Little Black Cat

It was Harry Potter’s Fourth Year at Hogwarts. For his birthday the previous summer Remus and Sirius had given Harry a book that they had used to become animagi. By November Harry could transform into his animagus form, a little black tom cat, with emerald eyes and a faint grey lightening bolt on his head. Along with becoming an animagus Harry had taken a deeper interest in school, trying harder to stay out of trouble and get better grades.

Unfortunately he couldn’t stop fighting Draco Malfoy. The animosity between the two continued and in fact worsened because Harry was starting to get better grades and Draco felt as if it was a challenge.

One evening, while Harry and Draco were fighting they got into a duel. Draco had flung a spell at Harry which the young man didn’t recognize. Two hours later he’d turned into a cat and found that he couldn’t turn back into his human form.

So Harry was now sitting in a cold corridor of Hogwarts, extremely scared and confused as to what he should do. No one, not even Remus and Sirius, knew he was an animagus.
Since he was stuck all Harry could do was meow pitifuly and hope that someone nice found him. Already he’d run away from some Hufflepuffs who’d talked about tying his tail into a knot. Shivering, Harry curled up into a little belt and whimpered pitifully.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape, the feared Potion Master of Hogwarts, was prowling the halls looking for some unfortunate student to take House Points away from. As Severus turned a corner he heard what could only be a cat… no a kitten, meowing. Heading towards the directions of the sounds, Severus blinked as he found a little kitten. The little black cat was perhaps only a few month or so old and lying in one of the coldest hallways of Hogwarts.

Bending down, Severus gently picked up the little kitten and tucked it inside the outer folds of his robe. Gently Severus rubbed between the kitten’s ears, smiling as it looked up in him, as if in confusion. “No collar.” Severus remarked aloud, continuing to pet the now purring kitten. “I don’t think anyone in the school has such a little cat…and I don’t think any cats have had kittens recently.” The little kitten meowed and licked at Severus’ had. With a soft smile on his face, the Potions Master headed back to his chambers ---after all, the little kitten was probably hungry and it was warmer in Severus’ chambers.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry soon found himself curled up between two warm towels on Snape’s bed. The Potions Master had fed him and given him a warm place to sleep while he inquired with the House Heads if anyone was missing a kitten. Harry purred loudly as Snape came back into the room. He’d always guessed that some sort of kindness was hidden underneath Severus Snape’s icy front and now he had evidence.

“None of the House Heads have students missing a kitten.” Severus remarked, his hand moving over to pet the little kitten. “I guess you are stuck with me for now.” As Severus spoke Harry sat up, leaning into the hands that were petting him. “I guess you’ll need a name…” Severus mused, putting a finger under Harry’s chin so the “kitten” was looking up at him, his emerald eyes shinning in the candle light. “What about Emerald?” he asked, smiling as the kitten purred and seemed to look pleased.

There are worse names out there. Harry thought as Severus scooted the kitten up towards the head of the bed. “Emerald it is then.” Severus whispered as he lay down next to the kitten. “Welcome to my home Emerald.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day “Emerald” found himself sitting in Severus Snape’s arms as they walked beyond the wards of Hogwarts. It was the Christmas Holidays and Severus was taking the boy turned cat to his home for the duration of the Holidays. With a faint ‘pop’ and the feeling that he was falling, Severus and Harry vanished from Hogwarts and appeared in front of an old mansion made of brick that had ivy crawling up it’s stone walls.

Severus swept into the house, his robes billowing behind him as he ordered his house elves around with the air of one born into the wizarding world. Harry purred in Severus’ arms as the man walked up a huge staircase, since Severus was petting him again. The two went into a large bedroom, where the house elves had already set up some things for Harry.

Harry yawned as Severus put him down on the bed and moved off to one side to change out of his teaching robes. Harry squirmed his way under a little blanket that Severus had set out for him and turned around before poking his head out, watching his ‘master’.

The door to the bedroom opened and a tall man with long black hair walked into the room. He was looking at Severus when he realized that a little kitten was sitting on the bed. The man moved over and sat down next to the kitten, reaching out to stroke Harry’s ears. “Hello little guy.” the man smiled before looking over at the Potions Professor. “Severus? Why do we have a cat?”

“I found him at Hogwarts. No one claimed him so I took him in.” Severus turned back towards the man and kitten. “His name is Emerald…you don’t mind, do you Tom?”

“No.” Tom replied, tucking the towel in around ‘Emerald’. “I like him.”

That night Harry slept in the valley between the two men, purring contently. While strange that Severus had a lover he never mentions, his kitten body could only think how nice and warm it was between the two men.

Every morning Severus and Tom would wake up and have breakfast while sharing a newspaper. Harry would sneak around their ankles for a bit before jumping in one of the two men’s laps and begging for a scrape of breakfast, which they always gave him.

