A/N: Hope you like, hope you review :)

Disclaimer: No. I don't. I don't own Harry Potter!

Minerva strolled down muggle London, her four paws making no noise as she weaved in between the many passer byes as the morning sun burnt the pavement. She however, was immune to the glaring heat, never truly feeling it when she was a cat. Her pace was quick since she needed to get to her destination soon so as not to be late. As she passed through and around the legs of business people, tourists, families, workers and students, and just beside the zooming, muggle contraptions called cars, she felt quite content and at peace with the world. She had come to realise that while she was in her animagus form she would usually feel happier; she could leave any of her worries or troubles and could instead worry about the basics of life, such as hunger or destination. It was quite a peaceful experience, slipping away from a troubled mind into a satisfied, slightly thirsty or sleepy one. She supposed it was because a cat's mind was much simpler than a human's one, but in reality she could think exactly the same things she would as a human. She could begin thinking about a worrying topic, but she would feel oddly detached if she did, and when she was finished thinking about it, it would slip away from her mind completely, as if no longer present.

Minerva wove around three business men who spoke in very boring tones, around a big group of primary school students on a tour of the city, two women pushing prams and gossiping, a few teenage girls who were sitting on a low wall, chatting excitedly and wearing clothes that revealed more skin than Minerva revealed when going to sleep, a few adults taking many pictures and looking at a map eagerly, and a mother leading a two year old boy, a nine year old girl and a little five year old with blond pigtails and a sticky face. The little girl noticed the grey cat and ran after her, squealing delightedly, 'kitteh, kitteh! I wuv you!'

Minerva tried to get as far away as she could from those chocolate-sticky hands, hearing the mother call out, 'Jenna! Come back!' while the child cried, 'kitteh! Don't goway!'

Feeling that it would be dangerous to lead the young child away from her mother, Minerva turned around and headed back to the mother. The little child doubled back and chased her, until Minerva reached the mother and the child was caught by her. 'Jenna! Don't you ever run away again!' She scolded, and the little girl looked pouted. Minerva turned back around and began heading towards her original destination.

When Minerva came to a very busy road, she stopped, along with some other people who were waiting for the green light. Minerva understood that these cars and muggles had some sort of system where they would stop when the lights changed; it was quite well thought out really. All she had to do was wait along with the muggles for the cars to stop moving and then she would cross the road safely.

The thing was, when the cars stopped moving, and she began to move forward, she was suddenly flung off her feet violently, caught in a tight net from behind, and picked up into the air. She hissed and struggled inside the net, not knowing what to do. Surely she couldn't change back now, not in front of all these muggles! The net was connected to a sort of pole, and a fat man in a weird suit was holding it, carrying it around like it was a normal thing to do, 'caught it Jack!' He said gruffly, and before Minerva knew what was going on, he had brought her into a van that said "animal pound", and thrown her into a small metal cage. He locked it, left the van, closed the doors with a slam, and the place was plunged into total darkness. What in the world was going on? Where was she? Why was she there? How was she going to get out? All these questioned popped into Minerva's mind as the van grumbled and began moving. Firstly, she guessed these muggles thought she was a cat and had captured her to…to? Why the hell would they capture her? Anyway, if she could answer the last question the first few wouldn't matter; How was she going to get out? The metal cage was way too small for a human to fit in, and it would be too dangerous to transform back inside it. Her bones would be crushed and she might die if she tried it. Therefore, the only solution was to wait for someone to let her out. The moment they did, she would change back into a human, and if someone else was present, she would merely obliviate them.

The van drove for about an hour, and Minerva thought about how she was definitely late for her meeting with Dumbledore by now, and wondered when she would get out, as she was starting to grow hungry.

The van jerked to a sudden stop and Minerva was jolted out of her stupor. She waited for a few minutes until finally the van door was slammed open and the bright light blinded Minerva. The fat man who had originally captured her took her cage by a handle on the top and dragged it out of the van, bumping Minerva around. Merlin, she hated this man. He used no care as he carried the cage, and Minerva noticed he also smelled horrible. Eventually, he brought her inside a building named "city pound for stray animals."

Ah, thought Minerva angrily, so they think I'm a stray.

They passed glass doors that opened on their own, and a counter with a bored looking woman who was using a square machine, which Minerva remembered vaguely from muggle studies was called a coputer. The fat man carried her cage into a room farther back, which, she was surprised to see, contained many other cages of cats and dogs. What was this place?

Unfortunately, the man did not take her out of the cage even for a brief moment, he merely left her cage there, among many others, and left the room. She settled down to wait, wondering when, and if, they would let her out. She felt quite ashamed of herself, having lived through a war and yet getting captured by a stupid, fat muggle. Eventually, the sun began to set, and she was, by now, bored out of her mind. And hungry. And tired. Ultimately, after hours of doing nothing, she fell asleep.

'I can pick any of them?' Came a little girl's voice; she seemed eager. Minerva jumped and looked around, remembering with a jolt where she was and what was going on. The sun had risen, she could see from the window; it must be midday.

'Yes, Honey, but choose carefully.' Came a man's voice.

Seconds later, a girl had entered the enclosure, and she began looking around at all the animals. She had very bushy brown hair, and her two front teeth were rather large, she looked about nine or ten. She skipped around, looking at each cat or dog for a few seconds, then moving on. Finally, she reached Minerva and looked at her curiously, then her eyes became wide all of a sudden, 'you aren't a normal cat are you?' She whispered excitedly.

