Three Forward…
Author's Note: Disclaimer here, no money, no own, no character, 'sept Adamantia. To everyone who reviewed this, thank you so much, it still amazes me how many people have taken Harry Cat to heart and the reviews are always so positive. Here's a couple of answers to questions asked.
Johnny-on-the-spot asked about Harry's aging. He hasn't aged at all, really, he is stuck in time at age seventeen when he killed Voldemort. Sometimes, when something bad enough happens, people are thrown into a loop and never seem to grow up and get on with it. I think this is what has happened to Harry but, because of the magic, he is both phsically and mentally stuck.
Bess, sorry no slash this time. There are some 'slashy' elements but I think that is more of a mindset than actuality. Boys and men are allowed to show affection, even though its not written in the Bloke's Manual to Being Blokey. LOL. Our sons even hug or kiss each other and their father and I, in public and they are completely straight, or so their girl friends assure us.
Etherian, my cats thank you but think it is only their due, of course they are beautiful and perfect and poised and all other things P, (including pain-in-the-arse and paunchy.) That idiot cat discovered that roses, while they seem to be friendly and want to play when the wind blows, also bite back, especially when they claw at your ears with their hidden sharp bits. Read some of your writing and thoroughly enjoyed it, keep to going, please.
A quick definition
Dandelion Clocks: The white ball of seed heads on a dandelion. As kids, we firmly believed that, when you blew on them, the number of breaths it took to blow all the seeds off was the time. One breath equalled one hour, usually requiring three to six breaths, which was why we called them clocks. (I got asked to explain that since not everyone grew up in the north of England and just knew things like that.)
oo0oo
Harry leaped, both paws whacking wildly but the cunning butterfly flittered out of reach, tantalising and teasing as it fluttered on the warm spring breeze. The grass was as green as springtime, dandelions dotting the hillside, nodding and bowing as fingers of air stirred them. Landing in a patch, Harry came nose to nose with a dandelion clock which poofed apart with his passage. White fluffy parachutes wafted away from his face, one or two tickling his nose and he sneezed explosively. Three more clocks exploded, filling the air with a cloud of moving whiteness, blocking his vision and his nose with the scent of summer. He rolled and leaped, the noise of the breeze around his ears growing slightly louder as he galloped down the hill.
"Aaaaaaaaa…"
The grass was longer now, greener, the blades thicker and up to his chest. Harry paused in his mad scramble, glancing around inquisitively. Was the blue sky now tinged with green? Was the sunlight more glaring, the clouds less puffy? Where were the dandelions and the butterfly? Why was the breeze getting stronger?
"Vvvvvvaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" said the breeze, now growing to a brisk blow.
Harry began to look around but realised his feet were rooted to the spot. Staring down he felt a shriek growing in his chest. Grass merged with fur in a seamless join. The wind was a roaring gale that flapped the tee-shirt around his ears.
"Kkkkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" it shrieked and he panicked, rearing back and scrabbling madly, tearing his legs free of the clinging, imprisoning grass. The fur came off, degloving his legs, leaving the meat raw and bloody as he shrieked in pain.
"Dddddddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" Ignoring the agony, Harry fought free of the muffling speed of the wind on his back and ducked reflexively, green light washing over him as it…
Blackness enveloped him, leaving him panting and mewling in remembered terror as he gulped and swallowed, kept safe by the heavy weight of the blackness. Realising the smell was of lavender and potions rather than dust and curses, he flopped bonelessly down again and was back to sleep in seconds.
