A Furry Problem
The rest of the holidays flew by insanely fast and went nice and peaceful. All the students had returned from their homes; filling the castle with all kinds of noises. Even though I had enjoyed the serenity from those two weeks, it pleased me to see all those smiling faces again. The responses I got to my presents had given me a warm feeling and reassurance that I chose the right gifts. Albus had flashed me wearing his socks when he passed me by in the hallway; which made me almost trip over laughing.
Minerva had complemented me on my exquisite taste, saying she had enjoyed a few glasses so far and inviting me to join her sometime. Filius had proudly described how he had displayed his new robe in his office, before pulling me into his office and showed me. Severus was the only one who didn’t tell of show me anything regarding his gift. It’s not that I was desperately waiting on these responses, I still was kind of curious if I had made the right choice. I mean who doesn’t want to know what people think of the gifts you got them?
Classes had resumed and another full day has passed. I had greeted almost everyone that crossed my way towards my destination. I had a small smile on my face while I made my way to a certain office, holding a small parcel in my hand. Hardly anyone seems to know, or care, what day it was. Sure the man himself didn’t want this kind of attention nor was he very popular among the students, still I wondered if I was the only one to know, besides Dumbledore and the other teachers. I softly knocked on the door and waited patiently for a sign I could enter. I knew he had to be in his office, since it was kind of routine for him to retreat there after classes before dinner.
I softly closed the door behind me after hearing I had permission to enter. Severus sat in the spot I had expected him to be; behind his desk, surrounded by all kinds of paperwork.
“Can I help you?” he drawled like usual not looking up from his work.
“Well the last time I was in here, I had noticed something” I spoke while walking closer to his desk. Severus stayed silent, waiting for me to further explain myself. I dropped the parcel on the parchment that he currently was working on. Slowly he raised his head, raising one eyebrow slightly irritated by my action. I placed my hands on the edge of his desk while I leaned in, a small grin growing on my face.
“This needs to be renewed” I said pulling the quill out of his fingers and he looked at me as if he was going to explode. I simply nodded towards the slender parcel, before pushing it even closer towards him.
“Open it” I sad smiling towards him, trying to contain my excitement. He rolled his eyes before snatching it from the table. While he was unpacking I had noticed something on his desk, currently a little concealed by his work. I recognized it immediately and it only made my smile grow bigger before looking back at him again. A dark colored quill with silver tip was revealed and he examined it for a second, before dipping it in his ink and trying it out.
“Anything else?” He asked in his monotone voice, clearly liking the way it wrote since he returned to his work.
“This was all” I said getting the hint.
“I will let you get back to work and I will see you at dinner” I said still smiling, even though he didn’t look up. I turned on my heels and made my way to the door. My hand rested on the doorknob and I looked over my shoulder back to the long black haired man.
“Oh, Severus?” I spoke, staying silent until he looked up from his work.
“Happy Birthday” I gave him a warm smile before leaving him alone in his office again.
That smile stayed on my face while I walked through the halls. Even though he hasn’t told me he liked my Christmas gift yet, seeing it lying on his desk gave me a good feeling. Sure just because it was there right in front of him, didn’t mean he had read it yet or that he really liked it. He didn’t throw it away or left it somewhere in a corner collecting dust. Perhaps someday I will catch him reading it and I could ask his thoughts on the book. Maybe he had a different view or discovered something I didn’t notice when I had read it many years ago. The more I thought about it, the more curious I got for his thoughts on the matter.
More than a month passed in a heartbeat and everyone and everything had fallen back in routine. My classes still went great and the students were still eager to learn more from me. That feeling of standing in front of those children listening to my every word was indescribable. Pride filling me every time one of them achieved something due to my teaching. The music classes where a whole different story, the more lessons I had assisted with, the more my fingers itched to intervene. It took quite some inner strength to keep silent in the back following Professors Humphry’s directions.
He did mention that he was seriously considering retiring after this school year and I selfishly wished he was going to do that. Outside of the classroom he was a nice man, but inside I was getting really irritated by him pushing down the creativeness of the kids. Sometimes I just wanted to yell at him to shut up and ask what they wanted to play. Due to the fact I was only assisting him, I held back and kept all the frustration inside. Waiting for the moment I get to teach this class myself.
Today the whole castle had a different vibe than usual. Everywhere you looked, throughout the hallways, couples seemed to pop out of thin air. Secret crushes being revealed; some accepted and reciprocated, some rejected in a friendly way and some rejected the hard way. Others were simply celebrating their relationships. Valentine’s Day. A day of love and heartbreak. A day filled with mixed emotions and memories for me, since February 14th also happened to be my birthday.
