Walk the Cat Back
Severus never quite knew why, but when he was a small toddler of two, maybe even younger, a cat with half-missing ear showed up outside his family's kitchen door in the middle of a downpour. It was odd enough, since most animals knew to stay away from the Snape household (mother abhorred them), but then his da let it in.
His father not quite cruel yet, Severus could recall leaving his dinner at the table to go and wrap his arm around the man's long leg.
"Ca'" he'd said, he was sure.
Da rubbed the back of Severus's head with his large hand and agreed with a mild chortle. "That it is – a fighter too, from the looks of it."
"Why in Merlin's name did you let that mangy thing in?" Mother asked in a dismayed voice as she put down her fork from dinner.
Reaching down to give the bruiser a scratch beneath its chin, Severus father's had answered, "His soldier days are over, Eileen, can't you see? Why in Sam Hill would he stop at our door in the middle of this mess when he could be finding shelter out across the road beneath the Rover's truck otherwise?"
Severus could vaguely recall his mother making an unhappy noise as the cat turned his brown - almost red - eyes on Severus and bared its teeth in a semblance of a smirk. From that moment on, he had liked the cat and decided he would be his best friend.
Launching his uncoordinated limbs forward, he'd wrapped his tiny body around the scrawny creature and babbled at his da and mum, "Ca', this is Ca'."
Shaking his head, his father had turned to his mother and said, "We got a real winner of a boy here, Eileen, he just named the cat Cat."
"He's not even three, Tobias, what do you expect?" Eileen had sneered.
As an argument bloomed to life right in front of him, Severus didn't even think to scurry to a corner and hide away as he usually would. His new friend Cat was by far the most interesting of the two. And maybe, if Cat hadn't been a more seasoned fellow, he would have allowed them to stay by the door and within attacking distance of his parents. But as his father had said, Cat was an old soldier and lead them safely and quickly out of the kitchen and to the drawing room to hide under the couch and wait for the battle to end.
He threw a stick for his new friend Petunia's dog and watched Pudgy bound off before he turned away. Severus looked toward Petunia, she was watching Pudgy, her arms wrapped around her waist.
"Your dog is nice, but I have a cat and he's way better."
The girl looked his way, a smile flitting across her lips. Petunia bent down to Severus's height and hooked an arm around his neck in a cheerful, buddy-like way. "Is that so?" she teased.
"Uh-huh," he answered as he squirmed out from beneath her hold. Severus didn't like touching. Especially the kind that brought you so close you could smell the other person's breath if you tried.
Looking a little sadly at him as Pudgy yapped at her feet for the stick to be thrown again, Petunia asked, "What's your cat's name?"
"Cat," Severus answer happily. "And he's a good one."
Smothering back what he was sure had to be giggling, Petunia turned her head and caused Severus stomp his foot. "Don't laugh!" he shouted angrily. "Don't you dare!"
Her vibrating cut off short, she'd turned her blonde head back to him wearing an expression of shock and guilt. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that Severus…" she tried to soothe.
But his feelings were already hurt and he ran off before she could say any more.
Taking the quickest route home, Severus ignored the fact that his mum was probably out grocery shopping and his dad sleeping away the drink on the couch as he ran into his family's home and to the back where his bedroom was.
Once there, his eyes darted from his bed to his dresser, to his chair and then to the shelf next to the window where Cat was dozing. Staring at the white-gray creature with tear-filled eyes, he'd asked: "D'you think your name's silly too?"
Opening one dark red eye, the animal hopped down and rubbed his body up against Severus. Crouching down as he sniveled, Severus let the fairly affectionate animal continue his comforting until he heard his da coming down the creaking hall.
Terrified for not himself then, he'd hissed, "Hide Cat!" Before attempting to climb out his window when his da grabbed the back of his shirt.
Eyes bloodshot and face pallid, the man didn't even flinch as he punched his young son in the jaw. Toppling into the wall and hitting his head, Severus gazed up with cloudy vision at his father as he took off his belt.
At first, Severus was the one screaming. Then, his da was shouting and he could hear Cat yowling as his father attempted to shake off him and his claws.
When he did, the little boy's father gave the cat a kick and left the room with one last curse on his lips "damn cat!"
Back covered in new welts and probably several cuts, Severus had wriggled over to his pet and whispered, "Are you okay?"
Cat opened one eye and made a rattling noise in his throat as he picked himself up to settle close next to Severus. Together, cat and boy stayed in the bedroom dreaming of the day when life was not a fight for survival.
When his parents and newly born sister saw him off to Hogwarts in his too-big robes and Cat's cage in hand, Severus smiled brightly at them all. "I'll see you at Christmas," he told them.
