Disclaimer: I don't claim to own anything in this story or outside it for that matter, Both Harry Potter and Cat Woman belong to their respective creators.
Midnight's kitten
Chapter 1: Beginning to live.
Everything was blurred as Harry opened his eyes. For a moment he could barely see through the fog in his own mind, then his vision cleared and the view before him came into crystal focus… from on top of his wardrobe. Startled as this new fact seeped into his brain he jumped violently and as a result, sent himself to the floor. He winced as the ground rushed up to meet him and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came. He cracked open an eyelid and looked down to see his fingers splayed on the floor beneath him, having managed to land on his fingers and toes.
"Oh shit…" Harry breathed out in a rush as he stood upright and looked around his brightly lit apartment. The sun was already high above London in a clear periwinkle blue sky, not a cloud was in sight for miles and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. Harry stepped into the warm sunlight and smiled as it washed over him before he realized what he was doing and froze. His mind went blank as he searched his heart and somehow found nothing. He conjured up a picture of Sirius in his mind and felt…
Nothing.
He could feel nothing, no anger, and no sadness… Rapidly he brought to mind everyone who he'd formerly mourned for so long and found that he could no longer really miss them. Instead a sort of newfound peace had settled over his once tortured soul. Come to think about it, he didn't remember having a nightmare last night either. Mind you, his memory of the night before was a complete loss. He couldn't remember anything past closing time in Flourish and Blots, speaking of which…
"BLOODY HELL! I'M LATE!" The tenant in the apartment next door who had just walked past nearly jumped out of her skin as her usually silent neighbor charged out of his apartment, a set of keys dangling from his mouth as he pulled on a jacket over his jeans and shirt while he hopped on the spot, tying his laces and nearly falling down the stairs due to his rushed efforts. He only just managed to keep his balance.
Quickly ducking out of sight he put on his usual glamour before he entered the Leaky Caldron and bolted up Diagon Alley to the bookstore. He wasn't even out of breath when he darted inside the establishment as quickly as possible only to come up face to face with the manger. He grimaced slightly, noticing her resemblance to the toad Umbridge he'd had for DADA in fifth year as he gave her a slightly pained, hopeful smile. His expression faded though when the witch launched herself into a tirade worthy of Voldemort himself.
"MR EVANS! I HOPE YOUR SUDDEN LAZYNESS WILL NOT BECOME A PERMANENT THING BECAUSE I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOU SITTING AROUND AND BEING PAID TO DO NOTHING!" Harry looked up at her as she continued to tower over him yelling when a sudden flood of indignation flowed through him. With no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it he suddenly found himself standing at full height, a confidence he hadn't felt in a long time suddenly radiating off every inch of him as an arrogant expression slid across his face.
"Well pardon me." He all but purred in a low and deadly tone that put his boss off kilter. "I do believe that my recent behavior has been the result of a realization…" He pinned her with a hypnotic stare. "That you, are a slave driving, unsatisfied bitch who takes out her frustrations on those you deem beneath you simply because if you didn't you'd feel totally out of your depth, so to say… yes, very much like the late Professor Severus Snape if I'm not mistaken." His whole little speech had been delivered in a cool tone that simply screamed, 'I'm better than you'. It was a great contradiction of his normal attitude. The witch just stared at him dumbstruck as she took in everything James had just said. Her reaction came on slowly. First she began to shake under the stares of the other employees, then a lovely shade of purple began to color her face from the neck up. She tensed up and let fly with the words she'd been building up to.
"YOU'RE FIRED!" Harry raised an eyebrow and bowed mockingly to the witch before he swept out the door and into Diagon Alley once more. He stopped in the yard behind the Leaky Caldron and let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and released his illusion before he realized what had just occurred. At first he panicked but then it struck him, he still had the Potter vault, and he'd only ever taken the job in the first place to keep himself occupied so he didn't have to think. Breathing a sigh of relief and even daring to laugh quietly he stepped into the Leaky Caldron as Harry Potter for the first time in what felt like years. Come to think of it… it had been years.
"Good morning, Harry." The messy haired young man jumped in surprise as he heard the old innkeeper Tom's voice from the bar. Harry looked over and found the other wizard giving him a toothy grin with the few teeth he had left. Harry couldn't help the shy smile the sprung up in response.
"Lo' Tom." He said with a wave, crossing to the bar. Tom nodded to him.
"You should come by here more often Harry." He said, picking up another wet glass and drying it off absently. There weren't to many wizards and witches around the bar today and everything was relatively quiet, the main morning rush having ended while Harry had been outside. "You haven't been here in years and we all missed you." Harry gave him a quizzical look.
