Disclaimer: JKR gets the money. I get the satisfaction of tormenting her characters.
Spring Fever
Tom Riddle's birthday arrived a week after Christmas without so much as an owl in acknowledgment. Being immortal, after all, meant freedom from that inexorable countdown to death. He commemorated the occasion by calling his loyal Death Eaters to his side.
"Tonight marks the end of a year, and the beginning of a new era." He spoke with malice, seeming to relish the knowledge that his followers clung desperately to every word. "Let us make our resolutions." He paced, pausing to turn his bloody gaze on hooded, cloaked individuals. "The fool, Dumbledore, is dead. Hogwarts shall be mine. Dumbledore's pet, Potter, will not be allowed to die until I choose to grant him that release. He will beg for it before I'm through," he sneered.
Snape watched shrewdly as Voldemort launched into his tirade. Always skeletally thin, the snake-like man had lost the serpentine grace that once marked his movements. His eyes were sunken, and the skin covering his hands and face looked nearly translucent and dry as parchment.
Face expressionless, Snape continued his perusal of the room, inspecting each of his fellow Death Eaters in turn. His gaze narrowed on young Malfoy. Draco had been punished most severely for his ineptitude, having secured the wrong hairbrush from the Granger residence.
It had been a fiasco. Morag McDougall, a quiet Slytherin girl in Draco's year, had been taken when her family was killed for refusing to join Voldemort's ranks. The girl had been given to Draco as a reward for his role in the Hogwarts invasion. When Voldemort thought Draco had enjoyed the girl long enough, he'd revealed a plan to use her to get to Potter using polyjuice. Draco was sent to the Granger home to retrieve a hairbrush, but mistaking cat hair for human had been a grievous error. When charged with angry instructions to "dispose of his blunder," Malfoy had completed the girl's feline transformation, Obliviated her, then released her in the Forbidden Forest, near the boundaries of Hogwarts. The boy was too soft to be a Death Eater. He took after his mother in that respect.
Pettigrew was on the other side of Narcissa and Snape did not bother to conceal his disgust. He caught a look of greed cross the sneaky Animagus' face and sent out a tendril of Legilimency. Pettigrew demonstrated no outward sign that he noticed the mental invasion, but Snape could sense the shift of his defenses. He pushed harder, only to see Pettigrew's fantasy involving the woman next to him. Snape pulled out of his mind distastefully. He returned his attention to the Dark Lord, who had finished his oratory and now glowered menacingly. Snape bowed low as the other Death Eaters Apparated away. He must make the required reports.
At the stroke of midnight, Voldemort staggered to his huge, throne-like chair. He clutched his head, retching violently as a deluge of unfamiliar emotions and sensations coursed through him.
"I love you, Harry," echoed in his mind as another flood of emotion roared through him and he finally gave in to the blackness.
Snape observed his master, slumped unconscious. He retrieved the usual potions, leaving them on the small side table. He would return when the Dark Lord awoke and inevitably summoned him again.
"Happy New Year, love," Harry murmured, dazed after the midnight kiss that had curled his toes and straightened other things. He'd rather effectively lowered his inhibitions and shut out the inner voice of his conscience with several shots of Firewhisky and reckless seed of desire had taken root in the recesses of his mind. He pulled Ginny closer and with a quick twist, Apparated them up to his room, knowing Ron was in the kitchen with the twins. He'd heard them trying to convince Ron to go with them to a local pub featuring Gil Pinkyhunk, "a very unique girl who had a special talent with a pole." Ron was not entirely disinterested, but Harry guessed Hermione would be more persuasive than the twins. Either way, Ron would be occupied for awhile.
Harry Imperturbed the room. With his hands at her hips and kisses that grew increasingly demanding, he maneuvered Ginny gently until the backs of her knees hit his bed. She collapsed backwards, pulling him down with her, giggling. Emboldened, he divested them both of a few items of clothing while his lips and fingers encouraged her eager responses.
"Do you know the charm?" he whispered.
