End of June 1992
It had been almost a year since Harry and Hermione had come to live in their two new homes with their two new mistresses, and almost three years since they had turned themselves into kittens. They had come to find the time spent with the little girls interesting, to say the least. While Harry had put most of his past as Harry Potter the boy out of of mind, and focused on being a cat and cuddling with Hermione, he did remember it. With those memories still intact, if somewhat hazy, he found it humorous that the little red haired girl had named her new kitten Harry Potter.
Her name was Ginny Weasley, and she was best friends and neighbors with the little blonde haired girl, Luna Lovegood. Life with Ginny was pretty good. She liked to scratch behind his ears, and always was quick to give out treats. She did have one habit that Harry found amusingly annoying. She like to have pretend weddings with Harry Potter. She would make Harry play the part of, well, Harry, and then dance around her room holding her new kitten. She seemed to have a massive crush on the the fictional character, the-boy-who-lived, that she was always reading about. Harry was curious how he had the same name as a children's storybook hero.
Luna had taken Hermione as her kitten, and named her Lady Athena. Harry found that fitting. Hermione was always curious, and would try to read books that had been left around. It got them odd looks when a human would walk in the room to see a kitten reading. Not with Luna, however. The odd little girl seemed to just take things like that in stride. IN fact, she would often leave out books she thought Lady Athena might enjoy.
At first the two girls had tried to keep their respective kittens separated at their own homes. They quickly learned that wouldn't work, as the two kittens would immediately run off to find each other to cuddle up for the night. They quickly decided to take turns keeping both kittens. It was an arrangement that worked quite well for them. Harry and Hermione didn't mind, as both houses had plenty of food, and their cuddle time was not interrupted. To be honest though, they preferred the Burrow, as Ginny's mom tended to be a very good cook, and always left some food out for them.
And so another year passed on. This one was the best yet. Harry and Hermione had never felt as loved and as well cared for by their human families as they did these two little girls. They were warm, well fed, and had lots to do to keep occupied. The Burrow even had tons of funny little creatures called gnomes that the two could chase and play with. Best of all, there was an endless choice of places to snuggle up for the two. Even if the girls were with them, Luna and Ginny were happy to place the two kittens together between them. They never got tired of the adorable ness of the cuddles.
As this particular day wore on, the kittens were happily chasing after Luna at her home. The little blonde was walking through the fields of her home, looking for some creature Harry was pretty sure didn't exist. It was a good excuse to run outside, however, so he didn't care. They had been with Luna for a couple days now, as Ginny's four older brothers had come home form school. Her mother, Molly, seemed to think it would be a bit rowdy for a few days, and asked the girls to leave the kittens with Luna. They were going back today, finally, as Luna and her father had been invited over for dinner. The two kittens hoped the older boys were as much fun as their two girls.
Arriving at the familiar grounds of the Burrow, Harry Potter and Lady Athena jumped out of Luna's arms and raced for the garden for some gnome chasing. Ginny came out to greet her best friend. "Hi Luna! How have you been? How are our babies doing?"
"Hullo, Ginny. I'm quite well, thank you. The babies are just fine, off to chase the gernumblies." Luna smiled at her friend.
"Oh good, the twins are out there tossing them out of the garden. Mum's quite mad at them. They seem to have gotten a record number of detentions for 3rd year students. Setting the bar a bit high for us next year, you think?" Ginny winked mischievously at her.
"I think i'd quite like to avoid detentions, thank you very much. I'll leave that up to you."
"Suit yourself! C'mon inside and get something to drink. Mum will be serving up dinner soon." With that the two friends went inside. They sat at the kitchen table with fresh glasses of pumpkin juice. Percy was there reading a book. A few minutes later, Ginny's twin brothers, Fred and George, came in carrying the two kittens.
"Hey Gin-gin, are these the two cats you keep going on and on about?"
Luna looked up, "Of course, George. You are holding Lady Athena, and Fred has Harry Potter." At that the twins started cracking up, and Ginny blushed deeply.
"Oh Gin, you named your cat after your hero? Did you play mock weddings with the fuzzball, too?" Fred crowed at his sister. George was quick with his two cents.
"I thought you'd get over that when we told you he never showed up to Hogwarts."
