Tabby's Tale

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even the computer I'm working on. So I definitely don't own Harry Potter or The Famous Five. J.K Rowling and Co. own Harry Potter. Enid Blyton and Estate own The Famous Five. I'm just borrowing them, and I promise to return them unharmed.

Minerva McGonagall was delighted. Her twin, Meredith, had given birth to triplets. A pair of identical girls, and a third girl. The children had been named Lily, Narcissa and Petunia. Meredith and David were ecstatic. The children were beautiful, the most gorgeous babies they had ever seen. The triplets were witches, carrying on the 'family tradition'. At least, Cissy and Lily were. Pet had yet to show any magical ability.

There was one major problem, though. Of the McGonagall twins, Minerva was a gifted witch, with a talent for transfiguration. Meredith, on the other hand, was a squib, and had been disowned by the twins' father. Their mother, Catherine, adored both her daughters, and was terrified for Meredith's safety.

With great reluctance, Meredith had been sent to live with more open minded relatives on Catherine's side. Catherine knew that Merri would be safe with her parents, who adored their granddaughters, no matter what their talents were. Eleven years later, Catherine had been granted a divorce from her husband due to his constant cruelty and terrorising of both herself and her young daughter, Minerva. Both had been taken in by Albus Dumbledore, who was quickly becoming a father to Minnie. He also encouraged Catherine to contact Merri. Albus had a reputation as a 'senile old coot' but Catherine had not realised that this was the opinion of small minded idiots who didn't agree with his stand on some issues. Albus didn't care that Merri was a squib, and had welcomed her into the family.

He had been delighted when she met David Evans. David was kind, courteous and gentle. He had a sweet nature, and a wicked sense of humour. Everyone liked him, except the twins' birth-father. No one cared about his opinion, anyway, since his only point against David was that David was also a squib. Everyone agreed that Timothy McGonagall was a bigoted idiot. Unfortunately, a lot of people agreed with Timothy, at least about his daughter's choice of husband. Two squibs marrying was frowned on, and their offspring were generally classified as 'second generation muggles'. For a squib couple to have magical children was very rare, and the children were almost never accepted by the circles with which Timothy associated. It would come as no surprise to the twins, many years later, to learn that he was a Death Eater.

It was with deep regret therefore that the McGonagall-Evans triplets were adopted out. Lily and Petunia were adopted by Jack and Jenny Evans. Narcissa was adopted by Tobias and Therese Kirrin. The children would not meet again until Lily and Frances were at Hogwarts. Minerva was able to keep an eye on her young nieces only in her Animagus form until they turned eleven. During those years, she and the Evanses would miss the children desperately. Frances would not realise the full extent of the truth behind the children's relationships until after Lily was killed. Until that point in time, no one had noticed the resemblance between the three.

The Kirrin family had welcomed the shy grey tabby with open arms, offering food, shelter and comfort whenever she was around. The muggle Evans family had the same reaction. The Evans family named the cat Misty, the Kirrins simply called her Tab. So when Frances entered the transfiguration classroom for the first time, she stared in astonishment at the cat on the desk. "Tab? What on earth are you doing here, gorgeous? Mum and dad must be so worried, when did you get out, you bad cat?" she cried, snatching the cat up and rubbing her ears, fondly. Minerva just purred at her.

Lily ran in a few minutes later, and gasped. "Misty! What are you doing at Hogwarts, you crazy cat. Pet must be so worried, go home, go on!" Frances turned around in astonishment. "What are you talking about, Lily? This is Tab, she belongs to my family." "What? My family has this cat, her name is Misty." Lily was bewildered. "Misty often goes wandering for a week or so at a time. "Tab does the same." Both girls were now starting to wonder about their cats. "Hang on, could it be we have the same cat? And what on earth is our cat doing at Hogwarts?" Lily asked, confused. Minerva had jumped out of Frances' arms at some point, and was winding around their legs, purring softly.

When both girls turned to face her, the cat took several steps backwards, before transforming with a slight pop. Both girls stared in shock. "What the?! Professor McGonagall, what on earth?" Lily gaped. Frances was shaking her head. "No way. My family has not made a pet out of one of my teachers, no way. I'm dreaming." She seemed to by trying to convince herself.

