Koty sat atop Bear's back as the wyhound loped down the winding path toward Hagrid's hut. He was excited for the class for more than one reason, and the first of which was that this was the class that he would finally spend with people closer to his own age! Sure, they were a year older, but it was a much smaller gap than the rest of his classmates.
When he slid off his doggy's back, Bear trotted over to Hagrid and gave him a slobbery kiss.
Rather than push him away, which most people would have done, Hagrid simply laughed and kissed the top of his head. "Gather 'round, gather 'round!" He called out, wiping away the excessive slobber with a massive hand. "We got an excitin' class fer yeh today."
As they all surrounded the man, he let out a loud 'ta-da!' and out walked Calliope, Callista and Clio.
Koty wasted no time in rushing over, hugging Clio who was nearest, and the happiest to see him, nuzzling and kissing him all over. "You're still here!"
He looked up in shock when they began growling. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Stupid human children, charging toward ferocious beasts!"
Hagrid promptly walked up and picked two kids up by the back of their robes and deposited them back with the rest of the class. "Lesson number one!" He said, clearly annoyed. "Never approach an unfamiliar animal! Five points from Gryffindor!"
"Then what's Malfoy doing with it?" One student shouted out.
"What's wrong with it?" Another student called out from the back of the room.
Callista snarled at that, and Koty was far from impressed.
"Lesson number two!" Hagrid called out. "Never insult a magical animal. They migh' know more'n they let on. Koty Malfoy, I'll let yeh answer tha' very rude question, them bein' yers an' all."
"They are females, not an 'it'. And they were kept in captivity, so the muscles in their back legs atrophied. There's nothing wrong with them. They're absolutely perfect!" Koty received plenty of nuzzles for that.
At least no one whined about not being able to get close.
"Now," Hagrid said, clapping his hands together. "Who can tell me summat abou' this beautiful animal? Go on, then. You in the back."
"That's a Cerberus!"
"One point fer Hufflepuff! Who's next? Don' be shy!" He beamed and pointed at a Slytherin. "You're next."
The Slytherin looked vaguely familiar, but Koty had no idea who she was. "They're fantastic swimmers."
"Take a point fer yerself!" He said happily.
For a few minutes, during which Hufflepuff gained two points, Ravenclaw got three and Slytherin got two more, the students soaked up a truly enthralling lesson.
Every single time someone said something complimentary, Callista preened. Calliope nudged her whenever she did it too often. Clio was all too happy to lavish all of her attention on Koty, who didn't mind at all, though he made sure to give the others plenty of pets.
Just before the end of class, one student, a tall boy with black hair in yellow trimmed robes, waved his hand in the air. "I don't know who to ask, but can I please pet them?!"
Koty giggled and Hagrid laughed loudly.
"Well, Little Mite?" Hagrid asked, giving a shrug. "Wha' do they say?"
Calliope and Clio were fine with it, but Callista adamantly refused.
Koty waved the boy over and warned him off touching Callista. "She doesn't like many people, but the others do."
"Wha's lesson five, ev'ryone?"
A few students answered in unison. "Calmly introduce yourself before approaching any animal."
"Oh, right!" The boy said, giggling nervously. "Er, hi! I'm Gael, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"
Muffled laughter travelled through the group.
"Okay," Gael said, taking a deep breath. "Now I'm supposed to approach slowly and not flap about, right? Then let them come to me?"
Hagrid nodded encouragingly.
Gael took slow, tentative steps, his hand out. He stopped about two metres away and waited.
In no time at all, Gael was joyously petting the two behind their ears, babbling nonsense at them.
Sitting atop Bear once more, Koty was surprised to see that Gael was jogging after them and calling out for them to 'wait up'. "Let's stop for a moment, Bear. I think that Gael fellow wants a word."
When the boy reached them, Koty saw that the boy was a Hufflepuff. "Hi, I'm Koty."
The boy snorted. "Well, yeah. Everyone knows who you are! Sorry, that was rude, wasn't it? Let me try that again." He took a deep breath and let it out with a huff. "It's lovely to meet you, Koty. My name is Gael Guzman. Okay, now that that's done, how did you get a Cerberus, and do you know where I can get one?!"
"Oh! Erm," Koty was startled by Gael's enthusiasm, but shook it off quickly. "I happened upon my girls purely by accident. I don't know where you could get your own, but I know they're really heavily monitored by the ministry, as a class XXXXX dangerous beast. It probably wouldn't be very easy. You'd most likely have to have a Mastery level education, as well as loads of permits and such."
"Did you have to get all that stuff?" Gael asked, his head cocked to the side.
"Not technically." He unbuttoned his sleeve, then pulled it back so that his 'bites' were on full display. "These are my familiar bites. If someone tried to take them away, I'd press charges so hard that the offenders' name would be used as a cautionary tale for future generations."
Gael's big, brown eyes widened further still. "How can someone so adorable be so scary?" He gasped. "Sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud!"
