Chapter Fourteen: Damned If Do Ya, Damned If I Don't

A/N: It's a short chapter, but it's an important one.

I took a long shower before decided to wear some baggy, around the house clothes. It's pretty hot at my house, so I wore some old shorts, a sports bra, and a red, baggy shirt over it. I didn't bother to put any make-up on, and the only thing I did with my hair was pin it up into a sloppy, but secure bun. I rolled on some deodorant and made my way to the kitchen. I searched the fridge for a few minutes and wished that we had food that was already made, not food to make food.

My body automatically stiffened when I heard him say, "There's more food in the pantry."

I sighed and closed the door to the fridge. I mumbled out, "Thanks," while I walked over to the pantry. I scanned the shelves for a few minutes before taking out a protein bar. I closed the pantry and then slowly peeled the wrapper off of the protein bar. Without making eye contact, or looking at him at all, I walked past Voldemort and to the trashcan. I threw away the wrapper and started to walk towards the door of the kitchen so I could go to the living room, but he leaned against the counter, making it impossible for me to continue. With a smirk, he said, "You will be attending the four o'clock meeting with me this afternoon."

I drew in a deep breath, took a bite of my protein bar, and said, "Okay." I tried to walk around him, but he just picked me up from my waist and placed me on the counter he was leaning against. I rolled my eyes while he stood in between my legs, put his hands down by my thighs, and started to kiss my neck. He turned my face to my left so that it'd be easier for him to kiss me, but I pretended not to be bothered and continued eating my protein bar. He pulled away from me and turned my face so that I'd be looking into his angry eyes. "You're eating while I—?"

I saw Nagini slither on the wooden floor of the kitchen and screamed. I scooted back so fast that I slammed into the wall. Voldemort looked down at Nagini before looking back up at me. "Now, now," he laughed and stroked my left cheek with his right hand, "Nagini won't hurt you."

I looked at him with wide, worried eyes, "I don't trust you."

Voldemort smirked and looked at Nagini. He hissed something, and she hissed back. It was quiet for three seconds; I looked at Voldemort and was going to ask him what was said, but then Nagini rose to my eye level. I shook uncontrollably; just as she was about to snap her jaws in front of my face, I was back into my cat form. I stood up with a slight arch, puffed up my fur, and loudly hissed at her. Voldemort hissed something at her, making her slowly lie back down on the floor and slither out of the kitchen. Voldemort smirked and rubbed his index finger under my chin, "You're a cute, brown cat."

I meowed, but he probably didn't get, "Shut up and rub behind my ears" from it. He scooped me up, walked out of the kitchen, and into the living room. He sat down on the chair he used when he first was here and placed me on his lap. He ran his left hand from the top of my head, down my back, and almost to my tail. He'd lift his hand back up to my head and then stroke back down. He did this for a few minutes before my father, Lucius, and Draco walked into the room. They were discussing how to rearrange the furniture so that it'd be more pleasing to Voldemort; they didn't realize we're here, so I meowed.

Lucius immediately looked over and then back at my father, "When did you get a cat?"

Voldemort laughed, "This morning."

I jumped off his lap and jogged over to Draco. I rubbed my body against his calves, gently wrapped and unwrapped my tail around his ankle, and purred. Voldemort did not look pleased, but Draco smiled down at me, "Hey, Neema."

Lucius looked over at Voldemort, "My Lord Voldemort, did you… jinx Neema?"

"No," Voldemort drew in a deep breath, "it turns out that she's an animagus."

Lucius looked at Draco, and Draco rushed out the abridged version of this morning. Lucius gulped and continued to talk with my father; Draco squatted down and scooped me up into his arms. Voldemort looked at Draco and said, "Sit down across from me."

Draco looked into his angry, but curious eyes, "Yes, sir." He then sat down in the armchair almost directly across from Voldemort. I climbed up the arm of the chair until I was near Draco's neck; I nuzzled my little cat face into his neck; a giggle escaped from his lips as my whiskers brushed against his sensitive neck skin. Draco blushed when my father looked over; I knew he was secretly approving. I don't know how much he knew about Draco's helpfulness, but I know that he knows Draco is making all of this so much easier for me. I leaped into Draco's lap, walked in two small circles, and sat down. Draco started to stroke me under my chin, but I moved my head until he realized that I wanted to be rubbed behind my ears. As soon as he stroked behind my ears, I purred. He smiled down at me and started to use both hands so that he could rub both of my ears. After a few minutes of this, I made eye contact with Voldemort and then nuzzled my face against Draco's package. Draco gasped and shoved his hips further back into the chair; I purred.