In my student’s days, there were a few very awkward occasions. Receiving gifts from some boys who apparently liked me. After telling them I wasn’t interested, they started babbling about how it was just a little something for my birthday. It also used to be days filled with jealousy and sometimes even hatred. Girls whispering or glaring due to the amount of attention and gifts were coming my way. Even though most really were birthday presents and wishes, with no ulterior motives.
As far as I knew, the only person that knew today was my birthday was Albus. I was intending to keep it that way, not wanting to repeat my student years. Although the people I spent the most time with were adults. I just didn’t want anything weird or more awkward moments happening today. I was perfectly content with treating this day as just a romantic holiday, since I never really cared for my birthday anyway. The presents and all the other hassle felt somewhat unwelcome. Perhaps it was because of my past experiences; maybe everything would have been different if I was born on a normal date.
My robe was hanging on my chair, my hair in a partially braided ponytail; like I wore it most of my time during the week; I sat on top of my desk with my legs crossed. 20 eager fifth years hanging on my every word, while trying to write down as much as they could. Introducing one of the many things they could encounter in all types of duels.
“There is one factor that most people forget about. Simply because most of them never truly think about the possibility or because they haven’t encountered something similar” I said leaving a small pause, looking at every student for a moment before continuing fluently in Japanese.
The moment they realized I was speaking a different language all their heads shot up and stared at me with open mouths. I chuckled at their reactions, achieving my goal.
“To repeat what I just said. I have lived in Japan for 5 years before coming back here. So it was mandatory for me to learn the language” I said pushing myself of my desk, landing smoothly on my high stiletto boots. I wasn’t a really tall woman with my 5’6”, I started wearing high heels somewhere in my teens. Now the only flats I owned where my house slippers and a pair of sneakers I hardly use. All my heels were at least 4 inches, loving the way it made me feel.
Without them I felt so small and fragile, but as soon as I put them on I felt graceful and more powerful. I’ve been walking in heels for so long that it felt perfectly normal to me, being able to do what most people can only do in flats like running. The clicking of the stilettos was the only thing audible while I made my way to the middle of my classroom.
“Most of you probably won’t have to deal with witches or wizards who speak another language. Still I believe it is important that you know what to do if you will face an opponent from another country or just someone like me with a trick up their sleeve” I neatly folded my hands in front of me while I kept scanning the room.
“Now I won’t be teaching you all these different languages nor will I expect you do to it in your free time on your own” I noticed a few relieved faces here and there.
“I will however show you some tips and tricks on how to deal with them if needed. How you can predict someone’s spells by their body language, so you will know how to respond” I heard them scribbling again, as I continued.
“Some will be very good at hiding their motives, but only a few will be able to hide those secrets in their eyes. It takes a lot of experience and discipline to hide everything, as sometimes the body has a mind of its own in the heat of a battle”
I had demonstrated to everyone a few spells in multiple languages, showing them they all had something in common. Telling them the important details to look for when facing these situations. I had used my wand for the demonstrations, not wanting to confuse them even more. Wandless magic was something I wanted to explore deeper in their sixth year. I had moved around quite a lot during the lesson and I ended up leaning against my desk.
“So that was that for right now, next week we’ll go deeper into this subject. Any questions for right now?” A few hands immediately going high and I just pointed at someone.
“How many languages do you speak?” He asked hesitantly and I chuckled once again.
“Let me think…” I said as I crossed my arms in front of me.
“I think it’s safe to say that Japanese is my second language. Due to my obsession with Asian cultures I understand Korean and different dialects of Chinese as well. I manage okay with French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. I also know a little Russian…. So including English that would add up to about 9 I guess” Once again mouth’s dropped and I felt a little blush creeping up my face.
“The benefits of traveling for 10 years I guess” I said modestly. I answered a few more questions after that, some about the lesson some about my travels. Not having enough time to go into details, plus not really wanting to reveal too much, I kept it short. Promising that one day, when we had more time, I would tell more about some of my adventures. Slightly enjoying the admiration from the students and after telling them all of this the admiration was kind of expected. I had stayed behind in my classroom for a while, waiting for dinnertime, keeping myself busy with lesson plans for next week.
At dinnertime I wasn’t quite as cheerful as I was during Halloween, the 2nd day of Christmas or New Years, but thankfully nobody really seemed to notice. Or so I thought.
“Not feeling like celebrating love?” A low drawl came from next to me, probably only audible for me.
