Luck of Nines

30

He nearly sauntered into charms that afternoon, his hair was short and red-orangish, having kept the trait from his canine forms, his teeth much sharper than normal, and his un-torn ear much larger and pointier. He probably gave the unfortunate Professor a short man who smelled much like the 'goblin' keepers of Gringotts a heart attack as he showed up a handful of minutes early and flopped gracefully down in his seat.

     The Professor's ear twitched almost unnoticeably in a signal of curiosity, a motion that had clearly been attempted to be trained out of. "Oh. You're here early, I was under the impression that the Slytherins would have defense against the dark arts all morning until just before class- you're fifteen minutes early." He had a squeaky, stilted way of speaking that Rosey would have taken much joy in comparing to that of a mouse, despite the Professor not lacking in confidence.

     The swiping motion of Chipped Fang's tail said they very much agreed.  Ch- Harry barely stopped himself from licking his chops in agreement although a part of him reckoned that the Professor caught on that he was being looked at by a group of predators sizing up prey. There was that ready fight or flight air about him, the tension that lingered in the air, none of them daring to blink.

     'Harry' forced himself to speak. "I wasn't able to attend today."

         "Oh- of course, adjusting to boarding school can be difficult, but if it continues to be a problem then you're going to need to speak with your head of house or the Mediwitch to find a solution. You can't just be skipping class."

     "Of course, could you make sure the professor knows that it wasn't intentional for me?"  He forced a bland sort of smile that probably came off as more of a grimace and roughly rubbed his hair to get it to slowly grow out and darken until it was like it usually was. He closed his eyes and concentrated, murmuring the spell to make sure it was tied back, nearly becoming distracted from the spell by the sudden squeak from the front of the classroom.

"Well this is quite unexpected!" He blinked his eyes open and stared inquisitively at the Professor, "Quite unexpected indeed! Are you by chance a metamorphmagus?"

He paused, "A what?"

"I suppose not then," the tiny Professor bounced closer, "Although it would be an even greater surprise for someone here at Hogwarts to be an animagus."

He paused again, "I'm sorry, but I'm not any of those things."

"I may only be a half-breed, but we goblins know things, our senses are not quite as dulled down as humans and as far as knowing all there is about a disguise we're presented with go, they quite possibly are even on par with your own."

"Disguises?" His head tilted to the side.

"That form, the one you walked in with, was your true form," the Professor smiled, a look meant to be- carefully crafted to be- comforting, but to those with sharper vision still hinted at the sharp teeth behind it, "But the one you are wearing currently is, too. A metamorphmagus with good enough control would appear this way, in any form they are comfortable in, but so too would a natural animagus."

"A natural animagus?"

"Well yes. Quite a rarity these days especially in these parts of the world." Now it was the Professor's turn to pause in confusion, "Didn't you know?"

"Tell me more." Chipper demanded leaning forward, the Professor was moving back immediately, his smile falling into a disapproving frown and hand going to his half-drawn wand.

They both paused, the tension barely there this time but once more noticeable.

Harry apologized and leaned back. "I'm still not quite familiar with living as a human with humans." He added on forcing down his intensity.

"I see," the Professor frowned some more, but the frown itself had lessened with confusion, "I'm afraid I don't know your name."

Harry wasn't entirely sure why, but most of the professors had not been at the feast, they'd only come, as if summoned, sometime after the hat had been burned.

"Harry Potter, sir. I don't know yours either actually." He admitted.

The Professor seemed even more surprised now but managed to force out, "Filius Flitwick,"

"This is Chipped Fang, since I suppose you already knew he was here." Harry introduced, letting the cat hop up onto the table, he'd noticed the other had seen them.

"Chipped Fang, you say?" Flitwick murmured weakly, one side of his mouth twitching upwards in amusement.

"Yes, sir, could you tell me more about natural animagus though sir?"

"Of course, it would be remiss of me not to, actually, although," he added with a sigh, C-Harry was surprised to hear they had noticed the swarm of people approaching the door, "I suppose it will have to wait until after class at least."

"Alright," Harry nodded and Chipped Fang settled on the desk as Harry gathered up his parchment, ink, and quills for class.

     A few seconds later the Slytherin first years entered the classroom, Nott taking the seat next to him and Phineas settling next to Nott since Harry had taken the aisle seat.

    "Where were you this morning, not even Nott saw you this morning!" Phineas asked, leaning over Nott slightly.

      "Places," Harry grinned jokingly, while in actuality daring him to push further. 

       "Come on, that doesn't explain anything." Phineas whined, "Give me at least a little more than that."

       "Certainly not wherever you were." Harry replied easily. His eyes trying not to linger on the quill Phineas held and the way that it shifted as the other pointed it at him, the feather quickly distracted him from further asserting control of the situation.  He refrained from making a swipe for it though.

      "That's n- " Chipped Fang had no such reservations and leaped upwards to grab the feather, causing Phineas to jerk back. But not in time to rescue his hand. 

      Chipper moved quickly, lunging as well, nearly crashing into Nott as he removed Chipped Fang from Phineas's hand before the other could react and try to shake the cat loose or worse. He retreated back, Chipped Fang comfortably and securely in his grasp, before Phineas truly reacted.

       Nott had stiffened slightly.

      "Your cat attacked me." Phineas whispered harshly rather than shouting as he had intended due to Chipper's firm glare.

      "You got in his space." He returned coldly. "Besides, don't you think? You're practically waving a feather around in his face."  He could tell Flitwick was watching them carefully, but not interfering and instead choosing to continue on the lesson, as they were sitting in the back, nobody else seemed to notice. Likely because the Professor would have to ban Chipped Fang if he did acknowledge it.

      Between the glare and his going on attack, Phineas didn't seem quite certain how to respond, "I thought it was trained what with the way it follows you around and sits on your shoulder and all that."

"Chipped Fang is his own cat." Harry scoffed.

Ironically, as the argument came to a close, Phineas torn between gaping and outrage, Flitwick was handing out feathers to all the students, giving Harry a particularly stern look that was directed at Chipped Fang as he was handed his.

Probably meant as a warning to keep Chipped Fang under control and from interfering. He ignored it, easily using the spell he had frequently done using 'accidental magic' and allowing Chipped Fang to tear after it, bat at it, and eventually carefully lifted Chipped Fang too; both cat and feather tumbling through the air above his desk as the cat continued its near single minded pursuit.

He earned five points for Slytherin, less than the previous first in the class to master the spell had gotten according to Bulstrode's muttering, but the disapproving look told him why as the floating Chipped Fang went after Nott's wavering feather with a vengeance. Tuffs of what remained of Harry's still in his claws. Nott lowered his feather once he had received five points- like everybody else who got the spell- and passed it off to Harry to continue Chipped Fang's game earning him a thankful nod.