Hey guys; sorry for the delayed chapter. I was working at it nonstop this weekend, and it's unedited, so if I use some words three times, please forgive me; I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.

Also: As lord print pointed out to me, the Slytherin dormitory is in the dungeon, so they couldn't open the window. I'm sorry about that; as I told lord print: I remembered that halfway through when I was writing and I was like GODDAMMIT I'M SUCH A FRICKIN IDIOT and slammed my head on the keyboard, which probably was not very healthy for the computer. Does it make that big a difference? No, not really. Is it very relevant to the plot? Not at all. But, if it bothers you that much, please let me know and I will change it -_-

I will now be updating every ten days. Sorry, but I'm not a superhuman and I don't think I will always be able to write 5K words a week. It's very hard, you try it.

Enjoy!

~C~

Two large green eyes opened from under one of the four-posters of the Slytherin Dormitory. They scanned the room, and, seeing that it was safe, poked it's head out from the darkness. One white-tipped paw emerged into the moonlight that flooded the room through an open slit in the curtain. The green eyes reflected off of the light, very nearly glowing in the dark. The owner of them quietly slipped through the moonlight, dousing himself yet again in the twilight.

Tonight, Harry Potter was escaping this wretched place, and there was no way that he was going to ever come back here.

He pawed at the door, which he had made sure was left slightly open so he could bolt. The cat crept past the door and into the hallway that lead to the spiral staircase, which he dipped plummeted down. He made sure to stick close to the wall, where he was encased in darkness.

A Slytherin second year who had stayed up to do his homework in front of the dying fire. He heard the pad, pad of soft paws in the corner of the common room, and turned around to see what it was. For a second, all he could see was the dusty corner under the huge Slytherin tapestry. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hearing things. He really needed to go to sleep. When he opened his eyes again, two glowing orbs were glaring at him from the corner. "Woooahh-oh!" he yelped as he scurried back and fell off the couch with a thump. Shaking, he peered over the back of the couch, only to see the regular dusty corner of the Slytherin common room. Maybe he really was seeing things. He gathered his stuff that he had accidentally scattered when he fell, and began to trudge back to his dorm.

Harry smirked as he did so. The look on his face, oh that was going to make for a good story to Ron.

If he ever saw Ron again, and that was why he was trying to escape this hellhole. With a whump, Harry ran face-first into the wall of the common room. He was sure that there was supposed to be a portrait here-

Idiot. He was in Slytherin tower, not Gryffindor.

Harry scanned the room, trying to find the back of the picture that should lead him back into hallway-

"Paws? How did you get out here?" Harry froze. The fur on the back of his stubby little kitty neck stood on end. That shrill voice was one that was all too familiar to him.

Pansy Parkinson scooped 'Paws' up in her arms and hefted him over her shoulder like a pack of potatoes. "You silly kitty, you can't be out here at night! No you can't, no you can't!" She cooed in a sing-song voice. If Harry could scratch her right now...

Wait, he thought. He flexed his paws, willing his claws to pop out, but they just wouldn't. He held a paw up to his face to study, and he wasn't able to see the tiny, sharp claws that were usually tucked away in the fluffy black fur-

Did... Did Malfoy... Declaw him? Did Draco Malfoy de-frickin-CLAW him?! Oh, he was going to get it for this. Harry growled to himself.

"Awww, Paws you're purring! You're an adorable little kitty cat, you are!" Harry slumped over the Slytherin's shoulder. Looked like he wasn't the only idiot there. Harry's eyes widened in shock as he bounced around on Parkinson's shoulder. She skipped up the steps unnecessarily, humming a bit as she did. Watching as faded yellow bricks passed him speedily. Maybe if he glared at them hard enough, he could burn a hole through them and Parkinson would fall to her death, or, better yet, he himself would...

Suddenly, the bouncing came to an abrupt stop. Harry glanced around, oh God...

"Draco. Draco!" Parkinson shook Malfoy lightly, then more vigorously when he groaned and turned away from her. She grinned mischievously. "You wouldn't listen, Draco, now I get to use my method." She sighed and shook her head. Parkinson bent down, close to his ear. "You asked for it," she whispered. What the...?

