Chapter Thirteen

A/n: I OWN NOTHING!

Simba had no idea what he was going to do with Lockhart; all he knew was that he had Fred on his side as George managed to get detention with Lee.

"How'd he manage to do that?" Simba asked as they walked down to the kitchens.

"Dungbomb in Snape's classroom," Fred said and then proceeded to tell Simba his plan. It involved him, a rope and a giant cauldron of something called Butterbeer.

"What?" Simba asked.

"You've never had Butterbeer?" Fred asked in disbelief. Simba shot him a look that clearly stated: I'm a lion you idiot. I had no idea this place existed before I was eleven. "Oh."

"Yeah," Simba rolled his eyes and then shushed Fred. "Why don't we just use my plan? It's easier."

"What's—"

"ROAR!" Simba jumped out from behind the corner he was lurking besides and managed to make Lockhart jump a mile.

"You still sound like a kitten," Fred told him. "Oh sorry Professor. Simba and I were performing an experiment."

They ran off before the 'professor' could get his bearings.

"That," Fred said as they stopped on the seventh floor, "was awesome."

"You are welcome," Simba said with a smirk. Fred shook his head in amusement.

"I think George and I might need to teach you our ways," he said.

"How? I don't have any thumbs," Simba pointed out.

"I think I might have a solution for that," Fred said with a smirk. "Follow me."

Simba followed Fred to the least likely of places: the library.

"What are we doing here?" Simba hissed. He was afraid the librarian would kick him out if she saw him.

Fred shushed him until he found the book he was looking for.

"The animagus potion can be reversed when two ingredients are switched," Fred told Simba. "However, it increases the brewing time by two months."

"How long did it take to brew before?" Simba asked, curious.

"Two years," Fred said with a chuckle. Simba rolled his eyes.

"Nope," he said. "I like being a lion thank you."

He walked away from the table to find Harry. He at least never had any dumb plans—even if Fred was a lot more fun to hang around at times.

0000000

Simba watched as the weather got worse as the months grew colder. One October day, he was sitting next to the fire when his brother walked in dripping wet.

"Look who the hyena dragged in," Simba chuckled.

"Shut it you," Harry shook his hair to dry off. Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"Really now Harry? You could just use a towel," she said from her spot next to the fire.

"But where's the fun in that?" Simba asked. Harry told them about his run in with Filch and Nick saving him.

"Who'd want to celebrate the day they died?" Ron asked as he came downstairs. "Sounds dead depressing to me."

"Was that a pun?" Simba asked. "Oh, count me out by the way. I've got Mrs. Norris to torment."

Harry sighed. "You've been hanging around the twins way too much, you realize this?"

"This is a bad thing?" Simba asked. "I think the twins are perfectly normal people."

"Normal?" The Golden Trio asked, shocked.

"What? Just because your idea of normal is facing certain death doesn't mean mine is," Simba shrugged.

"That was last year," Harry said. "I've no intention to do it again."

"Bet you six grubs you will," Simba said with a smirk. Harry smirked right back.

"You're on!" he said and the brothers shook on it. "Prepare to lose."

000000

The weeks before Halloween trickled down slowly and Simba was pleased to note that more teachers were allowing him to sit in their classes.

"Now class," Flitwick said to the first years he was teaching, "the most important skill a wizard may have is levitation—or the ability to make objects fly."

Simba watched as the class attempted the spell and decided to roam around the room a bit. The small cub in him still wanted to pounce on the feathers flying up in the air.

"Simba," Ginny giggled as Simba pounced on her feather. Simba was glad to see her. He hadn't seen a lot of the youngest Weasley and it saddened him a bit. He knew what it was like to be ignored and he didn't want to do it to his friends as well.

"How are you doing Ginny?" he asked.

"Pretty well," the redhead said with a smile. "I met one of my old childhood friends on the train. Her name's Luna."

Ginny pointed to a small dirty-blonde haired girl with an odd object around her neck.

"Guessing that's her?" Simba asked.

"You'd be right," Ginny nodded. "People think she's odd though."