"We?" Tom grinned again and put down the glass to wave his hand around in a slightly dismissive gesture.
"Fortescue, old Grizelda from the menagerie and myself. None of us ever forgot you helping us out, you where the best worker we've had since, forever." Harry was stunned to realize that he'd forgotten all about that time he'd spent in Diagon Alley after sixth year. That had been when he'd picked up his disguising ability. He'd been hiding from the order after an incredibly stressful year and Tom and some of the others had help him get back on his feet that time too and he'd managed to forget all about it. Needless to say they'd never actually told anyone about his stint as a normal person, but it had helped greatly. At last, Harry smiled at Tom.
"I guess I'll just have to come by more often then." He said, his unusually good spirits retuning. "Will you say hello to Fortescue and Grizelda for me, please?" Tom laughed and nodded bidding him goodbye Harry took the exit to muggle London and stopped in the street wondering what he'd do now. He looked around at the muggles in the street and absently began to wonder about the change he seemed to have gone through as he wondered down the street, his gaze flicking to the clear blue sky every now and then. He'd wondered further from the wizarding part of London when he looked down and realized what he should do.
No time like the present to go shopping.
Weary from the energetic efforts of the saleswomen who had pounced on him the moment he'd entered the store Harry dragged himself back to his apartment with all his new clothes shrunk in his pockets. He'd gone all out, deciding that if he was going to change, he might as well do it completely. Sprawled on his couch he looked around absently before a cat's meow broke through his pleasant daze. Curious he looked at the fire escape that ran outside his window and saw a gray striped cat sitting outside. He winced slightly as a memory shot through his head.
Flashback
The cat stood at the end of the alley staring back at him with liquid dark eyes that seemed to hold an ancient wisdom in their depths. The cat disappeared as he struggled upright and found noises from all around him blaring to his suddenly enhanced ears…
End Flashback"Hello." He murmured as he got up from the couch and went to the open window. "I remember you…" He reached out a hand and the cat didn't move, allowing him to pet him with long flowing strokes. It meowed when he picked it up and took it into the apartment, resuming his seat on the couch he continued to stroke the bundle of fur in his lap.
"You know what happened to me, don't you." It wasn't a question. Midnight just looked up at him and meowed again, a deep rumble of a purr built up from its chest as she rubbed her face against the hand that had stopped moving. "I… I can't remember anything past leaving the store last night." He stared out the nearest window and saw the sky turn blood red as the sun sank below the horizon. But as the light faded he found he could still see perfectly in the minimal light from the moon that flooded in like a silvery waterfall to the hardwood floor. It was only then that he realized that he was missing his glasses. Quickly feeling around his eyes confirmed that he'd been without them all day. Shaking off his surprise he shifted the cat to a cushion beside him and rushed to the bathroom to take a good look at his reflection. His pupils had changed. They where now slit like a cats, they still glowed their usual unearthly emerald green, but they'd changed so that they where slightly pulled up at the corners, giving him and appearance not unlike that of someone from Asia.
"By Merlin." He breathed under his breath as he touched his face and looked out the door to where the cat had climbed to the table behind the couch and was looking at him with an almost calculating look. Harry shivered and wrapped his arms around himself before he turned off the light and left the bathroom, making his way to his bedroom. Striping down to his boxers and a shirt he climbed into bed, wanting only to sleep after such a confusing day, but something wasn't letting him. He got up again and slunk around the apartment restlessly before he found himself in front of the wardrobe he'd woken on this morning. He looked up at it and then moved back to the door his eyes moving across where the cat had been. It was gone, no trace of it left to even indicate that the feline had even been there. Giving the apartment one last look he turned out the light and climbed from a chair to the top of the wardrobe and drifted off to sleep.
When his eyes snapped open the next morning Harry was much more prepared for the fall. He barely flinched as he landed on all fours once more.
"I really gotta find out why I keep doing that." He muttered under his breath as he got to his feet and went to get dressed. Pulling on a pair of jeans, a tight gray shirt and a pair of boots he wandered into the kitchen for breakfast and had just finished cleaning up when he heard the unmistakable call of a cat. Putting down the last dish on the sink, he looked out into the lounge room and immediately noticed the cat sitting by the door almost as if it was waiting to be let out. Looking down at it he shrugged and opened it, allowing the cat to slip outside, although before he could shut the door once more, the cat made its presence known loudly again. It was waiting by the stairs. Taking a moment to realize what was going on Harry's eyes widened before he ducked back into his apartment and grabbed his wand and his black woolen jacket before he locked the door behind him and headed after the cat.
