The Cat's Meow

A/N: By the way, I probably won\'t be able to update this all that frequently, so enjoy it while it lasts lol! Damn school. >.>



Hermione woke up not sure of where she was. The last thing she remembered was ingesting that love potion and telling Snape she felt loving. Then it all went black.



"Ah, Ms. Granger, you\'re awake," a voice said beside her, making her jump. The voice lacked its customary iciness, puzzling her.



"What happened?" she asked, struggling to a seated position. To her surprise, she wasn\'t in the classroom, the infirmary, or even anywhere she recognized. She had been placed on a long, low, green-upholstered couch in what appeared to be a dark-paneled sitting room. It looked very tasteful and elegant--one of the most such rooms she had ever seen.



"You tasted the potion, told me you felt loving, and immediately fainted," Professor Snape told her. There was a line between his brows, suggesting that he wasn\'t very happy about that. "When you showed no signs of waking up in a reasonable amount of time, I dismissed class and had Madam Pomfrey attend to you in my quarters--I thought it would be easier to lift you here than across the castle."



"Thank you," Hermione said hoarsely. Now that she was awake, she felt an acute sense of embarrassment course through her body. Not to mention, the mere presence of her Potions professor so nearby was having a rather odd, tingling effect on her. No doubt it had to do with that blasted love potion, she thought irritably. It had done something to her. It seemed to have done more than just "increase whatever feelings she already had," too. Apparently, it didn\'t work so well on half-cat girls.



"Can I go now, Professor?" she asked tentatively when he just sat there, staring at her with those inscrutable dark eyes. She wondered if he would have the same look in his eyes while he was kissing her. Or her hands explored every bit of his chest, sliding across the pale, warm skin...



Hermione! Calm yourself! she scolded her mind. He can read thoughts, remember? Do you really want him reading that?



Well, no, not exactly. Then again, if it would lead to that conclusion, she just might.



Hermione wasn\'t entirely an innocent. She\'d made out with Viktor Krum the year before. But that was pretty much it. She and Ron had made a tentative experiment over the summer, but it had ended disastrously. They were definitely not attracted to each other and obviously destined to just be friends. She hadn\'t even tried with Harry.



"Yes, Ms. Granger," Snape interrupted her musings. "I would prefer, however, if you went to Madam Pomfrey before your dormitory to ensure that you have suffered no ill effects from the imbibing of the potion." He stood up decisively and offered her a hand up.



Maybe that\'s what did it. Overcome by her fingers touching his flesh, Hermione trembled, tripped over a nonexistent bump in the carpet, and went flying, her hood sliding backwards off her head. She felt it go and jerked one hand up to her hair, emitting a long, mournful howl of dismay. And a howl it truly was--she hadn\'t heard a sound like that since the last time she\'d heard an alley cat outside her house. Professor Snape caught her before she fell to the carpet and stared open-mouthed at the fuzzy pair of ears growing from the top of her head.



"Explain," he finally said, his voice reverting to its former coldness. Hermione felt cold all over, her skin was like ice, and she couldn\'t stop shivering. Dread raced through her body like a deadly poison. This was exactly what she didn\'t want to happen! she thought wretchedly. Nevertheless, she tried to pass it off.



"Explain what, sir?" she asked innocently. He reached out one hand and touched one of her ears, making her jump. Her ears were sensitive, especially when stroked like that! Hermione suspected that he\'d had a cat at one time in his life.



"The fact that you have cat ears on top of your head, Ms. Granger, what do you think I meant?" Snape growled in exasperation. The timbre of his voice rubbed deliciously across her nerves and she swallowed hard. Damn, her mouth was dry. She couldn\'t decide if it was from terror or desire.



"It\'s not just the ears, Professor," she murmured, dejected. But if she was going to explain, she might as well show off everything. She unclasped her robes and let them fall to each side, leaving her in her uniform skirt and blouse. Then she undid the catch in the back that let her new tail free.



