Disclaimer: Haven't I done one these already? I don't own any of the
characters . . . yak, yak, yakkie-tappie-freakin-yak! You know how it
goes. =)
Marguërite, thanks for the support! ^^^ You're the first to review to my updated version, so you needed a line or two before the next part of the story, just for you.
And for all those that reviewed my earlier form of this fic, thanks! When I updated this, all of the reviews were deleted, and I forgot your guy's names. So, if you reviewed me before, you know who you are. ;-)
Oh, and Silverkitten, thank you for that wonderfully, colorful review. I just have one problem though . . . I thought you wanted to be on top, not Draco. *smirk*
Now that that's all taken care of, enjoy the fic! :-)
A Beautiful Morning
(Part 6)
The Red-tulip prank didn't work out has Draco and Cat had planned. They had planned to go for the big man, the headmaster, but they got, instead, that old guy's cat. It was a slip up, really. They were about to be caught in the kitchen when they tried to find Dumbledor's goblet, so they left in a hurry. Then one of the House Elves found it and instead of giving to the nearest authority, he let the cat drink it.
Oh, man, was the old guy in hysterics when he found his cat! The cat was all hot pink, even its eyes! He demanded to know who did this, but like hell the duo of tricksters were going to confess. The House Elf confessed that he gave the cat something in an unmarked bottle, saying it seemed like something a cat would drink. Luckily for the elf, Dumbledor saved him from the beating of its life (Maybe the end of it). Unfortunately for the old man, he has to wait until the spell wears off because by the time the cure is made the stuff will have worn off.
So he did, but not silently. He would glare at any student that mentioned his cat and accused anyone who dared to make eye contact. He was determined to find the "evil that had the nerve to play a trick on his beautiful cat." Too bad he never even thought of Cat or Draco as the "evil." They looked too smart to play some dumb trick like this.
Draco and Cat did their best to stay away from him because it seemed the longer you were around him, the more he accused you. A kid even got slapped by him, but then a professor warned him not to do that again, or he'll be out on the streets faster than he can say "You did it!"
"Better to be there than here!" the old man yelled. "Damn soft-hearted fools don't know how to discipline kids these days! Let them scream for a few days in the dudgeon, that'll teach them never to get out of line again!"
And then he stormed off, leaving the professor fuming.
"Whoa . . ." Cat mumbled when she over heard the news from some other early birds in Professor Snape's class. It had just happened, so there was more facts than gossip, as it won't be in a few days. They'll probably say there was a wizard duel between the professor and the old man, or something just as dramatic.
Cat turned to Draco and whispered so only he could hear her, "Do you think we over did it?"
"Maybe," Draco whispered back.
The two looked at each other for a second and then shook their heads. "Nah!"
"So, what [prank] should we do next?" she asked.
"I don't know," Draco shrugged. "We'll be going to ___ today. Maybe we can find some new ideas there."
"You know, I like you." Cat prompted her head on her hand, leaning on her desk. Draco looked at her sideways, as if not sure how to take that, but didn't want to seem like some little kid who just heard that he's mommy's favorite (Yeah, like Draco would ever act that way). Cat explained, "You're the only one of these dead-beats that knows how to have fun."
"Oh . . . Are there other's like you and me in America?" Draco fished for some other topic.
"No, not really," Cat thought about it. "Oh, wait! There was these few muggles in my old school that could pull a few pranks every now and then, but they were scare of their own shadows."
Draco snorted, "Stupid muggles."
"Hey, some of my best friends are muggles!" Cat snapped, though there wasn't a lot of bite to it. She hasn't contact her friends ever sense she came to Hogwarts. They probably understand because it's news even in the muggle world that her father is a murdered. They might think that she hasn't been in contact because it would be dangerous, wherever she went to. Yeah, they might. "Ah, forget it. They are pretty stupid."
"Yeah . . ." Draco wanted to tell her something comforting, but that wasn't his style. It was clear that she missed her muggle friends, and he knew that he was the only one who ever spoke to her on a daily basis. Everyone else found her to be too weird or something like that, even though she's really nice once you get to know her. She's loyal in the way that she hasn't ratted either one of them out; she's helpful because she's smartest kid in the school; she's not some boring mud-born kid; and she's just a wonderful person in all. But Draco had to keep these things to himself. If he said those to her, she might think he was going soft and wouldn't like him anymore. No one likes a weakling.
