On Saturday, Cat waited near the Gryffindor entrance for Harry. Even though Draco had warned her not to go with him, she still wanted to help her friend, and who was he, a first year student, to tell her what she could and couldn’t do? Kade had told her everything about the dragon and how Harry needed one of them to help him since Ron was in the hospital wing. Cat volunteered herself since Kade wasn’t the best at staying up late, and although she may not be as strong as her brother, she was definitely more determined to help than he was. Harry finally exited the painting that led to the Gryffindor house and quickly discovered her standing next to it.

   “How do you know where our common room is?” Harry asked her quietly from under the invisibility cloak.

   “Easy, I can smell, hear, and see things like a cat’s senses mixed with a human’s so I followed your scent until it disappeared.” Cat said to him as she got underneath the cloak. It was very dark outside but Cat could see clearly, since she can also see in the dark, and they were a bit late because of Peeves. Harry had taken Norbert, Hagrid’s baby dragon, from Hagrid as Cat stared up at the starry sky. She spotted a clump of stars in the shape of a leopard and smiled at it as Harry covered Norbert with the invisibility cloak. They carried the crate back up to the castle and as they reached the corridor to the tallest tower, there was a sudden movement ahead almost made Harry drop the crate that Norbert was in.

   Cat didn’t move into the shadows with Harry and instead gently set Norbert’s crate down and quietly walked towards the movement. It was Professor McGonagall and Draco. Cat couldn’t hear what McGonagall said because her heart had started to race as she watched them. “You don’t understand, Professor. Harry Potter’s coming — he’s taken my girlfriend and he’s got a dragon!”

   “G—Girlfriend?” Cat accidentally said out loud, shocked.

   Suddenly feeling very afraid that she had just revealed herself and Harry, she turned into her fluffy white cat and dashed over to Harry. “Who said that? Reveal yourself!” McGonagall ordered as she walked over to where Cat had been not long ago. Cat looked back at Harry and nodded toward the corridor and he seemed to understand what she was saying because he slowly walked over to it, making as little noise as he could. She then turned into a human and walked shakily to McGonagall.

   “Miss Brooks, What are you doing out this late? You should be in bed right now.” McGonagall said. “I thought I heard someone l—leave the common room so I went out to look for—for them to bring them back so they w—wouldn’t get in trouble,” Cat stuttered as she continued to shake. Looking over at Draco, she saw him turn very red as he looked down at the floor. “That’s very kind of you but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to give you detention,” McGonagall said.

   Cat nodded and looked at the ground, her eyes trailing to where Harry was standing, he looked shocked at what she had just done. “Come with me you two. We shall see Snape about the lie Malfoy told.” McGonagall said as she grabbed Cat’s hand and pulled her over to Draco. She had grabbed a hold of his shoulder and started walking with them to Snape’s office. Draco looked like he wanted to say something to Cat but didn’t seem to want McGonagall to hear him.

   They were now inside Snape’s office where they were being punished for being out so late. Cat was shaking so much she could hardly see, Draco had brushed his hand against hers to comfort her but it only made her step away from him. “You will both be doing detention when I find out exactly what it is you will be doing. Now go back to your dorms,” Snape said coldly. It looked like Draco nodded but Cat couldn’t tell because she was still shaking. They left Snape’s office holding hands since Cat would’ve ran into a wall without help.

   “You didn’t hear —”

   Cat interrupted Draco saying “Didn’t hear you call me your girlfriend? How would I have not heard you? I was in the corridor when you said it.” Cat had started to shake a lot less by now. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. It just… slipped out,” Draco apologized, at least Cat thinks it was an apology.

   “It didn’t make me super uncomfortable, it mainly just shocked me.” Cat mumbled as they walked down the staircase. She had stopped shaking and was able to clearly see again by the time they had made it to the common room. 

   A few days later, she, Harry, Draco, and a Gryffindor boy Cat didn’t know, were walking with Filch to Hagrid’s hut. They had all gotten a letter from McGonagall earlier that day saying that they needed to meet Filch that night for detention. Down at Hagrid’s hut, they waited for Hagrid to come out and Cat was shaking again but not quite as much as a few days ago. Draco wrapped his arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. Cat looked at him with a small smile on her face trying to tell him that she was fine without Filch shouting at her to be quiet. But he didn’t return her smile and instead wrapped her in his other arm, she wanted to push him away but it seemed that his hug was actually helping, so she just laid her head on his shoulder.

   She started purring when her shaking had stopped as Hagrid finally came outside, Filch leaving them with the tall man. “I’m not going in that forest and neither is Cat.” Draco said, squeezing Cat so much that she could hardly breathe. “Who says I don’t want to go into the forest? It’s only natural that I’m drawn to it,” Cat whispered under her breath. Cat gently pushed Draco away and turned to the forest, mumbling, “It’s very pretty at night but even prettier during the day.”

