Still Don't Own. I'm a Poor College Student, not J.K. Rowling, and I only own the Muggles, some of the students (the OC ones, duh), and Sarah.
Chapter 29: Games of Cat and Bat
Sarah stood in the Defense Class staring around her at the students who dared to watch her as she focused on her Animagus transformation. This was becoming a headache, as every time she was close, something would get triggered because of the students and her concentration would break. The sad part was that it was the scratching of the quills that kept her going and helped her focus on the transformation.
"Gaaah!" she finally yelled at the fourth years. "So help me, the next person that I find off task will receive detention for a month with me and the other Professor Snape in the Dungeons and will be docked one hundred house points! Get back to work you little brats!"
The students immediately set to work, now knowing how she found out they were sneaking, but they didn't want to risk a month of detentions with both Professors Snape – that would be notably hell, they knew, so they stayed on task the rest of the time. Sarah was close, she could feel it, but at the same time, she felt like she was so far away, and that it wouldn't happen anytime soon. She looked around in the book, wondering if it was possible for someone to have a magical creature as their animagus. Sure enough, Merlin had had a phoenix as his Animagus form, and that it would take someone longer to turn into a magical animagus by a few months more than the normal. Well, she was a prodigy, so if she could cram seven years of Hogwarts into one and still scrape out all O's, she could do this before Christmas!
She gave the fourth years another assignment, and remained in there for a little bit during dinner to keep trying on her animagus form. Severus walked in quietly, almost inaudibly, and she grinned like the Cheshire Cat. Her cat ears were back, and for some strange reason, her posterior itched.
"Ugh, what is wrong with this robe?" she asked trying to get rid of the itch. "Ever since I started trying to transform, it's been driving me mad!"
"Hm… a tail, perhaps," the Potions Master guessed. "Minerva's on her way. She wants to see how you're doing."
"I'd be fine, but I don't think I can stand much more of this!" Sarah whined. "This itching on my spine has got to go!"
"I'm presuming it is at the point between the spinal tail and your posterior?" the headmistress questioned with a twinkle in her eyes. "If so, then your form will have a tail. Severus, why don't you try to transform?"
"I will when I have peace and quiet," he said. "Every time I tried in class, I got a headache and I felt as though my ears were going to explode. I also got extremely thirsty."
"How much you wanna bet he's a vampire bat?" Sarah whispered to the older woman, who smirked and nodded. "Ten galleons says he is." She nodded again, her eyes alight.
"Deal," she whispered. "Ten galleons say that you're a cat."
"Ten galleons say that I'm a magical creature," Sarah bartered, knowing that there was no way it could possibly be both. "Severus, what do you think your form is?"
"Women," he muttered in exasperation, knowing that they were probably both right when it came to Sarah's animagus form. After all, there was the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, wasn't there? And besides that, even if it didn't exist in the real world, this was the magical world, and one could have easily been created by now. A kneazle would be a nice Animagus form for her, though.
OoOoOoOoO
Two months of babysitting Harry Bloody Potter had driven both Professors Snape up the wall, and when he'd been to normal, they'd stuck him in the Hospital Wing.
"What the bloody hell? Why is it that every year I'm here, I always end up in the Bloody Hospital Wing?" he shouted right as Severus, Sarah, and Minerva walked in. "What the hell happened to my students? And – and what the bloody hell happened to the weather? How long was I unconscious?"
"Harry, calm down," Snape scolded. "You're in here because every year you get into some sort of trouble, intended or not. Your students are fine, for the most part, and Sarah has been teaching them for you in a most…humbling manner, for them, rivaling only my own methods. It is now November, Harry, and you must promise me something before I continue to give you answers."
"That depends on what it is," he said warily. "And how the hell did you get to be younger than me?"
"Potions accident that rendered me younger when someone blotched up a de-aging potion and it cut my age directly in half," he shrugged. "You had a similar case when two jinxes combined. The only difference is that your number of years alive was turned into months alive."
"So, I was a three-year old?" Harry asked incredulously. "But, but then who took care of me if I never left the castle?"
