Pretty Kitty

It didn't take long for people to realise that Harry was acting differently around George (or was it Fred?). They'd taken to holding hands in public and sharing quick kisses. It was entirely obvious what was happening.

Whenever George and Fred were together with Harry, he made sure to be acting like a couple with George. There were one or two people who could tell which twin was which when they were together. If you looked at Fred, then at George, there were subtle differences.

However, when Fred was on his own, Fred could grope him all he liked, not that Harry minded too much despite his protests of them being in public, and no-one was any the wiser.

Ginny looked rather put out that they'd taken their relationship public, but didn't dare try to make it known that Harry was actually dating both twins. Malfoy had told her to keep it a secret for now, that they could make use of it at a later time. Hermione was watching her closely, just waiting for her to do something. They were all suspicious of her, the treacherous wankers who had been her friends just a couple of months ago.

Currently, Harry was bidding goodbye to the twins, Hermione and Ron just behind him. He just couldn't choose who to give more of his time to and, as a result, Hermione and Ron had decided to spend time with the twins when Harry did, so he didn't have to make the decision between his boyfriends and his friends.

However, the time apart from Harry was doing Ron and Hermione some good, he noticed. Their relationship was becoming more closer by the day, and Ron was well on his way to asking Hermione out. It was taking everything in Harry's power to convince the boy, though. Ron was certain Hermione would laugh in his face.

“Come on, we should make a good first impression on Umbridge,” Hermione goaded, annoyed as Harry dawdled. Of course, it wasn't really his fault. George was manipulating him via his cat ears, melting the boy into a purring puddle of Harry Potter.

“No point, she's a mega-bitch. She'll cut out your hearts and eat them while you sleep,” Fred told them, laughing as Ron paled noticeably. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's gullibility.

“Stop it,” she scolded the both of them, walking up and grabbing onto Harry's tail. Harry yowled, arching his back and trying to pull his tail away. Hermione, however, refused to release it, and Harry was dragged along by his tail, spitting and hissing the whole way. The twins just laughed.

“Finally,” Hermione breathed when she got Harry up the stairs. Harry scowled at her, pulling his tail away and rubbing it. He continued to mew miserably as Hermione led them down the corridor and towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, chatting excitedly about what she thought their teacher would be like.

From the stories Fred and George had told them, however, Umbridge appeared to be a very bad teacher. They wouldn't talk too much about their lesson, saying that Harry would just have to find out for himself. Harry had flounced away and dragged Ron and Hermione down to the library to find a spell to get this collar off in retaliation.

However, they hadn't found one, and Hermione wasn't much help. She had said it was his own fault for not taking the chance to remove it when they'd offered.

“...And you shouldn't have gone running off anyway! In case you've forgotten, there's an evil wizard out for your blood...”

“Stupid jingly bell,” Harry mumbled, flicking the bell, which, predictably, jingled. Hermione sighed and slapped his hand away, tired of Harry flicking the bell. Much as he protested the collar, everyone knew he was fascinated with the sound of it.

They walked into the classroom and Harry and Ron immediately sped to the back of the room to claim seats. Hermione huffed, gazing longingly at the front, before following the boys. They sat down and waited for the rest of the class and the teacher to arrive.

The only ones in the classroom, asides from themselves, were Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Dean and Neville, who had sat one row from the back, right in front of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

“Hey guys,” Neville greeted, grinning at them. Harry smiled back, before looking out of the window. His seat was right beside the large pane of glass, and sunlight was streaming through it, directly onto him. He began to feel rather sleepy.

Harry rested his head on his folded arms, eyes blinking rapidly in an attempt to keep awake. He gazed absent-mindedly around the classroom, and then jolted into a sitting position when he saw Malfoy staring at him.

Malfoy sneered at him and Harry hissed back. Ron, who was next to him, jumped at the sound and stared at Harry, before following his gaze to see Malfoy. The redhead gave the blond the finger. Malfoy looked repulsed by such a plebeian gesture and tore his gaze away, to Parkinson.

“Git,” Ron muttered, turning to Harry, who had rested his head back on his arms and was beginning to doze off. However, he was disturbed by being shaken, and looked up to glare at Hermione, who was staring back at him sternly around Ron.

