Demigods at Hogwarts

Chapter 12

Frank's POV

They were all silent for a moment and then Leo spoke, "Should we like, go look for the person who opened the door or something?"

Jason nodded, "Well we're not sure if the person is out there or in here so I think we should split up and search both sides." He started to walk over to the open painting door. "I'll go look on that side," Jason gestured towards the hallway.

Frank started walking towards the door as well, 'I'll come with." Jason smiled and the two of them walked through the door. 

"Then we'll look in here," Percy looked at Leo. "Let's all come back here in about an hour, and talk about what we found, got it?"

The other three nodded and the two pairs started heading in different directions. Jason and Frank quietly started to walk through the hallways, but there was almost no light so they could barley see a couple feet in front of them. "We're gonna get lost or run into something if we keep going like this," Jason muttered.

"I could turn into a cat so I could see better and you could just follow me, and it wouldn't be so hard because I've seen like at least a million since we've come here," Frank whispered. In a few seconds he found himself on the ground with four legs and was able to see a lot better. He meowed up at Jason and he started to follow Frank as he led him through halls looking for somebody who had opened the door. Frank hardly knew where the halls led or where the person could be so he decided to walk around randomly, which he also decided was better than not searching at all.

He thought that he was doing a good job at walking around a huge castle school, not knowing where exactly he was going, until he heard footsteps in the distance. He stopped, almost causing Jason to run into him, "What is it Frank?" He started pawing at his ear, telling him to listen. After a few seconds of Jason trying to hear the footsteps with his human ears, he looked at Frank, showing that also heard them as well.

The two of them (Frank still a cat), quietly walked towards the other person and he could hear that the other person was walking towards them. "Who's lurking around after hours? Each student should know very well that that is not aloud here." Jason and Frank quickly stepped back after realizing that it was a teacher.

Frank knew that whoever that was had heard them and would get even more suspicious if he didn't find anyone. He looked up at Jason and waved his paw, telling him to get away. Jason nodded and started to quietly walk in the other direction. As the man started to get closer, Frank saw that he had a lantern with him. He sat down and licked his paw, trying to act as much like a cat as possible. 

After the teacher got a few steps closer, Frank was able to see his face. He recognized him from the Great Hall where all of the teachers were sitting at the head of the room. He was an old man with gray hair and pale eyes, and not the happiest person you could run into. 

"Just a stupid cat, thought I'd caught another student. What a stupid job, they made me a potions master but I still have to be the caretaker, walking around the halls at night, having to teach those childish students during the day," the man mumbled. 

Frank replayed what the man had just said in his head, "...thought I'd caught another student." He realized that whoever he had caught that night could easily be the person who had opened the door to the Griffindor common room. 

The janitor/potions master guy brought the lantern closer to Frank's face, looked at his cat face, and picked him up by the neck. "Hmm, a tabby. Seen a lot of these around Hogwarts but not this one in particular. Maybe just somebody's new cat, or just never passed by you." He fished around in his pocked and brought out a small, brown, square shaped thing, "Keep treats in my pocket for sweet Mrs. Norris but giving one for this poor cat wouldn't hurt nobody, always been a cat lover for as long as I can remember." Frank wasn't sure if the man was talking to him or just talking to himself, but he brought the stale treat closer to Frank's mouth. He obviously preferred not to eat cat food, but he knew that he had to take one for the team. He needed the man to think that he was like another cat so he would quickly forget about him in a couple days, not some picky cat who wouldn't eat the gross treat he was offering him. 

He opened his mouth and put the treat in his mouth. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn't a very good treat, or probably the very opposite, it tasted horrible. It was stale and had the flavor of rotting fish and old chicken. After eating it, he looked up and tried to give a meow which almost seemed impossible because of the strong after taste still hanging around in his mouth. The guy put him in his arms and carried him through several halls and turns until they came to a door. The man opened the door and before they could even go inside, a cat walked walked through and meowed up at them. 

"Hello Mrs. Norris." the cat purred happily as Filtch got out another one of the disgusting treats and gave it to her. To his surprise, Mrs. Norris ate the stale brown square like it was a piece of chocolate while Frank prayed to the gods that he wouldn't have to eat another one of the treats.

Filtch walked into the room which looked like his office and put him on the floor. His voice changed from the somewhat happier and caring voice to the more annoyed and cranky voice that Frank had heard when he first saw him with Jason in the hallway, "Seems like I found two students lurking around in the hall, plus a cat tonight."

Frank hissed as he saw that there were two other students in the office, one in particular looked very familiar. Draco Malfoy and what looked like his big, buff (more like fat) friend sat in two chairs facing a desk piled with papers as Mrs. Norris kept an eye on them. They looked back at Frank, not knowing that he actually was person, and grunted. "How much longer do we have to sit here for, professor?" Malfoy asked. 

Filtch pointed at the students sitting in the chairs, "Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle. I would rather not have you two, filthy students in my office but it is part of my job. I will be more than happy to assign some terrific consequences to you, but for now detention for a week. I will make sure to tell you of any more consequences added on."

"What about that cat, he doesn't have to be punished?" Goyle laughed at his own joke but neither Draco nor Filtch moved their frowns. Goyle saw this and quickly shut his mouth and tried to eye Frank/cat evilly as he crossed his arms. 

"As for the cat, he will be staying here until tomorrow. I can't have animals walking around the school by themselves, along with the students." Filtch opened his door again and motioned the two to get out, "Mrs. Norris will follow you to make sure that you get back to your common room without any trouble, or causing trouble more like."

Frank didn't want to be locked inside the room for the night so he quickly ran threw the door before Malfoy or Goyle could. Filtch tried to run after him, complaining about how he was too old for that kind of stuff, but Frank had already turned into a lizard, hoping that he wouldn't be seen. Filtch looked around and then sighed, going back into the room, more upset than he was just a minute ago. "Just go back to your common rooms, I don't want to deal with you two anymore." Filtch pointed in the direction that they were supposed to go as Mrs. Norris started following them. 

Frank turned back into a cat after Filtch was back in his office and had closed the door and when he couldn't hear Malfoy and Goyle complaining about the same thing to each as they walked back into the Slytherin common room. 

Frank as a cat was able to sniff his way back to his own common room, which was still open.  When he walked inside, he saw that Jason, Percy, and Leo were sitting down. "Frank, we were waiting for you. I told Leo and Percy what happened while we were in the hall," Jason stood up and walked over to Frank who turned back into a human.

"Sorry about that, the school's care taker brought me to his office where there were a couple other students who he caught walking around the halls tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones who opened the door. Malfoy and his side kick dude, Gregory Goyle, I think," Frank explained.

"Gods, not the Malfoy guy again!" Percy groaned and leaned back on the couch.

Frank gave more details to what happened and they talked about what could happen until they were all finally sleepy and closed the portrait door and went to bed. They all knew that the next day would be the first day of classes at Hogwarts, which they needed to prepare for by  getting some sleep.