Parkinson came closer, and closer...

And licked him.

"I'M UP, I'M UP!" Malfoy bolted up and slammed his head into Parkinson. He wiped his ear hastily and scowled at Parkinson. "You could've woken me up some other way, like stabbing me with a fork or something." Parkinson frowned at this and narrowed her eyes, muttering something that sounded a lot like 'sourpuss'.

"What do you want, anyways? It's what, almost one in the morning? What could possibly be so important at this time…? Oh." He took one glance at Harry, and looked to Harry's captor for explanation.

"I think your kitty tried to escape," She said simply and gravely. If Harry had still had his claws, Pansy Parkinson would be dead right then and there.

"Come on, Ronald." Hermione stamped on Ron's foot under the cloak, which rustled around them at the movement. Ron clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from crying out. He scowled at Hermione before turning back to his throbbing foot. The bushy-haired witch kicked him and hissed to get up. He sighed and eventually succumbed to her seething. She had seemed on edge lately, a little off at classes, interrupting herself in the middle of a book, and snapping at first years, which was the most definite sign that something was up. When Ron tried to wheedle it out of her, she shooed him away and turned back to whatever she was working on, which she hid from him, too.

They scurried around the corner, Hermione stopping him with a hand on his chest as she checked to see if the coast was clear. Ron folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "It's not like anyone will see us, 'Mione-"

Two nimble fingers clipped Ron's mouth shut between them. "Shut up, Ron! Someone's coming!" Came the witch's disapproving vent beside him. They listened as Filch's heavy footsteps crossed the corridor in front of them, accompanied by his muttering to that demon cat of his. Ron tried to let out a sigh of relief, but thanks to a certain teenager, his mouth was still fixed shut. Ron poked her hand, growing irritated. "Oh, sorry, Ron." Hermione released her hand and earned herself a glower from Ron as he massaged his lip.

"Let's get this over with," Ron seethed as he grasped her wrist and pulled her forward. The cloak reached to the ground, an inch or so pooling around them in a silvery puddle. They hiked up the cloak and scuttled over to the door of the Potions classroom. Hermione whispered a few words of advanced unlocking spells that she had gathered out of the library. A tiny click could be heard along the hallway as the door opened before them into the empty classroom. They fumbled around the desks, all but throwing the desks across the room, and Ron hurt his foot for a second time today. "Can we put on one damn light, please?" Ron said through clenched teeth as he nursed his foot.

"Of course we can't, Ron! What would someone think if they saw a light on in an empty classroom?" She hissed. Ron opened his mouth to reply, but shut it quickly, no response that would help him coming to mind. "Exactly. Now can you get up and just do your best not to break anything? Please?" A sour look passed over Ron's face, but he got up and allowed himself to be led to the Potions closet. He glanced around the room, taking in the shadowy corners and dark, billowing curtains that covered the vast windows. The room was eerie during the day, but this was really starting to get to him. Whatever. He shuddered and shook his head, trying to focus on the mission at hand.

"Ron! Ron, get over here! You might want to see this."

"Hermione, if you're talking about a new Potions book that we might get, I'm not really interested - oh." Ron looked down to see Harry's wand scattered on the floor, along with his glasses and a couple of books that must've dropped from the broken shelf on the wall. "Do you think he fell…?"

"Well, with his reflexes, I wouldn't doubt it. But I just wonder why he disappeared…?" She picked up his wand and examined it. "His wand seemed in order." She set it back down and mumbled, "Prior Incantato." A pale, translucent figure shot out of the wand. After a few moments, Ron could recognize a shape that started to form.

"Oh. My. God."

Being surrounded by Slytherins was still horrible, even though it had gotten a bit better since the first day.

Harry still avoided Malfoy, but Harry didn't torture him... as much. It was hard to do, since Malfoy had mostly spent his time reading or catching up on homework, which was much different than he had expected. The picture he got when he thought of Malfoy was usually a blonde demon draped in a purple velvet king's cape, using a first year as a human footstool. He imagined him ordering his cronies around to do his homework and wait on him head and foot. But actually, he was the one being bullied, and he was the one getting ordered around, almost to the point of him being the human footstool. Even the first years hadn't a shred of respect for him. It was strange to think of Malfoy as a scared little kid, but the more time that Harry spent around him, the more that that was what Harry thought of him as.

