The Cat Who Liked A Downy Friend

Kiki was sitting in The Elephant cafe in the High Street, having a cup of white coffee and a Swiss roll and thinking on the mystery package. She was very annoyed that the sender tricked her so, that the address they sent her to turned out to be a deserted house. She got her money, granted, but still it was weird.

Then a man came in. He was short and slender, with olive skin, black curly hair and black eyes, in red silk robes. A cat was snuggling up to his neck - a little slender gold-red tom with leopard spots, large ears, tasseled tail, large emerald eyes and long whiskers.

The people in the cafe looked inquisitively at the man, but he took no notice of this and strode confidently to the bar.

'A cappuccino and a croissant, please,' the man said in English with a slight French accent.

The barmaid gave him a croissant and poured for him a cup of coffee with a white cloudlet of cream. The man took both and headed across the room. He looked around as he walked, and then he set his eyes on Kiki. He headed to her table.

'May I sit here?' the man asked.

'Of course,' Kiki said.

The man settled down in an empty chair at her table. His cat immediately leapt from his shoulder into his lap. He smiled and petted the cat.

The cat purred, and the man started to nibble on the croissant, sipping the coffee.

Kiki was curious.

'Are you a witch?' she asked.

'A wizard.' The man smiled

'Oh yes, I remember.' Kiki blushed.

The man smiled.

'I'm Blaise Zabini, and this is Macavity.'

'I'm Kiki and this is Jiji.'

Blaise looked at the little, slender black tom cat with pale blue eyes.

'You're a beauty, Jiji.'

'He's a real Siamese.' Kiki smiled.

'I see.' Blaise smiled.

'Your cat's very strange,' Kiki said.

'He's a Kneazle,' Blaise answered.

'So, what brings you here?' Kiki asked.

'I'm on a holiday, traveling,' Blaise said.

'And what is your specialty?'

'Oh, I'm a Veterinary Healer and teacher,' Blaise said.

'And where do you teach?' Kiki asked.

'At Hogwarts,' Blaise said.

'But you don't look English,' Kiki said.

'I was born in France,' Blaise said. 'My family came to England when I was nine.'

'Oh, that explains it,' Kiki said.

'And what do you do yourself?' Blaise asked.

'Delivery Service,' Kiki said. 'Flying is what I can do best. And my mother is a potion-maker like you.'

'What a coincidence!' Blaise said.

At this point Macavity reached for the croissant. Blaise smiled, broke off a piece of croissant, put it on his palm and extended it to Macavity. The cat nibbled the croissant off Blaise's hand.

Kiki smiled.

'How do you like our city?' she asked.

'Very much,' Blaise said. 'It reminds me of Karlovy Vary. A nice little ancient town.'

'It is,' Kiki said.

'And where do you live?' Blaise asked.

'With Mrs. Osono of the bakery,' Kiki said. 'And you?'

'The Black Horse Hotel ,' Blaise said.

'Oh, THAT one,' Kiki said.

Blaise hemmed and asked:

'And how goes it ?'

'Rather well,' Kiki said.

'But something ails you, I see,' Blaise said.

'Oh, it's that package,' Kiki said. 'The destination turned to be a deserted house, all boarded up.'

'All boarded up, you say?' Blaise raised one eyebrow.

'Yes,' Kiki said. '15 Wisteria Street. I flew to there and saw it was an empty house. I put the package on the threshold and retired, but I was VERY surprised.'

'H'm! It would be a very silly trick to make,' Blaise said. 'I think something is going on there.'

'Really?' Kiki said.

'Yes. You see, I feel such things. I've helped police many times,' Blaise said.

Kiki stared at him.

'I think we must stroll there and take a look,' Blaise said.

'All right,' Kiki said. 'I'll take my broom.'

'Er,' Blaise said. 'The matter is, I'm afraid of flying.'

'You?' Kiki said.

'Yes,' Blaise said. 'I'm VERY afraid of flying, and I prefer to travel by land.'

'Well, we'll walk, then.' Kiki smiled.

