidditch pitch,' Balkis said. 'Blaise told me therre is thiss grreat game between Sslytherrin and Grryffindorr tomorrrrow. I will ssit on hiss lap and look at the game.'

'Aye, I too will be there, with all the teachers,' Hagrid said. 'Hope the Gryffindors will beat those Slytherins properly.'

'I too,' Balkis said. 'I like the Grryffindorrss. Pity I can't play. I played chessss with Rron.'

'Did yeh? O' course, yeh don' need to move the pieces with yer hand in the wizard chess. An' how did it go? He checkmated yeh?'

'I checkmated him,' Balkis answered proudly.

'Did yeh? Yeh sure are an unusual cat,' Hagrid said. 'To checkmate our Ron - well, now!'

'If I wasn't a cat, I'd blush,' Balkis said.

'Well, well!' Hagrid chuckled.

'Blaise told me you had a winged ssnake, glitterring as rrainbow, and an alkonosst bird,' Balkis said. 'May I look?'

'Well, Alcy is in the woods somewhere - no beas' can harm her. Maybe you will hear her sing. As fer Bobbie, he's in the shed over there,' Hagrid said. 'Yeh can look.'

'Thank you,' Balkis said and sprang to the floor. Hagrid rose and opened a back door for her. She slid out of the door, and ran along the pumpkin patch to the shed. There she saw a magnificent winged snake, whose scales sparkled with all the colors, like mother-of-pearl. The snake lapped milk from a saucer. When the snake saw Balkis, it hissed. Balkis took a fright and ran away. She darted into the open door of the hut.

'Hagrrid, yourr ssnake hissssed at me!' she complained. Hagrid smiled:

'Mos' likely, he was asking who yeh are. Harry or Blaise wad translate his words ter yeh. They can speak Parseltongue.'

'Parrsseltongue?' Balkis asked.

'The snake language. Wizards who can speak it are called Parselmouths. They are very rare. I know of four - Salazar Slytherin, as founded the Slytherin House, Yeh-Know-Who, Harry an' Blaise,' Hagrid said.

'Three of them Slytherrinss,' Balkis said.

'The Slytherins have a way with snakes,' Hagrid explained. 'Salazar, he loved them.'

'Blaise has a ssnake, he ssaid, though I have not met it yet,' Balkis said.

'Oh, Evening Star? He is a harmless creature. Some bastards wanted to have the jewel his kind all have in their heads an' live thousand years because of it being in their heads. The bastards wanted to live thousand years too. Well, the lil' one has wings, an' he escaped from them. Blaise found him, cured him from the wound on his head an' adopted him, so he says, an' I believe him, fer our Blaise knows all about animals an' how to cure them, even without my lessons. He has a passion fer animals, our Blaise does. Wants ter be a veterinary wizard when he finishes school.' Hagrid said. 'Good sor', he is.'

'Yess,' Balkis said. 'Sso he wants to curre animalss? He ssaid he was a lot better at Potionss that at Charrmss. Herrbology, too.'

'Aye, yeh are in good hands, lil' cat,' Hagrid said.

'I know I am,' Balkis said. 'Now excuse me, I want to go and look at the Quidditch pitch.'

'Sure,' Hagrid said. 'It is very good, it is.'

Balkis sprang off the table to the seat, from the seat to the floor, and slid through the door.

'A nice lil' cat,' Hagrid said. 'A fine one'.

Balkis walked to the Quidditch pitch, explored it, marveling at the stands of four colors - blue, red, yellow and green - the goals - three large rings on posts on the each end of the oval building, and the huge score-board. Then she went back to the castle, thinking that her friends must be free by now, if last day was usual. She found the kitchen and ate boiled liver with oatmeal. Then she returned by the great staircase. She met students and teachers, cats and dogs. A tall, thin man with brown hair touched with gray looking very feeble, saw her and said affectionately:

'What a beautiful cat! Abyssinian, no less. Whose are you, little cat?'

He squatted and stroked her. She purred and held her head for him to stroke, for she recognized the voice. It was Professor Remus Lupin.

'Well, I have to go, little cat,' Professor Lupin said. 'See you later, sometime.'

Professor Lupin went his way, and Balkis her way. Balkis reached the Gryffindor Tower and said 'Occamy' to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung aside, and Balkis came in. Sure enough, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mortie, Blaise and Maloney were there, writing at the tables and looking into their books.