One morning the paper held news about a Death Eater attack that had apparently happened the night before, while Severus, Tom and Harry were watching a muggle movie. Severus, who was reading the paper, had thrown down the paper with disgust and snarled, surprising Harry, who’d been sitting on Tom’s lap and ‘stealing’ food.

“Dumbledore’s blamed you for another attack.” Severus sighed as he handed the paper to Tom. Harry sprang up on the paper and looked over at Severus before pawing at the paper. Severus and Tom seemed to accept the fact that Emerald was smarter then average cats, which lead Harry to think that wizard’s pets were smarter then muggle ones. “Tom is a powerful wizard.” Severus jokingly explained to Harry as Tom read the article. “He’s nice, but Dumbledore doesn’t like our ideas and, as such, has made him seem to be evil… ‘the dark Lord Voldemort’.”

Harry almost fainted form amazement. Tom, the nice man who tickled, petted, fed him and let him sleep in his bed at night was Voldemort!?!?!

Tom swore under his breath, his face turning green. “They killed a muggle girl, seven years old.” He explained.

“I almost forgot. Sirius and Remus sent us a letter. They want to join.” Severus remarked, pulling Harry into his lap.

“They’re powerful.” Tom sighed, resting his head in his hands. “And they know how it effects us that Harry is missing.”

“Harry’s our mate.” Severus sighed, hugging the kitten, not knowing it was Harry. “He doesn’t know that he’s our mate because Dumbledore’s kept him away from us and tricked him.”

Harry froze when he heard this. Severus and Tom were his mates? Well maybe that explained why he hadn’t freaked out when Severus picked him up… and why he liked the two men better then his so called “best friends” after spending only a few days in the two men’s company. Harry smiled slightly and dashed across the table, quickly stealing a piece of bacon from Tom, who laughed and pretended to chase the kitten back into Severus’ lap.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry had hidden from Tom and Severus that day. Instead he went into the library and attempted to find a book on Animagi. He spent three hours in the room before the two adult wizards started to look for him.

“Emerald?” Tom asked, seeing the kitten sitting on an open book in the library. He laughed as Severus followed him into the room. “Look, Emerald’s reading.” Tom laughed and picked up the little kitten.

Severus was going to laugh, when he saw the book the kitten had been sitting on. “Tom, look at the book.”

It was a book on anamagi.

Tom’s face instantly became serious and he held the kitten up to his face so he could look it in the eye. “Are you a wizard?”

To both men’s surprise the kitten nodded and meowed happily. The two men looked at each other for a moment before Severus spoke. “Are you stuck?” Again, the kitten nodded and meowed.

Severus took the kitten form Tom and set him down on the ground, before pulling out his wand and pointing it at ‘Emerald’. “Animalis verto humanus!” Severus spoke, waving his wand at the ‘kitten’.

With a pop the little kitten vanished and Harry Potter was sitting on the rug. He blushed as the two men stared at him. “Harry.” Tom whispered, his natural urge to protect his mate kicking in as he kneeled on Harry’s right and reached forward to cup Harry’s face. “We were so worried.”

“You never registered as an animagius?” Severus asked, sitting on Harry’s left.

Harry shook his head. “I was going to use it to hide from you.” he looked over at Tom. “Before I knew the truth…” Harry whispered, looking away from the two men.

“You’re a very small cat.” Tom noted, pulling Harry into his arms. “Most times an animagus will turn into a full grown cat, but you’re just a kitten!” Harry blushed as Tom’s hands gently ran down his back.

“What…what happens now?” Harry asked looking between the two men.

“Your staying with us.” Tom answered, clutching his mate closer. “You are our mate, and Dumbledore would just hurt you or twist you into a little puppet.”

“I’ll send a letter to Sirius and Remus…they were worried about you and Dumbledore wouldn’t do anything. They’ll want to come over and make sure your okay.” Severus told Harry, who nodded and leaned back in Tom’s embrace, feeling safe and warm.

“Tell me about mates…” Harry whispered.

“About half of the wizards in the world have a mate. It’s more common in pureblood lines, since most purebloods have creature blood in their past. Werewolfs also have mates, since they are creatures after all.” Tom stood, picking up Harry and moving towards the living room, where he sat down on the couch, Harry in his arms. “Severus and I are from very old wizarding families. Severus has vampire in his bloodline, while I have Naga, a kind of snake-human mix.” Severus sat down next to Tom and Harry on the couch.

“And Sirius and me?” Harry asked, laying his hand on Tom’s shoulder.

“The Blacks have…” Tom paused for a second as if thinking. “Banshee I believe. Potters have a few, but I think the main one is Aloja. It’s a kind of Water Spirit, normally taking the from of a woman.”

As Tom finished speaking the fire in the room roared to life and in a few seconds Sirius and Remus tumbled from it and practically pounced on Harry.

TBC

Author's Note: The Aloja is a "real" legendary creature, look it up on Wikipedia.