Professor Snape came in right on time. He started to talk on as everyone brought out their tools. Today we'll learn how to make something or other. Cat wasn't paying much attention, knowing that the introduction wasn't that important. She had paid so closely to her favorite teacher that she knew by the raise and fall of his voice, the moment of his hands, and the jerk of his eye brows when to pay attention. Besides, she's read all of the book for Potions, so mostly what he was saying, she knew already.
While Professor Snape talked of his lesson, she kept her eyes on him, but her mind roam from thought to thought. She first thought of her friends in the muggle world, already their memories fading. They weren't really close, and never knew the real her. But no did. She always acted a curtained way around different people, but never herself. Sometimes, when she's laughing with Draco, a stray thought would question, "Do I know the real me?" It was a little uneasy to think that she doesn't even know the real her, but she always reminder herself that she did. Draco got to see a glimpse or two, but her real her was still mostly locked away in a safe corner of her mind.
Draco . . . He's a cool kid, one of a kind. He's not the smartest, but he's can think of some cunning ideas if he wished it so. Not to mention that he has a great body to boot just adds her attraction to him. Of course, she won't tell him this. He might think that she's just another Sytherin girl trying to get him on date if she does. She wants to stay friends with him and have fun while she cans. Who knows where she'll end up tomorrow? After all, her father is after her for something that she doesn't have and during the summer she's going to live with some guy she's never met before. She could even go back to a muggle life next year. Might as well enjoy the company that she has now and learn all the magic she can and all of that good stuff.
After lunch, they went to ____ and were allowed to roam threw the shops and everything. The student broke off into groups and went here and there, patting their feet on the cold and hard stone of the street. The many stores were filled with many things to look at, buy and, somethings, eat. Everyone smiled and sucked up the scene like a milk shake with sprinkles.
Draco and Cat headed straight for the joke store. They looked over all of the things, deciding what was fun, what had potential, and what could cause a riot. In the end, they found nothing to top their own pranks. It was all child's play in this store and this place had the best stuff on the market. They always made their own pranks and were always looking for ways to top their own.
"Come on, Draco," Cat said with a heavy heart. She was really looking forward to finding something that she could do before the end of the year . . . kind of like an end-of-the-year-bang.
"I'll catch up with you in a minute," Draco mumbled as he examined some bewitched candy. He was so interested in what he was doing, Cat didn't think that he'd care if she went to get something for them.
"I'm going to get some Butterbeer," she said and left when she got a distance okay from her friend.
Out in the cold, Cat huddled into her cape a little. It may nearly be spring, but it is still fucking COLD, she thought. Speeding up her pace to keep warm, she sighted the sign above the tavern that sold Butterbeer. With her target in view, she narrowed her world down to the path to the tavern in an attempt to get her mind off of the cold.
She was snapped out of her narrow world when a hand jerked her into an alley way. A hand came over her mouth before she could yelp in surprise and another hand twisted her arm as if she was some harmful criminal being handled by a cop.
"Don't scream and I won't brake your arm," a voice whispered.
She knew right away who it was. Her damned father. So, he was near, as she had guessed when he Shadow Called her. Somehow, she wasn't scared that he had her arm in a death grab. She just waited for what he'll say next.
"You're going to give me what is mine or you'll pay, understand?" he removed his hand so she can answer.
"I understand that you can't do shit," she answered truthfully.
"I can do more than you know!" he snapped.
"Yeah, right!" she sneered, bating him. True, the first rule of being a hostage is to not get your kidnapper angry, but her father did stupid things when he was angry. And that's what she was counting on.
Sure enough, he let her go so he could look in her the eyes and tell her off. As soon as she was free from his grasp, she threw a punch at him. He blocked it, and she threw another that he also blocked. With his hands up, Cat kneed him where the sun doesn't shine. She head-butted him, but wished she didn't, and then gave him a bloodily nose.
With one graceful swipe for her wand and a shout of word, her father froze up and fell side ways to the ground. She spat on his pissed off, pained face and stormed off. Out of the alley, she bumped into some student.
"Hey, watch were you're going!" the new girl snapped. She had brown eyes and hair to her shoulders and red cheeks and nose as if she was sun burned one too many times.
"Pain!" Cat snapped. "I want to dig my nails into his flesh . . . I want to play tic-tac-toe with a whip on his back . . . I want pain! I want him . . . pain! A lot of pain!"