“I'm swapping seats with you,” she announced, gathering her books and standing. Harry groaned, looking longingly at the sunlight. “If you can't stay awake sitting there, then you need to move.”

Harry sighed and gathered his bag, standing and moving to sit on Ron's other side, in Hermione's place, while Hermione took his warm, sunny spot. Harry missed it already.

“Oh, don't give me that look,” Hermione snapped upon seeing the pleading eyes he was directing towards her. Harry sighed and looked to the front. He suddenly jumped when he realised that Umbridge had appeared in her seat. Ron, next to him, startled as well.

“Bloody hell, when did she get there?” he mumbled to Harry, who shrugged, bemused. The class had all arrived at that point, Gryffindors and Slytherins. He wished it had been Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, or Ravenclaws. Slytherins in the same class as Gryffindors never went down well.

“Settle down, settle down,” Umbridge said, standing. The class quieted, and a sense of anticipation filled the air. All of them wanted to see how Umbridge would teach compared to their other teachers. By the looks of her, Harry guessed she would be no better than Lockhart.

She was a round, pink blob. Her cardigan was light pink, her shirt a yellow with pink buttons, and her skirt a pale pink to match her cardigan. The wall behind her desk held a large picture of two kittens rolling about in grass with each other- causing Harry to sneer in disgust. Kittens did not roll around in the grass, looking sickeningly cute. At all.

All in all, she hardly seemed a likely candidate for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Just look at her ridiculous kittens.

“Good afternoon!” Umbridge greeted cheerily. A few students replied in a bored voice, shifting uncomfortably. Teachers rarely expected a greeting back, probably understanding that the students weren't exactly thrilled to be in classes in the first place.

“Now, that won't do,” Umbridge said, tutting. Her eyebrows raised as she stared at them. “Better, this time, answer me with 'Good afternoon, Professor', if you will; Good afternoon, class!”

“Good afternoon, Professor,” everyone replied, still as unenthusiastic, but louder. Umbridge made an approving sound. “Now, was that so difficult?” she asked sweetly. Quite a few rolled their eyes. “Now, wands away, please, and get your writing materials and textbook out.”

By the end of the lesson, Hermione had disobeyed a teacher, half of the Gryffindors had raised their voices in protest and Harry had earned himself detention and a trip to McGonagall. Harry eagerly concluded that he hated Umbridge.

XxXxXxX

Harry sat on one of the benches in the courtyard of the school, elbows resting on his knees and chin slumped on the palm of his hands.

A small group of fourth years walked past, eyeing him warily as they sped up. Harry rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to chase after them and give them something to be wary about. It was the same look he'd been getting since he started back at Hogwarts, and he knew he'd have to get used to it.

All the same, he still felt nervous under the looks. He sat up straight and fiddled with the bell on his collar, ears twitching whenever the bell jingled.

“Harry!” Harry's cat ears perked up and he turned on the bench to see Ron and Hermione running towards him. He winced at the furious look on Hermione's face and the sympathetic expression on Ron’s.

“Hi guys,” Harry greeted, attempting to sound casual and innocent. Hermione glared as she sat down next to him. Obviously she wasn't buying it.

“How could you, Harry?!” Hermione snapped, hitting him on the shoulder. Harry winced, rubbing the spot her hand had connected with and glaring out at the courtyard sulkily as she began to berate him for his attitude in Umbridge's class. “I don't care what a teacher says, you don't retaliate like that! She's a Ministry official, you could get into a lot more trouble than a few house points being taken off!”

It was a lot like the talk he'd had with McGonagall, only the Scottish teacher hadn't been quite as loud as Hermione was being. McGonagall had cautioned Harry against provoking Umbridge's temper, hinting that she was far more dangerous than Harry had originally thought. He didn't see what was so dangerous about a small, pudgy woman he was just itching to capture in his paws and bring back to the twins as a present.

Harry grimaced, shaking his head. Ugh, that was a rather disgusting image. He really had to stop wanting to kill small animals just for the twins and his friends.