It raced ahead of him, keeping mostly to the fences and alleyways when it didn't have to keep to the sidewalk. Harry ducked through the crowds of muggles on the street, his eyes on his target the whole time. He'd walked a long way from home when the gray cat stopped and jumped into his arms, leaving him standing on the sidewalk outside a large house that had been covered in various vines and flowers, giving it a very bright and homely appearance. Harry looked down at the cat, which returned his look with one that said 'what are you waiting for?' With a sigh he opened the gate in the low picket fence and went to the front door, shifting his companion a little to ring the bell. Muffled chimes rang through the thick wooden door to his ears and a moment later a tall thin woman, who Harry guessed to be in her late seventies, opened it. She wore a conservative dark gray shirt and blouse, with a purple and green scarf holding back her graying hair in a loose bun. Her eyes lit up as she saw the cat.
"Oh! Midnight! This is the longest you've been away yet." She spoke in a tone that was neither reprimanding nor complementary as she lifted her out of Harry's arms. "Oh and you've brought another friend…" She got her first good look at Harry and trailed off in surprise. Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at Midnight questioningly. The Egyptian Mau seemed to give the feline equivalent of a shrug as she dropped from the old woman's arms and strutted off into the house. By then the woman had recovered herself.
"Oh please do come in." She hastily ushered him inside and into a room off the side of the entrance hall that was filled with cats. Forcing him onto a floral print couch, she looked him in the eye before she began muttering franticly to herself.
"Never! Never before has Midnight given her gift to anyone other than a woman!" Her voice was high as she turned to Midnight who was lying imperiously on the top of a carpet covered scratching post off to one side, watching everything with a calculating gaze. "Why now of all times?" She asked, "Why him? You could have chosen anyone, but you chose him. I don't understand why you broke the tradition that's been carried on for centuries now." The cat, still purring, flicked her tail irritably and with a very put upon air got up from her place and jumped from her stand to the floor before stopping and waiting for them to follow. Harry moved first, still curious as to what was happening he followed into what appeared to be a library and took the stairs to join Midnight on the upper landing as she stopped beside a shelf and nosed a large book on the bottom shelf. He picked it up and looked at it blankly before he realized just what it was he was seeing.
"A photo album?" He asked no one in particular as he opened it and began to flick though the pages, not at all fussed with the old woman fretting silently beside him as he paged through the album, skimming over images as he went. Eventually he came to a picture and looked at it carefully before the woman gave a small cry and Harry barely had the time to spin around and catch her before Ophelia Powers fainted.
Meanwhile Midnight just looked on with the same smug look she always had as her kitten helped her owner back to the floral couch taking the photo album with him.
(A/N: should I stop here?
(No I think I'll continue)
"So you're saying that I died and somehow Midnight here brought me back from the dead." Harry leaned back in his seat on the floral print couch and absently petted the cat that sat beside him. Ophelia nodded.
"When you died, midnight gave you her powers, you must have needed her very much for her to give you her gift. She gave you absolute freedom and the confidence to use it when she brought you back." She looked down at the picture on the coffee table before her. It was of midnight surrounded by a liter of kittens. Ophelia had taken a while to remember it but when she had she'd begun making connections. The tomcat that midnight had mated with hadn't been another Egyptian Mau. So as a result the kittens had all varied in color, but one kitten had looked very much like the young man in front of her in some twisted, otherworldly way. It had had soft black fur that had stuck out in every direction even after it had been brushed, and its eyes, looking now into Harry's eyes she could see that the only difference was that these eyes where set in the face of a human instead of that of a cat, and they held the infinite wisdom of someone who had seen the horrors of humanity and lived, much like the look midnight had, but darker.
"So why me then?" he asked again, this time straight out.
"I don't know." She said tiredly. "Maybe its because you look like the kitten that died from her last liter. I just don't know." Harry looked over at the cat and frowned.
"Well I just don't get it." He said in a rather put off tone. "How could I have died? I think I'd remember someone trying to kill me…" He met midnight's eyes again and a flash of orange and a lot of pain surfaced in his memory. Shaking his head to clear it Harry stood up from his seat. "Look, thanks for the tea but I've got to go. There's things I need to do and no offence but sitting around like this isn't helping the fact that I am going to put my life back together." Without even waiting for a reply he left the house and walked out into the street, pointedly ignoring the Egyptian Mau watching him from the window. If he had looked back he would have sworn that the cat was laughing at him.
Well that's it for this chapter. I'm sorry it's taken so long to update anything in my account but I've had difficulties with my parents. You can't live with them and you can't live without them and a friend of mine would say. They banned me from the computer no less than four consecutive times in a row, and now my internet is down so I can't upload this from home. #$&
Well anyway, now that I'm on school holidays there should be a few more updates.
Thanks to all who reviewed to the last chapter
Cya