"No, my dear, you aren't dreaming." Minerva had replied, smiling. "I can imagine you are both very confused, but we don't really have the time right now to go over everything. Why don't we have tea together on Saturday night, we can talk about everything then?" The girls agreed readily, both looking forward to solving the mystery behind the shared cat.

That was the first of many teatime visits. When the truth came out, the girls were amazed. Frances had known all along that she was adopted, but Lily and Petunia hadn't, since they were a lot like their new parents. Minerva made arrangements for both to meet Meredith and David, but was unable to get permission for Petunia to join them. Because of this, it never really registered with Frances that Petunia was related to her until after Lily's death.

David and Meredith were delighted with their children's progress at Hogwarts. Lily and Frances were quickly welcomed into the extended McGonagall-Evans family, with the welcome extended to Petunia as soon as she was willing or able to accept it. This moment would not come for many years, until after Lily's death. Until that point, Petunia was bitter and jealous about the world Lily had gone to, and didn't seem to want to believe that there was a place for her there too, if she only she was willing to accept it.

David and Meredith waited patiently for Petunia to come to her senses, but it would be more than a decade before they finally met their third daughter again. Petunia seemed nervous around them, no doubt because she was uncertain of the reception she would receive, given her earlier attitude towards all things wizarding. The McGonagall-Evanses welcomed her with open arms, but the biggest shock came from seeing Misty winding around Meredith's legs.

"How on earth do you know our old cat, Mother?" Petunia asked in astonishment, the first time she saw this. "Your old cat? Oh, yes, Lily did tell us about that." Meredith replied, smiling. "Have you ever wondered why some things you thought you were talking to your cat about suddenly became known to people in our world?" "Well, yes, I did. I blamed Lily and that Snape boy for spying on me and tattling," Pet had answered, shame-facedly.

Meredith smiled. "One more secret to reveal, I guess," she said calmly. "Go on, then." The cat purred, rubbing against her legs one more time before batting at Petunia's hand with one paw to get her attention. Once Petunia was looking, the cat had taken several steps backwards, and then transformed. Petunia stared in shock. "What on earth? Don't tell me you're the one who's been sharing my secrets!" "Guilty as charged," Minerva replied, not looking remotely penitent.

"Wow. I can't believe my family's old cat is actually a wizard." Petunia exclaimed. "Witch, actually. The blokes are called wizards, us girls are called witches. And David and Merri are a phenomenon known as squibs. David's family, the Evanses, and our family, the McGonagalls, are pure-bloods. David and Merri, however, don't have magic." At Petunia's confused look, Minerva continued to explain the situation.

"Squibs are non-magical people born to pure-blood parents. David's family are far more open-minded about squibs, and bloodlines, than my and Merri's father was. We recently found out that my father was a Death Eater. That's why you three had to be sent away. Having squib-born magical children is a rare phenomenon, and they are usually welcomed with open arms. Only pure-blood supremacists like my father are hostile towards squib-borns, but father was hostile to everyone. He disowned Merri for being a squib, and me for falling off my broom in first year. It was a lot safer for Lily and Cissy to be considered muggle-born than squib-born."

Minerva sighed. "I've never fully understood the hostility shown to squib-borns by purists. Squib-borns are treated as lower than muggle-borns by purists, and depending on who the purist is, muggle-borns are often treated as sub-human. Even purists who don't believe that muggle-borns and squib-borns are scum don't treat them with equality. Even to the more open minded, squib and muggle-borns are treated as a lower class." Petunia nodded. "I guessed as much from a lot of Lily's complaining. That's part of the reason why I was so unwilling to believe I had a place in this world. I was sure Lily was just trying to placate me and make me be friends again. OF course, Lily told me that muggles like me are even lower than muggle-borns. I think we're even lower than squib-borns."

