Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Harry Potter.
AN: Thank you to those who read this story. Special thanks to those who favorite.
RosesAreForever23: Thank you very much for your review. I'm glad you like the story so far.
Please enjoy this chapter. I apologize in advance for any mistakes and OOCness.
AN2:This is now edited, however errors might still remain. I apologize for those please enjoy this revised version of the chapter.
Vertigo assaulted him as Tate apparated them away from the Dursley's house. When the landed, Harry was sure that he would fall flat on his face but a strong arm around his waist kept him upright. For a couple of moments they stayed like that while the boy got over his queasiness from the travel method. Giving a relieved sigh as the feeling of vertigo finally left him, Harry leaned back against the cold body that still held him.
"Feeling better?" the question was nothing more than polite but it still made the green-eyed boy jump away from the metamorph as if burned, a deep blush spreading over his cheeks.
"Ye-eah," he stuttered slightly as he realized that his head was level with his familiar's chest. Said metamorph watched him curiously for a second before shrugging it off, Tate had a pretty good idea about what had discomfited the teen but she wasn't going to add more to his embarrassment by commenting on it.
"Well then, come this way," she gently pushed him to walk in a certain direction. The cold from her body seeped through his clothes as Tate guided him down the alley they had apparated in to the streets of London. Despite the hour, people were still around, making the metamorph tense. Finally they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. Tate held the door open for Harry and remained outside for a second longer than necessary to watch the people on the streets. She snorted when she detected that no one had followed them there.
"How long will be staying here?" Harry asked his familiar as they approached the bartender.
"Until the start of the school year," was the short response as her back stiffened. "Why is there so many people in here?" Tate hissed at a level that only Harry heard. The glass-wearing boy was surprised at the statement. Besides them there were only four other patrons in there.
"There's nearly no one in here! I'm surprised they are even open at this hour," he said as he waved at Tom to get his attention.
"It would be better if there were none," Tate muttered as the bartender approached them. Her back went rigid as she watched her master interact with the man to talk about renting a room. She could feel the hairs on the back of her head stand as a quick flash of heat burst through her left arm. That only served to fuel her uneasiness. Someone in the shopping district was not as human as they appeared to be. Suddenly going shopping for the school supplies seemed much worse than having waited another day at the humans's home.
Later, that night, Tate was looking at the items scattered around the room they had rented at the Leaky Cauldron, books, quills, and parchment all cluttered the small coffee table by the chimney. The room, despite her best efforts, remained looking as if pixies had had a party in it. Exasperated she kicked a pillow away from her feet and walked over to only window in the room to allow Hedwig to come back into the room, she was impressed that the owl had found them at the inn and that she was back from the errand she had sent her on, and she had to admit she liked the bird. The feeling seemed to be mutual as the snowy owl landed on her arm and allowed her to pet her soft feathers. A small snore brought their attention to their master's sleeping form. Rolling her eyes good naturally, Tate placed the owl on a perch next to the bed and took out a folder from amongst her own pile of books.
The green-eyed familiar smiled as she remembered when Harry had asked her about the books, he had been curious as to what she could be reading and diligently opened the book only to find out he couldn't understand the language. Expertly she avoided his questions about what language it was and instead distracted him with a book about quidditch and promising to teach it to him one day. She felt bad from keeping the truth from him but she knew he wasn't ready to find out about his heritage just yet, he was still getting used to the idea of having a familiar. Sighing she returned her attention to the folder in front of her, inside where the documents that detailed the extensive properties and Gringotts vaults he would receive once he was done with the change in october. It had taken her a sneaked visit to the bank to get the paperwork sorted out and ready for when Harry came to his inheritance.
Thinking about the inheritance, Tate looked at the calendar and thought about how to celebrate her master's upcoming birthday. His friends were due to come over to stay at the inn when the following day, seeing as he had floo-ed them as soon as they finished their shopping, not that she had been happy about that, but it had made him happy so she would not complain about their presence. As long as the presence she had felt earlier that day did not come near Harry, she could tolerate any number of mortals, if only for some time. Worry began gnawing at her, what if that other being went to Hogwarts as well? The sound of movement removed her attention from that dilemma as Harry sat up in the bed.
"Tate, it's late go to sleep," he called out groggily. Snapping the folder shut and replacing it amongst her other books, she walked over to the bed. Magically changing her clothes for pajamas, she climbed into bed with Harry and hugged him to her. Tate wasn't particularly tired but she decided to him him instead of arguing.
"G'night," Harry mumbled as he was lulled to sleep by the protective and comforting warmth of Tate's arms. Tate watched him for some minutes and began petting his hair, they still had time but she dreaded the day when the change would take place. Stroking his hair she never noticed when she herself fell asleep, her last thought was that this was the first time Harry had accepted her touch without question.
"Happy Birthday," was the only warning Harry heard before he was jumped on by a very heavy weight.
"Hmm," he complained as he tried to push the offending being off, thinking in the back of his head that it was much to heavy to be Tate even in her human form.
"Come on Harry, wake up!" something poked him in his ribs and he gave a surprised yelp. Resigned at getting any more sleep he opened his eyes and glared and the blurry image of Ginerva Weasly.
"Ginny," Harry scowled, who had let her in? Growling from next to him was his answer as Ginny was forcefully shoved off of his bed, she had let herself in. He blinked his eyes in surprise a couple of times before turning to look at Tate's cat form. His familiar seemed awfully gleeful while the only Weasly girl huffed indiganted from the floor. "Be nice," he whispered but the smile on his lips betrayed his amusement.
