Harry
Sooo, it appeared Narcissa won the argument about where Malfoy (the younger) would be spending the holidays, something Harry wished he had known before now.
"You must be Mischief?" Malfoy asked before bending down to pet him. Surprised, Harry didn't have time to duck away from the approaching hand. Silently he cursed, all he wanted was food.
He had woken up in Severus' empty bed that morning to find himself creeped out that he missed the warmth of the man's body. He had groaned thinking that maybe he should try sleeping in the damn cat bed again. After all, he was getting way too used to sleeping next to the other occupants of the Manor.
With Severus gone and no idea where Barty was, Harry hadn't had anyone to feed him, meaning Harry was left wandering down to the kitchen in hopes that someone was already in there. Which is how he ran into Malfoy.
"Father said you were in with Uncle, what are you doing here?" The Slytherin's fingers were gentle as they scratched along Harry's head.
Harry was hit with how bizarre this was; he never imagined Draco Malfoy as the type of person to bend down and pet, gently, any animal. Let alone talk to it nicely.
Maybe it shouldn't have been as weird as it was, after all the blond's father was the same way. But he hadn't known Lucius much before he had arrived here. Draco, however, he did. And the other teen was a smug, arrogant bully.
A strange urge to run overcame him as he stood there with the blond petting him. This is way too weird, he thought as he pulled his head away from the younger Malfoy and darted between his legs.
He ran into the kitchen and hid under the table. Panting, he forced himself to lay and calm down. He didn't know why he had panicked. He should have been used to it. The Death Eaters here had no issues picking him up or petting him. It didn't make sense for him to freak out, unless it was because it was Draco and not one of the others.
He cringed as he heard soft steps approaching the kitchen. He lowered his head to the floor and watched as the younger Malfoy entered. The blond looked around, clearly searching for him, but after a couple seconds he sighed and left.
Still Harry waited a good couple minutes before he got up and walked out from under the table. While he was grateful that Malfoy was gone, he wasn't happy that the kitchen was empty. No Death Eaters meant no food.
He frowned and walked over one of the low cabinets. Using his paw he pulled open the door. Pots. Frustrated, he moved on and opened the next, more pots. He went to open the next when he heard a throat clear.
He spun around. Lucius was standing in the doorway leaning on his cane. "My son is under the impression he terrified you and is worried because he cannot find you." Harry wasn't sure what embarrassed him more, being caught opening the cabinet doors or that his running away had scared Malfoy enough to seek out his father.
Thankfully he couldn't blush, he just lowered his head and hoped the man understood he hadn't meant to worry his son.
He heard Lucius move into the kitchen and a second later he was picked up.
"Don't worry about Draco, he has a soft spot for animals and finds it troublesome when they don't like him." They moved towards one of the large cabinets and when Malfoy opened it Harry's mouth started to water. It was like a fridge, most likely kept cool with cooling charms.
He could see a bowl of strawberries, a couple jars of pickles, some eggs, a large brick of cheese. There were more plates and bowls, but Harry's eyes didn't leave the berries. He meowed and tried to reach out with his paws, telling Malfoy what he wanted.
The man chuckled, "I'm not sure cats can eat strawberries."
He was sure the man was teasing him but he still hissed at him. Lucius grinned before he reached out he took out the bowl, closing the door behind them. Harry expected to stay in the kitchen, however Malfoy carried him and the strawberries off and into one of the sitting rooms.
The room was always crowded, all the Malfoys, a few Death Eaters, and the Dark Lord.
He scratched at the man's hands when he was dropped into Draco's lap. The elder Malfoy handed his son the strawberries with a smirk before he walked off to sit next to his Lord. Harry made a very unhappy noise and debated jumping off Malfoy's lap but then Draco held out a berry and Harry's stomach growled.
Like with Voldemort, Harry was careful not to touch the blond's fingers while he ate.
He tried not to think about how weird it was that the blond was being nice, or that he was sitting in the blond's lap, or that he was eating out of his rival's hand.
Eventually the bowl ran empty and Malfoy put it aside, Harry thought about jumping off and looking for Barty or Snape but instead he laid down and let Malfoy scratch and pet him.
He hadn't meant to fall asleep but a full belly and the soft massage felt great and he closed his eyes.
Some time later he woke up to Malfoy muttering and cursing. He lifted his head and looked around. He hadn't been in this room before, but from the green and silver dragons painted along the one wall he assumed it was Malfoy's.
The blond was laying on his stomach on his bed a few inches away from Harry, his school books open and a couple pieces of parchment floating in front of him. Curious Harry stood up and walked closer. It was a Charms book and Malfoy appeared to be growling at his unfinished essay.
Harry snorted, which caught the blonds attention.