“Not every holiday is special” I simply stated as I continued to eat.
“Do I detect a woman scorned?” I could hear the slight tease in his voice, trying to get a certain reaction out of me.
“Not at all. Like I said, not every holiday is special that’s all” I spoke in the same simple way.
A couple days had passed and I was thankful that the last couple of hours of my birthday went by quite like the rest of the day, the same as the next days. It was Monday now, most students leaving for their first lesson of the week after lunch. I was leaning against the teacher table as Severus stood in front of me, discussing the Quidditch match from last weekend. Slytherin had crushed the Ravenclaw team, in the same way they had done with Gryffindor.
Talks about Quidditch came easier now that I knew a little more about the sport, although Severus still needed to explain a few things to me. Our conversation got interrupted by our silver haired headmaster.
“Ah, Alyssa.. I’m glad that you’re still here. I remembered this morning that I totally forgot to give you this” He pulled out a little messy wrapped package out of his robes, clearly indicating that it has been in his pocket for a couple of days.
“Better late than never, Happy Birthday” He said winking; a deep red blush covered my face as he spoke and I quickly took the present out of his hand.
“Thank you, but that really wasn’t necessary,” I said, trying my best to hide the embarrassment that just hit me in my face out of nowhere. Severus had raised one of his eyebrows slightly at the little scene that just happened in front of him.
“Besides, it’s no big deal you forgot. I don’t really care about it anyway. Again thank you, even though you didn’t have to” I said smiling towards Albus.
“How could they..”
“Seriously it’s no big deal” I interrupted the man, hoping he would get the hint.
“If you say so” He said, revealing a small grin.
“A hint, it’s similar to what you gave me for Christmas” He said proudly smiling before walking away, I felt relieved he understood me. Curious to what he got me, I opened the package and started laughing.
“Socks?” Severus drawled, not getting what was so funny.
“I gave him some for Christmas” I said looking at the different styled musical themed over the knee socks in my hand.
“Again... Socks?” He said still not understanding any of it.
“Yeah well it was the best thing to give a man who probably has everything already” I said shrugging.
“Besides… He enjoys the simplest things” I said smiling towards the socks before stuffing them into my pockets of my robes, quickly checking around if nobody besides Severus had heard the conversation.
“Afraid people will find out?” This time his eyebrow rose a little further, as I felt his eyes trying to read me.
“I just don’t like the attention you get on a birthday” I said shrugging hoping he would buy the excuse.
“Anyway... How was it obvious again that the Ravenclaw team never stood a change?” I asked, returning to the topic we spoke about before Albus had intervened.
Again relieved me changing the subject worked and Severus simply went back to explaining. Although he still seemed to try and read me. I just hoped he wouldn’t figure it out yet and another secret of mine would still be safe. We kept talking until Severus had to leave for his first class of the day. Since I had no classes on Monday, I went back to my office grading essays I had received before the weekend.
Once I arrived in the dungeons at my office door, I noticed something hanging on the doorknob. It was a small bag and there was a note attached to it.
‘Thank you for bringing this class to us. You are an amazing teacher’
My cheeks burnt up a little reading it and I just couldn’t help but smile. I took the bag from the doorknob and brought it with me inside. I sat down behind my desk and took out the essays from the drawer.
I grabbed the first one and leaned back a little while I started reading it. I had crossed my legs, but my attention kept slipping back to the little pouch in front of me. I laid the essay down and snatched it from the desk. The bag was filled with chocolates and they looked absolutely delicious. I popped one in my mouth before putting the rest back on the desk, returning back to my work. I had finished a few papers and ate a few more chocolates while doing that.
A sudden shudder went through my whole body and I wondered where that came from. After sitting completely still for a few seconds, I resumed to my work. Another shudder followed and after that a few more and the next moment my vision got a little blurry. I threw the essay on my desk as I tried to focus my eyes, hoping my vision would clear. A tingling went through my arms towards my hands getting the strongest in my fingertips. I held out my hands in front of me and tried my best to focus on seeing clear.
My mouth dropped as I my fingernails grew longer and thinner, ending in a sharp point. Totally confused on what was happening to me right now I just stared at my new claws. I got taken out of my trail of thoughts when suddenly my ears started burning and a pressure on top of my head started to increase. I covered my hands over my ears and felt them disappearing, which made me panic a little. Still I could hear the clock that was in my office. Slowly my hands traveled to the top of my head and my mouth dropped even further when I felt something.
