I am Severus Snape's familiar. My name is Shadow. Most children do not like me. I am a black cat that hisses and it's nearly as cuddly as all those children want me to be. I don't mind really. I don't want to be touched by the type of creatures that abandoned me on the dirt road.

I was born to a muggle family. That's what no-magic folk are called, correct? Muggles? Anyway, I was born to a muggle family. The family didn't want me and my siblings but were too kind to straight out kill us or abandon our mother during her pregnancy so when she gave birth to us, the Father of the family scooped us up into a cardboard box and after a few hours of driving, dropped us off at a lamp post. We never saw him again.

The families, couples, single muggles, and children that passed took my siblings away from me. They were cute. Loving. Far too trustworthy but they were ideal for those damned muggles. I was thin, starving, hostile, and overall unlikable. As the days turned into weeks, I occasionally went out to the nearby garbage to eat some human food before returning to the box I considered home. The faces that took my siblings away from me, the appearances of humans that rejected me were burned into my mind.

I found myself often thinking about them. Thinking about what my life would have been like with them if I had just been a bit kinder. A bit more accepting. It made me incredibly sad and alone.

One day it started to rain. I was grateful it wasn't a horrible thunderstorm but my little home was falling apart from the effects of the weather. I curled myself into a small black ball in the corner of the box on the dirty blanket that was left with us when we were abandoned.

I heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps splashed against the cobblestone of the park's path. I curled myself and hide my face as I wasn't in the right state to deal with another rejection. The footsteps stopped abruptly. Right in front of my home. I dared to look up. Something told me that I had to. I had to with a little bit of hope.

Beggars can't be choosers.

But that doesn't mean we can't privately judge. When I looked up, I instantly regretted it. I am a cat so I couldn't be vocal about how the man who looked like death with long black greasy hair to his shoulders, a black cloak with black clothes underneath stared back at me, scared me more than I ever thought a human could. He certainly wasn't a pretty sight. He reminded me of the humans I made up in my mind during my nightmares.

He reached out to grab me. I stiffened in fear as I quickly convinced myself that this was my last day on the horrible planet. I wasn't sure if I was grateful or disappointed to be leaving. But instead of picking me up and tossed me with a happy sick laugh into the nearby pound that I certainly wouldn't have had the strength to swim out of. He tucked me into his cloak before pulled out a fancy black stick. He pressed it lightly against my temple and whispered something I couldn't understand.

Suddenly I was dry. For the first time in days, I was completely dry, clean, and even soft. I almost cried I was so delighted but my body was still weak from lack of nourishment, and cuts and scarps I got from my little 'adventures' from collecting scrapes. He held me close as we traveled for what felt like hours. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up I was on a black pillow in a dark room lit by candles and a fireplace.

I didn't trust the man. Really how could I? He saved me, yes. But what were his intentions? Maybe he wanted to use me in an experiment? One of the couples mentioned that once. Said something about how good I would look on a chopping block before being thrown into some mad experiment.

I looked around the room. The walls were brick and there were no windows so the chances I was underground was high. The furniture was either completely black or a combination of black and silver. There was even a few funny designs on the furniture that looked like a creature I met in the park. A snake I believe the creature informed me it was.

I noticed that my body wasn't in nearly as much pain as it usually was. My left paw was bandaged up where I had quite a bad cut from a fight with a flying bird over food. The scary man reentered the room. Holding a book in his hands as he wordlessly maneuvered the room and came to a stop in front of me. He placed his books down carefully beside me. He lit some candles with that funny black stick to provide some light before he got to his knees to look at me from eyes level with a curious expression.

"How are you?"

It was a simple question. One that he knew I couldn't respond to no matter how hard I tried because silly humans don't understand the beautiful language of a cat. So I replied with "Okay." Which he didn't understand but took the "meow" he heard as a positive sign by the way his body sagged in the release of stress.

Humans are quite strange.

He explained my injuries and how he repaired them, along with my estimated recovery time which I admit I didn't really listen to as I was suddenly overtaken with exhaustion. He must have noticed this when he finally stopped talking, blew out the candles, and wished me a good night before heading to another room with his book.

I managed to keep my eyes open long enough to see what he was reading.

"Complete Cat Care Manual."

For the first time in a very long time, I felt like there was I chance I would live to have a natural death from old age.

As the weeks passed, I got stronger and bigger. Much to the delight of myself and, although he loathed to outwardly show it, my new friend. His name was Severus Snape. It was a strange name but I didn't mind nearly as much as I thought I would.

I stayed in the one-room that I leaned was Severus's home inside a big castle full of people. I learned this information when after a few days of being in his residence, Severus came into the home looking angry. He is always gone during the day and I didn't bother asking where because, again, silly humans can't understand us.