Cat turned around and stomped off, mumbling each new way of torture as soon as she thought of it, leaving the other girl dumbfounded. The other girl shrugged and walked off. Maybe that girl had just had a bad day . . . Whatever. Where's her friends?
Cat, however, could not just shrug off her bad feelings. She stomped down the street as far as the street would aloud her to go and turned back to marched back to the other end. Repeat three times and shout really loud, as too draw attention to herself. Everyone looked at her like she was crazed and she glared at them like a rhino who had just found another humping his mate. The other people backed off, but they whispered things that Cat was too angry to comprehend. Something about being peculiar and whatnot.
She couldn't care less. Right now, she needed to blow off some steam and there was no one around to help her with that. Damnit, where's a good prank and Harry when you need them?!
"Miss Cat?"
"What?!" she snapped, spinning around to see Professor Mc . . . something or other. Either she was too pissed to remember her name, or she just didn't take the time to remember it. Doesn't matter, anyway.
The Professor sighed as if to regain something Cat snapped away. "Headmaster Dumbledor wants to see you."
"Why?" Cat asked, still pissed but curious. She hasn't spoken to the Headmaster ever sense she came to Hogwarts, when he explained the whole situation.
"I do not know," the professor replied calmly. "Best to go find out for yourself."
"Yeah, yeah," Cat rolled her eyes in annoyance and followed the Professor off to Hogwarts. She saw Draco come out the store and spot her with a questioning look on his face. For someone who wasn't in their game of pranks, you'd think that he was just wondering where she was going. But Draco was wondering why she was going back to Hogwarts so soon. Cat just shrugged. "I'm going to see the Headmaster. See you when you get back to school."
Draco nodded, knowing better than to press her for more info (It'll look like he's afraid of something). He went off to find his two goons that they had ditched earlier because the two idiots wanted some Butterbeer of their own.
~*~ At Hogwarts ~*~
Cat was lead up the moving stairs to Dumbledor's office. So many things where going threw her mind. Did he find out about the pranks? Shit! What will happen if he did? Shit! What happens if he knows about my father and wants to get rid of me? Shit! Will I be expelled? Shit! Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
The Professor introduced Cat quickly and left, leaving Cat in the huge, circle office of the Headmaster, still mentally repeating the only word that seemed to make sense to her North Pole stomach. Shit, shit, shit, shit!
The Headmaster, Dumbledor was sitting at his desk as he waved her to him. She numbly let her feet walk to the seat in front of his desk and sat down. Dumbledor looked at her for what seemed like forever, but was only a half of a minute.
"Miss Cat," he said as if it were just any other day. "Do you have anything to tell me?"
" . . . Like what?" Cat asked uneasily.
He leaned closer to her, prompting himself with his elbows. His eyes still innocently twinkled. "I think you know what I mean."
"No, I don't," she backed into the chair slowly. "If you're coming on to me, no affiance, but I like *younger* men!"
He chuckled and shook his head in shock. "Right to the point of how you feel. That's what different about you."
"Uh . . .?" Cat raised her eye brow, still confused and wondering if he was trying to filled her up. It was strange, but Cat has heard of stranger things happening . . . and more sickening.
"No, I'm not 'hitting' on you," the Headmaster assured her. He leaned back. "Mara."
"What?" Her eyes snapped wide at once.
"Do you think that I would have a student in Hogwarts and not know his or her name?" he questioned.
It'll be pretty stupid to say yes, now, she thought, but remained silent.
Dumbledor picked up the slack first. "I know of you and of your father, Mara. I need to know what you know about him."
"Why?" Cat gave him a sideways look.
He sighed, "The Ministry of Magic has been looking for him high and low and they haven't found a single trace of him. They figured that they might be able to find a clue in one of his children. I told them I would ask you tell me what you know, but you don't have to tell me anything."
"He's a prick," she said at once.
"Other than that," Dumbledor chuckled again.
" . . . What will you do with him once he's caught?" What the heck was she doing, stalling? For what?!
"Well now, that is a completed matter. His crimes are in America, but the British Ministry of Magic might catch him. If that is so, then it is really only a matter of finding out whose jail he'll be spending the rest of his life in."
"He should spend his life in Azkaban. They don't have death eaters in America."
"No, they don't," Dumbledor agreed.
"Iknowwheretofindhim!" Cat rambled off her encounter with her father in the alleyway. She didn't add in the earlier meeting. If they found out about Shadow Calling, they might find out how to track and she could use that for herself. At the end of her explanation, which sounded like a very long run- on, she took a deep breath and asked, "Is his crimes national or is the whole world involved with them?"