What was even more shocking was how terrified Malfoy was of his father. He had to talk to him every night, to review what he had learned. Harry watched as Malfoy quivered with fear a half hour before their meetings, shakily writing his learning's on little notecards that he would repeatedly memorize and review to himself over and over again, but the usual sense of pride that Malfoy gave off during classes was missing. Then when they met, after a long period of worrying and pacing coming from Malfoy, he would make his friends leave the room (one of the only times they actually listened to him) and kneel at the edge of the fireplace, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He would spend the next hour telling him about his adventures for the day, always nervous and on the brink of tears when his father scolded him. Harry almost didn't believe it, seeing the great Draco Malfoy so helpless.

Harry had been sleeping under Malfoy's bed, as he didn't want to be anywhere near Malfoy when he was sleeping. Today he was camping out in the cloud of dust, playing with a little dust bunny that just would not stay still. He vowed that he would capture it, eventually. He crept up on it, careful not to blow any air in that direction. There was no way that it was escaping this time. It thought it was so fantastic, flying through his clutches. But this time around, Harry was going to be like a ninja, his dark fur blending against the murky background of the shadowed wall. He was just about to catch it in his tiny, white-tipped paws-

Wait, what the hell was he doing? He was acting like, well... a cat! Malfoy had better be dumber than he looked; he would never let Harry live this one down, but he always seemed to find these catty little quirks adorable, or at the least hilarious. Harry shoved the dust ball away from him. Stupid dust. It was boring anyways.

Malfoy seemed bored, himself. At 8:30 on a Tuesday, there wasn't a lot to do except for study. Malfoy had gotten the meeting with his father out of the way, but he still had to recover from it a bit. This encounter had been particularly rough. When Malfoy had dumbly ventured onto the touchy subject of politics, a slight disagreement had caused Malfoy's dad to explode. They had tenderly moved onto less… provocative topics, looking like their backs were strapped to boards. They carried out the rest of their chat with such stiffness; it was hard to think that they were father and son. They were almost as bad as Harry and Malfoy.

Every time an uneasy silence dwindled into their slow exchanges, the smaller Malfoy would look away, flinching occasionally as though expecting his dad's father call to strike him. The awkwardness was suffocating, it almost hurt to watch. But just when the silence became nearly unbearable, a fairly safe topic would drop in, though just a tad late. But even then would they continue with caution. The situation reeked of unfriendliness.

An aching feeling tugged at Harry's stomach as he watched it unfold. He just wanted to look away, or face palm himself, if he could've. And for one of the first times in his life, Harry felt sorry for Draco Malfoy.

Eventually, the green-eyed cat decided that watching Mr. Malfoy squish his son under his thumb like a bug wasn't enough, so he slinked across the floor to Malfoy, who had his head bowed in either surrender or a silent prayer. He crept into the firelight and nudged Malfoy's elbow, even throwing in a soft 'mewl' for extra. Malfoy glanced back, a confused look leaking into his master poker face. A bright smile sank into his gray eyes, which Harry could almost, almost, see them crinkle at the corners. A warmness in his gut caused him to smile, too. Malfoy picked Harry up and held him out to his father to examine. Harry rolled his eyes when Malfoy began to launch into the story of how he found Paws, and felt his cheeks go warm when Malfoy described how he fell in love with his paws. Malfoy stretched the story as far as it would go, pressing on about every detail of that day. Being so close to the fire, Harry was able to watch Mr. Malfoy curiously. He could have sworn that Malfoy looked like a kid, some ecstatic little kid, and it suited him. Mr. Malfoy appeared to be a loving father. Not proud, or disgusted, as he usually was, but happy, like his son. They ended the Fire-call on a cheerful note, which left Malfoy just sitting by the fire, smiling like an idiot. Something hinted to Harry that their next session was going to be less of a hurdle. Harry's face relaxed, and he heaved an audible sigh. Glad to see that his little plan worked, he stretched his back legs. Who knew that Malfoy had a soft spot for animals? Oh, he would get him for this. Harry cat-shrugged and began to trot back to his spot under the bed (which was probably cold by now), when Malfoy stopped him with one graciously-spoken word.

