Author Notes: Hello again! Thank you for the alerts and favs, and for the wonderful reviews! As mentioned before, this is an experiment mixing my preference with my daughter's. She's the co-author of this story. Enjoy :)
Warnings: Two OCs, some OOCness, some fluff and a general disregard for the more serious incidents in canon.
- Chapter Start -
"Potter, wait! That's my bedroom!"
It was indeed. Harry found himself staring at a large four poster bed just a few feet in front of him, draped with green hangings that proclaimed its owner's House.
He was in Snape's bedroom!
Snape's bedroom!
Snape's bedroom!
"What are you staring at?" Snape barked at him from the doorway. "Get Velvet and come out at once!"
Harry blinked, reminded of why he was in here in the first place. Two round golden eyes blinked back at him from a pool of gray on the green bedspread.
"Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?"
"No, sir!" Harry rushed to the bed and bent down, scooping Velvet into his arms and holding her tightly against his chest in case she tried to escape. He turned back to see Snape's eyebrows shooting up and his mouth falling open before snapping shut.
Looking down, Harry realised two things.
One - the soft gray mass in his arms wasn't a kitten, but a man's shirt. Nightshirt, to be exact. Snape's nightshirt.
Two - it had evidently been worn before because it smelled - oh God! - like the man himself.
"Potter, what are you doing?" Snape sounded like he was being strangled.
Harry's head jerked up and he quickly yanked down his hand - stupid, traitorous limb! - that was pressing a gray sleeve to his nose. His face flushed red.
"Were you smelling that!" Snape thundered. He looked outraged, but his face had turned the same shade of red.
Before Harry could squeak out an indignant and completely untruthful 'Of course not!', Velvet's small head popped up from a fold of the nightshirt and looked from him to Snape and back again.
"Meee-oo-ww?" she uttered and tipped her head to one side, eyes sparkling as if getting Harry to hug Snape's nightshirt and sniff it had been her idea all along.
"Velvet!" Harry exclaimed and Snape growled at the same time.
"Meow!" That was Caramel, leaping from Snape to Harry and landing on the same nightshirt. She wobbled a little as she turned around to face Velvet.
"Meow?" (What?)
"Meow." (You got Harry to sniff Severus' nightshirt on purpose!)
"Meow!" (But of course!)
"Meowr!" (How dare you!)
As the two kittens engaged in a baffling argument with glaring and meowing, Harry looked over their heads at Snape.
"Uhm," he began, but Snape held up a hand.
"Just bring them out," the Potions Master said in the same long suffering voice as before and when Harry took an automatic step forward, "but for Merlin's sake, put down my nightshirt first!"
"Oh! Right."
Blushing again, Harry turned back to the bed and deposited the nightshirt carefully on the mattress, taking the opportunity to snatch a final, surreptitious sniff. The two kittens immediately tumbled onto the bed, still meowing and baring their tiny teeth at one another. Caramel stayed at the side of the bed, but Velvet started backing away towards the headboard.
"Velvet, come here, girl," Harry coaxed.
She shook her head, giving him another mischievous look as she backed further away.
"Come here," Harry insisted, aware of Snape watching his every move from the doorway.
When Velvet took another step back, Harry gingerly put a knee on the edge of the mattress and lunged forward with his arms outstretched. Velvet jumped nimbly aside and he found his arms closing around something rectangular instead.
"Potter! That's my pillow!"
Almost purple with embarrassment, Harry turned his head to the side and found himself looking at Velvet's positively gleeful face, Snape's outraged one behind her. Then another face blocked both of theirs - a disgruntled Caramel was pushing her paw against Harry's chin, trying to lift his face up off the pillow.
"Meowr!" she scolded him.
"OK, OK. I'm getting up," Harry told her.
"Meowr!" Velvet pushed Caramel's paw down with a disapproving shake of her head as if deploring her friend's poor manners. She then turned to Harry and tilted her head invitingly towards Snape's pillow, looking gleeful again.
