In 1865, a young girl by the name of Alice Liddell went missing from outside of her home in Oxford, England. Left in the care of her older sister, Margaret, no one could understand how the seven-year-old had disappeared so suddenly. Yet, after multi...
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─── ALICE FOUND IT HARD TO IGNORE THE STARES OF DISBELIEF on the faces of the adults that were meant to be mentors to her. The professors that surrounded her since her return from the Forbidden Forest all held similar expressions, most of them a mixture of bewilderment and doubt as Alice tried to explain. They were all waiting in one of the empty classrooms for Dumbledore's arrival. Meanwhile, Alice found herself in the centre of judgement as she held the Cheshire Cat in her arms. When Dumbledore finally arrived, he carried himself differently, a smile on his face and aloofness in the air. He glanced over in the direction of Alice and Cheshire as Professor McGonagall attempted to explain what Alice had told them.
After a few minutes of the adults whispering privately among each other, Alice and Cheshire looked over in the direction of each other before Professor Dumbledore finally came to his own conclusion to speak with Alice for himself.
"Ms Liddell, are you claiming that this creature is also from Wonderland?" he asked, the humour in his gaze, matched the smile on his lips, while no one behind him seemed to share the same feelings.
With a slow nod, Alice swallowed before she answered. "Yes, Sir," she said, " he is the Cheshire Cat, but I've always just called him Cheshire."
There was a sudden scoff from the back as one of the professors spoke in a loud enough whisper for all to hear. "It looks like a regular cat to me."
Not willing to bend to that sort of nonsense, Alice firmly planted her feet in place, preparing to speak as if she were going to talk down to the Queen of Hearts herself. She wasn't sure who had spoken, but she made sure to speak loud enough to address them from wherever they were hiding amongst the crowd.
"I assure you that Cheshire is far from normal, let alone anything to be considered a regular cat."
Fred and George had been present in the classroom as well, but since they were not the ones holding Cheshire, many of the adults had taken to ignoring their presence. However, as Alice attempted to defend herself and Cheshire, it was George who decided to chime in his own confirmation as he continued to hold Mr Rabbit in his arms.
"Yes, it's far from normal," George said before Mr Rabbit nudged him to remain silent, after all, he had full confidence that Alice would be able to handle the situation all on her own. However, it turned out to be Professor Snape that had been the one to question the validity of the situation as he stepped forward and approached Alice. She quickly took a step back as Cheshire tilted his head to the side in a curious manner.
"Caterpillar!" Cheshire cried out with a laugh. "I thought you had turned into a butterfly, old friend."
Immediately, all surrounding silence had been broken as Professor Snape stood with a disturbed look, while his colleagues discussed what Cheshire had said. They didn't know whether to question the fact that the cat was obviously talking and laughing or to question as to why it had called Severus a caterpillar that was supposed to be a butterfly. But Alice took the advantage to approach Professor Snape in that moment, the one that had voiced his doubts.
