Here's part two. If you read my story, all I ask I return is that you review it. In this chapter the deed is done.





Title: Minnaloushe: Part 2

Rating: G

Disclaimer: Everyone but Evil Miss Kitty belongs to JK Rowling. Evil Miss Kitty is mine...ALL MINE I TELL
YOU!




Snape rubbed his hand across the back of his sore neck. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the pile of 1st
year potions exams that he had been grading for the last hour and a half. He pulled up the next paper and the slight
movement sent shooting pains through his back and shoulders.

"Rrgggh!" He tossed the paper down on the table in frustration and stood up. "They can wait another day for their
tests." He stretched his arms upward, trying to relieve some of the knots in his back. Since Voldemort's return, things
had been going very badly. Students refused to focus in class and were completely incapable of learning anything.
Neville Longbottom had become a terror in his class. Snape actually dreaded the fifth year Gryffindor class.

Much worse than all of that though, were the secret meetings. Snape never got any sleep anymore because of the secret
meeting with Voldemort and the death eaters, secret meetings with Dumbledore, and secret meetings with the ministry.
Good Lord!> He often thought. Couldn't I just send them a note sometimes?>

He looked around at his empty classroom; at the candle on his desk that was just about burned out. It was late.
It was definitely time for bed.

**********

As quietly as thieves, three students made their way the last few steps towards their cold, dark destination.

"How could anyone live like this?" Hermione whispered. "It's freezing down here." Ron smiled at her. "Just
remember, Snape's not human. He can't feel the cold." Hermione turned and glared at Ron. She didn't like the
potions master either, hence her involvement in this little escapade, but sometimes Ron could be so cruel. Before she
got a chance to reply though, Harry shushed them both.

Harry was carrying a cage, draped in black cloth. It took the three children all afternoon to figure out how to put their
plan into action. The love potion that Fred and George had made caused whoever took it to fall in love with the first living
thing they saw. There were two problems that they had to solve in order for their plan to work. First, they had to make
sure that Snape was the first thing the kitten saw after taking the potion. That problem was quickly solved with the cage
and the black cloth. They would leave the kitten in front of Snape's room. When he arrived, he would lift the cloth and
the rest they would all see tomorrow. Their second problem was that the potion was rather foul smelling. There was no
way they would get the kitten to drink the stuff. They finally did some research and discovered that the potion would not
react with dairy, so they measured out a certain amount in a saucer of milk and put that into the cage with the kitten.

Now they stood in front of Snape's door, grinning from ear to ear and visualizing the possible results of their plan. "Well,
goodbye Miss Whiskers. Good luck. We'll all see you tomorrow." Ron chirped as Harry set the cage down. Just then,
they all heard a door slam nearby, and slow deliberate footsteps. They all looked at each other in horror and silently mouthed
"Snape!"

Harry, having at least a little good sense, dove into his book bag and pulled out his invisibility cloak. They all rushed under
it's protective folds just as Snape came into view. He looked tired and sour and meaner that usual, so the three friends quickly
and quietly tiptoed past him in the hallway. It would be wonderful to see the look on Snape's face when he lifted the black
cloth but not at the risk of getting caught and skinned alive.

**********

Yes, the dungeon was cold and damp. Snape didn't much like them either, but he refused to change it because the unpleasantness
tended to keep troublesome students away. As he neared his door, he shivered. An eerie breeze blew past him that was so
solid that it almost felt like a ghost brushing up against him. As he shrugged away the odd feeling, he noticed a patch of
darkness on the floor by his door. He stopped and regarded the thing carefully. He was always a cautious man. A mysterious
object left at his door was not likely to be a late birthday present. It looked to him like a box of some sort, covered with a
black cloth. He didn't much like the look of it. It might have been nothing, or it might pose a threat to the entire school.
Snape thought it was best to inform the headmaster of it. Just as he turned to leave, the mysterious package mewed. He
turned sharply, his curiosity over riding his good sense for a moment, and whipped off the black cloth. There in a small
cage with an empty saucer of milk, stood a tiny gray kitten. The kitten took one look at him and began to purr loudly.