Hey, everyone! Lara-chan here with her first dive into the Harry Potter fandom. Hope you enjoy! Reviews and flames alike are quite welcome and will win you chapter 2!! Hope you like the story
Title: 9 Lives for Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 due to occasional strong/suggestive language, only when appropriate
Disclaimer: All characters affiliated with the Harry Potter series are property of J.K. Rowling and Scholastic Press
Summary: Harry has a problem… a furry problem… Somehow, he ends up in the body of Hermione's favorite cat, Crookshanks! But no magic is going to save him this time! H/Hr, R&R please!
He couldn't sleep.
Not that this was anything terribly unusual. Just, usually when he couldn't sleep it was for reasons like a painful pulsating scar, or a convict hovering over his friend's bed, or a dream about any number of nasty things that could happen to him the following morning. But tonight....
Harry sighed and put his hands behind his head. He looked up at the stone ceiling in his chamber and tried to concentrate on Neville's throaty snoring coming from the other side of the room… anything to push the thought of her out of his mind…
But every time he closed his eyes, a picture flashed before him, a picture of a certain bushy brown haired girl smiling against a backdrop of autumn leaves.
Herm.
Hermy.
Mione.
Herm-one-ninny.
Mrs. Hermione Potter.
Good God, this was getting slightly pathetic. 'Well, Potter,' Harry thought to himself, 'you've successfully talked yourself out of another nights sleep…' And it was true. Ever since second year began, Harry had gone bonkers for his best friend, but had never been able to rack up the courage to tell her. No, no, telling her would be much too easy. Might as well just let it eat him from the inside out instead…
He gave himself another mental smack for his cowardice while one of his hands groped around on his bedside table for his glasses. Swinging his feet onto the cold floor, he grabbed a blanket out of his trunk, making his way down to the common room to stare meaninglessly into the fire until sunrise.
Once in the common room, he plopped down on one of the numerous couches, checked the time to the grandfather clock in the corner, 2:00 on the nose, and draped the blanket around his sho-
Wait a minute…
"Bloody hell!" he mumbled under his breath as he noticed that he had grabbed his invisibility cloak by mistake… not exactly something you'd wanna cuddle up to…
Now, Hermione, on the other hand, she would be quite cuddly…
'Once again, Potter, your dirty thoughts have succeeded in turning your brain to tapioca…' He mentally chided while running a hand through his hair, glad that no one could hear what he was thinking.
On the other hand, though, he did wonder what she was doing right now…
And then, slowly, ever so slowly, a voice emerged from the back of his mind. An impish voice, something of a cross between Padfoot and Prongs whispered to him. His eyes fell on the invisibility cloak in his hands.
It wouldn't hurt to take a quick peek, would it? He could throw the invisibility cloak on, sneak up the stairs, and be back down in thirty seconds…
It wasn't like he wanted to do anything to her! He…he just wanted to see her sleeping, that's all, wizard's honor…
Harry's mind continued rationalizing, convincing him that it was not, under 'certain circumstances', wrong or creepy to break into a girl's dorm and hover over the girl you were in love with when she slept.
He chuckled silently to himself as he draped the cape over one arm and sauntered over to the girl's staircase. Picking one foot up, he was about to set it down on the bottom step when-
"Harry Potter shouldn't do that, sir!"
Harry wheeled around and strained his eyes to see into the shadows. "Who's there?" he spat, digging in his pajama pockets for his wand.
"Harry Potter will put one foot on the bottom stairs and the whole staircase will turn into a slide for Harry Potter. Harry Potter will slide right down and make a big crash, sir!" a little creature stepped out from behind one of the overstuffed chairs, his pointy ears sticking out funnily from one of Hermione's hand-knit S.P.E.W. hats.
Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Dobby. Thank God." For a minute, he thought he had been in real trouble. But Dobby was right, he had forgotten the girls stairs turned into a slide whenever a boy tried to go up it.
Dobby skirted over towards him, shifting excitedly back and forth. "Dobby can help Harry Potter, sir!"
Harry cringed as he thought about all the other times Dobby had tried to 'help' him. Almost all of them resulted in someone losing an appendage…or worse. "No, no, Dobby, that's ok, I really don't need to get up there that badly..."
