Professor Snape led her directly to his office, then taking a left, went to the door that led to his classroom. Before he opened it, he turned to her.
"You can stay up near my desk, and walk around if you need to, but you will stay in my sights and will not draw unnecessary attention upon yourself. No approaching students, no curious peeking at potions, you will stay in the front of the room at all times. If you need to leave for anything other than an emergency, wait until I am at a good spot in my lesson to draw my attention. No fidgeting, no pacing, is that understood?" The cold, hard obsidian eyes were focused on her. Hermione nodded. Looking as if he didn't believe her, he frowned, but turned and opened the door.
"Very well. Make yourself comfortable, the first class will arrive in ten minutes,"
Hermione followed him into the familiar classroom, although it was strange to see it from the teacher's perspective. She watched as Professor Snape sat at his desk to mark some papers, so she slunk under his desk and plopped down silently as his feet, resting her head on her rather large paws. He ignored her, which was fine with Hermione, and she closed her eyes to take a quick "cat nap" until the students came in.
The sounds of footsteps woke her, and she opened her eyes, watching from her spot under the table as a herd of students made their way into the room. They did so silently, but the noise was loud to Hermione, who could hear every rustle of cloth and every squeak of shoes hitting the stone floor. She scooted forward just a bit so she could see the whole room, catching sight of Professor Snape as she did so. He was standing by the blackboard, arms crossed, facing the class. The students settled at their desks and gave him their attention.
That is, until one of the students caught sight of her and began waving her hand wildly in the air.
If that's what Hermione looked like when she did that then she could see how he must have thought her incredibly annoying and immature.
The girl was practically bouncing out of her seat, her hand waving wildly, her eyes wide and anxious. Hermione glanced over at a Professor Snape, whose jaw was now clenched, his eyes narrowed.
"Miss Jughlo, please refrain from behaving like an idiot. What is your question?" The girl slammed herself back down into her chair and pointed towards his desk.
"What's under your desk, sir?" She asked curiously, and suddenly a whole classroom of eyes were on Hermione. Her hackles raised in response, so she focused her attention solely on the Professor, trying to relax. He looked down at her, and with a slight twitch of his head, motioned for her to come out.
Hermione slipped out from under the desk, deciding to have some fun. She rose to her full height, her head up with an air of sophistication, but she narrowed her eyes at the class and raised a lip in a silent snarl. They all recoiled, and she strode gracefully over to sit at Professor Snape's side, chest puffed out and tail curled around her paws. She caught the twinkle of amusement in the corner of his eyes as his students gasped, and then she felt his hand on her head.
"This is my familiar, Nyota. You'd do best to give her a respectful amount of space," the students exchanged nervous glances and were just about to start whispering when Professor Snape used his other hand to tap his wand firmly on the board behind him.
"Get to work," he snarled firmly, effectively ceasing all the murmurs, and immediately heads bowed to prepare their workspaces.
Hermione flicked her tail in amusement. It was quite fun to be the one inflicting fear in the students, something which should make her feel guilty, but didn't.
What in the world was wrong with her?
Oh yeah, she was a lioness.
As if she could forget.
Professor Snape made his way back to his desk, and Hermione curled up on his far side so as to be mostly out of sight from the students. Just when she felt the lull of sleep coming over her (it seemed that lions could nap as much as they wanted), she felt two fingers stroke her neck and trail down to between her shoulder blades.
Tensing at first from the unexpected contact, she sighed, then relaxed, enjoying the sensation, and then realized that Professor Snape was petting her when he didn't need to. No students could see him doing it, so he wasn't enforcing the idea of her as a familiar, but he was doing it nonetheless. Mentally shrugging, because who knew his motives, she silenced her mind and lost herself to the pleasant, rhythmic feeling of his delicate but strong fingers stroking her coat.
Hermione woke, not sure how much later, and yawned, her mouth stretching wide, revealing her sharp incisors. Her tongue stuck out, nose wrinkling, and then her mouth closed. She licked her lips absently, then stretched, pushing her front legs forward, paws widening and unsheathed her claws while pushing her hindquarters into the air. Feeling her back and chest muscles stretching, she hovered, then brought herself into a standing position.
Padding over to the front of the desk, she saw that she had awoken just as the last few students were leaving the room. Professor Snape was back at the blackboard, making subtle wand movements to erase his writing from the previous class to put up the instructions for the next one. Hermione walked over, then sat, raising her head up to read the instructions.
Book work.
Feeling her eyebrows draw together, she frowned. Professor Snape, realizing she was reading the board, looked down at her pointedly.
Oh, it was for her. He wanted to be able to keep an eye on her and not the students and their volatile potions ingredients, which would also be a sensory overload for her and potentially problematic. He was giving her an easy first day while she was getting used to her new form. She drew the corner of her lips up into a smile without revealing her teeth, then inclined her head gratefully. He gave her a short nod, then turned away to lean on the front of his desk, motioning her to follow. She did, sitting beside him as the next class filed in. All mouths dropped as eyes immediately fell on her as the students made their way in. She flitted her round ears backwards, trying to look threatening but not menacing. She narrowed her eyes but didn't show her teeth. The students were deathly silent as they all sat down, focused intensely on the golden lioness and the black clad Professor beside her.