"During the sorting, when old McGonagall got to where Potter's name should have been, she had to pause for a few minutes, and looked like she might actually cry."
"Well, it's a quite sad story, isn't it?" Percy was quick to defend his favorite teacher and Head of House. "When it was found out that he vanished, and how those muggles were treating him, well, it seems like he probably didn't run away, and instead his relatives did something to him." This was old news, but still on the sad side. Harry Potter the cat wondered why he didn't feel bad when he heard others talking about his old life.
"Now Percy, you shouldn't be spreading tales like that. I told you I was at the trial for those people. While they did neglect the poor child, they never caused physical harm. Seems the Aunt remembered some warnings from Lily's days as a child." Arthur Weasley spoke up as he joined the family.
"Well, what did happen to him then?"
"Nobody knows. He just disappeared. Amelia Bones seems to think he had a case of accidental apperation. He could have ended up anywhere, or even severely splinched himself." Arthur sighed. "There is a lot of blame to go around here, to a great many people. The simple fact is we will probably never know what happened. It's been almost 3 years." He seemed rather sad at this.
"If only we had known. I would have brought the boy here and raised him myself. He was such an adorable little thing, the few times James and Lily brought him to or… I mean, brought him around back then." Molly mentally winced at herself. She had almost let slip things that shouldn't be spoken of in front of children.
Ginny perked up something fierce, "Mummy, you knew Harry Potter?" The kitten in Fred's arms looked a bit affronted at this. Lady Athena seemed to almost be snickering.
"It was a long time ago, darling. During the war, your father and I met with the Potters on occasion. Such a lovely young couple. " Molly's eyes were getting a bit misty. "They brought little Harry to a couple of our, uh, meet ups."
Sending the need to change the subject, Luna looked around the room, "Is Ronald here? I haven't seen him yet?" Luna harbored a small crush on the youngest male Weasley.
"Oh, he is still fighting the gnomes." George replied, "We need to go back out there, we just came in to hand off these two trouble makers. They kept catching the little blighters and bringing them back to the garden."
"Of course they did,". Luna stated indignantly, "It is their home after all. How would you like to be tossed out of the Burrow?"
"Any more reports like this year, boys, and we may just find out," Molly glared at her twins. "You should prank less, and help your brother more with making friends"
"Oi, its not our fault he's so shy. And he and Neville seem to get along pretty good."
"Yeah," piped up Fred, "He'll come out of it. He actually spent most of his time studying this year."
Ginny looked shocked, "Ron studied?"
"Yeah, that git Malfoy got under his skin something terrible at the beginning of the year. Said a Weasley could never be as good as him. Ron made it his mission to prove him wrong."
"Did he?"
"No," said Percy, "But he came real close. He came in fifth in his year, Malfoy made third."
"Yeah, huge disappointment, that one," Fred said while puffing out his chest. He then looked at Ginny, "I hope you don't let us down next year."
"That's enough of that, boys". Arthur declared. And with that, Ron came inside, and they all sat down to eat. They two kitties scampered off to a corner and cuddled up, often rubbing faces, and giving each other small licks. Many comments were made on just how adorable they were.
A few days later, Harry Potter and Lady Athena were wondering around the Burrow. They had just gotten back from the Rookery, and were taking their standard tour to see if anything had changed while gone with Luna. Nothing ever really did, although with Ginny's twin brothers now home, they were hearing all sorts of interesting and loud noises. As they slinked past Ron's room (they were hunting, after all), Harry Potter caught a strange sent that he had never noticed before.
[Do you smell that], he asked his brown haired companion. She promptly started sniffing the air.
[yeah, that is strange. It smells…off. Like something rotten.]
[Should we check it out? What if it was something that could hurt our Ginny and Luna?]
[we can't have that, now can we?]. With that, Lady Athena nudged open the door, and stalked inside. Harry Potter was quick to follow. As this was the bedroom of a young boy on the brink of puberty, the room did not smell great to begin with. Underneath the normal stench of boy, was a darker smell, one not related to the normal brightness of the Burrow. Harry Potter looked around trying to find the source fo the foulness. [Do you see anything yet?], he purred at his partner in life.
[No, not yet. I think I'm picking up a faint track though.] Lady Athena replied with determination. [I think it's a small animal.]