“Lay off him, Hermione. Umbridge was being a right bi-”

“Don't you dare finish that sentence!” Hermione cut him off. Ron sighed in despair. No matter how bad a teacher was, Hermione still insisted on respecting them. Even Snape.

“I'm just saying, with all that stuff she was saying, you can't expect Harry to just sit and do nothing! You looked ready to hex her into next week,” Ron pointed out. Hermione huffed, obviously not pleased at the memory of how much she wanted to murder Umbridge. Hermione never normally had such violent thoughts, apart from that time she'd slapped Malfoy.

Harry grinned at the memory.

“Why did Umbridge send you to McGonagall, anyway?” Ron asked, cutting through Hermione's tirade. Harry shrugged.

“Turns out I've got detention for the next week. McGonagall said some pretty odd things, though,” Harry told them, thinking over the warnings.

“Did she offer you a ginger newt right in the middle of a serious discussion?” a voice suddenly asked, breath tickling Harry's human ear. He squirmed and turned around to glare at George, who grinned at him, leaning down to steal a quick kiss. Fred climbed over the bench and sat down on the side Hermione wasn't occupying, hand moving to rub at Harry's tail through his robe.

Hermione coughed lightly, distracting Harry from arching his back at the touch. He sighed, pulling away from George.

“What sort of things?” Hermione asked, turning attention back to the conversation they'd been having before Fred and George had come to interrupt everything.

“Wonder if we can prank those ginger newts,” Fred said, frowning in thought. Hermione grit her teeth.

“George, would you just-”

“I'm Fred,” Fred said indignantly. George turned to him with a glare.

“No, I'm Fred,” he protested. Hermione growled in frustration, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him from the bench, leading him away from the arguing twins. Ron trailed behind them, and the twins caught up a moment later as they were heading to the Great Hall.

“Will you two just behave?” Hermione scolded them. Fred and George looked down, shuffling their feet guiltily.

“Yes mum,” they said in unison. Ron quickly lead Hermione away before the girl whipped out her wand and did something rather unsightly. Harry rolled his eyes, turning to the twins with an unimpressed look. They both smiled at him angelically.

“So, we heard all about your little stand-off with Umbridge,” George told him, slipping his hand into Harry's and dragging him towards the Great Hall. People moved out of their ways, unused to Harry's cat ears and the fact that he was dating a notorious, male prankster. Or dating anyone. They'd begun to think that Harry was just asexual.

“Oh, yeah, that,” Harry muttered, and Fred grinned, patting his head. It was the most affection he could show to Harry at the moment, and he smiled at the redhead. “I've got detention for the next week,” Harry told them. Their faces fell and they pouted at Harry.

“But, but...” Fred stammered, bottom lip wobbling.

“A whole week,” George repeated, lifting his other hand, not attached to Harry, to wipe at his watering eyes. Harry scowled at them, claws coming out to dig into George's hand. George let out a choked, pained noise and pulled his hand away from Harry.

Harry stormed away from them to Hermione and Ron. He actually felt upset that his time with the twins would be restricted for a week because of Umbridge, but they obviously found it hilarious.

“If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were a pregnant woman, with the amount of mood swings you have,” Ron told him as Harry slumped down next to him. “Or Hermione,” Ron whispered. Harry let out a snort of laughter, and Hermione looked at them suspiciously from across the table.

The twins had sat down at the other end of the table, next to Angelina, Katie and Alicia. Harry shot them a dirty glare, knowing the twins were only doing it so he'd go and sit next to them to protect them from the girls’ attention.

He wasn't going to fall for it.

Harry's gaze trailed listlessly across the hall and up to the Head table. Umbridge was eating a sandwich and looking very smug. Harry felt all the fur on his tail start to rise as he growled. Ron let out a bark of laughter at the pitiful sound, and Harry waved his sharp claws at his friend. Ron gulped and stopped laughing.

Harry's gaze moved down the table. He felt the absence of Hagrid keenly. The half-giant was, apparently, on holiday, although Hermione speculated that it was for the Order. Another teacher had taken his place in Care of Magical Creatures, but weren't nearly as dangerous as the loveable Hagrid.