"No," replied Minerva. "Firstly, due to your bloodline, your not a muggle. You're a second-generation squib. Secondly, oddly enough, squibs are considered a higher class the squib-borns. Indeed, muggle-borns are considered a higher class than squibs, squibs are a higher class than squib-borns, and squib-borns are a higher class than muggles. Basically, to people like father, muggles are less than human, and squib-borns are ranked below muggles. In father's opinion."

Petunia nodded. "So, Lily and Cissy and me were sent away tor protect us from grandfather?" "Him and the people he associates with, yes." Minerva smiled sadly. "I still check in on Cissy quite a bit. I'd like to check in on you and Harry from time to time." Petunia smiled. "That's great, sure you can drop by sometimes. But you'll be safer as Misty, Vernon can't stand anything that doesn't fit into his view of 'normal', and me being a squib isn't 'normal' so I'm going to have to hide that from him. He already treats Harry badly as it is, and the most I can do for the boy is make sure he gets a bottle of milk twice a day. The rest of the time all he's allowed is water. Vernon's orders, and with his temper, I'm scared to rebel."

Minerva nodded sympathetically. "Yes, mum was like that with father. You've changed a lot from the woman I noticed that on Halloween. I must say, your attitude to Harry seems to have changed, in the last few months." "Well, of course it has, Aunt. Harry's all I've got left of Lily. Or at least, all I can have safely around Vernon. I wish I could really show the boy how much he means to me. I wish I understood why he means so much to me when I spent so long being bitter and jealous of Lily. I should hate the brat, but I don't. Vernon does, and makes it obviously known, but I don't. And I can't do anything for the kid, because Vernon's always there, always standing over us, always getting mad if I give the kid any affection or if it seems like Harry's getting more attention than Dudley. If Cissy and I are really related, how come Harry wasn't sent to Cissy? Hell, for that matter, why didn't you keep Harry with you?"

Minerva nodded. "Yes, that would have been the preferable solution, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, it's not widely known that you three are related. It's even less widely known that I'm related to either of you, at least in the wizarding world. Albus knew that you and Lily were related, but didn't know about Cissy. After watching your behaviour that Halloween, if Albus had known about Cissy, I'm sure Harry would have been taken to her. That would have given you two a better relationship. I know that Vernon seems to like Cissy's young daughter, Georgina. Harry would have grown up as her cousin, and your nephew, without Vernon having to have any relationship with him." Petunia smiled. "That would have been wonderful. Yes, Vernon does approve of George. She's a tomboy, and refuses to answer to Georgina, so everyone calls her George instead. She really does look more like a George too, with her short hair and trousers. But she's a nice girl, and she's gentle with the children, although she has laid Dudley flat on the ground once, when he provoked her. She was horrified about doing it, but Vernon thought it would be good for the boy. 'Knock a bit of sense into him, builds character don't you know!' he said jovially when it happened." Minerva winced. "Dudley's barely two!" "Yes, I know," replied Petunia with a small sigh. "That's just Vernon's attitude towards the situation." The two women continued to talk about the insanity of the situation in general, and Vernon Dursley in particular.

That had been six months after the Halloween when Lily and James Potter were killed, and Minerva had continued to monitor the two families, appearing openly to Frances' family, but being more secretive with the Dursleys. Only Petunia knew Misty's secret, and she wasn't about to tell anyone. She had been amazed when Vernon accepted the cat, even going so far as to scratch behind the silky ears and talk to the cat in an almost friendly manner. Petunia knew he would have a fit if he even dreamed that the cat was actually a human, and that he would probably turn homicidal if he thought she was related to it.

Minerva kept Albus updated on the situation for both families, and especially on how Harry was doing. Harry adored Misty the cat almost as much as the common green snake that had been found in his blankets. Lila the snake was Harry's constant companion and confidant, and he could talk to her for hours at a time, without noticing the time going by. Minerva was amused by this, and quickly made friends with the snake, although it would be some years before she registered that Harry had been using Parseltongue to communicate with his pet.

So, that brings us to the present day. Petunia is sitting on a low brick wall, scratching Misty's ears and musing about the opportunity that has been offered to her young nephew. And this is where we shall leave them, for now.

A/N Review would be greatly appreciated. They might also help me write more. Or wake up my infuriatingly slow plot-bunny.