Harry Potter sniffed the air, than stuck his little tongue out to taste it. [Yeah, I think it's a large mouse. Maybe even a rat!]
[Oh, goodie! It's been a while since we've hunted down a nice fat rat. Our girls keep us to well fed.]
[Yeah, I think I'm starting to get a little fat.], he sounded a bit dejected at that. Lady Athena promptly bounded over to her partner in life and started to rub his face with hers.
[You will always be perfect to me], she purred at him. The two kitties once again managed to loose themselves in snuggling and cuddling, forgetting what they were there for in the first place. The object of their search, however, did not. Peeking out from between the bunched up covers on the bed, and rather unhealthy looking Rat kept watch. It's eyes shown with a dark intelligence. It might not know why the two kitties were in the room, making out in the way of cats, but it knew that two cats were bad news for one rat. As soon as it felt the kitties were properly distracted, it leapt from the bed, and made a mad dash for the door.
[Lady Athena! There! It's a rat, get it!]. Harry Potter pounced out of his partner in life's embrace and charged for the door in pursuit. Lady Athena was hot on his tail.
[I still don't like how it smells!] She stated to Harry Potter. [Do we have to eat it? Can we just kill it?]
[Sure! We have to catch it first!]
The rat flew down the stairs, and headed for the front door. Lady Athena, in a flash of inspiration jumped from the steps and landed in the rat's path. She bared her teeth and hissed at the pest, swiping with her cute little kitten paws, full of razor sharp claws. The rat let our an alarmingly loud squeak, did a sort of back flipping jump, and headed for the kitchen. Just before it made it, Harry Potter landed in front of the doorway, letting out and absolutely adorable meow, one that he totally thought was a roar. He then hissed as well. The rat backtracked, but quickly found itself in a corner, with two slowly advancing kitties, death in their cute little eyes.
While this was going on, the Weasleys were sitting in the living room, having a family game off exploding snap. They all stared in wide eyed amazement at the drama unfolding before them. Ron and Percy had just made the connection to the pet rat they had shared when the two kitties of Ginny and Luna pounced at the rat. Almost in perfect choreography, they stood up to yell no, just as the kitties landed on the rat.
A second later, the entire family froze in shock and horror.
Where once a rat had cowered, their was now a filthy little man, with a very rat like face, yellowed skin, and rather paranoid looking eyes. His thinning hair was matted and filthy. His clothes were more rag than anything, filth covering them. He gave off a feeling of menace and danger. And worst of all, he was pulling out a wand. The filthy man wasted no time in flinging the two kitties off of him. He finished pulling out his wand, and aimed at them. "I'll teach you to try and eat me!" He bellowed out in a high pitched and rather squeaky voice. "Now you will feel the…". They never learned what he wanted them to feel.
The Weasleys were by no means a week or timid family. Every member was magically powerful, and aside from the two youngest, no slouch with a wand either. Yet, at the sight of this intruder, they froze.
All but one of them.
A dazzling beam of red magical energy slammed into the the man, tossing him into the wall, and ripping not only one, but two other wands from him. Before he could do more than look up in shock, the disarming charm was followed by a stunning charm, and a binding charm. Not five seconds from revealing himself, the intruder was very handedly dealt with. The Weasleys turned as one, to look in shock at Molly, standing there with her wand held in a steady hand, still pointed at the man.
Before she decided to dedicate herself to her family and her home. Molly Weasley was a champion dueler, and was in fact favored to when the world championship. Her pregnancy with Bill put an end to the season prematurely, but her skills never faded. Molly had just reminded the world, or at least her family, that she was not a witch to be trifled with.
"Merlin's saggy y-fronts, mum, what was that?" Fred exclaimed.
"Amazing, that was, mum. How did you move so fast?" Ron was clearly in awe.
"Well, I'm gonna go clean my room now. Sorry for delaying, mum." George hurried up the stairs.
"That form was perfect, mother. Flitwick himself could do no better!" Percy was beaming with pride.
"Mum! Are my kitties okay?" Ginny was very worried.
"Mollywobbles, when I get you to our room tonight, I'm gonna…"
"Ewe, dad, stop!" Fred looked rather sick at what Arthur had just hinted at. Molly just blushed.
