Luck of Nines

9

Crack!

A disgusted sigh.

"There."

Crack!

"Blergh."

Chipper's head shot up as an annoying belch broke through the air, after two sharp, gunshot-like snapping noises. It was closer to him than he cared for, not even two full meters away, and he had not heard the clumsy footsteps of the human who now stood there, nor the alcohol that now stunk up the air.

That wasn't right. He couldn't get any sense of the second human who had been there not four full seconds ago at most anymore, and he hadn't heard this missing person's approach either. They had appeared and then gone, so fast that it was only due to his intense hearing of the two hearts and his smell of two distinct base smells that he knew there had even been two people there at all.

He stood up, alert, glancing around in near frantic confusion. His senses had not failed him, the first person's continued drunken presence spoke as t'estiment to that. How did they get there then? How did the second one leave?

"Tha' go'foberen' bluffy basfer." Chipper watched with wary eyes, not one of the drunk's muttered words clear enough to mean much of anything, although the meaning of insulting the disappearing second was clear. "'Nufer class."

The drunk scrapped two hands down his face with a drawn out, pained sigh and stumbled over to the buildings edge where Chipper stood, unnoticed in the darkness. The drunk tumbled down to the ground leaning against it and staring up at the sky. Even drunk, he could tell the drunk was one of the Leaky Caldrons' people. Whatever they were.

      The man sat there babbling on for a bit, not a word of which Chipper was able to pick apart the meaning of, although occasionally he would pick out a word or phrase which he recognized. Just as he was beginning to settle down from his high alert though, the man's glazed eyes landed on him and he made an odd gurgling noise.

      "Keazllll," Chipper made a face, dodging away before the heavy-looking hand could land atop of him. Even with the Sully's he wasn't terribly fond of people touching him.

      The Dursley's had made a point to him, purposefully or not, that contact meant nothing good, Petunia digging her claws into his shoulder even as she smiled pleasantly at whoever's attention he had gained, Dudley and his gang chasing him down at least once a day, if not more- in some ways with the amount of exercise Dudley had to get chasing him, despite his large and fatty diet it was almost a surprise Dudley was as overweight as he was- Vernon's occasional beatings and frequently, roughly, pulling him around.

      The man made an upset noise- which Chipper choose to ignore- even as his spare hand reached into the odd cloak-like dress he was wearing to pull out a flask and take a long gulp, belching out flames which had Chipper leaping away in frightened shock. That wasn't normal was it? Slowly he inched closer as he wondered how that was remotely possible, only to startle away again as the door to the Leaky Caldron swung open and a man stepped out with a sigh.

"Again? Up you go, mate." The man was dragged to his feet and Chipper found he had a decision to make, and only split seconds to make it, figuring this new man would be bringing the drunk into The Leaky Caldron as they were clearly the same as the other patrons in dress choices and behavior, despite being drunk, Chipper slipped into the man's pocket, curling up as tightly as he could to fit.

Only, instead of walking anywhere a sharp Crack! echoed about sending his ears ringing as suddenly his insides and fur were twisted up and into each other as if he was being wrung out like a towel. He released a quiet, pained sound, as suddenly it all came to an end. 

      "Aww, come on," He didn't dare poke his head up as the two argued back and forth as the new man's led the stumbling drunk through the new place they had appeared at. The scents were all wrong to be anywhere in London, they were in a town home, from the smells that drifted inside from open windows and from the scent markers that hung about the house. Three owls lived here alongside five men, all in their twenties. Two separate females spent a fair amount of time here, one of who owned a cat, but that made up the regular visitors to the dwelling, and luckily, there were no cats or dogs that made their residence here.

       The minute the sober male's back was turned, Chipper slipped from the pocket and dashed soundlessly the remaining distance to take cover underneath a large wardrobe  that sat in the room.  He watched from this new binding spot with glinting green eyes as the sober male went about his business, having deposited the drunk one on the bed, he threw off the boots, dragged the drunk man out of his jacket-cloak-thing and took off the belt that wrapped around the drunk's waist, leaving the man in nothing but linen pants, socks, with a strange arm guard strapped around the left arm.

     "I'm a fool," the drunk man moaned as he was dragged to lean against pillows, a blanket roughly thrown over him, finally speaking at least semi-coherently.

      "Yeah, well so am I," the sober one snapped, "For taking care of your drunk ass all the time."

      Chipper slunk away to explore and see if he could find a way to escape the house, ignoring the conversations that went on behind him and instead straining his senses for any sign of the open windows that let the outside air in. The feel of the air was too strong for it to be just poor building, there had to be a sizable opening.

       Cautiously listening, and straining his ears for any sound of one of the residents he slipped into one of the rooms. It smelled strongly of one of the men who lived here, but not a sound came from inside, not even of quiet breathing or a heartbeat, so he curled his way around the cracked door, glancing about the room.

      His green eyes met the blinking ones of a human almost at the same time the suddenly new sounds registered. "Huh? What's a cat doing here?"

     Shocked, Chipper did the one thing that he could do, given the situation, his eyes skating away and latching onto the open window, he raced over, jumping onto the footboard of the bed and leaping towards the open window, before the human had a chance to respond, much less move on its unstable two feet.

      The window slammed shut and he crashed headfirst into the glass pane.

       "Did Alice bring her cat over?" Bemusement coated this human's tone as he scooped up Chipper's stunned form. Chipper blinking back into reality as his near limp form was tightly held.  "Jonah!" A door creaked as it was pushed open and Chipper got a glimpse of another, far messier and larger room, "Hey, Asmir, where's Jonah?"

       A groan sounded from one of the two beds that sat on either side of the room before Asmir croaked out, "How should I know? He's with Alice I think."

       "Then why did she leave her cat?"

       "I don't know," Asmir groaned again, "I literally just got off a twelve hour shift, ask John."

         The man huffed but left, not bothering with the door, "John!"

        John, he recognized the man's scent as the one who had been dealing with the drunk, stuck his head out from what must be the kitchen from the faint smell of herbs, blood, fire, and smoke, "What? Bennett's drunk again, can it wait?"

        "Alice left her cat behind." He was lifted slightly, but only silence met the statement for several long moments later before John responded.

"That's not Alice's cat."

"What."

"Her cat..." John started slowly, bewildered, staring at the cat and the other man, "is spotted orange and white."

"But- Well then who's cat do I have?"

"I don't know!? Did you steal someone's cat?"

"No!" The man protested, gesturing wildly with one hand, still managing to shake Chipper from where he hung in his grasp. "It just walked into my room."