Putting on his glasses, he jumped off the bed and gave Ginny a hand. Said girl took the offered help and glared at the cat on the bed, while Harry went to get ready. Jade-green eyes stared back at her and Ginny would have liked nothing more than to throw the offending feline out of the room. Since when had cats been so bloody strong?
"Ginny, what are you doing there?" Hermionie asked her from the hall. "Come on we have to get everything ready for the surprise!" the older girl chided her, dragging her out of the room.
Tate smiled evilly when the door closed behind the redhead, she had a plan to keep that girl far away from her master. Thinking about her master she nearly went to join him in the shower, but Hedwig's 'You're not doing that again' look kept her from going into the bathroom. Although Harry's reaction had amused her to no end, she would rather not have the owl give her reproachful looks all day long. With a wave of her paw the bed began to make itself while she jumped off and walked over to Harry's chest. Another wave of her paw and the rest of Harry's belongings were stuffed once more into the chest. Briefly she wondered why she bothered, every day had been the same she would put everything away only to find it strewn about the floor later when her master went looking for something.
"He should just ask me for whatever he needs," she muttered darkly, even if she knew that she would always humor her master regardless of anything. Shaking her head she headed out of the room to let Harry get ready. Dodging through the legs of the inn's patrons she wondered if it wouldn't have been easier to take another shape, but Harry seemed oddly fond of her cat form.
Maliciously clawing at the hand of a witch who had tried to pet her, Tate finally made it to the small private room her master's friends had rented for Harry's birthday. It was very nicely decorated but Tate could care less as she made her way to the table with all the food and presents. She jumped on a chair and looked at the dishes hoping that Harry would like them, if not Tate would make sure that annoying, little redhead girl would pay for it.
"Ah, there you are Tate," Hermionie came and picked her up. Had it been someone else the familiar would have scratched and nearly murdered but, much to her charging, she found herself liking the mortal. 'In Lilith's name what shall become of me?' the blonde thought bemusedly as she purred in contentment at the petting the human gave her. This one wasn't as annoying as the others her master liked to keep around and the redhead twins weren't so bad either, she rather liked watching them prank other these thoughts in mind, Tate didn't notice when she was placed on the couch next to another feline.
"You two look adorable together!" the brown-haired girl cooed at them. "I wonder if Harry would like to breed you two? Oh imagine all the pretty little kittens!"
'Adorable...two? Breed, kittens! What?' her green eyes widened in horror at the human. Meanwhile Crookshanks looked at her with an acute interest, Tate could tell it knew of her true identity. Turning to him and hissing she tried to make a bolt off the couch but she was quickly trapped by Hermionie, who placed her back next to the cat-kneazle hybrid.
"Hermionie what are you trying to do with those poor cats?" came the motherly voice of Molly Weasly.
"I was thinking about asking Harry about breeding them!" Tate almost, almost, felt bad for preferring to cut out her own reproductive organs before getting anywhere near the hybrid's own when she heard the adoration in Hermionie's voice.
"Ask me about what?" Harry asked as he finally walked into the room. Both women turned to beam at the birthday boy.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" they said in unison and went to hug him, momentarily forgetting about the pets. Tate took the chance and dashed off to leap into Harry's arm. She was shivering in disgust as Harry stared down at her worried. "Tate, are you alright?" He received a sharp bite to the hand in response to the stupid question. The green-eyed teen glared at his familiar slightly before hearing Hermionie's proposal, after which he could understand Tate's reaction.
"I don't think that would be a great idea, Mionie," he replied sheepishly as his best friend repeated the question for the umpteenth time. They were currently sitting at the table eating and talking with the Weasly's as they celebrated Harry's birthday, Harry had to admit that he was having a good time at the party despite Hermionie's insistence. Since Hermionie persisted in breeding the two cats, Tate had not left Harry's lap that whole time. He tried his best not to laugh at his familiar's antics because he knew it would earn him another nip or scratch.
Petting the silky, blonde fur, he made a note to thank her later. If it hadn't been because of her, he might still be shut away at the Dursley's. Happily, on his part, they spent the rest of the day at the party singing, playing games, talking, eating, and just having a good time.
"Hermionie, have you seen Tate?" Harry asked worried, he couldn't find her anywhere. That morning was the first of September, the day they would leave to Hogwarts and his blonde familiar had been missing all morning. She had left everything neatly packed and ready to go, but she was nowhere to be found.
"Harry can you even have two pets at school?" Ron asked him as he came out from the dinning area, toast in hand.
"Uh..I don't know," he walked off down a hall looking. He hadn't thought about that at all when Tate had been 'born'. 'Damn it, now is not the time to think about that! I have to find her.' Harry thought frantically.
"I don't count as a pet," and Ron nearly jumped into Hermionie's arms.
"S-s-she talks!" the youngest Weasly boy looked awfully pale as he stared at the cat sitting comfortably on a table next to them.
"Tate! Where have you been? I have been looking all over the place for you!" the black-haired boy admonished her.
"Where? Well I was bored, so I went for a walk," 'I had to take care of some business with Gringotts'. Lazily she stretched and jumped off the table, landing in her human shape behind Ron. She smiled at the boy, who had gone even paler than before.
"Harry, you have a familiar?" the pureblood wizard asked incredulously.
"Um, yes. Why? Isn't it common?" Dread pooled in Harry's gut, mentally he crossed his fingers hoping that it was not too unusual a thing, he did not need anything else to set him apart from the rest of his classmates.
Before Ron even had a chance to begin his lecture of why having a familiar was uncommon, Harry was pulled by the tall blonde in front of them. "Not here. Not now. You'll make us late," she said as she herded them towards the lobby once more. "Wait until we are on the train, and I'll explain things to you Harry." And with that she morphed into the shape of a bracelet and curled around his wrist.