'Excellent,' Blaise said.

Macavity leapt to Blaise's shoulder. Blaise rose, and so did Kiki. They left the cafe. People in the streets turned to look at them, but Blaise walked nonchalantly. Kiki was impressed. They meandered through the maze of the narrow, winding streets of Koriko.

In one old street they met a boy - brown-haired, in glasses, riding a bicycle with a propeller near the handle-bar. The boy slowed down, looked at Blaise curiously and said, 'Hello, Kiki!'

'Hello, Tombo!' Kiki said. 'This is Professor Blaise Zabini, he teaches in the Hogwarts School, in England. Professor Zabini, this is a friend of mine, Tombo Kopori.'

'Good afternoon, Mr. Kopori.' Blaise smiled.

'Good afternoon, Professor Zabini,' Tombo said.

'I met Kiki in The Elephantcafe in the High Street,' Blaise said. 'We got into a conversation, and Kiki told me about her business and about a strange delivery she made recently - the destination turned out to be a deserted house. She's worried, and I am curious and willing to help, so we are going to the place, Number 15 Wisteria Street, to find out what's going on there.'

'And why aren't you flying there?' Tombo asked.

'Well, because I'm afraid of height.' Blaise smiled.

'I've never heard of a witch who was afraid of flying,' Tombo said.

'Well, some are.' Blaise smiled. 'A school friend of mine, for example. She was the smartest witch in her year, knew answers to every question and corrected teachers, even, for which our Potions master, Severus Snape, a very grumpy man, really hated her. But she was always very afraid of flying. Flying is a talent, you know, and not everyone is blessed with it. I am not.'

'I didn't know that,' Kiki said.

'Well, now you do.' Blaise smiled. 'A very remarkable bicycle you have here, Mr. Kopori.'

'Tombo's keen on aeronautics,' Kiki said. 'You should see how excited he was when the great dirigible, The Spirit of Freedom, was in our town!'

'Oh yes, The Spirit of Freedom,' Blaise said. 'I'd be excited too, a land person that I am.'

'Tombo and I fly together sometimes,' Kiki said.

'I imagine.' Blaise smiled.

'What a strange cat,' Tombo said.

'He's a Kneazle,' Blaise said. 'They are a very special cat breed, very clever and independent and with a flair for suspicious persons and things. I think he'll be of great help to us when we get to that house in the Wisteria Street.'

'Really?' Tombo said.

'Yes,' Blaise said. 'He's untangled mysteries before. His name is Macavity.'

'Macavity...' Tombo said. 'A funny name.'

Blaise smiled.

'Yes, it's from a humorous poem.'

'You may look in the basement,

You may look up in the air,

But I tell you once and once again -

MACAVITY'S NOT THERE!'

Tombo smiled.

Some time later they saw a little street, and Blaise saw at once that they arrived, for the little houses in the street were hardly discernible behind huge bushes of wisteria with their large pendulous clusters of white , pink, lilac-blue, bluish-purple and purple flowers, lush green pinnate leaves and twining branches. Blaise stopped.

'Wisteria Street, isn't it?' He smiled.

'Yes,' Kiki said.

'It's not hard to guess.' Blaise smiled. 'How beautiful!'

'Yes. I LIKE it,' Kiki said.

'Well, where's your mysterious deserted house?' Blaise smiled.

'A little further,' Kiki said.

They walked along the street, and then Kiki stopped dumbfounded.

'But it's...!' she blurted out.

'Not a deserted house at all,' Blaise finished, looking at the cute house that bore the number fifteen and looked quite inhabited.

'What's this!?' Kiki said.

'Let's go and see,' Blaise said resolutely. 'You delivered the parcel, after all, you have to make sure that it got to the addressee, don't you?'

And he strode towards the Number 15.

He rang the bell. Hasty footsteps sounded, and a man opened the door. He was young, with dark eyes and hair, and very small, shorter than Blaise, but very handsome and charming. He was wearing a black dressing gown with silver phoenixes all over it.

'Good afternoon, what's the matter?' the young man said nervously.

