Thank you for the reviews! And as I said, this story will probably only be pre-slash, maybe slash; between Harry and an O.C (most likely as I haven't actually decided to include those bits yet as they appear after the main portion of the story and therefore are not complete.)

Disclaimer: I do not own, I do however own a sparkley, Irial-Approved silver net for catching reviews. Its bright and has wRock emitting from the depths. xD

Other: This is AU after Goblet of Fire, quite a bit really.

The Observatory's Cat

TOC; Grimmauld Place

oOo

Remus carried the cat back across the street, meeting the Auror and moving back to the step of Number Twelve; this was more important than their previous mission, a shopping trip for a few special needs for groceries. The two were silent as the opened the door and entered the long Hallway the began the manor. They were just as silent as they walked into the kitchen and more so as they sat back at the thick wooden table that was still occupied by the rest of the inhabitants.

"What? No tea for the finders?" the werewolf chuckled at the odd looks he was receiving. It had been months since the man had made a joke, longer than Sirius and known for his long brooding periods; Sirius had described them as the werewolf losing its cub again much to Remus' ire. Mrs. Weasley poured them each a cup and the silence dragged on until the furry bundle moved. The occupants obviously didn't know what to make of this; Sirius had closed off to pretty much everyone but a select few with most of his emotions repressed only to appear in a prank (usually on one of the teachers, Weasleys or Remus). The sudden 'cheery' Remus had not been seen by him for a long time if the current look on his face was any indication; he was looking at the other Marauder with a mix of pity and loss.

Harry opened his eyes and was greeted to the wonderful scents of family, he turned his head and jumped onto the table, eyes whipping across the troupe around him as his head swiveled. He inwardly laughed at the slightly disgusted look he was receiving by being on the table from the Weasley matron and his bushy haired friend. His heart gave a lurch as his eyes roamed her face, seeing the childish one he'd had in his mind become overlaid by the new, older, face of the young woman before him. He saw Ron, paying more attention to the biscuits in front of him than his best-friend-turned-cat before him. The longer hair and defined face again conflicted with the image he'd stored in his mind. Harry blinked at the twins, the same as always and happily looking at him, with what almost seemed like recognition in their twinkling eyes. He meowed at Moody and Remus before his eyes met the ones he'd been searching for, the bright steel of his Dogfather. Harry hadn't known what would happen to this man while he was gone, whether he would be kissed or die from another means; it felt like a physical weight was lifted when his eyes met those of the other mans.

He cried and leapt into the chest of Sirius, the clean hair and healthy face contrasted even more harshly with his memories than those of his friends but the bright eyes with their barely hidden mischief were the same. It didn't matter that he'd spent the past two years alone, it didn't matter that Sirius didn't know who he was; he was with his family and that was home.

Remus cleared his throat, a soft look on his face to match his damp eyes as he smiled at the befuddled Black. Harry purred loudly, rubbing his face against Sirius and mewing his story out even if no one could understand him, Harry felt Sirius pet him once and pull at the dirty collar before his hands were lain on the table. "We found Harry."

The bombshell could have been dropped more subtly, Remus could have danced around the subject; but with the tiny cat obviously confusing everyone the situation needed to be remedied as-soon-as-possible especially since the cat seemed to know Sirius, it had given them even more proof; he smelled like Harry (and cat), had his eyes and had found them, now he knew him and Sirius. Remus was sure this was Harry. The blank stares that he received, everyone from the current man petting the cat, to the Weasleys and even the dubious look he received from the cat spoke very clearly on the fact that it seemed highly unlikely that the cat nestled in Sirius' arms was anything but a stray. Harry pulled away to go to Remus, who believed it was him and seemed to be the only one other than the scarred Auor who was leaning against the doorway, leaving the lap of his godfather as he sat before his honorary uncle and the rest of his family, having absolutely no idea how to change back or how to prove he was their Harry and so could only stare at Remus for help.

