Forbidden Union

Draco sat back, eyes half closed, staring at a cloud flecked sky out of the window. He was in History of Magic, the only class in which a student could get away with paying no attention whatsoever. It had been a week since he had met the annoying ginger cat, & yet the stupid animal was still on his mind. Draco had turned his advice over every which way in his mind, despite going through phases where he felt sure it was a cruel joke the animal had decided to play on him. Despite deciding next time he seen the cat he would show it that a vampire was not the kind of predator it wanted to mess around with.



“Come! Now!” The command was superior and imperious & Draco sat up quickly & looked around before realising it was only heard in his head. A couple of other students eyed him curiously but he ignored them, gathering his books & dumping them in his bag. He stood & hurried to the door, just remembering at the last second to turn & mumble an excuse at the teacher before leaving without waiting for his reply, or even to see if the ghost had noticed him leave.



He was halfway to the giants hut before he realised he was answering a summons, and one he knew came from a certain cat who he had decided needed a lesson in humility; and answering his every call was probably not the way to teach him.



“Why should I?” he sent his belated answer.



“Huh!” the cat sounded amused & way too knowing. “Because I am tired of hearing your pointless searches, so I have decided to take pity on you & show you exactly how to “look” like a hunter & not a stupid human.”



Draco shook his head but he was undeniably curious what this smug cat could show him, and teaching him a lesson could always wait till after, assuming the animal had anything useful to teach him in the first place.



“I should teach you to keep your thoughts private. It used to be quiet around here. Even the field mice are quieter then you.”



What fieldmice? Draco wondered



“None if you don’t hurry up human.”



Draco swallowed his annoyance as he approached the far side of Hagrid’s hut where he knew the cat was waiting. He spread his senses wide trying to sense if any other life forms were present. The giant wasn’t home but he could sense the large presence of Hagrid’s dog, the loose thread connecting it to the giant ran in the direction of the castle. Besides the dog & the cat only the tiny shining life forces of insects were present. He concentrated his search around the garden where the ginger cat crouched and still could sense only spiders, slugs, ants, all the small bits of life you would expect to find, but nothing that looked the least bit tasty.



“So cat, I’m here,” he murmured the words aloud, not sure & not really caring if the animal could understand.



“So you are, and about time. See the rock? There is a mouse under it. It’s trapped and hoping I don’t know it’s there.” The cat crouched, rear in the air & tail flicking side to side with quick, whip-like movements, all the while staring attentively at a large stone in the garden.



Draco reached out with his senses; there was nothing there. Feeling like he was the butt of some stupid joke he bent over to gaze under the rock that held the cats’ attention so intently. Sure enough his sharp predator eyes picked out a small mammal, its own beetle-dark eyes staring back, full of fear. Damn. Some part of him had wished the cat had been lying so he’s have some excuse to rip the wretched irritating creature to shreds.



He tried to ignore the wave of amusement he felt emanating from the ginger devil as he reached out with his senses again. He had become so used to feeling every ebb and flow of the web of life around him, without even trying, that he found it hard to believe the mouse was truly there, even after seeing it with his own eyes. However he tried he could sense nothing under the rock, just emptiness; a blank spot in the web of life.



He felt another wave of amusement from the cat. He bit down on his anger. What had the animal said? “Look for what you can’t see.” He turned the words over again in his mind. Ok, so he couldn’t “see” the mouse with his other sense, but how did “not seeing” help him at all? He reached out again only to feel that strange blank spot where he knew the mouse should be burning clear & bright. Suddenly it was so blindingly obvious he was disgusted it had taken him so long. So a blank hole in the web of life that surrounded him wasn’t as obvious or easily found as a brightly burning life force, but it was still there, he could still find it, he could hunt for it. His sudden comprehension was accompanied by a smug mental pat on the back from possibly the most irritating “thing” he’d ever come across.



Without looking at the cat he reached out & overturned the rock, at the same time reaching out & raking under it with his other hand. He felt bloodlust fill him as the mental scream of the mouse filled his mind & he felt the tiny creature struggling uselessly against his grip. As he bent to study it he noticed with surprise that from the tip of each finger, just under his ordinary fingernails curved claws had extended. They were only about half an inch long and curved tightly around the end of his finger. He brought up his other hand & saw it too had grown claws. Slowly he brought it up and placed his forefinger against the mouse’s stomach, he pressed down and felt resistance, then his claw broke through & blood welled up. He felt wonder at the sharpness of his claws, & a small voice in the back of his head murmured something about playing with his food, but then the salty sweet smell of the blood hit his nostrils and he stuffed the mouse into his mouth, biting down & feeling the crunch of tiny bones. His teeth tore the mouse into pieces in his mouth & he savoured each flavour as it hit his tongue, his changed analytical mind able to recognise them all individually. There was the sweet euphoria of blood of course, but also the bitter tang of kidneys and bladder, the warm deeper bliss as the heart, still tremoring with uneven contractions, burst open like a berry between his teeth. Then there was the stronger taste of the liver, soft and juicy, and as the bones crunched the salty richness of the marrow. The bowels were gritty & bitter with bile and the creatures’ excrement but it was not exactly unpleasant as it would have been to a human. It tasted of life, energy & sacrifice.









It was the next day in the Great hall at breakfast that Draco saw the orange cat again. He stalked uncaringly among the tables, heading towards Griffindor, where he leaped onto the lap of Hermione Granger. The Griffindor immediately stroked the animal & fed it something from her plate. Draco could almost feel the creatures smug satisfaction from across the hall. He felt a strange unexpected surge of betrayal, quickly followed by suspicion; had the cat somehow been spying on him for the Griffindors?



“Jealous much? Would you prefer I come & sit on your lap? Would you feed me fried bacon & sausage from your plate?” an amused voice teased him.



Damn animal, how could it sneak into his thoughts like that? Oh yeah, because you’re a cat, he directed the last thought towards the animal sarcastically & was annoyed to hear his smug mental laugh.



To his surprise the cat then jumped from the Griffindors lap & stalked directly across to him. As it reached him he felt a sharp mental jab, almost like an elbow in the ribs “Make room for me then, Human.” Without thinking he shoved his chair back & the cat jumped onto his lap. “Now feed me, & pat me.” Draco hesitated. “Look at my Humans.” The cat radiated amusement & Draco turned to look, the three Griffindors stared at them in astonishment, mouths hanging open idiotically. He stopped himself bursting out laughing- just. He reached out & grabbed a small piece of bacon, allowing the cat to take it gently from his fingers. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched the trio, they seemed to have forgotten how their jaws worked. Where was that annoying little Griffindor with his camera when he was needed? Delicately he cut the end from his sausage and offered it to the cat, who took it just as delicately.



“Well... enough for their small human brains. Oh by the way, my name is Crookshanks.” The cat jumped off & walked away.




Harry turned to Hermione, he meant to ask her what was going on, but one look at her face & he burst out laughing. She looked utterly aghast, mouth hanging open with shock. With the unexpected sound she turned sharply & closed her mouth. Ron turned around with the same look of shock on his face, and Harry laughed louder. “Now do you believe something is wrong with him?”




Hermione looked thoughtful for a second; “well, Crookshanks is a cat, obviously Draco likes cats, cats are fairly traditional wizards’ familiars, it’s not really that unusual that Draco would like cats.”




“Have you ever seen Crookshanks pay attention to anyone else before? Besides Sirius? And usually Crookshanks is a good judge of character! Draco? Really?”




“Ok, I was surprised! But maybe Crookshanks is trying to tell us something, like with Sirius, maybe Draco has changed, maybe he can be trusted now?”