Animagi
The bell chimed.
A quiet sniff.
Cat!Draco looked all around him for a customer. He saw no one. He heaved a heavy sigh and rolled over on his back.
[Image: A grey cat is upside down on a couch. Implied: Cat!Draco is tired and sad.]
Meow?
A familiar cadence and tone.
In his upside world, the image Cat!Draco saw made his heart skitter. Something he never dared dream about or expected.
A dark, fluffy cat with a heart-shaped marking on its chest.
The unfamiliar cat meowed again, this time in words. "Draco?"
Leave it to the insufferable Gryffindor to wear her heart on her sleeve.
[Image: A white and grey cat with a heart shaped marking appears upside. Implied: Upside down Cat!Hermione?]
Cat!Draco's eyes glittered. "Grang—Hermione?"
She looked around the shop, dark eyes glittering at the amount of books. "Hi Malfoy, I got your letter." She mumbled an Engorgio charm and produced his letter, kept hidden in the tuft of fur of her primordial pouch.
Ever the industrious Cat!Witch.
[Image: A grey cat holds a note. Implied: Cat!Hermione got Cat!Draco's owl.]
Cat!Draco blushed, as his eyes quickly roamed over his needy words. "So you're ... an Animagus now? Can you understand what I'm saying?"
"I should think that much is obvious," she huffed. "All animagi can communicate with one another."
Ever the infuriating Cat!Witch.
But Cat!Draco couldn't help the purr that emanated from his chest. "Is that where you were? You didn't give away Lynx?"
Cat!Hermione's eyes fluttered in confusion. "Of course not! I needed the full moon, so it took me almost a month. The spell required a lot of trial and error and concentration, so I ask Harry to take care of Lynx for a bit." [3]
He gawked at her. "It took Theo and me almost a year to get it right."
She beamed at the praise. "I am, after all, the Brightest Cat!Witch of her age or whatever rot they write about me in the papers."
[Image: A white and grey cat with a heart shaped marking on its chest sits atop a table with plants behind it. Implied: Cat!Hermione beams.]
"We need to talk. I don't know if—I need to know if I can trust you. You were with me for so long, and you didn't tell me. You saw me at my wor—We still need to talk," she repeated firmly.
Cat!Draco bobbed his head. "Yes, I know. What I did was—inexcusable. But yes, yes, you can. You can trust me." He wanted to hold back. Not pressure her. Not crowd her. But he missed her so much. His cat!body already approached hers, bumping her body and curling his tail around hers.
[VIdeo: Cat!Draco curling around Cat!Hermione.]
Cat!Hermione continued, "But I got your owl. And it was ... beautiful. The most beautiful words I've ever heard or read. No one's ever—And I had time to think. I thought, I wanted to, I don't know, make a statement too." She quickly added, "I would have gotten here sooner, but I followed a kaleidoscope of butterflies down the shore. And well, you know how that goes."
"Are you saying—"
[Image: A white and grey cat stands on its hind legs and looks bewildered. Implied: Cat!Draco has hope.]
Cat!Draco's stormy eyes widened. His little heart fluttered and hope nearly burst out of his furry grey chest. He yowled in triumph and pounced!
[Image: A grey cat flies through the air. Implied: Cat!Draco tries to pounce on Cat!Hermione.]
With catlike reflexes, Cat!Hermione used one crooked leg to keep Cat!Draco a safe distance away.
[Video: Cat!Hermione keeps Cat!Draco at arm's length.]
He calmed down considerably after that, watching her explore the shop.
Over the next hour, Cat!Hermione perused the bookshelves. She jumped a few levels up to study the titles under 'Magical Law.'
After a few minutes of silence, she meowed at him, "The address you sent me to. This shop—"
"It's for you," he said quickly. "Whatever you want. I'm not working at Potions 'n Parchment anymore. I know you don't want grand gestures. It's not. I will-I will show you. If you don't want to work at the Ministry anymore or if you just want this as a hobby or-or if you don't want this ..." Cat!Draco was rambling. Embarrassing, really. "I want to spend time with you. Just you. A-as me. As you. We can start over here. We can learn each other together."
She was quiet, temporarily distracted by a passing flicker of light. She climbed up the plastered walls, trying to catch it with her furry paws.
"Granger?"
Meow?
"Do I have your attention? I'm pouring my heart out to you."
Cat!Hermione's head twisted to face him on the ground. She mewed. "Ahem, yes, of course. You always have me."
Big, round, grey eyes. He shouldn't read too much into her words.
"Hermione, please. I didn't know how to be around you with our past. I thought if you knew it was me—I spent an entire year of my life on all fours just to be near you. I don't regret a single minute of it, only that I didn't tell you earlier. You're everything to me. My home. The only place that has ever really felt like home since Hogwarts. You’re every paper box. Every laser point. Every snack snack. And I can be good. To you. And for you. I can. I promise. I will be. Just let me show you.”
He looked up at her with earnest eyes.
[Image: A white and orange cat looks up. Implied: Cat!Draco looks up at Hermione.]
Cat!Hermione's wary, amber eyes softened. She reached down and cupped his cherubic cheeks.
She kissed him—for the first time as Cat!Draco, not Lynx.
Good stretch!
Unbidden, Hermione's loving words echoed through his mind.
[Video: Cat!Hermione kisses Cat!Draco.]
Cat!Draco melted. It was perfect. Soft, sweet. As equals. With no titles. No Muggleborn. No Pureblood. No Houses. Without lies or deception. Just two Cat!Wixens. Her whiskers tickled his pink nose. He never wanted to let her go.
With a graceful leap, he jumped onto her level, caging her in with one paw on the side of her head. He tilted his forehead down to meet hers.
[Image: Two cats sit out on a balcony. One cat has its arm over the other cat. Implied: Cat!Draco bumps Hermione's nose.]
He immediately went in for another kiss.
[Video: Cat!Draco kisses Cat!Hermione again.]
Cat!Draco yowled again, "Hermione, I love—"
She stopped him.
His face fell. She noted it.
Cat!Hermione curled her tail around him. "Close up and let's go pick up Lynx Junior. There’s time. We've got so much time." She paused, contemplating her next words. "I want to hear it in human!form when you say it for the first time."
Cat!Draco's chest felt like it was being squeezed in the most exquisite pleasure. He was made of sunshine and brown curls.
Gods, what a fucking dolt.
He purred back, "We've got time."
[Image: Two cats form a heart with their tails. Implied: Cat!Draco and Cat!Hermione on their way to pick up Lynx Junior.]