The Philosopher's Stone (A Harry Potter Rewrite)

CAT ON THE WATCH

On the morning of 25th July, a tabby cat was seen making It's way down a dusty side lane of downtown Southampton towards the Parker Children's House. Upon reaching the doorway it did a careful inspection of her surrounding and the sign board stating the identity of the place. Then it trotted around the corner, jumped up on a windowsill and peered inside.

A sizeable room met the eyes. Dawn had just shown its face and the room was full of shadows. Opposite to the window stood two large cabinets taking up almost the entire wall. Atop one of them stood a picture of an old lady with a kind face. She was smiling brightly at the camera, her eyes crinkling at the corners. Beside it stood another picture of about 13 children, all of whom were currently asleep on the floor.
Suddenly a loud gong resounded through the house. The room was instantly filled with ruffling of blankets, muffled moans and stiffled yawns.

"Ria, why can't you do something about that clock? It's scary!"
It was a little boy with dirty blond hair. He looked about four and highly under-nourished.

"I tried Ben." , said another girl from the corner of the room. She looked the oldest of them. "It's the only clock we have. We can't through it away. And I couldn't find any way to make it less noisy."

The sun suddenly shone through the window and hit Ria's face sideways. Her hair immediately burnt brilliant red with strands of gold.

"Woah…", sighed the girl who had been sleeping beside her. " You are so beautiful, Ri!"

"You are the only one who'd say that, Em", Ria said with a kind little smile in her direction. " Ok. Time to get up.", she said and got to her feet.

The children all got up and moved around making their beds. They had been lying on ragged mattresses with old discoloured sheets and quilts. Ria made her bed and went over to help the little ones. So did some of the other older kids. They all looked much too small which seemed like a result of a continued shortage in proper food. The cloths on all of them were frayed and patched and extremely old.

It was quite evident that money wasn't something that you'd come by often in the place. Everything looked old and battered. But what caught the eye most was the fact that everything was much cleaner than expected when 13 children lived together. Evidently someone went out of his or her way to keep the place clean.

When the beds were done the kids went one at a time through a door in the corner into a tiny little bathroom. They chattered and laughed amongst themselves as they cleaned.

Meanwhile Ria was seen trying to do her best to clean the room with a broom which was really a bundle of old tattered cloths bound to the end of a short metal rod. She cleaned last and then joined the other who had all gathered in front of the picture of the old lady. She stood in front and the rest of the kids surrounded her. Then they bowed their head in prayer.

"Sister Adaline.", the said in unison like a soft chant.

After a minute of sullen silence, their day begun.

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the morning of 25th July, Ria opened the door to her home to find a cat lying on the steps. It was whimpering.

It took a few tries for it to trust her. Once it did, a close inspection suggested a sprain in her right paw.

Ria brought her into the house and placed her on the wooden table in the dining hall. By the time she was back with a piece of cloth, the cat was surrounded by three other kids; Ben, Em, and a black haired guy who looked about the same age as Ria.

"What are you gonna do with her?", he asked with an expression which suggested that this situation wasn't new.

"Keep her till she gets better.", Ria said simply and started tending to the cats wound while ben stroked it's head.