Severus huffed indignantly, moving the robe he had grabbed in his half asleep panic and studied the tight curl of Abyssinian still panting nervously even though his eyes were tightly shut. The terrified mewling and lightening-like stirs of magic had faded away as soon as he had grabbed his robe off the bedside chair and tossed it over the dreaming cat. He wondered what had disturbed the little animal so much, not the usual dreams or nightmares, of that he was certain. It had been nothing pleasant, if the panting and mewing had been anything to judge by. Oh well, maybe in the morning… The Potions Master covered his pet up again and snuggled down, hoping there would be no more disturbances of his rest.
oo0oo
Minerva's rooms were warm. Not just because a cheerful fire burned in the grate, the wide hearthstone padded with a cushioning charm, but because of the delicate warmth of the colouring. Soft heather and thistle purple coloured the stones of the walls, the carpet echoing the walls with swirls of McGonagall teal green to add depth. Honey coloured wood and a teal green three piece were highlighted and complemented by red and gold throw pillows. Hand crocheted antimassacres protected the backs and arms of the chairs adding the only frills the apartment sported. In one corner a fantastic piece of architecture stood, a life-like tree with platforms and small cave-tunnel hidey holes built into the trunk as it rose to the ceiling. It was a cat scratching post of the most exotic kind!
Harry chirruped a greeting as he rode Severus' shoulders into the room, both having been invited for tea. Minerva smiled back and purred deep in her throat as the two entered her territory. Harry slithered down Severus' robes to bound over to the cat station with an excited chirp. Shaking his head, Severus took up his favourite chair, spreading his robes around him as Minerva pulled her wand and pointed it with a murmured spell. The tree came to life! Birds suddenly fluttered in the leaves, butterflies and fairies swirled and teased. A mouse shot out of the crack at the trunk's base, washed its face then darted back into the hole as the cat tried to pounce on it. The cheeky little thing quickly appeared on a platform above as Harry sprang, claws scrabbling for purchase, giving chase.
Shaking his head, Severus waited until Minerva was seated before he leaned back and sniggered. "Getting a bit old for that sort of thing, aren't you?" he jibed gently.
"Aye, I'm afraid so, but I did so love it when I was younger. That pesky mouse took quite some transfiguring to get it just right." She sighed reminiscently as she tapped for tea and biscuits. Both older people watched the speedy little cat dart in and out of the branches and leap lightly from platform to platform as the transfigured life forms caught his attention and teased him into chasing them. "So, how has he been since his last misadventure?"
"Completely cat-like. The accident with the tee-shirt seems to have triggered both a regression and a series of nightmares. Giving a cat the Dreamless Sleep potion is not possible so I'm afraid it has been broken nights for both of us again. A pity we are only into October or I would ask Albus for a sabbatical until this passes."
"Can you not get Harry to talk to you, at all?"
"Hah! The stubborn little wretch must be human enough to make his jaws form words. To become human enough for that he needs to allow himself to think and remember. But that he does not want to do so he refuses to become human except to enjoy a bath or shower. All very circular, I'm afraid." Severus grumbled, then sipped his tea before he said something compromising but Minerva read the worry in her long-time colleague's eyes as he watched the cat play blithely on the exercise toy.
"Did he even look at the material I sent you?" Minerva asked, remembering how carefully she had hunted out books and stories about Animagii and the transformation; what could go wrong and how to compensate for it.
"I read the articles to him," Severus muttered. "He lay in my lap and listened or dosed but at least he was present to hear the sound of my voice. How much he actually absorbed is a whole different question."
"Oh well, that's better than… Oh Bloody Hell!" Minerva squeaked and grabbed for her wand but Severus was quicker.
As Harry's small body hurtled into space after a bird, Severus cast a cushioning charm and a retarding spell to slow his fall to little faster than a jump, allowing the damned cat to land safely on all fours on the carpet. Harry miaowed loudly and turned to scamper up the trunk and launch himself out into space again, paws spread wide, gleeful miaows and purrs accompanying his flight. Minerva caught him that time and both older magicals watched in resignation as the idiot cat launched himself out into space again.
"Potter!" Severus thundered as the small cat went around for another try. "If you dare launch I will not catch you this time, I assure…" The cat jumped and Severus' mouth tightened as he cast Wingardium Leviosa on Harry, suspending him in midair.
It was Minerva's turn to laugh as the small black cat began to try and swim, his paws flashing as he rolled over and over, struggling and playing against the magic that finally drew him down onto the sofa. As soon as he was free he tried to scamper off again, purring and miaowing all the way but Severus caught him by the scruff of the neck and manually suspended him. All four paws and tail curled up and Harry stared at his guardian with large, merry eyes until Severus growled in disgust, plopped him in his lap and began to stroke him with a resigned look on his face.