"That's enough, pussy cat," Voldemort smirked and rested his left index finger, middle finger, and thumb against the left side of his face after he put his elbow on the arm of the chair. "Come here, Neema."

I stretched my body across Draco's lap and meowed insubordinately.

With a much harsher tone of voice than before, Voldemort said, "Come here."

I slowly got onto my paws and stretched my body.

"Come here now or I'll have Nagini eat you."

I wasn't sure if that was a real threat or not, but I wasn't going to take the chance. I leaped off of Draco's lap, jogged over to Voldemort, and jumped into his. He rubbed me under my chin with his right index finger and smirked, "Good kitty."

I purred so he wouldn't get angry.

He smirked.

I purred for real when he started to rub behind my ears.

"I like you as a cat." He started to rub behind my other ear.

My father and Lucius walked out of the room to go get a measuring tape from my dad's den; Draco stayed and watched Voldemort pet me. "Draco,"

Draco's eyes shot up to Voldemort's, "Yes, sir?"

Voldemort smirked before saying, "It's quite a thing, having sex with an animagus." I stopped purring, so he looked down at me, "I always wondered why you're so flexible, I suppose this is my answer."

He laughed, but I leaped off of his lap and jogged into the kitchen. He followed me with curiosity, but he twisted his face into an expression of annoyance when I transformed back into my human body and grabbed my clothes from the counter. I quickly slipped my shorts on, put my bra on, and tossed my baggy shirt on. As I adjusted my sports bra a bit, Voldemort said,

"No panties? Just shorts?"

I drew in a deep breath and picked up my protein bar from where I left it on the counter. "I'm more comfortable without them."

As I took a bite from the bar, Voldemort chuckled and stood in my way of the door, "It's one in the afternoon, when do you need to start getting ready for the meeting?"

I took another bite from the bar, swallowed it, and then said, "Three thirty."

He pressed his lips together and raised his right brow, "How long do you need to look nice?"

I shrugged and looked down at my outfit, "I dunno," I took another bite, "I think I look good now—"

He started to raise his right hand to slap me.

I looked at it, gulped, and rushed out, "Two hours!"

He smirked and tenderly stroked the left side of my face, "That's a good kitty." He laughed, lightly smacked me, and then walked to the den to find my father. I glared at the door after he walked out and mumbled,

"Fuckin' asshole."

I was going to add more, but Draco walked in. He closed the door behind him, but didn't move past coming in; with his right hand tightly holding the doorknob behind him, he asked me, "Are you okay?"

I sighed and walked towards him, "Yeah."

He smiled weakly.

I gently pressed my body against his and quietly breathed in his sweet scent. Draco wrapped his left arm around me, "You can come over when ever you need to."

"Or can." I laughed, but not because I thought it was funny.

Draco took his right hand off of the doorknob; he used his index and middle fingers to gently raise my head. He looked down into my sad eyes and said, "I wish this wasn't happening to you."

I looked away from him and pressed my hands against his chest, "You didn't even like me before all of this."

Draco sighed, slightly with irritation, "People change along with the circumstances."

I sighed and nuzzled my face into his chest.

He held me close to him and slowly ran his left hand up and down my back, "Things will be better, sooner or later, things will be better."

I silently cried into his chest, "Hopefully sooner."

"Yea," he squeezed me, "hopefully sooner."

I finished getting ready at three forty-eight. Voldemort told me to wear a red dress, so I wore my scarlet red, one shoulder dress; the dress I bought for a Gryffindor House party. I put on gold heels, my gold olive branch earrings, and did my eye make-up with browns. I drew in a deep breath before walking down stairs; Voldemort was waiting for me near the staircase. He sucked in a breath, looked me over, and said, "You look fantastic."

I looked him over and said with no emotion, "Thanks."

