Diagon Alley was bustling with the crush of witches and wizards getting their children ready for school once more. After a quick trip to Gringotts to gather the needed resources, Harry and the Grangers set out to acquire the items listed, all save two: Hagrid had thoughtfully sent the two of them, as his friends, a copy each of the Monster Book of Monsters, which had promptly attempted to eat their fingers when they tried to open them. If the emerald-eyed catboy hadn't spotted the similarities between the books' covers and their own fur, they would not have tried stroking the spines, on the assumption that if they liked their spines being stroked, then why wouldn't the books? Fortunately, they were right, and when Harry pointed out how to calm the dreaded tomes to the man who ran Flourish and Blotts, the poor fellow nearly wept with relief, and gave them a heavy discount for their purchases as he stationed one of his workers to keep the belligerent books happy.
It was here that they ran into Mrs Weasley, shopping with her children. Every one of the Weasley children still at Hogwarts wound up with new books and robes, no hand-me-downs this year for a change, thanks to the winnings from the draw earlier that summer. Ginny and Arthur were absent, as she was being assessed to determine the extent of her transformation, and the two would meet them at Florian Fortescue's after they'd finished. To round off the shopping trip, Ron asked to stop at the Magical Menagerie, to see if he could find something to settle the rat down, as he'd been throwing himself around his cage ever since the trio had gathered. Approaching the counter, he placed the travelling cage in front of the clerk.
"Excuse me," he said, "my rat is playing up and I think there's something wrong with him. Do you suppose I could get him a check-up?"
"Of course, lad," the young woman behind the counter replied, and a few diagnostic spells later, she had his answer. "Looks like he's got a case of nervous tension, with a lot of debilitative stress syndrome, young man. Tell me, does one of your room-mates own a cat?"
Harry looked around in time to see Ron glare at him. "What?" he asked in a confused voice.
Hermione didn't miss the exchange, but was looking around with only a fraction of her attention on her friends. At this time last year, she'd started thinking of getting a postal owl so she could keep in touch with Harry during the summer. This year, that point was moot as her mate was staying with her family. She'd narrowed down the rough timing of her heat cycle, and was glad that it only became pressing every four months or so. She really wasn't sure she could avoid giving in to instinct on that one much longer. Half-distracted, she wandered through the store, where she found the cats.
Most of the 'conversation' she was hearing was showing a marked lack of intelligence. These were probably just regular cats. The next enclosure held a handful of cats with broader features. "These have to be kneazles," she thought, crouching to take a closer look. Of the various animals in the enclosure, two stood out as far as she was concerned. The first was an enormous ginger creature, with the bowed legs and oddly squashed features of a cat/kneazle cross-breed. The other was a tiny full-blooded kneazle kitten, with completely black fur and disturbingly bright sapphire eyes. As she approached, the smaller felines looked at her, and turned back to their own business.
Hello, little one, Hermione mewled. She didn't expect what happened next, as a rush of kneazles, including the massive orange half-breed, stormed the front of the cage yowling and mewling, almost demanding that she pick them up to take with her.
The large ginger fought his way to the front, and yowled at her. Finally, someone I can deal with. Go on then, pick me, I'm the best choice here. He, the half-kneazle was definitely a he, paused a moment. You aren't going to neuter me, are you?
Perhaps in another lifetime, she might have picked up the cat, but now, something about his scent just didn't appeal, as if the new cat would try to displace her mate. "Not going to happen," she thought. Glancing around the enclosure, she saw the kitten picking herself up from where the others had bowled her over. With an air of sadness, she turned away.
The amber-eyed Bast'et frowned. And where do you think you're going, little one? she yowled. You haven't even talked to me yet.
This small one is of no consequence, lady, the kitten answered. If you wish a familiar, all these others are stronger and faster... and smarter... and, and, they're just better.
Hermione made her decision in that moment. Turning to the witch at the counter, she pointed at the kitten. "How much for little Pakhet, there?"
After paying the requisite Galleons, Hermione introduced the kneazle kitten to Harry, almost purring to her. This is my mate, Harry, little Pakhet. I'm going to be like your mama, so he is like your father, alright? Do you think you can help us both, tell us who not to trust?
Pakhet nodded. The emerald-eyed catboy smiled at Hermione. A new kitten, Mai? I thought you didn't want children yet, he teased, and she answered with a playful slap.
Ron looked at his friends, and then down at his rat. "Scabbers, old boy," he muttered, "you're getting more and more outnumbered every time I turn around."
