Chapter 3

Severus woke slowly, feeling well rested. Lazily, he opened his eyes to see a mass of black on the other pillow. Sitting up in remembrance, his eyes made contact with dull green eyes, wide in fear and pain. The small body was incredibly tense, wary eyes watching his every movement, flinching even when blinked.

Severus froze, not wanting to startle the cat further. He slowly left his bed, calm and unhurried movements as to seem as nonthreatening as possible. He was aware of the incessant stare of the cat as he went about his morning ablutions.

He had to feed the now conscious cat its morning potions, but wanted to move it to the warded desk first. He needed to do a second check for anything he may have missed in his scan the night before.

He cautiously approached the cat, hands in full view the entire time. The cat leaned away as he got closer and still its dull eyes stared unblinkingly.

He stopped next to it, seeing how fearful and tense the cat was, he was unsure how to correctly approach it. He didn't want it to panic if he were to grab it and possibly worsening its injuries. He also didn't want to deal with the scratches. The only other option that came to mind was the use of a body bind and levitation charm. He was sure that sort of treatment would frighten the cat more than it already was.

Eventually deciding he would risk the scratches, he leaned down to pick the cat up. What drove his decision was the idea of teaching the cat that his touches weren't something to fear. The way the cat was reacting so far told him that the cat was very fearful of human interaction. He doubted the poor thing had ever felt a gentle hand.

He slowly picked the creature up, doing his best to avoid putting any pressure on its numerous wounds and causing it further pain. Strangely, the cat didn't offer any sort of struggle but let out one heartrendingly weak mewl of fear. It leaned as far away from him as it could in its position. He brought it closer to rest against his chest, hoping maybe the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat would calm and comfort it somehow. So far, it didn't seem to be working.

He slowly brought his shaking and painfully tense burden downstairs. He stopped in the kitchen to grab a tin of tuna, with hopes he could get the cat to eat something.

Once in his lab, he carefully placed the cat on the desk and renewed the boundary wards from the previous day.

Despite its freedom, the cat didn't even try to escape. It didn't even try to stand at all. It seemed simply resigned to whatever it thought he would do to it.

Though it still shook violently and leaned away from his hands, it did nothing else to his prodding.

Nodding that he didn't miss anything, he began to gather his potions. When he reached for the amputated leg to inspect, the cat let out a deep sigh, laid its head down facing away from him, and closed its eyes. Severus knew this wasn't a sign of trust, but the cat giving up. It seemed to not care about anything anymore.

Sighing deeply himself, Severus knew this was not a good sign. When an animal gave up like this it was simply accepting its death. This was something he had been hoping to avoid happening. He didn't know what to do to bring the fight to live back. All he could do was to continue with his healing potions. If things didn't improve in the next week, he may have to brew the euthanasia potion to end its suffering, something he really didn't want to do.

Even though he hadn't seen a lick of personality, he was starting to become fond of the poorly creature.

The cat allowed him to handle its head and jaw with that same hopeless acceptance while he patiently fed it each potion.

He opened the tin of tuna, watching the cat for any sort of reaction to the scent of food. Nothing. Taking a bit onto his finger, he presented it under the cat's nose hoping to rile interest. The cat only sniffed it listlessness before moving it's head away again. This worried him since the weak body could not survive on supplement potions only. They were designed to not replace a complete meal, but just supplement required vitamins and minerals. He moved the fish back under the cat's nose once again but was completely ignored.

Sighing, he gave up. He picked the cat up again and it fell boneless in his arms. He softly petted it but got no reaction. Shaking his head sadly, he moved them to his sitting room. He arranged the throw blanket into a nest formation on the couch and placed the cat into it. He covered the cat with some of the extra throw. Casting a warming charm on it, he sat in his armchair. He quietly watched the cat fall into a soundless sleep.

He picked up his potion's journal and tried to read. He caught himself glancing over at the cat often. He wanted to help the poor creature completely recover and for it to become comfortable with his presence.

Four hours later, movement from the couch distracted him from his reading. The cat was moving strangely in its sleep. It seemed to be struggling against something before going completely stiff as if someone had petrified it.

Severus rushed to its side quickly, heart in his throat. The cat seemed to be having some sort of fit. Its head thrashed, slitted eyes rolled back in its head, and its limbs flailed as much as they could while still completely stiff.

Severus held it's head in place and gently stroked it down its heaving side.

"Come on, little one," he murmured pleadingly, "Fight, don't give up. Come on."

He continued the petting for nearly a minute before the cat's whole body went slack.

His hand stopped on its chest near its heart and was startled to feel the too fast heartbeat. With one last pat, he sprinted to his lab for another strengthening potion. Before he re-entered his sitting room, Severus hesitated. He didn't want to enter only to find he'd been too late. He'd become too attached, too quickly to this small forsaken soul.

Taking a deep breath, he crossed the room's threshold. At first he though he had been too slow. When he reached the couch, he could see the slow breaths the cat was taking. Relieved, he sat next to the struggling form and charmed the potion directly into the cat's stomach.

He rested his hand back over its heart and closed his eyes at the slow, weak beating beneath his fingers. Waiting with pounding heart and bated breath, he finally felt its breathing even out and become less laboured and its heart return to a more regular rhythm.

"Thank Merlin," Severus breathed out. "Don't do that again, little one."

Severus kept a very close eye on the cat for the rest of the day. The cat did not reawaken at all. Heading to bed later, he placed the cat back on the pillow next to him and prayed the cat would be alive the next morning.