Cat Fight

A/N: I've had the first part of this all written out for a while but I just couldn't come up with an ending. Then finally inspiration struck and here it is. It might be a bit fluffy but I hope you like it anyway. And please tell me if you do! :-)

„Come here, cat... be a nice little kitty..."

Snape employed his very best silky voice - soft and comforting like thick caramel and designed to make his wife's knees buckle, or so she had told him on several occasions.

The cat, however, was not impressed.

With a loud hiss, Ophiuchus retreated further onto the roof, ears flattened against his head, teeth bared. Snape was reminded of Voldemort for a split second.

"For Merlin's sake, cat!" he growled, his voice now lacking any seductive qualities. "Make this a little easier on the both of us and get your furry behind back over here. Aura will be here in a bit and we will need to hurry."

The cat, Snape was sure, would have raised an eyebrow if that had been physically possible. The low purr it gave certainly sounded sarcastic enough. Shivering slightly in the cold air that was blowing in through the open window, Snape seriously considered accioing his wife's furry friend but then though better of it. Ophiuchus was so old, Aurora had explained, that using magic of any kind on him might just be a little too much for his ancient heart, so she had strictly forbidden it. For one, Snape was sure the screeching thing did not even possess a heart. Also, he did not think an innocent little spell would hurt. But what if the cat died by accident and Aurora blamed him? He decided that it was not a risk worth taking.

A delighted squeal at his feet made him look down where he had placed his foot onto a corner of his daughter's romper suit in order to keep the child from making off towards the potentially lethal staircase. To his horror, the little girl had abandoned her favorite toy and was looking for more interesting ventures.

When during dark times he had envisioned a peaceful life, Snape had to admit to himself, he had not expected stress to surface in the form of an adventurous toddler and a vicious cat that had walked out onto a narrow ledge and was threatening to fall if he did not manage to beckon it back inside in time. He did not quite understand why Ophiuchus hated him that much. He had never done the animal any harm. Actually, he had even fed him once when Aurora had been in the hospital wing.

"Come on, kitty," he told the cat in an attempt to sound silky and promising again, still hoping for the animal to walk in on its own accord.

Ophiuchus hissed again. Nothing new there.

Aurelia was trying to wriggle free but he put his foot down- in the literal sense. He, Severus Snape, potions master extraordinaire, talented wizard, Legilimens, he-who-deceived-the-Dark-Lord and whatnot would not bow to a stubborn cat. He stretched out his hand to grab Ophiuchus around its middle but lost his footing due to the fact that his daughter managed to tug free from her restraints.

With a happy gurgling sound, she began to crawl towards the stairs. Why would she make for Aurora's desk or the bedroom? No. She had to move to where danger was lurking in the form of a set of extremely steep stairs. For a split second, Snape was not sure what to do. Would he present his wife with a shattered cat that had fallen from the highest tower of Hogwarts or with a baby that had tumbled down the stairs? Neither felt particularly appealing but he knew where his own loyalties lay. Quickly, he made a huge step away from the window and picked up the baby.

"I don't know what you're thinking, Aurelia. One day you will cause your poor old father's heart to go into cardiac arrest."

Although he knew that she could not possibly know what he was talking about, he found his daughter's amused laugh a bit mistimed. At least, he reminded himself, she was not crying again, because that would have probably shocked the cat into falling off the tower for good.

He secured the child against his side and walked back towards the window where the cat's green eyes were staring at him.

"Come on in," he said, anger now seeping into his tone. "Aura is going to kill me if you fall off."

The cat's whiskers twitched as if it was trying to sneer at Snape. Somehow he suspected that it had orchestrated the whole scene to cause Aurora to dislike him.

"It takes more than a cat on a ledge to make my wife leave me!" he informed the animal. "You know, I have been acting like a bastard quite a few times and I have always managed to get back into her good graces. Maybe it's for the better if you just fall off because she will hate me for a while for leaving the window open but she is bound to get over it sooner or later."

The green eyes remained unreadable.

"What have I ever done to you?" Snape asked accusingly. "I even tried to win you over with tuna."

The cat had eaten the tuna, he had to give it that. Later, however, it had thrown up into Snape's shoes. On purpose, he was convinced.

"You detest me."

Aurelia made another delighted sound and reached her sticky little hand out for the cat.

