Cat blinked, seeing Malfoy’s worried face before he threw his arms around her and said, “Thank goodness you're alright!”

   “W—Where are Harry and Kade? What happened?” Cat said, remembering everything that happened before she blacked out. “Potter’s right over there talking to Dumbledore and Kade just woke up next to you a bit ago. You’ve all been here for about three days,” Malfoy said, sounding disgusted just saying Harry's name. Cat sighed with relief and looked over to Harry’s bed, she could almost hear what Dumbledore was saying to him.

   Malfoy stood up and turned to leave, saying, “My visit time is up. I’ll come by later when I’m allowed to.” Cat sat and watched Malfoy leave, looking back at Dumbledore when she heard the door close. After Dumbledore was done talking to Harry, he came over to the end of Cat’s bed. “Good afternoon Cat.” Dumbledore said as he sat down next to her.

   “A—Are me and Kade going to—”

   “No, neither of you are not being expelled for breaking the rules to help a friend.” Dumbledore said before Cat could finish her sentence. “Weird how things work. You and Kade only passed out but neither of you couldn’t wake up until after Harry did,” Dumbledore said in an airy way. “Wh—What happened?” Kade asked, hoping he would get a better answer than Malfoy’s.

   “We tried all kinds of healing potions on the two of you, but none of them worked. And I think you both should know why,” Dumbledore said as he smiled at them. “I don’t understand… how is that possible… they should’ve worked…” said Cat, feeling more confused by the second. “It seems that, as animal-people, you two only woke up after a fight when the one you were both protecting woke up. You both probably wouldn’t have fainted if Harry didn’t, but since he did, you two did too, only to wake up after him,” Dumbledore said. After seeing how confused Cat and Kade were he added, “You two were protecting Harry, right?”

   They nodded before he continued, “Since the one you were both protecting, Harry in this case, when he fainted, you two also fainted after he did, only to wake after him. This is something that happens to animal people if they have sworn to protect someone no matter what happens to them.” When he finished, Cat said, “But we never fully swore to protect him. We only said that we would go with him to stop the bad thing that was going to happen if we didn’t go.” Dumbledore thought for a moment before saying, “Then that must be why you two didn’t faint at the same time he did. You both would have woken up at the same time as him if you did.”

   The twins thought in silence for a while before Kade asked, “How do you know so much about people like us?” Dumbledore thought for a few seconds then said, “There are many myths about people who can turn into animals without being magic. Some are said to have the mark of their kind on the collarbone the same side as the hand they write with. That mark means they are the strongest of their kind. It’s hard to explain so as an example, cat people with the mark can turn into different breeds of cat, wild or domestic. Same thing with the other marked animals.

   “They can only turn into different breeds of their kind once they turn into their first one. With you two, your first times turning you turned into a lion. After some time, you both discovered that you could also turn into a fluffy white cat.” Cat and Kade were shocked.

   “H—How did you know—”

   “Hagrids centaur friend, Firenze, saw the first time you turned Cat, and since your twins that have the power to alway were if one twin has a weird dream the other one does too, you also turned into a lion after she did. The second time, a young girl with blonde hair and brown eyes told me she heard you’d both turned into fluffy white cat’s.” Cat didn’t know what to say so she looked at her hands. “So—So we’re not in trouble for biting Quirrell?” she asked, hoping to change the subject that she felt didn’t need to be talked about anymore. “No, neither of you’re in trouble.

   “You two were only protecting your friend from harm.”

   “That’s all we wanted to ask.” Cat said, feeling relieved that she wasn’t in any kind of trouble.

   “Well then, I'll be going now.” Dumbledore stood up and before he left, whispered something to both Cat and Kade, telling them not to tell any of their friends.

   After hearing the door shut, she looked over to Harry’s bed to see Hermione and Ron talking with him. Even though her body was sore, she got up and walked to the trio, Kade doing the same after her. “Were we not invited to this meeting or were we just forgotten?” Cat asked, standing behind Hermione and Ron. They all three jumped before Ron said, “We were going to talk to you two, but Madam Pomfrey said we could only talk to Harry since you both needed to rest.”

   “I was only joking, I know you guys would never do something like that,” she paused before saying, in a creepy way, “unless, you made that up and you really would do something like that to us.”

   He laughed nervously while Hermione, in the same tone she used when correcting Ron, said, “We really did try to convince Madam Pomfrey to let us see you two too but she said no because you both needed to rest, and she didn’t want to move your beds closer so we could talk to you.” They all talked a bit more about what happened with Quirrell and about random things that happened while Cat, Kade, and Harry were unconscious. It was almost fifteen minutes before Madam Pomfrey kicked Ron and Hermione out and ushered the twins back to their beds where Cat fell asleep immediately. She woke up the next day still feeling sore but begged Madam Pomfrey to let her go with Harry and Kade to the feast. “You can go with Harry and your brother after his visitor has left.” said Madam Pomfrey as Cat watched Hagrid walk over to Harry.