"Enough of that till later, dear. Now, go call the DMLE. I can't place him, but I know I recognize him from somewhere." With that Arthur headed for the floo. He stopped next to the dirty little man, and took a long look. "Merlin's beard," he said to himself.
"What is it, Arthur?" Molly asked.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say this was Peter Pettigrew!" Arthur looked to still be rather shocked.
"But that impossible! He's dead! Sirius Black killed him years ago!"
"Did he Molly?" Arthur was quickly growing angry. "It never sat right with me. Sirius loved the Potters more than life itself. I've never fully believed he actually did it. Maybe…". Arthur stepped to the floo, and quickly contacted the DMLE, requesting Aurors to deal with the rat. He then floo'd Hogwarts, and asked for Dumbledore to come to the Burrow. That done, he looked back to his family. "Is everyone sure they are all right?"
"Yes,". Ginny wailed, "but what about my kitties?" They all looked to where they had been thrown, then started chuckling.
As usual, Lady Athena and Harry Potter were curled up into a ball together, sound asleep.
Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the floo and into the home of two of his favorite friends. He did not look good. He was looking his age and then some. When you are over one hundred years old, that is really saying something. The loss of Harry Potter had forced Albus to face up to many of his mistakes, and now it looked like he must face up to yet one more. He glanced around the room. The Weasley children had all been sent to the Lovegood's home for safety. Arthur and Molly Weasley were standing by the kitchen door, and two wizards and one witch in Ministry robes were standing by the man of the hour, so to speak. Looking at the ratty little man sitting on the floor by the Weasley's sofa, Dumbledore just shook his head in sadness. "So, Mr. Pettigrew, it would appear that reports of your death are greatly exaggerated." The two Aurors that were keeping watch on the man chuckled. The rather pretty woman standing with them did not. She looked pale, sad, and furious all at once.
"You can confirm that this is Peter Pettigrew then, Headmaster?" Amelia Bones asked.
'Yes, it is him." Dumbledore's voice sounded lost.
"Do you know what this means?" She demanded, "Sirius, he…he…" The head of Magical Law Enforcement in Great Britain choked back a sob. This brought the adults in the room up short. Amelia was known for being one of the most solid and sure members of the Ministry. Utterly unflappable, she was the youngest head of the DMLE in centuries, a position well earned. To see her on the verge of breaking down was very uncomfortable.
"Yes, my dear. We sent and innocent man to prison." Dumbledore shook his head. "I knew not having a trial was bad, but he admitted it, and things were so dark then…."
"We all thought he was guilty, but non of us wanted to believe it." Arthur interjected. "Sirius betraying the Potters seemed to be the final act of a horrible war. We all just wanted to move forward."
Molly looked at her husband, "maybe so, but that is and was no excuse. We need to fix this."
"I shall." Amelia looked up, her trademark fierceness back on her face. "I'll be pulling him out of Azkaban myself tonight. He'll have a trial by the end of the week!" I'm coming for you, my love! She thought in her head. "Will you come with me Albus?"
"Of course."
One of the Aurors took this moment to clear his throat. "Sorry, but I would like to see my old partner out again as well, so if we could get the statement?"
Arthur smiled at the tall, bald African man. "Certainly, Kingsley" He wrapped his arm around Molly's shoulders and started to talk. "We were enjoying a family game, when our daughters two Kitties chased our youngest sons pet rat out of his room and down the stairs. They managed to corner him and before any of us could do anything, he suddenly changed into that man there. He pulled a wand, and Molly took him down like it was nothing." Arthur looked at his wife positively beaming with pride. For her part, Molly blushed, and made some rather interesting plans for her husband for later that night.
The Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt, grinned, "I do remember hearing tales of Molly's prowess with a wand back when I was in Hogwarts."
"Yes, well done, Molly", Amelia agreed, "did Mr. Pettigrew say anything?"
"No," Molly joined, "not really. Just some vague threats at the cats. I stunned him before he could even finish that."
Albus had been staring at the bound man while listening to the story. He moved a few steps closer, and stopped. With a very deliberate move, he pulled his wand from the sleeve of his robes. Amelia took note. "Albus, what are you doing?"
