Christmas had passed in peace. Something Harry was thankful for. His fear of Voldemort suddenly reappearing on Christmas Eve had been unfounded as there had been no word about the missing Dark Lord. The whole thing was starting to look rather strange. It was like the Dark Lord had just suddenly decided to give up and flee the country or something.

Harry sighed and let himself sink deeper into the bed. It was the 31th of December and he refused to spend the last day of the year thinking about Voldemort.

Marv shifted a bit and sighed. He was stretched out on top of Harry, his head on Harry´s chest and his long body sprawled. The heavy and warm weight should have been uncomfortable, but it wasn´t – for some reason Harry couldn´t identify. He let a hand slide through the silky fur and Marv moved one of his paws and a low purring could be heard. Harry smiled. The bloody thing was actually growing on him. It helped that Marv had gone from being constantly angry to somewhat more affectionate. The last month he had taken to sleeping in Harry´s bed more or less every night. Thankfully he had a big bed, but the cat seemed to prefer to sleep on top of or curled up against Harry. Not that Harry minded. It was somehow nice not to sleep alone.

Slowly he let sleep claim him once more. It was far too early to wake up.

When he next came around it was because something was tickling his chin and the weight on his chest made it near impossible to breath. Opening his eyes he looked straight into Marv´s red ones that was only a short distance away from his own. For a moment they just looked at one another. Harry was struck with the thought that Marv´s eyes looked far too human, so did the emotions he could see swirling in those red orbs. Marv seemed to be searching for something or at least suddenly seeing something because his eyes suddenly widened with surprise and perhaps wonder, Harry wasn´t too sure.

"Hey, boy," Harry said and reached up to run his hand through the soft fur. Marv´s ears flickered for a moment as if the cat was trying to decide something before he leaned into the touch. "Up early?" A quick tempus told him that it was still early.

"How do you feel about fireworks?" There would be a lot of it later and Hermione had mentioned that some cats were afraid and suggested he´d buy a calming drought for cats. In the end he had asked Snape for one, and the man had grudgingly agreed to make one.

Marv purred and looked to be completely unconcerned about the prospect of loud sounds and light. Harry shrugged. Well, he still had the potion in case it became a problem later in the evening.

"Marv, get down."

Harry had to smile at the tone in Hermione´s voice. This was perhaps the fourth time she had commanded Marv to get of the counter. That cat was currently sitting on the counter, looking at the large turkey with hungry eyes. "You can't eat it raw," she continued and tried to shoo the big cat down. When that didn't help at all she picked him up and gently placed him on the floor. Marv hissed in displeasure at the treatment, the tail whipping back and forth.

"You´ll get some when it´s done," she told him as Marv moved across the room and jumped up onto one of the kitchen chairs.

Feeling slightly sorry for the cat, Harry picked up the turkey heart and held it out to the cat. Marv seemed to perk up at the sight and snatched it from Harry´s hand, almost swallowing it whole.

"Harry! I was going to use that to make stock for the sauce," Hermione reprimanded him.

"Sorry," Harry replied, rubbing a hand over his neck and looking down at Marv who had swallowed the morsel and was now looking like he was expecting more and not caring one bit about the sauce.

"Too much raw meat isn´t good for a cat." Marv looked like he disagreed by the glare he sent the witch. Harry just smiled and sat down on the chair to Marv´s left. Ron was in the living room setting the table. The sounds of plates and glassed being set out could be heard. Marv was looking at him with that strange, wondering look and Harry smiled at him.

"What?" The ears flickered before Marv moved and jumped into his lap. Surprised, Harry looked down. The cat was never especially cuddly unless he was high as kite on catnip or sleeping, but Harry didn´t mind this new development. He let his hand card through the soft fur as Marv moved around a couple of times before curling up in his lap.

Hermione cast a look over her shoulder and smiled. "He seems to be getting a bit more social at least, and friendly."

"It only took six months," Harry murmured. "He has stopped scaring Kreacher as much as he used to." Which meant a lot less broken glasses and plates. "He doesn´t like Snape or Dumbledore though."

"Yes, I´ve noticed," Hermione replied as she cut up the carrots and onions and put them in the pot. "Snape doesn´t seem to like Marv either. Perhaps he isn´t a cat person."

"He looks like he is going to be sick or faint half the time he is around Marv," Harry said, moving his hand to scratch Marv behind the ear at the request of the animal.

Hermione nodded and put the last of the carrots into the pot, stirring it.

"Who looks like he is going faint?" Ron came into the room and peered into the pot. "What are you doing – making a stew?" Hermione batted him away. "It the base for the sauce you idiot."

Ron looked like a question mark and shot a look at Harry who shrugged. "Snape looks like he going to faint every time Marv does something."

Ron laughed. "Perhaps it´s the red eyes – reminds him too much about You-know-who. Perhaps he thinks You-know-who has turned himself into a cat to spy on you. Would explain why no one has seen him in eight months."

Harry looked down and froze. Marv had lifted his head as Ron spoke and was now staring directly at Harry with those red orbs, which was filled with an emotion that Harry couldn´t completely identify. Suddenly everything about Marv felt wrong. His behaviour, the way he avoided Snape and Dumbledore like a plague, the way Snape was reacting to certain things Marv did, the way the cat seemed to understand a lot more than an animale should, the reaction that day when Dumbledore had destroyed the horcrux and his behaviour when Harry came home after destroying two more.

"Harry?" Hermione sounded like she this was the second time she was calling his name.

Not taking his eyes of the cat he replied. "Hermione would you send a patronus and ask Dumbledore to come over a soon as possible."

