Chapter 9

Tom was busy. It was a habit of his that he had developed sometime around his third year and he had never been able to shake. It was the habit of being so absorbed in what he was doing; he tended to ignore what was happening around him.

Luckily those who tended to also work around him picked up on his strange habit and made allowances for it.

Or, in his new cat's case, she took the opportunity to get into trouble, and cause chaos.

He first noticed her when the silence registered. Normally, when she slept, she purred, which often led him to wonder what on earth she was dreaming about. Silence often meant she was awake...

Now, when he and his lieutenants were buried in work, silence was not just annoying, but potentially catastrophic.

Looking up, he glanced around the room. Lucius was snoring on a couch, and Bella had wandered off. There was a faint hint of potions fumes around the rooms, which led him to assume Severus was still brewing. The only one missing was of course, Mera.

Silently, he sent out a mental probe, searching for his wayward familiar. However, it seemed she had discovered the art of occlumency, or at least blocking him.

Angrily he yelled for her.

"MERA! Where are you?" he yelled, startling Lucius into waking. The blonde had enough time to utter a startled yelp and fall off the sofa, before the wall blew in.

Without thinking, tom cast a shield around himself, and another one for Lucius. There were several following explosions before there was silence. Gingerly, Tom lowered the shields, ready to have them up again if anything else went BOOM!

"Severus?" he called, hoping the man was unharmed.

"I'm here my lord," answered the man, although it sounded muffled.

"What happened?" called Lucius, having obviously managed to move past his shock.

"That bloody cat," snarled Severus.

"What happened?" called Tom, starting to get worried. If she had been in the lab when it had exploded, it was very unlikely that she was unharmed.

"I went out to get some potions ingredients, and when I came back in, she was standing on a shelf over the potions," said Severus irritably, "I was trying to get her to move when you yelled. She jumped, and slipped, and knocked the blood replenisher into the basilisk antidote into the petrifying poison, and it all reacted and exploded, and landed in everything else. Hopefully it's all less likely to explode now,"

"And what happened to Mera?" asked Tom, worried seeping into his voice, he blamed it entirely on the bond between them and his fondness for cats.

"I saw her get knocked into a wall," said Severus, and Tom's blood ran cold, "But it was away from the majority of the blast. She's probably still alive,"

Tom started to breathe easier, and he eased his way into the room, skilfully slipping around the rubble. Lucius followed him.

They found Severus leaning on a pile of rubble that looked like it once used to be his equipment cupboard.

"Where did she land?" asked Tom, as he cast a diagnostic on the man.

"That way," said Severus pointing to a wall that looked vaguely less damaged than the rest of the room.

Tom left Severus with Lucius, and he started towards the wall, keeping an eye for his cat. Warily, he cast several lumos' around the room, so he could see better. He cast an accio, to see if it would help, but he turned up nothing. He tried several locator charms, including two illegal ones, but nothing turned up. He sighed and finally turned to the last option, and hoped no-one would see.

"Point me Mera," he whispered, holding his wand on his palm. It swivelled and pointed to a pile of rubble. He walked towards it, and saw there was a thin gap between it and the wall and he squeezed along it.

Finally, he saw her, lying in a huddle against the wall, on the remnants of a bench. He stepped closer, and gently cast a diagnostic.

(Hahaha! I'm so mean. I was thinking of leaving it here, but, I couldn't do that to you, cause it's probably gonna be ages till I next update, so I will continue)

What he saw was worrying. In fact it was more than worrying. It was heart-stoppingly terrifying. He was sure he never as panicked in his entire life.

"Lucius! Severus! Get Narcissa Now!" he yelled, as he gently scooped up the prone form of his familiar. Vaguely, a part of him wondered if she'd always been this small. Or maybe it was the fact that she was limp in his hands that made her seem all the smaller and frailer. She certainly looked frail; an adolescent cat. He often forgot how young she was. She always acted older than her years, when she wasn't getting herself into mischief.

He somehow managed to make his way back to his office where he found a newly healed, and still slightly sore Severus, a pale looking Lucius, and two worried Black sisters, who had come running as soon as they heard the explosion.

"What happened?" asked Narcissa and Bella at once.

"Potion's accident," said Severus.

"Everyone's fine, except for Mera," said Tom, starting to look haggard with worry. Wisely, none of his lieutenants mentioned it.

"What happened?" asked Narcissa, who had been starting to adore Mera. Especially because of how easily she seemed to make the Dark Lord panic. The man needed some reminding of human emotions.

"She was thrown into a wall," said Lucius.

"Severus!" gasped Narcissa, "How could you?"

"How could I?" demanded the man, unsure of what the woman was talking about.

"Throw that poor innocent creature into a wall," said Narcissa.

"I didn't!" protested Severus, "She was thrown into the wall by the explosion,"

"Oh," said Narcissa, "Well, then, why don't you give the poor dear here, and I'll see what I can do,"

"No it's alright Narcissa," said Tom, "I want you to make sure Lucius and Severus are okay, and I want you to get started on the repairs. I'll take care of Mera,"

"Sure," she said, exchanging a look with the other three. Tom missed it completely as he turned around to apparate to his rooms.

Yep, Mera was having a very profound impact on her new master.

Esmeralda wasn't sure if she was conscious. Things were dark, and blurry, and she could hear faint murmurings, as if there was a wall of water between her and whatever it was that was making the sound.

"Hello?" she called, but nothing changed; the sounds didn't become clearer, nor did her vision get any better.

She started to panic, and attempted to move, but found herself immobile. Panicking even more, she started to scream, hoping someone would hear.

Finally, something filtered through, and she froze, hoping that someone had found her.

"Me…ra…Mer…Mera…Mera?" came the voice, and Mera relaxed slightly.

