ARABELLA FIGG & ARGUS FLICH, HEALTH HAZARDS IN CATS

Today, The Weasleys have received the wonderful visit of Hermione Granger.

Hermione Granger has talked them about cats, their stories and their owners. She is the owner of Crookshanks, an amazing cat and she transformed into a cat thanks to a potion. She is always a member of Gryffindor, whose director, Professor Minerva McGonagall's Patronus is a cat. They have discovered this curious animal, the most typical pet in Hogwarts, an animal that has been always surrounded by mystery and magic.

There are some famous cats in Hogwarts and two people who are strongly relationed with them, Arabella Figg and Argus Flich, two Squibs.

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A Squib, also known as a wizard-born, is a non-magical person who is born to at least one magical parent.

Squibs are, in essence, wizard-born Muggles. They are rare and are looked upon with a degree of disdain by some witches and wizards, particularly pure-bloods. Muggle-born witches and wizards are descended from Squibs who married Muggles; the magical ability unexpectedly resurfaces after many generations.

In addition to being born into magical rather than Muggle families, Squibs are different from Muggles by their knowledge of the wizarding world. They are able to see things that are hidden from the Muggles and have access to certain magical objects and creatures that can help them.

Argus Filch, as well as Arabella Figg, have formed wizarding-like relationships with cats that, in the case of the latter, have been cross-bred with Kneazles.

Squibs should also be contrasted with the Muggle relatives of witches and wizards. Muggle parents, siblings or spouses are simply Muggles who happen to know about the magical world.

More information: Wizading World

Mrs Arabella Doreen Figg is a Squib, a dealer of cross-bred cats and kneazles, and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

She lived on Wisteria Walk in Little Whinging, in a house that smelled strongly of cabbage; she also owned and extensively photographed at least four part-kneazle cats, named Mr Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws, and Tufty.

She lived near Harry Potter and the Dursley family, and used to babysit Harry, mainly to keep an eye on him for Albus Dumbledore.

As Dumbledore had believed Harry was too young to understand his place in the wizarding world, Mrs Figg kept her true identity a secret throughout most of Harry's childhood, and he knew nothing about her affiliation to the wizarding world until after he and Dudley Dursley were attacked by dementors.

Mrs Figg supported the Order to the best of her abilities, but probably did not fight at the Battle of Hogwarts. She most likely survived the war and continued cross-breeding and trading part-kneazle cats.

It is possible that she became a member of the Order of the Phoenix in the First Wizarding War, although her most notable contribution to the cause was taking up residence in Little Whinging, most probably on Albus Dumbledore's orders, to keep an eye on young Harry Potter. This may have begun prior to the end of the First War, initially in order to watch over the Dursley family.

Arabella Figg lived in a Muggle community, working undercover for the Order of the Phoenix. Most of her job involved watching Harry Potter and ensuring that no harm came to him from Lord Voldemort.

More information: Wizading World

During times when the Dursley family went on holiday, they left Harry Potter with Mrs Figg, who once gave him an ancient chocolate cake as a treat but most often bored him senseless with pictures of her part-kneazle cats.

She made sure he didn't particularly enjoy his time with her, and took care never to reveal her heritage to either Harry or the Dursleys, to ensure that the Dursleys would not withdraw Harry from her care.

Lord Voldemort returned to power. Informed of Voldemort's return by Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore gave Sirius Black the task of alerting the old crowd of Voldemort's return, including Arabella Figg, Remus Lupin and Mundungus Fletcher.

Despite hearing the name Figg, Harry was unaware that this was the same Mrs Figg he had been neighbours with.

Harry and his cousin Dudley were attacked by dementors in Little Whinging.

Figg sensed the distinct presence of the Dementors and despite, as a Squib, being unable to actually see them, she was still able to describe the Dementors in front of the Wizengamot during Harry's trial. Not trusting Mundungus Fletcher to effectively fulfil his duties of following and protecting Harry, she charged Mr Tibbles with the task, and upon discovering Mundungus had abandoned his post, she eventually tracked Harry and his cousin Dudley down herself, to discover they had just barely survived a dementor attack.

As the three walked back to the Dursleys, with Harry half carrying Dudley, she revealed that she was not a Muggle, as previously believed, but a Squib, and moreover, a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Before returning Harry to Privet Drive, she apologised for the way she had been forced to treat him while he was growing up.

