The Cat Spirit

The Cat Spirit
Chapter Eight: The Attack

Narcissa carried her six months old granddaughter as they walked down the road. Shadow was curled around Lucius’ neck riding on his shoulders during their trip to Diagon Alley. People kept pointing at them while they walked past. “Whose child is that?” was on everyone’s lips. None - besides their immediate family - had seen Lilian Malfoy.

“Their staring bothers Lilian.” Narcissa told her husband quietly. “Can you do something about it?” she asked.
“Not without yelling at them.” Lucius replied but fixed a sharp glare at anyone who crossed their path. It was all he could do to the situation while still acting like a proper Malfoy Lord should.

‘I’m not helping either.’ Harry’s voice whispered in their minds. ‘They aren’t used to seeing the Malfoy Lord with a cat - or any animal - on his shoulders…’ he continued and buried his face into Lucius neck, under his loose hair.
“It’s not your fault.” Lucius whispered to him. “We wanted to take you along. You haven’t seen anything other than the manor for months.”

“Indeed.” Narcissa also muttered to him. “It’s time you saw the outside world again. Perhaps you’ll even see some of your friends.” she said and Shadows ears twitched in excitement. Maybe they’d be lucky and some of the Weasley might be at the Alley too.
“Though we should watch them from a distance. The Weasleys in particular do not like us still.” Lucius murmured. Harry’s laughter rang in their thoughts.

Their first stop was Madame Malkins. They asked for wizarding clothes for children. They ended up spending three hours in the store while Narcissa compared the different types of wear for Lilian. Lucius and Harry conversed silently with each other about the latest Quidditch news and other wizarding sports keeping themselves entertained while Narcissa fussed over her granddaughter’s clothing.

When they finally moved out of the store it was already nearing noon, and they decided to stop for a light lunch before a brief visit to the Knockturn Alley to buy some potion ingredients Draco requested. They found a rather posh restaurant near Gringotts. Lucius ordered for them, quickly getting rid of the waitress who kept prying about things that where none of her business.

‘Do people ever learn to mind their own business?’ Harry asked thoughtfully. Lucius laughed drawing a few unwanted stares into their table.
“I doubt it.” he chuckled while glaring at the people looking their way. Not long after the waitress returned with their drinks. Warmed milk in a baby bottle for Lilian, red wine for Narcissa, scotch for Lucius and more milk in a small plate for Shadow. She left hastily after Lucius’ glare.

“Shame that Draco had to work today.” Narcissa sighed after sipping her wine. “This could have been the perfect family day.” she continued dreamily. ‘Of course if Harry were back to his normal self it would have been ideal.’ she thought.
“Maybe next time.” Lucius assured her that they would do this again with their son too.

The waitress returned again. This time with their lunch. Lucius had a medium rare beef steak with grilled tomatoes and asparagus. The colourful salad from seasonal vegetables was for Narcissa. When the waitress asked who the meatloaf was for they told her to give it to the cat, which made her frown but she did as ordered. After the customary question if they needed anything else, Lucius dismissed her.

They took time enjoying the food and left once paying for the lunch and giving the waitress the appropriate tip. Lucius wrapped his arm around Narcissa waist as they strode to Knockturn Alley and didn’t let her leave his sight until they returned to Diagon Alley with the potion ingredients.

Their next stop was in one of the many bookstores in the alley. Despite their large library Lucius needed something new to read and hoped to find a few new releases good enough to bother reading. Narcissa wandered off with Lilian to look for some children’s books while Lucius took Shadow with him.

A few months ago Harry had started reading with the blond to pass the time in the long evenings. Lucius would hold the book up while he read it and Shadow would sit in his lap and read along. They made it work well after a few times - at the beginning Lucius turned the pages too early and Harry had missed the last few lines. Their cooperation had some difficulties, mainly in the choice of books to read but they learned to compromise fast. Harry would tolerate the thick history books as long as Lucius agreed to read a few editions from different Quidditch teams and their history and other such volumes meant for the younger population.

After some roaming around the bookcases they found a newly released volume from a well-known Defence Against the Dark Arts expert, the new edition of Quidditch Throughout the Years, and surprisingly a brand-new release - it had been published the same day - The Improved and Pristine Potions of the Age, written from the Journal of the respected Potions Master Severus Snape.

“This will be added straight away to the Hogwarts study material.” Lucius murmured to Shadow holding the potions books while paying for their purchases.
‘Hopefully they’ll be taught more patiently than Snape used to.’ Harry chuckled in his mind. Severus had resigned from his post in Hogwarts after the war and now lived in peace and quiet with Remus and now had all the time he wanted to play with his potions. ‘But I’m glad he finally gets the long waited appreciations he deserves.’ he continued thinking of his former professor who had given his whole life for the war.
“Indeed he will.” Lucius muttered taking the book back from the sales clerk.