Her eyes went wide and he heard her sharp intake of breath. He frowned, studying the play of emotions cross her face. Surprise, longing…a flicker of fear, then ultimately, regret.
"Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I...we...can't." Ginny worried her lip with her teeth, her cheeks flushed crimson. "Not until after you defeat Voldemort. It's got to do with the powers of Artemis I can use to help you."
"Oh…" Harry flushed, prickling with embarrassment and disappointment. "On the train…"
Ginny cleared her throat. "Oh, I can do that." She smiled a little, reaching up trace the outline of his jaw. "I'm sorry, love, I hope you don't think I'm being a tease. You know I want to be with you, but if waiting gives us a better chance of defeating Voldemort, it's worth it."
Harry rolled to his back next to her, staring at the ceiling. The little voice was back again, scolding him for his lapse of judgment. There was another voice, angrily arguing that Voldemort took far too much from him. Life is so not fair, he thought. "Damn Murphy's law again."
"What has Murphy done now?" Ginny asked, her fingers tracing lazy circles on his bare chest.
"You spent the past half a year trying to convince me to…take things to the next level." He regarded the ceiling with a gaze intense enough to burn cobwebs from the corners. "And when I finally get 'round my conscience, you've changed your mind."
Ginny's voice was apologetic. "I know. It's not fair at all. But I'll do anything to make sure you live through this and Voldemort doesn't. If I have to hold your wand hand and cast the spell through your arm, I'll kill the bastard for you."
"I don't want you anywhere near Voldemort. Ever."
"I'll be where you are," Ginny said stubbornly.
Harry sighed and closed his eyes, lacking the energy to continue the argument. Talking about Voldemort deflated his enthusiasm in more ways than one.
"I think I know how to take your mind off your problems," he heard her whisper, her voice full of wicked promises as her fingers tickled across his flat stomach.
Thoughts of Voldemort fled as though pursued by a Patronus.
As much fun as it'd been having the house teeming with teenagers for the holidays, Tonks was relieved when it was time for the students to return to Hogwarts. The evening following the students' departure, she slipped down to the wine cellar where she selected a bottle and cast a quick chilling charm. She set her wand on the kitchen counter while she carefully picked up two crystal goblets in one hand, gingerly carrying the ice-cold bottle in the other.
Upstairs, she managed to open the bottle and pour without any major mishaps. Remus had changed into pajama bottoms and was comfortably ensconced on the bed with a book when she handed him a glass. "What's the occasion?" He took a sip while he watched her disrobe.
"Kids are gone, house is quiet again," she shrugged, draining her own goblet. "Seems as good a reason as any."
"The house is never quiet," he chuckled. "We have a houseful of Weasleys and Order members around at any given moment."
He turned back to his book when she moved towards the loo. "Don't forget the charm," he added.
"Yes, Professor," she said, rolling her eyes. In their en suite bathroom, she realized her wand was still down in the kitchen. Luckily, Remus had left his conveniently near the sink. It certainly worked well enough for her to do the tooth brushing and face-cleansing charms, so she used it to apply the contraception charm as well. Just for fun, transfigured her oversized t-shirt into something racier.
Remus barely seemed to glance up when she re-entered the room.
She pouted prettily. "Sorry, are you too busy? Do you require me to set up an appointment?"
"Depends." He cocked his head, eyes crinkling at the corners as he set his book aside. "Do you want to play healer?"
"I believe you mean 'play doctor,'" she corrected, lips twitching.
"Only for Muggles."
"And how is the wizarding version different?"
"Magic wand," Remus chuckled, his lips claiming hers.
January's frigid cold mellowed slightly into February. Ron sighed longingly, watching couples pair off for Valentine's Day, finding ways to keep each other warm in the winter chill.
"It's not like either of us really cared about Valentine's Day," he complained to Harry. "She always said it was a rather stupid tradition, but..."
"I suppose snogging a cat could lead to awkward questions," Harry smirked.
Ron cuffed his shoulder. "She's working hard to change back. She goes to McGonagall every night, but she's getting frustrated."
