Have you seen me?
James stepped back, admiring his work. Twenty posters were crookedly stapled on the bulletin board located in the Gryffindor common room. There wasn't that much space to put the posters, so James just placed his posters over the notices he doubted were important.
Some like: Extra help for O.W.L's! and Super Important Meeting for Every Student at Hogwarts – Don't Attend and Risk Expulsion!
Remus tapped the boy on the shoulder tiredly. "What are you doing, James?"
The boy in question turned around, looking strangely sombre. "Moony, I'm afraid I have some bad news to tell you."
"What is it?" Remus stiffened slightly, hoping it wasn't something along the lines of, 'We just told everyone about your lycanthropy, mate. They're going to come at you with pitchforks in five minutes or so.'
James took a shuddering breath. "Barnabas is missing." He moved away from the notice board, and Remus could now see several colourful, slightly messy drawings covering the panel. The headline of the poster read: Have You Seen Me? Below it was a large picture of James smiling wide, cuddling a fat black cat who was trying to escape from James' embrace.
"When was the last time you saw him, Prongs?" asked Remus. Barnabas, James' cat since third year, was an independent cat and sometimes went for long walks, not returning until the end of the day.
"Last month, I think." said James, scratching his head. "I finally noticed he was gone when I decided to feed him, since he wasn't, you know, bothering me like he usually does."
"Last month!" stuttered Remus, paling at his friend's statement. "What kind of owner are you?"
"Hey! At least I feed him … most of the time," muttered James, blushing slightly. "It's just that he usually finds his own food since the House-Elves like him – I have no idea why, he's bloody annoying!"
"Then why are you putting up posters?"
"Mum said that I have to act more responsible so she gave me Barnabas the Lazy-Arse Feline and that if I lose him, my broomstick would be snapped." He exclaimed, his voice slightly cracking at the last note as if a broken broomstick would be the end of the world.
"Okay," said Remus, determined to help his bespectacled, slightly pathetic friend out. "Where was the last place you saw Barnabas?"
James screwed his face up in concentration, tapping his chin. "I think I saw him going inside the girl's lavatories. I thought he was going to, ahem, you know," James coughed, and his face turned red. Being fourteen, and going through puberty doesn't help at all when he is forced to say things like this. "Meet up with a female cat or whatever."
Remus digested the information and nodded primly. He, unlike his friend, had already mastered the act of not blushing when it came to matters like that. "Right, you round up Padfoot and Wormtail and meet me in the dungeons. We'll start from the bottom up,"
James smiled, "I knew I could count on you, ole buddy, ole pal! Has anyone ever told you you're really awesome lately? 'Cause you are – "
"Of course I am, Prongs," interrupted Remus. "But if you can hurry this up, there's a book upstairs calling my name and I hate to disappoint." James gave a salute and sprinted off in search of his friends.
"I hate this place," shivered Sirius, glaring at a couple of Slytherins slithering by. "It's so cold and … stupid." The boys had just finished looking through Dungeons and it was safe to say Barnabas wasn't there. James was looking a little disappointed but refused to give up.
"Come on, guys!" said James, trying to keep their spirits up. "At least we can cross out the Dungeons from places Barnabas might be. I'm glad, too, I mean, think about if we found him here! Having a Slytherin-like cat isn't something I'd want."
Sirius patted him on the back as they ascended the stairs. "We'd disown him if he was, Prongs. I hate that cat, he's so … annoying. Why couldn't you have lost him sooner?"
"ANYWAY," interrupted Remus before James could get any ideas. "Prongs and I will look at this half of the corridor and Padfoot and Wormtail will look at that half. Barnabas shouldn't be far." The boys nodded, splitting up and hurrying away. An unspoken challenge had just arisen and everyone wanted to find the cat first, not wanting to lose and have their pride wounded.
"Look at all the cute kitties!" cooed Lily Evans, scooping up an orange and white striped kitten and cuddling it closely. She was sitting in the common room floor beside the couches with her dorm-mates watching the kittens play. Lily's cat Meredith had given birth to seven kittens weeks ago and they were finally old enough to run around. The father of the kittens was a mysterious black cat who showed up at the forth year girl's dormitory last month looking starved. Lily and Meredith immediately became attached to the cat and they welcomed him in.
"I want to keep this one," said Mary Macdonald, petting a kitten with a gold coat. "His fur reminds me of Remus' eyes – er, I mean, gold coins! Gold coins!" mumbled Mary as all her dorm-mates looked at her with knowing eyes.
The portrait door swung open, saving Mary from any embarrassing revelations.
"I don't know where Barnabas could've gone," exclaimed James, fixing his crooked glasses upon his nose. "We looked everywhere!" The Marauders finally noticed the girls and kittens and James straightened up, deepening his voice. "Hello, Evans. Nice kittens, where'd you get – Barnabas!"
The black cat stretched his front paws as he got up lazily, circling the basket full of kittens.
"What're you talking about, Potter?" said Lily, dragging the basket closer to her and looking confused.
"That's my cat!" said James. "Where'd you find him?"
"You're cat?" snarled Lily, standing up and crossing over. She folded her arms over her chest and glared. "You mean Mr. Mittens? You're his owner? How could you treat such a cute animal like that? He looked like he was about to die when we found him at our door! How could you?"
"Er, sorry?"
Apparently, this wasn't what Lily wanted to hear. "Potter, I know your arrogant and a bully but seriously! You got to be that to animals to?" Lily regained her composure. "Anyway, he's mine now, seeing as he's the father of my cat's children."
"Barnabas is the father? Wow, I didn't know the guy had it in him! How many are there – like eight?" snickered Sirius, Remus and Peter joining in.
James, meanwhile, was grinning like a fool. "You know what that makes us, right, Evans?"
Lily flushed, stammering over her words. "Don't say it! I swear to Merlin, Potter, if you say it, so help me – "
"We're related - !" James paused, having realised what that actually meant and paled. "Wait, what?"
A/N: Wow, it's been so long. Really sorry! My internet was out and then I had to get my computer fixed, but I'm back! *crickets chirp*
Right, ahem, anyway. Super thanks to skHermione and Remus' daughter (love the name!) and to whoever put this story on their alerts or favourite's list! You guys are awesome.