    After Hagrid left, Cat, Kade, and Harry walked down to the end-of-year feast. They had been held up by Madam Pomfrey who insisted on giving them all one last checkup, so by the time they got down to the feast, the Great Hall was full. The hall was decked out in her and Kade’s house's colors to celebrate Slytherin winning the house cup. According to Hermione, this was the seventh year in a row that Slytherin was winning. Everyone stopped talking when Harry entered the room and then started to talk loudly again. She walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down at the end farthest from the teachers, Kade sitting beside her.

   When Dumbledore arrived moments later, the babble died away. Dumbledore stood at the pedestal and said, “Another year gone! And I must trouble you with an old man’s wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast,” he paused for a second and Cat thought she saw him look at her before he spoke again. “What a year it has been!” Cat looked at her hands because Dumbledore had told her and her twin what would happen tonight. “Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were…—” she continued to stare down at her hands.

   “—you have the whole summer to get them nice and empty—” she looked over to the Gryffindor table and eventually found Harry. “—before next year starts….” She stopped looking at Harry and looked up at the ceiling. “Now, as I understand it,” a comet flew by and she continued to stare at the ceiling, “the House Cup here needs awarding,” another comet flew by, “and the points stand thus: In fourth place,” Cat looked down at Ron, who was sitting by Harry. “Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve” she looked over at Hermione on the other side of Harry. “in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two—” looking back down at her hands, she started to twiddle her thumbs.

   “—in second place, Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six—” Cat looked back up at the wall opposite of her. “—and Slytherin with four hundred and seventy-two.” Cat looked back at Ron while the rest of the Slytherins celebrated. She continued to stare at Ron as she listened for Dumbledore. Finally he spoke again, “Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin,” Cat continued to stare at Ron, a smile forming on her face. “However, recent events must be taken into account.”

   Ron looked at Cat, the smile on her face turning into a more friendly one. The room went still, the rest of the Slytherins’ smiles faded a little. “Ahem, I have a few last-minute points to dish out.” Cat looked over to Dumbledore and she swore he had looked at her again. “Let me see, yes…. First —” knowing he would say one of her three friends’ names, she looked back at Harry. “to Mr. Ronald Weasley…” she looked back at Ron and saw that he had gone purple in the face.

   “… for the best-played game of chess that Hogwarts has ever seen in many years, I award Gryffindor House fifty points.” She clapped under the table with the Gryffindor’s. There was silence once again before Dumbledore spoke, “Second — to Miss Hermione Granger…” she looked over to Hermione, “for the use of cool logic in the face of fire,” Hermione had started to tear up, “I award Gryffindor House fifty points.” Hermione buried her face into her arms. Cat looked over at Harry, she knew he was next. “Third —” so Harry’s not the last one he’s giving points to, Cat thought, knowing that he wouldn’t say third if he was done giving out points.

   “to Mr. Harry Potter,” the room went so quiet, Cat could hear her heart beating. “… for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award sixty points to Gryffindor House.” Gryffindor now had the same amount that her house, Slytherin, had. Everyone was yelling until Dumbledore raised his hand, and the room fell silent. She tuned out most of what he said but a few words made it through to her. Bravery, Neville, 10.

   She nearly jumped out of her seat when all the Gryffindor’s started yelling and cheering. She saw the one boy that must be Neville because she’d seen him in detention and because all the Gryffindor’s were turned to him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry point where Malfoy was at. She couldn’t see Malfoy but could imagine that he was as shocked as the rest of the house. “Which means,” Dumbledore called over all the noise that the other three houses had been making, “we now need a change of decoration. But before we change the decorations, I will be awarding Miss Cat and Mr. Kade Brooks for their will to protect their friends even if it means to hurt others.

   “I award Slytherin four points.” She looked down at her hands, she didn’t feel like she or her brother deserved any points. After he gave her and Kade two points each, he clapped his hands and in an instant the green hangings became scarlet and the silver ones became gold. The huge serpent vanished and was replaced with a lion. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Snape shake hands with Professor McGonagall, a horrible forced smile on his face. The twins almost forgot about the exam results until they came.

   She and Hermione had gotten the best grades out of all their years, Kade had just barely passed. 

   It was suddenly the end of the year and all the wardrobes were empty, trunks were packed, all the students were handed a warning not to use magic over the holidays. On the train, Cat sat next to Kade and watched the scenery outside as she ignored Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. She only looked into the compartment when it was time to change into her muggle clothes, Kade had already changed into his. The train pulled in at King’s Cross and into platform nine and three-quarters when Cat and Kade had decided to leave their long jackets off since they now knew how to keep their ears and tails from popping out. It took a while for everyone to get off the platform and to their families since a wizened old guard would only let two to three people go through the gate so that no one would attract attention when they burst through a solid wall. “You all must come to stay this summer,” Ron said when the twins caught up to them.

   “I’ll send you all an owl.”

   “Thanks, I’ll need something to look forward to.” Harry said.

   When they made it to the gate, Cat and her brother let the others go through together. Some people called to Harry, Cat and Kade chuckled when he rushed out the gate to avoid getting interrogated. She giggled when she remembered how she reacted to turning for the first time, and how excited her leopard friend was to see her lioness form. When she and Kade made it through the gate it took them a while to find Bill. “Let’s go home big brother,” the twins said in unison. “We’ll have to take a bus back home so make sure you stay close to me,” Bill said as he grabbed their hands.