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Mrs Figg was also a witness at Harry's trial before the Wizengamot, regarding his unauthorised use of magic as an underaged wizard. She arrived in her bedroom slippers, and her description of the Dementors was unimpressive, as she described them as big and wearing cloaks. However, she ultimately managed to convince Amelia Bones and various other unbiased members of the Wizengamot with her accurate description of a Dementor's presence.

Despite Cornelius Fudge's attempts to discredit her on the basis of being a Squib, Mrs Figg, along with Albus Dumbledore, managed to persuade the Ministry to clear Harry of all charges.

Arabella Figg is described as a batty old woman with grizzled grey fly away hair, almost always seen wearing a hairnet and tartan carpet slippers. 

In Harry Potter's youth, the Dursleys left him in Mrs Figg's care at least once a year, and during their time together, she had often forced him to look endlessly at photos of all the cats she'd ever owned.

Figg may be variation of a fig, a fruit-bearing tree. In Biblical times, the fig tree was important to Roman and Hebrew cultures as a valuable source of food and medicinal ingredients, and its flowering signified the end of winter.

In addition, fig leaves are associated with concept of a poorly concealed secret, with common usage in classical sculptures and paintings of nudes. This may be a reference to the fact that Mrs Figg is a Squib concealing herself as a Muggle, which was arguably poorly done, given her reputation of being quite eccentric.

In Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot thriller The Clocks a Mrs Hemming with an equal fascination of cats has a young kitten named Arabella, which may be a likely inspiration.

Another possibility for the name Arabella may be from the classic car of the main character sitcom Nanny and the Professor, the main charcter Phoebe Figalily, herself a magical being.

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Mr Tibbles was a part-kneazle cat owned by Arabella Figg. He appeared to have the ability to communicate with humans, as he was able to inform his owner when Harry and his cousin, Dudley Dursley, were attacked by two Dementors.

The name Tibbles is spelling variant of Tibbals and means son of Tibbal which is an English form of the name Theobald. The name is deriving from the Old High German first name Dietbald which means people+bold.

Tibbles and the variant Tibby became popular cat names in the Middle Ages due to popularity of the cat Tibert in the Reynard the Fox stories. The character Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet was named after Tibert and is mocked in the play as the Prince of Cats.

Mr Paws was one of Mrs Figg's part-Kneazles. The other three were Mr Tibbles, Snowy and Tufty.

Harry Potter saw it, or possibly its picture, when he went to stay with Mrs Figg when Dudley got to go to places on his birthday.

Harry found a hard time being remorseful when Mrs Figg broke her leg after reminding himself that it would be a while before he had to see Mr Tibbles, Snowy, Tufty and Mr Paws again.

Tufty was one of Mrs Figg's part-Kneazle cats. The other three were Mr Tibbles, Snowy and Mr Paws.

Harry Potter saw it, or possibly its picture, when he went to stay with Mrs Figg when Dudley got to go to places on his birthday. Harry found a hard time being remorseful when Mrs Figg broke her leg after reminding himself that it would be a while before he had to see Mr Tibbles, Snowy, Tufty and Mr Paws again.

Snowy was one of Arabella Figg's pet cats. The other three were Mr Tibbles, Mr Paws and Tufty. Whenever Harry Potter got sent to her house on the Dursleys orders, she would show him pictures of all her cats, which he did not find terribly entertaining. Most likely, they were actually Kneazles or part Kneazles.

More information: Wizarding World

Dumbledore's orders.

I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too young.

I'm sorry I gave you such a miserable time, Harry,

but the Dursleys would never have let you come

if they'd thought you enjoyed it. It wasn't easy, you know...

Arabella Figg

Argus Filch is a Squib and the caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Filch usually wandered around the school corridors with his cat Mrs Norris, trying to catch students breaking the school rules and complaining about Peeves the Poltergeist.

After Mrs Norris was petrified by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, Filch was furious; however, his cat was healed by the end of the year. When Dolores Umbridge became High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, Filch gladly supported her. The next year, he was responsible for recognising Dark objects that were brought into Hogwarts.