'This young lady runs the delivery service and just recently she was asked to deliver a parcel to this house and found it deserted when she arrived. She left the parcel on the threshold, but naturally she was very worried and came to look if the package got to its addressee,' Blaise said. 'And we are friends of hers.'

'Oh,' the young man said. 'I am very sorry. I live here quite long.'

'This is very strange,' Blaise said.

'Please come in and have tea for your worries,' the young man said.

'Thank you, we shall,' Blaise said.

'I'm Hakuzo Kurogin,' the young man said.

'Professor Blaise Zabini,' Blaise answered. 'And these are Miss Kiki and Mr. Tombo Kopori.

Kurogin bowed.

'You can leave your bicycle at the door, Mr. Kopori.'

'Thank you,' Tombo said, and did so.

Blaise, Kiki, Tombo and Kurogin went into the house, to a nice room with Japanese and Chinese scroll paintings on the walls and Chinese vases and mats on the floor and Chinese rosewood table and armchairs.

'Sit down, please,' Kurogin said.

Blaise, Kiki and Tombo sat down. Macavity curled up in Blaise's lap.

'What a nice room!' Blaise said.

Some time later Kurogin returned, carrying a lacquer tray with a teapot and four cups of fine white porcelain. He put it on the table and sat down himself.

'You've got a very good taste, Mr. Kurogin,' Blaise said.

'Thank you.' Kurogin smiled.

'What do you do?' Blaise asked.

'Oh, I'm a scholar,' Kurogin said.

He reached to pet Macavity. To Blaise's surprise, Macavity first snarled, and then suddenly purred and held his back out for Kurogin to pet.

'I like cats.' Kurogin smiled. 'How fortunate that it isn't dogs that witches keep. I'm afraid of dogs - I'm such a little person!'

'In fact, where I am from, witches and wizards keep all sorts of pets, dogs too.' Blaise smiled. 'But I'm a cat person.'

Kurogin smiled.

'So, Mr. Kurogin, did you get the package?' Blaise asked.

'Yes, thank you.' Kurogin smiled. 'It was a present from my Great-Aunt Kuzu-no-Ha, a nice little paperweight of green jade.'

'Very good,' Blaise said. 'I'm glad. And you didn't see anything unusual lately?'

'No.' Kurogin smiled.

They had tea and talked. Kurogin was a very scholarly young man with very good manners. Some time later Blaise said:

'Well, we must take leave of you now, Mr. Kurogin. Thank you for the tea.'

'Not at all.' Kurogin smiled.

Kiki's face fell.

'Oh, and Mr. Kurogin, you know, no one is going to blame you for the thing you did,' Blaise said. 'It was only a harmless joke, after all. Don't be afraid, show your first form. I like your kind, and I'm sure so do Miss Kiki and Mr. Kopori.'

Kurogin smiled, his outlines blurred...and the next moment Kiki, Tombo and Blaise saw a little silver fox with dark intelligent eyes!

Kiki and Tombo gaped. Then the fox's outlines blurred, and they saw the young man again.

'Kitsune!'Kiki exclaimed.

'Yes, I am a werefox.' Kurogin smiled. 'I like to play a trick sometimes, to create an illusion, and so I did then. Tricks are in my nature, you know. How did you guess, Professor Zabini?'

'Well, you are so small, shorter than me, but so charming and clever, and afraid of dogs.' Blaise smiled. 'And your name.. Your surname means Silver-Black, does it not? And your first name is that of a famous kitsune scholar.

'He's one of my ancestors.' Kurogin smiled.

'Well, I'm sure I don't mind, Mr. Kurogin,' Kiki said, dizzy.

'I'm glad you don't.' Kurogin smiled.

'And now we really must leave,' Blaise said. 'Good evening, Mr Kurogin.'

'Good evening, Professor Zabini.' The fox scholar smiled.

Blaise bowed, and then he, Tombo and Kiki left.

'Cool!' Tombo said when they were outside.

'Yes, it is.' Blaise smiled.