#8 ~ A Rather Catty Situation

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR (except Odessa Divine). All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 13 ~ Interesting Transformations


Hermione stared at the stain. Yes, it was a perfect red imprint of two full lips, stamped undeniably on her husband’s cheek. She sat back in the armchair and willed herself to be calm. The only one who could have kissed him was Odessa.

Severus brought his hand to his cheek and rubbed it. He looked at his hand. There was a red smear on it. He looked at Hermione, who sat expressionless. He sat forward in the chair a little, frowning down at the lipstick on his palm as he addressed his wife.

“Miss Divine kissed me on the cheek after I returned her to her rooms. I imagine it was her idea of a ‘reward’ for escorting her through the lower levels. She caught me off guard, and was behind closed doors before I had a chance to respond,” Severus said, still looking down at his hand and scowling.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. “Respond? Respond how?” Hermione asked, hating the tremor that was creeping into her voice.

Severus looked at his wife, his nostrils flared in anger.

“How do you expect I would have responded? I would have told the woman in no uncertain terms that I neither allow or appreciate such liberties being taken on my person. It was totally inappropriate what she did, and if she hadn’t closed her door, I would have taken her to task for it, despite your admonition to be ‘nice’.” Severus said, his eyes glinting.

Hermione breathed out, relieved. Her husband was so livid about having his personal space invaded, it hadn’t even occurred to him that he was kissed by a very beautiful woman who was turning every male head in Hogwarts.

“Wait until I see that woman tomorrow,” Severus growled, “she won’t come within fifty feet of me when I’m finished with her.”

“Severus, let me handle it,” Hermione said, “you’re my husband. I’ll let her know how you feel, and how I feel about what she did. No need to start a war over this. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it.”

Actually, Hermione wasn’t sure. She had an uncomfortable feeling about Odessa. At first she wrote it off as being a woman thing. Odessa was very beautiful, very sexy…the kind of woman men went for immediately. She thought she could be jealous of her. She turned heads. Hermione turned pages. Well that is what she thought of herself, but that was her modesty. Hermione turned quite a few heads, especially when she fixed herself up. Her husband was very aware of it however. Severus knew how beautiful his wife was, and had caught more than one wizard eyeing her with a lecherous look on his face.

What Odessa did was highly inappropriate. Perhaps if she had known Severus longer…but no, even that wouldn’t be correct. Severus was not the kind of man that encouraged contact of that or any other kind of nature. He was very reserved. Most people would rather kiss a basilisk than the Potions Master. It was probably safer. Hermione considered. She would have to talk with Odessa tomorrow, then watch her. She might have designs on her husband. She did ask quite a few questions on how to make him less aloof. Hermione frowned. If she were after her husband…

Severus stood up. “I’m going to wash this confounded lipstick off my face,” he said, holding his lipstick-stained hand out in front of him like it had dung smeared on it. “Then I have to make my rounds.”

“All right, Severus,” Hermione said a little absently as he exited the study, walking into the bedroom. She heard the water running, and a couple of muttered obscenities. Then Severus came out, his cheek rather pink from scrubbing. He was still scowling. Hermione got up from the armchair, walked over to him and planted a kiss right where Odessa had kissed him.

“There,” she said, placing another peck on his lips, “all gone.”

Severus looked down at her and his face relaxed somewhat.

“I hope when you speak to Odessa about this, you make it very, very clear that her actions toward me were not appreciated,” he said, frowning but a bit mollified by her kiss.

“I certainly will, Severus,” Hermione said, then added, “Oh, I plan to practice transforming while you’re making rounds. So don’t be surprised to see a lioness prowling around when you get back.”

“Just don’t use the furniture for a scratching post,” he said, kissing her forehead and heading for the study bookcase.”replacing the bedroom door you splintered was enough.”

Hermione smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

Severus walked out.

Hermione began to pace. She really was feeling a little catty about Odessa kissing her husband. She warded the study door and placed a silencing charm on it, then stripped off her robes, tossing them into the armchair. She then removed her bra and panties. She willed herself to transform. Nothing happened.

“Shit,” she said. Then she remembered Minerva’s words. She couldn’t will it to happen. She had to call up the animal within her. Well, the first time it happened was after she and Severus made love. So she called up those images. Severus had been so sweet that night, driving her wild with his passionate declarations as he took her. She began to feel rather warm inside thinking about it. The warmth quickly became a small fire. Hermione began to feel a little disoriented, and before she knew what was happening fell to her hands and knees. She began to smell scents that she wasn’t aware of. Parchment, brandy, wood, dust, Severus, and other smells she couldn’t identify. As a woman her perception of Severus was that he smelled of sandalwood and myrrh primarily, as those were the scents he wore, but now he smelt primal, male, even dominant, though that wasn’t a scent actually. Mostly he smelled like Mate.

