Catnip Conundrum

"Pssttt... Scorp... pssst...." Albus called out to his sleeping roommate.

Scorpius for all his dramatic flare yesterday just grunted "Five more minutes dad...." and pulled the covers up further.

"Come on. Wake up. We'll be late for breakfast," Albus tried again, shaking his new friend. It was already nearly eight o'clock meaning that they only had an hour to get ready, grab food and make it to their first class, which was Transfiguration. A double block of Transfiguration.

"It's only the second day of classes Al," Scorpius groaned though he did get up and out of bed... albeit reluctantly. His once slicked back hair was standing up in odd tufts, truly the definition of bedhead.

"Dad told me not to be late for Professor McGonagall's class," Al told Scorpius. "She's strict I hear, though James kept saying she was a pussycat."

Scorpius raised a brow at the statement as he stood up and got ready. The pair ended up in the Great Hall just in time to grab some breakfast before classes began. However, even with fifteen minutes to spare they ended up getting lost again.

"I told you this wasn't the way Scorp!" Albus grumbled as they hung onto the staircase railing as it rotated for the third time.

"It's not my fault the staircase has a mind of its own!" Scorpius argued back.

"Look, let's go that way," Albus pointed to their right. "It should lead to the Quad and we can take the suspension bridge." Scorpius was sceptical for amoment but nodded in agreement.

The pair had managed to go the right way for once. They raced through the Quad courtyard and over the bridge and ended up trying to catch their breath near the DADA classrooms. "Five minutes, we'll make it," Scorpius uttered through labored breaths. He was gripping his knees, not used to running this much. The boys slowed down though and were about to make their way towards the Transfiguration corridor when they heard a very loud yowl.

"What in Merlin's underpants was that?!" Al exclaimed. Scorpius just gave the other boy a look when that sentence was uttered. He didn't want to have anything to do with Merlin or his underpants.

The two boys ended up investigating the yowls. The sounds led them to the Transfiguration corridor nearby that bordered the Middle Courtyard. In the middle of said courtyard, two cats were fighting. Their fur was raised, their tails bushy and they were swiping at each other with their claws.

"Mrs. Norris is beating up some poor tabby cat!" Albus uttered and then rushed to break them up.

"Wait for me!" Scorpius yelled as he sprinted to the litteral catfight as well.

"Bad kitties! Bad! Break it up!" Albus yelled and managed to scoop up the tabby cat before Mrs. Norris could get another swipe in.

"Go on shoo!" Al uttered while trying to keep Mrs. Norris away. 'Whatever possessed this cat to attack what was probably another student's familiar?' Al wondered as the tabby was somewhat struggling in his arms to break free.

Scorpius meanwhile, just looked on as his new friend had not just jumped in between a cat brawl. The blond wanted to facepalm as the cats were still angrily hissing at each other even though Al tried calming the tabby down while telling off Mrs. Norris. 'Just how did Al even get into Slytherin?' Scorpius wondered. The boy had no self-preservation.

Mrs. Norris finally did flee but Al kept the tabby cat in his arms, cooing at the animal. The tabby looked rather put out and disgruntled being in someone's arms as Albus was checking for injuries.

"What possesed Mrs. Norris to act like that?" Al asked more to himself than the kitty. "Are you new here? Did you walk into her territory?"

Older year students that were passing by quickly to get to their classes barely gave the boys any attention. Though the ones that did had to do a double-take at the cat in Albus's hold. Yet neither boy noticed this as even Scorpius was trying to coo at the tabby. The blonde was totally a cat person, though he couldn'thave one as a pet because his mother had allergies.

"I wonder who her owner is," Albus queried as he scratched behind the feline's ears.

"We don't really have much time left before class," Scorpius remarked with a frown.

"Right... uhm...." Albus said as he looked around the courtyard. He spotted something and then uttered "I know, let's do that,"

"Do what?" Scorpius asked rather confused as Al walked to one of the flower beds near the fountain.

"This is wild catnip. I saw it yesterday when we came here for DADA. The kitty will love that," Albus said as he put the tabby cat down. The scent of the catnip immediately did the trick as the tabby started to sniff the air and then proceeded to rub against the plant as well as bite and lick it.

"That's a good kitty," Al cooed, giving one last scratch, before he and Scorpius left to go to their double block of Transfiguration. They were the last ones to enter the classroom so they nervously took their seats near the back. All was quiet as the whole class waited for Professor McGonagall to show up but by the thirty-minute mark, the class started whispering. Theories on their teacher's whereabouts fluttered from ear to ear. Some were rather dull while others were wild. They ranged from a Ministry emergency to the Professor getting stuck near Hagrid's hut as a transfigured pumpkin.

Nearly five minutes later a rather wobbly Professor McGonagall entered the classroom. She passed Albus and Scorpius who were seated in the back and gave them a somewhat stern glare while quickly smoothing out the hair leading to her bun. As she passed them Scorpius noticed something sticking out of their teacher's bun. He nudged Al and gestured to it.

"No way..." Albus whispered because there in their professor's bun was a little stem of the catnip plant. Al looked at his friend and then muttered "You don't think......."

"Couldn't be....." Scorpius replied.

A week later the boys heard that Professor McGonagall had ordered Mr. Filch to get rid of every piece of catnip in the courtyards. They were sure now and when Al told his older brother, James, about his suspicions all he got was laughter in return.

"I need to write to mom and dad about this......" James had uttered in between guffaws. "Dad's going to have a hoot,"

AN: I was tipsy and... well....... this happened (innocent whistle)