A Cat’s View of Hogwarts

When I was little more than a fluffball in dear Argus’s arms, I thought Hogwarts was perfect. It was a new place with plenty of interesting smells and places to explore, but I’ve learned my lesson since then. This castle can be more trouble than it’s worth. Because while there may be many interesting smells and places here, Hogwarts also has lots of something else: children.

Children are the worst sort of trouble. They pull your tail, spill jam on your fur, and then have the nerve to complain about you getting them in trouble. I’m only doing my job, after all. And besides, it’s not as if they hide that well. They leave their scents everywhere, and they’re always so strong. The girls tend to smell like they’ve been rolling in flowers, and the boys like they’ve been rolling in cinnamon or pine needles. It makes me sneeze. But at least their too-strong scents help me do my job and please my dear Argus.

Argus never pulls my tail or spills anything on me. He always dotes on me, especially after that strange incident a few years ago, when I fell asleep near the bathroom, where that wretched ghost that always splashes me lives, and woke up in the hospital wing. At least I think I fell asleep. I’m not sure. It was all very odd, and the only thing I remember is the smell of snake. It’s never happened again, though.

These days, I spend a lot of time trying to follow three specific children: the black-haired boy whose scent I sometimes find in empty rooms for some reason, one of the younger red-heads, and the girl with hair fluffier than mine. Argus wants me to find out where they’ve been going for the pink woman. I don’t like her very much. She always coos incessantly whenever she sees me, and she keeps picking me up and trying to tie ribbons around my neck. How am I supposed to sneak and follow and do my job with a bright pink ribbon around my neck?

I may not love her, and I don’t really want to do anything for her, but I do love Argus, and since he also wants me to follow those three, I will. It’s very difficult, though. I keep losing them in the upper corridors. I’m not sure where they’re going, but I’ll find out. No one can truly hide from me in this castle. I know every nook and cranny of Hogwarts, including places no student could ever find or get to. There are plenty of advantages to being a cat in a castle. Even if I have to share it with a bunch of children.