I pushed open the door to the compartment. Five faces looked at me with surprise evident on their faces. They seemed to have been in deep conversation.
"Could I sit here? Everywhere else is full." I asked quietly, feeling a myself go a little red.
"Sure." A pretty girl with curly brown hair replied. She patted the seat next to her, closest to the door.
"Thanks." I sat after closing the compartment door.
"Why don't I know you?" She asked.
"I'm new." I replied nervously. The girl smiled at me but the other people looked at me with curious hesitation.
"Did you transfer from another school?" She asked cautiously. Her brown eyes shining from the light of the sun.
"No, I've never been to school before. I guess starting in fifth year will be tough." I mused quietly.
"Well, I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ginny Weasley." She motioned to the red head sat behind her. "This is Harry Potter, Blaise Zambini and Draco Malfoy." She pointed out the three sat across from us starting with the black haired boy next to the window.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Iggy." I said in pleasant response.
A big orange cat leapt into Hermione's lap and hissed at me. I swallowed the hiss in my throat and leapt backwards, slamming my head against the wall.
"Jeez." I said rubbing my head and seeing stars.
"Settle down Crookshanks." Hermione cooed at the cat, petting it until it laid down on her lap.
"Are you okay?" Blaise asked leaning forwards.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry I can leave. I didn't realise there was a cat in here." I said nervously trying to hide my big fluffy creamy white tail whilst getting up to leave.
"No, stay." The blond haired boy Draco touched my hand to get my attention.
"Um, okay." I said cautiously sitting back down. Crookshanks' ears were almost flat against his head. "I guess he might take a few minutes to decide I'm not a threat."
Hermione passed Crookshanks to Ginny in an effort to put distance between the two of us.
"So, are you fourteen Iggy?" Blaise asked, looking up from the book open in his lap.
"I don't know." I said awkwardly. I really didn't want fifty questions. Most of them I couldn't answer anyway. I supposed that all of the boys looked a lot older than me but maybe that's just because I was small.
"Harry, have you heard from Ronald?" Hermione interrupted, sensing my unease at the question.
"Not a word. Mr Weasley is staying at the joke shop to help Fred and Andromeda is staying at the Burrow. I think we'll hear from him soon." Harry consoled.
"How long does the train take?" I asked. I wasn't sure why I had to take the train at all but it had been insisted upon.
"Five more hours." Hermione replied.
I pulled my bag up onto my lap and curled my legs under me, leaning my sore head against the wall. Chatter started up in the compartment but I didn't hear a word. I zoned out, sleeping with one eye open.
I was only brought from my sleepy stupor when the three boys stood up and began changing into their robes. I turned to face Hermione and Crookshanks instantly crawled into my lap and began purring like a motor.
"I think he decided he likes you after all." Hermione smiled.
"It's a good job too, Crookshanks is one smart cat." Harry admitted begrudgingly whilst trying to pull a jumper over his head.
"I'll bet." I replied, skritching gently at Crookshanks ears. The girls quickly changed, facing away from the boys and I sat tight, feeling like the odd one out. I already had my school clothes on to avoid awkward questions. My head looked relatively normal if you could overlook the cat ears, in fact most of me looked fairly normal if you ignored the furry tail and ears. My paws were also very much paws, not hands.
"I wonder if you'll be sorted into a house?" Ginny asked.
"Cara told me about the houses. She said the headmistress told her they only sort first years." I answered. I didn't want to admit how worried I was to these strangers. Luckily before anyone could respond the train rumbled to a stop.
I pulled my bag onto my back and hurried out of the compartment and from the train. I'd purposefully picked a compartment next to a door because Cara had said to hurry off and meet her. I looked around frantically as people piled from the train before I spotted her at the end of the platform stood in the darkness. I shot between the students and even pushed between some until I reached her.
"Let's go." Cara said quietly and began walking.
"Aren't we riding the carriages?" I asked watching the older students head for them.
"No. You stay out in the cold that long your toes will be dropping off. You have to be extra careful Iggy. Come on." The sandy blonde haired woman replied. I followed her around the corner and she grabbed hold of my wrist tightly. In one stomach lurching step I was inside a warm room.