"What, why?" Hermione sounded confused.

Harry watched as something akin to worry bled into the red eyes. Not certain what to do about the cat, but wanting it off his lap, Harry slowly turned towards the chair Marv had first jumped onto.

Ron looked at the cat and back at Harry and down again at the cat. "I was just kidding, mate."

Hermione came closer and looked down at Marv who was still staring at Harry. "Harry, you don´t think…" she trailed off as she too looked at Marv.

"Think about it," Harry said in a low voice. "The behaviour, the eyes, the way Marv seems to react to the name…" he too trailed off.

"You aren´t serious?" Ron exclaimed looking steadily paler. He was staring wide eyed at the cat. Marv didn´t move muscle. Even the ever-twitching tail was still. Carefully Harry reached down and slowly moved the cat from his lap and onto the chair. Like a spell having been broken Marv growled and hissed and lashed out at Harry. Harry jumped back and got to his feet. Pulling out his wand he conquered up the patronus and sent it off.

"I don´t know," Harry said, "but I want to ask Dumbledore. Just to be cautious. Voldemort has done a lot of strange things over the years, so I wouldn´t put this past him. The only question is why he hasn´t turned himself back and killed me yet."

"Exactly," Hermione exclaimed. "Why would Vold-You-know-who stay with you for six months as a cat? It doesn't make any sense."

Ron just nodded, but didn´t look quite as sure as Hermione sounded.

"I don´t know, but you have to admit that Marv doesn´t exactly behave like a normal cat." Harry tore his eyes from the red orbs and looked from Hermione to Ron.

The smell of something burning had Hermione jumping. "Oh, no. The food." She quickly moved the pot from the heat and looked into it. Grimacing she stirred the food around. "I think it´s okay, the onions might be a bit burned."

From the entrance hall they could hear the sound of the Floo flaring into life.

"Harry?" Came Dumbledore´s voice. Marv immediately flattened his ears at the sound of the voice and the tail started twitching rapidly.

"In the kitchen," Harry called back. He still had his wand in his hand.

The sound of footsteps was heard and Dumbledore and Snape came into view. Harry´s suspicion that he was right only increased by the serious look on Dumbledore´s face and the fact that he had brought Snape with him. The feeling of anger and betrayal rose in him and threatened to overwhelm him. Breathing deeply he pushed the feelings away and turned towards the two men. "Why is Voldemort in my kitchen looking like a cat?" he demanded. His suspicions proven right as Dumbledore didn´t look surprised at the question.

To his side Hermione gasped, she too realising that Harry was right.

"Harry," Dumbledore began but Harry cut him of. "No. I don´t want any excuses I want to know why you thought it was a good idea, a safe one at that, to put Voldemort in my house! And seeing as you don´t look even the slightest surprised and the fact that he hasn´t tried to kill me yet, I´m going to assume he isn´t here out of his own free will. So would you kindly explain this." His tone made it perfectly clear he that despite the polite words he was furious.

Snape rubbed a hand over his face. "Potter…"

"No." Harry cut him of too. "At least now I understand why you have been acting so strange around him."

Dumbledore sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, looking at Mar-Voldemort who hissed and growled at him. Ears pinned. "Oh, be quiet, Tom," Dumbledore said, which seemed to make Voldemort even more furious. The tail looked like it could dislocate at any moment with the pace it was going.

"Tom is an animagus, this is his form," Dumbledore started, making a gesture towards the very pissed off Dark Lord. "He´s currently trapped in it, due to the collar."

"How?"

"The collar´s function would take a long time to explain."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest. "I don´t care how the collar works, I want to know how you managed to get the bloody thing around his neck to begin with."

"Ah. Well. Tom rarely uses this form, but occasionally he does. As it happens Severus made a rather complicated potion that forces the drinker to turn into his or hers animagus form. Tom has been, ehm, doing something about his appearance and has taken a lot of potions that Severus has been brewing for him, which made it easy to slip this one in with the rest."

Voldemort looked like he was considering trying to kill Severus. Harry somehow could understand the man. Finding out your loyal potion master wasn´t all that loyal had to hurt.

"That still doesn´t explain why he is here, in my house! Sleeping in my bed for Merlin´s sake. Could´t you have put him in a cage or something!"

A guilty look passed over Dumbledore´s face. "We thought about it, but I thought that perhaps this would be better for Tom."

"Better for… Are you kidding me? What about me?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Are you telling me you haven´t enjoyed his company?"

Harry gaped. "That´s not the point!"

"Because it would have been different if you had known?"

Harry threw his arms up. "Of course!"

"And that is why I didn´t tell you. I wanted you to treat Tom as a normal cat. I wanted Tom to try and at least experience something akin to a normal life, though from a cat´s perspective."

Before Harry could ask if the man was genuinely insane, Hermione spoke up. "But, Headmaster, what was the plan then? For Vol-him to stay here as a cat for the rest of his life?"

Dumbledore shook his head and a look of guilt and something that looked like sorrow passed over his face. "No. We intended for him to stay here until we had destroyed all the horcruxes."

The implication of his words hit Harry. The unspoken and then kill him, hung in the air. He looked at Voldemort, as did Ron and Hermione and he saw that Voldemort had connected the dots himself.

"We managed to get a hold of the snake and the last horcux and destroyed them earlier this week. I was meaning to wait until after New Years Eve and then tell you I had found his real owners and that they wanted him back. Voldemort would have just disappeared into thin air and never have been seen again."

Harry watched as fear bled into the crimson eyes as Dumbledore spoke. The tail was completely still and the ears pointed backwards, but not in anger.