She began to tremble. She tried to cry out in fright, but her shriek came out as a soft yowling noise. Her skin was prickling all over, and she had the sensation of her body being pulled or stretched. It wasn’t painful. It actually felt good, as if she just woke up and took a long, invigorating stretch to wake up her muscles. She actively engaged herself in the stretching then, the feeling was so wonderful. She could feel her blood tingling, and she extended her body out as far as she could. Even her face felt like it was extending and there was an odd feeling in the small of her back. Hermione was transforming, her body lengthening, fur sprouting from her skin, a tail sprouting from her lower back, her hands and feet becoming paws, her nails, claws. Her lower face elongated, and her teeth sharpened and her eyeteeth curved and grew enormous. Her pupils changed, though her irises didn’t. She still had the familiar amber eyes.

Hermione was fully transformed now. She swung her great head around to inspect her body, lashing her tail. She flexed her claws and looked at an armchair longingly, aching to try out her talons. Severus would kill her. She padded into the bedroom and stood on her hind legs, her front paws pressed against the mirror. She stared at the lioness in the reflection. She looked just like she had in her dream. She snarled, and leaped from the mirror, startled by the fierceness she displayed. She padded back, sat on her haunches and snarled again. Wow, her teeth were huge. She stuck out her tongue. It was huge too, and had little puckers over it. She bet it felt rough. Experimentally, she licked the fur on her forepaw. It felt good, but a little fur came off and got stuck to her tongue. She tried to scour the fur off by rubbing her tongue against the roof of her mouth, but finally just swallowed it. She wondered if lions coughed up hairballs. Well, she’d find out eventually.

She hopped on the bed. It smelled of Severus, her and faintly of sex. The sheets had been changed but she could still scent the mattress. She found the aroma so delightful, she rubbed her face into the sheets, then rolled over, and writhed in the bed for a few minutes, leaving it in complete disarray when she leapt to the floor. She wished she could go outside and run the grounds, free and wild in the night air. She longed for the freedom of the outdoors. Maybe later in the week she could persuade Severus to accompany her for a late night transformation. He could show her his serpent form then, and they could roam the grounds of Hogwarts together in their animagus forms. It sounded so wonderful, she purred.

She padded back into the study and walked over to the bookcase and hooked her claw into the an exposed bit of the door sill. Severus had not closed it tightly. She pulled and it opened. She walked into the Potions office, snuffling around, feeling heady at all the scents. The odor of her mate was strong here too, and there also was the faint scent of sex, although extremely faint. They hadn’t fucked in his office in months. She walked to the office door that led to the dungeon hallway. Even if it had been open, she still wouldn’t have left. She wasn’t registered yet, and outside of Severus, Minerva and probably the Headmaster, no one else knew of her new ability. Secretly she would have loved to make Filch piss his pants by stalking him in the corridors. She snuffled under the door and growled territorially. She smelled another cat around the sill. A small one, but this was still her territory. Still, she was surprised at the scent. There were no cats in the dungeons as far as she knew, unless Odessa had a familiar.

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Odessa smiled to herself as she closed the door, leaving a startled Severus standing there speechless. She wondered how Lady Snape would take to her husband returning with a lipstick stain on his face. She hoped the witch would make a big row about it. He was innocent, of course…but it could be the beginning crack she needed to wriggle through. She sat down, reliving the tour and her time alone with the Potions Master. He had been very reserved, but she could tell he was impressed by her thoroughness and summation. It had taken all her strength not to try and turn on the sex down there. They were away from prying eyes, and any ‘indiscretion’ would have been between he and she. No one would have known. But she could see that he was not lusting after her, and making an obvious move on him would have been a waste of her time, and probably ruined any future chances of seducing him. She could only hope that the soft press of her lips against his skin, had elicited some response other than shock. She put a lot of promise in that little kiss, lingering there for a moment so the sensation could sink in.

She frowned suddenly, remembering other aspects of the kiss, unpleasant ones. She could smell Hermione on Severus, and a faint relatively recent scent of sex through the soap and the sandalwood. Damn her. Obviously they had an active sex life, and Marcus had insinuated that Hermione had something extra, some sexual tendency her that her husband greatly appreciated. She needed to know more. If she knew what it was, maybe she could duplicate it, making herself more appealing to him.

Suddenly she heard a door shut, and quickly ran to the entrance of her rooms, cracked the door and peeked out. She saw Severus leaving, his robes billowing behind him as he briskly walked up the hall. She waited for him to put some distance between them, then took out her wand and stepped into the hallway, leaving her door cracked. She looked around and seeing no one, divestoed her clothing. If a stray male student had stumbled upon her at that moment, he would have certainly got an eyeful. A beautiful, naked staff member standing idly in the hallway.

Odessa tossed her wand through the cracked door and transformed. A sleek black cat with emerald eyes stood in her place for a moment, sniffing the cool dungeon air. It stretched luxuriously, then slunk down the hall, following the Potions Master. She paused at his office door, and rubbed her muzzle around the lower frame, marking it as her territory, then continued up the hall. A low growl from within Severus’ office followed her.

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A/N: Well, well. Two kitties in the house. Three if you include Minerva. But Odessa as a cat? Doesn’t seem like she could do too much damage as a cute little kitty. Hmm. There must be more to it than that, don’t you think? Please review.