Near the end of the table, Charlie sat next to Snape, who was looking more sour than usual. Charlie had apparently been watching over him non-stop these past few days, but Harry hadn't noticed him at all, expect for in Potions, where Charlie seemed to make it completely obvious he was there, for some reason.

Snape had been absolutely vicious to Harry since the start of the year. He wondered why.

Charlie leaned closer to Snape, nearly whispering in his ear. Snape stiffened, and Charlie smirked, turning his attention back to his food. Suddenly, the redhead lifted his eyes, meeting Harry's gaze, and winked at him. Harry smiled back and turned to the Gryffindor table again.

Fred was joking with Angelina, smirking at her with that same mischievous smirk he used on Harry. Harry grit his teeth. George turned to him, caught him staring, and blew him a kiss, before turning back to Katie and engaging her in a very enthusiastic conversation.

“Just drag them away,” Hermione whispered to him, seeing what he was looking at. Harry slouched, shaking his head. Hermione looked heavenward. “You're so immature!”

“Am not,” Harry muttered petulantly. Ron snorted, and Harry stared at him. He had no room to talk, Hermione called him immature all the time. A sudden loud giggle caused Harry to hiss and glare at Katie. He had nothing against the chasers, but the knowledge that they had been interested in Fred and George previously was making him see red. Maybe, because of them, the twins would get bored of Harry and his constant mood swings. Angelina and Katie were very even-tempered.

“Stop getting wound up, they're just mates,” Ron told him suddenly, reassuringly. Harry turned to stare at him. Ron was strangely perceptive. “Mate, you're like an open book.” Ron's tone was amused.

“Wanker,” Harry snapped at him. Ron just laughed and patted his head, much like Fred had done earlier.

Harry ducked out from underneath Ron's hand and stood, shrugging his bag on. “See you in Potions, I need to go get my book for it,” he told them. Hermione glared at Ron- certain he had something to do with Harry's abrupt disappearance- who looked vaguely terrified.

As Harry passed Fred and George, he paused for a second, wanting to say something to them, maybe just scratch their eyes out for being bastards. However, Fred said something apparently hilarious, as it caused Angelina to burst into peals of laughter, leaning against him. George turned, saw Harry, and waved him over.

Harry stomped away, hissing to himself. He should have scratched their eyes out.

Harry walked through the nearly empty corridors, frowning angrily. People continued to dodge out of his way if he passed them, the stories in the Prophet being backed by the expression on his face.

“Did you see the way that Johnson girl was practically falling over Weasley? And he was fawning all over her. Love,” a familiar voice spat. “Completely sickening.” Harry peered around the next corridor to see Malfoy talking with Parkinson. Crabbe and Goyle were next to them, obviously not included in the conversation.

“And I could have sworn one of those twins was going out with Potter,” Parkinson agreed, “but with the way the both of them were acting...”

“Obviously Potter doesn't know how to satisfy his men,” Malfoy told her, smirking, then grimaced. “The mere thought disgusts me.” Parkinson nodded frantically, wrinkled her pug nose. Harry shook his head and turned around. He'd take the long way to the Gryffindor tower.

Malfoy laughed softly to himself as he saw the cat ear that had been sticking around the corner disappear.

XxXxXxX

“What's Malfoy looking so smug about?” Ron asked during Potions, eyeing the smirking blond. Harry shrugged, not particularly caring. Malfoy always looked smug.

“Probably terrified some defenceless first-year into having a heart attack,” he muttered. Ron laughed slightly, before turning to his friend, who wasn't paying any attention to Snape, choosing instead to doodle on his Potions textbook. Hermione was tutting at the mess he was making of the sacred text.

“What's up?” Ron asked him quietly. Harry just shrugged moodily. Ron shared a concerned glance with Hermione. He seemed to be even worse than he was at lunch.

“Is it the twins?” Hermione whispered to him. Snape was writing something on the board now, back to them. Harry nodded absently, and Hermione leant back, both satisfied and irritated. She was always looking for a reason to yell at the twins over something, mainly their disregard for authority. It never failed to amuse Harry and Ron.

“It's not their fault,” Harry told her before she could even open her mouth to begin her rant. Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Don't go yelling at them.” The book-worm didn't look too happy at the order.

