Pretty Kitty (completed)

Chapter 31

Harry had taken to secluding himself after the horrific conversation heard in St Mungo's.

Voldemort was inside his head. Looking through his memories, seeing through his eyes, knowing everything. Harry... Harry was a complete and utter danger to everyone around him if Voldemort was possessing his mind. Did he know the address to Grimmauld Place? Did he know about Fred and George?

Harry had wanted to escape, as soon as possible. However, a message from Dumbledore, given in the form of Phineas, the portrait in his and Ron's bedroom, stopped him. Dumbledore had simply told him to stay put.

Harry had wanted to rebel, wanted so badly to scream and shout and storm out of the house anyway, because fuck if Dumbledore wasn't understanding his situation. Dumbledore had never had anyone in his head! He couldn't know how overwhelmed Harry was suddenly feeling, guilt, pressure, fear, wrapped up in a bundle of over-dramatic cat-boy fun!

But... Dumbledore had his best intentions in mind. He'd never wanted to put Harry in danger, and surely knew what was right for him, for the Order. Harry was resigned to staying in the house.

Not that he could escape, anyway. The twins sat outside his room day and night.

"Ron, please, distract the twins," Harry begged his friend one morning. He hadn't talked to Ron much, and Ron, probably feeling quite insulted at this, hadn't tried to initiate conversation either, avoiding the bedroom as much as he could. Harry felt rather bad for his friend, but he had to keep Ron out of Voldemort's eye.

Ron stared at Harry for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "Only for you, mate," he muttered, as if annoyed with himself.

As it turned out, Ron distracted the twins by eating one of the twins prank sweets, turning him into a woman. He then ran in front of the twins standing guard outside Harry's bedroom, blushed, and ran downstairs. The twins had gleefully followed, a camera at the ready.

Harry wrote a quick note to apologise to Ron for the hideous embarrassment, and then ran out of his room and up the stairs. He located the room where Buckbeak, Hagrid's old hippogriff, was kept, slipped in there, and locked the door.

And it was there he stayed for the next few days. The twins had eventually found him and again started up their campaign to get him out of his self seclusion, but Harry found it easier to ignore them when he had Buckbeak to distract him.

"It's not like they really care, anyway," Harry mumbled to Buckbeak, aware that the twins would probably be able to hear him if he talked any louder. He didn't want them to hear his self-pity, in case they came to the conclusion that he was lonely and needed even more petting and teasing. "I'm just some novelty cat boy. They'll get bored of me when I'm turned back."

If Harry turned back. Dumbledore still hadn't mentioned anything about Harry's 'condition'. He hadn't heard a word and was getting quite distressed – was he doomed to stay a cat boy forever?

"Merlin I hope not," he whimpered. Buckbeak nodded as if in agreement.

XxXxXxX

"What do you mean Harry's in there?!" Harry jerked awake from his afternoon nap, curled up in a patch of winter sunlight next to a heater, due to Hermione Granger's indignant screech.

"Sorry, Hermione," Ron whimpered from the other side of the door. Harry snorted with laughter. "He just won't come out."

"Have you tried talking to him? Assuring him?" Hermione snarled. Harry blushed, finally realising that they were talking about him. Quite loudly.

"He bloody well knows that Voldemort's not rooting around in his head! And even if he was, it's not like we'd honestly care – just because Voldemort's stuck in his head, doesn't mean Harry's going to murder us in our sleep!" Fred snapped, and Harry winced. He could practically see George holding Fred back from kicking the door down, or something. He was surprised the twins hadn't tried to get in yet, in all honesty.