"Are we in the castle?" I asked, hoping the queasiness in my stomach would pass.
"Yep. They built a new tower. It's for eighth years, new staff and new students like you. " Cara said cheerfully.
"Like me? There isn't anyone like me." I retorted.
"Watch your tone." Cara said, walking over to her desk and moving things around.
"Fine." I looked around. "So this room is ours?" I asked.
"Technically you have a bed in the dorm. I don't think you sleeping there is a good idea though." I knew that meant I didn't really have a choice in the matter. "Are you hungry?"
"Someone said something about a feast." I commented.
"Hogwarts has a good reputation but I don't think you need parading in front of the whole school." Cara said snidely whilst pulling something from her bag.
"Your confidence in this place is overwhelming." I said, looking around. "A crib, you really expect me to sleep in a crib?"
"No, I don't expect you to sleep in it. I expect you to insist on sleeping in my bed and hog the whole duvet." She smiled.
"You have that right." I quipped.
"Here." Cara said, passing me a bottle of milk. "You need help?" She asked.
"Nope." I replied, sitting on the trunk at the end of her bed with the milk clutched in my paws.
"Did you eat on the train?" She questioned.
"I slept pretty much the whole way." I admitted. "Did you manage to do whatever it is you were supposed to be doing?" I asked.
"I had a long meeting with the headmistress." Cara admitted back, sitting on the end of the bed behind me.
"Let me guess. I'm not magical anymore, simply an experiment gone wrong." I said sarcastically and yet expecting her to agree.
"McGonagall has more optimism than the two of us. Since I'll be teaching defence against the dark arts though, it makes sense that you at least try the classes." Cara pondered.
"They can't ship me off to stay with another Auror?" I asked cautiously.
"Is that what you want?" She asked curiously. I took a second to think, Cara could be a pain in the butt but I was sure others could be way worse.
"No."
"Then shut up and drink your milk." She took the bottle from my paws and held it to my mouth. I drank deeply.
After dinking the milk, Cara agreed to show me the floors below us. We had the attic room of the tower with big skylights. Down one floor was the girls dorm room. We went inside. It was much like the room upstairs but housed two beds not one.
"So, one of these beds is for me?" I asked curiously looking around at the empty half of the room.
"You're supposed to be sharing with a student called Hermione Granger. She is the only girl returning for her eighth year here." Cara said quietly as she walked over to the desk. "I suppose you could still work in here if you wanted to."
"I met her on the train." I piped up quickly. "She has a cat." I thought. "How am I supposed to do any work? I can't even write."
"You know what? I don't know. I suppose you'll have to dictate your homework." Cara mused.
"I really don't know what that means." I commented. Cara looked up at me.
"Sometimes I forget." She said earnestly.
"That I'm not very smart?" I asked.
"No. That I've only had you for five weeks." Cara half smiled, walking over to me and touching the side of my face.
"If it's any consolation, it's felt like an eternity to me." I quipped. She laughed.
"I hope that's a good thing Iggy." She replied light heartedly.
"Of course." I mused. I wanted to reminisce a little but the door opened suddenly as I opened my mouth to speak.
"Oh sorry. I was just eager to see the new dorm room and I need some books from my trunk." Hermione stopped in her tracks though Crookshanks ran in and hopped up onto her bed, settling himself on the pillows.
"Nice to meet you Miss Granger." Cara initiated.
"Hi, erm, Professor?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Lee, Auror Cara Lee. Though I expect it'll be Professor Lee to students, I'll be teaching Defence against the dark arts." Cara responded confidently.
"Wow, well good luck." Hermione said nervously.
"I know about the posts unlucky run. The minister for magic decided an Auror would best suit the post, best chance of surviving the year and I fitted the bill the best." Cara assured her.
"Should we go back upstairs?" I asked Cara, feeling like she was saying too much.
"You're welcome to join us in the common room Iggy. Harry and Blaise are having a heated game of wizards chess." Hermione offered. I stayed silent. I wanted to go to join in and try to make friends but I wasn't sure that Cara would say yes.
"You can go if you want Iggy. I'll come check on you in a little while." Cara astounded me.
"Okay." I replied and followed Hermione out of the room, down two sets of stairs and into the big common room.