He started ranting to me about potions, explosions, students being dunderheads, something about Slytherins and Gryffindors, and then ending on the many, many, many stupid actions of some boy I only know is named "Potter."

Who wakes up one morning and decided that "Potter" is a good name for a human? How does he not get bullied for that? I got bullied in the park for having no name or for simply existing. Severus described him as a celebrity. He ranted and slammed down a pile of papers before ranting about how he needed to grade a bunch of dunderheads who don't understand anything in his class and is surprised they survived life for eleven to seventeen years.

He soon went about his daily schedule of making potions, practicing magic with his fancy stick that I learned was actually a wand but it still looks silly. A house-elf gave him his meals and even sometimes stayed to lecture him about self-care that he always dismissed with a wave of his wand.

The elf would mutter under her breath about youth and Professors thinking they were able to work all night without repercussions before popping back out from wherever she came.

The weeks and months passed. Severus eventually allowed me to wander the halls after placing a collar on my neck (With my permission of course) that had a locator spell to make sure he knew where I was.

The castle was much bigger than I imagined. There were many more students and I even met two cats. One was named Mrs. Norries. She had red eyes and disturbed me more than I would care to admit. Her owner was a despicable man who I wanted to lash out against but he cared about her a great deal and took care of her so I left him alone despite the sick satisfaction he had of explaining to two frightened children about how hanging from their thumbs in the dungeons was the punishment he preferred for the small youth in front of him.

I met a Grey Tabby next. She claimed her name was Minerva and was quite surprised when I told her I was staying with Severus. She mumbled how she would have a talk with 'that Snape boy' under her breath. I asked her how because we can't talk to humans. She simply purred and then ran away. I followed her when she turned a corner. Intent on asking more questions because she seemed more intelligent about my new environment than I was but before I could call out to her she morphed into an older human lady with robes and a big hat.

I was not expecting that in the slightest.

I, then, visited the common rooms of the four houses that the students were divided into inside the large fortress. I went to Ravenclaw first. They seemed so intent on their studies that they barely noticed me. One girl tried to feed me. It took a few minutes but I finally began nibbling on the food because I was hungry. She tried to pet me as I ate in which I scratched her as a response. Never pet a cat while he is eating. She whined and complained to her friends who bragged they could pet me without getting scratched just to prove her wrong.

That is when I abruptly left the common room. Leaving a cursing girl and heckling friends, surrounded by confused or annoyed students because I didn't want to become some trophy. If someone was going to pet me, they were going to pet me with the respect I deserved. I didn't survive on the streets just to become a pushover.

I headed to Hufflepuff next. They were a jumbled mess to be completely honest. Constantly running around with panic on their faces or being dragged out by their fellow house members because someone was waiting for them outside the main door. Among the chaos, the student leaders of the house noticed me when I jumped onto one of the tables and began nibbling on some left-out food.

The boy argued that they should find the owner of whoever gave me the collar and promptly lecture them for allowing me to wander where ever I please. He claimed the Hufflepuff common room was dangerous during the after-lunch rush (Which I learned they were currently in) and I could be easily trampled. I agreed on that last point at least. The girl suggested that they leave me alone. They never saw me before and didn't want to risk getting in trouble for touching a familiar if I turned out to be one of the Professors' pets.

The boy let out a high-pitched laugh that made me want to curl into a ball. He said that no professor would want such an ugly cat and black cats bring bad luck anyways so Professor Trelawney would have a heart attack and go screeching to the Headmaster in a fit of chaotic rage if she saw me. Proclaiming for the hundredth time that death was coming because she saw a black cat. As a result, no one would dare get a black cat to avoid that ridiculous behavior. I hissed at him for the insult and wasn't sure I wanted to know who Professor Trelawney was.

I quickly left the Hufflepuff common room when the head students got into a bigger fight on whether divination was real or not and who was worse at magic.

After what felt like hours of searching, I found the Gryffindor common room. They were loud, like the Hufflepuffs. And much too confident in their abilities to play some game called Quidditch. They bragged about their abilities to each other and there was a pair of twins who kept playing random pranks on their fellow students. It wasn't as chaotic as the Hufflepuff common room but he found he enjoyed the Hufflepuffs far more.

I left the room quickly. Before heading back to the Dungeons, hoping to find the door to the Slytherin common room on the way there. I knew that Severus was in charge of the Slytherin house. He often spoke of how unjustly they were being treated and how the other teachers chose to ignore the mistreatment and go on and on about how evil they all were.

I followed a Slytherin boy with blonde hair who bragged way too much about his father on the way to the common room. He entered the room after the boys and followed them into the dark common room. It was mostly filled with black and silver with a touch of dark green furniture. Pictures and decorations of snakes were everywhere but seemed to fit the room without overcrowding it. The students were calmer than I expected but they immediately noticed my presence, unlike the other houses.