"Harry Potter wants to see miss? Dobby will help Harry Potter, sir!" with that, Dobby grabbed Harry's hand and pulled Harry's face within an inch of his. "All Harry Potter has to do is," Dobby glanced around the room to make sure no one else was listening, "ta…st…wo…a….me…"
Harry looked puzzled. "Er…What was that, Dobby, can't hear a thing you're saying." Dobby leaned closer to Harry's ear and whispered, ever so softly.
"Take……the steps……two……at a time…"
"T-that's it? That's the big 'magic' that keeps boys out of the girl's dorms?"
The house elf nodded his head so furiously that his cap almost came off. "Good luck with miss, Harry Potter sir!" and with that, Dobby retreated into the shadows again.
Harry turned back to the stairs, feeling a bit less sure than before. "Er…" Something in the back of his brain was telling him that advice from Dobby was just about as good as advice from death. But, his passions held out in the end. "Well, can't live forever I suppose."
He took a step.
Skipped one.
Took a step.
Paused. Listened for the creak that meant the steps were flattening out about to send him spiraling downwards towards the cobblestone and a gruesome end. Nothing.
Wait, nothing?
Took another step. Still nothing! His confidence rose as he sprinted up the last remaining sixteen steps and only when he was standing on the landing above did he realize that he had actually made it!
Harry wheeled around and grabbed the doorknob of a great wooden door marked with a giant golden 6. Ever so slowly, while gathering the invisibility cloak about him, he eased the door open and crept in, shutting it quickly behind him.
Turning around slowly, he surveyed the scene.
A thin slant of moonlight fell across the floor from an open window at one corner of the room. The wind coming in from the window was lightly ruffling the curtains hanging on the four-poster beds. Harry tuned his ears to a monotonous droning noise coming from one side of the room. He searched around in the dark, trying to find where it was coming from, only to lay eyes upon a very sleepy, very snoring, slightly drooling, Lavender hanging halfway off of her bed.
He quickly clasped a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh…if only the school knew… Lavender, pretty little perfect knock-your-socks-off-for-a-bit-of-gossip Lavender, snores like an ogre when she sleeps! On second thought, accented by the drool hanging off her lips, she kind of looks like an ogre when she sleeps, too…
'Now,' Harry thought to himself, 'Which…which bed would be hers?' He hadn't exactly anticipated this problem yet. Actually, he hadn't really anticipated getting any farther than the landing anyways. Harry made a mental note to get Dobby something BIG for Christmas.
Suddenly, his attention was redirected to the slant of moonlight. His eyes followed it to where it hit the foot of a bed that was on the far wall, illuminating a stack of books: 6th Year Arithmancy, Advanced Potions for Everyday Usage, The Wide World of Curses and Countercurses, and-
Ah, yes, Hogwarts, A History. That would be hers.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Harry crept across the room to her bed, lifted his hand towards the heavy curtains, and pulled them back.
His breath caught in his throat.
God she was… she was… unexplainable.
Hermione was smiling in her sleep, her hair fanning out across her pillow, one hand resting gently near her face, one hand on a ball of fur that was curled up at her side. Crookshanks.
"Lucky cat," Harry breathed.
He didn't know how long he stood there taking in the rosy glow of her cheeks, or the methodical rising and falling of her breathing, but it was long enough. Slowly, Harry realized it was time he got back to his own dorm room.
But before he went…
He just wanted to touch her. Once. That's all. Come on, she wasn't going to wake up from that, was she?
Harry reached out his hand to stroke her forehead, to touch her soft skin, when-
Something stirred. Something furry. Crookshanks stood up, dislodging Hermione's arm from his back. The cat turned in a circle and stared at Harry as if it was actually seeing him, despite the cloak. Harry gave an involuntary shiver.
Crookshanks dropped lightly from the bed to the floor, keeping his glowing eyes on Harry. There was something haunting about them, something unreal and omnipotent. "N-nice kitty-" Harry heard himself saying. Lavender gave a snort in her sleep.