Filch helped the students evacuate during the Battle of Hogwarts and participated in the battle himself. He kept his job of caretaker after the Second Wizarding War.

Filch is also the only one of the Hogwarts staff to stay at Hogwarts Castle during the summer holidays.

Little is known about Filch's early life. He was born to at least one wizard parent somewhere in the British Isles. Despite his magical parentage, Filch was a Squib, meaning he could not perform magic.

Filch joined the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, succeeding Apollyon Pringle as Caretaker.

Filch waged a constant war against the students and Peeves, the school's resident poltergeist. He disliked the students and constantly hassled them over the littlest infraction and took delight in the doling out of detention-worthy write-ups.

Filch had already filled at least one thousand and fifty-six boxes with punishment records.

Filch frequently patrolled the hallways at night-time, hunting down students wandering out of bed and looking for excuses to give them detentions. In his years as Caretaker, Filch learned all about the Castle's secret passageways and hidden doors better than anyone but the Weasley twins and the Marauders.

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Filch lived in a dingy and windowless office containing filing cabinets with detailed records of all the students Filch had disciplined. A highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind Filch's desk. He always begged Headmaster Albus Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.

Filch did many write-ups of James Potter and Sirius Black, occasionally accompanied by the names of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

Filch, probably on a tip-off from Severus Snape, whose obsession it had become to expose his arch-rival, James Potter in wrongdoing, confiscated the Marauder's Map after the Marauders over-reached themselves and were cornered.

Filch stored the map in a cabinet marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. Although Filch was a Squib and could not make the map work properly, he did know that it was called the Marauder's Map.

Filch had Mrs Norris, his cat, following Rubeus Hagrid every time he went up into the Castle.

Filch and Mrs Norris found the cursed ice. Suspecting it was linked to the Cursed Vaults, he was about to report to Dumbledore, but spotted Professor Severus Snape first and told him instead. He brought the Professor to the corridor where he found the ice.

During this time, the Marauder's Map was stolen from his office by a thief that he suspected to be Peeves. The Map was later brought back to Filch's office and kept there until Fred and George Weasley nicked it during their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after being hauled to his office for letting off a Dungbomb in a corridor.

During the Start-of-Term Feast, Filch stood by the double doors leading to the Great Hall as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore gave his start-of-term notices.

Argus Filch was a rheumatic man with hunched-shoulders and a hunchback. He had a horrible, pouchy and pasty face and bulging, pale eyes, along with sunken, veined cheeks. He had long hair with a bald spot on the top of his head and quivery jowls. 

Skinny-ankled, Filch would usually wheeze and shuffle when walking. He had knobbly hands and whenever he got the flu, a bulbous and unusually purple nose.

The name Argus comes from Greek mythology, where it was the name of a giant with one hundred eyes who served the goddess Hera as a watchman, much like Mr Filch's role in patrolling the hallways of Hogwarts.

His surname, Filch, is an English word meaning to steal, usually in a sneaky manner.

Mrs Norris was the pet cat of Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Mrs Norris was described as having an unusually strong connection with her master, alerting him to any students misbehaving inside the school grounds.

She was described as appearing almost the same way as Filch, with bulging yellow, lamp-like eyes, a scrawny, skeletal body and dust-coloured fur.

Mrs Norris was born sometime prior, and become the pet cat of the Hogwarts school caretaker, Argus Filch. She formed an unusually strong bond with her owner, and often alerted him to any misbehaving students almost instantly. Because of this, she along with Filch were widely loathed by most of the Hogwarts student body, and many students had the urge to give her a good kick.

Rowling said she obtained the name Mrs Norris from a character in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, who is similarly odious and is hanging around in the background a lot.

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What's going on here? What's going on? 

My cat! My cat!

What's happened to Mrs Norris? 

You! You! You've murdered my cat!

You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!

Argus Filch

A cat is a small, furry domesticated mammal of the feline family which is used in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds as a pet.

Cats are sometimes kept as pets of witches and wizards.

Students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are allowed to bring cats, among owls and toads, as a permitted pet at the school.

Cats are also able to interbreed with Kneazles, and generally have up to eight kittens in every litter. Some wizards and witches make a living by breeding Kneazles or part-Kneazles. Arabella Figg, a Squib, made her living in this manner.