"Remus, it has a collar. It says his name is 'Kieran'; not Harry." Sirius stated, eyes dark. Harry didn't think he took it well; being told his godson was suddenly a cat; Sirius was no longer looking at Moony like he had lost his mind, he was looking at him as if this was a practical joke without a better punchline. "You should take it back outside."

"Padfoot, contact Poppy and Albus. I'm sure between them we can figure out how to turn him back-" Remus began, attempting to placate his friend. Harry looked at how much his family had changed, they all looked older of course, his godfather looked much healthier, but Ron looked… bigger. Remus looked worse than before. He wondered if Sirius had been freed yet, what all had changed.

"I can do a spell." A bright voice piped up, it came from a young woman seated beside Hermione. "It'll revert an Animagus back to human, it can effect people differently, some lose the ability to transform after, if he is Harry he should know that." The pink haired Auror said from her spot, nodding her head and looking sadly at Remus, as though he had gone insane. Harry wanted to jump up and scream at them, with magic in their lives every day how could they just... no belive this? Harry tilted his head back at her, trying to remember the young girl. He couldn't put a name to her face or even a vague idea of who she was.

"It's just a cat Tonks. Do it." Sirius drawled, rolling a hand much like Malfoy would have.

"Wait! Try the Revelo spell first, it'll tell you if he's an Animagus, without damaging him if he's not." Remus sounded desperate and Harry winced, meowing up at him in apology. This wasn't working the way he had thought it would.

Harry shot startled eyes up to the woman, her hair flaring bright purple as she slammed a fist into her hand while she glared at Sirius. "Fine. Ill do the Revelo spell first, then the other," She pointed her wand at Harry, who flinched and looked for help from the two men who believed his identity, Moody was scowling while Remus was looking more excited than Harry had ever seen. He felt the spell hit him, the bright purple spun around his fur and lifted it from it's place. He glared and growled at her as he shook to straighten his misplaced fur. He felt his body tingle, but nothing actually happened. A small amount of fear gripped Harry as scenarios of being stuck alone as a little black cat went through his head until he heard the woman, Tonks, intone clearly to the people around him that she was trying the other spell, she was explaining about the flicker her spell had caused meant that it was only a partial Animagus Transformation, confusing Harry further, and that that spell only worked on full formations. He flicked his ear. "Reverto."

Harry gasped as the spell wrapped around him, followed immediately by a harsh pain that shot through his body, he felt his muscles flaring and stretching, bones snapping. He whimpered and cried out pathetically as he felt the magic work. He heard through the pain gasps and squeels of chairs being pushed back and the soft sounds of his name whispered from his family. He felt the hair turn into fabric, covering his body as he changed. He heard, rather than saw, the movement as someone scooped him up; eliciting a gasp of pain as the bone and muscles reformed. Harry couldn't open his eyes as he started to drift on the pain, he felt like he had just before that bright light had hit him in the graveyard when he'd pushed Diggory away; he could feel the sharp pains of the snapped ankle he'd won from the tournament and the damaged ribs from the crash and the sudden transformation as he bolted away on inky paws. He could feel the cuts from the maze still, they were itching on his skin. Most of all, he could feel hands holding him up as he was half carried through the halls, the magic forgotten in their haste.

The soft feeling of home surrounded him as he was laid onto the couch, facing the hall they had no doubt come in through, Harry watched as the four Weasleys followed, Moody's voice floating from the kitchen. Ron sat with his mother, holding her hand tightly. Hermione's hair covered his view of them for a moment as she grabbed him, Sirius' shocked face just a few tiny feet from him. Remus was settled behind him, holding him upright and undoing the buttons of his shirt. Harry winced in pain as the material was removed as it brushed the pains and his too-tight and new skin, he tried to keep his eyes open as the seconds passed; Hermione was pulled from his side by Sirius; Ron and his mother took a seat opposite him on another couch. Harry watched as the pain began to fade and the hall between the Weasleys and the wall lit up in a green tinge, signalling that someone had arrived by floo. He sighed, flicking his ear at a twinge as he wrapped his tail tighter around whatever it was touching.

