I'm not a kitten... Okay, I'm Kitten

Chapter 17

Freya's gasp pulled everyone's focus as they stepped into the Great Hall. "Kitten, look!" She said excitedly, tapping his hand repeatedly.

Koty lifted his head off of Amelia's shoulder to see what had Freya so worked up.

To all their shock and confusion, nearly half of the student body was wearing matching accessories in the form of Koty's own kitty ear headbands.

"Why in Merlin's name is everyone wearing those?" He asked in awe. Unlike his colorful and patterned ones, all of theirs were solid colors, mostly matching their hair. "What is going on?"

"There are a lot of angry purebloods out there, Kitten." Penny said, smiling.

"How come they're mad?" Koty asked innocently, not understanding. He did notice that lots of light-oriented pureblood families were looking at the ones with headbands in either disgust or annoyance, sometimes both. It seemed like everyone was upset for one thing or another.

"I don't believe it," Olive said softly. "They're publicly protesting the bullshit trial verdict."

Nearly every Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw pureblood wore the ears. The Slytherins didn't, but they were wearing collars with small padlocks on them.

Every. Single. One.

Only the Gryffindors were without any accessories and they were all as lost as Koty.

"This can't be because of me!" Koty gaped. "It has to be something else!"

His outburst caught some attention and whispers broke out all over the Hall.

Koty saw Professor Snape out of the corner of his eye, noting that the man was poorly stifling a smirk. He was wearing the collar too!!. Most of the professors were doing the same and the charms professor had donned on a pair of ears!

"Kitten," Amelia whispered. "Take off your cloak."

"Why?" He asked, nervous about revealing his wings. When he relaxed them, they were easily hidden under his cloak.

The twins looked at him and tugged the offending fabric off without a word, then put on their own ears in neon colors. Fred's were green and George's were yellow.

Upon seeing Koty's wings, the whispers grew in volume until people were shouting over each other to be heard.

Stumbling back at the sudden noise, Koty tripped and fell against Bear, who bit the collar of his uniform and helped him upright.

"SILENCE!" The headmaster commanded, using an amplifying charm on his voice. When the noise faded, he continued. "Everyone will take their seats and remove all non-regulation adornments!"

Most of the staff looked at him suspiciously, not even attempting to hide their reactions. Professor Flitwick sneered, pointedly adjusting his black headband.

Taking this as a queue, almost no one removed their ears or collars.

Professor Flitwick lifted his teacup slightly, making eye contact with Koty. They would get together for tea soon.

Koty nodded slightly, not wanting to draw attention... well, more attention.

"Anyone caught breaking the dress code will be given automatic detention and twenty points will be removed. Each."

The Hufflepuffs mostly removed their ears, but not all of them. The ones that did looked sad and/or angry about it. Not a single Ravenclaw or Slytherin removed their accessories. It was clear that the professors also had no intention of removing their own.

Only Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster were unadorned. Then again, not all of the professors ate in the Great Hall, so who knew what they were wearing?