Of Wings in the Night

5

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That night, Hermione visited Ginny’s dorm room. “Gin, I so need to talk to you!”

The younger girl grinned. “About what? Let me guess...does it begin with the letter ‘R’ and have fur?”

Laughing, Hermione sat down on Ginny’s bed. “I wish we were in the same room, Ginny.”

“What, so you can wake me up at four in the morning to tell me about your little boyfriend?”

“Ew! Ginny, he’s a cat. So not my boyfriend.”

“But you can be a cat too...just think, you could lead a double life! Marry him and have kittens, and I can be their godmother!”

“Oh, ew. Sorry. Not going to happen. Besides, just because he’s amazingly funny and smart and friendly doesn’t mean I like him.”

“Riight.”

At Ginny’s skeptical glance, Hermione mentally replayed what she just said. “Come on, Ginny! Now, if he were human that would be a different matter.”

“Maybe there’s a potion that could help with that. And you could make him really cute!”

“Oh yeah, I could turn him into a Harry clone.”

“If you did that, you’d have competition from over here!”

“Well, I don’t think Ron or Dean would be too happy, and none of the other Gryffindors come close to hot...”

“Does he have to be from Gryffindor? Other houses have cute guys too.”

“Actually, I think he’d prefer to be in Slytherin.”

“Ooh! I know! Draco Malfoy!”

“Oh, yuck. I don’t want Malfoy!”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “You have to admit, he’s really hot. He’s just a nauseating, malevolent, malicious, foul, vile, evil, obnoxious, intolerable prat on the inside. So if he had Ranger’s personality...” The two girls laughed so hard, they almost ended up on the floor.

“Oh! Ginny, I hate to do this to you, but I really have to dash. Ranger’ll be waiting.”

Ginny flashed her an understanding smile. “Remember,” Ginny called, “if you turn him into a Harry clone I call first dibs!”

.

Slightly breathless, Hermione padded up to Ranger. "Sorry I was late again," she said.

Shrugging, the silver-furred cat replied, "I was thinking we could do some flying tonight."

Hermione hesitated. "I haven't...I mean, I don't..."

"You haven't flown before."

"No! I mean, yes, of course I have!"

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything!"

Ranger grinned. "Come on."

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione was cursing whatever made her lie. If there was one thing she feared, it was heights. Her human form shunned brooms, and she had avoided flying as a cat. Ranger had led her up to the Astronomy tower and onto the widest windowsill. In one fluid movement, he was aloft.

"Mala! Aren't you coming?"

"Just a minute!" Hermione called back. She was shivering, partly from the biting wind and autumn chill and partly from the sheer terror choking her. Closing her eyes, she jumped from the ledge and fell like a stone.

.

When Draco saw Mala fall, he almost fell himself. So she had lied. He'd almost thought as much, but he never thought she would actually be so stupid as to jump. What kind of suicidal stupidity made her jump?

Folding his wings, he dove after her, desperately willing himself to fall faster. Time seemed to congeal and each movement was unutterably slow to Draco. His mind spun out of touch with his body, and he watched himself reach out, trying to catch the delicate, fluttering cat. His claws shot out, grazing her in a frantic attempt to slow her fall, and finally his teeth closed on the nape of her neck. Draco felt his wings shoot out, pulling at the air, trying to break the fall in an insanely twisted version of the Wronski Feint. At last, Draco felt the damp grass beneath his paws.

Gently, he set Mala down. "God, Mala, you're heavy." It wasn't true. She was actually much lighter than he'd anticipated. "Don't ever do anything like that again!" Slowly, it dawned on him that the crumpled, toffee-colored form on the ground wasn't moving.

"Mala!" Hesitantly, he nudged her with his paw. No response. "Damn," he said aloud. She was breathing; he could see her whiskers moving slightly. Glancing up, he saw that the moon rode perilously low in the sky. He'd have to 'wake up' soon. And there was no way he was going to leave Mala out here so close to the Slytherin quarters. He shuddered to think what Zabini, for instance, would do to an unconscious cat. Checking to make sure she was well and truly out, he changed into human form and carefully picked Mala up. She was shivering.

Now, where should I take her...not the Hufflepuffs, definitely not the Slytherins...I really don't want to go to the Gryffindors. That settles it. The Ravenclaws. I'll bet what's-her-name, that Patil twin--she'd take Mala in. Hell, if Mala were a human she’d probably be in Ravenclaw,,,

.

Padma Patil was a light sleeper. When a sharp rap sounded at about five o'clock, her eyes snapped open. Quietly, she slipped out of her bed and crept to the window, careful not to awaken her roomates. A cloaked figure stood at her window with a sodden cat clutched in its arms. "Patil! Take her!" the figure hissed, pushing the cat towards Padma.

The latter reached out automatically. "What--who--"

"Shh! Her name's Mala, and I'll come back for her tomorrow night." The figure shook its head, chuckling a little. "Not that you'll remember..."

Padma opened her mouth to ask any of the questions that crowded her mind, but the figure pointed a slim wand at her, whispered a few words, and disappeared. She felt slightly disoriented for a moment...the room seemed to sway...but she shook her head and her vision cleared. It dawned on her that she was holding a rather wet cat, and she couldn't remember why. Padma sighed. If this wasn't a dream, which seemed increasingly unlikely, the cat needed dealing with. Besides, as far as she could tell, the poor thing was unconscious. Well, she could deal with it in the morning...after a cup of coffee...