"Oh Harry," Hermione whispered, ignoring Sirius's attempts at keeping her from touching the boy and sitting next to Remus' feet on the floor beside Harry's head. He was now laying on the couch, his head resting on the werewolf's lap. She smoothed his hair. "We missed you so much!" Her eyes were bright with tears as she stroked the crown of his head, "You have no idea!"

"I think I might," he whispered, his voice was rough, cracked and dry. He leaned up into her hand slightly as a breathy laugh escaped him, "I lost you all, too, 'Mione."

With the subtle 'tap, tap' that told of the peg-legged Auror approaching the quiet conversation halted and all eyes met the entranceway; Remus tightened the arm laying across him, Hermione's hand stilled before it slid back to her lap. Harry smiled at the steely haired matron who followed the scarred old Auror into the room, her small black leather bag resting in her hands as she saw him; Harry got to watch as her mask of clinical professionalism slipped to show a glimpse of concern and surprise before she was descending upon him, the acrid scent of potions following her.

"Well, well, Mr. Potter," She tsked, vanishing the half-unbottoned remains of the shirt Remus had been trying to undo before he'd laid Harry down, already casting diagnostic charms about him. "Welcome back," she frowned a little as her eyes roved over his thin chest and the ribs that had never really hidden well beneath his skin. She waved her wand in a complicated dance that sent bright blue spots and soft tingles all down his skin, "Did you not remember how to eat? You're skin and bones!" She clucked as she prodded at him.

"When I could!" he rasped, his voice still rusty with disuse; though heavy with a defensive edge, he gave her a crooked grin accompanied by a glare, "I barely had claws!"

"Humph." She cast a bright purple spell, frowning at the results. "That's really no excuse," she answered distractedly. Harry frowned in return, he could just imagine how flat his ears would be if he was still a cat, which elicited a painful chuckle. His whole side felt like it was on a low fire. "Well, you seem to have no broken bones, amazingly, you're barely underweight, surprisingly." she commented dryly, "I can just vanish those pesky appendages and fix up that bruise there. Your ankle's a tad sprained, can you manage to not over exert it? Yes, yes, I'll leave it. It's better to heal naturally. You look much worse than you are, for once," her voice miffed and proud as she addressed Harry, the slight bewildered tone as she commented about his weight made him wonder if, perhaps, she thought her spell was wrong.

Harry laughed, when the mediwitch was in full 'patient-mode' she always spoke her thoughts aloud, "Appendages?"

"Your lovely little ears? That tail you're lashing your leg with? You know, just the usual," Hermione poked his ear, his very cat-like ear. He hissed at the flash of pain that shot along the top of head, one he had grown accostumed to in the past few months, the furry ear tryed to blend back into his skull as it flattened. "I'm sorry Harry!" Hermione gasped, shocked at the reaction.

"Hold on, let me get that, what did you do, Potter? Bruise the top of your skull?" Poppy cast muttered incantation to undo the ear beneath her breath. As soon as the jet of the spell settled around him, Harry hissed and would have curled into a tight ball if he could have, the pain intensifying before slipping back into the 'normal' levels he'd had for the past few weeks. He didn't move or look up until he heard the older woman's disbelieving voice tell them: "It… didn't work." She ran a few more diagnostic spells, the pain decreasing consderably as it passed, "They seem to be rather… permanent Potter, were you able to change back at all during the past two years? No, probably not if Nymphadora had to change you back... I'm guessing you minced a bit of the two signatures of the forms together… Molly can you grab him a glass of water, please."

Harry smiled up at her, beginning to relax again, he watched Mrs. Weasley leave the room and pass into the kitchen. "'s'okay, really," he waved both women off as Hermione and Pofrey both moved closer as he began sitting up, the movemnet pulled uncomfortably at the bruising on his stomach, the pain he had originally felt long faded into just above the normal soreness of bruises. A pain he was used to from pre-cat life. "I'm kind'a used to them anyway," Poppy's frown disappeared as she rolled her eyes as she waved a quick, generic bruise healing spell, the effects were much the same as a spasm of pain shot through Harry.