His father, in a mild stupor, only blinked as his mother fussed with his new sister's bonnet.
"Mum? Da?" He'd pleaded after a moment.
Looking up from her daughter, Eileen gave a short smile and said, "Yes, of course, my love."
Severus's dad still said nothing and with a sigh, he moved forward to accept the kiss to his temple from his mother and bowed his head as to give his baby sister a quick peck.
"You better know how to say Severus when I come back," he told the infant.
His mother laughed almost silently and gave him a quick nudge toward the Express. "You don't want to miss it, my love," she told him as he hurried toward the gleaming red train.
Just as he was to take a step onto the express, though, Severus was tripped and went sprawling onto the platform. He heard snickering from in front of him as he saw a couple of boys hurry on. Grinding his teeth as he picked up Cat's carrier to see that the creature was unharmed but absolutely terrified, Severus quickly strode after the two to confront them.
"Hey!" he snapped at the two.
They both turned. Each wore a similar cheeky smile and kept their chins up with pure cockiness. Face flushed with fury, he held out Cat's carrier. "You could have hurt him!" he yelled.
Looking at one another, the bespectacled one declared, "We don't know what you mean!"
"Gits! The both of you!" Severus snapped as he shoved past the duo.
One grabbed him by the back of his robe and Severus went reeling into a wall. Too quick for him to register, the other youth was in his face wearing the meanest scowl he'd ever seen on another boy's face. "I'd apologize if I were you," the steely-eyed boy growled.
Jutting his chin, Severus snarled "Not in your lifetime!"
"Then I guess I'll have to make you, huh?" replied the boy with false cheer. Raising his fist, he got one punch in before he fell back with a high, womanly shriek.
Cat had gotten out of his cage and attached himself to the unfortunate youth's balls. Gaping, Severus barely knew what to do – no one knew what to do.
It took the candy trolley lady's sense to detach Cat from the boy and shove him into Severus's arms. "Put that menace in his cage!" she ordered.
Too dumbfounded to do anything but listen, Severus did so and went off thinking only of the tale he was going to start his letter to 'Tuney off with.
Severus looked up from his charms book. Twisting his neck in a nearly impossible way he was pleased to find he was the sole occupant of the Slytherin common room for one. Severus smiled at Cat, who was looking at him from his feet. "I think it's time I read Petunia's letter," he said. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out the envelope that encased his friend's letter and tore into it eagerly. Severus laughed at its contents. Along with the letter, there were a couple of photos from Halloween. One was of Pudgy. He was dressed like a thestral, but instead of looking fierce or scary, he looked kind of cute – just as one might expect of a baby thestral.
"What you got there, Snape?" One of his roommates, Wilkes, asked.
Tensing up, Severus silently cursed his luck before carefully handing the pictures to his year mate. There were more than just the one of Pudgy. In another, his little sister was hanging off the dog's neck dressed in a white sheet so she could be a tiny-tot ghost.
"This is a Muggle picture," Wilkes remarked.
Taking it back, Severus shrugged. "So?"
Raising an eyebrow, the other boy showed off his dimples with a smirk. "I thought you said your mother was a Prince."
"She is," he told his housemate. "This is a picture from my friend."
Whistling low, the boy leaned in much too close and with mirthless eyes asked, "What's Malfoy going to think when he learns he's been helping a little Muggle-lover like yourself Snivellus."
Cat meandered up from Severus's feet. He glared at Wilkes with his murky eyes before curling up in a ball in his lap. "Do whatever you like, you prat, I know who my friends are and they certainly aren't any of you," Severus hissed.
Feigning hurt, the taller boy laughed and walked off – likely to write Lucius. Scratching Cat behind the ears, Severus whispered, "Still got a bit of power left in you yet, don't you?"
In answer, the white-gray cat kneaded his paws into Severus's knees. He began to ponder coffins. Surely a cat as regal and battle-scarred as this one deserved only the best.
Cat made it to Christmas Eve. Dying early that afternoon, Severus wrapped the corpse up in an old dishtowel and ignored how his little sister called for him to come back as he ran out the door and to Petunia's.
Pounding on the door with Cat cradled close, he'd just about burst into tears when his friend opened the door.
"He's dead," he told her. "Cat's dead." And without thinking, he presented the dead animal to her.
Poised and eyes soft, Petunia peeled back the dishtowel and stroked the white-gray face of Cat. "I'm sorry, Sev."
Crying, he let her hug him and they stood there a long time with the corpse between them before he agreed to bury Cat in the park they used to play at as children.
After burying Cat, Severus said, "I'm going to plant him lilies next summer."
"What a wonderful idea," replied Petunia, voice cracking.
