The Cat Spirit

The Cat Spirit
Chapter Seven: The Cat

It had been a little over eight months since his father had told him that he had managed to get someone pregnant. And now Draco was sitting in the lounge of the south wing of the Malfoy manor. The entire wing was his to use as the north wing was only for his parents. And as the west wing had been his grandparents and so on.

Draco eyed the list of possible ‘mothers’ of his child. He managed to exclude almost half the names through hard work. Draco had tried to find all of the men on the list to ask them about it. Many names were dropped from the list after he had gone to meet the people. But unfortunately many of them Draco could not find no matter what he did. A few of the people on the list had died, which surprised Draco, as the men had not been much older than he was.

“How’s it going with the list?” Blaise hollered when he strode into the room. Draco gave him a frustrated growl as an answer. Blaise chuckled. “Any progress?”
“I’ve been able to shorten the list but there are still too many names to be sure.” Draco sighed. Blaise patted him on the shoulder for comfort before sitting down in front of him.

“At least you’ve managed to do something.” Blaise shrugged. “It’s more than most would do. You know that.”
“Yeah…” the blond said quietly keeping his head down so Blaise couldn‘t see his face. “But I have to do something. Even if he weren’t the one I wish to marry, it’s my responsibility to do so. And in time…” Draco lifted his head to look at his friend. “…no one knows what could happen. I might even end up loving my husband.”
“Indeed…” Blaise said with a soothing smile.

“Splendid evening, gentlemen.” a voice came from the door. The young men turned to look at Lucius who strode into the room with wide smile on his face.
“Evening, father.” Draco responded.
“Good evening, Lord Malfoy.” Blaise said. “May I enquire what makes you smile so? Your son needs cheering up.”

“Than I think my news will do just that.” Lucius said and his smile did not fade. “I am honoured to tell that you have a daughter, Draco.”
The piece of news did not register into Draco’s brain immediately. The room was silent for a few minutes when it sank in. Blaise chuckled behind his hand because of his friend’s behaviour. Draco eyes weren’t focused on anything and his mouth was slightly open, since it wouldn’t do for a Malfoy to act like a fish out of water.

“I have a daughter…” he finally spoke astonished.
“Indeed you do.” Lucius said. “I’m proud of you. She is a very healthy baby and beautiful, too. As much as a baby can be.”
“Can I see her?” his son asked cautiously. Draco wasn’t sure if his parents would let him. He had had no part in her life when she was in her ‘mother’s’ womb.

“Of course.” Lucius chuckled. “She is your daughter, not mine. I cannot take away your rights.”
“Good.” Draco whispered.
“Come with me.” Lucius stated and started walking towards the door. “She’s with Narcissa.”

---

Harry would have chuckled if he could when Draco nearly ran into the room. The Malfoy heir didn’t notice him as he lay beside Narcissa on the bed as his focus was only on his daughter. Draco almost flew to his mother who was holding the sleeping little girl. Lucius came in chuckling a moment later and after him Harry could recognize Blaise Zabini.

“She is beautiful.” Draco said as he gazed at Lilian. “A true Malfoy, wouldn’t you say?” he asked his parents. Neither of them gave him an answer but Draco wasn’t waiting for one.
“What’s her name?” Blaise asked as he walked closer to take a look at the little girl.
“Lilian Malfoy.” Lucius answered from behind him. “Of course if you want to give her a middle name Draco, you can.”

“The ‘mother’ chose her name?” Draco asked. Narcissa nodded as an answer. “Lilian is a beautiful name…But why would he choose Malfoy as her last name? Is it another attempt to keep his identity from me?”
“No.” Narcissa said with a smile. “He wanted her to have your name.”
“But why? When he didn’t want to marry me.” Draco exclaimed distressed. Harry was desperate to comfort him but there was little he could do. Then he had an idea how to do so.

‘Lucius?’ Harry asked in his thoughts trying to concentrate on Lucius. The blond lifted his head and look at him. ‘Can you hear me?’ Harry got a nod from the Malfoy Lord. ‘You can tell him why I didn’t marry him. I don’t want him to be so miserable about it.’ Harry told him and Lucius nodded again.
“He did want to marry you.” Lucius said surprising his son. “He loves you but he didn’t want a loveless marriage.”

“But that could have come in time. I could’ve fallen for him.” Draco whispered.
“It’s not too late yet.” Narcissa told her son. She wished that he would find out the truth and she would have Harry as son-in-law.
“What do you mean, mother?” Draco asked and they could hear hope in his voice.
“Find him and he might agree to marry you.”

---

Draco appeared to be a very doting father. He spent most of his time looking after Lilian. He did everything even though the house elves would have been clad to do it for him. He watched her grow and noticed how she had gotten his blond hair, though it was messier than his. Draco waited for her eyes to clear and settle on her own eye colour but it wouldn’t happen yet. Her eye colour could be another clue in finding her ‘mother’.

After the few first days Draco noticed a black cat hanging around the house. He went to ask his mother about and she told him it was time for them to get a pet. Draco also noticed the cat - Shadow, was the cat’s name as his mother had told him - wandering around Lilian most of the time. At first he thought Shadow was going to hurt her but soon discovered that the cat looked after her and meant no harm to come to her. Draco was clad to have Shadow around when he wasn’t able to stay by Lilian’s side to watch over her. He liked the thought of having extra help.