"Oh no, no..." Snape began, panicked at the thought that the rather adorable gesture might cause the cat to go over the edge. In the literal sense.

Ophiuchus cocked his head thdn rose from his seated position, arched his back elegantly and walked towards them to affectionally rub his head against the baby's outstretched hand.

"She is my daughter, you know. My blood is flowing in her veins. Liking her means betraying everything you stand for, stupid animal," Snape announced nastily.

The cat began to purr and leaped back into the room like the twinkle-toed beauty it was. Snape growled and quickly closed the window with a raised hand. Ophiuchus regarded him disdainfully and then walked towards Snape's favorite chair – the only thing he had brought up with him from the dungeons – high-tailed, then sat in it.

Snape's eyes narrowed as he had not yet succeeded in finding a spell that managed to remove all the thin white hairs that Ophiuchus left on the chair whenever he lay in it.

"Get off my chair you insolent little twit!" he commanded sternly.

"He can't understand you, you know. He is a cat."

Snape whirled around and found his wife standing in the doorway in her teaching robes, clutching an unruly stack of parchment in her arms.

"How long have you been standing there?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Long enough to be aware of the fact that you would not mind at all if my poor cat's demise was inevitable."

He rolled his eyes. "He hates me."

"Because you won't let him sleep in our bed."

Snape raised his free hand in outrage while Aurelia began to drool over his collar. It seemed that he was destined to be sloppily dressed until she learned not to do that anymore.

"Of course I won't! He's always- looking at me. It is unsettling."

Aurora raised a corner of her mouth seductively. "My great hero of a husband who comes complete with a chocolate frog card is unsettled by a cat." She took Aurelia from him and kissed her fair hair.

"Because that particular cat is evil," Snape protested.

"At least I don't own pickled eels in jars."

"They are in my office! You hardly ever see them!" Snape rolled his eyes upon realizing that he was caught up in an argument that would probably lead nowhere. "Come on, Aura. This is pointless. We need to get going, anyway or we will be late for the party."

Minerva McGonagall seemed to live in constant fear that her employees – namely Snape and Sinistra – might not have enough time to themselves and had urged them to spent a night out in London where some former order members had organized a little get-together. Snape, who hated parties, had only agreed when her attempts at persuasion had become so frequent that he had become increasingly tempted to avada kedavra her. And since he had an unfortunate history of bringing about the demise of Hogwarts heads, he had finally given in.

Aurora raised one corner of her mouth and handed their daughter back to him. "Let me just change into something more appropriate while you put Relia to bed."

"You heard your mother." Snape carried Aurelia into the other room and placed her into her cot. Already sleepy, her eyes fluttered shut immediately before Snape had even finished tucking her in. He fondly regarded the little girl for a moment, allowing himself one of his rare smiles. A knock on the door made him jump slightly.

"Yes?" he drawled.

The door opened and in walked Ginny Weasley, a hesitant smile on her face. Snape curled his lip and folded his arms in front of his chest.

"You?"

Ginny nodded and cast a nervous look at her shoes. "Yes. Professor Sinistra asked me to watch Aurelia while you are away."

Snape felt reluctant to trust anyone with his daughter. This was the first time he had given in to Aurora's requests and agreed to having someone else watch her. But Potter's girlfriend of all people...?

"Why would you not be attending the party yourself?" he asked.

"I have my final exams coming up. I need to study. This is a perfect opportunity."

Snape leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "I promise you that if you take your eyes off her for just one minute, I will personally..."

"Severus!" He abruptly turned his head towards his wife who had walked into the room and was currently flashing Ginny an apologetic smile.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Miss Weasley," she said sweetly. Snape glowered at Ginny for good measure and then followed his wife out.

"Potter's girlfriend?" he hissed. "Seriously?"

Aurora turned around and placed both of her hands flatly against his chest."You need to lighten up, Severus." She smiled and briefly pressed her lips to his. "Aurelia will be perfectly fine and we will have a good time. I hear Mrs Weasley makes a wicked punch."

Snape rolled his eyes, which seemed to have become a frequent occurrence nowadays.

"Do me a favor, sweet Aurora, please do not get drunk."

Four hours later Aurora and Snape apparated in front of the Hogwarts gates and the usually mean-tempered potions master grabbed his wife around the middle, swinging her around in a circle.

