Traveling around with the Cirque, one learns how to live within small enclosed spaces. Being able to become a cat, made those small enclosed spaces at least more comfortable, which helped when finding oneself marooned on a ship in the midst of a questionable lake. The unfortunate side of this comes when one is easily bored, especially when left to their own devices for more than five minutes. Or, when one skipped dinner in exchange for adventure on what was as close to a ‘pirate’ ship as one could find popping out of the nearest body of water. Even if, once on board, it hadn’t been quite that interesting.
Staring off into the darkness, Hel-cat had no idea how long she’d been aboard the Durmstrang ship. She was quite thankful that Jem had been able to make it off safely, but that left her with no one to talk to. She had decided it was probably best to avoid the Durmstrang students; after all it was hard to tell which one would take kindly to a stray, and which one might think it amusing to toss a little black fuzz ball overboard.
Still, as the time passed, she could no longer be content to stay hidden away. Creeping out from the shadows, the little cat decided it would be a good time to do some more exploring. Some of the previously locked doors turned out to be dorm rooms, and if a cat could smirk, Hel-cat certainly had one upon her furry lips; thinking about how many of Hogwarts female students would like to be where she was right now.
Movement close to her own level caught her attention. While an animagus keeps its human mind, the playful Harlequin wasn’t much different from the cat form she took when it came to looking for entertainment, and the presence of the rodent screamed time to play within the witch-cat’s head.
After a wonderful game of cat and mouse, being as cat was not really a cat, therefore mouse was not really a snack, Hel-cat could feel her little belly rumbling, a reminder she’d missed dinner. ’Okay, a ship this size has to have a galley, right?’ Turning her little black nose up, Hel-cat sniffed the air, looking for the scent of something that might satisfy her hunger. The scent was faint, but it was caught, and the cat scurried in the direction of the smell that promised to be food.
The galley was sparse, it was no wonder the Durmstrang students ate with Slytherin, aside from it just being polite on the part of the hosting school. While cat paws are good for traveling quick and quiet, they don’t work for opening cupboards so well, and the only thing left on the counter was a loaf of stale bread. Resuming her usual form, Harlequin started peeking into cupboards, in the hope of even a tidbit of something that was actually edible.
A hard cough sounded from behind the witch, who instantly bristled. Biting into her lip, Hel turned around and attempted to look as innocent as possible. Igor Karkaroff stood before her, arms crossed, a frown creasing his features. “Hogwarts spy,” the Durmstrang headmaster hissed.
“Not exactly,” Hel returned, “just a slightly misplaced student. I know I shouldn’t be here, but your ship,” she continued, any unease she might have felt flicker through her at being caught, quickly slipping away with her words. “Your ship was such a sight to see from the shore, I couldn’t resist getting a closer look. Professor Snape will tell you, I have a horrid curiosity, gets me into no end of trouble, if you just…”
“Snape,” the man cut her off, to which Hel nodded, “I know Severus, we shall see what he has to say.” Taking hold of the witch by the shoulder, Karkaroff aimed her out of the galley and towards the top deck of the ship. Somewhere along the lines, the gangplank had returned. ’Stupid gangplank’ Hel cursed to herself at the wooden bridge as they crossed over it.
Before she even had time to really think, Harlequin found herself standing in the headmaster’s office, Dumbledore, Snape and Moody, as well as Karkaroff all looking at her expectantly. “Honestly, I am truly sorry,” she began. “I didn’t actually mean to be there. Like I told him,” the witch motioned towards Karkaroff, “the ship looked so amazing when it got here, and my curiosity,” her blue eyes flashed towards Snape, who had heard the curiosity excuse more times than he could remember, could not stop his eyes from rolling slightly at the witch, “I only meant to take a quick peek, and be right off. But…” she let out a huge sigh, and tried to look as defeated as possible, “I didn’t realize the gangplank would disappear. I swear, I only meant to be there for a moment. Then, I got scared, I know I shouldn’t have, but…” The witch dropped her head, letting her hair fall, covering her features, allowing small sniffling noises to escape from behind the white, red and black wall.
“She was trying to spy on our champion,” Karkaroff interjected.
“You find her in Krum’s room?” Moody inquired.
“No.”
“Where then?”
“The galley,” Karkaroff returned.
Moody turned to Snape, “was Miss LaCroix at dinner tonight?”
“I believe she was absent.” Snape retuned, “as was Miss Macnair.”
Hel raised her head up slightly, allowing one eye to peek out from behind her locks, “Jem wasn’t with me. She was upset about some news and didn’t want to go.”
“There you go then,” Dumbledore interceded, “an overly curious student, who missed dinner. No harm done.”
“No harm,” Karkaroff snarled.
Moody eyed the foreign teacher, “you heard the man, no harm.”
“And she won’t do it again,” Dumbledore looked down at Hel.
“No sir,” Hel returned.
“Very well,” the headmaster spoke once more, with a tone that said things were settled. “Professor Snape, if you would take Miss LaCroix back to the common room.”
“Albus,” Moody interrupted, “if you don’t mind. I’d like to speak with Miss LaCroix, since Karkaroff seems so worried she might have stumbled upon something while aboard his ship.” The grizzled old Auror eyed Karkaroff with suspicion.
“Headmaster,” Snape attempted to intervene, “she is my student.”
“Professor Snape,” Dumbledore returned, “Professor Moody is just being cautious, as I’m sure you can appreciate. I am sure he will have your student back to you in no time.”
Again, the matter seemed quite settled, sending two very dour looking men on their way, and the third leading Hel out of the Headmaster’s office. |
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