Suddenly, Crookshanks took a flying leap straight towards Harry's face. He put his hands out in front of him to catch the cat, the invisibility cloak fell off of him, and-
"HE CAUGHT THE SNITCH! HARRY POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Lee's voice rang out over the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch as Harry made a graceful landing back on the center of the field, snitch in hand. "GRYFFINDOR BEATS SLYTHERIN! GRYFFINDOR BEATS SLYTHERIN 250-0!"
The field was swarming with Gryffindor students. They grabbed Harry and hoisted him high above their shoulders, carrying him back towards the castle in a fit of fury. Ron was shouting something up at Harry, but he couldn't hear him over the crowd of people shouting his name.
"HA-RRY, HA-RRY, HA-RRY!"
"Well, Harry," a voice rang out from the middle of the crowd, "I guess I finally have to admit that you're just better than me. Better at Quidditch, better at potions, and God knows you're better looking," Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy yelling up at him. "Mind giving me some tips on how to catch the ladies?"
Harry scratched his head…why did this feel like a dream?
The Gryffindors put him down in the common room right in the middle of his own celebration party. Suddenly, Harry felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked behind him to see a smiling Hermione.
"Will you go on a walk with me?" she blushed.
"Er…yeah, lemme grab my coat."
The grounds were beautifully manicured this time of year as Hermione and Harry strolled around the lake in blissful silence. She walked a little ahead of him, meandering through with no particular purpose. Then, she stopped and wheeled around.
"H-Harry," Her voice had gone all breathy as she moved towards him, "I just wanted you to know that you were…amazing today."
"Hermione? You feeling all right?" She suddenly latched her arms around him.
"Oh yes," a mischievous grin was growing on her face, "Oh I'm fine. Now. I am absolutely infatuated with you, Harry Potter. You're so strong. And brave. And magical. I love your unruly hair and your sexxxxxy glasses?"
"I-I love you, too. Gosh, this feels like a dream." He kissed her lightly on her lips and she drove him deeper, a fire erupting within him. Finally, after a couple of minutes, they had to break for air. She brought her mouth up to his ear and whispered ever so delicately.
"Yes, just like a dream. Too bad it is."
"Wha-"
Harry felt a hand on his back, someone bent down beside him. "Wake up." Someone nudged him, "Come on, wake up! You can't just sleep all morning." It drove into Harry's sub-conscious, a girl's voice.
A terror seized him.
A girl's voice?
Had he…had he fallen asleep in the girl's dorm?
"Wake up, lazy!"
Harry sprung forward and bolted upright. He quickly took in his surroundings and his heart was suddenly pounding so hard within his chest that it began to be painful… The girls dorm… He had slept in the girls dorm… this was beyond 'Professor-Snape' bad. Heck, this was even beyond 'Lord-Voldermort' bad. This was…This was 'Angry-Hermione' bad…
And just his luck. Hermione was crouched down over him, her hair falling around her face and masking her expression.
"Her-Hermione, I can explain-" Harry began.
She stood up lightly, her white nightgown billowing. "Oh, talkative this morning, aren't we? Well, whadd'l it be? A dish of cream? Or would you rather go down to breakfast with me this morning?" She turned around and flung her hair over her shoulders, a small smile on her face.
It took Harry a few minutes to process what she had just said. A dish of cream? What was he? An animal? And why wasn't she mad?
Hermione seemed to not care in the least that there was a 16 year old boy splayed out on the floor beside her bed. In fact, she was rummaging around in her trunk for something, not paying the least bit of attention to Harry at all.
"Hmm… let's see now…Where did I put that extra parchment? Might as well get some work done before classes start, right, Crookshanks?"
Crookshanks?
Harry brought his hand up to scratch his head and – gasped in horror. It…it wasn't a hand at all… It was a tabby paw. He whipped around to look at himself. Four paws! A tail! Oh, no….no….
"Crookshanks? Coming with me to the common room?"
Then the horror set in.
Harry – was stuck inside the body – of Hermione's cat.
Well, that's all for today, folksies!! Please R&R or no chapter 2!! Thanks for reading!! Both flames and reviews, as always, are quite welcome. Catch ya later!! 3 days until PoA! W00T!