"Stop!" Remus sighed, "Do you have any spells that are meant to work on Animals? And are safe for use on humans?"

"No… I never learned any, though maybe..." she paused, shaking her head sadly and looking at the two boys who had been her patients so often, "I'm sure Hagrid may-"

"No!" Hermione jumped up, shaking her head to further prove her objections. She looked to Dumbledore, standing just inside the doorway, having came in just a few beats after Madam Pomfrey and Moody had though unnoticed by many. Everyone seemed to be having the same reaction as Hermione; the general consensus was that while Hagrid was a great groundskeeper he underestimated his own strengths too often to try anything on Harry right now. "Can he try a potion?"

"Most certainly not! If a typical spell does that! No, imagine the effect a potion may induce, not to mention what would happen if it was poisonous..." Poppy hissed, "I'll floo Severus, he can check if the cat genes are blocking the spells and if he can even have any of the normal potions. Hagrid would know that, you know," her annoyed voice held a touch of warmth as she spun out of the room.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked around the room, bored. His back was resting against Remus, Sirius seated at his feet; both had one arm rested on top of him and smiling goofily. He spotted a fresh looking Daily Prophet on the table beside his Dogfather and, while the others in the room watched Pomfrey leave to collect Snape with a trailing headmaster on her feet, waved his hand toward him. The paper was summoned into his arms. The cover displayed a rather boring scene of some 'goveners picnic'; a tall angry-looking woman with a monocle waved toward someone with bright white hair that was shaved close to his scalp as he waddled over to her. They seemed to be in a large park, much like Soho, he giggled at the pure giddiness from his day so far.

Harry flipped through the pages until Hermione cleared her throat softly beside him. "Are you hungry, Harry? You came just in time for a late lunch. Or an early supper?"

"Not really, 'Mione." He smiled, he hadn't been lying to Madam Pomfrey, he had only eaten sporadically throughout the past two years unless he was living with some family for a bit. "What happened?"

"Not much," Ron told him, eyes wandering over Harry's bruised torso. They both knew what he was asking, "Cedric was brought back to Hogwarts by Professor Snape, he traced the Cup! the guy 'blacked out' when you guys landed apparently. We found Moody in a trunk in the defence office after the tournament, Pettigrew was caught, they found him trying to buy potion ingredients! But Padfoot's been cleared for a little over a year now, he's been the Defence teacher since Christmas, the other guy just up and left, he was a right bug-"

"Ron." Hermione chided, "Harry, honestly, everyone has been looking for you. We were made prefects; now what about you, Harry!" Hermione was almost vibrating with the perceived excitement.

"Uhm, I walked? I didn't see anything interesting, not really anyway. I just…" Harry laughed shakily and tilted his head while his ears and shoulder lifted in a shrug, his voice still rasped slightly, "Tried to find you guys."

"Severus is on his way, my Dear," Dumbledore moved back into the room and this time announced his presence, Pomfrey just behind him. "How are you, my boy. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

Harry grinned at the twinkling eyes of his headmaster, "Fine, and yourself?" He forced back a laugh at the overly polite talk, opting instead to widen his grin in response to the formal reply. Dumbledore conjured a bright pastel coloured chair to sit in while he spoke oddities to the motley group.

Harry winced at a twitch of his ear, the other swivelling about to catch the noises of the house as everyone paused in their conversation to savour the moment.

"Welcome home, Harry." Sirius spoke to him for the first time in two long years, a soft smile on his face; Remus repeated the words. The twins and Ron reated it after followed by the Headmaster while Hermione just patted his leg, his tail coming to rest about her wrist.

"It's good to be back," he whispered, his eyes shining at his family.