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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THE TWINS WERE DOING THEIR BEST to make the most of their year with their pranking skills and wanted to include Alice as much as possible. While Alice was always up for an adventure, she was having slight reservations about her current part in pranking Filch. The man's temper often reminded her of the Queen of Hearts or even the March Hare when he would lose it at a tea party. Fred often said that Filch lacked a sense of humour, so they were trying to prank him to the best of their abilities to get him to join in on the fun and have him realise what he was missing out on.
Alice was certain that somewhere deep down Filch did have a sense of humour, it was just far different from what Fred and George considered to be funny. And more than likely, they weren't going to get Filch to laugh if he was the constant target of their pranks.
"I'm not so sure about this," Alice confessed as she hid around a corner with the twins, " I'm all for having fun but this feels a bit much."
Suddenly, George's hand was lightly placed over her mouth to prevent her from talking any further. He motioned her to be quiet before pointing in the direction of the empty corridor. A small shadow appeared, visibly that of a feline, which could have been a number of possibilities. Ranging from Professor McGonagall in her animagus form, a student's pet, or the ever alert Mrs Norris, Filch's cat.
Fred and George appeared to automatically know that it was Mrs Norris just by her movements alone. George's hand moved away from Alice's mouth before gesturing her to follow as they tiptoed away to avoid the cat. Alice did not bring herself to follow, instead, she watched until the twins were out of sight before she went the opposite way to approach Mrs Norris.
Upon seeing the girl, Mrs Norris stopped mid-stepped and glanced up. The long hairs on her back started to slowly rise as if she was attempting to make herself appear bigger. She let out a low meow, warning Alice to keep her distance. However, rather than running off, Alice slowly lowered herself to the floor and offered her hand for Mrs Norris to sniff. She remained perfectly still and calm, not forcing her hand any further so that Mrs Norris was able to approach her on her own.
Mrs Norris appeared hesitant, eyeing Alice up and down before taking a few quick sniffs but still keeping her distance. Alice did not move and continued to keep her hand steady until the cat padded over and touched her head to the hand.
"You're a very pretty cat, you know?" Alice spoke softly as she slowly sat down on the corridor floor. "You have lovely fur."
She went to use her other hand to give Mrs Norris a small pet, but it was too sudden and soon as Mrs Norris backed away and hissed.
"Well, I'm certainly not trying to hurt you," Alice continued. "To be honest, I don't think you're as bad as everyone claims you to be. I think you're only doing what you're told. And I don't believe that you deserve to be kicked by some of the students I've seen. That's just plain cruel."
As Alice continued to speak, Mrs Norris' defence started to lift and her ears flicked in several directions in response. Finally, Alice felt the cat press its scrawny but fluffy body against her hand, this time, requesting to be petted.