Professor Snape stood, abandoning the desk, and crossed his arms.
"This is my familiar," was all he said, glaring at the class while they shot each other surprised looks. Professor Snape cleared his throat loudly, and all eyes guiltily turned to read their instructions before getting to work. Professor Snape strode around her to sit back at his desk, picking up his quill to dip in red ink to continue his correcting.
It was finally lunch time.
Hermione hadn't napped, she had instead watched the students, and when she could, snuck glances at her Professor. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to know when he was being looked at, so after one reprimanding glare, she learned her lesson, and kept the glances in his direction extremely brief. He'd been correcting papers all class, which didn't give much for Hermione to go on, except for the feeling that Professor Snape was taking advantage of the time during class that he'd normally be instructing in to catch up on his grading, which meant that it was possible he might be grateful, somewhat, for her presence.
It was just a hunch, but it made her feel slightly better about herself, and that maybe she wasn't as big of a burden as she thought. Oh, she was still a huge burden, no doubt, but not a catastrophically huge burden, and there was a difference. If Professor Snape could glean any benefits from this predicament, she hoped he would, because it would make everything that much better.
After the last student left the room Severus rose, flicking a wrist towards the door to close it firmly.
Glancing down at his desk, he saw that he had finally caught up from the paperwork he'd left unfinished the last time the Dark Lord demanded his presence. He ran a hand through his lank hair, curtesy of a lifetime over potion fumes, and felt his eyes unconsciously settle on the mass of lioness that lay at his feet.
Absently, he considered that he'd only ever seen her lying down in one position; her body slightly curved, her head resting over her forelegs and huge paws, chin touching the floor, tail wrapped around her hind legs that were positioned at an angle under her body, her hip flat on the floor. She seemed oblivious to his standing up, probably lost in thought - typical Miss Granger behavior.
He lifted a dragon hide boot and nudged her to see her reaction.
She stiffened, tension obvious in her body. He wasn't sure if this reaction to touch was purely lioness, or if it was part Granger too. Thinking about that, he realized that although Potter and Weasley often grabbed and rough housed with one another, they never touched Granger except for the brushing of shoulders or the gentle grasp of arms or the self initiated hug after some kind of trauma. Aside from the two boys, though, he'd never seen anyone touch her.
She must be subconsciously unfamiliar and therefore uncomfortable with unexpected touching. She reacted by tensing up. If it was purely a lioness reaction, she would act defensively, making it probable that Miss Granger's uncomfort was stronger than the lioness's need for defense.
Filing that bit of information in the recesses of his mind for later perusal, he turned his attention back to said lion who was now standing in front of him expectantly.
"Are you hungry?" He asked, unsurprised when she shook her head no. She'd had quite a bit of meat that morning, and lions weren't in need of multiple meals a day.
Severus turned away and made his way through his office and into the corridor to head to the Great Hall.
It was odd, but surprisingly comfortable to have the form of the large lioness at his side as he walked. Granger wasn't able to talk, so she wasn't getting on his nerves, and she hadn't been fidgety of otherwise distracting while he had worked, which meant she wasn't annoying him. In fact, everything was going surprisingly well.
He had been humored by her little snarl at his class of third years, and he hadn't missed the look of surprise followed by embarrassment at the student who had waved her hand wildly to get his attention and to be called on. He doubted Miss Granger would ever do that again.
And the looks the students around him in the hall were just too amusing. A majority of them were petrified by the predator at his side, and there were quite a few who were obviously impressed and in awe of his companion. Looking down at her, he saw she had her ears back and had a convincing look of annoyance and disgust on her face, looking very much like a familiar of Severus Snape's should. Satisfied, he shot a glare at a group of students pointing at them, and they continued until they reached the teacher's entrance to the High Table.
The rest of the day had gone smoothly, Severus reflected as he sat in his recliner with a book and a cup of tea in his hand. Rolanda had wisely kept her hands to herself, and after seeing Nyota licking her lips multiple times, Severus had called Dobby with a bowl of water, which she had drunk from neatly, afterwords flashing him a thankful look.
Nyota, now Miss Granger, since they were in his chambers, was lying on the floor in front of the fire.
Severus glanced up over his book and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
She was on her back, all four feet up in the air, her paws twitching, tail swaying from side to side on the floor. Her stomach was a creamy white, the same color that lined under her eyes. The fur was sleek, except for between her hind legs, which was loose and fluffy. At that observation, Severus paled and remember that he was looking at a student, even though it was just part of her stomach, nothing inappropriate. He brought his eyes up to her paws, which were hanging loosely but flexing ever so often, her claws poking out then disappearing as she kneaded the air. Severus cleared his throat, causing the lioness to flip over instantly, looking extremely embarrassed.
Severus took a sip of tea, then set his book and cup down on the table in front of him. He looked at Miss Granger.
"Would you like to go outside?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow at the offended look on her face. He reconsidered his words, he did not mean to make it sound like he was offering a bathroom break.
"Would you like to accompany me on a walk?" At this, her eyes brightened and she perked up, eagerly getting to her feet. "We'll leave through the castle. The students need to get used to your presence," with that, he grabbed his cloak, and they were off.