Minerva bent to refresh their cups of tea but Severus was sure she muttered something that sounded rather too much like 'Pussy-whipped' for comfort, but before he could growl, she straightened. "Shortbread?" she asked blandly, holding out a plate.
Sighing, Severus selected a biscuit and slapped a small black paw that tried to acquire one, too. "Cats don't eat grain products," he stated as he bit into the rich buttery biscuit making loud, appreciative noises.
Magic trickled through the room and Harry Halfway occupied the central cushion, his stubby finger-paws still trying to snag a treat. "I like shortbread," he purred and snuggled down to nibble.
"Don't get crumbs on the furniture," Severus admonished haughtily but the small smile curving his lips took the sting out of his words.
Minerva smiled and stroked the tail that was determined to land in her tea if she wasn't careful. Harry's cat tail was rather more prehensile than any natural cat's tail had a right to be. "How are you today, my fine feline?" she greeted, making Harry giggle-purr as he crammed the biscuit into his mouth.
"Good," he assured her, ignoring Severus' comment on his manners. "I have a new pom-pom," he said happily, turning to scrabble in Severus' pockets for the bright blue, bronze and scarlet ball of fluff.
"And who gave you that, it's very pretty?" Minerva commented, giving the toy a stroke.
"Mai friend," he told her with a catty wrinkling of his whiskers.
"It seems our Harry has made friends with someone who, er, 'smells like books and potions and soap," the Potions Master said smugly, then grinned as Harry hissed at him softly. "I am not sure who it is but I suspect a Raver."
"Now don't tease the boy, Severus, it's very hard to translate cat designations into human, let me assure you." Minerva chuckled. "So, Harry, have you listened to what Severus told you about transformations?"
Harry shrugged and snagged another biscuit so fast that Severus missed the grab at his paw. Harry laughed at him, even as his guardian took the plate out of reach. "Maaaybe."
"Do you want to talk about it now?"
"Maaaybe."
"Haaarry…" Severus imitated his half purr, half cheeky reply with a semi-stern look. "We need to sort out the problem so that it does not become a bigger problem in the future, you know that. So, son, will you do as Minerva asks, please?"
Harry huffed but became a little more human as he turned and cocked his head in Minerva's direction. She smiled and folded her hands comfortably in her lap.
"Now, Harry, since you are not doing the Animagus transformation, I have been thinking about it and I think what you do is closer to Apparition than transformation in some repects. Do you remember your first Apparition lessons?"
The semi-human face suddenly creased in laughter and Harry Halfway slid closer to fully human as he remembered some of the trials he and his friends had gone through to learn to Apparate. "Hermione lost her hair! Ron lost his eyebrow, and Neville splinched!"
"Yes, and quite a time we had trying to put Mr Longbottom back together again, if I remember correctly," the Potions Master grunted but remained contented to sip his tea quietly.
"It wasn't Neville's fault," Harry said urgently. "His grandmother always made him feel useless so he had no self-confidence. But he was good once he managed to get something right or he wasn't actually thinking about it."
"Humm, if you say so," Severus said provocatively, ignoring the fact his boy was growing more human as he remembered and defended his choice of friend.
Minerva hid her grin at their sparring and touched Harry's lightly furred arm to regain his attention. "Did you ever lose your clothes?" she asked cautiously.
Harry blinked, Severus blushed, and Minerva grinned knowingly as the younger teacher squirmed, remembering an incident when he was first learning to Apparate. The Marauders had tricked him into doing something stupid. It had ended in an almost-naked Snape hiding in the loos until a fellow Slytherin loaned him a robe to return to the dorms in.
"Seamus lost his robes, but he kept his clothes," Harry said, unaware of the byplay going on over his head. "His mum sent him a howler for that but we found the robes in the lake next day."
"So you did not lose your clothes, not at any point?" Minerva clarified.
"No, I never lost a thing, not my clothes nor my parts, nothing!"
"Humm, what about your glasses?"
Harry squirmed, then nodded, hanging his head. "Hermione had to do Accio for me," he confessed sheepishly.
