I never thought I would be back in the house Draco and I bought, and I was right. But then, I never thought Draco would move on with another woman. Or am I reading too far into this too soon?
"Go get Janine," Draco tells Tony as he carries me in. He flatly refused the cage the pet store owner offered him.
Draco barely gets me settled on his knees before Tony comes back, led by a tall, slender brunette: the kind of girl we all at Hogwarts thought Draco would end up with. Obviously we weren't completely wrong.
"A cat?" she asks, peering down at me through narrowed blue eyes. "I thought you hated cats, sweetie."
I scowl as she runs one of her manicured hands across his shoulders.
"Looks kind of temperamental," she adds, and Tony snorts from across the room.
"I'm going out," he says, pulling a set of keys from the key rack.
"Don't stay out too late, hun," Janine calls, sugary sweet.
I'm scared that if I gag I'll bring up a hairball.
"Bye, dad," Tony calls, and slams the door behind him.
Janine abruptly turns her attention back to me. Or rather, to Draco.
"Why a cat?" she asks again.
Draco shrugs.
"Why do we need a pet, anyways?"
He shrugs again. Not once have his eyes left me. Just like it used to be.
Janine sighs dramatically. "What are you going to name it?"
Draco shrugs yet again, but lifts me up to peer at my underside.
"It's a girl," he concludes, setting me back down and scratching behind my ears.
"You could call it Angel," Janine suggests half-heartedly.
Draco shakes his head. He stays silent for a few moments and my purring fills the space between us.
"Eno," he finally utters, and I stop purring as Janine lets out a bark of laughter.
"Eno?" she asks incredulously. "That's such a stupid name!"
Draco shrugs.
We both know it was the short version.
I've decided, now that I'm back with Draco and Tony, in a way, that being a cat isn't so bad. It's just Janine that is spoiling my milk. She doesn't want me around. Claims that I'm taking up more of Draco's time than is necessary.
I don't think that is the case at all.
I was warned before I came back that I was not supposed to state – in any form – who I was, why I was back, or what the after life was all about. But the longer I'm here – granted, it's only been a week or two – the more I'm coming to believe that Draco really does know it's me.
No, the catnip isn't getting to my head.
Being in the form I am, I hear things that I probably shouldn't. Besides the mice running inside the walls of the laundry room. I love to lie in Draco's bed, but whenever he comes in, my insides squirm like they used to. And then he'll start talking. Not incessantly, or loudly, but filled with a quiet passion. Sometimes he will simply sit and pet me, staring off into space before he speaks.
I never thought he would be one to talk to animals.
Mum warned me that people change after a death.
But when he talks, I feel like he's talking to me, Hermione, not Eno The Cat. He'll talk about Tony, how he's doing in his advanced schooling with his girlfriend. About Janine and how she's sweet but has no substance. About how he feels when he sees Harry, Ron, Remus, or the Weasleys in the street.
Today, he said, "I miss you."
I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. How had he figured it out? What was I supposed to do?
And then he gave a little laugh and looked out the window.
"I wish you were my Hermione," he said then, and my heart plummeted. I wanted to cry. When a tear rolled down his cheek, that feeling redoubled, and I let out a small cry. I crawled up on his lap and nuzzled into his midriff. He smiled sadly down at me, and a small knock echoed on the door. Draco quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks as Janine pushed open the door.
He hid it, obviously, and she didn't question anything, but was as bubbly as ever.
Makes me sick.
So here I am, alone now on his bed, waiting for him to come back. And no, it's not pathetic. I have a good patch of sun here.
Hopefully that's a little longer for you all. Thank you for the reviews and advice! Issues will be cleared up in the next chapter!