"Hey Kitty," Malfoy said, reaching out to scratch the underside of Harry's throat. Harry did not purr, honest, he didn't. Nor did he follow the hand when a smiling Malfoy pulled it away to turn the page of his book.
Somehow they spent the next couple hours like that. Harry laying next to Malfoy getting petted, while the blond did his homework. He found it amusing how Malfoy muttered to himself and complained as he wrote and then rewrote his essays.
Eventually Malfoy gave up on his homework, using his wand to gather everything up and levitating it to his desk. When he was done, he sat at the edge of his bed, looking bored and maybe a little lonely.
Harry wondered about it. Malfoy never seemed lonely before, always surrounded by the other Slytherins.
"Wanna go outside?" the blond asked. Harry for a second forgot he was stuck as a cat nodded his head. Malfoy's brow lifted and he titled his head to the side before he shook it and stood up.
Malfoy, unlike Severus and Barty, didn't pick him up as he left the room, just walked out and let Harry to chase after him.
He had to admit in the weeks he had lived in the Manor, he hadn't been outside, at least no more than a few seconds when Barty was leaving.
The grounds were beautiful, large trees scattered around leaving much of the area covered in shade. There was a huge flower garden off to his left and another vegetable to his right. Malfoy walked past them and Harry whined.
There in front of him was a Quidditch pitch.
It was so unfair that he was stuck as a cat and couldn't fly around. He didn't even care that he was at the Malfoys; in fact he really wanted to ask the blond to a Seekers game of catch the snitch. He whined again when Malfoy summoned his broom.
This time the blond must have heard because he stopped and looked at him, a questioning look in his eye.
"Not sure father would agree with me flying while holding you," he muttered.
Harry meowed again. Screw what Lucius wanted, he needed to be on a broom.
He knew he was being stupid, that he was in no way acting like a cat, but he hadn't flown in months. He was unable to use his broom over the summer and Quidditch practice hadn't started yet before he had been turned into a damn cat.
Malfoy was still giving him an odd look when he walked up and meowed at the other seekers feet.
"Fine," the blond muttered. Harry actually purred when the other teen picked him up and held him close.
His heart raced, excited, as they lifted off the ground.
Harry couldn't contain the pure happiness and relief he felt as they flew. Malfoy was careful to hold him tightly as he raced around the quidditch pitch, even doing a few dips and dives before landing back on the ground. Harry whined as he was set down on the grass again.
Malfoy snorted and sent his broom off.
Despite it ending sooner than he wanted, Harry found himself in a fantastic mood as he followed behind Malfoy as they headed back inside.
"Piper!" Malfoy called out suddenly, startling him. A house elf appeared at Malfoy's side.
"Yes, young master," the creature said, bowing its head.
"Bring me and Mischief here a tray of food, we'll be in my room." Harry rolled his eyes as the elf disappeared. That sounded more like that Malfoy he had known all these years.
Severus
"Ah, Severus my boy," the headmaster smiled at him as he entered the man's office. "Thank you for coming." He acknowledged the man with a slip dip of his head, not really in the mood to talk.
There were others in the room, Order members, Weasleys mostly, as well as the Minister and Amelia Bones.
He raised a single eyebrow, asking Albus what was going without opening his mouth. The old fool gave him a small sad smile.
"The Minister wants to hold a memorial for Harry," Albus said. If he didn't have years of experience keeping his face blank Severus would have flinched. "He believes, and I agree, that the people need to be able to mourn the young man that saved them once and died trying to do it again."
He almost rolled his eyes at the obnoxious sob that Molly let out, as the woman clung to her husband.
"It will be held in Hogsmeade of course," the Minister said. "That way Mister Potter's friends and peers can come."
He didn't ask why he was here. He thought about it and suspected the headmaster wanted to see his reaction, whether it was to see if he was mourning Lily's son or if he suspected the Dark Lord hadn't killed the young man, he didn't know. Either way, he kept his face blank. Eventually a date and time were set. The Minister talked about an article that would be put out tomorrow letting the whole Wizarding world know.
Severus wandered if the man even cared that Potter was supposedly dead. He seemed more worried about using people's fear and grief to gather support, a lot like Dumbledore. He wanted to snap at both men and the storm out of the room. But he refrained.
"I think Harry would have loved this." Molly whispered as they talked about the flower arrangements.
Surprisingly it was her son, Charlie who snorted, getting the room's attention.
"You think Harry cares about the flowers? He would want this, any of this. If you know him as well as you think you do, you would know that." The redhead's mother gasped.
"Charlie," the headmaster said softly. "I understand you're upset-"
"No headmaster," Charlie cut him off, "you don't understand anything about how I'm feeling." Severus almost patted him on the back when the younger man grabbed his cloak and stormed past him and out of the office, his older brother following after him.