I quickly settled onto a sofa next to Hermione. Harry and Blaise played on the centre table and Draco sat on a sofa opposite drinking creamy coloured liquid from a glass tumbler.
"So Iggy, we never got to ask on the train. How come you have a tail?" Draco sneered.
"Rude much Malfoy." Hermione snarled at him.
"It's not exactly hard to work out, I'm part cat. But you know, if you stare at me a little harder you might notice that I have sharp claws as well as a tail." I retorted. Harry and Blaise laughed but Draco's cheeks turned slightly pink.
"Ask him how his mummy and daddy are holding up in Azkaban, that'll shut him up." Blaise commented. Draco rose and swiftly headed up the stairs without a word.
"What happened to not being judgmental asses?" Hermione asked the boys.
"I never said a word." Harry replied aghast.
"I.. I may have taken it too far." Blaise said unsure.
"Go fix it. Both of you. I expect we should all be getting to bed soon really." Hermione said.
"But Hermione.." Harry started.
"You know as well as I do that Draco has gone through as much as any of us. He might be a complete and utter moron but that's no reason to upset him." Hermione delivered her argument convincingly, waving her arms around.
"Fine." Both the boys chimed and headed up the stairs.
"What's on your arm?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, erm, it's just a scar." Hermione said pulling her sleeve down over it. It looked like writing but I wasn't certain.
"So, are you all very good at magic?" I asked trying to change to a subject she may be less agitated by.
"We're all quite different but I suppose yes. Although with magic there is always a lot more to learn and everyone improves with practise. Have you done magic before? It must be difficult to hold a wand with paws." Hermione smiled to show that she didn't mean anything untoward by the comment.
"I can't hold a wand. I haven't really done any magic. Sometimes.. Sometimes I can break things without touching them. Cara said that counts but I'm not so sure." I said hesitantly.
"It's magical energy. When Harry turned eleven, he set a snake on his cousin Dudley at the zoo." Hermione told me in a reassuring manner.
"Didn't you do anything like that?" I asked curiously.
"No. Being muggle born I'm not sure I'd have recognised it if I had. I was very fast at learning though once I knew I was a witch. I'd always been very eager to learn." Hermione said.
"Cara has had me reading a lot of books to catch up. I told her they should just put me in first year but they won't." I replied.
"Well, I don't mind helping you a little if I can although I expect I'll have a very busy schedule this year. I've been asked to teach first year transfiguration." Hermione offered.
"It's okay, Cara said she'll help me to catch up." I reassured. Just then Cara's feet began walking down the stairs into the common room.
"I can feel my ears burning." She mused as she reached the bottom of the stairs wearing her blue pyjamas.
"Why would your ears be burning?" I asked.
"It's an expression. For when someone is talking about you." Cara replied.
"Huh." I puzzled.
"C'mon Munchkin, time for bed." She said motioning up the stairs. I got up and Hermione followed. When we reached the landing two floors up Hermione turned into the dorm room.
"Good night." Hermione said quietly.
"I never thought. Are you okay sleeping in there alone?" Cara asked Hermione. Hermione grimaced.
"I can't remember the last time I spent the night in a room alone. I might go sleep in with the boys, or I suppose I could go over to Gryffindor tower and sleep with Ginny." Hermione mused nervously.
"Why don't you change and then come upstairs. Iggy has a bed upstairs but chances are she's going to refuse to sleep in it." Cara offered. I smiled in agreement. There wasn't an ounce of chance I was sleeping alone without putting up a giant fight.
"If you're sure." Cara nodded. "Okay." Agreed Hermione.
Cara headed up the stairs and I followed. By the time I got through the door to our room the crib had already been turned into a bed for Hermione.
"Come over here quick. Let's get you changed before she comes up." Cara said. I hurried over and let her change me because it was much faster than me trying to help. My claws were great at snagging fabric.
"Cara, am I supposed to go to classes tomorrow?" I asked when she sat me on the bed by the pillows.
"Some. Are you nervous?" Cara asked. I was but I didn't want to admit it.
"Can't I just stay with you?" I asked hopefully. Hermione came in after knocking gently on the door. She got into bed and began reading a book she brought under the light of the lamp.