"They are only national," Dumbledor replied causally. He stood up. "Thank you for telling me this, Mara-"
"Cat," she corrected for him.
"Yes, Cat, of course. As for now, Cat, I think it's best that you return to your classmates."
Later that day, when everyone had returned, Draco found Cat in the common room where she usually sat cross legged, by the fire in a comfy chair. He went over to her right away, not too fast as too have people think that he's in a hurry, but his dread and thoughts were getting worse and worse every minutes that past. He knew that his father would have his head if he found out all of the pranks he did. "It is a disgrace to the Malfoy's family name! You are no more good than a house elf!"
"Hey, Draco!" Cat smiled, putting down her book.
"What did Dumbledor want?" he asked in his usual voice.
"Oh, nothing. He just wanted to give me advice on my future careers," Cat shrugged. She had plenty of time to think of an accuse that Draco would buy.
"Your only a first year!" Draco gaped. He bought it, taxes and all.
"Yeah, but I'm the top student of the whole school," she pointed out. "Besides, it was just a 'you should think of a path to take' type of talk."
"Why would Dumbledor give such a speech?"
"Maybe he thought I needed it, being from America, I guess," Cat shrugged. "Anyways, what did you do while I was gone?"
Draco told her the rest of his day: went to find his goons, found them making fools of themselves in front of some girls, and had to rescue them from social humiliation, and then got to make fun of Harry and his goons. He was about to tell the best part of his insult when some kid tapped Cat on the shoulder.
She looked up questioning and saw Professor Snape staring at her. She went over to him and asked what's up. Snape said something that was too low for anyone but her to hear. Whatever it was, it shook her a little, judging by her little gasp (She not much of a gasping kid). She nodded, mumbled something, and then went back to sit with Draco.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing," Cat mumbled and went back to her book before Draco could press her further.
For the rest of the night, she read non-stop, even at dinner. She wanted to get her mind off of what Snape had told her, but reading wasn't helping her. By midnight, she was still wide awake with the dreadful news.
Her father had escape her spell. That was not fucking good. He had somehow gotten free and was now out and about, freely roaming the shadows and could be any where by now. Still not fucking good. The Ministry of Magic didn't want to do anything drastic, having no real proof that he's near - other than his daughter's word - so the only protection she had was Howgart's magic. Has much as she knew about defenses of Howgarts, she was still scared. If he could get his voice pass their defenses, then it was only a matter of time before he got into Howgarts, body and all. Do you think that it got any fucking better now?! THIS IS DRIVING HER MAD!!!
Not being able to take it any more, she got up silently and walked the hallways that linked the boys' and girls' dorm together. She really didn't know what she was doing, but she kept looking at each shadow, excepting it to talk with her father's voice. Before she knew it, she was standing before a door, almost ready to open it. Something inside of her told her to, but she could define it; it was just a weird feeling. Well, she hasn't ignored her "weird" feelings before, why start now?
Cat opened the door noiselessly and peeked into the room. There, by the closest coroner, sleeping peacefully, was her best friend, Draco Malfoy. The moon light played with his golden hair, like a loving hand stroking him into peaceful dreams. His perfectly sexy and beautiful body was almost too good to be true. She felt a longing and knew that he could make her feel safe and calm. Her father wouldn't even dare to try to attack her if she combined forces with Draco. Her intelligence, his magic, and their friendship can be enough alone to kick her father's ass all the way to Azkaban.
She tip-toed across the floor, lifted the blankets up and snuggled up to him. He half awoke and mumbled some kind of question.
"Shhh," Cat whispered. "Just let me stay here for tonight . . . please?"
Maybe it was the please, or the need that Draco felt, or maybe he was just too damn tired. He nodded and drifted back into sleep. Cat stared at him, studying every line of his perfect face in the moon light until her thoughts became unfocussed and her eye lids begin to droop downward. Before she knew it, she was in a peaceful sleep herself, wrapped in Draco's arms.
~ End ~
A/N: So, what do you think? Yeah, a little fluffy at the end, I know, but I don't want anything to happen just yet . . . though I assure you, it will. ;-) So, R/R please!! I love reviews! They give me a reason to write! Oh, and sorry, but I can't remember the name of that place that Howgarts would go to every now and then . . . I would look it up, but my damn books are somewhere in the middle of a bottomless pit of my clothes and other things, so I had put a ____ where the name suppose to be.