"Erm… thanks." He said. Malfoy thanking someone was one thing, but whether it was good or bad was another. And Harry, in the middle, was tottering between the two.

But like he said, on a Tuesday night, there wasn't a whole lot to do, especially since Harry was still a cat.

"Ugh, I am dying." Malfoy complained. One of the younger Slytherins had reported that some Gryffindors had decided to set off one of those "dirty Weasly twins"' new "Heat Waves". The whole Slytherin tower was now as hot as the Sahara Desert. "Oi, Blaise, could you open up a window? I think I'm gonna explode," Malfoy complained from above Harry. Oh, God that sounded suggestive. Blaise grumbled an excuse and went back to sleep. Malfoy gave one of his signature I'm-too-good-for-this-but-nobody-else-will-do-it-s o-I-have-to sighs and got up.

If cats could blush, even Harry's whiskers would be red.

On walked a shirtless Malfoy, casually opening the window and breathing in the fresh Hogwarts air. Did he have no shame? It turned out that Malfoy had quite a muscular chest, ghostly white like the rest of his body, and a tendency to wear his so that they were just hanging onto his hips to cover his vital parts.

But only just.

Harry couldn't stop his eyes from roaming over Malfoy's chest, running along his strong arms, darting to Malfoy's hipbone. He could now see why girls fawned over him all the time, and why he had gotten the Seeker position. Seeker's had to be light and quick, with a strong upper half.

Did Harry just admit that Malfoy was strong? He hoped to God that he didn't.

Malfoy lay back down on his bed. Or, he was about to, when Parkinson burst through the door. All three of the occupants of the room turned to stare at her while she fought back her laughter. When she finally had it under control, she spoke. "Draco! Get a shirt on, you have to come see this!" Malfoy tugged on a shirt that was lying around and allowed himself to be dragged out the door by Parkinson. At first, Harry was tempted to see what was causing all the chaos, but judging by the overwhelming laughter that suddenly erupted from downstairs, it had to do with Gryffindors getting sabotaged, which Harry didn't fancy seeing at the moment. Yet again, Blaise turned over and went back to sleep, his snores filling the dorm.

Typical Slytherins. Maybe Harry could try to claw him to death in his sleep…? Harry shook his head, smiling a bit at the thought. Though it would be funny, he had to admit that, it would cause a lot of trouble with Malfoy.

The sunset sure looked inviting, though. And there was no Malfoy around to breathe down his neck… Sneezing a disgustingly adorable cat sneeze as he scooted off across the dusty floor, he set off to see the sunset that he had so missed. When the dim sunlight hit his over-sensitive eyes, he winced and scooched back a little to let his eyes adjust. The room swam out from his hazy vision and came into focus after a few minutes of blindly fumbling around the underbelly of the bed. He crawled out into the open room; he spotted the window almost immediately. He checked to make sure Zabini was still asleep, and continued when he saw the slow rise and fall of his chest.

Harry clambered onto the window ledge. It was much easier now that he was a cat, but he was still clumsy as hell, so any falling off stuff, or somehow cat-tripping would be purely his fault. He pawed onto the roof, brimming with sunlight, and sat down, letting the sunset engulf him. The sunset was beautiful. This was what he was being deprived of. He hadn't seen one in more than a week. He had been too… not scared… okay, maybe he was just a little bit apprehensive about being in enemy territory. He hadn't been out from under the bed since he got here, except for once to help Malfoy out.

Help Malfoy out? Well… Harry supposed that was what he did. Ron would kill him when he found out, but hey, who said he had to admit that he did? Harry sure didn't want to, but… THE HELL?!

Something orange flitted across his nose, and landed on it. Harry could feel tiny legs tickling the bridge of his furry muzzle. His round eyes followed the flush of colors to the tip of his pink button nose-

-to see a monarch butterfly chilling on his nose nonchalantly, as though it was perfectly fine to be CRAWLING up someone's FACE. Stupid butterfly, he would not get away with this. Harry swatted at the nuisance, missing it by a hair. Oh, he did not.

