The Cat's Pyjamas

by Healer Pomfrey

Please refer to the disclaimer, warnings and notes at the beginning of chapter 1!

9 - 'Gainst the wall he sets his eye,

During the following weeks, Pangur and the teachers eagerly followed the reports in the Daily Prophet. Minerva toyed with the thought of contacting Albus Dumbledore, but dismissed it in order to not unnecessarily endanger Pangur. Nothing spectacular was reported though, and due to the beginning of his fifth year at KFC, Pangur slowly began to forget about the matter.

On the day after Halloween, however, terrifying news from Hogwarts reached the Kentucky Foundation for Children.

"A troll is said to have attacked the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts," Patrick told Pangur, when they spent the afternoon in the clinic together.

"But how can a troll get into Hogwarts?" Pangur asked, uncertain if he should believe the story.

Patrick smirked. "I'm sorry Pangur; I didn't read the complete article. I only heard Minerva and Medusa talk about it. Why don't you visit your grandmother and look at the newspaper later on?"

Pangur nodded, resolving to go home for a while after dinner. 'I need to speak with Granny about the Transfiguration test anyway,' he thought, sighing as he recalled that he was still not capable of properly casting the spell to transfigure a plush mouse into a squirrel. His brown mouse used to end up either in a different colour like green or pink, apparently depending on his mood, or as a marmalade cat.

'Professor Quirrell was announced dead by Healers of St. Mungo's,' the Daily Prophet reported. 'However, an hour after being fatally injured, Professors and students saw Professor Quirrell walk through the Hogwarts halls as if nothing had happened. According to Headmaster Dumbledore, the Hogwarts staff believe that Professor Quirrell already changed a lot during the last months. Rest assured that we will keep you updated on this unfolding mystery.'

猫のパジャマ

It was a few days later, when Pangur was peacefully asleep at night, that he suddenly found himself in a dark stone room. A man, who was wearing a black hood, was kneeling on the floor in front of him.

"Master, I am delighted beyond word to see and serve you," the man said, bowing deeply in front of him. "We..."

"Very well Malfoy," Pangur heard himself interrupt the man. "Now we don't have time for small talk. Tell me where the Potter boy is. Why did he not come to Hogwarts in September?"

"I'm sorry Master, but I have no idea. I was surprised myself when Draco informed me..."

"Enough," Pangur hissed impatiently. "Find out about his whereabouts and come back to inform me tomorrow."

"Yes my Lord, I will try to gather some information," Malfoy replied, bowing again.

"Trying is not good enough," Pangur shouted angrily. He pointed his wand at Malfoy and muttered something, nodding contentedly when the man fell to the ground and began to moan.

Pangur's whole body erupted in pain. With relief did he register that the man was dismissed, and he woke up back in his dormitory.

Eddie and Adrian were helplessly standing next to his bed. "Pangur, are you all right?" Eddie asked, looking at Pangur in concern. "You were moaning terribly in your dream. That must have been a bad nightmare."

'Was that a nightmare? But who were those people?' Pangur wondered in confusion, before he slowly said, "Yes." 'It was strange. I couldn't only hear and see what was happening. I even felt everything, and it still hurts,' he thought.

"I don't feel so well. I will go and speak with Professor Snape," he said decisively, slowly climbing out of his bed.

"Why Snape?" Eddie and Adrian asked simultaneously.

'Because he might know the people, and he can look into my mind. They were talking about me,' Pangur mused. Noticing his friends' expectant expressions, he replied, "He is our Head of Year, plus he might know what my dream means. What time is it?"

It was two o'clock in the morning, and to Pangur's relief, Severus was still working in his private lab. Noticing that the boy looked worse for the wear, the professor immediately put the potion that he was working on under a Stasis charm and motioned Pangur to follow him into the living room.

When they were both seated comfortably, Severus queried, "What happened Pangur?"

"I had a strange nightmare, sir," Pangur hesitantly explained. "Could you perhaps just enter my mind and watch it, please?"

猫のパジャマ

When the professor carefully pulled out of Pangur's mind, his expression was laced with concern. 'He is back,' he thought, horrified, forcing himself to resist the urge to roll up his left sleeve and check the Dark Mark. "Pangur, are you in pain?" he enquired in a soft voice, giving the boy a concerned look.

"It hurts a bit," the boy admitted, sleepily. In fact, he had been about to fall asleep, when Severus spoke up. "But it's not bad," he added, yawning.

"Very well then," Severus said, smirking as he transfigured the sofa into a comfortable bed and motioned Pangur to lie down. "I will talk to my colleagues about the matter. Don't worry and just go back to sleep; we'll speak about everything tomorrow," he said soothingly. Noticing contentedly that Pangur drifted off to sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, Severus pulled his wand and waved it over the boy. 'That's what I thought,' he thought grimly, 'the Cruciatus curse, and the boy is affected just by being pulled into the scene through his scar.' He headed into his lab and immediately began to brew a potion, of which he had hoped to never ever have to brew it again. It was almost seven o'clock in the morning, when he finally extinguished the flame under his cauldron. He returned into the living room and gently shook Pangur's shoulder.

"Pangur, I need you to take this potion," he said, holding out a small phial. "It will help you against the after-effects of the curse, which the Dark Lord cast at Lucius Malfoy last night." He gently helped the boy to sit up and pressed the phial against his lips, observing contentedly that the child gulped the strange-smelling liquid down without complaint. "If you feel well enough to attend classes, it's time to return to your dormitory and get ready for class," he said, quirking an eyebrow.

"Thank you very much sir. I'm fine now," Pangur replied, smiling and scurried out of the room.