"Ears and a tail," Snape stated, walking around her, making her feel like she was on a block for inspection. "Anything else?"



"Um, I have claws sometimes and my nose twitches?" Hermione blurted out. Why was she telling him this? Aside from that he asked. He was her Potions professor, but that didn\'t mean he had to know everything. Particularly when even Dumbledore had agreed to keep this a secret. What if he told somebody else?



She looked up into his eyes. No. Severus Snape would never tell anybody her secret, she realized. Not unless she wanted him to.



"How did it happen?" he inquired coolly, sounding amazingly detached for somebody who had just discovered one of his students was part-feline at the moment.



Hermione shrugged helplessly. "Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore decided it was the result of a stray jinx," she told him, explaining. "They got rid of most of the effects, but for some reason, they can\'t go any further."



"So you\'re stuck as a cat," Snape mused. "Well...part cat." She nodded silently. Her heartbeat sounded like a drum to her ears. "Why have you been keeping it a secret, Ms. Granger? From the other students, I can understand, but from the professors?" She gulped. He sounded very aggrieved with her. Maybe she should have told all of her professors, she thought. For one thing, maybe one of them knew how to get rid of it all!



"I don\'t know, Professor," she finally managed to make herself say. It wasn\'t exactly true, but it wasn\'t a lie either. She really didn\'t know why. She just didn\'t want to be humiliated as usual. Especially by Snape--he always had a biting comment or droll look for her that made her feel lower than dragon dung. If it weren\'t for the fact that she was a Gryffindor, and thus doomed to be brave, she would have rather hid in the dormitory than come down for Potions at all!



"Sit down, Ms. Granger," Professor Snape invited her. She did so nervously, assuming a tentative perch on the edge of the couch. "Oh, for heavens sake, I\'m not going to leap upon you and curse you!" Snape snapped at her, rolling his eyes. "You\'re my student, Ms. Granger, nothing more."



Nothing? Her mouth worked to conceal her traitorous disappointment. It must be the potion, that was the only explanation for it. Maybe she was like...in heat. Yes, cats came into heat, didn\'t they? And didn\'t have control over their sexual behavior? Maybe that\'s what was happening to her. She was in heat and the only person around who seemed good to her hormones was Professor Snape. And then that stupid potion exacerbated it. Yes, that must be it, she nodded without thinking.



"Is there something wrong with your neck?" Snape inquired acerbically and she blushed. Damn it. She was supposed to have better control of herself than this.



"No, sir," she managed to croak out. She had to lick her lips, they felt as dry as one of her professor\'s rare witticisms. With a jolt of surprise, she realized his eyes were following the movement of her tongue. Was that a good thing? Or did that mean he wished he could rip her tongue out? Hermione knew that he had been absolved of all illegal activity with the downfall of Voldemort and the realization to the Wizarding World that he had, in fact, been a spy for Dumbledore, but she knew there was a dark side somewhere in there. If there wasn\'t, he never would have managed. Now she wondered if maybe that dark side wanted to come out...



Professor Snape sighed and moved away, towards the door.



"Well, if that\'s all you can tell me, I suppose you may go now," he said over his shoulder. Hermione gathered up her robes and put them back on, wincing as she crushed the tip of one ear in a fold of the hood. Damn and blast, why were these things so bloody sensitive to the least touch? She was certain that not all cats were like this. There was no way they could be; the damn things would have gone extinct by now.



"All right, sir, thank you," Hermione mumbled, grabbing her book bag, which had been thoughtfully placed by the couch, and moving past him, intent on the dubious freedom of the rest of the castle, out of Snape\'s rooms. He didn\'t move out of her way, but let her edge past him, that delicious, captivating scent of jasmine and sandalwood once again filling her nostrils. She had to take a firm hold of herself before she started sniffing his robes like a bloodhound.



"See to it that you do see Madam Pomfrey," he said behind her, making her jump. She turned and nodded, careful not to look him in the eyes.



"Good night, Professor," Hermione said and hurried off.