Harry wondered how Ron could tell, but he supposed there was a fair amount of hissing involved.
Ron kept her Disillusioned most of the day so she could attend classes with them. More often than not, she simply slept on her desk, apparently absorbing the lectures through osmosis. At meals, she refused to eat under the table, so had begun going directly to the kitchen. The house-elves adored her and she saw a whole new side of their lives after spending more time with them. House-elves, like cats, had different means of achieving happiness than humans.
For instance, few humans appreciated the simple things in life, like dangling string and crinkly paper. And mice. She could not seem to resist chasing anything that moved quickly and Ron exploited this weakness mercilessly.
Once, he gave her a catnip mouse he'd procured from the twins. She'd gone wild as a squirrel on Euphoria Potion until he caught her. She'd writhed in his arms, causing Ron to wonder aloud what effect the herb might have on her once she reverted back to her human form.
Allowing several days to recover from the effects of catnip, Ron asked McGonagall about Hermione's progress. He was concerned about Hermione's inability to deny her cat instincts and playfulness, which seemed so out of character. McGonagall told him the play aspect was firmly entrenched, regardless of incorrect Animagus form. "With an otter Patronus, we know Miss Granger must possess an innately playful side, regardless of how well she suppressed it in her human form. Please continue to encourage her, as the more comfortable and familiar she becomes with her animal nature, the easier it will be for her to revert to her human form. She needs to embrace this side of herself that she repressed for years."
Much as he enjoyed imagining what this might mean for the future, her apparent loss of self-discipline occasionally irritated Ron; mostly when he was trying to get her to communicate with him. He had voiced the suspicion that she felt telepathy was as worthwhile learning as Divination.
Exasperated with yet another failed attempt involving hours staring deep into each other's eyes, Ron scowled as she sprawled out on yet another open book in the library. "She looks…"
"Post-coital?" Luna suggested. "Orgasmic? Sated?"
Ron's eyes widened. "I was going to say 'happy,' but, erm…" He blinked and shook his head. "If she's that content as a cat, what if she never wants to change back?"
"Well, I suppose Ginny could turn you into a cat as well," Luna suggested.
"That seems rather reprehensible."
"It might convince her to try harder to become human again." Luna twisted her hair in a knot, stabbing her wand through it to hold it. "And we do need her in human form to retrieve her notes from Lily's journals. That information could be essential. For all we know, that research may even prove the existence of the elusive Snigglefritz."
His eyes focused back on Hermione, who had rolled to her back wearing an expression of absolute ecstasy. Ron nodded, swallowing hard. "I'll go find Ginny."
He walked purposefully down the hall, hoisting Hermione to his shoulder. "Nice bit of tail you got there, Weasley," Peeves leered, firing ink pellets at them.
Consulting his watch, Ron headed for the Owlery to find Ginny and Harry. Pausing in the doorway, he heard Ginny ask, "Did you go through all the memories Dumbledore left you?"
There was a slight hesitation. "Most of them. They were mostly the same ones Dumbledore had already showed me."
"Do you want me to go with you in that last one?"
"I'll go with you as well," Ron cut in firmly. "Er, we both will," he amended as Hermione swatted his ear with her paw.
Hedwig flew down from her perch, where she'd stubbornly been refusing Ginny's proffered treats. She landed on Harry's shoulder and cooed reassurances in his ear, nuzzling his cheek.
Monty made his way lethargically up Harry's torso, finally slithering around his neck near the owl. Hedwig glared at him until he ducked his head in submission.
Ron observed the exchange with interest. "How are things going with Monty?"
Harry shrugged. "I suppose since it's cold out, he isn't very active. Or maybe he's just not as bright as Hedwig. He's pretty young, and doesn't have a lot to say yet. Hedwig's got a lot more personality." He affectionately rubbed her cheek with his knuckles. She closed her eyes and puffed her feathers, hooting softly in contentment. "Plus, she understands English, which is an advantage."