Voldemort smirked and wrapped his right arm around my waist. We walked to the dinning room in complete silence; I was looking at him with disgust, he was looking at me with lust. Sure, he looked handsome; he combed his hair, and he's wearing black slacks, black shoes, a black belt, and a scarlet, button down shirt. If I didn't know him, I'd call him very handsome, but I do know him, and the hate in my chest was ready to burst out and stab him in the eyes. We walked in at exactly four o'clock; his inner circle of Death Eaters, plus Draco, was already there. Bellatrix looked me over; I gulped and wondered if she knew that Voldemort made her husband, my dads best damn friend, do to me. Voldemort saw her look me over and smirked; he squeezed me to his side and looked at her. He half spoke, half hissed, "Bellatrix,"

Her eyes shot up to him, "Yes, my Lord?"

"This here is Neema," he kissed my forehead.

I cringed.

"She is my Gryffindor..." He smirked while looking me over, "She is my Gryffindor Kitten."

Bellatrix stayed silent, but Voldemort didn't mind. He had me sit down on the closest chair to his throne like one. The majority of the meeting was just making sure that all his plans were going according to plan, but after a few minutes of silence, Voldemort sighed and gently placed his wand down on the table. He looked at each Death Eater and individually told them to call his wand. Everyone tried, but no one could get his wand to fly into their hands. With a smirk, he looked at me, "Neema, why don't you try?"

I drew in a deep breath and raised my right hand; I focused on silently calling the wand to me for ten seconds before it flew into my hand.

Voldemort started to laugh, cold and low laughs. My father shot up from his chair, but quickly sat back down, only now he's sitting straight up. "No, no, Neema." He looked so pained.

I looked at my dad with deep concern, "What?"

Voldemort laughed loudly and leaned close to me. Once he locked gazes with me, he smirked and said, "Long story short," he brushed a curl off of my face, "you will be my Gryffindor Kitten until you wed."

I bent over, put my head in between my knees, ran my hands down my neck, and dry heaved; I didn't have enough food in my stomach to actually puke.

My father purposely put in all his effort into keeping Voldemort busy all day; my dad and Draco decided to start rearranging the dinning room and the living room to Voldemort's liking. They made it obvious that their goal is to have everything down to the last centimeter the way Voldemort wants it, and if that were going to happen, Voldemort would have to stay and watch them the entire time. During this, my mom, my sister, and I went on a day trip to a near by beach. Well, it's actually four hours away, but my mom apperated us there, so it didn't take us long to get there. It was surprisingly warm today, especially at the beach, so Drea and I wore our almost identical bikinis. They're string bikinis, but hers is silver with green stripes, and mine is red with gold stripes.

At first, I wasn't really into the idea of wearing a bikini, but Drea told me, "Really Neemers, the only man who could ever hurt you will be far away and not actually know where we are. Don't cover yourself up on such a hot day because of a slight chance. You deserve to be happy." I didn't take much convincing; Drea always knows what to say. Besides, my mom is wearing her blue bikini with black stripes; she bought it to represent that she was a Ravenclaw when Drea and I were buying ours. I couldn't have my sister and my mom show me up.

We spent the whole day there. We tanned, swam a little bit, and Drea and I built sandcastles while my mother read a stack of magazines. While we were there, Drea smirked at me and said,

"Castle competition?"

We used to get in these all the time when we were younger. I smirked at her, "It's on." We grabbed our plastic buckets and tools, ran back and forth from the ocean to our castle area. I was building mine the usual way, but then I saw that Drea was using subtle magic, so the muggles near by wouldn't notice.

"Hey!" I shouted at her, "That's not fair! You know I can't do that in public yet!"

Drea pointed to the colors on her bikini, "When have I ever ran by what's fair?"

I sighed angrily and went back to packing the sand onto my castle. A few minutes later, Drea shot up and shouted, "Done!" I carefully wiped some sweat away from my brows and looked up.

"What? That's ridiculous!" I walked over to it and did a few circles around it. She had a large base and many elaborate towers off of it. She enchanted small, sand flags to flap in the wind on top of the towers. She built a moat, too; she enchanted the seawater in it to move, and she magically built small sand boats. The boats moved with the current of the enchanted water; she laughed at me while I stared at it with my mouth agape. My sand castle was a puny, poorly constructed, but classic sand castle. I glared at her and went to kick some of her extra, wet sand on it, but it bounced off her castle and clung to my body. "GAH!"

She almost fell down laughing at me.

I tried to wipe the sand off of my body, but my hands were slightly wet with some sand on them, so I ended up putting more sand onto my body than taking off. Drea immediately stopped laughing at me, but she didn't talk to me, she just stared. "What?"

She gulped.

I looked at her with slight annoyance, "What?"

A/N: Please review!