CATS!

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 3936

In the PS/SS first year Hogwarts students are told that they
can bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad (SS, pg. 53)
Has Ron alREADY broken a rule by bringing a rat? and is this a
question to ask JKR......

I thought -- well, maybe they are just pets. The owls are the magical 
messengers, but no one has seen a toad do anything but get lost.

We hear that Mrs. Norris has uncanny powers to ferret out wrong
doers and summon Filch (a Squib... so he is not summoning her).

We hear of Mrs. Figgs (who may or may not be Arabella, but is clearly 
either her or connected to her) cats -- Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws and 
Tufty -- among others.

Then, Hermione (in PoA..U.S. edition, pp. 55...) decides to buy an 
owl.  They go to a magical creature shop (I think this establishes 
that cats are magical creatures..?)Then we meet Crookshanks who 
eventually meets Sirius Black in his BBD persona, and figures out 
he's not a dog. Black is able to communicate somehow to Crookshanks 
what's going on. Crookshanks becomes Black's ally, stealing the 
passwords, tracking
down Scabbers, and eventually saving Black's life by attaching 
himself to Black's chest when Black is at most risk of being attacked 
by HP.

There is something particularly special about cats......


Susan
currently companion to (Rob Roy)McGregor and Uhura......
and still mourns
the Kent State Memorial Cat
Guinivere (after whom the Guinivere Memorial Fund to shelter cats of 
battered women was named)
Jezebel (beautiful and wicked)
Wattson (found in Watts, but named Wattson, so we could say "wake up, 
Wattson, the Game's Afoot)
Piper Cub (named after the airplane)

Susan