"Meow!" Caramel bumped against Velvet, trying to push her away, but the gray kitten stood her ground. And with that, the two of them started pushing and shoving at each other, tumbling off the pillow.
"Potter!"
Harry quickly released the pillow and pushed himself to sit up just as Caramel and Velvet disappeared off the side of the bed. He gulped, Snape was marching towards him, his face like a thundercloud.
"Potter, of all the dunderheaded things - get off my bed this instant! If the Headmaster gets to know about - agh - what-"
Snape looked down and lifted first one leg and then the other, looking as if he were doing some sort of weird dance. Two startled meows sounded from the floor, Snape's arms started windmilling and then he suddenly pitched forward.
Harry squeaked and threw himself to the side just in time - Snape landed face down beside him, his face buried in the same pillow Harry had been hugging earlier.
Argument forgotten, Caramel and Velvet immediately jumped back up on the bed and made their way to their master's head. Two tiny paws reached out in unison and patted the long black hair.
"Meow?"
"Meow?"
Snape turned his head to the side and glared at them through the curtain of his greasy hair, ignoring Harry for the moment.
"Give me one good reason why I should not turn you two into potion ingredients," he muttered.
When Caramel and Velvet just meowed and patted his hair again, this time in a 'there there' manner, Snape buried his face in the pillow with a muffled groan.
Harry sat up again and grinned, enchanted by the sight. His grin disappeared when Snape suddenly pushed himself up, causing both kittens to stumble backwards in surprise and land in Harry's lap.
Sliding off the bed, Snape stood up and shook back his long hair. He looked down at Harry, his face a cold and expressionless mask once more.
"Bring them to the bathroom. Now."
- o -
Harry had the foresight to remove his school robes, tossing them carelessly onto the back of an armchair before entering the bathroom near the main door, a kitten in each hand. A tub half filled with soapy water stood on the tiled floor and Snape was leaning against the opposite wall, arms folded across his chest. One black eyebrow rose at the sight of Harry's school shirt and trousers and the thin lips twisted in a sneer.
"It is just a simple bath, Potter. Surely you can manage that much with your robes on? Well, no matter. Put the kittens in the tub."
"Yes, sir."
Even as Harry crouched down, Caramel and Velvet twisted free of his hold and scooted up his arms. From his shoulders, they climbed onto his head, tiny claws digging in to keep their balance.
"Ouch, stop that! What are you do-" A sharper prick of claws digging into his scalp was followed by the sight of Caramel falling face down and spreadeagled into the tub, her deliberate belly flop creating a wave of warm, soapy water that drenched Harry's face and shirt.
"Caramel!" Gasping and coughing, he felt more more pinpricks in his scalp and squinted through his wet glasses to see a gray blur launching itself at Snape and landing on his chest.
"Velvet! You are supposed to take a bath!" Snape marched over to the tub, trying to pry a determined kitten off his shirt.
Smirking at the sight, Harry didn't see Caramel climbing out of the tub until she jumped up onto his knee, creating a wet patch on his trousers.
"Hey! What are you-" she had made it up to his shoulder, "no, don't you dare-" and his head, "do another div- argh!"
Harry sputtered as another wave of water hit him, drenching him again. A startled noise had him turning his head to see Snape crouched down beside him and looking equally wet. Green eyes widened as they took in the sight of soapsuds dripping off Snape's chin and the end of his nose before trailing down a long pale neck and white shirt, now rendered kittenless, clinging and transparent.
Harry's eyes widened further, but Snape quickly shot up into a standing position as if someone had lit a fire under him.
"You - stop gaping at me." That was directed at Harry. "You - into the tub." That was for Velvet who was now trying to hide behind it. "You - stay in there." That was for Caramel who was half climbing out of the tub in preparation for another dive.
The two kittens pouted where they were and Harry stood up uncertainly, trying not to stare at Snape's chest and failing miserably. Snape's arms jerked in a vague motion as if he wanted to shield himself from that fascinated stare, his face turning red again.