"You were the single most beautiful woman on that party," he told her in a muffled voice.

Aurora laughed. "If you had told me beforehand how much parties disgust you, I would not have talked you into going in the first place."

Snape waved her off. "Never mind."

Aurora shook her head and placed her palm against his cheek. "I guess the punch got you through it." She chuckled. "And here I was, thinking that you could hold your liquor."

"I can!" he protested, his voice much lighter than usual. "It was just... a little much, I suppose."

She slid her hand into his and nuzzled his neck. "Let's go back to my tower and go to bed."

"Is that an offer?" he asked conspiratorially.

She shook her head and smiled. "Please go back to your old snarky self, darling. You're scaring me."

They walked across the dark grounds towards the twinkling lights of Hogwarts castle, a chilling wind whispering in the leaves around them. The stars stood in a perfect velvet sky and Aurora watched them, still captivated by their beauty despite the fact that studying them had been her profession for years. Here at Hogwarts, far away from cities and highways, the stars were always perfectly bright and they had always given her solace. Even now that she was in a happy place, she sometimes needed their comfort.

Snape was walking besides her in silence, the air probably clearing his head. The goofiness he displayed while intoxicated was endearing and made her smile slightly.

"You are really cute when you're drunk, you know?" she told him, looking up at him.

"Come on," Snape said in his usual snide voice. "I am not that drunk."

She decided to tease him, aware of the fact that he hated it but would not call her out on it. "I think you are!" she said in a sing-song-voice. When Snape stopped dead in his tracks, she feared that she had gone too far and indeed his brow was furrowed.

"I am not one of those pathetic people who indulge in too much liquor and end up making a fool of themselves, Aurora."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and ignored his irritated frown.

"Then prove it, Severus. How about some complicated magic? The Patronus Charm, perhaps?"

She had to admit that she enjoyed this far too much. She had gradually discovered all of his tender ways, his honorable and loyal side but she was also well aware of the arrogance and rude behavior he liked to display to the world. So sometimes, she felt it her duty to remind him that he might be powerful and brilliant but that he had his own weaknesses, too. Maybe that way she would be able to make him more accommodating of other people's shortcomings. Maybe that way he would someday be able to make light, pleasant conversation on a party instead of glowering at everyone and having to take the edge of his infamous sarcasm by means of alcohol.

"The Patronus Charm!" he said. "Well, that is almost too easy."

Without taking his eyes off her, he raised his wand and called out: "Expecto Patronum!"She broke the gaze and watched the shimmering animal move around them effortlessly. She choked and her hand flew up to her mouth causing Snape to whirl around. His eyes widened and he lowered his wand, completely taken aback by the sight.

"I have never seen your patronus before, you know," she whispered, mesmerized by the brilliant white light.

"I have never seen that one, either," he admitted, sounding slightly sarcastic as well as surprised.

She turned towards him with a start, her hand on his arm with urgency.

"Oh my... Severus! That is Ophiuchus!"

She felt his hand come up and caress her back, not taking his eyes off the playful cat in front of them.

"I should have known it would change," he said softly.

"Into my cat." She felt laughter bubble up inside her throat. "The one that hates you like no other." She could not help herself anymore and started laughing, her shoulders soon trembling uncontrollably. When she tilted her head back to stop the tears of laughter that were beginning to spill, he caught her around the waist and pressed his lips to hers. She stilled and reached up to deepen the kiss.

When they came apart, he shook his head. "After this display, I believe, I do not have to tell you that I love you."

Her laughter had died down but she was still giggling. "Tell me anyway."

He leaned forward and ran his hand down her back. "If you tell Ophiuchus about this, I will make you pay."

"He is a cat!" she replied, close to hysterics. "He wouldn't understand!"

Snape growled and grabbed Aurora's hand.

"Come on, I don't want my little girl to be alone with Potter's girlfriend any longer than necessary."

An hour later, she lay curled up into his side, her arms around his chest, her eyes drooping.

"It's nice to know you two are coming around," she murmured.

Snape, sitting up with a book, glanced up from the pages towards the foot of the bed where the fluffy cat lay, one eye fixed onto the black-haired wizard with obvious suspicion.

"He has to stay down there," he said sternly and shot the cat a dark look.

She brought her lips up to his ear and whispered: "You love him, really."

Snape snorted.