"Not all the time Iggy." Cara said quietly and she got into bed. She sat up against the pillows and started pulling me onto her lap.
"No." I wriggled, embarrassed that Hermione was in the room.
"Shh." Cara cooed and placed the milk bottle to my lips. I stubbornly wouldn't drink. "Two options. Drink your milk or throw a crying fit and end up drinking the milk anyway. Your choice." Tears formed in my eyes but I began drinking slowly from the bottle. Cara pulled me closer to her and I didn't fight it, not wanting to cause a scene. I looked over at Hermione. She was buried deep in her book. Cara turned my head back to face her and resume drinking the milk. When I finished Cara sat me up against her and rubbed my back soothingly. I was asleep in a matter of seconds.
I woke up to see Hermione quietly packing her back for the day, already dressed in her school robes. Cara was still asleep so I carefully untangled myself from her arm and hopped down from the bed and smacked my head on the floor.
"Argh. Crap. Not a cat." I yowled lying on the floor rubbing my head. Hermione rushed over.
"Are you okay?" I nodded and she helped me to my feet.
"What are you guys doing?" Cara rolled over to look at us with sleepy eyes. "Let me guess. You thought you were a cat?" She said sitting up.
"Does this happen a lot?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Not that often." I mused, feeling dizzy.
"By not that often Iggy means pretty much every morning. Which is why I try to get her to sleep in a crib, but she refuses. Of course." Cara said like it was all my fault.
"How would you like it if I told you that you had to sleep in a crib every night?" I asked sceptically.
"Which is why I don't force you to." Cara said lightly.
"I don't think I would do it." Hermione said quietly. I meowed in response. Hermione laughed. "In my second year there was an.." She looked at Cara. "An incident. I took polyjuice potion with cat hair in it by mistake. Polyjuice potion isn't meant for use with animals and I got stuck part cat for weeks and weeks. I could also meow perfectly. It was the only part I missed afterwards." She smiled fondly at the memory.
"That's kind of awesome. I think I used to be more cat, not less though." I mused.
"Sometimes I wonder if Crookshanks used to be a person." Hermione puzzled.
Cara slid down off the bed.
"Come 'ere Munchkin. Let's get you dressed and ready for the day." Cara pulled school robes from the bottom drawer next to her. I sat down in front of her.
"My wrist really hurts, I think I landed on it funny." I whined. She pulled off my pyjama top and examined my wrist. "Oww." I cried as she flexed it. She turned it back and forth and pressed gently.
"It's not broken." She said getting up and going through her trunk.
"You have a dark mark?" Hermione asked.
"You mean the stupid snake skull thing that always itches? Yes." I moaned.
"Hermione. She doesn't understand what it is, she didn't get it by choice." Cara piped up.
"Oh, sorry." Hermione said and quickly dashed from the room.
Cara returned to me with a bandage and pulled it onto my wrist.
"Try keep weight off of it. It's probably sprained." Cara said and finished changing me into school robes. I wished she would just fix it with magic but Cara told me often that things are better healed the old fashioned way. I wasn't sure that was a great saying because magic had been around for centuries. At least, that's what it said in the history of magic book.
"Do you know more about the dark mark than you told me?" I asked Cara curiously.
"Hm. I suppose if I don't tell you someone else here will. It's the mark of a very dark wizard. We always thought that only his closest followers were given the mark. You don't need to be afraid though, the wizard was killed weeks before I got you." She said and found clothes for herself.
"The.. The people you took me from. Some of them had the same thing." I commented. I still didn't really understand. Why would a bad wizard want to mark me?
"Yes and I killed them. Those people can't get you." She reassured me whilst pulling clothes on.
"I know, I saw it. And you know, you looked way more badass in the leather jacket and hoodie than you do in that awful suit." I teased. She went over to look in the mirror.
"You know what. You are so right. I don't know what I was thinking." She pulled off the suit and began pulling on other clothes from her trunk. Once dressed she began sorting out her bag and mine.
"Do you think Hermione won't like me anymore because I have the mark?" I asked Cara. I got up carefully and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I think she likes you exactly the same, it was just a surprise is all. Hermione fought in the war against the dark wizard. She killed people, the boys in the tower too. Though, I think the blond boy has a mark." Cara said fumbling around.
