Disclaimer and Notes: JKR owns it all. No money made, but lots of time wasted. I am converting from serial drabble format for this fic, welcome to my first attempts at long fic.
I have a beta now, the lovely Acadia Elle, who authored 'The Incident in the Great Hall', (A very romantic fic with fantastic kissing in my opinion). It is located here on FFN. The mistakes are still all mine.
Other Notes- This is my favorite fic above all that I write. I love my 'poised fans', because you are here reading for the same reason I write it.
Title: God's Simple Creatures
The Hogwarts clock tower chimed eleven times when Albus kindly relieved his Potions Master of his appointed nightly rounds, gently reassuring him Professor Vector would take the duty.
Although Severus entered his quarters alone, the room was not empty of life for upon his entrance a ginger colored half-kneazle skittered immediately off the forbidden couch situated across from the fire.
Severus did not yell invectives towards the creature this night; he only shook his head silently and placed his cloak gently upon the hook in the foyer.
Crookshanks poked his head from behind the very solid wooden desk he used as a shield against the wizards' wand. His whiskers twitched at the odd behavior exhibited by the dark one he lived with since his mistress' passing. "How odd?" thought the half-feline, "even the air in the chambers felt different." His kneazle curiosity over powered the instinct to hide from the man who could barely tolerate his presence, let alone give or receive affection.
Jumping up on the desk for a better vantage point, the cat's steady gaze met the black glittering eyes of the one his mistress had begged him to keep. The loyalty of the half-kneazle to the witch who loved him could not be denied, despite the desire to abandon the useless excuse of a human she had sentenced him to protect. It was her dying wish and his love for her that bound him to the surly wizard, despite the fact that the wizard held nothing but contempt for him.
The first year without her was the worst. Mourning her loss, Crookshanks wanted solace. However, the black furred wizard could not bear the sight of him, aiming hexes that he always managed to dodge. The situation barely improved as time progressed since the wizard still remained cold and isolated, changed from what he was when they both had the mistress with them.
"Strange," thought Crookshanks. The master did not draw his wand as expected when he found him on the comfy place. Perhaps the man was ill, but that could not be the case because there were no signs of the sniffling or coughing that afflicted humans.
Severus continued to stare at the cat. He accepted the half-kneazle because Hermione was a package deal that included pets, in-laws, and friends. He would have dumped the creature in the forest had it not been for the fact she made him vow a wizards oath to take care of it; how could he not grant her imploring plea? So he committed to a promise only to get her to rest.
He knew Hermione was getting her affairs in order, but what he didn't realize then was that she would leave him forever two days later. That's when her blasted cat went totally nutters, yowling and running about, scattering its food everywhere, and ripping through her parchments. The cat always sat waiting, waiting, always bloody waiting, for weeks on end, by the door for a companion who would never return.
Snape remembered attempting to blast the creature with his wand, angry towards its vigil of false hope in the foyer. He remembered yelling hoarsely at it, "She's not returning! She's never ever coming home! So stay the hell away from the damn door!" He remembered drinking Ogden's immediately after that episode but didn't remember anything more, just Poppy forcing potions down his throat in the infirmary.
The cat never waited at the door again. He never drank Ogden's again either.
Snape opened the door to their bedroom. The vow he made with Hermione gently clinging to his tired mind. He sat on the edge of the bed and crossed his leg focusing his attention on removing his boot, too fatigued to enchant it off.
Crookshanks shot across the living room entering through the bedroom door and slinking low to floor. Using all his cat stealth he slipped in between the wall and wardrobe with the goal of reaching the dilapidated arm chair Hermione allowed him to sharpen his claws on, and thus she had christened it 'the sacrificial chair'.
The shredded upholstery felt wonderful to Crookshanks as he anchored his front claws deeply into the back of the old chair. He then pulled his body up, and sinking his hind claws into the fabric in one fluid motion propelled himself over the chairs' back to land gracefully on the sunken seat.
Hearing the soft thud from the chair in front of him, Severus flashed a weary glance towards the cat, watching it as it settled into a sphinx position in the hollow of the cushion before he returned his attention to the other boot.
"She made me take an oath to keep you," Severus said quietly. Then grunting, he heaved off the boot and dropped it heavily to the floor. "I do not understand why you are still here. I would have expected you to leave. Potter or another student would have taken you," he commented evenly, resting his forearms across his thighs gazing at the patterns in the rug.
The cat's ears twitched oddly as if to clear them of waxy buildup.
"I have provided you all that you need to survive, but I have the feeling that was not the intent of her request. I…I don't…" Snape sighed wearily, his hand pushing his lank hair way from his face before he stood up to undress.
Crookshanks sensed the wizard's emptiness coupled with a piercing vulnerability, and he worried about the unpredictability of it. An echo of Hermione's voice rang softly in his cat mind. "Severus won't hurt you Crookshanks."
Despite the prickly feeling of his fur, Crookshanks remained steadfast in his chair his yellow eyes never veering off the Potions Master, who was now unbuttoning his robes. Crookshanks remembered happier times when his mistress would do this task often, the dark man petting her curly fur affectionately while she pawed at the buttons.
Snape shrugged out of his heavy robes, causing them to slip down his back and off his arms until they crumpled on the cold stone floor.
"Mistress would have scolded him for that," thought Crookshanks fondly. But sometimes mistress used to remove those protective coverings for the master causing him to hold her tightly and nuzzle her neck like kneazles do to signal mating.
The cat watched sympathetically as Severus shivered while he picked his robe off the floor to deposit it into a basket. Next, the wizard turned to pull open a drawer to grab an old red flannel nightshirt. Crookshanks remembered the master complaining about the color when mistress gave it to him, but it is the only one he wears now.
"I don't expect you to understand," Severus spoke to the bed pulling back the covers. He took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the mattress. "It's just that…you are a constant reminder to me…of her."
Crookshanks ears perked up and his tail began to swish idly, trying to focus on his kneazle instincts.
Their eyes connected as Snape continued, his voice low and slightly faltering, "and I…I suppose we are somewhat something of her legacy. I know she saved you from…being unwanted. She did the same for me, and I…I cannot forget that."
Severus broke his gaze from the cat, his long hair falling forward in curtains as he rested his head upon his left hand, his elbow supported by his left knee. Using a volume just above a whisper he spoke with great longing, "I miss her and I want her…and when I see you it hurts, and I get angry. I never meant to hex you, I just reacted, and I just wanted it all to disappear. Her leaving was not your fault, I know you miss her as well."
Crookshanks dropped silently to the floor; something about the wizard was different. His kneazle senses felt an odd calling emanating from the man and if there was ever a point where the master needed him, it was now.
Snape's right hand now joined the other as he rubbed his face slowly, trying to relieve a hidden pain. "I absolve you of any bond she imposed on you. Oh yes, I am sure she did bond you as you would not have stayed otherwise. But, if you can forgive…"
Severus' speech halted when he felt a paw settle lightly upon his knee, his eyes following the paw up to the open face of Crookshanks. Had the cat really understood?
Snape reached down and collected the cat in his arms; he cradled it gently, and looked upon its face. Then he hesitantly reached up a hand to stroke the soft fur behind the ears until he felt the subtle vibrations of purring coming from deep within the cat. "Pet of my Hermione," they both thought as their comfort finally eased some of their loneliness.