Marguërite, thanks for the support! ^^^ You're the first to review to my updated version, so you needed a line or two before the next part of the story, just for you.
And for all those that reviewed my earlier form of this fic, thanks! When I updated this, all of the reviews were deleted, and I forgot your guy's names. So, if you reviewed me before, you know who you are. ;-)
Oh, and Silverkitten, thank you for that wonderfully, colorful review. I just have one problem though . . . I thought you wanted to be on top, not Draco. *smirk*
Now that that's all taken care of, enjoy the fic! :-)
A Beautiful Morning
(Part 6)
The Red-tulip prank didn't work out has Draco and Cat had planned. They had planned to go for the big man, the headmaster, but they got, instead, that old guy's cat. It was a slip up, really. They were about to be caught in the kitchen when they tried to find Dumbledor's goblet, so they left in a hurry. Then one of the House Elves found it and instead of giving to the nearest authority, he let the cat drink it.
Oh, man, was the old guy in hysterics when he found his cat! The cat was all hot pink, even its eyes! He demanded to know who did this, but like hell the duo of tricksters were going to confess. The House Elf confessed that he gave the cat something in an unmarked bottle, saying it seemed like something a cat would drink. Luckily for the elf, Dumbledor saved him from the beating of its life (Maybe the end of it). Unfortunately for the old man, he has to wait until the spell wears off because by the time the cure is made the stuff will have worn off.
So he did, but not silently. He would glare at any student that mentioned his cat and accused anyone who dared to make eye contact. He was determined to find the "evil that had the nerve to play a trick on his beautiful cat." Too bad he never even thought of Cat or Draco as the "evil." They looked too smart to play some dumb trick like this.
Draco and Cat did their best to stay away from him because it seemed the longer you were around him, the more he accused you. A kid even got slapped by him, but then a professor warned him not to do that again, or he'll be out on the streets faster than he can say "You did it!"
"Better to be there than here!" the old man yelled. "Damn soft-hearted fools don't know how to discipline kids these days! Let them scream for a few days in the dudgeon, that'll teach them never to get out of line again!"
And then he stormed off, leaving the professor fuming.
"Whoa . . ." Cat mumbled when she over heard the news from some other early birds in Professor Snape's class. It had just happened, so there was more facts than gossip, as it won't be in a few days. They'll probably say there was a wizard duel between the professor and the old man, or something just as dramatic.
Cat turned to Draco and whispered so only he could hear her, "Do you think we over did it?"
"Maybe," Draco whispered back.
The two looked at each other for a second and then shook their heads. "Nah!"
"So, what [prank] should we do next?" she asked.
"I don't know," Draco shrugged. "We'll be going to ___ today. Maybe we can find some new ideas there."
"You know, I like you." Cat prompted her head on her hand, leaning on her desk. Draco looked at her sideways, as if not sure how to take that, but didn't want to seem like some little kid who just heard that he's mommy's favorite (Yeah, like Draco would ever act that way). Cat explained, "You're the only one of these dead-beats that knows how to have fun."
"Oh . . . Are there other's like you and me in America?" Draco fished for some other topic.
"No, not really," Cat thought about it. "Oh, wait! There was these few muggles in my old school that could pull a few pranks every now and then, but they were scare of their own shadows."
Draco snorted, "Stupid muggles."
"Hey, some of my best friends are muggles!" Cat snapped, though there wasn't a lot of bite to it. She hasn't contact her friends ever sense she came to Hogwarts. They probably understand because it's news even in the muggle world that her father is a murdered. They might think that she hasn't been in contact because it would be dangerous, wherever she went to. Yeah, they might. "Ah, forget it. They are pretty stupid."
"Yeah . . ." Draco wanted to tell her something comforting, but that wasn't his style. It was clear that she missed her muggle friends, and he knew that he was the only one who ever spoke to her on a daily basis. Everyone else found her to be too weird or something like that, even though she's really nice once you get to know her. She's loyal in the way that she hasn't ratted either one of them out; she's helpful because she's smartest kid in the school; she's not some boring mud-born kid; and she's just a wonderful person in all. But Draco had to keep these things to himself. If he said those to her, she might think he was going soft and wouldn't like him anymore. No one likes a weakling.
