Snowballs Chance (Harry Potter)

Snowballs Chance

"Tell Hermione she can't take Snowball with her!"

Orion 's eyes widened as one of his granddaughters hurtled into his arms, tears in her eyes the moment she saw him. He looked at his youngest son, who looked far from amused at his daughter's antics, before saying, "Prey tell what is going on?"

"Elizabeth doesn't want Hermione to take Snowball the II to Hogwarts with her," Regulus said.

"Snowball's my kitty, grandpa!" Elizabeth said.

Orion attempted to hold back the amusement from knowing Snowball had joined the family before Elizabeth was born. "Now, now. Snowball is the family cat, not just your kitty."

"All the more reason Hermione shouldn't get to take her for her first year."

"Well, that backfired," Orion said.

"Obviously," Regulus said, looking frustrated.

Orion rested his hand on the top of Elizabeth 's head, knowing just how stubborn she could be in trying to get her way. "Well, let's see," Orion said. "You say you don't want Snowball to go to Hogwarts," he said. "But what about next year when you start?"

"Of course, he'll go," Elizabeth sniffed. "She's my kitty."

Regulus sighed. Orion said. "Ah, but you just agreed that she's the family kitty, but what will your siblings think about you keeping Snowball to yourself?"

"But Hermione's doing that. It's no different."

"Is it? Hermione's the eldest, so she gets to go to Hogwart's first," Orion said.

"That's not fair!" Elizabeth said.

"It's perfectly fair," Regulus said.

"As if you would know!"

"As if I would know?" Regulus frowned. "I've got an older brother, you know."

"So?"

"When he went off to Hogwarts first, I was far more concerned about losing my best friend than...."

"Snowball is my best friend," Elizabeth said despite having actual friends. She'd taken the time to look at her father, saw the look of displeasure, and tried shrinking down behind her grandfather.

"Yes, well, you have other friends," Regulus said. "I only had Sirius."

"Uncle Sirius is horrible!"

"Be that as it may," Regulus said, sighing. He frowned, then said. "Wait. I don't agree with that. He can be a pain sometimes, but he is my brother." He said, "But the point here is I didn't even have any friends. There were kids I'd been introduced to before I went to Hogwarts, but they were never friends. And even after I went, I never really made friends. There was always an extended family member here and there, but no friends."

"Your dad could have used a half-Kneezle kitten growing up," Orion said. "How about, to make up for you missing your older sister...."

"Who would miss her!" And then Elizabeth was gone.

"Well, I tried."

"It's fine. It would help if mother didn't spoil her so and play favorites with her."

"Well, she does look a lot like Narcissa."

"While Hermione looks like Andy," Regulus shook his head.

...

What wasn 't expected was for both Regulus and Hermione to fall in love with another half-Kneezle they saw at the menagerie. Crookshanks was orange, even fluffier, and had a flat face that was to die for, so Elizabeth got to keep her Snowball, insisting she was glad Crookshanks was leaving as "Crookshanks and Snowball don't get along," despite the fact they actually did.