Harry yawned and stretched his limbs as he woke up the next morning. He must have slept in because he was hearing a lot of back ground noises. Damn it, couldn't those owls be just a little bit quieter?

He woke up instantly. Why were there so many owls? Looking around he was shocked to see he was in a cage. And that he was still in his cat form. Hell! He couldn't transform while he was in a cage! Not without injuring himself.

Where the hell was he? Surrounding him where cats in other cages, owls, toads and other creatures. Then he remembered that he fell asleep on the doorstep of some shop in Diagon Alley last night. He couldn't have fallen asleep on the doorstep of the Owl Emporium, could he?

Stupid question. Quiet obviously he had. As he was now caged in a pet shop. He must have been thought as a stray and taken inside while he slept. Damn, damn DAMN!

He began to meow furiously and paw at the door of his cage trying to get noticed. One of the workers seemed to hear his panic and came over to him.

"Well hello there blacky." A young man in his twenties with brown hair kneeled down to look at him better. "I don't know where you came from but I'm sure we'll find you a nice home."

'Let me out you stupid idiot! I'm not anybodies pet! I'm Harry Potter!' Although to everyone that wasn't a cat, that came out sounding more like "Meow, meow, meow meow, hiss, meow hiss hiss!"

"Hmm. You don't like being in there, do you?" The worker asked him like the dumb git he was. Of course he didn't like it in there! He wasn't an animal! "Okay, I'll let you out." He opened the cage door and stepped aside for Harry to jump out.

With a "Meow" of joy, he leapt out of the cage and ran for the open door just before he got the shock of his life. Quiet literally. A small shock of electricity shocked him, dropping him to the floor breathing heavily.

"Sorry about that blacky." The worker said as he waked over and picked him off the floor and placing him back in his cage. "It seemed you had to learn the hard way. You see that collar on you?" The guy locked the cage back up.

Harry looked down at himself. He didn't even realize he had been wearing a collar. He looked back up at the worker again, hoping that the guy would get the hint and explain it to him.

"That collar is a new magical device that keeps you from running away from your master. Its set to shock at the moment. But your new master should be able to adjust it when you get adopted. And I dare say you shall. You look like you might be a popular fellow." The guy grinned at him.

Harry shook with almost visible anger as he stared down the worker. Hissing at him his swiped his paw at him. The hell with this and the hell with keeping his animagus ability a secret! It might hurt to change while in this cage but the hell with it. He was going to hex this guy afterward. That in itself should make it all worth while.

Focusing his energy, he concentrated on changing back to a human. Just before he received another shock of electricity. He focus his energy again, only to get the same result. He hissed in anger. What the hell? This collar was blocking his ability to change back into a human! 'Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!'

"MRRRRREEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

The guy standing over him looked at him with slight surprise before shrugging it off and heading back to work. "You wont get adopted if you keep that up." He called over his shoulder.

'I don't want to get adopted! I am not a cat! I am a wizard! I am an animagus!' Alas, his meowing went ignored by the clerk at the shop. He growled at himself, wondering how the hell this had happened to him at all.

'Destroyer of Voldemort, savior of the wizarding world, reduced to a common house pet.' He growled to himself before banging his head repeatedly on the cage door. 'Sirius, if this is some cruel prank you're pulling on me up there, I'm going after you in the after life.'

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Harry sighed heavily. Anyone looking at Harry would have to agree that "Blacky" was probably one of the more depressing cats in this place.

He was surprised at first to learn that he could understand other cats. Yes, he could speak Cat. This revelation quickly lost its value as he learned how small the Cat dictionary was. The most he had heard out of them all day included 'Pick me! Pick me!' and 'Feed me! Feed me!'

And to think most people thought cats were intelligent creatures.

He hated sitting in his cage. Although a lot of customers came by his cage and looking at him, he either hissed at them of he was too busy laying there to care. Most customers go strait for the kittens anyway.

Getting up, he paced the small cage just for something to do. He hated being closed in like this. He just escaped Voldemort's clutches and here he was in another persons clutches. He sighed again and took a long drink from his water dish.

Water dish. He wondered if Sirius had ever had to put up with this sort of thing. He was sure of it. But he himself had never spent so long a time in his animagus form. Some of his animal instincts were beginning to show. The fact that he washed his paws for a half hour before he noticed was proof of that.

He knew that if he wanted to escape, his best chance would be to get adopted and hope that his owner would take the collar off long enough for him to escape. Of course the thought occurred to him that he might very well be stuck as a cat for a very long time.

'Gulp.' If the collar was a permanent charm, possibly even the rest of his life. But hey, on the bright side he wouldn't have to deal with Snape ever again. He gave a chuckle. Even if it sounded more like he was hacking up a hair ball.

As true to testament of his bad luck, a shadow fell over his cage and Harry looked up to the cause of it with wide eyes. 'Oh, hell no.'