---

Harry didn’t feel too comfortable to stay around Lilian at first. Draco seemed to stick by her side all the time. But he was sure Draco wouldn’t let anything to happen to her and felt safe enough to leave her with her father while he explored the Malfoy manor as a cat. But when night fell Harry went back to his daughter’s side to guard her in her sleep.

The Malfoy manor looked a lot different from his new point of view. Everything had been enormous when he still had been a human but now things looked even bigger. He was too small to open any of the heavy doors on his own but the other residents of the house soon learned to leave them open for him. It grew out to become a habit to them and Harry once walked in on Draco when the man was in shower, which led into Harry’s hasty exit from the room.

The second week of his stay there Harry found something peculiar. A hidden door underneath one of the many tables in the halls. Not daring to investigate it further alone he ran to Lucius’ study where he was sure to find him at this hour of the day. And certainly there Harry found the grandfather of his daughter. Harry ran to the table and leaped onto it startling the blond.

“Good morning, Shadow.” Lucius greeted the black cat. Harry mewled as an answer. They had come up with a name for the cat as they couldn’t call him ‘Harry’, that would’ve been too obvious. “Did you have something to tell me? Or did you come here just to say hello?” Lucius smiled.

‘I have found something.’ Harry announced in his mind sending his thoughts towards the man in front of him. ‘I think you should see this.’ he continued while making eye contact with Lucius.
“What is it?” Lucius sighed. “I have work to do.”

‘How many secret places do you have to hide things?’ Harry asked. Lucius frowned at him looking thoughtful. ‘Any of them in the halls?’ Harry specified. Lucius frown grew.
“None in the halls.” Lucius stated. “One in the family room, one in the master bedroom and of course in the dungeons there are few…”

‘Then you want to see this.’ Harry said jumped of the table and walking to the door. ‘You coming?’ he asked turning his head and staring at Lucius with his emerald green eyes. The blond hurriedly rose from his seat and followed the black cat to his discovery.

Harry led Lucius to the table. The blond was surprised to find out that his already deceased relatives had many more hidden places in the manor than he had known of. Lucius checked the whole table for any charms, hexes and other traps that might have been placed for its safety. There were not many spells protecting it and Lucius quickly cancelled them.

What they found were only a few old family documents. Nothing really important but it made Lucius wonder if there were other hidden places in the house he didn’t know of. Harry was glad to help and promised to keep a sharp eye out for other secret doors in the house. Within a few weeks he found many. Some had documents like the ones they first discovered but some were long lost family heirlooms and other ancient artefacts. Lucius was very grateful for Harry’s findings and told him so.

Soon a month had passed. On the night of the new moon Harry changed back into his former self for the dark hours of the day. He was ecstatic to able to hold Lilian even though she was asleep through it. Harry sighed as he watched his daughter breath deeply with silent snoring. He would miss embracing her when he was a cat again.

Lilian started squirming disturbed by whatever she was dreaming of. Harry started humming a lullaby he had heard Narcissa singing to her. He tried in vain to calm her but nothing he did was working. Harry sobbed in despair.
“It’s alright, little one.” Harry whispered to her. “There’s nothing to fear.” he continued to soothe her. Lilian whimpered burying her blonde curls to his shoulder. Harry sighed in relief when she began to calm down.

“Is someone there?” a voice came from the corridor startling Harry. He nearly panicked. He didn’t know who was coming and he was stark naked. Cats didn’t use clothes, so he had none when he turned back. Harry quickly but carefully lowered his daughter back into her bed without waking her from her sleep. Then Harry hurried into the shadows. He didn’t know what to do to hide himself any better.

The door was pushed open cautiously letting light pour into the room from the corridor. Before Harry could panic even worse than he already did, he found himself shrinking. Draco strode into the room to check on his daughter, looking around for who ever made the noise earlier. Harry would’ve sighed in relief if he were able to. The only one - besides Lilian - Draco could see in the room was Shadow.

“Was it you I heard, Shadow?” the blond wondered out loud. The cat mewled at him and Draco bowed down to pick him up. He stroked the black fur as he glanced into Lilian’s cradle. She was sleeping peacefully again. Draco kissed her forehead before leaving the room taking Shadow with him but leaving the door open so the cat could get in again later.

“Accompany me to the kitchen, won’t you?” Draco asked though Shadow had little to say when held in his arms. “I can’t sleep and some company would be appreciated.” Draco gave the cat a smirk. “I’ll give you some milk in return of your cooperation.” he laughed not knowing Shadow could understand him.

Harry resigned to his fate and let Draco take him to the kitchen. He was relieved Draco hadn’t found out about him.

Yet.

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Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter

So…It took a long time for me to write this chapter but I don’t feel like apologizing for it. This story has turned out to be a lot longer than what planned in the beginning, thus making things as understandable as possible I need to write more details and situations than I have planned for. And this particular chapter took a long time for I had difficulties to imagine what it would be like to be a cat…