Simba frowned. Well, if people thought she was odd then maybe this girl was worthy of knowing. While he considered the Gryffindor House to be his new pride (along with Professor McGonagall of course), Luna could be the first non-Gryffindor to be a member. Almost like the Pridelands, with its numerous animals, except no wildebeests.

"Get back to work," Flitwick called and Ginny jumped. Simba got off her feather and watched as it floated back to the surface.

00000

Halloween came and just as last year, Simba spent a few hours of it in the Forbidden Forest. This time he just talked with Timon and Pumba.

"I miss home," he said after a while. "It's so different here. So many rules."

"Well kiddo," Timon said, "you've got to learn to go with the tide. At least you can spend time with Harry. We're stuck out here."

"Yeah," Pumba said and Simba frowned. Had Harry ever come out to visit them since that Friday in First Year?

"I'll be right back," Simba said and ran into the castle. Finding Harry was a breeze; his scent was everywhere. Getting him to the Forest was no problem either.

"Simba!" Harry yelled as his brother dragged him to the Forest. Literally. Dragged. Simba had Harry's robes in his mouth and was pulling him to the Forest.

"Finally," Simba panted. "You are heavy," he noted to his brother.

"Why did you just drag me out here?" Harry asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Family time brother," Simba said and Harry finally noticed Timon and Pumba.

"Hey guys," Harry grinned. "What's new?"

He sat down and they shared a feast of grubs. While Harry was there, they talked about the chances of Gryffindor wining their first game of the season.

"It'll be slim," Harry sighed. "Slytherin's got the better brooms."

"But Gryffindor's got the better players," Timon said with a smile. "You'll win. You'll see."

Harry smiled and then gasped as the sky darkened.

"I've got to go!" Harry said. "I promised Nick…Hermione will force me to go to this party…."

"No problem buddy," Pumba said with a smile. "Go on. Simba, you go with him. I don't think you should be out here after dark."

"I've been out here before," Simba said as he stood up. Timon shook his head and watched them go off.

"You think Hermione will make you go?" Simba asked.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "She's big on promises."

The two went their separate ways—Harry for the party and Simba to annoy Mrs. Norris. The tracking was easy; Mrs. Norris had the exact same scent as Filch so it was almost too easy to track.

"There you are," he muttered around a bathroom on the second floor. Suddenly a ghost flew out of nowhere and into the bathroom. The floor got wet instantly.

"Find out how she does that later," Simba told himself. "Right now you've got a cat to torment."

He began to walk slowly behind the creature, making sure his footsteps wouldn't be heard on the dampen stones. Suddenly, a new scent caught his attention. It was flowery, something he had smelt at the Burrow but hadn't paid attention to before now.

"Ginny?" he asked and looked up to see the flash of red hair. Instinct told him to look down—or maybe it was because Mrs. Norris was doing. Either way, he looked down to see a great big pair of monstrous yellow eyes staring back at him. He felt his body seize up; almost as if he was becoming a statue.

Well, this is really terrific, he thought with a mental roll of his eyes. I can't move, I'm unable to walk and there is a monster running around Hogwarts turning things to stone!

Suddenly, as if they'd been summoned, the Golden Trio appeared. Simba would have cheered if they hadn't been more preoccupied with the bloody cat than him—oh, and if he could talk.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been open," Hermione read and Simba could hear the tremble of fear in her voice. "Enemies of the Heir, Beware. It's written in blood."

BLOOD? Simba mentally did a check of his body to make sure he wasn't suffering from blood loss but then stopped. Even if he was, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Enemies of the Heir, Beware?" he heard Malfoy spit out and wondered when he showed up. "You'll be next, Mudbloods."

Okay, that was it. It didn't matter when he became unfrozen but when he did—Malfoy was going DOWN!

No one messed with a member of Simba's pride and got away with it—even if he didn't know what Mudblood meant. He figured it was directed toward Hermione and that was too low to be ignored.

Now, would someone please scratch his nose? It was starting to itch and he couldn't rub at it with his paw!