Narcissa was already waiting for them at the front of the store with her own purchases which she gave to her husband when he reached her side. Not wanting to be in the attention of the other people in the Alley any longer, they headed home quickly, never noticing they had been followed for the entire day there.

---

“Sweet dreams, my little princess.” Draco murmured to his daughter, kissing her on the forehead, scratching Shadow behind his ear and leaving the room after turning out the lights. Harry strode across the room and jumped into the cradle. He lay down next to Lilian and the little girl reached out and grabbed a hold of his fur. She nuzzled closer to him and soon she had fallen asleep. Harry relaxed and let the tiredness of the day break through his consciousness and he fell asleep too. The house was quiet and even Draco was getting to bed already.

Only the house-elves were awake cleaning and doing whatever they do when the family was asleep. There were many wards around the house to keep them protected. But despite everything someone slipped through without anyone noticing. A figure cloaked in dark fabric sneaked closer to the house. Nothing unusual was heard over the strong wind. The figure soon reached the house and looked for the right window. With an enormous amount of luck it found the correct window, leading to the nursery.

The figure swiftly climbed up the wall. Conveniently there was a vine crowing underneath Lilian’s nursery window. It stopped only once on the way up for it had heard someone moving close to the wall. Nobody noticed him and the steps moved further away. The trespasser reached the window peeking in and checking there weren’t others besides the baby in the room.

The intruder opened the window as quietly as possible and the old wood only groaned softly. The figure smirked pleased with themselves. In their moment of success the intruder forget to stay silent and jumped down from the windowsill. The noise caused by the fall wasn’t anything grant but it was loud enough to wake a sleeping cat.

Harry was startled awake by a sudden noise. He jumped up and looked around the room in alert. His sharp eyes spotted the figure in the dim room. Harry hissed in warning but the black cat wasn’t intimidating enough to scare the intruder away. The trespasser moved closer to the crib and Harry cautiously stepped over his daughter’s sleeping form. He arched his back, tensing his legs and jumped with his sharp claws out, aiming at the figure’s face.

Unfortunately the intruder was too fast and Harry was easily swung to the side. The small cat crashed to the wall with an ugly crack. Harry couldn’t lift himself up and had to watch as the trespasser moved to lean over his daughter.

“So this is the newest Malfoy spawn.” the intruder murmured in disgust. Harry mewled desperately still trying to get up. He nearly panicked when the figure pulled out his wand, pausing to think what to do to the youngest Malfoy. Harry couldn’t do anything to help his daughter and he could feel how his strength kept slipping away. Unconsciousness crept closer and Harry used the rest of his energy to call for help before the darkness claimed him.

---

‘HELP!!!’ rang in the minds of everyone currently inside the Malfoy manor. Certainly none stayed asleep through it. Lilian was startled awake by the volume and to the intruder’s irritation she started crying at the top of her lungs. Immediately a house-elf popped into the room to see what was the matter and upon seeing someone unfamiliar, the little creature froze the intruder.

Draco had woken up at the yell in his mind and had fallen of his bed in fright. Not knowing what it had meant or if the voice was even real, the blond rose from the floor, threw a bathrobe on and stormed out of his room in the look of his father. Their paths crossed on the way but the Malfoy Lord had no time to explain and continued towards the nursery. Now worried, Draco followed him.

Lucius tried to keep his calm while he strode down the hall. He was near panicking but reasoned not to before knowing why he should. He had told Narcissa to stay in bed when they had been woken up by Harry’s frightened call for help. It wouldn’t do to take unnecessary risks and he hadn’t wanted endanger his wife.

They enter the room almost simultaneously. They would have come upon a humorous sight had not the situation been so serious. A dark man was hanging upside down in the air, kept there by Tipsy, one of their house-elves. The man’s wand had been dropped from his grasp to the floor beneath him. Lilian was crying in her cradle and Lucius spotted Shadow lying motionlessly near the far wall.

Draco ran to his daughter and tried to calm her down all the while glaring at the man. Lucius growled at the intruder before checking nothing was wrong with Lilian and then moved towards the cat. He could see his chest moving while he breathed but otherwise he looked horrible. Lucius didn’t dare to touch Shadow, guessing he had been thrown at the wall and for a creature his size the cat must have broken some bones.