   “If we split up then I’m going with Harry,” Cat said as she walked to the edge of the forest. “Why do you want to go with Harry? Why not go with me?” Draco asked Cat as he shakily walked towards her. “Because you're a coward and would leave me for dead while Harry would stay or at least take me with him,” Cat said as she put a foot into the dark forest. The five of them, and Fang of course, headed into the forest.

   Cat could smell the blood before Hagrid had pointed it out. “That’s unicorn blood,” Hagrid said before going about what they were looking for. “I want Fang and Cat.” Draco said as he yanked her to him by her arm while looking at Fang’s long teeth. “All right but I warn yeh, he’s a coward,” Hagrid said before telling them what groups they were in and making them practice sending green and red sparks. Cat didn’t use her “wand”, which was really just a carved stick, since she hadn’t brought it but I was so dark that no one noticed that she’d used a normal stick.

   Draco, Fang, and Cat had taken the right path when it forked; the other three took the left. She couldn’t hear Fern following her, making her worry about more than tripping on hidden tree roots. Draco was clutching Cat’s arm and she could smell the fear coming off him. Her arm was beginning to hurt but she couldn’t quite shake him off it. “Fear will only lure predators closer to us, Draco.” Cat said calmly as they continued to walk down the path.

   “I’m not scared, I’m just holding onto your arm because I can’t see and so that you don’t get scared.” Draco said, the slightest shake in his voice.

   They continued down the path for a bit, every noise around them made him flinch and made Fang move closer to Cat’s feet. She started humming one of her favorite songs as they continued to walk for what felt like ages. Draco then stopped walking, keeping Cat from continuing, and looked at her. Cat turned her head around and stared at him as he pulled her to him.

   Cat put her stick on his throat when he continued to pull her arm. “Why’re you holding a stick to my throat?” Draco asked, a small smile forming on his face. “Because I don’t need a real wand, or even a wand at all, to do magic.” Cat said as she yanked her arm out of his grip. “We need to keep going so it’d be better if you didn’t slow us down by dragging my arm behind me,” Cat said, turning back to the trail and walking away from Draco with Fang at her heels.

   “W—Wait for me!” Draco shouted as he ran over to Cat. He grabbed her arm again and she didn’t even bother yanking it back. After a while Cat heard a noise somewhere behind them right before seeing red sparks in the sky where Harry, Hagrid, and the boy were. “They're in danger, I’m going to help them whether you come with me or not.” Cat growled as she transformed into her lioness and sprinted towards the spot where the sparks came from.

   Draco and Fang were following her lioness somewhere behind her but she didn’t care. A bad feeling had formed in her stomach and she knew it was because Harry was in danger. Having that thought in her head she began sprinting even faster. She could smell Harry nearby, Hagrid and the other boy were there too, before she could see him. Running in front of her friend, she growled loudly at the creature coming towards Harry. Growling even louder, she bit the creature’s hand hard before a strange man-horse rammed into it.

   Cat released the hand of the creature and flicked her tail, the fur on her back rising. She puffed out her chest and growled again before cowering when Hagrid pointed his crossbow at her. “Don’t hurt her!” Draco shouted at Hagrid when he finally made it to them. “She’s not dangerous unless she’s attacking something,” Draco panted as he sat on the ground looking out of breath.

   “Where’s Cat?” Harry asked after looking around.

   “She’s closer to you than you think,” Draco said, getting back up and walking up to the still cowering Cat. He then dragged her away from Hagrid and Harry with quite a bit of struggle. She looked up and licked his face for comfort, the fur on her back had lowered by then. “Don’t let the big man scare you with his weapon, I won’t let him hurt you,” said Draco comfortingly as he gently pet her fur, making sure he didn’t touch any of the sap in it. She purred as he sat down, resting her head on his knee, her tail still flicking from side to side. Hagrid lowered his crossbow as he watched their interactions with one another.

   Harry was still looking around, probably searching for Cat even though she was right there. He finally looked back at her as she lifted her head, staring back at him with her bright green eyes and that’s when he seemed to have finally understood what Draco meant. He then waved at her just low enough so that Hagrid wouldn’t see. She bowed her head at Harry while Draco started petting behind her ear. “We should head back to our trail now Cat!” Draco shouted to make Hagrid and the other boy think she was somewhere else.

   She got up and went back towards their trail at a trot. “Why’s the lion going with yeh?” Hagrid asked, as she stopped and waited for Draco like an obedient dog. “Because her home is over there,” Draco replied as he went over to Cat, Fang didn’t follow them. She turned back into a human when they were far enough and held out her hand for him. He took her hand and they walked back to the trail together, only to find out that they had to go back up to the school.