Chapter Text
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A loud explosion occurred (again) in the middle of the potion class, the wet, sticky with a mysterious color substance spurting onto the air and splashing on the mahogany desk, turning it into a messy, nasty scene. Smoke was given off by the caudrone and covered the whole area in an absurd violet color, blinding the students who stood too close to the accident. Slughorn ran to the exploded mess and tried to shoo the students out, he held his wand and cleared the smoke off just to see his dear Tommy boy, choking on the thick smoke with watery eyes and a bunch of clothes scattered on the bench.
“Oh no my boy, are you ok?”
Obviously not, you can tell if you have common sense and eyes.
“Of course ye-cough cough-yes, Professor.” He said, waving his hand to send the smoke away, eyes turned to his potion partner, who just had a whole cauldron of mystery erm…potion on her face and probably, her everything. However, he, The Prodigy Boy, Defense Against the Dark Arts Brightest Student with Brilliant Instinct had conjured the most perfect shield in time and therefore, was not affected by the explosion. However, in contrast with him, his Gryffindor potion partner was nowhere to be seen, instead, a lump of something appeared under her clothes. He eyed it carefully before he held her robes and raised it up.
“Meow!”
He put her robes down, then raised it up again, then put it down (again). Maybe his eyes were affected by the smoke, yes, it must be the smoke, definitely.
“MEOWWWW!”
To his distrust, the “thing” was real, and it already wanted to scratch him. He raised the robes up again, his brown furrowed even further with the ridiculous sight. A cat with big, bright hazelnut eyes and the brown, untameable fur stared at him with an absolutely unpleasant expression.
“Granger…?” He asked gingerly, and was answered with a nod.
So, what had happened with our beloved Granger?
***
45 minute ago
“It seems that we are partners again, Granger.”
“Urgh.” She groaned and rolled her eyes.
Tom Riddle greeted her with his charming, good boy smile as usual. His hair was in place, robe and clothes pressed neatly. A perfect image of a prefect who stole all the girl (and boy)’s heart within a single gaze. He turned toward the desk behind them and greeted Harry and Ron with the same smile then sat down idly. It was unbelievable to think that he even charmed her own friends so easily, and they even fell for it?
“Oh? Uneasy again Granger? Tell me, who twisted your knicker this time?” He asked her, in a calm and pretty normal tone while set his things on the desk, however, she could see his eyes glittered with sarcasm.
“I don’t know, but obviously you want to become one.” She spatted
“Do you want it?” He looked at her with his punchable face and a smirk, which is also punchable.
She huffed, then paid her attention to Professor Slughorn rather than her discomfort.
“‘Mione, please!”
She could feel “someone” poking her back and tried to call her in a whisper.
“I’m terribly sorry about that, please don't be mad with me again pleaseeeee, I swear I will act better next time!” Ron said, trying to get her attention, however, she refused to give in and brushed him off. Riddle looked at her like he just had his amazing light bulb moment with a “so it was not me, then” face. Harry grabbed Ron’s robe and whispered something like “You will make her anger worse if you keep being a nuisance!”
Yesterday, during their dinner, while she was trying to talk to Ron about their upcoming NEWT (“which is next year, not now!” He said), he had accidentally spilled the pumpkin juice on her in his attempt to protest, then had accidentally (again) flown a whole pie onto her face while trying to clean the mess. After that, his clumsy dummy owl accidentally flew right in her plate and scattered the food everywhere. It had successfully enraged her. So that is precisely why she was not going to talk, or even look at him today. But, to her depleted luck, she was going to work with her asshole rival, not only in terms of houses, but also academically, who possessed an abnormal hobby of provoking her with random debates when she was ill tempered. He proudly called it “a study of Gryffindor’s reaction and behaviour toward the elite.”
10, then 15, then 20 minutes passed, Riddle didn’t say anything to antagonize her, even though Ron was constantly whining his apologies and Harry didn’t bother to shut him up, he even seemed kind of…kind? Things went too smoothly today, he assisted her with the poison harmoniously and he even offered her his tools? Riddle? Offering his tools? Unbelievable! (He still took her chances to answer questions though, but this does not count.)
“If you continued to stare at me like that, I would have a hole in the middle of my face.” He said.