The butterfly hovered above Harry's ears, just out of his line of fire, the bastard. Drifting over the shingles like the smartass he was, Mr. Monarch was practically begging Harry to come after it.

And so Mr. Monarch would get his wish.

The shingles were rough under Harry's paws as he scampered across them. They were still golden from the sunset, which was melting into the horizon faster than Harry could get his paws on that damn butterfly. Mr. Monarch was going to be dead as a doornail if he didn't quit the innocent act and surrender, which it looked like he was going to be soon. The butterfly was perched on a ledge of another closed window, totally and completely defenseless. Was this just a strategy, or was Mr. Monarch really waving the white flag, in submission to Harry's epic hunting skills…? He would find out soon.

Harry dropped onto the edge of the window below him where Mr. Monarch was taking a break. He focused in on the winged demon, ready to strike, when-

There was no ground beneath him to stand on. Was he really such an idiot that he followed that damned butterfly off the edge…? He glanced down, and the ground getting closer confirmed his suspicions.

Harry let out a strangled yelp as he hurtled through the air. It whipped past his enormous ears, making it extremely difficult to hear. What was there to hear anyways, besides the grotesque sounds of him falling to his death?

Crack!

Whap!

Fwashhhhh!

Twigs, leaves, and branches were twined around Harry, scratching him and not making for the ideal landing that he had hoped for, maybe a mattress that someone had just happened to leave around?

The worst part was, Harry didn't even catch that damn butterfly.

Harry searched around for it, but it was getting harder and harder because of the increasing darkness. Wait, what?! Harry turned his eyes to the sky and saw that the beautiful sunset that he had seen earlier was now quickly fading into a murky purple-ish color, dotted with a few stars. It would have been pretty…

If it weren't for him being locked out of the castle.

Harry plopped down, an irritated look occupying his features. He needed to think. If he didn't get back into the castle before the sun completely disappeared from view, he would have to spend the night out here. He would freeze to death from the cold November air. Or worse, get torn apart by the beasts that roamed the ground at night. He found his eyes skimming the base of the forest, checking if he was already in danger.

Hagrid.

Hagrid! If anyone could fend off wild animals, Hagrid could. Then he could use Hagrid's umbrella to turn him back into a human and go on living a normal life, pretending that the last week never happened.

It was perfect.

With a determined mewl, he set off to Hagrid's hut. The lush green grass laced around his paws, making him trip and get a faceful of what caused him to trip in the first place. I hate being a cat, he thought as an irritated growl escaped his lips. He caught his eyes narrowing and paws curling into the ground with distaste, but untangled his legs and kept moving, making sure to steer clear of any more knots that would slow his journey down.

When Harry was about, maybe thirty yards from the cabin, Harry's head snapped sideways at the buzzing sound that passed his ear. What the…?

There it was again! Harry searched around to find a black-and-yellow striped insect dive-bombing him obnoxiously. Why did all of these bugs keep taunting him today? WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?! He wanted to scream. Or better yet, catch them and make them pay for his suffering.

Yes, that was it.

He watched as the wasp examined his tail and tried to land on it. To sting me, I bet, Harry predicted as he swished his tail away in defense. If he wants to play rough, then let it be so. Harry cat-smiled deviously and crouched down. If he blended in with the dark grass, then maybe the wasp would think that he disappeared and fly off, and that's when Harry would strike. He watched as the wasp crossed behind the tree beside Hagrid's hut. Perfect. He could defeat the wasp and find Hagrid at the same time.

The distracted kitten crossed over to the towering tree, and as he did, the buzzing got louder and louder in his eardrums. The tall grass swiped over his back as he crawled through the field. It brushed his ears back, but they perked back up to listen to the sound of the bees and detect how far away they were. He spotted a brightly colored flower a few feet away out of the corner of his emerald eyes. It was currently inhabited by a hard-working wasp. An enemy wasp. Just wait until he saw that his precious hive was destroyed...