It was tom. Vaguely a part of her wondered why she would relax if she heard him, but it was rather normal. He thought she was a cat, and he had to be better than being stuck in the dark

"Tom?" she called, hoping he would respond.

"Mera? You can hear me?" he called, and it sounded as if he was getting closer.

"Of course I can hear you! What's going on? What happened? Where am I?" she called

"If you would shut up, I'll explain," said Tom, "You were in an explosion,"

"I remember that," said Esmeralda, "And it's your fault entirely for yelling,"

"You were supposed to stay in the study, not go gallivanting off to the lab," said Tom angrily, "Any way, you were thrown into a wall, and then hit with the combined remnants of several of Severus' potions,"

"Oh," said Esmeralda, "But you can fix me, right?"

"Of course I can," said Tom, "However, you were also hit with a bit of the rubble which mean you have several broken bones as well, which will make 'fixing' you, as you put it, harder,"

"Am I blind?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" asked Tom, sounding confused.

"Am I blind?" asked Esmeralda again, "I can't see you, or anything else,"

"that's because you're still not fully conscious," said Tom, "Your eyes should be completely fine,"

"Okay," said Esmeralda, "Fix me,"

"You know, we need to have a talk about this ordering thing you have," said Tom sounding irritated.

"Look who's talking," snorted Esmeralda, "The Dark Lor – Ow! I felt that!"

"Good," said Tom, "It means that you're not paralysed there,"

"Paralysed?" squeaked Esmeralda.

"One of the things you were hit with was a petrifying potion," said Tom, "That was a possibility,"

"So I'm not paralysed then?" asked Esmeralda.

"Not there at any rate," said Tom, "I will have to check your entire body to be sure,"

"Right," said Esmeralda, "And the other reason is to pay me back slightly for not staying in the study isn't it,"

"OF course it is," said Tom, "You're getting to know me well,"

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," said Esmeralda, trying not to shout as she felt tom pinching-poking her, "By the way, if I'm not fully conscious, how come we're having a decent conversation?"

"Because we communicate mentally," sighed Tom, "That means that, theoretically, we could communicate in our dreams,"

"No thank you," said Esmeralda, "I don't want to see your dreams. Probably all about world domination,"

"Actually no," said Tom, giving her tail a pinch-poke.

"Hey, that hurts!" yelped Esmeralda.

"If you can feel it, then it means you're not paralysed," said Tom.

"Cruel, heartless man," grumbled Esmeralda.

"I am the one healing you," said tom, "So be nice,"

"You're not," said Esmeralda.

"I'm the Dark Lord," said Tom, "Nice isn't in the job description.

"Oh, there's a job description there?"

"Not really," said Tom, "But a nice dark lord isn't going to get anywhere,"

"I know that," said Esmeralda, "But you might attract more followers. I mean, just look at Dumbledore,"

"Don't use that man as an example," growled Tom, "He makes every Dark Lord in history look nice. It takes a Slytherin to see it,"

"Oh," said Esmeralda, "Well excuse me for not being a Slytherin,"

"What are you then?" asked Tom.

"And what makes you think I was anything?" asked Esmeralda.

"You were at Hogwarts. I don't think you would have been very far from the castle when you were turned, or you would have never made it in," said Tom, and she felt his hands slowly start to massage away the pain of is previous pinch-pokes, "And you are a very young cat,"

"Hey!" said Esmeralda, completely unaware that she had started to purr under Tom's ministrations, "I'm not a baby,"

"I never said that," said Tom exasperatedly, "You're an adolescent cat. You can't have been out of Hogwarts as a Human,"

"You're right," said Esmeralda, "I was a student, and I was changed inside Hogwarts,"

"And they never noticed that you went missing?" asked Tom.

"I was an orphan," said Esmeralda, "Like you. They worried initially, but they forgot, eventually. I was a shy kind of person. I never had many friends. Not many people noticed when I disappeared,"

"Then they must have been fools," said Tom, "So, what house were you in then?"

"Guess," said Esmeralda, trying to see if she could wiggle her tail.

"Stop moving your tail," said Tom, "I'm trying to put some salve on it,"

"Ok," grumbled Esmeralda.

"So," said Tom, after a bit, "I suppose you weren't a Hufflepuff. If you were, more people would have noticed when you disappeared,"

"I suppose," said Esmeralda.

"And I would suppose not a Ravenclaw, because I'm quite sure that you would think things through before you did them," said Tom.

"Hey!" complained Esmeralda, although he was completely correct.

"So I suppose that leaves Gryffindor," said Tom, "but for some reason I find that hard to believe,"

"And why is that?" asked Esmeralda.

"Because you don't act like a Gryffindor," said Tom, "You're not very brash, or rash. You don't rush headlong into life-threatening situations,"

"I'm a cat," grumbled Esmeralda, "Being around people ten times as big as you puts a damper on any inclinations like that,"

"I would believe you if your actions said the same thing," said Tom, "Take for example, your actions at today's meeting,"

"Whatever," grumbled Esmeralda, "And I was a Gryffindor, but the hat said I could have gone to any of the houses,"

"A jack-of-all-trades then," chuckled Tom. He stopped massaging her, and instead cast several spells over her, "There, you should start to come round now,"

"What about you?" asked Esmeralda, pleased that her eyesight was starting to improve.

"What about me?" asked Tom.

"Did you have any other options besides Slytherin?"

"Yes," said Tom, wriggling his fingers in front of her face to give her something to focus on, "Ravenclaw,"

"Not much of a surprise there," said Esmeralda, "you are a bit of a know it all,"

"I am not," exclaimed tom, "I'm just above average intelligence,"

"And above average ego too," giggled Esmeralda, starting to wriggle herself to wake up.