She startled, then realized that she had looked at his face for the past minutes while stirring the poison. He glared at her in his remarkable smile, and she didn’t have a good feeling about it.
“Oh Granger, I don’t know that you finally acknowledge my beauty.” He said in his sweet, charming voice which he used in his good boy act, eyes opened wide to look like he was shocked. There he was, the prick was back.
“I just think that you look more agreeable when you know how to shut your mouth up and be a thoughtful, civilized man.” She frowned.
“I have always been thoughtful and civilized, though I don’t think you truly know the basic art of appreciation, especially when it comes to my charms.” He put the dragon scales powder inside the cauldron and made a sign for her to continue stirring while sticking his eyes to the book.
She pouted, but then continued to say, despite Ron’s whimpering sound in the background and the sound of Malfoy attempting to pull a prank on Harry. “You have been oddly well behaved today you know?” The bottle of dittany leaves fell to the floor with a loud shattering sound, combining with Malfoy’s snickers and Harry’s hexes. “No more studying?” She asked.
“I’m thinking today.” He answered and it sounded sincere enough. Harry retorted Malfoy with some nasty creation of the Weasley twins. Zabini, who happened to sit next to Malfoy, also caught strays and yelped.
“Got a pain in your arse?”
“You want to know the condition of my buttocks?” He asked, it sounded genuine. Malfoy shrieked in shock, then threw more hexes at Harry.
“No, thanks,” She shook her head. “I have known enough.”
Wait, that sound kinda-
“Erm, no, I mean-”
“I want to have a pet.” He confessed, not bothering to look up. She nearly stopped stirring.
“What?!” She nearly shouted, or already shouted. “Wait, don’t you have a thousand snakes already? And one of them is a bloody Basilisk! For Merlin’s sake! I-”
“So you're not going to yell at me for cutting you short?” He cut her short with a question. Zabini yelled out loud, trying to stop the childish fight of the two brats. Slughorn fell asleep on his desk, he only woke up if there was an explosion or so.
“Because you will not answer it again and lead it to another topic, so no.”
She sighed. Malfoy refused to cooperate with Zabini, starting to throw his tools to Harry. “And maybe you didn’t realize it, but you’re already changing the topic, now, can you-”
“They are my Familiar, not pets.” He cut her short again. Harry seemed to accept Malfoy’s challenge and did the same things, this time it was Nott who got a whole ladle in his face. Blood dropped from his nose.
“Hmph.” She huffed, seriously, this guy had absolutely no shame. “Not much different if you ask me.” She just wanted to throw the whole content of the cauldron on him.
Despite the whole notorious affair between Harry and Malfoy, our respectable Professor still fast asleep with a half eaten box of crystallized pineapple on the table. The ingredients were discarded violently in the air, falling down onto everyone’s desk. A few of it dropped into the cauldron nearby, which was constantly mixed by a witch who was still engaged in a frivolous conversation. The substance changed its color, some nasty vapor evaporated.
“Since you are a pet owner yourself, maybe you can give me some advice?”
“Sorry, but Crooks is my familiar.” She felt a certain headache grow dramatically inside her skull, the headache that possessed a soothing voice, lustrous curls and a slapable face. “And to be honest, I don’t think I can imagine you with anything other than snakes.”
“Yes I can, with humans.” He responded, like it was a matter of fact. “In fact, I am certain that I can domesticate them quite well.”
She- urgh, she gave up.
Meanwhile, the cauldron boiled in a disturbing way, hissing a shrill and high sound, bubbles popping with smoke inside. However, everybody was so engaged in the chaos that no one, surprisingly, actually paid attention to the time bomb sitting on the two most brilliant students of the class.
“Maybe I can adopt a human-“
“That’s not how it works, Riddle!” She said loudly.
Immediately after that, the cauldron exploded just like her emotions. Maybe the substance had had enough just like her, after all.
Tom Riddle gingerly picked the cat up and observed it carefully with his shocking eyes like he just saw a flying Basilisk. His black eyes opened wide, but his face remained unemotionally.
The resemblance between the cat and Granger was uncanny, brown fuzzy soft fur just like her hair (it’s not like he had touched it or something), big hazel eyes with golden flakes and grumpy expression. He was no expert in felinology, therefore, he did not know much about which cat breed she is, but maybe some books in the library could help. Granger the cat tried to wiggle out of his hold and desperately clawed at his hand. Merlin, she even bit it. He changed the holding, imitating the way Granger held her cat.