They formed a small crowd around me. No one dared to touch me but that didn't make me feel entirely safe as I didn't have an escape route because of the students surrounding me.

"Who do you think he belongs to?" One of the students asked. Some of them shrugged and others silently thought about the answer with blank expressions.

"Um...Well, it can't be one of us. Snape wouldn't allow us to get familiar unless it happened during the summer. Maybe he is from one of the other houses?" A girl suggested.

"He looks like he would come from Ravenclaw. I thought Flitwick hated cats..." A boy muttered.

"Those are rumors, you git!" Another student insulted as he joined a small circle around the new cat. "I think we should find out who his owner is. The poor kitty is probably terrified."

"He looks like he wants to tear our faces apart." Her friend argued. "He had a battle stance for goodness sake!"

"Alright, alright. Hold on." One of the older students said, shoving a few of the small students aside despite their cries of protest. The boy pulled out his wand and before I could react to the fear of having magic used on me, the boy said something under his breath and waved his wand.

The student's faces paled and they slowly stood back up. Taking a moment to watch me before looking at each other, then back to me again.

"Oh, bloody hell."

"Are we screwed?"

"No. No. No. This can't be that bad of a thing. Professor Snape-"

"Will skin us alive?"

"See now you are overreacting. We aren't Gryffindors. We are Slytherins. He trusts us and I am sure his cat will trust us so someone pick him up and return him to the Professor."

"Um...Why don't you do it?"

"Because I have work to do, numbskull. You walk fast. You go."

One of the boys stepped forwards and hesitantly knelt down to my level. I backed away from him with suspicion as the group moved to stand united behind the boy who seemed scared of me for some strange reason.

"Please, please, please, please, please, don't scratch me." The Boy pleaded as he began the slow motions of picking up me. "I am going to return you to Snape now. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Will you stop pleading with the cat and just pick him up already!" A girl hissed from the group before she was elbowed by another girl next to her.

"We may not understand cats but they can understand us! It is important to show them respect so please do take your time!" The other girl insisted. The last statement was directed towards the boy slowly approaching me with trembling hands.

"Where did you hear that garbage?" The first girl snapped at the other one. "Muggle studies? Why did you even bother taking that course?"

"Cats are beautiful creatures. They have a wonderful language that we are too dumb to understand. I am taking muggle studies because their technology is very interesting. I am aware you are part of the pureblood cult but I-"

"PUREBLOOD CULT?!" The other girl screeched with rage and yanked out her wand. "How dare you! You moron! Cats don't have a language they just meow all day and further mo-"

I was distracted and unable to hear the rest of what I was sure was going to be a thrilling speech when I was picked up by the boy and quickly marched out of the common room in his sweaty arms despite my struggles.

Severus is becoming irritable. Something happened. Something he isn't discussing. I have been here for almost a year now and he always tells me what's wrong. He can't tell anyone else so he confines me. Why isn't he telling me what is wrong? Severus slammed the door and slumped to the sofa. I slowly moved from my black pillow on the sofa across from him to jump onto his lap and curl to provide some warmth.

I know this sounds strange but everything feels darker than usual. Something very bad has happened. I looked up to Severus to see if I could find any sign of trouble. He looked down at me and for the first time, I saw he was on the verge of tears.

"I killed him." He said softly. "I know he asked me to but...oh hell...I killed him, Shadow."

He reached down and stroked my head with his hands trembling as if he was under the treatment of that really bad wizard everyone talks about. I licked his hand and pushed myself closer to his body but I couldn't help but wonder...

Who did he kill?

Another year has come and gone. The castle is shaking. I can hear people dying.

Where is Severus?

I know he told me to stay in the room but...Why do I hear screaming? I want him back. He became the leader of this school for a year. Everything, Severus often put it, went to hell after Severus killed the last headmaster. It's hard not to have doubts about a person when you spend your free time trying to piece together the events of their lives because of rumors and gossip.

I know he can't hear me but I want him to tell me what is going on. For the first time since he picked me up from the streets, I feel scared. I want my friend back.

Should I go?

No.

He knows I am here. I will wait. He saved me. When he returns, I will help him feel better like I always try to do.

I will wait.

Severus...

Please come back.

Why does it feel like a part of me just died?

Is Severus OK?

He has to be.

I returned to my black pillow on the black leather and silver sofa. Staring at the wooden door as the castle shook again from magical weapons. As screams deep within the castle filled the silence I crave right now. I pushed down my fear of the horrible feeling of my soul being ripped in half.

Where is Severus?

He has to come back.

I will wait here until he does.

-The End-