Finally mollified, Hedwig accepted Ginny's treats and flew back up to her perch. She regally watched them leave as she settled in for a nap.
Harry hissed a few reassurances to his snake after they were a distance from the Owlery. He rolled his eyes at Ron's questioning glance. "Hedwig is jealous and Monty is insecure. It's a lot of work maintaining two pets and a girlfriend." Ginny scowled at him. "At least you have two rolled into one there, Ron."
Hermione laid her ears back and glared, her tail flicking in irritation.
"Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to Ginny about that." Ron's ears were red. "Luna thought if Ginny transformed me into a cat, we could communicate better and Hermione might have more inspiration to change back to her human form. Luna thinks she might be a little afraid."
Ginny gave him a skeptical look. "How would you encourage her to change to her human form? Unless…wait, let me guess, you want this done by Valentine's Day? What's the matter? Heavy petting not enough for you?"
Ron flushed darker crimson and ducked his head to undo the locking charm on his door. He looked as if he'd like to hex his sister for her shirty comments, but he remained silent.
"I won't do the forced Animagus transformation on you." Ginny shook her head firmly. "It's just too hard, and the moon's not right. I can do a simple transfiguration though."
"Wouldn't I just be a cat then?" Ron frowned. "I need to be able to think as me."
Ginny shrugged. "You won't be exactly yourself, but we'll be here to prevent you from doing anything stupid. Well, maybe 'prevent' is too strong a word. 'Obtain photographic evidence' might be more the term I'm looking for."
Ron glared at her before directing his gaze to Harry, who just smiled and shrugged.
Ron was granted his Valentine's wish and spent several hours cavorting about the castle with Hermione. Ginny had to admit Ron made a very handsome cat. His ginger coat was not unlike Crookshanks's, but less fluffy, and of course his face didn't look as though he'd run into a brick wall.
Ginny changed him back while Hermione watched with sad eyes.
"Oi," he said after changing back. "That was weird."
"Undoubtedly," said Harry dryly, a little tetchy about spending Valentine's Day supervising a pair of cats.
Ron spread his fingers and inspected them, as if not quite believing his paws were gone. "I can understand why she wouldn't entirely want to change back. Life would be way easier as a cat. It was like forgetting there was anything to worry about. It was like…no urgency anymore. I knew who I was, and who she was, and I knew there were things I wanted to tell her, and reasons we should change back, but it just didn't seem important. I couldn't fix my attention on things quite right, and I couldn't communicate the way I'd hoped, either."
Harry couldn't curb the snarky quirk of his lips and eyebrows, but didn't say anything.
"Should we try to force her to transform back?" Ron asked Ginny. "I know there's a spell. Sirius and Lupin used it--"
Ginny shook her head. "I don't know if that'd be safe. We need to know her human mind is completely healed, and the only way to be sure is if she can change herself back."
"Well, it's time for her to meet with McGonagall for another session," Ron said, glancing at his watch. "Maybe today will be the day."
During the evening session, Hermione seemed to be trying harder than ever, and McGonagall said she was making progress.
"She's holding her concentration much better," she told Ron. "She's made huge strides. You don't understand how much she's already accomplished in such a short time."
Ron just nodded, his disappointment apparent as he collected Hermione and headed back to his room.
After an exhilarating training session flying with the D.A., Harry sat on his bed with the curtains drawn, Dumbledore's Pensieve on his lap. His friends had offered--insisted, really--on accompanying him into this memory, yet in the end, he decided to exclude them. He knew the memory would be horrific. It was bad enough he had to relive the voices when dementors were near him, but now he'd have to see it as well. He didn't want the others with him when he watched for the first time. He wasn't sure how he'd react, and he didn't want them to witness it. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he steeled his nerves and poured the memory into the basin. After Imperturbing the curtains, he closed his eyes and leaned forward.