“Oh my Granger girl! How was this possible!?” Slughorn let out a cry, then glanced at the table behind where the reason was still choking smoke.
“Oh ‘Mione, I’m terribly sorry!” Now, we had not only one, but two whining Gryffindor tried to apologize to Granger. He didn’t care about it anyway, but seeing this, Granger turned her face away and averted their face. Draco looked like he just witnessed a troll doing ballet and very much sure that he was about to spit out some insult.
“Yeah, and apologies to us too, Draco.” Blaise said, looking…not good, maybe someone would be strangled ‘till death tonight, no daddy could save him from the wrath of Blaise. Now, Draco went paler than his hair.
“I believe that some point must be taken and detention must be conducted for such behaviour, Professor.” Tom said with his good boy act, eyes still sticked at Hermione the cat. “With such state, I think Granger can no longer attend the lesson, and as a prefect, I may excuse sir for I have to take her to the infirmary.” He announced, then wandlessly and non-verbally and arrogantly, packing his and Granger the cat’s bag, despite her protest, then left in Snape’s dramatic catwalk style with a soundtrack in the background. No one, especially Potter and Weasley #6 dared to stop him, because they knew very well that Granger the cat would claw them until their face was unrecognizable.
After he left, 100 points had been taken from both Gryffindor and Slytherin with special detention that Professor Slughorn had claimed that it “will enhance the intimacy between two houses.”
Riddle’s shoes clicking sound echoed loudly in the absent and quiet hall, finding the way to the infirmary. Snow fell slowly outside the window, whitened the scene with its gloomy color. However, the Hogwarts castle was draped in a warm and cozy light from the Founder’s era. Just as warm as his hand.
“Seriously Granger, do you have a hobby to turn into a cat?” He sighed. “You turned into a part cat in second year, and now you manage to magically transform into a whole cat. That’s quite impressive, don’t you think?” He asked, eyes glanced at her.
“MEOWWWWWW! (Put me down you jerk!)” The girl in the question was scratching his hand and used all her might to jump out of his embrace.
“Now, now my little lioness, stay put or I will sell you to China, maybe you will be more obedient in the hot pot.” He joked, but it did not sound like a joke at all, and she flinched, a little. “And I can not understand cat language, why didn’t you turn into a snake?.”
“Meow! (Maybe because I don’t want to be with you!)”
“Yes you don’t, but I find it fun.” He answered, then stroked her back with his skillful hand which made her purred in satisfaction. Because of that, it took her a few minutes to actually process his answer.
“Meow? Meow?! (Wait, you can understand me? What the hell Riddl- Are you using Legilimens on me again?!)
“Of course I am, if not, how can I understand my little lioness?” He said nonchalantly and patted her head. The name he called her made her skin crawl in cringe. Couldn’t believe that she had been enduring this guy for abruptly 6 years.
As he finished his sentence, they reached the infirmary, he non-verbally opened the door then Madam Pomfrey immediately popped out of nowhere, ready to serve. She looked at Riddle and Hermione the cat, searching for injuries but then frowned when she didn’t see any unusual sign.
“How can I help you, Mister Riddle? And is that a cat? Where do you find it?”
“Good morning Madam, how are you today? Granger just turned into a cat in the middle of potion lesson.” Riddle greeted her in his sweet but firm prefect voice, then immediately dropped the bomb in a serious tone out of nowhere with an emotionless face. It was impressive how fast he changed it, maybe because he was a Great Pretender with capital letters and cursive writing style in bold and underline.
Madam Pomfrey nodded, then held out her hand to pick Hermione up from Riddle’s embrace. He, in turn, stepped back and tightened his grip on her. They stood silently for a while, staring at each other’s faces. Madam's concerned face became more and more serious, maybe she thought that Riddle also hit his head or something.
What the hell Riddle? She thought.
“I-cough cough- will carry her, is that alright Madam?”
“Yeah…yeah that will do, please get inside, Riddle.”
He stepped inside the infirmary, following Madam Pomfrey to the chair where she usually inspected students. He sat down, carefully fixing his robe as gracefully as possible, then set her on his lap, hand still held on her.
Riddle, please get your hand off me. She thought, hoping that he would get it.
