Wednesday, November the 30th, 1892 - Near the Greenhouses
@Greta Gillenwater

"HoustONIA! HouSTONia!"

It felt wrong to be making so much noise outside, especially here on the grounds. A bed of snow covered all but the well-trampled path down to the greenhouse, and only a few dared to stray from it. It should have made the task easy for the young witch, her eyes traced the edges of the footpath in vain. Millie couldn't even spy a hint of the small, feline tracks her desperate eyes sought out.

Her cat had never been away this long, and Millie grew more worried by the hour. Like most of the Hogwarts pets, Houstonia had learned how to roam the castle and grounds despite any desires otherwise from his owner. Usually he came back to his young witch in a day or so, she would wake the next morning to his purring form next to her or a dead offering on her nightstand. Millie would welcome a thousand, disgusting, dead mice if the cat would just show himself.

Or if she just could find his snowy trail.

"Why couldn't you get lost before the snow, you dumb cat..." Her blurry eyes nearly missed the sight of the tiny trail, peeling off from the main footpath with the lightest impressions, and it stopped her dead in the path. So he was just off hunting then? The young witch dabbed at her eyes with the hem of her cloak, scanning the horizon in the direction of the trail. His coloring made her cat almost impossible to spot in the distance, the only living thing Millie could see was another student a ways out.

Maybe they could help her find a silly, cream-colored Siamese cat.

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"Go Away You Silly Cat!" Greta yelled at the feline that was stalking her and had been doing so for days.

It had begun several days ago when she had awoken to purring in her bed covers and a weight upon her chest. After the initial shock because of course, she did not own a cat and a presence in her bed was quite uninticipated, she had felt quite pleased. Afterall she did not own a pet of any kind and was rarely graced with their presence. She had assumed it, he (she had checked after consulting a book from the library that had talked about kneazles biology and she assumed their… er… parts… were the same), belonged to one of the other girls in her dorm. No such luck.

She had next questioned others in her house - no luck there either - and whoever the cat belonged to remained a mystery. And Greta was slowly becoming frustrated because through it all the cat continued to follow her. Even if she locked it in a room it used some sort of cat related skill (magic perhaps? cats in general seemed to have a talent of exiting rooms so perhaps it was a cat magic) to extricate itself and resume its stalking of her.

It was beginning to get on her nerves.

She had thought a brisk stroll in the snow would dissuade the Beast from its pursuit.

It had not.

She broke into a run.

It followed.

She slowed to a walk.

Still there.

"ARRRRGH!" She screamed and took off at a run again hoping to outpace the creature with her own rather long legs She doubted it would work: the creature knew where she slept after all but perhaps it would learn to give up it's rather relentless pursuit of her. She didn't know what else she could do after all. She didn't want to hurt the poor thing but maybe that was what it would take. She just hoped it wasn't abandoned - she had heard rumours of people leaving pets at the castle when the appeal of owning a pet wore off.

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The following 1 user Likes Greta Gillenwater's post:1 user Likes Greta Gillenwater's post
   Millie Potts

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Thanks go to the marvelous MJ for her sensational set.
Also this baby is getting old. She's 13~!

Millie drew her cloak around her, taking ginger steps off the boot-trodden path. The snow gave way underneath, without a crunch or friction, emboldening the young witch. Ahead of her, the student in the distance suddenly took off, and for a moment Millie stood frozen in place. It wasn't because of her, was it? They were the only two people out in this part of the grounds, after all, could it be that the student was avoiding anyone else?

She blinked when the small, nigh-imperceptible blur of cream-and-brown dashed across the path after the student.

"Houstonia!" Without a thought, the young witch kicked up her heels in a mad pursuit. Robes clutched at her thighs and battered her ankles until she grasped them in her hands, freeing her feet fly faster, crushing the snow beneath her to powder. Another hand clutched at the clasp of her cape, forcing a grim expression on her mouth as Millie tried desperately not to come unraveled in dogged pursuit of her pet.

She was certain it was her silly cat, the blur of earthy colors, that followed the other student. Millie huffed and puffed, working her legs faster than she dared go, desperation pushing her onward. For a moment or two, the third year supposed that she caught sight of the shock of long, tawny hair and long legs that kicked up snow in storms of powdery white, drowning out the young witch's perception and trail. "Hey, wait!" Millie called after the girl, she decided it was a girl now. A girl would help a fellow witch, she had little doubt. "Wait, miss!"

It might have been a branch under the snow or the way her foot dropped deeper into one of the small gullies in the lawn. Whatever the cause, it sent Millie tumbling forward, a mess of robes and boots and cloak, to land in the powdery, white dust on the ground. Crystals of frigid failure clung to the young witch as she looked ahead, watching the clouds of snow settle onto an empty view ahead of her. Her eyes blinked back the cold, desparing view and she laid a gloved fist on the ground in one, last, plaintive appeal. "No..."

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As Greta ran, slowly, and unknowingly, outpacing the girl who was attempting to follow her she wondered if perhaps she had been a mouse in a past life? If that were the reason she was of such fascination for the feline. Perhaps instead it sensed that her animagus self were? or her patroni? Perhaps such things marked a person and made them irresistable to cats or at least something that required significant attention and stalking. Or perhaps, and far more likely, somebody had doused her robes in catnip? She wouldn't put it past Jimmy to think that that was hilarious.... after all she wouldn't put it past Jimmy to do far more than Jimmy probably would actually do.

Though that begged the question on how Jimmy got access to her clothes forand she doubted that Annie*, or any of her fellow Gryffindor Girls would have helped him. Did that mean then he'd bribed the house elves? Could one bribe house elves?

Still oblivious to her pursuer behind her she turned a corner right as the cat twirled right between her legs tripping her up, and had there not been snow making her quite ungainly she probably wouldn't have fallen so gracelessly but she did. The cat let out a wail, caught between her legs and Greta tried to brace herself as she thudded straight into the frosty, but solid snow.

Merlin she hated this cat.

And as if bidden by her hatred said cat came over to her and shoved its face straight into hers. As if to check that she was okay.

"I hate you." She said staring up at the creature. Somebody had once said you don't choose a cat a cat chooses you but there was no way Greta was going to choose this nuisance cat. It haaaad to belong to someone and all she had to do was just speak to the right teacher.

The cat, taking her still unmoving form as an invitation stepped across her face and slowly, and deliberately, the beast pawed her chest with its claws out doing several rounds and clearly showing her it's(her) arse before plopping herself down firmly, thankfully, facing her. She stared at the creature in indignation and the creature stared back.

"This isn't helping your case." She said glowering at the creature before it occurred to her that she probably needed to get up quickly otherwise she was going to get very wet.

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*Characters I just remembered that I could use and existed >.> Annie Moneypenny was a first year muggleborn student sorted into Gryffindor along with Greta. At the time they were the only girls, though I'm guessing there are NPCs. She no longer active but she is Greta's "friend".

The following 1 user Likes Greta Gillenwater's post:1 user Likes Greta Gillenwater's post
   Millie Potts

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Thanks go to the marvelous MJ for her sensational set.
Also this baby is getting old. She's 13~!