a/n

After a particularly bad day being bullied by the Dursleys, Harry accidentally becomes a cat animagus. After exploring London a bit, He encounters a young Hermione and senses the similarities in what they are. he is able to encourage a (human) friendless Hermione to also become a cat animagus (through the same method). They both work out how to shift between forms at will and Harry stays at the Granger's as a pet. eventually they go to hogwarts and learn partial transformations and other magic.

tags: H/Hr, Weasel!bash, Ferret!bash, manipulative!Dumbledore, OP!Harry, OP! Hermione.

end a/n

Prologue: The Cat-Under-The-Stairs

The small eight year old boy was still recovering from his latest beating from Uncle Vernon in the cupboard under the stairs. This particular beating was for getting far better grades than Dudley.

As his bruises faded from his accelerated healing (part of what the Dursleys called freakishness), the boy wished harder than ever to escape. He wished that he could be as free to roam as Mrs Figgs' cats. As he made that fervent wish, He finally fell unconscious from the beating and his body compacted itself into a far smaller frame. A tail sprouted and his ears became that of a cats'. His previously unruly hair became the short fur of a cats and under his closed lids, his eyes became slitted. In that moment, the Boy was gone, in his place was a small black kitten.

The following morning the Dursleys went through their normal routine: go downstairs, unlock the cupboard to release the Boy and force the Boy to make breakfast. Or at least that was what they thought they were going to do. When Petunia Dursley opened the cupboard, the last thing she expected to find was a malnourished kitten where the boy should have been. Being the sensible person she was, she picked the kit up by the scruff and tossed the scrawny little beggar out the window. She started cooking by herself with a smile on her face, after all the boy finally ran away, the freaks wouldn't bring him back to her now, would they?

Harry woke up in his feline form in a rosebush. After scrambling out from the bush, he found that he was far smaller than he was supposed to be and covered in hair. The rather intelligent boy turned kitten then started walking. After all when one finally gets the opportunity to be as free as they can, one must seize the opportunity.

Time Skip: 3 months

After escaping the Dursleys, Harry made his way around London, stopping at various schools, peeking in on classes, to see if there was anyone who he could befriend. In his mind they needed to be intelligent so that he could learn the same, bullied by others so they wouldn't reject him and have a little extra something that Harry just couldn't put his finger(paw) on. In the meantime, he performed regular raid on the feral mice in those schools and sat in on various classes. This continued until finally he met a young girl in Crawley.

Hermione Granger was a lonely girl. Her classmates avoided her like the plague as they had somehow got the idea that being a bookworm was a contagious disease. They also teased her from afar about her bushy hair and buckteeth. And when they invariably drew forth accidental magic, they ran scared to a teacher to get her in trouble. Despite this, she was still one of the kindest children in the school, save for her bossiness.

One day, as she was going home from yet another horrible day at school, she saw a small, emaciated kitten following her. Upon noticing the creature, scooped it up, made it comfortable in her backpack and hurried home.

"Mum! Dad!" called out Hermione, as she crossed the entrance to her home. "Look what I found on the way back home!"

Emma Granger made her way down the stairs, to see her daughter and a starved kitten in her hands.

"Where did you get that cat, Hermione?"

"I found him on the way home, He looks so sick, can we keep him? Can we keep him?" blurted out Hermione.

"We will have to take him to the vet to get checked up on first, then you have to convince your father."

At this, Hermione rushed around the house to convince Daniel Granger of the benefits of keeping the stray kitten.