A/N: Woo! Thanks a lot a lot a lot for all your comments! I tried to answer each and everyone personally, those who had a reply feature anyways. The others I'm thanking them here and the friends I know personally know how much I appreciate. Having said that, here's Chapter 3… ;)

Chapter 3

Lily's first night as a cat passed by fairly well. She was glad that James left her free to wonder wherever she went and so she had chosen to sleep on her own bed in her dorm, which was probably the safest choice seeing that Sirius was feeling particularly murderous when he returned from the Hospital Wing.

When she woke up the next morning, she passed quite a lot of time stretching and lazing about in the soft rays of the sun that were coming in between the curtains until she saw her reflection in the mirror and nearly fell off the bed. It was the first time she had really seen herself since she had been turned in a cat. Being a cat lover herself, Lily had to admit that she was not bad… not bad at all. She walked as close to the full length mirror as possible, her little nose touching that of her reflection examining each and every detail. It was so real that it shocked her.

Yet, what did you expect? She asked herself.

That's when she noticed that James was observing her in the doorway, smiling at her. She turned around quickly as if caught doing something wrong which made him laugh. She decided that she liked the sound of his voice but then immediately reprimanded herself for thinking so.

He crouched down holding out his hands. "Come on Lilykins. Lily won't be too happy if she finds us nosing around her room.", he said, taking a furtive glance around the room to make sure the Head Girl wasn't there.

Lily had to smile inwardly at this. However, she didn't jump in his arms. Instead she walked right past him and out of the door, proudly with her tail in the air. James shrugged and stood up but before closing Lily's door, he took another look at the empty room. Where was she?

Later, down in the Great Hall which was nearly empty, Lily sat on the bench at the Gryffindor table, between James and Sirius. The latter kept giving her dark glances. Thanks to Madam Pomfrey the scratch on his cheek was now nothing but a memory.

"Did you have to bring her down to breakfast?" asked Sirius, keeping his plate away from Lily as possible.

"Yes, she has to have her breakfast too.", said James handing Lily a piece of toast.

However Lily barely noticed. She was staring at the farther side of the Hall where a couple of students sat at the Slytherin table. One of them had greasy black hair, a hooked nose and was smirking at her. Sirius and James followed her gaze.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that this cat knows something about Snape that we don't" said Sirius, looking at Snape with as much hatred as it was humanely possible.

"Or maybe she's just dumbfounded that such a monstrosity actually exists" said James, which made the few Gryffindors sitting at the table laugh openly and almost choke on their food.

Lily was just calculating how deadly her cat claws could be when the Headmaster got down from the teacher's table and approached James. He was carrying a bundle of clothes and a wand in his hand, which with a jolt Lily recognized as her own. In all the confusion, she hadn't even noticed that she had left her belongings behind.

Dumbledore stopped in front of James.

"Mr. Potter, I wonder if I can have a word please."

Seeing that the Headmaster was being serious, the Head Boy nodded curtly and stood up, walking with the Head of School out of the Great Hall. Lily followed silently behind.

Once out of earshot, Dumbledore turned to James. "Hagrid found these clothes and wand just outside the Forbidden Forest early this morning."

When James showed that he was still confused as to what he was trying to tell him, Dumbledore grabbed the cloak and flashed a tiny badge on the side, which portrayed clearly the initials HG for Head Girl. James's eyes widened with understanding and then he frowned.

"What happened?" he asked.

"That's what I was hoping you'd tell me.", said Dumbledore grimly. "Something must have happened out there yesterday, something that not even Ms. Evans could have expected."

Lily cringed again at this comment. If only they knew…

Dumbledore was speaking again. "When was the last time you saw her, James?"

James thought for a little and then said. "I think yesterday, at lunch in the Great Hall."

"I see" said Dumbledore. "and didn't it occur to you that something had happened when she didn't return to your living quarters yesterday evening?"

James bit his lip, a little embarrassed. "Sir, I did wonder about it but I just thought she was in the library studying and came in late. I didn't for one second think that something must have happened to her… I mean she's bright enough to take care of herself."

Dumbledore nodded again and sighed. "Nevermind. We're going to do a search around Hogwarts and the grounds. Hopefully we'll find she's just overslept at the library or was a victim of some prank or joke. I expect you to be part of the search party. The prefects will be in charge of the students for a while."