It was worse than he'd imagined. He forced himself to watch, to examine everything in detail, determined not to miss a single clue. Harry was not surprised to see Voldemort accompanied by a masked Death Eater who kept to the shadows. Glancing out a window, he noticed others posted around the outside of the house, presumably to foil escape attempts. He forced himself to remain quiet when his father pushed his mother toward the stairs, telling her to take Harry and go. He could not watch his father's death--the memory forced him to follow his mother's panicked flight with his infant self clutched in her arms. In the familiar nursery, she cuddled him close. Tears streamed down her face.
"I'm so sorry, love, so sorry." A crash downstairs followed by high-pitched, gleeful laughter made her shoulders droop in defeat. "James," she whispered, her expression agonized. She took a deep, shuddery breath and retrieved a phial of potion from an inner pocket. She downed it quickly and her wand blurred as she cast a complex spell around herself and her son, finishing just as the nursery door crashed open.
Harry covered his ears, unwilling to listen yet again as his mother begged and offered her life for his. He determinedly turned his back on the scene, watching instead for the Death Eater he knew was hovering on the other side of the threshold. He saw the flash of green light in his peripheral and his heart ached. He turned sideways, warily keeping one eye on the door, waiting for the Death Eater to reveal his identity while watching Voldemort at the same time. Harry could not hear the first spell Voldemort cast on the dark-haired infant in the cot, but he couldn't miss the triumphant roar of the second. The speeding flash of green light struck the baby on the forehead, causing Harry to wince and grab his scar even as the baby shrieked. The jet of green shimmered and rebounded almost instantly on its caster, who dropped to the ground, his wand rolling across the floor. The Death Eater finally moved into view. He seemed to appraise the situation, taking in the two dead bodies and the screaming infant. He nudged Lily's still form with a booted foot, shaking his head in apparent disgust before retrieving Voldemort's wand. He whirled to leave without uttering a word.
Harry shivered with impotent rage and horror until Dumbledore appeared and comforted the frightened toddler who fought to reach his mother on the floor. The last thing Harry saw before falling through the memory out of the Pensieve was the tip of Dumbledore's wand just before it touched the baby's temple.
Harry cursed as he lay on his bed. "Went through that and still don't know any more than before." His watch alarm went off and he glanced at the message. After several calming breaths, he undid the charm around his bed and waited. Ginny's head poked through the curtains. She studied his face a moment before her eyes took in the scene: the rumpled bed, Pensieve and empty phial.
Surprisingly, she said nothing, just scooped the memory out of the bowl and carefully replaced it in the phial, corking it firmly and setting it aside. She crept up next to him, resting her head on his shoulder as she stretched her body out along his length.
"Is the bigger tragedy the ones who died or the ones left behind?" he asked, his voice oddly detached.
"What do you mean?" she finally asked, her tone carefully neutral.
"I won't be left behind again. If you…were gone..." he swallowed hard, "I wouldn't want to stay here. There are already more people on the other side…"
"So you'd take stupid chances to try and get yourself killed too? You didn't listen to Dumbledore then. He said we have to choose between what is right and what is easy, and it's our choices that make us who we are. I hate to think you'd choose to take the weak way out. Yes, I understand it'd be easier to just give up; a relief even, but he never said just do what feels good. Even if dying seems a hell of a lot easier than living, you must continue to fight. If you stop, he wins, and how many other lives will he ruin?"
Ginny touched his cheek. "I know you. You wouldn't condemn another person to your fate. Voldemort is not invincible. Someone will have to finish him sometime. If not you, than someone else, but what if that person isn't even born yet? Regardless of what happens to me, my family, Hermione… yu have to promise to go on. It's what we would all expect of you. If I die before you defeat Voldemort, I want you to live. Move on with your life, find someone who makes you happy."
"Impossible," he shook his head.
"I'm sure you'd be able to scrounge up someone."
Harry looked away from her, his jaw set in an expression of mulish obstinacy.
"Come on, you need to get out of here." She crawled out of his bunk and dragged at his hand. "Let's go to the library or something. You can help me revise for exams."
Harry allowed himself to be pulled along, but in the library he gazed off into space and answered Ginny's whispered chatter with shrugs or noncommittal noises. Finally, he stood from the table. "I need to find Hermione. We can't wait for her any longer. We need those notes."
