Harry has been staying with Ron's family all Summer this year. He'd spent time with the Weasley's before over Christmas holiday, but this year was different.
For one he was turning fifteen this year, which meant the Weasley's were throwing him his first ever birthday party.
For two Harry had been feeling weird all summer. He'd been having hot flashes, he'd wake up from wet dreams that he couldn't remember and had him in the shower longer than usual, and he found himself doing weird things like falling asleep in the sun or being transfixed by a ball of yarn; more than once he'd had to apologize to Mrs. Weasley for jumping on her knitting. Weirdest of all was how he suddenly drawn to Ron's older brother's Fred and George.
Some of these things weren't very unusual at all. Ron told him, when the symptoms first started, that when he came out as an Alpha he had heat flashes for days and had trouble keeping his temper. However, not even Hermione could understand why he suddenly found himself napping anywhere and everywhere.
"Been in Fred and George's room again?" Hermione asks as Harry walks into Ron's room with his face flushed. "I- I don't know what you're -" Harry splutters, moving towards his bed. Hermione, who is perched atop the only other bed in the room next to a sleeping Ron smiles knowingly, "Oh, come off it Harry - you have a thing for them."
Harry blanched, his eyes darting from Hermione to Ron to the door, "Hermione - shut it! I don't want the whole house to know!" he whispers, thinking about what Ron's reaction would be to find out not only is his best freind gay, but he's also possibly in love with his twin brothers! It wouldn't be good.
"Oh, don't worry Harry, Ron's asleep. And so is everyone else that isn't helping Mrs. Weasley finish getting ready for your birthday tomorrow." Hermione says
Harry groaned, "Oh, don't remind me!" he flops down onto his bed.
"You don't sound very excited." Hermione points out.
Harry raises his head to look at her, "Once, I would've loved for someone to throw me a birthday party, but this is just too much!"
Now Hermione smiles, "You know Mrs. Weasley always goes all out-"
Harry grumbles something unintelligible and lets his head fall back onto the bed.
Hermione stopped talking after that, something Harry was very grateful for because in the last hour or so he'd suddenly felt a little sick. That's why he had left the twin's room. He felt hot, his head was spinning, and he ached all over. Maybe, he thought as he watched to ceiling above him spin, I'll be so sick tomorrow that they'll have to cancel the party. He smiled at that.
"Well, it's almost 10 o'clock - I guess I'd better get back to Ginny's room before Mrs. Weasley comes to check and make sure we're all in bed. Night Harry!" she whispers as she gets up carefully and tip toes out of the room.
As the minutes ticked closer to midnight, Harry tossed and turned in his bed. For some reason he just coudn't fall asleep, and it just kept getting hotter. By now Harry was sure that he was soaked in sweat. He wished he knew what time it was, he thought about going downstairs to check and maybe grab himself a glass of water to help him cool off, but then the pain started.
Down in their room, at a minute to midnight, the twins wake up, covered in sweat. their eyes find one another in the darkness, but neither say a thing or question what woke them up because just then they hear screams echoing down from above .
Goerge is the first to speak, "Fred, is that-?"
"Harry-" Fred confirms. How they could tell it was Harry, neither knew. .
The next morning, Harry wakes up to a room full of whispers. Not knowing whether he's still in Ron's room Harry slowly peeks open his eyes. He's not entirely shocked to find several faces, mostly Weasleys, staring down at him. "Wh-what happened?" he asks, wishing they'd stop staring at him.
"Might as well show him-" Ron says, addressing the others who were circled around Harry. They nod and back away. Hermione helps him sit up and he's glad to realize that he's still in Ron's room. It's Ginny who hands him the mirror, one of those big ornate ones with a handle. Harry peers into it, confused, and is so shocked that he almost drops it. He has cat ears; furry, black cat ears nestled in his messy tangle of bed head as though they'd always been there.
"You - also have a tail." Hermione says quietly.
Harry reaches around to feel the base of his spine and - sure enough - there is a tail there, black and furry just like the ears.
"Wh-What happened to me?" he whimpers, looking up at Hermione.
Hermione blinks at him, a strange look crossing her face. "It seems you went through a creature inheritance-" Hermione says, turning her face away.
Harry looks at his expression in the mirror, his cat ears have flattened against his head.