Minerva stared. How could the girl know? She was surely a muggle- why would a witch or wizard come here? Then again, she might be a muggle-born witch, or a half-blood, but still, that explained nothing. Witches and Wizards old and talented didn't know how to distinguish an animagus from a normal animal, so how could this girl know? Unless it was some sort of accidental magic?

Minerva shook her head, interested in the girl's powers. The girl's eyes widened even more, but a smile lit up her face, 'I knew it! But if you aren't a normal cat, then why are you here?'

She couldn't answer that could she? She couldn't speak in animagus form, then again, she probably wouldn't speak to the girl if she could. After all, she wasn't even sure the girl was a witch.

After a few seconds of silence the girl said, 'oh, I see, you can't speak. That makes sense I guess, I'm Hermione by the way, Hermione Granger.'

Minerva nodded, to show she was listening.

'Are you a girl cat, then?' She asked curiously, tilting her head slightly to one side.

Minerva nodded again.

'Well, I'm going to call you… Minnie!' She said eagerly, grinning at the cat, who was staring at the child wide-eyed. How could she know? She was definetaly a witch, although perhaps this was Albus with a Polyjuice potion trying to play a prank on her. But it wasn't really something he would do. More like something James and Siri… she trailed off, her heart filling with lead as it always did when she thought of those two. One betrayed by the other… she would never have thought Sirius Black would do such a thing, it just made absolutely no sense whatsoever… Anyway… How did this child know all this? Did she simply sense it? There had been a few cases of truly extraordinary accidental magic reported over the years, maybe this was one of those cases.

'Would you like to be my pet, Minnie?' The girl enquired eagerly, looking at Minerva happily. Minerva huffed angrily, she was nobody's pet! But then she realised that she of course looked like a cat, and this was her chance to escape, so she nodded. The girl looked delighted, and Minerva felt quite sorry for the child, but she had no choice but to leave her. There were many other cats there anyway, she could choose one of them after she left.

'Daddy! Mummy! I want this one! Her name's Minnie!' Cried the girl happily, nearly jumping up and down with joy. Her parents came over, and the horrible fat man opened her cage door. Hermione took her in her arms, cuddling her softly. It was quite an uncomfortable experience, but Minerva let herself be petted and hugged, deciding to slip away from the girl when they left the building.

All the time the parents signed a few papers and talked a bit about something with the man, Hermione held Minerva tightly and put her cheek on the cat's head, whispering senseless things, such as, 'mummy will buy you a little bed to sleep on, and we can get you a collar, one that says "Minnie"…' It made Minerva feel even more guilty about leaving the girl, but what choice did she have?

'Mum, can she sleep in my room?' Asked Hermione eagerly as they left the building through glass doors.

'Sure, sweety, and let's go buy her a collar now,' answered her mother with a fond smile, ruffling her daughter's hair. Hermione skipped to the car eagerly, waiting for her father to unlock the doors so that she could get in. The moment she tugged open the car door, Minerva slipped out of her grasp, and without a backwards glance sprinted away from the girl and her parents and around the corner. Once she had turned that corner she looked around, realised no muggle was watching, and she transfigured back into a human.

She felt a sudden overwhelming relief when she transformed back; she had never before stayed as a cat for so long, the longest being a few hours. Then her relief was changed to guilt as she saw Hermione running around the corner with her father. She looked terribly upset, and she had tears in her eyes. 'Minnie!' she cried out desperately, 'Minnie, please come back!'

Minerva walked past them, and further away she apparated. The last thing she saw was Hermione wiping away tears while crying out, 'Minnie!'

That night Hermione went up to her room, her eyes red from crying. Her parents had taken her to see a movie and bought her ice cream to get her mind off Minnie, but it hadn't worked. She closed the door behind her and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She wasn't sure why she was so upset over it; she had barely known Minnie. But she had thought Minnie had wanted to be her friend. At school Hermione didn't have friends, so she had been so happy to have found one, but it turned out Minnie didn't want to be her friend either.

Hermione was about to fling herself onto her bed, but before she did she noticed a piece of paper on it. The piece of paper, however, was much thicker and darker than a normal sheet, and it read:

Dear Hermione,

You were right, I'm not a normal cat. And that is why I had to leave. You see, you seemed like a really nice girl to be friends with, and I would have loved to stay, but I can't. How would you feel if you were pulled away from your family and your home and had to start living with a new family and in a new home? I think we might meet again someday, and when we do, we can truly be friends, but for now, we'll have to just remember each other. Thank you for saving me from that cage they were keeping me in. If it weren't for you, I would still be there. So farewell, and we will meet again dear Hermione.

Love,

Minnie.

Hermione smiled happily as she read through it. She suddenly felt so much better than she had in a very long time. Even though this letter could have been written by her parents to cheer her up, Hermione knew it was really Minnie. Somehow, she knew. And the thought that she had saved her Minnie from the cage, and that Minnie had truly wanted to be friends with her made Hermione go to sleep with a smile on her face.

A/N: Next up, Hermione's sorting from Minerva's POV :O Finally they meet again. Only to be uploaded if I get 5 reviews or more ;) Sorry, I just really want the reviews.