Ginny paused before gathering her things. "They'll be in Ron's room."
Ron was preparing for a late night patrol when they knocked at his door. He waved them in, pointed at Hermione sprawled on a book and promised to be back shortly.
"Hiya, Hermy." Ginny patted the cat's head. Hermione opened one eye and glared. "Come on," she cajoled, "Focus. Turn back into yourself so you can hex me for calling you by that horrible nickname you hate."
Hermione laid her ears back, her tail whipping back and forth in frustration and annoyance.
"Where did you put your notes?" Harry cut in. "If you can't change back, then you need to give us your notes. People are dying. Scrimgeour finally released Stan Shunpike from Azkaban--then the Death Eaters killed him because he'd told people he knew me. The Order is doing all it can, and even the Ministry is cottoning on some, but Voldemort is getting closer all the time. If there's something in those notes we need, anything that can help, then I have to have them now."
Hermione leaped off her desk to paw at her trunk. Ginny opened it and watched as Hermione jumped inside and began digging. Ginny turned all Hermione's possessions out on the floor and still the cat kept digging.
"What if she's just digging because she needs a litter box?"
Ginny snorted with laughter as Hermione's head appeared over the edge of the trunk to glare at him.
"I think she has a secret compartment here," Ginny finally said. Hermione meowed loudly in encouragement as Ginny reached inside.
Harry groaned. "Oh hell, with Hermione's concealment spells, we'll never find it."
Hermione's trunk underwent several intense inspections over the course of the next month. Mad-Eye Moody was particularly fierce. He could see a hazy outline of the secret drawer with great difficulty, but could not find a way to open it. Flitwick and McGonagall both tried as well, and were mightily impressed with Hermione's spellwork when they couldn't remove the protective enchantments. Remus had looked at it several times. He thought the concealment spell was similar to the one on the map.
"I'm almost sure it requires a password," he said after having another go at it. "What would she have used? Her middle name? Ron's middle name?"
"No, that'd be too easy," Harry said. "Knowing Hermione, it's some random combination of letters and numbers, in runes, and impossible to guess."
Hermione meowed in exasperation and threw herself on the floor. She'd been trying to pantomime the password for weeks, but no one seemed to take any notice. Catching Ron's eye again, she sat up and carefully preened before deliberately laying out flat on her side to feign sleep.
"Too bad you can't hold a quill and write the password for us," Ron stooped to pet her. She leaped to her feet, twisting around his legs before repeating her actions again: preening and pretending sleep.
Ron gave her a concerned look. "You've been sleeping a lot lately. I hope you're not sick. Maybe Hagrid ought to…" He blinked rapidly, evidently realizing he was about to suggest his girlfriend visit an animal caretaker rather than a healer. "I meant to say Madam Pomfrey. You should see her if you feel ill." He rubbed his temples, mumbling to himself that he'd been dating a cat for months and should expect his brain to go fuzzy.
"I hope you feel guilty for missing my birthday," he frowned at her. "That would've been a pretty great present, y'know? Turning back to yourself."
Hermione just looked at him helplessly, her eyes huge and sad.
"Ah, the kitty-cat eyes," he crooned, scooping her up in his arms for a cuddle. "Works every time. Don't worry love, we'll celebrate when you emerge from your furry little cocoon."
Students were kept horrendously busy revising for NEWTs. Professors gave extra homework, and D.A. training was intense. Winter slowly lost its grip, allowing spring to creep into the castle almost unnoticed by the students. Other than disturbing articles in the Prophet, they could almost forget the battle looming.
Monty the python grew restive. Harry tried to teach him to open the Chamber so he could go down there to hunt. He had shown him several times, but he still had to demonstrate about every third day, usually having to retrieve him because the snake had forgotten how to get back out.
In exasperation, after a particularly trying experience, he told Ginny, "See, this is why I could never become a dark lord. I haven't got the patience to properly train my minions."
