Chapter Thirty-five
Acerbus
Having Acerbus back with me reminded me of the life I used to have. I adopted his old nickname for him again, Ace. It reversed the meaning of his full name. The following morning Ace followed me to the staff room as I went to retrieve a book I'd left there the previous evening.
"Who's your friend?" McGonagall asked, sat in her normal armchair, this time reading Witch Weekly rather than the Daily Prophet. Ace trotted up to her and rubbed against her legs, before leaping lightly into her lap.
"Acerbus, but I call him Ace normally." I told her, picking up the book and walking over to the armchair. I could hear Ace purring somewhere beneath the magazine as he squirmed around putting grey cat hairs everywhere.
"It must be the animagus I am. It always happens with cats." Minerva extracted Ace from her lap and handed him back to me. I put him over my shoulder.
"I used to wonder if Ace was one a long time ago." I said, and sat down opposite the deputy headmistress, feeling Ace go onto the chair behind me.
"It's a common thought." I gave a smile, which looked uneasy.
"Something on your mind Elixa?"
"Just memories." Ace made his way onto my lap and pushed his nose against my hand to make me stroke him. I lifted my hand and he walked underneath. Severus walked into the staff room, and I felt Ace stiffen beneath me. The cat started to growl and spat at my uncle.
"Ace, you know who that is!" I exclaimed. Minerva was looking at the cat in a very interested way. Ace continued to spit at Severus, obviously using the worst of cat language.
"What are you swearing at?" Severus asked it, glaring at the cat from the other side of the room.
"You I think." I said, and looked slowly up at Severus who shot us all a menacing look before striding out the room. Ace relaxed back into a sitting position. For the rest of the day, Ace followed me by my heels, spitting violently at Severus.
"Will you go and lock that cat up!" He exclaimed as Ace swiped claws at him from the bench we were working on. I picked the cat up and left the lab without a word.
"Ace you aren't helping me." I said, placing the animal on my bed. The cat looked up at me with its yellow eyes. "What have you got against him? He's my uncle, and he's all apart from Malfoy that I've left to love." I reached out to pet Ace, and the cat sunk its teeth into my hand.
"Get off!" I shouted, trying to knock him off me. He eventually let go and vanished through the door that was open a jar. I inspected the bite, which was bleeding profusely.
"Damn cat!" I growled, walking over to the sink in my room and washed the hand. As I did it, I felt slightly faint and gripped the side of the sink, surprised at myself. My eyesight became hazy and I dropped to the floor, receiving a blow to the head from the stone sink as I did.
Severus came to find me after I hadn't returned for a half-hour. He found me lying on the floor, a pool of blood forming around my head from where I'd hit it, and my hand bleeding as well. He shook my shoulders, calling my name, my eyes flickered open, and I gave a slight groan. I heard him say something about getting Poppy, and my eyes closed again. I lay for what seemed like hours, feeling like I had when I'd woken from the Cruiatus curse, but this time it was my head and hand that were most painful.
Madame Pomfrey saw that I was bandaged up, and I was given one of her antidotes for poison. She and Severus had searched for Ace, but hadn't found him. They needed to find out what had caused the faint.
"I'm alright, honestly." I said to Madame Pomfrey, and stood up. She still wanted to fuss over me, but I solidly refused. I allowed her to heal the bang on my head, but she told me the hand would have to wait. Severus came up with a vial and asked if he could see the bite.
"It's just a cat bite. I've had them before, but I must just have stood up to quickly… there's nothing to worry about." I insisted. He took some samples of puss that was forming on the two bite wounds below my right thumb.
"That cat isn't normal. There's something I don't like about it Elixa." I could say the same thing about Ace towards him, but I held it, if Severus didn't feel something was right, I had to trust his judgement.