Just Friends?
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Eight

It was time to leave the infirmary. There was nothing to do here. Meow-nie was fine but had left long ago. The Dog-Man had left as well. Toad-boy was still here, but he was of little interest. And while Crookshanks had gotten some amusement from annoying the Fussy Lady by his mere presence, the entertainment value had long expired.

Not to mention that it was about time for Meow-nie to return from her classes. If Crookshanks wanted any snacks before she left for the book-palace, he would have to be there when she got back. He could not count on either of Meow-nie's guys to feed him.

So Crookshanks got up from his resting place and walked out of the sick-place. He heard the Fussy Lady sigh in relief as he left, but his dignity would not allow him to acknowledge her. He had better things to do instead of taking insult, like getting back to his person before she could leave her home again.

While most people would have referred to Crookshanks as Meow-nie's cat, he did not agree with that construction. Make no mistake that Crookshanks was a cat—well, actually, that wasn't entirely true. However, a cat wasn't a cat without a secret or two and a secret wasn't a secret if you told everyone about it. Crookshanks was enough of a cat to have a secret and keep it well. Yet, while he would not refer to himself as anyone's cat, he was not like the old-school cats who referred to their persons as their slaves and demanded to be waited on hand and foot. Instead, he conceived of Meow-nie as being his person—it made just as much sense as the opposite construction, if not more. After all, a cat could not be kept.

His person had a rather strange peculiarity. She kept two other persons as pets. Meow-nie's guys, as Crookshanks had heard other people call them, were really lucky to have her watching over them. They would be so lost without her. Crookshanks doubted that they would have lasted long without her. They needed her to make sure they did their lessons. Often, they needed her to make sure they learned their lessons. Crookshanks rather approved of lessons for young people. It meant that later in life they would be able to eat, and more importantly, feed him. Without her, Crookshanks doubted that Meow-nie's guys would be able to feed themselves later in life. Because Meow-nie was his person, he felt obliged in some ways to watch out for her guys. He would not help out with their lessons as she would as that would be too much work, but he would disapprove of them when they didn't do their lessons right. What was the point of lessons if you just made up your answers? You would not learn anything that way.

Crookshanks tended to refer to Meow-nie's guys as one single unit, as they often got into trouble together. Yet, Meow-nie's two guys were rather different. The Nice Guy wore a funny contraption about his eyes and had black fur, while the Loud Guy was much taller and had red fur.

Crookshanks liked the Nice Guy. Nice Guy was genuinely kind. What's more was that he never hurt Meow-nie's feelings thoughtlessly. Meow-nie was Crookshanks's person and Crookshanks took special pride in knowing everything about his person. And though Meow-nie often put on a tough façade, inside, she was rather sensitive. She took things a little too seriously at times and so could easily get hurt. Crookshanks approved of Nice Guy because he usually didn't hurt Meow-nie and felt bad when he did.

Crookshanks could not like Loud Guy as much as he liked Nice Guy. Loud Guy was not as nice. He often said things without thinking and hurt Meow-nie's feelings. What was even worse was that Loud Guy did not even seem to care many times about Meow-nie's feelings. That was just not right.

Crookshanks still remembered the year when he first began to keep Meow-nie. During most of that year, he thought of Loud Guy as the Mean Guy. Mean Guy made Meow-nie cry so many times that year, all because he believed in that Dirty No Good Rat-Man of his. But Mean Guy did much improve when he was removed from the influence of the Dirty No Good Rat-Man. As Meow-nie insisted on keeping Mean Guy as one of her guys even after all that he had done, Crookshanks was willing to give Mean Guy another chance. Hence, Crookshanks began to refer to Mean Guy as Loud Guy, as he was often very loud.

Crookshanks was very disappointed when Mean Guy made a brief reappearance the next year. All of the persons were very excited about a "ball." Crookshanks was not exactly sure why they called it a ball, as it was not made out of yarn, but that was the term they used. Both of Meow-nie's guys lost points with Crookshanks for not even considering her as a partner. Crookshanks thought it was obvious that she was the most wonderful girl available (why else would she be his person?) and was displeased that they did not agree. But the Funny Guy (so named because he spoke funny even for a person) had seen Meow-nie's charms and that was the end of that.

Or rather, that should have been the end of that. Loud Guy decided to take issue with Meow-nie going with Funny Guy. Crookshanks was incensed. Loud Guy had no claim over Meow-nie and she could spend time with whomever she pleased. When Crookshanks took this incident in light of the fact that Loud Guy wanted Meow-nie to get rid of him one year earlier, Crookshanks had a suspicion that Loud Guy was too controlling of Meow-nie. That was not right. Meow-nie could do as she pleased, as long as she listened to his advice. And so far, Meow-nie had been very attentive to his advice.

So it was not any wonder that Crookshanks preferred Nice Guy to Loud Guy. Quite simply, Nice Guy was nicer to Meow-nie and that meant a lot. Nice Guy cared more about what Meow-nie thought. While Loud Guy usually did not go out of his way to hurt Meow-nie, the number of times he did so accidentally was not amusing. Crookshanks would have to caution Meow-nie should she make the mistake of getting too close to Loud Guy. If she wanted to get closer to one of her two guys, Nice Guy was the infinitely better choice.

Crookshanks had already walked quite a distance but was still not near Meow-nie's place. If he didn't hurry, he would miss her before she left. Not to mention the fact that he was getting a little tired from all the walking he had already done that day. Crookshanks looked around at the persons in the same place as him. It was time to commandeer a person to provide transportation back to Meow-nie's place.

Author's note—Another short chapter, but I didn't want to make it too long as I doubted that a cat (err—well, let's say cat as Crookshanks refuses to own up to being either half-tiger or half-kneazle) would have too many thoughts on this issue. Crookshanks is more concerned about making sure his person is happy. Anyway, I would like to know what you thought about this chapter. Please leave a review. This might be one of my last chapters for awhile as I'm going on break (meaning my internet access will be getting sketchy) and I would love to come back to a bevy of reviews. Thanks!

And some comments on prior reviews:
Ahyanah—Eep! I am very sorry to hear about that! I do hope you're feeling better now. *sighs* It is very ironic though that it was a black dog—lucky for you that you don't have to hear Trelawney go on about grims.
Kristin—Well, Snape is good in that he won't give up on his students, but I still think that his methods need improving. I don't think that Neville would learn a thing in Potions if Hermione wasn't there to help him simply because Snape does his best to scare him to death.
Linz—Um, the potions incident never happened in this story. That was just a little spoof of what might happen if they started kissing in potions. And yes! I promise that they will get together in this story. I have this story set at sixteen chapters and at least one of them is wrap-up.
Jme H—Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad to hear you agree with Snuffles. I tend to think of the Sirius chapter as being the one most vehemently H/H (outside of the chapters in the ending sequence, but that's later), while the Crookshanks chapter being the one that's the most vehemently anti-R/H. I'm glad you like the fic.
Egon-Starcollecter—Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I was so worried that no one would agree that Pomfrey wouldn't really think of H/H as a romantic duo. Until they get together, I think that she'll think of them as how she usually sees them—which as you put it, is two parts of a frequently injured trio.
Max—Thank you so much for all the reviews! I hope the fluff in CR made up for the torture of Five Minutes.