She laughed herself into a coughing fit. She was fighting a spring cold, and though Harry had dragged her up to Madam Pomfrey twice for Pepper-Up Potion, she couldn't seem to shake it.
"His memory is like Swiss cheese," she said a little hoarsely, stroking the serpent's head with a forefinger. "Too bad you can't pull out a strand and shove it in his skull."
Harry stood stock-still and gaped at her before grabbing her hand and pulling her back the way they'd come.
"Where are we going?" she gasped, running alongside him.
"McGonagall," he said shortly. He gave the gargoyle the password and they rode the staircase up to the huge, ornate door.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley." McGonagall nodded primly. "How can I be of assistance?"
"We have an idea, Headmistress," Harry began quickly, tripping over his words in excitement. "Can you give Hermione a memory? Could you pull out one of your memories of transforming and put it into her head?
She shook her head doubtfully. "I would have to research the safety of such an experiment."
"I'll try it on my snake," Harry offered eagerly. "If his little brain can take it, Hermione's can. What's the worst that could happen? If it doesn't work, the memory would just slide back out, right?"
"Professor Slughorn is much more experienced with memory extraction than I," McGonagall admitted stiffly. "We willconsult him."
The Headmistress tossed a pinch of Floo powder into her fire and called Professor Slughorn.
"Hello Headmistress," he said. "How are you this beautiful day?"
"Fine, fine..." She fluttered a hand dismissively and explained the situation and Harry's question.
"Ah, intriguing possibility." He stroked his jaw thoughtfully. "A problem could arise if the animal brain could not process the memory--say if Harry were to put a memory of instructions in his snake's head, it would have to be done in Parseltongue for the snake to comprehend it. Otherwise, the memory would simply reside in the skull, quite useless, and impossible to retrieve."
"Well, that should be easy enough," Ginny said, "Hermione's never really learned to communicate like a cat, so plain English will be fine. Please, will you try it for her? She's of age; you don't even need to waste time getting parental permission!"
"I'd like to have Mr. Potter test the theory on his snake first," she demurred.
Ginny sent Ron a note on her watch and told him to bring Hermione. Harry pulled a memory from his head and slowly fed it into Monty's head. He hissed questions and whooped in triumph when the snake answered affirmatively ."This is going to work, I know it!" he crowed, his eyes dancing.
Even McGonagall seemed to have caught on to the excitement; at least to the point of sporting a cautiously optimistic smile.
Ron appeared with Hermione draped over his shoulders. Harry and Ginny explained everything, rushing to finish each other's sentences and sounding as though they'd been practicing twinspeak.
Ron grinned at Hermione. "Well? What d'you reckon? Worth a shot, eh?"
Hermione had already leaped to McGonagall's desk and sat still, ready and waiting. The Headmistress frowned in concentration as she carefully removed a small silvery thread from her temple. She held it over Hermione's head. "Are you sure you want to try this?"
Hermione just closed her eyes and waited. McGonagall let the strand touch just in front of her furry ear and everyone held their breath while it was absorbed.
Hermione leaped to the floor and began to pace. Finally, she stood on her hind legs, using the desk for support, reaching…reaching...and finally stretching. Her body began lengthening and changing shape; the tail and furry coat rapidly disappeared, leaving her clad only in the simple white hospital gown she'd worn so long ago. She swayed unsteadily, grasping the desk for support.
Stunned at first, Ron had crossed the room in two long strides when she'd begun the transformation. Now he held her desperately, disbelievingly close. "By the grace of Merlin, Hermione," he murmured, "I was going to ask you to marry me, cat form or not, but I didn't know how you'd be able to answer, so I swore I'd ask the second you changed back. This isn't exactly how I'd pictured it, but, Hermione, will you marry me?"
"Meow?" she rasped. Shock and confusion spread across his face.
"That's cat for 'Of course, you silly prat!'" she grinned delightedly. "Oh my, it feels so good to talk!"
The room erupted with cheering as the five living human inhabitants--particularly Ron and Hermione--were congratulated by the portraits and one another.