The old man looked up. For the first time in several years, he seemed to have a bit of the old fire back in his eyes. "I have to know why." He pointed his wand at the unconscious man, "enervate!" He cried.
Pettigrew awoke with a start. He looked around, his beady little eyes widening in fear. He closed them, then seemed to shudder. Popping them back open, he looked around in confusion. He shuddered again. Nothing happened. He tried one more time, still with no result "What is going on here…" he mumbled half to himself.
"If you are trying to change back to a rat, I think you will find our restraints make that impossible." Amelia said to the man.
"Amelia? Amelia Bones? Is that really you? Oh, thank God! I need your help, I've been hiding for so long…"
"Save it, you bastard!" She bellowed at the prisoner, who flinched back. "If you wanted help, you wouldn't have been hiding for the last eleven years!" She looked quite angry.
"I was afraid Sirius would kill me!"
"Really Peter? And just how would he accomplish that, seeing as he has been in Azkaban for your murder, among other crimes?" Albus spoke with a quite authority that was just this side of fury. "As a member of the Order, you knew of any number of means to contact me, and seek safety. The fact that you didn't, leaves me to believe some rather horrible things. Would you care to explain?" Albus sighed, and seemed to wilt a little bit. "Sirius wasn't the secret keeper, was he?"
"Of course he was! James would trust no other than him! He was the only one they told of the prophecy, so of course he was!" The little man had words spilling from him faster than his mind could keep up.
"How do you know of the prophecy? James and Lily swore to never tell anyone."
"They… they did? Oh, well… then…". Peter broke off as the ancient wizard stepped closer to him. He shrunk in on himself. Albus's eyes may not have twinkled in several years, but now they were blazing with power.
"Confession is good for the soul, my boy." He whispered to the now terrified man as he bent closer to him. "Is there anything you would like to tell me? Before I rip it from your little mind?" The others in the room gasped. Albus Dumbledore had never threatened anyone in their presence before.
Peter looked like he wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. "The Dark Lord made me do it. You don't know the kind of power he has. The kind he can give…"
Albus punched him in the face.
The crack of Peter's nose breaking was lost in the crack of several of his hand bones breaking. "Coward!" He spat at the ratty little man. He reached down and ripped his left sleeve away. There, faded as they all were these days, but still visible, was the Dark Mark. The Auror next to Kingsley spat at Peter. The Weasleys gasped, and Kingsley and Amelia shook their heads in disgust. Albus stood up and walked away, muttering to himself. "All this loss…. All the sacrifice, the mistakes… And we still, no, I still lost the boy!" He headed for the fireplace. "Amelia, I shall head to the ministry, and put together the paperwork to give Sirius a trial, or just out right free him. I may not be Chief Warlock anymore, but I still should carry a bit of weight." He looked back to Arthur and Molly, "You two have done a great service to our society." He began, but Molly quickly cut him off.
"What service? All we did was house a death eater." She looked a bit ill.
"None sense. There was no way for you to know that. What you have done, is revealed a great breach in justice. Done in part by myself. For helping to fix this, I personally waive the rest of the tuition for the Weasley children."
The two parents looked to be in a bit of shock themselves, now. Arthur looked at the old man, "Albus, that's…"
"The very least I can do." With that, he stepped through the floo.
Kingsley and the other Auror hauled Pettigrew to his feet. As they started to leave with him, he suddenly looked around. "Where are those two kids?" He asked.
"Our children are safe at a friends house, you filth!" Molly spat at him.
"No! Those two kids trying to be cats!" They all looked at him as if he was crazy.
I don't think the dementors will have much to feast on, Amelia though, as she followed him through the floo. He's already nuts!
The summer days rolled on, and the Weasley children who had returned from Hogwarts got used to the new members of the family. Lady Athena and Harry Potter got used to a quiet life, well, quiet as long as the twins were not inside. With the shared time between Ginny and Luna, they got many breaks from the madness. They even found a bit of a companion in young Ron, as they would join him with his gnome tossing chores. Best of all, there was never a lack of laps for them to cuddle up together on, or a lack of hands to scratch ears. By this point, they had almost forgotten their lives as human children, and had certainly lost any and all desire to ever go back.
