A/N: Let me thank you for the reviews and specially for the new follows. I have to admit that I feel very flattered that this story has had such a good response from the beginning, but sometimes that makes me feel pressured. I don't want to screw up and spoil everything, and it's not that I am trying to be modest or anything, but this fic feels like some kind of experiment which I don't know exactly what I'm doing with, and I fear it might explode.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I don't know exactly what I did in this chapter, specially the second part of it... I don't know the purpose of everything the characters are thinking and I am really bad with interior monologues and the exploration of feelings. So, read this with low expectations, please.

Enjoy ^.^


UMBRIDGE'S CAT TRAP

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Chapter 8

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by Saeshmea

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It was Snape's free afternoon and he would usually spend it in the library doing some research but since he had a guest in his room, he decided to go there after lunch.

He brought Minerva some salmon and chopped potatoes and watched her eating them on his desk while pretending to be reading that morning's paper.

After she was done, he vanished the plate and accommodated himself in his chair to finish with those essays he had intended to correct a few hours earlier.

Meanwhile, Minerva walked around his room, and with the agility of a trained cat, she climbed his bookshelf, reading every title he possessed. At some point, she stopped and meowed, trying to catch an attention she already was having, because Severus hadn't taken his eyes away from her.

He stood up and walked towards his modest library. Her tail was brushing the spine of his copy of The Metamorphosis.

"I'm not sure this is a recommended read for cats," he joked, "but if this is going to make you stay quiet," and he took the thin book and made place for it on his desk. Minerva followed him, and sat at the left side of the table, almost at the edge, so he would have enough space to keep working. Severus opened the book for her and she began her reading while Severus returned to his corrections. Every time she needed the page to be turned, Minerva would tickle Severus left hand with the tip of her tail and he would rotate the paper without taking his eyes off his work.

They had such coordination that anyone would have thought that was a customary activity for them.

...

At half past four exactly and no one minute later, Minerva stretched her little legs and looked at Severus. He did notice her stare, since he'd been peeking at her through the locks of his greasy black hair, but he dissimulated and Minerva insisted by sitting on the essays.

"What is it now?" he asked, and all Minerva did was turn and look at the clock on the wall, but it was enough for Severus to understand what she meant: it was McGonagall's tea time.

He left go a sigh and stood up. Taking his chair with him, he walked towards the fireplace, where there was his armchair and a small tea table, and set everything for an afternoon tea.

He sat on wooden chair with wheels that he'd stolen from his desk, and Minerva sat on the arm of the other seat, which allowed her to reach her porcelain cup better.

"You've been a cat for two days, now," he broke their silence, "one would believe that by this time you would have understood that all these ridiculous ladylike manners of yours have no meaning at all when you have paws instead of hands," he grinned, and Minerva replied with a very smart move of her head that amused Severus, who had to suppress his laugh.

...

Once their cup had been emptied, and the biscuits had been eaten, Severus cleaned everything up and intended to return to his desk, but Minerva had other plans. She returned to the bookshelf, watched by a curious Severus, and this time she climbed to the top and made a wooden chess board fall to the floor.

Severus was startled by the noise, but his face didn't show it.

"I offer you tea and you destroy my bedroom?" he said, "if you were a real cat, Minerva, you would be food for the thestrals already."

Minerva just meowed and jumped down the tall tower.

"It's a muggle set," Severus replied, standing up from his chair to pick the wooden board, "you need hands to play," his comment was ignored; Minerva passed by him and sat on the armchair again before meowing again. "Oh, alright," he groaned, walking to his drawer to take a box that contained the pieces of the game, "I guess it might be an interesting game."


Minerva watched how Severus placed every piece on the board as if his life depended on it. Treating every figure like a piece of fragile crystal, and moving each one of them so they would all be facing the other team.

He played black, she played white. That was an unspoken rule they'd established during their early games and none of them seemed to care about changing it.

Minerva moved first, pointing with her tail the third pawn and then the white square where she wanted it to be placed. Severus took the small round-headed piece with his fingers and placed it where she'd demanded, then he made his move.

The first time they'd played had been a very cold afternoon of the second winter of Severus in the school. A Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch match had to be played and they had spent the day arguing about the superiority of each team. When the game was cancelled, Severus suggested to take the matter to a chessboard, and Minerva accepted.

They played in the professor's lounge and even though they said no word during the two hours the game lasted, and that Minerva couldn't recall who won, they both really enjoyed themselves, because the situation had been repeated in a very regular way since then.

She looked the chess board in front of her and smiled. There were only three pieces standing: the two kings and a white pawn. She indicated her next move and Severus closed his eyes momentarily.

"I've lost to a cat," he said, knocking down his king with one finger, "I guess that officially makes me the worst player in the castle," he added, and Minerva purred.

"If that's pity," he said, "I don't need it," and he stood up and watched at the clock, "I should head to the Great Hall for dinner," he announced, "I'll back soon."

...

Being alone again, Minerva decided to take a nap. When she woke up she found herself still alone but, there was light and steam coming out from the bathroom door, which had been left open ajar. Severus was back and taking a shower.

She guessed that Severus had expected to be done before Minerva woke up, or maybe he was so used to being alone in his rooms that he'd forgotten to close the door for more intimacy. Anyway, Minerva didn't resist her curiosity for too long, not everyday one had the opportunity to watch professor Snape out of his black clothes. She approached the door and listened to the water stop running. Severus came out from the shower with an immaculate white towel around his waist.

The first thing that caught Minerva's attention was the mark on his arm. She had always guessed he would have the dark mark tattooed but she'd never seen it on him. It was strange to see a friend wearing such a devil sign on his skin, but her little round eyes quickly moved to other parts of his body, like his stomach, a perfectly shaped group of muscles that he shamelessly hide under those unsexy clothes. Minerva had to admit that Severus was very good-looking, even the scars he had on his back, probably from having been torture or battling, increased her desire to walk in and feel every inch of that body.

Then she remembered she was a cat spying on a fellow professor from a few inches from the ground, so she went back to the armchair and pretended to be sleeping when Severus came out wearing a long black pajama very similar to his everyday clothes.

What had that been? She'd never thought of Severus in that way before… she hadn't thought of anyone that way in years! But, then again, she'd never seen Severus almost naked either until that moment, and she'd liked what she'd seen. Minerva waved her little cat head, trying to take him away from her mind but, she couldn't.

She recalled their first encounters. She had never met anyone so unlikeable in her life, but her opinion of him changed over the years, which might seem like a very long time, but that was what took to know Severus Snape; years. Their conversations were usually about work or quidditch, some times about politics, but rarely (if not never) about their personal lives.

Minerva made herself responsible too for that lack of friendly intimacy between them, because she herself didn't like people inquiring in her own life, but maybe that was why they enjoyed spending time together, because they both understood the needs of the other, even if they'd never spoken them out loud. She wondered if, once she was back to her human form, Severus would like to have a closer friendship with her.

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TO BE CONTINUED...