Furry and pointy ears where now on top of my head, but I didn’t have much time to think about them before feeling a nasty sting just above my butt. I jumped off from my seat while the sting got worse and it felt like something was coming out of me. I clutched my hands on the edge off the desk until the sting was gone. Hesitantly one of my hands went under my robe and found something soft and hairy. I slowly turned my head as my fingers trailed the whole length.
Looking down I saw a soft pink tail and I was stunned. I leaned down to the lowest drawer and took a small hand mirror out of it. I reluctantly held it higher and looked at myself; my eyes had changed form and looked like the ones from a cat just with my color. I carefully turned my head and saw the pointy ears with the same colored fur as the tail. My mouth was still open as I tried to wrap my brain about what just happened.
I touched the ears again, making me realize this was real. I slowly sat back in my chair, my mind going crazy with all the changes my body just made. How on earth did this just happen out of the blue? I laid the mirror facing down on the desk and my eyes lingered to the little bag of chocolates. A soft scoff escaped my lips, realizing those were the cause. I shook my head at my foolishness for eating those things without even thinking twice. That little pouch was left at my door as a prank and I completely fell for it.
A small grin appeared on my face, pretty sure on who did this. I stood up and covered my new ears with the hood of my robe, thankful that it was long enough to also cover my tail. I walked towards the door hiding my hands inside my sleeves after leaving my classroom. I looked around, seeing something disappear around the corner. I ran towards the corner and saw two students running away, hoping to escape.
“Stop it right there!” I yelled and the boys froze on the spot.
“My office... Now” I sneered and the boys nervously came walking back their heads hanging low.
I walked behind the duo as we walked back towards my office and let them in. They boys sat down on the smaller chairs in front of my desk and I closed my door rather forcefully. I wasn’t really that mad at the boys, it was a good prank I had to admit, but I was going to make them sweat.
“Do you have any idea in what kind of trouble you two are right now?” I asked sternly as I walked towards my spot. I sat down, keeping a straight posture and took off my hood before folding my hands on top of my desk.
“Look at me” I drawled and the red haired boys hesitantly looked up. I noticed they had real trouble not to burst into laughter and I slammed my fist on my desk.
“You think this is funny? Do you even understand the consequences of pulling stunts like this on people? Especially teachers?!” I said rising up and leaning towards them, looking at them with anger in my eyes. Their heads went a little lower at the tone of my voice.
“Bet you thought you wouldn’t get caught?” I asked looking at the twins in front of me. I slowly sat down again as the two boys started apologizing.
“Can you imagine what McGonagall will do to you IF she finds out about this?” I asked next, really emphasizing the word if. Fred and George looked a little confused at each other for a second before looking back towards me. A small grin formed on my face, seeing the confusion written all over their young faces.
“I have to compliment you boys, this is some pretty advanced stuff you pulled off, but I believe something didn’t go the way you wanted. Seeing as the color you gave my fur is pretty flattering on me. I imagine you were going for a brighter shade of pink, am I wrong?” I spoke and leaned back in my chair. The twins looked a little stunned by my reaction, mouth slightly open as they nodded.
“Alright, prank well done. Just tell me something. How long will this last?” I asked.
“A couple hours” One of them softly admitted.
“Maybe 3 or 4?” The other added and I simply nodded.
“Just like I said on our first meeting, be very relieved it was me. Although I guess you chose me because I’m new here, am I correct?” And again the two nodded.
“I won’t mention it to McGonagall or Dumbledore this time, but I won’t go easy on you two if you decide to pull something like this again, understood?”
“Yes Ma’am” They said in unison, ready to leave.
“For the next month you will help me clean my classroom after dinner” They nodded.
“Seems fair” they replied together and I smiled.
“Now get out, before I change my mind about you” I said waving them out of my office. The boys practically ran out of there and I just sat there shaking my head. If it had been someone else, I probably wouldn’t have been this easy. Somehow I had a soft spot for these troublemakers.
I’ve heard stories, seen them in action sometimes among other students. They pranked whenever they could, but I also noticed they never went as far as really bullying someone. They just wanted to have fun and most of their stuff was pretty amusing to watch. I locked my door from my seat and kicked off my boots. I threw my legs up my desk while grabbing the essay I was grading before I partially turned into a pastel pink cat.
This prank was a little eye opener for me honestly. It made me realize I had become way to comfortable in this place. Sure this had been a perfectly innocent joke, it could have been so much more dangerous. I really needed to be more careful with things, like during the holidays I had just assumed the cake and pudding floating outside my bedroom came from Severus. While it could have been from someone else, what if someone did saw me on the graveyard that day and had followed me back to the castle.
