Furry Magic

Title: Furry Magic, chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HP characters. I am left with only the OC\'s.


Mantheer groaned, rolling over until he lay supine on the floor. His head was pounding like a big, bass drum was stuck inside, banging away. Merlin, what a migraine. He struggled and managed to sit up, carefully rotating his head on his stiff neck. The bones creaked.

He had no doubts as to what had happened. The catnip tea prepared for him as a courtesy, well.... something a little stronger had been added to it before he and Yaji drank it. Obvious enough. By Draco. The son of his king. A young man he had trusted. The young man he adored.

Yaji was out cold, his breathing more of a rough, irregular snore than the usual quiet inhalation and exhalation as he slept. He\'d taken the lion\'s share of the tea that Draco had offered them. Mantheer had taken only a third of it.

The big, brown haired man was flat on his back, arms akimbo, mouth open, slack. Mantheer crawled woozily over to him, leaned across to check him, cringed back at the smell of his breath. Yech, what ever drug it had been it left behind a foul stench. Come to think of it, his own mouth tasted bad. Very bad.

A scream split the air. Mantheer\'s head jerked up, he tried to gain his feet, wobbling, cursing his lack of coordination and balance. Fell. Tried again. Fell for a second time, or possibly a third as he surely hadn\'t lain on the floor willingly, not while in human form. Another scream, in a voice he knew, running feet coming this way, lightning fast. Draco. The fear scent preceded him. A sour taint.

Mantheer grit his teeth, stayed on his hands and knees, and forced the change to come to him. It ripped through him, heightening his nausea at first, then eliminating it in a rush of power and adrenaline. He was ready to fight as the young man in question broke into the room, panic written in every line of him. Sweat coursed down the youth\'s unnaturally pale face.

Draco flew straight at Mantheer once he\'d seen the massive, black coated leopard. Throwing himself at the cat-man. Grasping, frantic arms grabbed onto Mantheer tight enough to restrict his blood flow. He turned, swiveling his body to protect Draco from whatever might follow and come barreling through the open doors, baring his formidable fangs, arching his back.

But nothing pursued the boy. Mantheer gradually relaxed, let his muscles loosen, let his body ease back to human form enough to hold out his arms and enfold Draco in a calming embrace. The young man was sobbing, terrified. Reeking with the unpleasant stench of fear. Mantheer petted him, alternately speaking and purring at him to ease his terror.

\"What has frightened you like this? After you went to all the trouble of drugging us? Now you are afraid? Of what, kitten?\" Mantheer rumbled, not forgetting to check for sounds out in the hall. Nothing, no unknown sounds, but there were feet hurrying along the corridor. A dozen of them. All human. All coming to this room, unless Mantheer misjudged them.

\"Malfoy! What in Merlin\'s name?\" It was the strong voice of the Head of Slytherin, Professor Snape. The man who smelled of herbs and bugs all the time. Mantheer pushed the door open with one toe. He continued to cradle the distraught boy in his arms. His expression was bland.

And it was echoed by the impassive man in the doorway, wand clasped firmly at the ready, behind him, children\'s faces craning to see around him. Snape shooed them away, impatiently.

The dark eyes took in the figure of the snoring lycanthrope on the floor. And the half-man, half-cat holding Draco. His nose twitched. He sniffed at the rancid odor in the air.

\"Who has been using...\" he wrinkled his impressive nose, \"pep-away and....catnip?\" The last was incredulous. He waved at the air with a long, pale hand, grimacing in disgust. Clearly deciding Mantheer was no threat. Not wrapped up in Draco the way he was.

\"It...\" Draco managed, stuttering. \"It...it...it....\"

Snape\'s dark eyes slitted, his lips parting in a hiss. \"It?\"

\"The thing that has attacked and killed the others?\" Mantheer exclaimed in sudden understanding. \"Did you see it? Where was it?\"

\"I...I...I...\" Draco swallowed. \"It...it was out on...on the grounds b-b-by the courtyard.\" He wheezed out the information.

Mantheer thrust Draco into the arms of his professor.

He sped out into the darkening night, following his nose, more than Draco\'s directions. He found it\'s spoor. Confusing. Many smells. Familiar but not familiar. Scents, that in combination, raised the hair at his nape. He could not follow the trail far. Because it wasn\'t the same one he\'d found at first.

The scent changed, mutated too often. It began to blend with the scents of other\'s, pure, clean scents, the scents of children. No more fear scent. It had not been seen, or if it had been, it was no longer frightening to the students. His hackles bristled, warningly. It was not a natural creature, this one. It stank of evil spells and dark magic.

Mantheer gave up tracking the thing at last. He returned to Draco\'s room in the Slytherin dormitory. Draco could very well be lying dead right now while he and Yaji slept on in drugged oblivion.

Snape was the only one still in the room with Draco and Yaji when Mantheer reached the room. Yaji was crouched over a pail, emptying his stomach of the remainder of the tea he\'d ingested. His long leopard\'s tail thumped the floor miserably. The rest of him was human.

Mantheer strode right over to Draco. He stood for a moment, absolutely still, trying to control his rage. He didn\'t want to do real harm to the foolish young man. But, he did intend to punish him for the near fatal stunt.

He reached down with careful man-hands. Picked Draco up. Gently sitting down, draping the boy over his lap. He then proceeded to spank him, hard, firm and with authority. His hand rose and fell.

Draco.

Would.

Never.

Do anything.

Like this.

Ever.

Again.

Draco wailed.


ne\'ichan
faestion1@yahoo.com