Chapter 3

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked out of the blue, while digging into his eggs with a fork.

Hermione glanced up in alarm and looked thoughtful. "I have no idea…" she said after a while. "Wasn't she with you last night? At Quidditch practice?"

"Well, yeah, but after that?"

"She came down for dinner," Hermione frowned. "And disappeared since," chewing on her fork in intense concentration, didn't she ask me something about the restricted section of the library? What did she want there? "I remember something now-" her train of thought was interrupted by Harry, who had spilt his juice all over himself.

"Ugh. I'm such a clumsy oaf!" Harry said, grabbing a paper towel to wipe up the mess that he has made.

"And been living with too many Muggles," Ron surmised, shaking his head in mock pity. He brought up his wand and muttered a cleaning spell, much to Harry's embarrassment.

"I could have done that by myself," Harry protested, looking annoyed.

"Yeah, but you didn't," Ron pointed out, grinning. "C'mon, just eat up already, we've got some training to do later,"

The topic on Ginny was totally forgotten as the trio spent the whole breakfast period discussing the lessons for that day and keeping up with the latest gossip courtesy of Colin, who had decided that he was going to be the future top notch reporter of their time; showing them photos of Slytherin's Quidditch practice that was taken just a few minutes ago.

"Wow, how'd you get all these?" Harry asked wide-eyed.

"Well, it's is my job. I'm going to be doing an interview with their captain later, so see ya guys around!" Colin left.

Hermione took a look at her pocket watch, a Christmas gift from her mom, and her jaw fell. "Hey guys… it's time for Potions with Snape," she told them, her mood sinking. "We'd better hurry or he'll minus points for being late again."

***

 Draco was seated quietly at the back of Potions class, and took out his writing materials, consisting of a bag of quills and some parchment to take notes on. He set the kitten, which he has still yet to name in his quill-bag, and watched it play with them.

Crabbe sat down next to him, and was rudely shocked by the animal on the table. "What the-"

Draco hissed at him to be quiet. "Don't tell anyone about this. I don't want everybody to go about thinking that Draco Malfoy has a soft spot for animals, especially cutie kittens, ok?" if looks could kill, Crabbe would be lifeless on the floor right now.

"O-ok. But tell me what's that all about?"

"No."

"C'mon. You can trust us," he pressed. Obviously he was going to tell Goyle, and Goyle would tell Pansy, and well, Pansy would tell the whole world through the P.A system or something.

"NO. Don't you understand English?" he said and pointedly ignored Crabbe after that.

Harry and his gang came bursting into the classroom, much to the amusement of Draco Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins. "My, my, look who we have here," he told Goyle, in a voice loud enough to be heard by those around him, "Harry and his musketeers, late again," he smirked snootily.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, and settled herself in the seat as far off in the corner of the classroom as she could. Ron and Harry followed suit, with Ron trailing behind in a fit of anger directed at nobody but Draco and his cronies.

"There's nothing Potter deserves more," Draco commented after Snape had taken away 20 points from Gryffindor for being late and unrepentant despite countless warnings given.

The lesson droned on, with them covering the theory part of making Wolfsbane potion; the ingredients and conditions needed to prepare it. Draco wasn't listening; he was playing with the kitten that seemed to be enjoying his attention, swiping at his fingers with its paws. He had gotten the ingredients for Wolfsbane potion down pat already, anyway.

Professor Snape was now looking at Draco curiously, watching as he fiddled about with his quill pouch. "Mr Malfoy," he began, causing him to raise his head lazily up in response, "would you mind telling us what's so interesting about your quills?" everyone turned to look at him, their curiosity piqued.

"Nothing sir, I was just looking for my bottle of ink. I think it's been misplaced. I want to make sure that I had enough ink to jot down the useful tips that you are telling us," Draco replied poker-faced, and retracted his hand from his quill pouch slowly, willing the kitten to stay hidden in it and not move.

Snape nodded satisfactorily, and continued with his long speech about the history of Wolfsbane potion. Crabbe eyed the kitty with grudging respect, and mumbled, "A pretty smart cat you've got there, whose got enough brains to keep quiet," he told Draco, pointing at the kitten who was staring up at him with those bright blue eyes.

"Whatever," Draco said, stuffing his unused parchment into his bag. He stopped, and looked at Crabbe thoughtfully. "How- or rather, what would you name a kitten?"

***

Ginny was listening to them argue what they should call her for a solid half an hour before Snape came in again from his break, stunned to see the both of them still at their seats.

"Why, if it isn't Mr Malfoy and Mr Crabbe… would you like to stay for the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw lesson as well? I wouldn't mind company, you know. You could take over the lesson too." He cast an icy glance at the both of them, who stared back at him blankly. "What are you still waiting for? Scram!"

Ginny snickered as Draco and Crabbe trudged out of the classroom, glaring at each other. "I would still name her Ginger," Crabbe stated, once they were safe again in the hallways of the classrooms.

"Ginger? You bloody mad?" Draco looked repulsed by that idea.

"Why not? She is red." Crabbe pointed out.