Minerva patted his hand sympathetically. "And how did you make sure it never happened again?"
"I practiced and practiced and practiced," Harry said in great satisfaction, then frowned as the knut dropped. "Oh."
"That's right, practice makes perfect. You have to be very familiar with the things you want to blend, like Seamus and his ordinary clothes but not his robes. Hermione lost her hair because she just lives with it and tries not to think of it, same as Ron and his eyebrow. Who thinks about eyebrows usually, they are just here."
"And Longbottom splinched because…" Severus needled aggravatingly.
Minerva sighed deeply and bristled. "Because he would rather be someone else at a very deep level."
Severus had the grace to look sheepish. "Very well, how should we go about getting the feline menace into clothing?"
Minerva allowed her protective instincts to be calmed. "Harry, where are your glasses?"
A wrinkle of his muzzle and Harry flowed to human; the glasses perched on his nose. "Oh… OH, I think I understand now. But it would be… Wow, its really easy-ish, isn't it?" The spluttered exclamations made both older people smile as the young man slowly flowed back more cat-like, then surged human and flowed back to cat, a little more of each as he faded in and out until Severus felt a little dizzy watching him. Suddenly Harry Human came to the fore. Grinning widely, he hugged Minerva in an exuberant display of pleasure before spinning on the spot and grabbing Severus' hand. "Come on, I need to get some clothes!"
The Potions Master snorted and humphed in a fine display of disgruntled temper even as he reached into his robes and pulled out a shrunken bundle. "Don't say I never do anything for you," he huffed as he unshrank the material and produced a full set of Harry's new clothes.
Harry laughed as he grabbed the jeans and jumper but Minerva stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Just the underpants first," she cautioned. "I spent months in a petticoat before I got the hang of it well enough to take all my clothing with me every time. Believe, me, just underwear is quite enough at first."
"Thanks for the picture, I really didn't need to know that," Severus muttered as Harry bit his lip to stop a similar comment. Minerva glared at both of them, then smirked.
"I can do better… or worse… if you continue to fuss," she warned them with an almost evil grin. "Now, away with you into the bathroom and pop your underwear on before you start to practice."
Harry glanced down at his almost human self and blushed vividly. He hurriedly retreated to cat-form as Severus handed him some black boxers from the pile of clothing, with a short admonition to make it snappy.
Minerva shook her head as the door closed behind the boy. "You know, it's not going to be all that easy for him and it will take a fair bit of time?"
"Humm, he has about seven months to learn," Severus told her plainly, then smiled slightly at her inquiring look. "Madam Weasley will be adding to the Weasley population and I very much doubt our Mr Potter would want to miss that event, do you?"
oo0oo
Adamantia glanced back to make sure the coast was clear, then ducked into the alcove behind the statue of a forest dweller. She still hadn't decided what it was supposed to be but that was rather immaterial. The alcove was much bigger than it had been the first time she snuck in and hid. Now the small stone windowsill seat was four feet long and sported a soft velvet pad. It was also much wider, about three and a half feet, where it pressed against the window panes, and perhaps one and a half feet wide where it extended along the wall to the corner that had not been there originally. The new wall had a desk attached to it, complete with inkwell and spare parchments, if needed, which used the extra length of window seat as its chair. A cunningly wrought candle holder over the desk let a perfect pool of light fall onto the surface to make seeing homework so much easier. A deep piled blue rug covered the floor and heating charms on the windows, walls and rug made it cosily warm even in the depths of the Scottish winter. It was the perfect little study and yet, no one used it except her. No one even saw it except her, and no one ever entered it except her. It was her secret hideout away from the more obnoxious of her Housemates and the rest of the school. Without this retreat, she would not have survived these last few months, of that she was entirely sure!
She glanced up from her prone position on the window seat when a noise drew her attention to the hidden entrance. She grinned as the second someone who used this alcove pushed in. "Hi, Harry," she murmured as the furred body leaped up and wove a delicate dance over her book, pulling his long tail over her face and brushing his cheek against hers. "Good to see you, too. Are you off somewhere nice for your winter holidays?" she asked, sitting up and pulling the cat into her lap to pet him. "Or are you staying here in the torture chamber for the rest of the year?"
