Evelyn spent the entire morning assembling the pile of wooden boards and hemp rope.
In the middle of the night, Tonks had pinched three old shelves, two lengths of curtain rope, and a copper pipe of unknown origin from the storage room of an abandoned classroom.
Squatting on the carpet of the common room, Evelyn used a small pocket knife to saw the shelves into three sections.
The hemp rope was threaded through the copper pipe to fix it at both ends, and a piece of soft cloth was tied to the middle platform—a piece torn straight off a sofa cushion.
Tonks lay on her stomach beside her, watching for ten minutes.
“So…
what exactly is this?”
“A cat tree!”
“A what?”
“A cat tree.
Essential furniture for Muggle cat owners.
Three-tier structure, complete with a scratching post and resting platforms.”
Tonks’s hair shifted from its sleepy gray-blue to a puzzled canary yellow.
Tonks: (⊙ꇴ⊙???）
“You don’t own a cat, Valentine.”
“I don’t, but someone does.”
“Who?”
Evelyn tied off the last knot of hemp rope and held up the finished product, giving it a shake.
The three tiers wobbled in the air, the cloth hung loose, and the copper pipe was crooked by about fifteen degrees.
Ugly, but sturdy.
“You’ll see in a moment.”
…
The Transfiguration classroom was located at the end of the first-floor corridor.
When Evelyn arrived carrying the cat tree, Hermione was already waiting at the classroom door.
“Valentine!
You are two minutes late!”
“Hermione, the class bell hasn’t even rung.”
“Arriving five minutes early is basic courtesy!”
Hermione’s gaze drifted down to Evelyn’s arm, staring at the bizarre assembly of wooden boards and hemp rope.
Her expression went through three distinct stages of development.
Hermione: (surprised) → (shocked) → (angry)
“What is *that*?”
“A handicraft.”
“You’re bringing *that thing* into Transfiguration?”
“Yep.”
“Professor McGonagall will kill you!”
“She has to see it first.”
Evelyn tried stuffing the cat tree under her robes.
It wouldn’t fit; half of the copper pipe stuck out past her hem.
Hermione took a deep breath, covered her face with her textbook, and marched into the classroom ahead of her.
A few Gryffindors were already seated in the front rows.
Neville was cowering in a corner, flipping frantically through his textbook with sharp, loud rustles.
Harry and Ron hadn’t arrived yet.
nearby.
She stared at the cat on the teacher’s desk for five seconds.
System text emerged right on time.
[Intel Confirmed: Silver tabby cat on the desk = Professor Minerva McGonagall (Animagus form).]
[Side Quest Hint: Successfully deploy a feline lure before Professor McGonagall transforms back into human form.
Reward: Mischief Points +120.]
[Risk Warning: Professor McGonagall deducts points extremely fast.
Prepare yourself mentally.]
Evelyn looked down at the cat tree, then back up at the cat.
The cat’s pupils lingered on her for a moment, and its ears flattened backward by half an inch.
“Hermione.”
“Don’t talk to me!
I know nothing!”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“Your tone sounds *exactly* like it did right before you tried to dump catnip into the Black Lake!”
Evelyn stood up.
The air in the entire classroom tightened instantly.
Neville dropped his textbook onto the floor.
Carrying the cat tree, Evelyn strode directly toward the teacher’s desk.
Evelyn placed the cat tree on top of the desk, roughly a foot away from the cat.
Three tiers, a cloth resting platform, and hemp-wrapped scratching posts.
The entire classroom fell dead silent!
Evelyn stepped back, clasping her hands behind her back with an air of complete sincerity.
“Professor, I’ve prepared a gift for you.”
The cat’s whiskers twitched.
“Handmade.
The wooden boards came from an abandoned classroom, the hemp rope from curtains, and the velvet cloth from a Hufflepuff sofa cushion.”
The cat’s whiskers twitched even harder!
“Three-tier structure: lower tier for scratching, middle tier for resting, top tier for perching.
It is perfectly suited for an elegant silver tabby.”
Neville buried his face directly into his desk.
Hermione covered her entire head with her textbook.
The cat leapt down from the desk.
The moment it hit the ground, its silver fur expanded, stretched, and reshaped.
Four legs became two, the tail disappeared, and a dark green pointed hat popped out of thin air, settling securely over a head of graying hair.
Professor McGonagall stood tall before the desk.
Behind her square spectacles, her eyes were exercising an extraordinary level of intense self-control.
McGonagall: (ꐦ⊙ㅂ⊙)
“Miss Valentine!”
“Professor McGonagall.”
“Did you just…
in my classroom, in front of the entire class, present me—a Hogwarts professor—with a cat tree?”
“Yes, Professor.
Three tiers.”