“Can you take Shadow to my wife, Tipsy?” Lucius asked unnecessarily and the house-elf nodded. “Be careful with him.” he warned and Tipsy smiled to him reassuringly.
“Tappy!” Lucius then called and the house-elf in question popped next to him. “Call the Auror Division. Ask for aurors Kingsley and McCartney. Tell them to floo to the manor immediately.” he said and Tappy popped away after receiving his orders.

“Is she alright?” Lucius asked after turning towards his son and granddaughter.
“Merely frightened. She will be fine.” Draco sighed. He quickly began to hum one of the many lullabies he had learned after her birth. Few minutes later Lilian had calmed down and fallen asleep again. Only then Draco turned to his father again, asking a question that had been in his mind for a while now. “Who is he?”

Meanwhile Narcissa was healing Shadow with the help of a healer she called for after Tipsy brought the cat to her. Luckily Narcissa had read a book on Spirits, like Harry, and remembered that even in their animal forms the spirits could be healed like a human would be. Shadow had broken many of his delicate bones, one of them had punctured his lungs and the cat was black and blue almost all over his small body.

Soon they had managed to heal the cat but he still lay there unconscious. The healer assured the Lady Malfoy it was only natural after such injuries. The healer moved Shadow gently onto a pillow and advised Narcissa to let him rest there. Narcissa lead the healer back to the fireplace telling him how grateful she was for his help before he flooed away.

---

When Harry woke up the next time he felt disoriented and had no idea where he was as his vision was blurry. First he didn’t remember what had happened before he lost consciousness until it came rushing back. Harry jumped up to his feet but fell down as his vision swayed. He panicked as he remembered the intruder coming into Lilian’s nursery. As soon as he was able to stay on his feet he ran to the door.

He didn’t get far, though. Lucius had been coming to check if he had woken up yet and caught him at the door. The cat was easily lifted into the arms of the Malfoy Lord.
“You should be running around yet.” the blond chuckled stroking his fur absentmindedly.
‘Lilian!’ Harry yelled in his mind. ‘Someone came into her room! I couldn’t do anyth-’ he continued before he was interrupted.

“We already caught the intruder, Shadow.” Lucius told him and Harry calmed down slightly. “And Lilian is fine.” the blond assured him.
‘She’s fine?’ Harry thought cautiously. He couldn’t help being worried over her if he hadn’t yet seen her.
“Yes.” Lucius reassured him. “She just went to have her nap. We shouldn’t disturb her.”

Lucius put Shadow back onto his pillow and firmly told him to stay there. Harry reluctantly lay down again. ‘How long have I been out?’ Harry suddenly remembered to ask. Lucius sat down at the near couch before answering.
“Four days.” he said. “You were in a bad shape but we managed to nurse you back to health - fortunately - with the help of a healer, course.”

‘The intruder. Who was it?’ Harry enquired from the blond. Lucius sighed heavily looking out of the only window in the room. It was raining Harry noted.
“Our family has always had many enemies.” Lucius started. “Even more after the war.” he fell silent for awhile having that.

“The intruder was a former Death Eater, insignificant enough to be pardoned from Azkaban. The aurors questioned him under veritaserum.” Lucius continued his explanation. “He appears to be a fanatical supporter of the deceased Dark Lord - almost as bad as Bellatrix - and after seeing us in the Alley, he decided to take revenge on our betrayal of the Dark Lord. Fortunately he didn’t succeed.”

‘What happened to him?’ Harry thought angrily wanted the worst for his daughter’s attacker.
“Due to our name having much leverage, he was sentenced to Azkaban for the next twenty years.” Lucius said with a malicious smirk like the ones he used to utilize during Voldemort‘s reign.

‘And Lilian is absolutely fine?’ Harry asked to soothe himself more. Lucius nodded with a rare soft smile. Harry sighed heavily and relaxed himself deciding to sleep some more before going to check up on his daughter.

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Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter

So that’s chapter eight. I hope you liked it - at least a little. Only three chapters left. Or four depending on if you want an epilogue, which I haven’t planned on but don’t consider impossible to write.

I’m not going to keep Draco in the dark much longer anymore. Someone mentioned Draco giving up on searching till Lilian’s eyes cleared? I didn’t mean it like that. Imagine meeting your daughter for the first time not having been any part her life before, it has to be overwhelming and Draco was simply so captivated by Lilian that he forgot to search for the other father. Though it doesn’t really explain his actions any better…

A part reason why I’m not making this story longer and keeping Harry as a cat for a more prolonged period of time; is another fic I’m planning on writing, in which Harry will be alone for many years because of an unfortunate ‘misunderstanding’…