"We did," Sarah smiled. "Sev and I took turns depending on how hyper you were in his classroom. When you exhausted yourself, I had the students take you back down to him. When you got too hyper for Potions, he sent one with you up to here. You slept in our private quarters in a spare bedroom, by the way."
"I, uh," he stammered. "Oh. Oh. Okay. Th-thank you. Really. That means a lot to me. I was wondering why I kept having this weird dream that Sna-Sev-uh…Professor Snape was my dad."
"You even called us 'mama' and 'dada'," Sarah laughed. "It was so cute! I wanted to keep you, but we decided against it since you've got your own family to raise, now."
"Thanks," he blushed embarrassed. "I'm not going to be hearing diaper stories, am I?"
"No, we ensured as much with threats of a month's worth of detention with Severus and I personally for anyone who dares to try," she smiled back. "Oh, but Severus and I are trying to become Animagi, since the Ministry wants us to hunt down a criminal in America."
"Potter, I recommend going home to Ginny," the headmistress said at last. "She knows about what happened and has been worried sick. You may come back and attempt to teach next year if you wish."
"Thanks headmistress McGonagall," Harry said. "So, who all survived the war again? I had this weird dream that Fred Weasley, Tonks and Remus Lupin, and…and Snape were all dead…."
"No, the ones you mentioned are all alive," Sarah said warily. "But, uh, the, uh, others…um…"
Severus cut her off at that point and told Harry about the war plaque memorial that he had set up to honor those who died in the wars, both when Harry was young and as a teen. After about an hour of explaining, the young Defense Professor finally relaxed. His relaxation was short-lived since his kids raced in from the Gryffindor common rooms and immediately ran to his side and check on him. His nieces and nephews, on the other hand, were forced to go back to their common rooms. Sarah smiled at the scene and led Severus away so that the war hero could have some quality time with his kids now that he was an adult again.
"I'll teach for the rest of the week, Harry," Sarah called over her shoulder as they left the hospital wing.
They headed back down to their private quarters and sat down on their favorite areas. Severus was seated on the chair, and Sarah was lying on the couch as they focused on their animagus transformations. Severus had started a few days after Sarah, and had strangely made much more progress than she had. He focused, and he could suddenly hear Sarah's relaxed breathing very clearly. He opened his eyes to a large mess of colors, and was immediately startled into flight. He couldn't see!
"Sarah!" he called out, but to no reply. He heard his voice echo, and was immediately alert. Wait, flight?
"Severus?" Sarah asked, sitting up. "Oh, my gosh! Sev, this is – oh, the kids are never going to stop laughing about this!"
"Shit! What am i? Get Minerva!" he yelled, but to no avail. What was she waiting for?
He continued screeching and flying around, trying to make sense of his surroundings and what was going on around here. He found that first one person entered the room, then another. He continued screeching, trying to find a place to land and rest. This was driving him nuts, and to make it worse, he now had to use the bathroom! He could hear the trio laughing and knew that it was Minerva and Kingsley Shacklebolt. He heard the scratching of a quill, and Minerva trying to instruct him that he should focus on becoming human again. He calmed down, focused on becoming human again, and immediately fell to the floor in a heap.
"What the bloody hell was that?" he gasped, getting up to figure things out. "I know I was something with wings…"
"A vampire bat," Minerva laughed. "If a student gets word of this, you'll never hear the end of it!"
"Shut up!" Snape snapped, and a loud purring could be heard soon after. "Wait, if you're human…Sarah?"
"Indeed," she smiled as she vanished into appearance next to him. "Your arguing with the headmistress combined with Minister Shacklebolt's use of a quill gave me the right concentration I needed to become my animagus form. Which, if I'm correct…"
"Cheshire cat," they smiled. "How fitting! Although I'm sure there'd be quite a debate about that being legal in the Wizengamot!"
"I never get involved in politics," she smiled. "It was a pity about all this. I was looking forward to seeing you Fuderwacken…"
I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist! Review if you like. Nobody's reviewed on any of my stories yet.