Professor McGonagall’s lips pressed into a line so tight you could play a piano on them.
“You are aware that I am human, correct?”
“I know you are human *now*, Professor.
But three seconds ago, you were a cat.”
“An Animagus is an advanced branch of Transfiguration!
It is fundamentally distinct from a common pet cat!”
“Not in appearance.
The posture you were holding on the desk was identical to a British Shorthair I saw in a Muggle pet shop window.”
A snicker echoed from the back row.
Professor McGonagall swept her gaze across the room, and the snicker vanished instantly.
She turned back around, staring at the crooked cat tree on her desk.
The hemp rope had unravelled slightly, and there were still butter cookie crumbs sticking to the cloth.
“Ten points from Hufflepuff!”
Evelyn nodded.
“Understood.”
“For making improper analogies regarding a professor, disrupting classroom order, and damaging common room property!”
“I’ll sew the cloth back on.”
“You had better sew it back on, Miss Valentine!”
Professor McGonagall flicked her wand.
The cat tree lifted off the desk, floated to the highest cabinet in the furthest corner of the room, and landed with a dull thud.
Evelyn watched the entire confiscation process closely.
“Professor, you’re not going to destroy it outright?”
Professor McGonagall adjusted her robes, turning her back to the class.
Her voice was stiff.
“This is evidence.
It will not be returned to you before the end of the term.”
“So you’re keeping it?”
“I am retaining it as physical evidence of your infraction!”
“Oh.”
Evelyn walked back to her seat, sat down, and flipped open her textbook.
Hermione peeked half her face out from behind her book, her voice dropped to a whisper.
“She didn’t destroy it.”
“I noticed.”
“She put it on top of the cabinet.”
“I saw.”
“That cabinet is directly above her desk.”
Hermione lowered her textbook, her expression immensely complex.
Hermione: (˘ω˘;)
“Did you calculate from the very beginning that she wouldn’t destroy it?”
“Hermione, felines have an instinctive fondness for cat trees.
It has nothing to do with rational judgment.”
“She’s human right now!”
“In her cat form, she looked at that cat tree for at least three seconds before changing back.”
Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it again.
“You timed it?”
“The system timed it for me.”
[Ding!
Side Quest complete: Successfully deployed feline lure before Professor McGonagall transformed back into human form.]
[Mischief Points +120!
Current total: 1360.]
[Professor Network Alert: Your name has been marked by Minerva McGonagall as ‘First-year student requiring primary supervision.’ This flag has been synchronized across all staff directories.]
Evelyn dismissed the system panel.
Transfiguration class officially commenced.
As Professor McGonagall lectured, her voice was steady and her pacing sharp.
Yet after every section she taught, her gaze would sweep over Evelyn at least once.
Evelyn sat bolt upright, taking notes with utmost diligence.
Hermione snuck a quick glance at Evelyn’s notebook.
Drawn on the page was a cat sitting contentedly atop a cat tree.
Hermione: (ᗒᗣᗕ;)
When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Evelyn packed her bag and walked past the teacher’s desk.
Professor McGonagall was wiping the blackboard, her back turned to her.
“Professor.”
Professor McGonagall didn’t turn around.
“What is it?”
“If you like it, I can craft an upgraded mark II version for you.
With a hanging toy ball attached.”
The hand wiping the blackboard froze.
Professor McGonagall turned around, her eyes behind her spectacles fixing Evelyn with a piercing stare.
“Miss Valentine—out!”
“Right away, Professor.”
Evelyn walked out of the classroom, with Hermione following close behind at a hurried pace.
“You’re crazy!
You just teased her again!”
“I was providing after-sales service.”
Hermione clutched her bag strap, her breathing ragged.
“What’s our next class?”
Evelyn pulled out her timetable, pointing her finger at the second line.
“Potions.”
Hermione’s footsteps faltered.
“Professor Snape’s class?”
“Yep.”
“You didn’t bring something weird again, did you?”
Evelyn stuffed her timetable back into her pocket and patted the inside lining of her robes.
A crisp, metallic clinking of glass bottles chimed from within.
Hermione slapped a hand over her forehead.
Evelyn rounded the corridor corner, where a long line of students had already formed outside the dungeon classroom stairs.
The green ties of Slytherin and the red ties of Gryffindor stood sharply divided.
Draco stood right at the front of the line.
When he saw Evelyn appear, his grip on his textbook tightened significantly.
The door to the dungeon classroom slowly pushed open from the inside.
A blast of chilly air, thick with the scent of damp herbs, surged up the stone steps.
The hem of a black robe swept past the doorframe.
Snape’s voice echoed from within—low, heavy, and dripping with pressure.
“Enter.
Sit down.
Not a word!”
Evelyn started down the stairs.
Inside her pocket, the glass bottles clinked once more.