It is a possible corporeal form of the Patronus Charm. Minerva McGonagall's Patronus is a cat. There are also Animagi wizards and witches, some of whom can assume the form of a cat.

Black Cats make loyal, charming pets.

Black Cat is a type of cat, commonly recognised by of its black fur. It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed.

Black Cats are one of several species of cats available at Magical Menagerie on Diagon Alley. One could purchase one for 9 Galleons.

Black Cats are popularly associated with folklore; for instance, in Great Britain and in Ireland, black cats are a symbol of good luck. However in both Slavic and Italian folklore it is believed that black cats cause bad luck when one sees it pass across one's way.

Ginger Cats are allowed at Hogwarts,

and often keep students company throughout their studies.

Ginger Cat is a coat-colour of cat, commonly recognised by its ginger fur. It is a possible corporeal form of the Patronus Charm.

Ginger Cat is one of several colours of cats available at Magical Menagerie on Diagon Alley. One can be purchased for 9 Galleons.

With its striking eyes, elegant frame and triangular pointed features, the Siamese Cat is seen by some as the most attractive 

in the feline family.

Siamese Cat is one of the first distinctly recognised breeds of Oriental cat. The breed originated in Thailand, formerly known as Siam.

Siamese Cats are one of several species of cats available at Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. One could purchase it for 11 Galleons.

The Tabby Cat has a distinctive patterned coat

which can have grey,brown or red stripes.

A Tabby Cat is any cat that has a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, lines or swirling patterns, usually together with a mark resembling an M on its forehead. Tabbies are sometimes erroneously assumed to be a cat breed.

Tabby Cat is one of several types of cats available at Magical Menagerie on Diagon Alley. One can purchase it for 9 Galleons.

Minerva McGonagall, former Transfiguration teacher and Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was an Animagus that could morph into a Tabby Cat.

These felines often have bright blue eyes which stand

out beautifully from their snowy white fur.

White Cat is a type of cat, commonly recognised by its pure white fur. Some white cats suffer from congenital deafness caused by degeneration of the inner ear.

White Cat is one of several species of cats available at Magical Menagerie on Diagon Alley. One can purchase it for 9 Galleons.

A Ocicat is a breed of small cat and one possible corporeal form of the Patronus Charm.

A Russian Blue Cat is a breed of cat and one possible corporeal form of the Patronus Charm.

More information: Wizarding World 

He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met.
(Sirius Black's acknowledgement of Crookshanks' advanced intelligence)

Crookshanks is Hermione Granger's pet cat. He was half-Kneazle, as evidenced by his lion-like appearance, ability to solve problems on his own without aid or teaching, and clear dislike of and ability at recognising untrustworthy persons, even if they are transfigured.

Crookshanks was purchased from Magical Menagerie by Hermione Granger. The saleswoman from whom she had purchased him stated that he had been in the shop for a long time as nobody wanted him.
 

During the height of the Second Wizarding War, Crookshanks stayed at the the Burrow. It is unknown what happened to him after the war, but it can be assumed that he was returned to Hermione.

Crookshanks was purchased by Hermione Granger from the Magical Menagerie, who had originally gone there seeking an owl. The proprietor informed Hermione that he had been there for quite some time, and that nobody wanted him. 

Hermione took Crookshanks to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with her and he was present on the train when dementors boarded in search of Sirius Black. 

Perhaps because he was half-kneazle, the newly-adopted cat demonstrated the ability to detect frauds masquerading as animals, most notable of which being Animagi.

Crookshanks attacked Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form of Scabbers, Ron's beloved pet rat when Ron took him in as he was looking unwell after the Weasley family's trip to Egypt. Afterwards, Crookshanks sought Scabbers out even attacking him in Ron's presence and causing the rat to seek hiding places.

The name Crookshanks seems to refer to the cat's bandy legs, from crook, meaning a bend, and shank, a term for the lower part of the legs. It is likely to be derived from the Scottish surname Cruikshanks, which is pronounced in exactly the same way

George Cruikshank was a well-known British illustrator in the 1800s and illustrated Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, the first of the famous orphan novels that influenced J. K. Rowling as she came up with the character Harry Potter.

More information: Screen Rant

Clever Crookshanks,
did you catch that all by yourself?

Hermione Granger