At first I had planned to stay in my office and hide the effects of the prank, but I somehow wanted to show that it didn’t faze me. I already told the twins they pulled a good one on me, but a part of me wanted to match my words with actions. I put my boots back on, put away all the graded papers and got up from my seat to walk towards to great hall for dinner. I unlocked the door before even reaching it and threw my robe on my couch before stepping out of my office.
I wanted to show the whole ‘new’ me and that included the tail hidden by the robe. In the corner of my eye I saw the tip of the pastel pink tail up straight and I held my head up high. A joyful grin grew on my face as I passed students whose jaws dropped nearly to the ground as I passed them. Sounds of shock and whispers where surrounding me and honestly I loved every second of it. I reached the huge doors of the Great Hall and Albus stopped walking as soon as he saw me.
A little confused, but smiling anyway, he looked at me as I closed in.
“Twins” I simply shrugged and my grin grew even more. A small chuckle escaped the man’s lips, followed by a knowing nod. We entered the hall together and once again all the eyes turned towards me. I also noticed the proud smiles on the culprits and I winked at them. Even the teachers already gathered looked at me for a second, but I just sat down as if everything was perfectly normal.
During dinner I still felt eyes burning on me and saw multiple people huddled together. I knew even some teachers were dying to ask me what happened, but I guess they didn’t know how to approach the topic. Until one did, the black haired man next to me.
“What happened?” He drawled bluntly and I kept my eyes on my plate, knowing every ear at the table was listening in.
“Just ate some bad chocolates” I simply stated, continuing to eat like this thing happened daily in the wizarding world. I swear I could hear Albus nearly choke on his bite at my comment and that only added in my enjoyment for my choice to come out of my office.
Dinner ended and I just knew there were still plenty of people curious on the whole story behind my pink cat appearance. I never gave it ofcourse; I just went back to my office wanting to read over my lesson plan for tomorrow. As I sat on my couch going over the document, I had been interrupted by a knock. Two red haired boys entered, curious if the effects still lasted. They had stayed for a while and we talked about all kinds of subjects. Their family, what they wanted to become after graduation, but mostly we talked about all the shenanigans they have pulled so far. They also slipped in their plan to apply for my class, which made me curious on how they would do on my test.
By the time I was back to normal it was also time for the twins to go to their dorms. Feeling pretty tired after the day I had, I planned to do the same. Even though my body was back to its usual form I could still lightly feel the long tail and pointy ears and it felt weird as hell. Completely drowned in my own thoughts I had crossed someone on my way towards my door.
“Back to your old self, I see” I jumped a little hearing the voice behind me. I turned around and met the owner of that voice, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“Wait here” He ordered and he left me a little confused in the hallway while he went into his dorm. He came out holding a narrow sturdy plastic bag and he held it out for me. I hesitantly accepted it and I took out its content. It revealed a bottle of Juyondai, a high sought-after Japanese brand of sake. It was actually one of my favorites after falling in love with the drink when I lived there.
“Thank you!” I said smiling, still wondering how he could know about this brand. Did I slip it in a conversation at one point? Did I talk about it with someone else and he simply overheard it? Or did he just have a lucky guess? Since he knew I lived in Japan and I knew for sure he heard me talk about sake at the dinner table with others.
“This is actually one of my favorites” I said looking at the bottle, before putting it back in the bag and looked up to him. Pride covered his face for a moment.
I bowed slightly with my head, before wanting to turn around towards my own dorm.
“So Valentine’s Day, huh?” He said out of nowhere and I raised my brow, wondering where he was going with this.
“Don’t like the attention?” He asked, hinting towards the conversation we had this afternoon.
“How?” I asked, not sure how he figured it out.
“The way you acted that day, the way you desperately tried to make Albus stop talking. I wasn’t sure, until now” He said, making me realize I had fallen for his trap. Damn I really needed to be more alert, seeing as this is the third thing that caught me off guard today.
“I would really appreciate it if you kept that information to yourself” I said, hoping he would honor my wishes.
“We’ll see about that” He drawled, before moving towards his door.
“You seemed to keep your birthday hidden as well” I spat out which made him stop dead in his tracks.
“I won’t tell yours… if you won’t tell mine” I said a grin plastered on my face, this conversation bringing me back to how I started a friendship with someone in my student years. He slowly turned back towards me and nodded.
“Deal” A victorious smile covered my face as I walked backwards to my door.
“Thank you again for a delicious gift. Goodnight Severus” I said, turning around.
“Goodnight…. Alyssa”