"Why isn't he dead?" I asked anxiously.
"He was just a scared, confused boy. Influenced by his family into joining the wrong side."
"Okay." I said nervously. He'd been the one to ask invasive questions.
"Iggy, he isn't going to hurt you." Cara reassured.
"That's good. I'm clumsy enough on my own." I tried to joke but my heart really wasn't in it. The blond boy, Draco. He was like the men who kept me in a cage and hurt me.
Cara sat down on the bed next to me and pulled me onto her lap.
"I promise you don't need to be scared." I drank deeply from the bottle in her hand and rested my head against her chest. It was a lot of information to process before I'd even had breakfast.
After insisting that I brush my tail (because it's super fluffy and the fur gets really knotty when I let it drag along the floor behind me), Cara finally decided that we should go down to the great hall. She needed breakfast and we both needed our schedules. Luckily it was still early and the hall wasn't too full, according to Cara anyway. To me it looked fuller than a room should ever be. Big long tables with students sat up and down and milling around eating. I didn;t think I'd ever seen so many people in one place. Cara led me right the way up to the staff table with her and she took a seat at the end.
"Should I go sit down there?" I looked nervously outwards.
"No, you can sit here until whoever needs the chair gets back." She motioned to the seat beside her and sat facing me as she ate. I really wanted to ask for some toast but I knew she'd say no. Last time I tried eating something solid I threw up for three days straight. It was awful. She finished up her toast and drank some juice. "Did you have enough milk? I'll find you at lunch time if you aren't already with me to make sure you get milk and a quick nap if you need one." She pulled me forwards onto her lap.
"Ah good. I wus just about ter ask yer if I could ave me seat back." A voice boomed. I covered my ears and looked away from the giant man. "Professor Rubeus Hagrid, Care of magical creatures. It's nice ter meet yer." I felt Cara shake his hand.
"Auror Cara Lee. Defence against the dark arts professor." Cara mused. "This is Iggy." She added whilst trying to get me to turn around. "Say hello Iggy, don't be rude."
"Hello." I said into Cara's jacket.
"I 'spect she's feeling a little shy." Hagrid said to Cara.
"First day nerves." Cara added.
"I do hope to see ye in me class Igge." Hagrid commented. I smiled at his mispronunciation of my name.
"I don't know if I take that class." I said to Cara, sitting back a little.
"I don't remember.." Cara started. "Professor McGonagall." Cara acknowledged the tall woman who stood behind me.
"Auror Lee." McGonagall replied in greeting. "And Miss Iggy I see." I turned around to face the woman, trying to put on a brave face. Cara rubbed my back gently as a reassuring presence.
"Hello." I said quietly.
"Timetables. Cara, I tried to keep you last periods as your free periods." She said handing over the timetable.
"Thank you professor." Cara replied.
"Iggy. A little unconventional but you'll take five classes and spend a morning in each per week. Monday, Care of magical creatures. Tuesday, Charms. Wednesday, Transfiguration. Thursday, potions and Friday you will spend the morning in Defence against the dark arts. Each morning should consist of a first year class with the exception of Care of magical creatures and higher level classes. This way you get a breadth of the curriculum. The Professor will walk with you back to the great hall at lunch time to meet with Cara. You'll spend the rest of the day with her. You're exempt from homework until a time in which you're caught up in each subject. It would also be beneficial to learn the history of magic in your own time." Professor McGonagall finished.
"O..Okay." I replied but tears started streaming down my cheeks and I wasn't sure how to stop them.
"A little overwhelmed?" McGonagall asked. I wasn't sure. Cara turned me back around to face her and hugged me close.
"Thank you for the timetables Professor." Cara replied. She stood up and carried me from the hall just before the tears started to get noisy.
By the time we reached the Defence against the dark arts classroom my noisy tears had turned to sniffles. The sofa in the office was quickly turned into a crib. Cara added pillows all the way around and blankets in the middle. I didn't fight when Cara placed me into the crib. Not even when she stood over me and rubbed my back gently until I fell asleep.
Please review if you would like me to write more. Suggestions are welcome! R x