Art and Culture
Wizarding Culture

Frolicsome Feline ornamental plates

“Frolicsome Feline” is a line of decorative, collectible plates featuring moving images of cats and kittens. Dolores Umbridge, who likes anything having to do with kittens except real cats, is a fan (Pm). She decorated her office at Hogwarts with these “foul kittens gambolling around the plates over her head” (OP28).

A kitten on one of the plates had large bright blue eyes similar to the magical eye of Mad-Eye Moody. Harry noticed it when Umbridge was trying to get him to drink tea in her office:

He raised the cup to his lips and then, just as suddenly, lowered it. One of the horrible painted kittens behind Umbridge had great round blue eyes just like Mad-Eye Moody’s magical one and it had just occurred to Harry what Mad-Eye would say if he ever heard that Harry had drunk anything offered by a known enemy.

Harry only pretended to drink the tea, thereby avoiding a dose of Veritaserum (OP28).

Upon Harry's first visit to Umbridges office, the collection of plates made quite an impression:

Now, however, [the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's office] looked totally unrecognisable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolour kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Harry stared at them, transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke again.

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If you're interested in the Muggle version of these precious, darling plates, you might check out the The Plate Lady's site.

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Tags: pink sickening Umbridge Remembrall

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