"The kittens, Potter!"
"Oh! Right."
Harry turned back to the tub where a pouting Velvet sat on her haunches beside it while inside, Caramel tread water and blew soap bubbles from her front paws.
"Alright, enough playing, you two," he muttered. It hadn't escaped his notice that Caramel seemed at home in the water while Velvet was afraid of it. He picked Velvet up with both hands and lowered her carefully into the tub.
The moment her tail touched the water, she gave a violent twitch and shot out of his hands with a yowl only to fall into the tub with a splash. Leaping out of the water, she clung to the side of the tub, front paws hooked over the edge and back paws and tail scrunched up under her. She glared up at Harry, blowing a long stream of soap bubbles out her tiny nose.
"Sorry!" Harry exclaimed, but his apology was drowned out by a triumphant meow. Still treading water, Caramel pointed a dripping paw at her unfortunate friend and let out a long, high pitched mewl that sounded like delighted snickering. She fell onto her back and sank below the soapsuds, leaving four tiny paws and a tail waving furiously in the air, signalling her amusement.
Sensing her chance to escape, Velvet scooted up the side of the tub, but Harry's quick eye caught her movement.
"Oh no, you don't," he said, his left hand shooting out to where she was. A larger hand knocked into his a second later, pressing his palm against the side of the tub - Snape apparently had had the same idea Harry had - and with a surprised mewl, Velvet tumbled backwards into the water.
Caramel had surfaced in time to see the whole incident. She let loose another long mewl of laughter, circling around Velvet who was treading water awkwardly while blowing more soap bubbles out of her nose. Hissing in annoyance, Velvet jumped onto her laughing friend and the resultant splash landed on Snape and Harry again.
When Harry tried to move his hand to wipe his face, he realised it was still trapped against the side of the tub.
"Uhm... sir? Could I have my hand back?"
Snape's scowl of realisation could have curdled milk. He snatched his hand back as if Harry's had burned him and stood up.
"Finish their bath as fast as you can," he ordered and spun around on his heel. The bathroom door closed firmly behind him.
In the sudden silence, Harry looked back at the kittens who had stopped trying to drown each other and were staring back up at him, small ears drooping at their master's sudden departure.
"Yeah, well, you're not the only one," Harry muttered. Somehow, he wasn't surprised when the rest of the bath ended without anymore incidents.
- o -
When Harry emerged from the bathroom half an hour later with two clean and damp kittens in his arms, he saw Snape sitting in the armchair by the fire, reading a book. His school robes were neatly folded and placed on the coffee table.
Snape looked up, black eyes going from the towel dried kittens - their fur standing up in all directions - to the drenched schoolboy holding them. He put down his book and got up in one fluid motion, picking up Harry's robes before going over to him.
"Your detention has ended, Potter," he said coldly. "You may leave."
Harry nodded, reaching out a hand to take his robes and then he saw the dark gaze drop to his chest and stay there. A muscle twitched in Snape's jaw and he mouthed something, causing a wave of wonderful heat to flow over Harry, drying his hair, his clothes and the two kittens whose fur stuck up even more.
"Go."
Harry nodded.
"Goodnight, you two," he said softly and rubbed his cheek against the tops of Caramel and Velvet's heads, smiling when they meowed softly. "Be good now."
"Give them to me."
Harry handed the kittens over, his breath hitching when those long cool fingers brushed over his own, just like they had on his first night back.
"Goodnight, sir," he said, not expecting an answer and not receiving one.
Turning around, he opened the door and walked out, but the swath of golden light did not disappear, his shadow looming before him on the floor as he moved further and further away from Snape's quarters.
Just before he turned the corner, two tiny meows had him looking over his shoulder. Snape was already closing the door, but Harry caught a final glimpse of that tall, familiar outline of long hair and broad shoulders, the stern picture softened by two shapes on either shoulder, each topped with a small head and even smaller ears.
Smiling to himself, Harry rounded the corner and went up the stairs.
- Chapter End -
A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review :)