Harry purred and head-butted her chin again before stepping back and carefully wrapping his tail around his toes. Adamantia raised an eyebrow as the cat slowly began to grow and change, her eyes widening as he took on more and more human form.
"Ai yam saiying here with my Severus," he miaowed softly. "I brought you presents," he murmured, reaching into the half hidden pouch at his waist and pulling out a small, blue wrapped bundle. "For you, Mia, merry Christmas," he said, flashing white fangs as he placed it in her lap and grinned at her wide-eyed shock.
She took the gift automatically but didn't stop staring no matter how rude it made her seem. Harry allowed it as he calmly licked his claws and turned to preen his flank with his tongue. That very unhuman movement snapped the young Snape out of her shock and she grinned, leaning forward to guide his head back to gain his attention again. "How did you learn to do this?" she asked, waving a hand at his partial transformation.
"Ai always can but I don't like to. It's hard. But then I can talk sometimes, better than just miaowing and humans understand properly. Do you laik the study? I asked Hogwarts to make it for you."
"It was you? Wow, its brilliant! I… you made it for me?" she paused and stared at the small cat in surprise, a soft smile breaking out as she lunged and grabbed the cat, cuddling him close and dropping a kiss on his forehead.
Harry Cat let out a squark of surprise and almost dropped back to full cat but managed not to completely lose himself as the girl let go and apologised hurriedly.
"Come back please," she asked softly. "I'm sorry, it's just… no one talks to me much, not just talks and… stuff. They think I carry tales to my cousin or something, not that he even speaks to me at all. If anything, he is even meaner to me than to anyone else!"
Harry considered this and came back to Harry Halfway to lick her cheek consolingly. "My Severus is even-handed; he is mean to every one… except me," he added with a purring snigger.
Adamantia snorted waterily. "Lucky you," she muttered, scrubbing her eyes on her sleeve.
"He thought if he was extra mean to you, then people would be more sympathetic toward you, but it didn't work out like that. I told him it wasn't working so he will not be as mean to you from now on. He said you are pretty good at potions, which is high praise indeed coming from Mr I-Hate-the-World-and-Everyone-In-It!"
The off-hand comment about the most feared teacher in the school made the girl laugh and sigh, drawing the present toward her. "Can I open this now?" she asked, glancing up shyly.
Harry squirmed. "Okay. I hope you like it. Severus bought what I asked him to. I do not shop, as you might guess," the cat-man said with massive dignity that made her laugh even more.
Peeling the sparkly blue paper away, she stared down at the ancient text with widening eyes. "Oh, my goodness, Bartimus Longrange's 'Exploding Potions and How to Save Them' first edition! Oh, Harry, oh my, you can't just give me this, its too valuable, really!"
"Yes I can. I bought it for you. Severus already has the whole thing, every bloody edition ever printed. So it's yours because you do not blow up your potions every time you go into the classroom, unless they get sabotaged, or so Severus says. And he says you are probably the most in need of the information in that text as your potions get sabotaged more than anyone else's, except for his when he was at school. He wrote a note in it for you, see?"
Adamantia pulled out the carefully scribed, embossed parchment, the elegantly spiky script all too well known to her.
"Dear Cousin,
Harry wished you to have this volume as you seem to need it. I would suggest you learn the marked pages by heart over the next few weeks. This will curtail most of the current crop of explosions as the supplies I provide are limited and thus the opportunities for mayhem equally limited. Do enjoy your Christmas Break.
Lord Severus I Snape, Head of Family."
She glanced up to find a small black cat grooming his paws. Grabbing him up, she unself-consciously slobbered a kiss onto his forehead. "Thank you! Thank you both! I will enjoy my Christmas break after all! With this note and book, my father will have to let me practice all I like now, won't he? After all, the Head of Family has endorsed my 'stupid bloody hobby' wholeheartedly!"
Giggling like a drain, she settled the cat and the tome on her lap and became totally engrossed until the dinner bell rang.