21st Gryffindor Note [Voice / Action for housemates]

[loyalotter]

[It's early afternoon at this point when Hermione sits down at the dining room table and opens her journal. It's started recording as soon as she tells it to, but the sound of something near the door distracts her.]

...Who left the door open?

[There's a little shuffling as she goes to shut the door and then sits back down in her chair. A little more

Comments

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

Hermione?! Are you alright?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

[It's a good half an hour to an hour before she actually responds, but when she does, she sounds pretty excited.]

I'm fine. I was just pleasantly surprised.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

[Relief.]

Oh, good. I was wondering....

What is Crookshanks?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

Oh... it was recording, wasn't it? [Oops... oh well.]

Crookshanks is my cat. Well, he's half-Kneazle, really, but he looks like a cat. He's very intelligent.

[She'll just bring the cat up to the journal camera so Terra can get a look at Crookshanks' head.]

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

[Terra smiles, peering at the cat...kneazle?]

Hello, there.

...hm, no wings?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

No. And I can't figure out why. He's taken to trying to bat mine, though, so I have to tell him not to. Crookshanks, no. That hurts.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

[A slight wince at that.]

I hope he learns soon enough.

Hm. Maybe something about his nature means that he doesn't need them, unlike us?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

He ought to. He's very smart. I think he just likes the feathers.

I'm not sure. He's just a normal animal, Kneazle or no. I can't imagine why he wouldn't get stuck with wings unless Luceti just doesn't want him to or the Malnosso don't want to deal with experimenting on something that can't talk back. I'm not even sure what's responsible for giving us the wings.

...Though that does raise the question of what will happen to him during experiments.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

Nothing, I hope. It's bad enough that they do it to us, but they should leave animals alone.

...what is the difference between a cat and a kneazle? Just intelligence?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

I hope not, as well. I don't think I could stand it if something happened to him.

Well, a Kneazle is much more intelligent than a normal cat, and their fur is usually much fluffier. It's also usually spotted, speckled, or flecked. They're able to detect untrustworthy people - Crookshanks knew what Scabbers was before any of us had a clue - and they can see through Animagus transformations - he was working for Sirius in third year. They're classified as XXX by the Ministry of Magic's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which means they should only be handled by a competent wizard.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

He'll be in good hands, then.

[Hermione's the epitome of competence, after all.]

Would he be able to sense what I am?

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

Yes. I think he took to me the moment we met. I've missed him.

I think he could tell it was you if you were transformed when you met him. He could see through Sirius and Pettigrew's forms after all. He knew they were human and which to trust.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

I see. Not that I ever do so in town, but I was curious....

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

Kneazles are very smart. I don't think anyone else would understand what he means. It took us a while to figure out that he knew Sirius... and everything that had happened over the year. He was very sneaky, which was bad at the time, but I understand why he did all that. He was trying to protect Sirius.

[Voice]

[esper_flight]

That must have been inconvenient, but it makes sense. He sounds like a good companion to have around, at any rate.

[Voice]

[loyalotter]

He is. You ought to meet him sometime.