"Ron, Harry… wanna join our club?"
The question came from Parvati, a pretty young witch with big eyes and long lashes. She was the one who'd tipped off Sean and the others about Hermione before Halloween.
"What club?" Harry asked, puzzled. He'd only ever heard of the Quidditch Club. Ron, on the other hand, only knew about the Wizard Chess Club.
"The Castle Spirit Cat Club. You guys seriously don't know?" Parvati gasped, covering her mouth. She glanced at Justin and Hermione, clearly shocked.
Lavender, standing beside her, gaped in disbelief.
"Sorry, what's the Castle Spirit Cat Club?" Ron asked, a bit sheepish, sensing he was out of the loop.
"Okay, I'm thrilled I get to explain this again," Parvati said, barely pausing for breath. "You've seen the lucky statue on the third floor, right? That's one piece of proof the Castle Spirit Cat exists. But it's weird—if you've ever lost points for sneaking out at night, you should've run into the Spirit Cat by now."
Harry and Ron exchanged a look, realization dawning.
"That statue's real?" Ron blurted. "But why would sneaking out mean we'd see… the Castle Spirit Cat?"
"Good question!" Parvati beamed. "Let me tell you about its deeds. It's the Christmas Night Messenger, the guardian of good luck—the Castle Spirit Cat. Haven't you noticed? Ever since Christmas, Hogwarts has been on a lucky streak. Mr. Green published his notes for tons of subjects, loads of kids sneaking out at night got saved by the Spirit Cat, Filch isn't as scary as he used to be, and even Professor Snape's been dropping little hints in class. And now, we've got a legendary alchemist at Hogwarts! We believe it's all because of the Castle Spirit Cat, the bringer of good fortune!"
Lavender's eyes sparkled as she handed Harry and Ron two club invitations, each featuring a photo of a black cat.
"Oh, and by the way," Parvati added, "our club got approved by Hogwarts faster than any other! So, please, think about joining. We don't have much time left. If we don't get someone to touch its ears, we'll have totally failed."
Parvati seemed proud of the club but disappointed in its progress. After handing over the invitations, she and Lavender left.
The Great Hall buzzed with chatter, with students everywhere trying to recruit for their clubs. Time was running out, so the club's deputy head had come up with this plan—strength in numbers, right?
"Touch its ears, and you're lucky for a whole year…" Ron mused, studying the invitation with curiosity. Hogwarts students were always fascinated by the castle's mysteries. It's why so many explored portraits and hunted for secret passages. In this magical place, anything was possible.
This was Hogwarts, after all.
"This is wild," Ron said. "It says here the Lucky Black Cat's been spotted helping kids sneak around at night. Merlin's beard, if we'd met it back then, we wouldn't have lost so many points."
Harry imagined it—if that black cat had helped them dodge McGonagall, they'd probably be pretty grateful too.
"Sean, you joining?" Ron asked without thinking.
Sean noticed Justin doubled over, laughing so hard he could barely stand, while Hermione buried her face, shoulders shaking.
"Nope," Sean said dryly. "And you guys probably shouldn't either."
With a sigh, he gathered his things to leave the Great Hall. These Hogwarts kids had way too much free time.
As he headed out, a strange instinct made him glance at the staff table. Dumbledore was watching him, eyes twinkling, pausing mid-sip from his goblet.
"Er, okay," Ron said, exchanging a look with Harry. "Me and Harry are kinda interested. Justin, you guys in?"
Justin, who'd been enjoying the show, flashed a warm, brilliant smile. "No thanks."
"Oh," Ron said, his cheeks reddening under the glow of the roaring fireplace. "I thought you'd be into it…"
"He's not joining because he's already in," Hermione said, still grinning. "He's the deputy head."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed.
"No way!" Ron added, stunned.
"That why you never got caught sneaking out?" Harry asked, catching on.
"Nah, that's not it," Justin said with a chuckle.
"What about you, Hermione? You in too?" Ron pressed.
"Yep," she said, tilting her chin up proudly.
Sean, who hadn't left yet, set down his book and gave them a look.
"We've gotta have some fun, right, Sean?" Justin said, trying to keep a straight face but clearly on the verge of cracking up.
"What about Neville?" Harry asked, noticing Neville nod shyly.
"Hannah asked me to join," Neville mumbled, avoiding Sean's gaze. "I, um… didn't say no."
"Everyone's in on it?!" Ron said, his excitement growing. Then, with a cautious glance at Sean, he added, "You sure you don't wanna join?"
Justin was laughing so hard he could barely stand, and Hermione turned away, muttering, "Idiot."
"What's so funny? You guys haven't stopped laughing," Ron said, confused.
Harry, equally clueless, nodded in agreement.
Moments like this were rare in the hut. After the Forbidden Forest incident, they'd mostly been buried in revision.
Sean sighed. He'd only just learned they were all in this club. "It's all fake—"
He stopped, suddenly realizing that while the "guardian of good luck" stuff was nonsense, the changes at Hogwarts were tied to him.
"Fake… what?" Ron asked, curious why Sean was so against it.
"Maybe it's real," Sean said, heading out of the Great Hall.
---
After the Castle Spirit Cat Club started its covert operations, a new rumor spread through Hogwarts: a black cat roamed the castle.
It was a rumor-filled April. Though the rain was frequent, the clear days were dry and mild.
On those pleasant nights, Sean slipped into the Forbidden Forest to study prophecy magic with his centaur teacher, Firenze.
At the same time, he was grappling with two problems: prophecy magic was frustratingly vague and hard to master, and improving the Cleansweep broom was proving to be a puzzle.
One night, he ran into the Weasley twins outside the caretaker's office.