"It sounds too kitty-ish. I want something unusual, something rare, not like the others!"

Crabbed rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Fine. Then go sort it out yourself, why don't you go ask your darling Pansy?"

Ginny's ears twitched at the mention of Pansy's name. That girl? She'll probably call me Furball or something… she shuddered, thinking of herself in Pansy's hands, being dressed up with ribbons on her ears and frilly frocks made especially for kittens on her body. No way.

Draco turned slightly green at Crabbe's suggestion, and Ginny noted absently that he matched his robes pretty well with that kind of skin colour, and yawned widely. "Fine. I'll figure it out by myself, I always do, anyway." He stormed off in the opposite direction, muttering something about him being all brawn and no brains.

As they were walking down the hallway in silence, Ginny remembered what she had read last night. The transfiguration was not as easy as it appeared to be. Sure, she had used a lot of concentration, and by luck, hasn't turned into a half creature half human thing. However, she had left out a huge chunk of information before the actual spell. Being the thick headed and spontaneous person that she was, she had conveniently flipped the book right to the instructions for transformation and ignored the introduction, the dangers of that type of transfiguration.

The transformation wasn't supposed to be executed in a day, for normal wizards. It was meant to take a step at a time, a gradual understanding and 'enlightenment' with the creature that she was going to take the form of. The book said that it helped if you associated with the creature of your choice, by either keeping it as a pet or if it isn't possible, to visit and spend at least an hour of interaction with it. Well, Ginny had bypassed all that and changed to a kitten due to desperation. If McGonagall knows about this, I'll be her star student. She thought darkly. First try and I've hit the jackpot. Go me. She groaned, the noise coming out as a purr.

Draco heard her purr and looked down to see if she was ok. "Hey girl. I don't remember feeding you at all. Did you get anything to eat while you were away?" he asked, rubbing the back of her head affectionately.

 Ginny shook her head, stomach rumbling as she remembered that she hadn't eaten the whole day. Some fish would sound really good right now.

"Ok then, off to the kitchen we go," he told her, face impassive, though she could hear the warmth in his voice.

They were interrupted by Colin, who had sprung out of nowhere with a camera and notepad in each hand. "Hi there, Malfoy. We had a 'date' remember?" he kept his eager gaze on Draco, who sighed dramatically.

"I don't remember." He said, side stepping him and increased his pace. Colin caught up easily, and pleaded for Draco to accept his interview.

"Can't you see that I'm in a rush?" he asked, giving him a 'don't bother me' look.

"Yeah, but this would only take a few minutes!"

"No. Get off of my face."

"Not until you agree to have this interview with me."

"I'll hex you into outer space if you keep following me!" he said through clenched teeth, cold grey eyes flashing.

Colin raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok! Have it your way then. I'll be back tomorrow. I'll get that interview from you." He promised.

"I'll be waiting," he rolled his eyes, and slammed the door open into the kitchen.

House elves were scurrying about; working their butts off as if there were no tomorrow, busy scrubbing the soot off their pans and rinsing the dishes.

Draco grabbed one of the elves who was passing by him and commanded him to bring him some fish. "And I want it now." He articulated each world slowly in a low voice, causing the elf to gulp nervously.

"Right away sir!"

A second later, a plate of baked salmon was in his hands, and he took the plate out, setting it on the floor, bringing Ginny out of her hiding place and toward the food.

This has gotta be kitty heaven! She thought, inhaling the aroma of the baked fish. Bending her head down, she used her tongue to flick several slices of salmon into her mouth, and chewed slowly, surprised at how differently cat's taste buds work. She couldn't describe what the fish tasted like… it's just… different.

Draco watched the kitty inhale the food in mute fascination, and thought that he should go get some milk for her too. "Kitty," the cat looked at him, "I'll go get some milk for you ok? Stay right there and don't run away," he instructed. Ginny nodded as he wandered back into the kitchen to terrorise the poor elves again.

***

"Are you sure?" Ron asked, wiping his brow as he repeated the incantation to morph the flask in front of him into a cloak. "Ugh!" he said as the inanimate object remained what it was – a flask. "I can't do this!"

Hermione pursed her lips and looked at him impatiently. "Are you listening to what I'm saying?" she asked, and waved her wand at the flask, instantaneously turning it to a cloak. Ron gave her a dirty look, and tried to morph it back into a flask. Of course, he couldn't get it.

Harry was seated on the bench behind theirs, and they were at McGonagall's transfiguration class, and they were practicing transfiguring inanimate objects. Their next lesson would be transfiguring inanimate objects into live ones, which wasn't theoretically possible, but it can be done, McGonagall had said, if they had used unicorn's blood.

"What are you guys bickering about now?" Harry sighed, as he turned performed his spell smoothly without any glitches. Ron was rather green-eyed as he looked as him, and he raised his eyebrows, not saying anything.

