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

Chapter 21

"Can I tell you a secret?" Penny asked conspiratorially, peering over her arithmancy book.

Koty grinned up at her, glad to be held in confidence. They really were best friends and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Well," she whispered, putting the book on the table. "I've decided to learn something a bit above OWL levels, and I was wondering if you might like to do it with me."

His brows rose as he did his best to contain his excitement. They were in the library after all. They didn't need to be kicked out again.

"I'm going to learn how to become an animagus!" She declared happily. "Olive will too, but Amelia doesn't want to. Do you want to join in?"

"Yeah!" He whispered back. That would be amazing! "Wait, why doesn't 'Melia want to try?"

At that, Penny looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, her uncle, Alphonse, ran into a bit of trouble with it... He didn't die or anything, but well... Long story short, he messed something up, and is now half human, half raccoon."

"Is he okay?" Koty asked, concerned.

"Yeah," she said with a bit of a nod. "Technically, he's perfectly healthy. He just refuses to go out in public anymore."

Koty wasn't so sure he wanted to try it now, not knowing that such a thing could happen. He didn't want to accidentally wind up like poor Alphonse. "What exactly are the odds of something like that happening to one of us?"

"Like a billion to one," Penny said immediately. "Like I said, he made a mistake somewhere along the way. If we all do it together, there's no way we can mess up! Besides, he was only like the third person in history to have that happen. Honestly, Amelia's more concerned about hurting her uncle's feelings than fear."

"Ohhh," he said softly, understanding the need for solidarity.

"So, will you do it?" She asked, sounding decidedly expectant. "We probably won't make much progress till next term, what with OWL's coming up, but won't it be thrilling?"

Koty agreed, much to Penny's excitement, and went back to his homework. Their OWL's were coming up pretty quickly. There was only a little over six weeks left. Thankfully his friends hadn't begun to crack up like some. Sure, they would probably get a bit frantic the last week or two, but some of the students were already going way overboard. Two of the boys in Ravenclaw had already started skipping meals over the weekends so that they could study, which, in Koty's mind at least, was dumb. How were they going to get anything done when they were half starving themselves like that? He was afraid of what they'd be like the week before.

Koty was sipping his blood smoothie in the Great Hall when a letter was dropped on his plate. He smiled upon seeing his dad's familiar, elegant handwriting. Making sure not to tear the expensive envelope, he pulled out the parchment and beamed. Scooting off the bench, he happily made his way up the long aisle toward the staff table and handed Professor Snape the parchment.

"Very well," the man said with a sharp nod. "You may retake your seat."

"What was that about?" Olive asked, leaning toward the Slytherin table.

"Dad sent a permission slip so I can go to Hogsmeade with you guys!" Koty was smiling so broadly that his cheeks were beginning to hurt.

"Oh! Well, in that case," Olive started rummaging around in her bag and let out a triumphant 'aha!' upon taking something out. "You can have your gift certificate back!"

Before Koty could get back up to get the certificate, Bear had leapt up from his spot and gently took it out of her hands and returned it to him.

Checking the balance, which would magically change every time it was used, he was thrilled to note that there were still six galleons, eleven sickles and four knuts on it.