Not minding at all, Koty burst out laughing. "I'm not that scary, I promise. Penny is the scary one of our odd little group, not me."
"Is that one of the Raven's that you hang out with?" He asked, beginning the trek up to the castle. "The tiny firstie?"
Koty snorted. "No, that's Luna. Penny is the tall, blonde prefect."
"Ohhhhhh," came the exaggerated reply. "She put me in detention on the third day back from hols."
"Really? What did you do?" Penny was usually pretty calm when it came to detentions.
Gael fidgeted with his robes. "I may or may not have put toilet tissue all over a really ugly statue, like a mummy... that may or may not have been covered in soap first... But instead of keeping a lookout, my friend Tanner saw your friend and ran off. Filch supervised me while I had to clean the whole corridor with a really gross scrubber brush. Such a buzzkill."
"I don't envy you there," Koty said, nose scrunched in distaste. "Filch can be a real taskmaster when he wants. How long did it take to get it all scrubbed?"
"Oh, it was horrible!" He wailed loudly, but gave Koty a wink. "It took over twelve whole hours! My hands were cracked and bleeding, and he just stood there, with a whip in his hand, grinning like a storybook villain! And he cackled!"
"He did not!" Koty snorted. Filch was stern, but usually fair. Unless someone injured Mrs. Norris, but on the same hand, he'd ruin anyone who hurt his doggies.
"Well, no," Gael replied with a light shrug. "But my hands did get all pruney after two and a half hours."
At that, Koty laughed himself silly.
During dinner, Koty found himself sitting with Draco and Gael.
Gael was telling them over dramatised horror stories, mostly regarding himself and ridiculously impossible situations, making everyone around them muffle their laughter. They had 'reputations to protect' after all.
"Hey, Emily!" Gael suddenly called out, waving his arm wildly. "Come sit with us!"
"What in the name of Salazar are you doing?!" Draco hissed. "You can't let some Hufflepuff sit here!"
As a fellow Puff, Gael rolled his eyes.
Koty watched as the girl in question changed direction and headed toward their table. She was tall and had blood red hair and bright purple eyes. There were random coloured splotches on her hands, and a similar smudge across her forehead, though it was a distinct shade of shimmery blue.
"My Lord," she said, giving Koty a respectful bow.
Oh! She's a magical being! "Please, sit." No matter how often he asked people to stop calling him that, they always smiled indulgently, then resumed calling him 'Lord'. In short, he gave up.
"So, what are you, then?" Draco asked, still clearly annoyed about having a Puff around. "None of the humans call him that, so you can't be human."
"Draco!" Koty squeaked, eyes blown wide. "You can't ask people that!"
"Why?" He snarked, reaching for something. "It's not like-" His hand jerked abruptly, making a squelching noise as it landed in a dish of rice pudding.
Koty's jaw dropped when Bear moved to lay back in his spot, the picture of innocence.
Draco got up from the table, muttering about 'bloody dogs' and 'wasn't wrong'. He was ignored.
"I'll talk to him later," Koty said to no one in particular. How could he have that kind of attitude when his own brother was...
"Oi, catboy."
Frowning, Koty looked at one of Draco's friends, Blaise something.
"It's obviously not the whole creature thing, but Hufflepuff's don't sit here. And you brought two of them." The boy sighed dramatically, then returned his attention to his friends.
Emily hissed, eyes flashing brilliantly. "You let them speak to you like that, my Lord?"
"It's become something of a joke in my house, to pick on my nickname. I barely even notice it anymore, to be completely honest." That was certainly true enough. He'd been called all kinds of cat-related names. It wasn't usually insulting, since an upper year student explained that they hadn't been given permission to refer to him by his name, and calling him Malfoy would be confusing, as there were now two of them. Well, except the older students, OWLs and up, called him Little Malfoy or Littlest Malfoy.
Regardless, the spoon in her hand bent in half, until it finally snapped. Then fangs snicked out.
"Hey," Koty said, gaining her attention. "Put those away. It's fine."
Gael rolled his eyes. "I told you, Em. Things are different in Slytherin. My sister, Tally, explained it to me a long time ago."
She snarled at Blaise, who paled and scooted back as subtly as he could manage."The disrespect-!"
"Is something I have handled," Koty huffed. "Stand down."
A shiver passed over the girl and she immediately calmed, her eyes losing their unearthly sheen. "I apologise, my Lord."
Blaise, despite seeing Emily calm down, finished his drink and excused himself.
Upon seeing the Italian boy flee, Emily smirked. "May I ask, my Lord, how did you come to have a Cerberus?"
"Erm, can we tone down the formality?" Koty asked sheepishly. "But, to answer your question, I saved them at the end of last term, and they gifted me with the bites." He showed off his hand and wrist once more.
The next morning, a note came fluttering down from nowhere and landed by his plate.
Mr. Malfoy,
I wonder if you would be amenable to a chat? Perhaps after breakfast?
Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Order of Merlin First Class, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock-
Koty stopped reading the man's honorifics. Why put that much extra nonsense on such a short note? Who was he trying to impress? In any case, he looked up to the head table and gave the man a brief nod. What could he possibly want?
"What was that about?" Draco asked, pouring a goblet of grape juice.
"I dunno," he replied truthfully, having no qualms about letting his brother read the short missive. "All it says is that the Headmaster wants a word."
Brows furrowed, as if unravelling a great mystery, Draco caught someone's attention at the staff table. "Take Professor Snape with you. Students don't really have one-on-one visits with the Headmaster, even for expulsions. The Head of House is supposed to accompany their student."
"I know," Koty said patiently. "I was going to talk to him after we finished up."
Fortunately, they were already indulging in lovely pastries and the like, so he wouldn't have to wait for very long.
Within minutes, Koty was standing in front of Professor Snape, holding out the short note. "Will you come with me? I know I'm not supposed to go alone, and I don't know what he wants."
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy," Severus said blandly. "I will accompany you momentarily."
Koty watched in amusement as his mate scolded a pair of canoodling students and removed a few points from their houses.
Rather than say anything, Severus simply nodded at Koty and headed for the Headmaster's office.
"Ah!" Dumbledore called out, sounding happy. "Come in, boys, come in!"
The pair walked in and took the offered seats. Well, Koty sat, but Severus merely stood behind his chair, with his hands resting on the back.
"I have some wonderful news for you, Mr. Malfoy." He paused to pop a lemon drop in his mouth and hummed in appreciation. "After numerous discussions with the Board of Education, I have finally acquired the appropriate consent for your familiar, or rather, familiars to remain on school property."
"You did?!" Koty gaped incredulously.
"Certainly, my boy!" The man said, a kindly smile on his withered face. "Keeping a familiar away from a magical person is a terrible thing, and I certainly wouldn't condone the undue stress of your bonds."
Koty couldn't help but wonder where that statement came from. The previous year, he couldn't be bothered, unless it was to chastise him for trying to sit with his Ravenclaw friends during meals. Other than that, he was essentially ignored by the man. Why the change of tune? He pushed that thought down, at least until he could talk to Sev in private. "I really appreciate it, sir. I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I've missed them terribly. So, thank you again."
"Think nothing of it!" The old man said, cheerfully. In reality, it was a bit eerie. "Now, you have to understand that there are restrictions that come with the privilege. First and foremost, it is not allowed within the walls of the castle. That is why Hagrid was given special dispensation to use it as a teaching aide in his class, as I am sure you noticed." He chuckled when Koty nodded excitedly. "Also, they must be kept out of the forest. The centaurs who reside there would likely be less than pleased, should their rightful territory be encroached upon, you understand."
"We'll tell them now, sir!" Koty said happily, hopping up out of his seat. There would be just enough time to talk to his girls, and maybe introduce them to the Giant Squid, before he had to get ready for class.
So, after offering some tea, and being politely turned down, the mates left the office, more confused than when they went in.
As soon as Severus closed the door, the tension bled from him and he flopped, rather inelegantly, on the chocolate coloured sofa. He enjoyed Wednesday mornings, as he did not have a class to teach until nine thirty and Koty's first class didn't begin until then. Unless Severus had Head of House things to deal with, the pair relaxed and chatted in his private rooms. On one or two occasions, they had even played cards.
"What d'you think that was about?" Koty asked, bewildered. "And is he going to be punished for hurting our girls last year?"
"According to your father, they merely fined him. While it was a rather large fine, any charges were dropped, as many saw it as keeping a dangerous beast locked away from children. As if it were some magnanimous service." Severus scoffed. "Though why he acted as if it was his idea to let you keep them here, I do not understand. Your father has been writing petitions to the Board since mid-August, yet Dumbledore was the one to deny it every time. I wonder what has changed his mind so suddenly."
Koty hummed in thought for a moment before replying. "Well, if his reputation has been hampered by that, then maybe he's trying to overcompensate for it by finally allowing them here, especially since they're protected by so many laws now." Familiar bonds were not something to trifle with, because the law held such actions to a higher degree of punishment. Trampling someone's pet to pulp got the same punishment as tugging on a familiar's ear without consent of their bonded.
"Ah," Severus suddenly said, taking an envelope out of his pocket. "This was dropped at your seat as you left the Great Hall. I believe it is from one of your Ravens."
"Great!" Koty said happily. "Before I open it, though... can I bite you?"
"Naturally," he replied softly. "I must ask if you are well. You usually reserve natural feedings until the weekend."
"Yeah, I'm okay, I promise. It's just better straight from the source. Like... using dehydrated thyme in a potion, instead of fresh from the sprig. It still works, but not quite as well, you know?"
"I understand, Koty. Come," the man said, unbuttoning his cuff. "We must still speak with 'our girls' before our next classes."