Professor Snape came in right on time. He started to talk on as everyone brought out their tools. Today we'll learn how to make something or other. Cat wasn't paying much attention, knowing that the introduction wasn't that important. She had paid so closely to her favorite teacher that she knew by the raise and fall of his voice, the moment of his hands, and the jerk of his eye brows when to pay attention. Besides, she's read all of the book for Potions, so mostly what he was saying, she knew already.
While Professor Snape talked of his lesson, she kept her eyes on him, but her mind roam from thought to thought. She first thought of her friends in the muggle world, already their memories fading. They weren't really close, and never knew the real her. But no did. She always acted a curtained way around different people, but never herself. Sometimes, when she's laughing with Draco, a stray thought would question, "Do I know the real me?" It was a little uneasy to think that she doesn't even know the real her, but she always reminder herself that she did. Draco got to see a glimpse or two, but her real her was still mostly locked away in a safe corner of her mind.
Draco . . . He's a cool kid, one of a kind. He's not the smartest, but he's can think of some cunning ideas if he wished it so. Not to mention that he has a great body to boot just adds her attraction to him. Of course, she won't tell him this. He might think that she's just another Sytherin girl trying to get him on date if she does. She wants to stay friends with him and have fun while she cans. Who knows where she'll end up tomorrow? After all, her father is after her for something that she doesn't have and during the summer she's going to live with some guy she's never met before. She could even go back to a muggle life next year. Might as well enjoy the company that she has now and learn all the magic she can and all of that good stuff.
After lunch, they went to ____ and were allowed to roam threw the shops and everything. The student broke off into groups and went here and there, patting their feet on the cold and hard stone of the street. The many stores were filled with many things to look at, buy and, somethings, eat. Everyone smiled and sucked up the scene like a milk shake with sprinkles.
Draco and Cat headed straight for the joke store. They looked over all of the things, deciding what was fun, what had potential, and what could cause a riot. In the end, they found nothing to top their own pranks. It was all child's play in this store and this place had the best stuff on the market. They always made their own pranks and were always looking for ways to top their own.
"Come on, Draco," Cat said with a heavy heart. She was really looking forward to finding something that she could do before the end of the year . . . kind of like an end-of-the-year-bang.
"I'll catch up with you in a minute," Draco mumbled as he examined some bewitched candy. He was so interested in what he was doing, Cat didn't think that he'd care if she went to get something for them.
"I'm going to get some Butterbeer," she said and left when she got a distance okay from her friend.
Out in the cold, Cat huddled into her cape a little. It may nearly be spring, but it is still fucking COLD, she thought. Speeding up her pace to keep warm, she sighted the sign above the tavern that sold Butterbeer. With her target in view, she narrowed her world down to the path to the tavern in an attempt to get her mind off of the cold.
She was snapped out of her narrow world when a hand jerked her into an alley way. A hand came over her mouth before she could yelp in surprise and another hand twisted her arm as if she was some harmful criminal being handled by a cop.
"Don't scream and I won't brake your arm," a voice whispered.
She knew right away who it was. Her damned father. So, he was near, as she had guessed when he Shadow Called her. Somehow, she wasn't scared that he had her arm in a death grab. She just waited for what he'll say next.
"You're going to give me what is mine or you'll pay, understand?" he removed his hand so she can answer.
"I understand that you can't do shit," she answered truthfully.
"I can do more than you know!" he snapped.
"Yeah, right!" she sneered, bating him. True, the first rule of being a hostage is to not get your kidnapper angry, but her father did stupid things when he was angry. And that's what she was counting on.
Sure enough, he let her go so he could look in her the eyes and tell her off. As soon as she was free from his grasp, she threw a punch at him. He blocked it, and she threw another that he also blocked. With his hands up, Cat kneed him where the sun doesn't shine. She head-butted him, but wished she didn't, and then gave him a bloodily nose.
With one graceful swipe for her wand and a shout of word, her father froze up and fell side ways to the ground. She spat on his pissed off, pained face and stormed off. Out of the alley, she bumped into some student.
"Hey, watch were you're going!" the new girl snapped. She had brown eyes and hair to her shoulders and red cheeks and nose as if she was sun burned one too many times.
"Pain!" Cat snapped. "I want to dig my nails into his flesh . . . I want to play tic-tac-toe with a whip on his back . . . I want pain! I want him . . . pain! A lot of pain!"
Cat turned around and stomped off, mumbling each new way of torture as soon as she thought of it, leaving the other girl dumbfounded. The other girl shrugged and walked off. Maybe that girl had just had a bad day . . . Whatever. Where's her friends?