She walked him home and when Severus went to his bedroom it felt lifeless.
Severus hadn't meant to. Truly he hadn't. But Charity was such a pretty Ravenclaw with her curly hair and shy smile…
Her lips had tasted like blueberries too.
But then he'd remembered how Petunia's had tasted like cherry lip balm and knew what he'd done was wrong.
Pacing his dorm, Severus wondered if he should write Petunia and tell her of his failing. Or maybe it would be better if he let it stay where it was – in the past. It was times like these he missed having Cat around. He'd always been a good touchstone. But he didn't want another cat either because none would ever replace the old soldier. They just couldn't. Cat was a once in a lifetime sort of pet and to contemplate another seemed a defacement of his memory.
Eventually, Severus sat down and instead opened up the letter his little sister sent him. She was six now and learning her letters at school. He read the message to go with the rather atrocious scribbles that were her letter.
i miss you Sevie. Daddy yels lots and mummy doesn't take me to the libary every weakend like you did.
Studying the picture, Severus was depressed to find that it was a little girl crying.
Putting his head in his hands, he wished things were different. If Severus had been a Muggle like his father had always wanted… but no. Then he'd never have accomplished half the things he's done now and his passion for potions would have withered and died. If he hadn't come to Hogwarts, Cat never would have pierced Sirius Black's balls on the Hogwarts Express.
That cracked a smile and laugh from him. Using that, Severus let his lighter state of mind make his decision.
He wrote 'Tuney.
A few hours later she sent a letter back confessing to going to the movies with a chap from her biology class. They hadn't kissed and had only shared a popcorn and held hands, but she'd felt just as badly as Severus who'd done far worse.
Through the course of several more letters, they changed their status from boyfriend and girlfriend to dating - if only so they would not have to feel so much guilt when they slipped up and allowed the need for intimacy to win over loyalty to each other.
In the end, Severus would reflect and think it was for the best. This way, no one had felt so badly hurt when the other mentioned minor flirtations with another.
When Severus finished Hogwarts, the wizarding world was just a breath away from war and he knew that it'd be better if he took his leave from it. The Slytherins already had some doubts about him as he was friends with a muggle and had snogged a Muggleborn, but both facts were known only so vaguely that they did not condemn him - especially when his skills in potions surpassed that of their professor's.
He might have been a bit of an oddball, but he did not proclaim his side in it all as some of his year mates had done (James Potter and Sirius Black in particular). So he was allowed to disappear from the world almost.
On his way to meet with Petunia at the children's park after telling his father his plans to take a year off before going to school for a potions master degree had left him with a bloody lip and further disappointed.
What could his father possibly think he'd do? Did he really expect Severus to work at the factories? Like some muggle? Severus was willing to live here to be with Petunia, but he was going to take advantage of his Hogwarts education and do some good in the magical world by becoming a famous potioneer.
Smiling at his girlfriend as he came into her view, he let her come and fret over him.
"Oh, darling! What happened?" she exclaimed as she put a handkerchief to his lip.
Covering her hand, Severus let himself be soothed by her touch (Petunia was safe). After a moment, the woman put away the cloth and kissed his still sore lips. "He's quite upset you're going to become a potioneer and not a welder like him, isn't he?"
He marveled at her intuitiveness and muttered, "I went to a school for wizards and witches, how he managed to hang on to the belief I'd take up a Muggle profession after a magical education, I'll never know."
Petunia smiled then and snuggled close to him. "He's just as unreasonable as my parents. They wanted me to get an English degree and settle down with a nice boy."
Wrapping his arm around her, Severus joked, "I'm not nice?"
She kissed his chin. "They're idiots."
"So are mine." Severus sighed.
Walking away from the park hand in hand then, Petunia told him about the new flat she was planning to rent with a girlfriend, and him as well, if he liked. The sun setting behind them, she finished her description with a smile and hopeful note: "They allow dogs."
Raising an eyebrow, Severus suggested, "Pudgy II?" As he briefly wondered if this flat was agreeable to cats too.
"I was thinking I'd name it Tubby if it were a boy and Nina if it were a girl," Petunia explained to him.
Smiling at one another, they kissed again and dreamed of their future outside of Cokeworth.
(Exoneration).
And here's the second half from Severus's point of view. As you can see, I decided he needed a pet cat to balance Petunia's pet dog. What did you think of that? Good? Bad? What of him having a little sister? I almost wish I could have done more with her, but then again I don't think I could have.
Thank you for the reviews, The Dark One Rising, Rose Jennison, Saint Snape, Figment, Pleurocoelus, and Excessivelyperky! You guys rock :)
Thanks for reading this two-shot and let me know what you think with a review!