"As I was saying," Hermione continued acidly, "I haven't seen Ginny for the whole day today," she wringed her hands worriedly. "Do you think-"

"Maybe you just didn't happen to bump into her in between classes?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Maybe," Hermione replied, and Ron's hand clasped her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I know Ginny. She's probably just too busy studying in the library or something. This is not the first time she's been doing her disappearing act on us," Ron reasoned, his blue eyes holding just a twinge of worry. "I do hope she's taking care of herself, though. I didn't see her at lunch today,"

"There's Quidditch later, I'm sure she'll be down for that," Harry told them both cheerily, but was met by two solemn faces. "Hey guys. Be optimistic. If we-" he gestured at himself and Ron, "do not see Ginny at the field for practice, we'll go look for her, ok?"

Hermione finally forced a smile, and nodded.

***

The trio were at the library, a few hours later, mulling over the situation. Quidditch practice was dull without Ginny around to boost the morale of the team like she always did with her jokes and enthusiasm. Harry himself was too busy noticing the lack of Ginny's presence that he wasn't really in the mood to conduct the practice, with his team-mates questioning Ginny's whereabouts.

"Where do you think she might be? Do you think she had sneaked out of Hogwarts?" Ron asked, his anxiety beginning to increase ten-fold.

"No, Ginny's not that stupid, or rebellious," Hermione said, twirling her quill around her fingers, her other hand supporting her chin on the table, forehead creasing in thought.

"Who knows? Maybe she just found her rebellious side," Harry thought aloud, not quite believing that statement himself. Ginny had always been a rather quiet girl, except when she's on the field; she was entirely a different entity altogether with the wind whipping in her face, cheeks flushed and always the first to snatch the Quaffle, giving his Beaters and other players a hard time catching up with her.

"You think?" Ron paused a while, contemplating that idea. "So you think she's at Hogsmeade with some guy?" his voice was on a crescendo.

"Jeez, would you calm down?" Harry crossed his arms and leaned back as far as he could in his chair. "Don't jump to conclusions, ok? You're always so hot headed," he said, blowing his unruly hair out of his face.

Hermione shrugged, and spoke slowly. "I think we should let her be, at least for a while. Well, if she is trying to be rebellious and all that, I'm sure it's a matter of time before she comes to her senses. Ginny is a sensible and smart girl. She'll be able to fend for herself. And anyway, haven't we been hanging around, 'protecting' her a little too much? Maybe this is her way of telling us that she's old enough to do what she wants?" she looked at them looking at her with bewildered expressions on their faces. "What? What did I say?" she cleared her throat awkwardly. "I have been through that phase too, with my sister, I mean,"

"Sure…" Ron gazed at her with a strange look, and turned back to Harry. "Maybe this is some sort of 'esp-thing' that we don't know about," Harry nodded his head in agreement.

***

Ginny sneezed, a cute kitty sneeze that caught Draco's attention yet again. She had been occupying Draco's spare time that was meant for his studies, and she was feeling a tad guilty about that. But he deserves it, she argued with herself, wasn't he the one who pushed me to become this wretched animal? Although I must say that I'm cute, sort of, she grinned mentally.

"What now? You getting sick on me, kitty?" Draco tilted his head slightly to look at Ginny, who was preening herself on the left of his study table in the library. As if on cue, she vomited a chunk of hair onto his parchments, an assignment he had spent an hour on for Care of Magical Creatures class. Draco felt his eyes grew big as he stared at the cat, which acted as if nothing had happened, happily licking herself clean. "You… You!!!" he pointed at the cat, too furious to speak.

Ginny crept up to him, and nuzzled her head against the back of his hand, and felt him soften almost immediately. Sorry about that. Wasn't on purpose. She thought mentally, hoping that he would understand. Licking his hand apologetically, she trotted to her hairball and pushed it away with her paws. Ew… I can't believe I'm touching my own puke…

"Thank you. But my ink is still smudged," he sighed, and hit the Ginny's head lightly with his quill. "That's for spitting the hairball on my stuff," he drawled, smirking.

How dare you! She fumed, swiping at the quill. She could swipe at Draco's hands with her sharp claws, but she wasn't that mean, and she didn't want Malfoy to be hurt, no matter how big a jerk he was. Not like she hated him, never have, actually, despite the spark of hatred Ron had tried to ignite with his numerous rants and whining about how Malfoy got his goat. She didn't care for that crap anyway. Ginny did not believe in outward appearances, they never count. I should know that for a fact, since everyone here thinks I'm just Ron's baby sister, a meek little girl who's just hardworking, all work and no play, she bared her teeth at Draco in frustration, and he looked a little taken aback.

"Wow, aren't you feisty, little red?" he said, amused by her antics. "Hey! Yeah… why don't I call you Little Red?" he grinned, and looked at Ginny, who wasn't so sure about that name… "Little Red," he repeated, feeling the name roll off his tongue and nodded. "Yeh. I think I'll call you that," he decided, and glanced at his watch. "Dinner. Let's go, Little Red." He chuckled as Ginny hissed, all of her fur standing up.

END CHAP 3

ME: Tis the end of another boring chapter. :Þ I don't think the explanation for Ginny's condition was good enough, but what the heck. At least I got it over and done with. Soooo lazy. Haha. Oh well, till next time.