He remembers seeing Ms. Figgs cats doing that - it usually meant that they were angry or upset.
Well, he thinks, I am definitely upset right now, "What am I?" he asks, looking only at Hermione again.
"Well, I looked it up," Hermione pulls a book out from beside the bed, "and I believe that you are a Neko."
"A Neko." Harry doesn't need her to explain this time. Everyone knew that 'neko' meant a human with cat ears. More than once he'd heard his Uncle Vernon complaining about them to his Aunt.
"So I'm part cat now, that's just great." Harry grumbles.
"Yes, but Harry you're very cute!" Ginny squeals, jumping forward to put her hand on is head, "Especially you're ears." she informs him as she starts rubbing around his ears. Harry is about to complain that he doesn't want to be cute, but then he starts purring and the pleasure of being petted overcomes his arguments.
After a minute she takes her hand away, making Harry whine. But then he registers that they're laughing. Harry's face turns red. "Oh Harry- You're so cute!" Hermione says so loudly that it hurts my ears. Then she pulls me into a bone cracking hug that I didn't know she was strong enough for until now.
Over her shoulder I see Ron has stopped laughing and is now glaring at me.
I push Hermione away gently, "Uh, Hermione, you're squishing me."
"Oh, sorry Harry-" she says, backing away to stand next to Ron, who puts his arm around her.
I roll my eyes at Ron's overprotectiveness regarding Hermione, whom is actually a beta, and look around the room, searching for a certain set of twins.
Finally, he sees them lounging across Ron's bed - they're asleep.
"Oh yeah, they're the ones that heard you screaming last night - woke everyone up trying to find out what was wrong with you. Nearly hexed me when I tried to get them to leave Hermione alone." Ron whispers, staring down at his brothers.
"I was screaming?" I stare at them, wishing they were awake so I could thank them.
"Oh yes, I'm suprised that Ron could sleep through all the racket you were making-" Hermione says, turning a disbelieving look on Ron, who looks a bit sheepish, "It's not my fault that I'm a heavy sleeper."
Suddenly, one of the twins stirs and turns over, falling off the bed. He mutters a curse and sits up.
"Ah, Ron, perhaps we should go tell your parents that Harry's is awake-" Hermione says, pulling Ron toward the door and motioning for Ginny to follow. In a moment Harry is alone with the twins, who are slowly waking up. Harry isn't sure if he's happy, embarrassed, or nauseous.
"Did she just say that Harry is awake?" the one on the bed grumbles.
They both spin at the same time.
Harry's heart beats painfully as two pairs of blue eyes meet his. A flash of heat washes through him and it's so hot it's almost painful. Something inside him screams; Alphas. He can sense it somehow, which means only one thing. Harry is an Omega. Shit. Harry is certain that his ears have flattened again because both twin's eyes fly up toward the movement.
"Harry - you have -"
"Cat Ears!"
Harry wills himself to look away, but he can't, "I also have a tail-" he says. As if on command, his tail whips around and curls around his torso.
The twins gape, "Bloody Hell." they say in unison.
Harry is finally able to tear his eyes away from them and looks instead at his lap, "Ron told me that you're the ones who heard me - last night - and I'd just like to say, Thank You." Harry says, blushing.
Harry hears the bedsprings creak from across the room as the twins stand to come over to him.
Part of Harry, the irrational part of him, is terrified that they'll hate him, but another part, the logical part, knows that they aren't so shallow as to start hating him just because he's part cat now. I tense as I wait for them to say something, but instead they reach out and touch my ears.
As soon as their hands touch my ears all the tension leaves my body, "They're so soft," One comments. "No to mention adorable-" agrees the other.
Before I know it they're sitting on either side of me rubbing my ears and playing with my tail. A feeling of warm security comes over me. Any other time I'd be embarrassed to be purring and leaning into Fred's hand,, but right now I just can't bring myself to care.
"Well, isn't this cozy-" I freeze, my head on Fred's shoulder, as Ron walks farther into the room, an amused smile on his face that I know means teasing later.
"Oh, shaddup Ron." George says, letting my tail slip out of his fingers.
"What, are you jealous that we're not petting you?" Fred says, a mischevoius smile breaking across his face.