“No.” He whispered, loud enough for her to hear.
Madam Pomfrey asked him about the situation and then did some basic check up for her while he still held her on his lap. She was kind of annoyed, because although his hand seemed slender and frail, he was actually kinda strong, enough to not let her squirm out of his grasp. Or maybe this was possible because she was a cat. During the check up, sometimes he would pat her head or touch her pawn in a gentle way while the other hand held her tightly. He would be careful not to make her jump or touch her sensitive places, stroking lightly on her head so the fur would not become messy. She was also uncomfortable with how skilled his hand was and how much she enjoyed it, maybe she was badly affected by the transformation. She could barely hear Madam Pomfrey, her mind was full with the pleasurable sensation of his finger but then her attention was snapped toward the harsh reality again.
“It’s going to take more than a week or so to make the counter poison.”
“Meow?!” She shrieked in horror.
“It’s going to be hard to study in this form, but sorry, Miss Granger, a week is the fastest time I can prepare for it if there is no delay or fault during the brewing. Some of the ingredients won’t be available until the next full moon and I will have to make sure there are no side effects. I will inform your House Master now so please wait for a while.”
She could feel all the blood drained from her face. More than a week?! How could she survive in this cat form?! Christmas is coming soon and she won’t going home this year just because she is now a fucking cat! And moreover, stucking with Tom Fucking Marvolo Fucking Riddl-
He patted her head again, his finger stroking her gently, pleasantly, calmly like he was trying to calm her down. His hand slowly creep down her chin and rub it, making her eyes close in euphori-
“Oh Merlin, Miss Granger! Are you okay?!” Professor McGonagall ran into the infirmary, sweating and pale. There was a dung beetle still sticking to her hair, maybe it was the result of a second or third year student. She was so fast despite her old age.
“MINERVA! Please refrain from running in my infirmary."
“W-where is she?! I heard from Horace that she-“ Professor McGonagall turning her head vigorously, looking for her. It looked like Professor Slughorn had already told her the news in a quite…magnifying way.
“She is here with me, Professor.” Riddle called out. Hermione snapped, realizing that she enjoyed his stroking. Blood rushed again to her face, making her blushing. She quickly averted his hand and bit it. He let out an “Ah” then grasped her chin again, this time he turned it toward his face. Their eyes met. Now that the light shone directly onto his face, she realized that his eyes were not black, but a deep brown, so dark it looked like black in the usually dim light of the castle. He slowly released and moved his hand to her head. What is he doing? Why is he-
He flicked her forehead, hard.
“Meow! (Ouch, what are you doing ,Riddle?!)”
“Bad kitty.” He murmured, his face showed a shit eating grin, oh how she wished to destroy it.
“Cough cough!” Professor McGonagall coughed loudly with one hand on the hip, the other one doing the coughing motion, trying to get both of her intelligent students' attention. “So Miss Granger turned into a cat again?” She glanced at them with questionable eyes, like she just witnessed something illegal.
“Yes Professor,” Riddle turned his head up. “I believe that you had already heard about the situation from Madam Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn, although there might be some…mistakes and misunderstandings." His voice trailed off.
Professor McGonagall sighed dramatically, she seemed to be deep in thought before opening her mouth again.
“Miss Granger, it’s nearly Christmas break now and there are only a few lessons left before students start to go home. Do you wish to continue those lessons? You don’t have to answer though I already know your intention, but Madam Pomfrey insisted on me so I have to do it.” She sighed out loud. “Someone may escort you to the class though, since you are now a cat and could be easily mistaken for a real one.”
Something gleamed in Riddle’s eyes, and Hermione had been with him long enough to know that he was planning, and whatever it was, it definitely would not end well.
“Don’t worry Professor, I will do it. Since I’m a prefect, it is my duty to keep the students safe even if it is another prefect or head students. And our time tables overlap each other except for Muggle Study so it will be easier for me to escort her to another class. Also, this is a good chance to improve the relationship and close the distance between two houses. What do you think, Professor?” He said without any break, and Professor McGonagall seemed to be loading what he just yapped.
She shook her head furiously, making a sign for her dear Professor. Luckily, the Professor seemed to notice her. She stayed silent for a while with a considered face, like she couldn’t decide if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and the betrayal really worth it. Hermione’s heart beat wildly, waiting for Professor McGonagall to give her decision.