Cat, however, could not just shrug off her bad feelings. She stomped down the street as far as the street would aloud her to go and turned back to marched back to the other end. Repeat three times and shout really loud, as too draw attention to herself. Everyone looked at her like she was crazed and she glared at them like a rhino who had just found another humping his mate. The other people backed off, but they whispered things that Cat was too angry to comprehend. Something about being peculiar and whatnot.
She couldn't care less. Right now, she needed to blow off some steam and there was no one around to help her with that. Damnit, where's a good prank and Harry when you need them?!
"Miss Cat?"
"What?!" she snapped, spinning around to see Professor Mc . . . something or other. Either she was too pissed to remember her name, or she just didn't take the time to remember it. Doesn't matter, anyway.
The Professor sighed as if to regain something Cat snapped away. "Headmaster Dumbledor wants to see you."
"Why?" Cat asked, still pissed but curious. She hasn't spoken to the Headmaster ever sense she came to Hogwarts, when he explained the whole situation.
"I do not know," the professor replied calmly. "Best to go find out for yourself."
"Yeah, yeah," Cat rolled her eyes in annoyance and followed the Professor off to Hogwarts. She saw Draco come out the store and spot her with a questioning look on his face. For someone who wasn't in their game of pranks, you'd think that he was just wondering where she was going. But Draco was wondering why she was going back to Hogwarts so soon. Cat just shrugged. "I'm going to see the Headmaster. See you when you get back to school."
Draco nodded, knowing better than to press her for more info (It'll look like he's afraid of something). He went off to find his two goons that they had ditched earlier because the two idiots wanted some Butterbeer of their own.
~*~ At Hogwarts ~*~
Cat was lead up the moving stairs to Dumbledor's office. So many things where going threw her mind. Did he find out about the pranks? Shit! What will happen if he did? Shit! What happens if he knows about my father and wants to get rid of me? Shit! Will I be expelled? Shit! Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
The Professor introduced Cat quickly and left, leaving Cat in the huge, circle office of the Headmaster, still mentally repeating the only word that seemed to make sense to her North Pole stomach. Shit, shit, shit, shit!
The Headmaster, Dumbledor was sitting at his desk as he waved her to him. She numbly let her feet walk to the seat in front of his desk and sat down. Dumbledor looked at her for what seemed like forever, but was only a half of a minute.
"Miss Cat," he said as if it were just any other day. "Do you have anything to tell me?"
" . . . Like what?" Cat asked uneasily.
He leaned closer to her, prompting himself with his elbows. His eyes still innocently twinkled. "I think you know what I mean."
"No, I don't," she backed into the chair slowly. "If you're coming on to me, no affiance, but I like *younger* men!"
He chuckled and shook his head in shock. "Right to the point of how you feel. That's what different about you."
"Uh . . .?" Cat raised her eye brow, still confused and wondering if he was trying to filled her up. It was strange, but Cat has heard of stranger things happening . . . and more sickening.
"No, I'm not 'hitting' on you," the Headmaster assured her. He leaned back. "Mara."
"What?" Her eyes snapped wide at once.
"Do you think that I would have a student in Hogwarts and not know his or her name?" he questioned.
It'll be pretty stupid to say yes, now, she thought, but remained silent.
Dumbledor picked up the slack first. "I know of you and of your father, Mara. I need to know what you know about him."
"Why?" Cat gave him a sideways look.
He sighed, "The Ministry of Magic has been looking for him high and low and they haven't found a single trace of him. They figured that they might be able to find a clue in one of his children. I told them I would ask you tell me what you know, but you don't have to tell me anything."
"He's a prick," she said at once.
"Other than that," Dumbledor chuckled again.
" . . . What will you do with him once he's caught?" What the heck was she doing, stalling? For what?!
"Well now, that is a completed matter. His crimes are in America, but the British Ministry of Magic might catch him. If that is so, then it is really only a matter of finding out whose jail he'll be spending the rest of his life in."
"He should spend his life in Azkaban. They don't have death eaters in America."
"No, they don't," Dumbledor agreed.
"Iknowwheretofindhim!" Cat rambled off her encounter with her father in the alleyway. She didn't add in the earlier meeting. If they found out about Shadow Calling, they might find out how to track and she could use that for herself. At the end of her explanation, which sounded like a very long run- on, she took a deep breath and asked, "Is his crimes national or is the whole world involved with them?"