The smug look on Ron's face slips a little bit, "No. I - Harry my Mum wants to see you downstairs - if you're up to it." Ron says quickly before turning to leave.
"Fred, I think Ronnikins wants to be petted." George says in mock seriousness.
Ron looks at his brothers and smiles, "You'll never catch me." he grins.
"And why is that, Ronnikins?" Fred asks.
"Because you still have to get your hands out of Harry's hair!" Ron crows, turning on his heels and sprinting out of the room. George lurches after him, but when Fred tries to stand he is indeed stopped when he has to pause to untagle his hand from my hair, I yelp in pain as he tries to pull it out by force. "Ah- Sorry Harry!" Fred yells as he finally leaves the room to run after his brothers.
Alone in the room, I rub at my chest, which is hurting, and slowly make my way downstairs.
A few minutes later I stumble into the kitchen, my tail winding around my legs and making it hard to walk. I hear sounds of people laughing and Mrs. Weasley scolding. The twins have pinned Ron to the ground and are tickling him all over. Ron is red in the face from laughing so hard. I sit at the table next to Hermione, who is reading a large leatherbound book and ignoring the chaos surrounding her.
"Ah, Harry! How are you feeling this morning?" Mrs. Weasley fusses, moving around the table to hover next to me.
"Really Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine - it is a bit of a surprise though-" I reassure her as I tug on the end of one of my ears.
"Well, yes, I'm sure you must have been terrified. The twins were frantic when they woke me up - made it sound like you were dying they did! I was so worried! But the most important thing is that you're okay." She glares at the twins as though this were all their fault.
"Thank you-" I reply, smiling politely. This means that the party is still on, I think to myself glumly.
Mrs. Weasley just smiles at me and moves away, "You'd better hurry up and eat your breakfast, all of you. I expect people will start arriving soon."
I can't even bring myself to look at the twins as we all dig in, but now I feel like I should apologize for making them go through so much trouble. I groan inwardly at these new impulses, no doubt brought on by my being both a neko and an omega. Sighing, I spear a sausage with my fork. This is going to be a long day.
After a whole day of listening to people wish me Happy Birthday and fawn over my cat ears and avoiding the twins, and any other unmated Alpha I run into, I fall into bed thinking that I'll be able to fall asleep quickly. However I have no such luck. After twenty minutes of lying in bed awake and listening to Ron snore I get up and move silently out of the room.
When I get to Ginny's room I knock lightly, hoping she's not already asleep. Slowly, the door creaks open, revealing Hermione wearing only a bathrobe, which is slightly open revealing a sliver of a black lace bra and one bare leg. The 'come hither' look on her face shifts to one of horror when she sees me standing there. Both of our faces turn beet red as she quickly closes her robe, "H-Harry - why are you - did you need something?"
"I - I was wondering if I could borrow that book about Neko's?" I stutter, my ears twitching with embarrassment.
"Of course," Hermione says, before turning to rifle through a pile of books beside the bed they have crammed into Ginny's room for her to sleep on. "Here it is!" she whispers, pulling the leather bound volume from this morning out of the bottom of a stack without making all the books fall over.
""Thanks Hermione." I say as I turn to leave and burn the image of what I just saw from my eyes. I love Hermione, but as a sister only. "Um, Harry - is Ron-?" Hermione asks.
"He's asleep." I reply, not waiting for her answer before hurrying away, my ears flattening in distress.
I turn the corner and run into something solid but not hard, "Hey Harry, what's wrong?" Fred asks, grasping my shoulders to keep me from falling over.
"Don't think we got to tell you this today, but Happy Birthday Harry!" George says, smiling.
"I - borrowed this book from Hermione - she-" I can't say it aloud, the embarrassment of the moment is too fresh.
"Let me guess - she was waiting for Ron?" Fred asks, smirking. I nodded, blushing again as I remember how she looked when she opened the door. Rather than laughing as I thought they would, the twins look at each other, identical grimaces on their faces. "What?" I ask, confused. That's when I realize that there's a smell surrounding us. The smell of alphas.
I shake my head, trying to clear it. "Nothing-"
"We'll let you go read-" the twins say, moving past me.
Thankfully, as soon as they're gone the smell goes too and I can finally think straight.