“And it's not just the twins, it's the whole Umbridge thing, and the dreams I've been having, and the fact that I know Voldemort's out there, and Sirius still being on the run, and me being a fucking cat, and having to have a bloody Order member follow me around at school all the time, just so I don't get hurt,” Harry told them, all in one breath, before he sighed and rested his forehead on the desk, hands coming up to clench at his hair.

Hermione's eyes softened, and she wrapped Harry up in hug, while Ron patted his shoulder, the only space not covered by Hermione.

“This is why you have to talk to us about this stuff,” Hermione chided him lightly. Harry chuckled slightly, and Ron grinned. Harry finally spills his guts, which Hermione had been nagging him to do for months, and she scolds him.

“Sorry, I know that wasn't helpful,” Hermione said apologetically. Harry smiled at her.

“Don't worry about it, I expected you to say that,” he told her teasingly. She tugged at his tail under his robe and Harry glared at her.

“Miss Granger, there will be no more prodding and pulling from you this lesson. Ten points from Gryffindor,” Snape suddenly announced. The trio jumped and swivelled their heads to look behind them. When on earth did Snape move from the board to behind their desk?

“S-sorry sir,” Hermione said meekly, blushing as a few Gryffindors groaned at the points being taken off, none really blaming Hermione. Snape was a git.

Charlie snorted and rolled his eyes from where he was leaning against the wall of their Potions class, studying Snape intently. Snape sneered at him.

“Ten points from Gryffindor, as well, Mr Potter,” Snape hissed, not even looking at Harry. Charlie laughed lightly and Harry looked at Snape, gob smacked.

“What? Why?” he protested. Ron was making an angry sound in the back of his throat, and the Gryffindors all groaned again. Snape whirled on Harry, dark eyes glaring down at Harry, who gulped, ears plastering to his head weakly.

“For arguing with me!” Snape snarled and stormed up to the front, while Harry, Ron and Hermione stared after him.

Hermione sighed wearily, and shot Charlie a disapproving glance.

“I wish he'd just stop teasing Professor Snape,” she muttered under her breath. Ron and Harry swapped confused frowns over her head, before looking at Charlie. Charlie was licking his lips at Snape, who was staring at his desk, looking extremely flustered.

“Wonder what's going on there, then,” Ron murmured. “Maybe Charlie's just thirsty, bet it's hard to have to trail Harry around all day.” Harry scowled at Ron, but nodded in agreement. Hermione stared at them disbelievingly.

“Idiots.”

XxXxXxX

“I'm off, detention,” Harry told Hermione and Ron, having spent fifteen minutes picking disinterestedly at his food to appease his friends. Fred and George had tried to sit next to him, but Hermione had sent them a dark glare and dragged Harry to sit somewhere else.

Hermione looked disapproving at the mention of the punishment he'd inflicted on himself, and Ron winced, patting his back. No-one really fancied being cooped up with Umbridge for hours.

Harry stood and walked out of the hall, glancing at his watch. He had ten minutes to get to Umbridge's office.

He picked up the pace, not wanting to get any more detentions or house points taken off for being late. He'd had enough as it was.

He finally made it to the corridor her room was on and pushed open the door. It was five on the dot, so he'd defied the odds and been on time. He felt rather proud of himself as he stepped into her office, looking around.

She sat at the large desk, which was covered in a pink cloth. On the desk sat a few antique plates, and Harry wrinkled his nose as he saw the kittens that played about on them. The room was a far cry from what it had been during the imposter Moody's brief period of teaching, or even Remus's style. The main theme was pink, closely followed by kittens.

Umbridge looked up as he entered, plastering a large, false smile on her face. Harry didn't smile back, but she hadn't expected him to.

“Take a seat,” she told him, gesturing to the desk set up in front of hers. There was a sheet of parchment and a quill set on the surface. Harry nodded and stiffly sat on the chair pulled up to his desk.

Harry was tasked with the dull but fairly painless punishment of writing lines. Or, at least, he had thought it would be fairly painless.

A sharp pain from the back of his hand made Harry hiss under his breath and stare down at his hand, where a message was being scratched out. In his own handwriting.

I must not tell lies.

XXXXX

Edited 12/10