amusing to some. If you've been reading and you still haven't reviewed...don't make me come down there and
smite you! If you have reviewed...thank you thank you thank you!
Title: Evil Miss Kitty Part 5
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Alas, Shadow is the only thing I can take credit for
in this story. Everything else belongs to
JK Rowling. Say, what's the point of this disclaimer anyway? I mean if I weren't to put it up, would JK
who's working on her 5th book and 2nd movie and very rich(deservingly
so) bother to sue a first year teacher
who's living out of a slummy apartment with bad plumbing? Oh,
sorry, was that my outside voice?
One week after Snape first met Shadow, he was in his chamber
trying once again to berate the cat.
"What are you doing to my students, Shadowfax?" He used the kitten's
full name. "Longbottom isn't
afraid of me anymore." It was true. The kitten's presence
on Snape's shoulder seemed to put the accident
prone student at ease. Since her arrival, Neville stopped melting
quite so many cauldrons, though his potions
still didn't work properly. What Snape didn't know was that Ron
and Harry had told Neville about the love
potion. Now every time Neville saw Shadow, it brought up a mental
image of Snape trying to ward off the
love-sick feline. It was becoming difficult for him not to laugh
in potions class.
"I can't have a class that doesn't fear me." Snape continued. "Next thing you know, they won't respect me
and then chaos will break out in my class. I can't have it, cat!" He was shaking Shadow by the scruff of the
neck, but Shadow, annoyed with the potion master's constant complaining,
swiped at his nose with a tiny claw,
and wiggled her way out of his grasp. When she hit the floor
she looked up at him disdainfully.
Like you have any choice in the matter.> She seemed
to say. Then Shadow
stuck her tiny nose and tail in the air, proudly and strode off towards
the warmth of the fireplace, where she
stayed for the rest of the evening.
**********
The next day, Ron noticed that Shadow wasn't quite as attached
to Snape as before. While walking in the
hallways, the kitten still perched on Snape's shoulder. Even
running, she wouldn't be able to keep up with his
long, sweeping strides. But at breakfast, she spent most of her
time weaving between the legs of the other professors
and happily eating bits of food that were discreetly thrown under the
table for her.
"Do you think," Asked Ron as they made their way to potions
class again, "that it's wearing off?" He didn't
dare get more specific than that. The walls at Hogwarts had ears,
sometimes literally, and Snape would still love to find
any proof possible that they had something to do with Shadow.
"Dunno, maybe." Neither Harry nor Hermione were quite as concerned about
Shadow as Ron seemed to be.
Hermione was more concerned about an arithmancy quiz coming up at the
end of the week, and Harry was distracted
by quidditch practice. Fred and George had taken over as co-captains
this year and despite their constant foolishness
when Oliver Wood was captain, they took their new responsibility very
seriously.
Ron, on the other hand, had nothing to keep his mind off of the sudden
rush of guilt that he felt concerning his
practical joke. After all, he had put a cute, innocent little
kitten in the hands of the most dreaded teacher at Hogwarts.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." Harry said, sensing his friend's
discomfort. He felt bad for Ron and his sudden
moral dilemma, but it was starting to get annoying. Ron was spending
far too much time worrying and talking about that
stupid cat. Even Hermione would roll her eyes now when he brought
the subject up.
"Hey Ron, why don't you talk about something else for a change? Like girls. Do you still keep that newspaper picture of
Fleur Delacour under your pillow?"
"Oh get off it! That was last year and...Hey! How did you know about that picture?"
But Hermione had already walked off ahead of them
with a smug expression on her face. Harry snorted in
amusement and Ron punched him on the arm. "What? She got
you." Harry chuckled the rest of the way to the dungeon.
**********
That day, Harry had possibly the best potions class
ever. When they walked into the room, Snape was looking
haggard and distressed. He was sitting at his desk, something
he rarely did because it made him less impressive. The rest
of the class soon learned the reason for Snape's stress.
The lesson started off normally. Snape gave the students
a list of potions ingredients they would need for the day's lesson
and sent them to the cabinets to collect them. As soon as the
movement began, Shadow appeared out of a dark corner of the
classroom, where she had been tormenting some spiders. She wound
her way between the legs of the students as they were
carrying their ingredients to the tables. Within the first five
minutes of class she had managed to trip Neville, whose jar of
beetle eyes spilled all over the floor. But to the Gryffindors
delight, Shadow also managed to send Crabbe and Goyle
crashing into each other. Now Neville's beetle eyes were
mixing with a thick purple liquid, causing little sparks of orange
and green to fly all through the classroom.
Students scattered to safety as the fireworks show continued. Some of the students giggled, nervously. Under normal
circumstances, Snape would have ended any foolishness long before it
got this far, but on this particular day he simply
looked up miserably from his desk at the mayhem. He muttered
a few sour sounding words and waved his wand
distractedly. The light display stopped and all of the students,
Gryffindor and Slytherin, looked around at each other.
What were they supposed to do now. No one really knew since they
weren't being yelled at to get to work.
Finally, Snape noticed the lack of activity in his classroom. "Well?" He asked in a dangerously quiet voice. Instantly
students began to clean up the mess and continue to gather their ingredients. Now they were all being extra careful of how
and where they moved. Hermione almost went to the ground as she
turned to help Neville, but Harry and Ron grabbed
hold of both of her arms to steady her.
Throughout the rest of the class, Shadow created one mess after
another, and Snape seemed unable, or unwilling to stop
it. He rested his hand in his face, lifting it only occasionally
to reverse the effects of some spilled substance or of cat hair
in the cauldron. By the end of class, Snape looked positively
ill. He mentioned something about a quiz the next class
before dismissing them all. Not wanting to press their luck,
the entire class bolted for the door.
Shadow poked her head out of one of the empty cauldrons and waved
her tail as they left. She turned to Snape with a
bright smile. That was fun! Can we do it again?> Snape heard in his head as Shadow blinked.
"I'm going to kill you." He said darkly, and then swept
out of the classroom before Shadow had the chance to jump on
his shoulder.