It was a warm, peaceful day that found the two kitties curled up on Ginny's bed. The Weasley and Lovegood families had gone to Diagon Alley that day to get the children's school supplies for the coming year. It was all Ginny and Luna had talked about for the last week, as this would be their first year, and they were very much excited to go.
They were awoken as a great noise began downstairs. They two quickly stretched out the kinks, licked and nuzzled each other's faces, then headed down to see what was the problem. Molly was shrieking at her husband. Something about muggle dueling and bad examples for children. Said children were all in the living room, talking about some fight they had seen. As the kitties walked towards them to start demanding scratches, Lady Athena suddenly froze.
[Do you smell that?]. She purred at her life partner. Harry Potter sniffed the air, then promptly frizzed out his tail, which was sticking straight up.
[I do! It smells evil! And it wants to hurt us!]. Harry Potter was not one to sit by when those he loved were in danger. [Its coming from Ginny's bad!]
[Well, lets get it!]. Lady Athena was just as brave. With a pair of mighty roars that really came out as adorable little squeals, the two kitties jumped on Ginny's bag and started hissing as they clawed out books. Ginny gave a shriek and jumped away.
"What are you two doing! You stop that right now, or I'm taking you straight upstairs for the night!" Luna was quick to come to her best friends defense. "This is not the way to get our attention." The two kitties stopped and managed to look ashamed. "Now, tell me what's wrong."
"Uh, Luna, you do know that they are cats, right?" Ron asked the little blond girl. She looked at him with a look of eternal patients.
"Yes Ron, I do. Did you?" She looked back to the cats. Lady Athena looked up at her and purred for a bit. Then Harry Potter did as well. Luna's eyes widened. "Really? And you are sure that it was in her bag?" The kitties nodded.
The Weasleys looked to be in shock.
"Hhhmmm, it must be a book than…". Luna reached into Ginny's bag and started to go through the books still in there. She pulled out one of the many Lockhart books and opened it. A small, black leather booklet fell out.
Luna gasped and jumped away.
The kitties hissed.
Ginny looked at it funny, her eyes sort of going blank. She reached for the book.
Harry Potter hissed and swiped at her hand. "OUCH!" Ginny yelled, one of his claws had got her.
"They say not to touch it! Its evil!" Luna said, she looked quite afraid of the book. "I can feel it reaching out to us, nobody touch it!" By this point Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had joined them. Arthur took out his wand and waved it at the book. His eyes widened and he quickly put a shield around it. At once, the pull to pick it up disappeared, and the kitties relaxed.
"Molly, call Professor Dumbledore. I think this is up his alley. Whatever this thing is, its no mere book. I've never seen so much dark magic in one object before." He still looked a bit afraid.
Soon enough, Albus was once again in the Weasley living room, and waving his wand over the little black book. "It can't be…" He muttered to himself. "After all this time…". He had long suspected at what Riddle had done to himself, ever since he had the Goblins remove the piece of his soul from Harry's scar all those years ago, but to finally see proof.
He looked at Arthur. "You did the right thing calling me. This is and in incredibly dangerous piece of dark magic. Made by Voldemort himself." He ignored the gasping and flinching at the name. "I will take this to the ministry and give it to the unspeakables. They will know what to do with it." He looked over the assembled family. "This would have driven you to use it, and it would have slowly taken control of the one who did. Tell me, were did you get it.?"
"It was in my bad when I got home, Headmaster". Ginny stuttered a little as she spoke, tears shining in her young eyes. "But I don't remember picking it up."
"Nor did I put it there". Molly added.
Fred spoke up, "It must have been Malfoy's dad! He was rooting through Ginny's caldron before Dad decked him!" Albus raised an eyebrow at Arthur at that, while Arthur himself looked a bit abashed. Molly just glared at him.
"Yes, I dare say Malfoy senior would be one to have something so dark." He stroked his beard. "I'll have him brought in by Amelia. Might I take a few memories of this event from you children?"
After quickly collecting the memories, Albus soon left. The assembled family and friends all looked at each other. Percy chuckled. " That's one more we owe those cats."
"Yeah, thanks for finding them, Gin, Luna". George gave both girls a hug.
"Where are they now? Ron asked. The two cats in question were already asleep, having found the inside of Ginny's bag quite cozy.