Purr
By Cori Finn
Rating: G
Pairings: Don't think there will be any yet
Spoilers: Definitely spoilers for the first book
Disclaimer: sigh. It's not mine, 'cause if it was, I'd be rich. And I'm not. However, if you don't recognize something, then it's mine.
Summary: Draco Malfoy is getting a familiar as a "reward" for receiving his Hogwarts letter. (Not that they didn't think he was going to get one.) A kitten, perhaps, with messy black fur, and green eyes…
Harry Potter was 5. If he were a normal five-year-old, then he would be safely asleep in his little bed; head full of dreams. Harry Potter wasn't a normal five-year-old though. If he were, then this story wouldn't exist. Right at this moment, Harry Potter had just begun the process of freeing himself from the clutches of the Dursleys, forever. That is, if he could just manage to be completely quiet.
It all had begun that morning, in Number Four, Privet Drive. Harry had awoken to the familiar screech of his Aunt Petunia, right in the middle of a recurring dream of flying motorcycles. Harry had dragged his tired body of his cot and made his way to the kitchen to help prepare breakfast to the best of his abilities. Not, being tall enough yet to reach the stove, Aunt Petunia had delegated the task of preparing anything that didn't need to be cooked. His uncle and cousin, Vernon and Dudley respectively, had made their way into the kitchen shortly after breakfast was ready, leaving Harry to retreat to a corner of the kitchen clutching a half burnt slice of toast. The small boy was forced to watch his family consume their food while he nibbled on his scrap. Harry drifted off while he stood, going back to his dream of flying.
"Boy!" The yell jerked Harry back to the present, as he stared fearfully up at his uncle's red face. "Wash the dishes, you little wretch! And do your chores! That list had better be done by the time I get home!" With that, Uncle Vernon lumbered out the door and off to work. Harry, under the watch of Aunt Petunia, quickly and carefully began to wash the dishes. By the time he was done, his arms were tired from the effort. Judging by the glare his Aunt Petunia was giving him, Harry decided that then would be the perfect time to complete his outdoor chores and hurried to the garden. After a morning spent cutting the grass, weeding the flowerbed, and watering the lawn, Harry scurried inside the house for his meager lunch. He then dedicated his afternoon to vacuuming the living room, mopping the kitchen and changing the linens in the beds upstairs. By the time he was finished, Uncle Vernon was back and had announced the arrival of guests for dinner. Harry was shoved into his cupboard with two slices of bread, a thin piece of sandwich meat and a glass of water for dinner. Vernon's guests seemed to be enjoying themselves, as Harry's evening was filled with talking and laughter. Harry did his best to ignore all that though. He had come to the realization, while he was being rushed through his lunch, that his life was not going to get any better. Sitting there in his cupboard that, despite the overall cleanliness, of the house was infested with spiders, Harry decided to leave. He would wait until Vernon's guests left, until Petunia finished her customary wipe down of the kitchen before bed, (she never let Harry near the dinner dishes when the had company as she always used her best china), and until Dudley snuck down for his pre-midnight snack to make his escape. However he planned to go about it though, the most important thing was for no one to notice he was gone. And so Harry waited.
It seemed to take forever for his family to settle into sleep, but finally, the house was quiet. Harry eased the door of his cupboard open. Thankfully, it hadn't been locked. Harry had been thinking about it and he'd decided that it would be best if he left out the back door. Harry looked back at his home for the last four years and was completely surprised to see a copy of himself lying on his pitiful excuse for a bed. He quickly shrugged it off, reasoning that if he were still there, then no one would know that he wasn't. Harry made his way out the backdoor of Number Four, Privet Drive and shut it firmly behind him. He had no worries now. Except for getting as far away from Surrey as he could. It wouldn't do for people to notice two Harry Potters walking around. "Meow." Harry jerked back to his surroundings. He hadn't even noticed that he was walking by his babysitter's house and had almost walked into one of Mrs. Figg's cats. Making his way to the park to spend the night, Harry's thoughts were on how to make himself look different. As he settled down behind some bushes, fatigue caught up to him and his mind wandered. The last thought Harry had before drifting off was the sheer number of cats Mrs. Figg from down the street seemed to have.
A/N: Hi, I'm Cori. This is my first fic and is really only an idea. I would appreciate if you could help me out with some pointers. Also, if someone could help me out with this thing, I'm getting a headache as I'm pretty sure that I just deleted my story by accident. I'm sorry if I did because then I lost some reviews that were very helpful. So, this chapter is dedicated to my first five reviewers. Thank you for your help.