The four Gryffindors retired to the Head Suite, where they used their watches to call Neville, Hannah and Luna, as well as Dobby and Winky while Hermione enjoyed a long, hot shower and dressed in her own clothing for the first time in months. She took several moments to go through the cabinet to reassure her parents that she was indeed perfectly fine, then returned to the group of friends awaiting her.
"Oh, the trouble I could've avoided if I'd remembered my watch," Hermione sniffed, tearing up quite suddenly after hugging and thanking everyone profusely. Poor Dobby had turned nearly purple with delight when she praised his bravery and gave him a Gryffindor scarf.
We're really happy to have you back," Harry grinned. They were all desperate to know the whole story behind what had happened to her, but she already seemed to be suffering from the overload of human emotions McGonagall had warned them might happen.
Hannah asked if she was able to change to a cat and back at will now.
"Yes, I believe I could," Hermione frowned, "but I'm a bit unwilling to test the theory and get stuck again. How long have I been a cat, anyway?"
Her eyes bulged when Ron told her she'd been in a coma from Halloween to Christmas, then spent another three and a half months as a cat.
"I had no idea it'd been so long," she groaned. "I tried to change; I wanted to, but I couldn't hold my focus, and just didn't have enough confidence. I was terribly afraid something would go wrong... She gasped suddenly, looking stricken. "Oh, Harry, the notebooks!"
Huge THANK YOUs to alix33, Allanon-One and lbfan for beta reading and offering suggestions throughout and to Last Samurai Ryu-san for assistance with the video game descriptions. Invaderk, Alphamech, raoulisafop, La Phantom and Wolf's Scream, your help has been very appreciated as well!
Special thanks to my loyal reviewers who stuck with me throughout this story! I've answered all the reviews I was able to more personally, so you know how much I appreciate each of you, but I wanted to post your names here to thank you again for taking the time to click that little Submit Review button at the bottom. According to the stats, this story averages approximately 2,477 hits per chapter, with 321 reviews overall. I'm not complaining; it was those 321 reviews that encouraged me to finish the story. What I am saying is this: you are in the top 12 percent of the HP fanfic-reading public; the cream of the crop! By leaving a review, you make a difference. Thank you. One last chapter to go, and it's almost done. I really didn't think I was going to make it! Thanks again to:
Aegnor Alkarin alix33 Allanon-One Alphamech alvin's gf Andy angelkat2502 anime-school-chick AnIrishLily Anneke15 azkaban's finest Balleraphon BeckiSoup Bellatrix06 Beth5572 Black-Spaz-Lover blahblah123 BlueSea14 brona ceo55 chorltonni1 Chrissy Clhdadam coley Cyler Fharzhide Dallas Danfankendra Daniel Freakz darkangelNYC Deathzealot Dizi 85 DTS EllejayteeEmily Elizabeth ErendisJ Este Feenix Freja Lercke-Falkenborg Frodo Freak2 FrostyAKFGall-4185Gashlyn ginny278 gonekrazy3000 HakushoRurouni HaliJade Snape harry-an-ginny Harryluver101 hermionegranger58920 HP18 hpfan35 Hue InkandPaper Invaderk jackie Jaina Sanri jayley kensai2 Kerichi KingofShippers krumfan La Phantom Last Samurai Ryu-san xlbfan xlily 101 lindseyLittle Miss Sci-Fi luvinfanfic magiquill9 Mara727 maxamillions Miralliamjc Morning Rose nihilus1 Nutty Al Paris-Hilton-is-a-loser perrinette PhonixOwner Randall Flagg raoulisafop raveninthewind RedDevil15 rhoffmanjr Schnuff sezza Shwenny the Emerald Faerie Sissyspacedout SkyQuill SleepyHead22 sneering tapeplayer SPRITEfaerie015 Star-Eva01 The Fallen Angel666 The Gypsy-Pirate Queen The Inebriated Lion-Minion ThePollen tomboywitch UsagiMoon Wolf's scream writerchick13 XForestxAngelX Zelotia