James noted that he didn't sound hopeful.

Lily had had enough. There they were talking about her when she was there right next to them! She grabbed at the Headmaster's robes, sinking her claws and tugging on to them, mewing loudly and trying to catch his eye.

He looked down and bent low to caress her. "What is this? Your new pet?" asked Dumbledore gently, surveying Lily over his half-moon glasses.

"Yes" said James, nodding. "Found her yesterday in front of the castle when we came from Hogsmeade. She's quite clever."

Lily mewed again looking Dumbledore in the eye, willing him to understand. He looked at her for a second and then stood up.

"Take good care of her" he told James, who in turn frowned and looked down at Lily, puzzled.

Dumbledore turned around to go away when he stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot. You've got a student less to be in charge of. He's a Gryffindor, first-year, left this morning. Seemed to have changed his mind on staying here for the holidays."

James nodded absently his mind running over what the Headmaster had told him. Dumbledore walked away while Lily slumped down, ears drooping. That was the last stroke. Her hope of changing back had left the school and the Headmaster hadn't recognized her.

Great, just great, she thought bitterly.

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The castle was silent, almost eerily so. It was Christmas Eve; all the staff except the prefects were out searching for Lily, while most of the student body that was left at school was out enjoying the festivities and the free time. On the other hand, Lily Evans, cleverest witch of the year and Head Girl was stuck in the body of a cat without the faintest idea if she's ever going to turn back to how she was before.

She had considered trying to find her wand and try to turn herself back to human form but she dismissed it almost immediately. Besides wrecking the whole place she's proabably end up doing damage to herself and find herself in a worse situation.

She strolled aimlessly through the school until unexpectedly she found herself back in the Great Hall which seemed enormous as seen from her size. The Hall was empty except for a couple of students playing chess and Remus who was reading a book on a bench. Lily remembered that he had been left in charge of the students since he was a prefect.

She walked over to him and jumped lightly on the bench next to him. He looked at her and stroked her head, smiling.

"You worried for Lily too huh?" he said, noticing her drooping head. "I wish I knew what happened to her."

She put a paw on his arm and looked at him saying "It's me". He looked at her and for a moment she thought he had understood but then he closed his book and got up.

"You're right. I should go and search for her too. Maybe they've overlooked somewhere." With a light tap on her head he left the Great Hall, leaving her more miserable then ever.

She laid her head on her paws looking at the twelve traditional sparkling Christmas trees positioned around the Hall. They reminded her of their own tree back at home. She should have gone home as well this year. If she had gone home, this wouldn't have happened…

However then as she stared at one golden orb in particular she felt something stir in her… a need to go and have that orb…it was tempting her.. to play with it.. yes.. it was calling her…. She had to have it!

Without really knowing what she was doing, she jumped off the bench and approached the tree. She raised one paw tentatively but the globe was too smooth. Therefore she positioned herself on her hind legs and tugged at the globe with her two paws. Seconds later, the globe came free in her paws but it was too heavy, falling to the ground and shattering into a million pieces.

Almost immediately, someone mewed near the door. Lily looked up to see Mrs. Norris.

What does that mangy old cat want now? She thought, annoyed. They are all mine! She can't have them! All the nice sparkly balls... all mine.

Mrs. Norris walked quickly next to Lily. Seeing this as a threat and wanting to grab as many balls as possible, Lily took a deep breath and jumped on the tree.

Yes!, she thought jubilant, clinging on to the branches but a moment later Lily was hanging on for dear life; the tree had begun swaying to and fro.

A muffled voice, deep within her rational brain, told her that this was not a good thing.

Finally the tree started toppling over towards the ground. As if in slow motion, Lily saw Mrs. Norris open her mouth and start to run away but it was too late. Lily and the tree came crashing down on the other cat. The sound was deafening. The decorations shattered on the floor or just rolled around the entire span of the Hall.

Lily's last thought before blanking out were "Ooohh… pretty balls!"

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Umm.. did I overdo it? lol I just wanted to get my own back on Mrs. Norris .. meh.. Whoever reviews first gets a free cookie:P