Harry backed up against the tree trunk, about to turn around. This was going to be a fun battle that he was sure to win. Harry growled and tried out his best victory sneer, ready to intimidate the hell out of his opponent. He turned the corner-

To find himself nose-to-nose (or that's what he thought; he couldn't really tell if that was his nose or his ass), with a one of the escaped Blast-Ended Skrewts from last year. He backed away slowly, praying that it was his rear that was facing Harry.

You can guess which end it was, right?

Harry tripped over his own paws, his limbs spilling all over the dusty ground as he hit the wall of the cabin, dead-ended as usual. The distorted animal gnawed onto Harry and towered over him, ready to blast his face full of scorching flames. He opened his mouth and summoned the flames from the back of his throat. Harry was so close that he could see the bottom of his throat heating up, see the fireball traveling up his tongue. Right as it was about to leave his mouth, about to turn his whiskers into ashes,

"Aguamenti!" A voice cried behind him, shooting the fire across the lawn, out of the air. Harry watched as it bounced a bit and landed in a sizzling lump on the yellowing grass. The same voice bellowed "Protego!" and came closer. Harry had a pretty good idea of who had come to save his ass...

"I thought I would find you here," a voice drawled behind Harry. Well. Shit.

Harry slowly turned around, dismissing the wasp from his mind for a moment. Unless wasps could talk…? He looked up, only to be picked up and squeezed like a rag doll a second afterwards. He felt the air leave his lungs, and fill back up again with a light, slightly spicy scent. He caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair as he was twisted into a Slytherin's arms that he knew all too well.

"Are you okay, Paws? I thought we got rid of all of those beasts last year. Huh." Malfoy picked Harry up and studied his face. His eyes strayed over Harry's face, checking for any signs of injury. After a moment of glaring at Harry's left ear, he came to the conclusion that from Malfoy's vision, there was probably some sort of injury there.

"We can fix that up when we get back to the dorm." He settled Harry back in his arms and set off towards the castle. "Now to cut to the chase. You can't keep running away, Paws, or I'll have to start putting pet enchantments on you, and I can guarantee that that will be most unpleasant." He scratched the soft fuzz behind Harry's ear, making the rumbling start in Harry's throat (although this time it was for a good reason) as Harry leaned into Malfoy's hand.

...it was very strange, being comforted by your enemy. But Harry supposed that this didn't count, seeing as Malfoy thought that Harry was a pet rather than a person whose guts you wanted to tear out and stuff up said person's asshole. Maybe Harry was both. Or at least, that's what Harry had supposed earlier today, but Malfoy just saved him. And now he was treating Harry as though he was an injured child of his, cooing into Harry's oversized ear and stroking him gently. How red did Harry think Malfoy'll turn when the word gets out that he has a soft spot for kittens…?

But it was pretty nice of him to come out and rescue Harry, especially after sundown. There were probably many strings that had to be pulled in order for him to be able to even get out here, let alone be allowed to go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

...maybe calling Malfoy by his first name wouldn't kill him. Harry turned the word around in his brain. Draco. It had an odd tang to it that made it almost fun to say. It rolled round Harry's skull, up Harry's spine, looped around his tail, crawled back again, stretching to the tip of Harry's ear and slipping back into his brain. It sounded… nice. He would give it that.

Little did the two know, as they walked back towards the castle, guided by the light from Draco's wand, that someone was lurking in the low branches of the barrier of the Forbidden Forest, thinking to themselves, Well, this would not do. This would not do at all.

Because every story needs a villain! But you won't find out who it is until later ;) Now, I would like to introduce something new:

Brownie Points, inspired by YaoiSakka, and I got the idea from XxChocoMelloxX.

~Each chapter, you get to give a brownie to a character in the story, and explain why they deserve it. (Ex. Harry gets a brownie for turning himself into a cat -_-)

~You can split the brownie between people.

~For every brownie a character gets, they get a Brownie Point.

~Brownie Points are given to a character when they get part of or a whole brownie.

~The reviewers that give brownies and their reasons will be mentioned in the AN in the next chapter.

This should be fun. I hope you all enjoy ;) I can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

REVIEW OR HARRY WILL GET IT!

Until next chapter,

~C~