'I'll have to speak with Minerva, Poppy and Remus right after the last morning class,' Severus resolved, 'maybe we should even discuss the matter with Medusa and Patrick.'

However, just when Severus was teaching the fifth years, Pangur's class, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left arm that intensified by the minute.

猫のパジャマ

Pangur was sitting in his Potions class next to Hermione, glad that the morning classes were almost over. Although the potion had taken care of the tingling sensation and pain, which he had experienced during the night, he still felt somehow shaken and exhausted by the nightly events. 'Thank Merlin only Potions,' he thought as he absentmindedly prepared his ingredients.

"Pangur, are you all right?" Hermione whispered, eyeing him in concern. "You don't look well."

"I'm fine," Pangur whispered back, discreetly casting a grateful look at the professor, only to notice that his godfather's face was scrunched in pain.

It only took an instant, before the Potions Master's features returned to his usual blank mask. However, Pangur had seen enough to know that something had to be wrong. When the class was over, he quickly informed Hermione that he had to speak with the professor and hesitantly stepped over to the teacher's table.

"Are you all right, sir?" he queried in a small voice, only for his godfather to hear.

"Of course," Severus replied sharply, quirking an eyebrow. "What about you?"

Pangur smiled. "I'm fine, sir. Thank you so much for helping me during the night."

His godfather returned the smile; however, Pangur noticed that it did not reach his eyes. 'Something is wrong,' he realised; 'however, if he doesn't want to speak about it, I can't help him.' He quietly followed the professor to the Atrium and joined his friends, who were eagerly talking about the excursion to Lexington that was scheduled for the following day.

猫のパジャマ

Unbeknownst to Pangur, Severus called his colleagues together for an urgent staff meeting right after lunch, where he informed them about the fact that his dark mark had been flaring during the last hour. "He is calling his followers," he said, unconsciously rubbing his left arm.

"Severus, can you just ignore his call?" Poppy queried, casting him a concerned look.

"I can ignore it as long as I can somehow tolerate the pain," Severus replied, letting out a long sigh. "Maybe he will give up calling me, assuming that I am dead. However..." He slowly trailed off, resolving to keep his colleagues from worrying about him.

"Severus, it is completely up to you if you want to follow his call or ignore it," Minerva said firmly. "We'll support your decision in any case. Just inform us what we can do to help you."

Severus firmly shook his head. "No, Minerva, I will not follow his call. I wouldn't even be able to apparate over such a distance, and I don't intend to endanger Pangur in any way by giving out details about our school to the Dark Lord. It would be too dangerous, as the Dark Lord is a Master of Legilimency."

"Show me your arm," Poppy demanded, causing Severus to glance at Medusa and Patrick, before he hesitantly rolled up his left sleeve, showing his colleagues the Dark Mark that stood very dark against his pale skin. The snake within the mark was angrily moving its head.

"Severus," Remus suddenly spoke up. "These hissing sounds, do they come from the snake in the mark?"

"What hissing sounds?" Severus queried, quirking an eyebrow at the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

Remus smirked as he explained in his usual, patient voice, "Maybe it's only because of my werewolf instincts that I'm able to hear these sounds, but the snake indeed seems to be hissing. Do you, by chance, understand Parseltongue?"

Severus shook his head. "No, I am not capable of the snake language. Pangur does understand it though. Will you be able to put a memory of what it is saying into Minerva's Pensieve, so that Pangur can watch it and try to understand the snake's hissing?"

"Well, I don't know if Pangur will be able to hear the sounds, considering that none of you can hear them, but let's try tonight. The afternoon classes are going to commence in ten minutes," Remus replied, glancing at his wrist watch.

Severus agreed and quickly informed his colleagues about Pangur's vision. "I'm afraid that he'll have to watch more visions in the near future," he said, worriedly. "I can imagine that the Dark Lord will not be pleased to hear that no one knows about Harry Potter's whereabouts, and his punishment tonight might be worse than it was last night."

猫のパジャマ

After dinner, Severus motioned Pangur to accompany him into Minerva's office, where Remus Lupin was just placing his memory about Severus' arm into the Pensieve.

'What did I do now?' Pangur wondered but could not recall having done anything wrong during the day. By now he had almost forgotten about his vision, and he wanted to get a head start on his homework, knowing that the fifth and sixth years were going to spend the whole Saturday in Lexington and that he had to play Hoopitch on Sunday. However, as soon as he entered his grandmother's office, he knew from her expression that he had not been called in order to receive any kind of punishment. Casting questioning looks at Minerva, Poppy, Remus and Severus, he took the offered seat next to his grandmother.

"Pangur," Minerva was the first to speak up. "Severus needs your help."

"Minerva," the Potions Master interrupted his colleague, "let me tell the child everything." Seeing Minerva nod in understanding, he explained to a stunned Pangur how he had become first a follower of the Dark Lord, later a spy for the Light side. Finally, he showed him his left arm, where the Dark Mark still seemed very livid.

Pangur stared at the snake that seemed to be very upset about something.

=What's wrong?= he hissed, completely unaware of the fact that he was speaking Parseltongue.

=Ah, finally someone understands me,= the snake replied.

However, although Pangur could make out that the snake was replying, he was unable to hear a sound. 'It looks very unfriendly, but in order to help Severus, I should listen to what it wants.' Looking questioningly at his godfather, he asked, "Can you somehow make its words louder?"

"Of course," Severus replied, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "There was no need for Lupin to put any memory into the Pensieve. I am sorry that I didn't think of this before." Pointing his wand at his left arm, he whispered, "Sonorus."

An instant later, the room was filled by hissing sounds, causing everyone to look at Pangur in expectation.

tbc...

A huge thanks to the kind readers who commented and to Jessica for proof reading!