"They are only national," Dumbledor replied causally. He stood up. "Thank you for telling me this, Mara-"
"Cat," she corrected for him.
"Yes, Cat, of course. As for now, Cat, I think it's best that you return to your classmates."
Later that day, when everyone had returned, Draco found Cat in the common room where she usually sat cross legged, by the fire in a comfy chair. He went over to her right away, not too fast as too have people think that he's in a hurry, but his dread and thoughts were getting worse and worse every minutes that past. He knew that his father would have his head if he found out all of the pranks he did. "It is a disgrace to the Malfoy's family name! You are no more good than a house elf!"
"Hey, Draco!" Cat smiled, putting down her book.
"What did Dumbledor want?" he asked in his usual voice.
"Oh, nothing. He just wanted to give me advice on my future careers," Cat shrugged. She had plenty of time to think of an accuse that Draco would buy.
"Your only a first year!" Draco gaped. He bought it, taxes and all.
"Yeah, but I'm the top student of the whole school," she pointed out. "Besides, it was just a 'you should think of a path to take' type of talk."
"Why would Dumbledor give such a speech?"
"Maybe he thought I needed it, being from America, I guess," Cat shrugged. "Anyways, what did you do while I was gone?"
Draco told her the rest of his day: went to find his goons, found them making fools of themselves in front of some girls, and had to rescue them from social humiliation, and then got to make fun of Harry and his goons. He was about to tell the best part of his insult when some kid tapped Cat on the shoulder.
She looked up questioning and saw Professor Snape staring at her. She went over to him and asked what's up. Snape said something that was too low for anyone but her to hear. Whatever it was, it shook her a little, judging by her little gasp (She not much of a gasping kid). She nodded, mumbled something, and then went back to sit with Draco.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing," Cat mumbled and went back to her book before Draco could press her further.
For the rest of the night, she read non-stop, even at dinner. She wanted to get her mind off of what Snape had told her, but reading wasn't helping her. By midnight, she was still wide awake with the dreadful news.
Her father had escape her spell. That was not fucking good. He had somehow gotten free and was now out and about, freely roaming the shadows and could be any where by now. Still not fucking good. The Ministry of Magic didn't want to do anything drastic, having no real proof that he's near - other than his daughter's word - so the only protection she had was Howgart's magic. Has much as she knew about defenses of Howgarts, she was still scared. If he could get his voice pass their defenses, then it was only a matter of time before he got into Howgarts, body and all. Do you think that it got any fucking better now?! THIS IS DRIVING HER MAD!!!
Not being able to take it any more, she got up silently and walked the hallways that linked the boys' and girls' dorm together. She really didn't know what she was doing, but she kept looking at each shadow, excepting it to talk with her father's voice. Before she knew it, she was standing before a door, almost ready to open it. Something inside of her told her to, but she could define it; it was just a weird feeling. Well, she hasn't ignored her "weird" feelings before, why start now?
Cat opened the door noiselessly and peeked into the room. There, by the closest coroner, sleeping peacefully, was her best friend, Draco Malfoy. The moon light played with his golden hair, like a loving hand stroking him into peaceful dreams. His perfectly sexy and beautiful body was almost too good to be true. She felt a longing and knew that he could make her feel safe and calm. Her father wouldn't even dare to try to attack her if she combined forces with Draco. Her intelligence, his magic, and their friendship can be enough alone to kick her father's ass all the way to Azkaban.
She tip-toed across the floor, lifted the blankets up and snuggled up to him. He half awoke and mumbled some kind of question.
"Shhh," Cat whispered. "Just let me stay here for tonight . . . please?"
Maybe it was the please, or the need that Draco felt, or maybe he was just too damn tired. He nodded and drifted back into sleep. Cat stared at him, studying every line of his perfect face in the moon light until her thoughts became unfocussed and her eye lids begin to droop downward. Before she knew it, she was in a peaceful sleep herself, wrapped in Draco's arms.
~ End ~
A/N: So, what do you think? Yeah, a little fluffy at the end, I know, but I don't want anything to happen just yet . . . though I assure you, it will. ;-) So, R/R please!! I love reviews! They give me a reason to write! Oh, and sorry, but I can't remember the name of that place that Howgarts would go to every now and then . . . I would look it up, but my damn books are somewhere in the middle of a bottomless pit of my clothes and other things, so I had put a ____ where the name suppose to be.