"I'm sorry, Albus." Arthur said with a small shake of his head. "This has been hard on all of us."
"It's quite understandable." Dumbledore reassured the man.
He almost scoffed at them, but he was replaying Charlie Weasley's comments inside his head. Know him, Harry cares, all present tense. It seemed Charlie still didn't believe Harry was dead.
An hour later, he was standing outside his Lord's office door wondering how the man was going to take the news about the Memorial.
Truth was it was getting harder to predict the man's actions lately.
Something was different about him. Years ago, Severus had been sucked in by the brilliant charming man who promised him a better world for people like him, wizards that still practiced dark magics and held to old traditions.
He hadn't minded bowing down to the man. The Dark Lord radiated power and confidence, he made you feel like you wanted to learn from him, to follow, to submit. The man had always had a way of making it feel safe and comfortable to bow down or kneel before him.
But in that last year or two of the war something changed. Suddenly he was colder, meaner, and kneeling before him became something Severus feared instead of embraced.
When he heard that the man he had looked up to was going after Lily, he had panicked. He had begged for her. If it had been a year earlier he might have begged for her child, maybe even her prat of a husband, but at that time, he knew he was pushing it just asking for her to be spared.
Then for the first time since he met the Dark Lord, he betrayed him. He ran to Albus and warned him that Lily was in danger. The man had assured him that that was impossible and told him that it wasn't too late to change his ways. He had snapped at the old man, telling him he knew for a fact that Lily's life was in danger and demanded he do something.
The time it took to convince the man had been too much. By the time he was given the address, he knew it was too late. He felt his mark burn, causing him to cry out from the unexpected pain, all before he apparated away.
He didn't look around once he landed outside of the house, just raced in through a shattered door, barely noticing the body of his school rival on the floor as he raced up the stairs in search of Lily and her son.
Later when Albus approached him, he had been heartbroken and angry. Betraying his Lord felt small compared to the loss of his friend. It was only after, when things started to settle and the others were being chased and tried that he realized he hadn't just betrayed his Lord, he had betrayed his friends. He had done his best to help Lucius and Narcissa, giving them both a witness to their Lord cursing them.
The whole thing had left him sick, and he knew it was worse on Luc.
It had taken years for them to find their feet again, to become the friends they once had been, and it only happened after Severus confessed his actions. Surprisingly Luc and Cissa had understood. Besides, Luc reminded him, his actions had no bearing on what had happened to their Lord. He had vanished while Severus had been pleading with Dumbledore.
When the Dark Lord had returned Severus was sure he would be killed. But it never happened. He wasn't even punished. He was sure the man knew he had betrayed him, but for some reason it was never mentioned. And when it became clear that the Lord before him was the one he had met and admired not the one he had started to fear, he had been left conflicted.
It wasn't about Dumbledore, Severus had spent enough years around the man to know he wasn't what he pretended. No, it was because of the child he hadn't wanted to allow himself to care about. He was stuck between his returning loyalty to his Lord and the desire to protect his best friend's son.
Which of course got weird when his Lord ordered no harm to come to the boy. Severus had tried to find out why, but none of the others knew. He was sure Luc did, but his friend wouldn't betray his lover's secrets.
He was at a loss. Potter needed him, to help cure him and protect him. His Lord wanted him to find the boy, but wouldn't say why or what would happen when he did, and Dumbledore clearly wanted Potter dead.
It all left him unbalanced — his Lord's new orders, Harry's furry situation, Dumbledore's lies.
"Severus?" His Lord's voice was soft even as it startled him. He shoved his conflicting emotions aside, burying them behind his mental walls and bowed his head to his Lord.
"I have news, my Lord."
"Come in."
He sat there across from his Lord, still conflicted, still unsure, and told him about Dumbledore and the Ministry's plans.
He expected a similar show of power as when he told him about Dumbledore telling the Order of Harry's death. Instead his Lord sat back in his chair, one leg over the other and his hands folded together over his knee.
"Does he expect an attack?" the man asked.
Severus shook his head and then stopped, "I'm not sure. He didn't mention it. But that could have been because the Minister was there."
"And after he left?" His Lord asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know. The headmaster dismissed me before the Minister left," he replied. The room fell silent as his Lord appeared to get lost in his own mind.
"Are you?" he asked after a minute, he wasn't sure why he asked. He wasn't one to question the other man, but for some reason this felt important.
"Am I what?" his Lord said without looking at him.
"Going to attack the Memorial?"
"No," His Lord replied and suddenly Severus was staring into the man's blue eyes, "attacking Potter's memorial would do nothing but frighten the people and send them right into Albus's hands." The man shook his head and Severus released a breath, "which is exactly what he wants. No, I think I have a better idea."
Severus' stomach tightened, he wasn't sure he liked the smug look his Lord now wore.