“I guess it is okay.”
She could feel her heart shattered into a hundred, no, a thousand, million, billion, trillion pieces. She put all her trust into her dear favourite Professor, but it was cruelly betrayed because of the Tom Fucking Marvolo- And oh he showed her the punchable shit eating grin again, how dare him?!
Professor McGonagall left with Madam Pomfrey, looking kinda guilty, she was now alone with Riddle again. She glanced at him angrily, but it only amused him more.
“Don’t worry Granger, I will be gentle with you. We are going to have a long time together. It seems like Fate is blessing me right now for I wish to own a pet and start to consider about human, and you, a human, was turned into a cat by accident. Do you think Destiny is trying to connect us right now? No Granger, I did not scheming anything, I guarantee you.” He was using Legilimens on her again, this giant prick!
“Well, It’s a pleasure to be with you, Hermione Granger the Cat.” He chuckled.
When he stepped into the Great Hall during lunch with Hermione Granger the Cat in his hand, a bunch of eyes went wide and fixed on him. He could feel how she curled up against his chest, avoiding the curious gaze of students. He walked slowly, then settled down in his usual seat at the Slytherin table. Her friend jumped up at the mere sight of her and ran toward his direction. The first to come was the last member of the Weasley family, the girl one, who had been friends with Granger since she first entered the Wizarding World.
“Hermione! I’ve heard everything! Honestly those dumb boys, can not even sit still for one lesson!”
Granger meowed and nodded in agreement, then jumped out of his hand to stand on the table. This time he let her go since this is lunch after all, but certainly he would miss the warmth of her left on him. The Weasley girl sat (more like stuffed into the Slytherin) next to him, reaching out to pet Granger.
“Oh you are soooooooooo cute in this form! And warm too! Maybe I should kidnap you and bring you to the Burrow this Christmas.” Granger jumped onto her lap and sat there comfortably despite the girl’s joke about abduction, completely opposite when she was with him. It was not like he was jealous or something, just kinda insulted. More curious Gryffindors started to leave their seats and gathered around. They leaned, pushed, slithered, squeezed, pressed, forced, bended their body basically every way they could and even made some questionable sound just to catch a glimpse of her, and Tom, did not please at all.
“I have never seen this much red at the Slytherin table.” Said Draco, with a black eye.
“And I wonder whose fault was that?” Blaise grumbled.
“Are we back to it again? Merlin, Blaise, let the water Umbridge!”
“It’s “water under the bridge”, no wonder why your hair is so blond that it becomes white.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means you are dumb.” Potter came out of nowhere, winking and starting to speak over Tom’s shoulder. Behind him is Weasley, Weasley and Weasle- oh Merlin he had never seen so much red head in the same place in his life.
“Eh…where is Hermione by the way?”
“I thought you only had short eye sight?” He answered, putting some food on his plate. There were some interesting lamb chops that he wanted to try for a long time but couldn’t get his hand on since his classmate was a bunch of starving kids who had to survive the World War I and II and Cold War and Great Depression and plague at the same time and could cat had lamb by the way if he can remember they could not digest dairy products and and chocolates and raisins and grapes and-
“Oh Hermione! The robe is so cuteeeeeeeee!” A high, shrill voice like a boiling kettle, definitely came from Lavender Brown pierced through his ears like a banshee. This was even worse than the meaningless ranting of Malfoy about his dad.
He took a quick peek toward Granger, she was now sitting on the table wearing a small version of Gryffindor robe. She looked like she really enjoyed herself while he was stuck with her best friends for unknown reasons.
“Well I just want to ask for the sake of…asking, also, I have heard that you are gonna be her caretaker.”
“Potter, why the hell do I have to be her caretaker? I just have to escort her to class. Where did you even get that information?” He changed his gaze from the plate to Potter’s scratchy glasses. It looked like the rumor had gone too far in such a short time.
“Do you think it was odd? Consider that we are her best friends and we are in the same house and you being a Slytherin- oh wait does this have anything to do with Slughorn’s schemes? Potter completely ignored his word and continued his own speech.
“I bet you 5 galleons that it does.” Malfoy jumped in.
“10 galleons it doesn’t.” This time it was Blaise.
“15”
“20”
“Shut up you lot!” He shouted.