It was when they met up once more with the Weasleys that Harry decided something major was wrong. They'd kept going past the same people, a large black auror for one, and a young woman who'd gone past several times, with a different appearance each time. She hadn't been able to hide her scent, though. Pakhet hadn't made any fuss about them, though, so the friends hadn't made any, either, waiting until they were with Ron's family to bring up the matter. Arthur was staring out into the street, scrutinising passers-by with an almost hostile intensity when Harry spoke.
"So what's the latest threat to my well-being, Mr Weasley?"
Arthur jumped, startled by Harry's cut-to-the-chase attitude. The catboy was very perceptive before his transformation, and now his senses were in a whole other league. "I'm sorry, Harry, but you see, I don't know where to start."
Hermione chipped in her tuppence worth. "The beginning, of course. If you start at the end, then the start, then the middle, it all gets confusing."
A dreamy voice, with a soft lilt interrupted their conversation. "Oh, I don't know," the stranger, a blonde girl about Ginny's age said. "That's how you would tell a time-travel story, but then the end you get to might not be the one you started with."
Ginny's happy voice supplied the other's identity. "Luna! How are you, I haven't seen you since the sorting ceremony." The last was said with a heavy dose of sorrow. "I'm sorry I wasn't there as a friend last year."
"Not your fault, Ginny," the blonde said, dismissing the apology. "I'm sure if you had been yourself full-time you would have been there. As it was you were someone else a lot of the time, and I blame them. Now, how do you like being a heliopath?" The red-haired girl was stunned.
"Is that what I am?" she wondered aloud.
"Of course," Luna replied. "The Minister is trying to create an army of your new people, but it isn't going too well for him, as they keep escaping. Something about the wards, I think."
Ginny realised she was ignoring her other friends and made hasty introductions. "Harry, Hermione, this is my friend and our neighbour, Luna Lovegood. Luna, This is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and of course you know my family, and these are Hermione's parents."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, but who are the other two?" answered Luna.
For a moment the group was nonplussed by her response, but it didn't last long, and the kitty couple introduced Hedwig and Pakhet immediately they realised who Luna was talking about.
Arthur Weasley cleared his throat. "To get back to what I was talking about, Harry, it could be a painful topic for you..."
Harry cut the Weasley patriarch off. "It's about that Halloween, isn't it?"
"Well, yes," Arthur replied. "Your parents were murdered that night by... Riddle." It was a struggle for the Weasley patriarch to not say You-know-who, but by remembering the self-declared Dark Lord's original name made it easier. "Your parents went into hiding, but they placed their trust in the wrong person. Their location was under a special enchantment, a very powerful protection called the Fidelius Charm, by which only one person they designated could tell anyone where they were. Until you brought out their will, everyone assumed that their Secret-keeper was Sirius Black, one of your father's best friends, and when the aurors found him, he'd apparentlyblown up another friend, Peter Pettigrew, and a street full of muggles, about a dozen, as well, and was standing there laughing madly that it was his fault. He was put in Azkaban almost at once. But when the will showed up, Madam Bones, who's the head of the DMLE, that's the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, heard that he was your bonded godfather. That put a whole different slant on things, because all the indications were that Riddle went to Godric's Hollow that night to kill you, and as your godfather, Black couldn't do anything to harm you without his own magic... killing him. So she went looking into the records of his trial thirteen years ago, and didn't find any. Not even a notice that they were sealed as confidential or top secret, and her position would even let her get at those." Arthur took a deep breath, and drank from his butterbeer, before continuing.
"Three days ago, Sirius Black performed the impossible. He escaped from Azkaban. So we're keeping an eye out for him, because he could be dangerous, at least until proven otherwise. If he is the one who betrayed Lily and James, we don't want him near you. If he isn't, we need him to prove it to the world."
As Arthur was explaining all this to the children, Molly had gone to fetch the latest copy of the Daily Prophet, and had just started reading it as he finished. Her temper went from 'loving motherly type' straight past 'howler' to alarm siren announcing the apocalypse'.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THOSE... THOSE... THINGS SHOULD NEVER BE NEAR A SCHOOL! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT... BUREAUCRAT IS THINKING!" From there, her rant descended into incoherent screams and rage, much to the consternation of passers-by. As she did, the others all stared at the headline that had set her off: FUDGE TAKES ACTION! DEMENTORS TO PROTECT HOGWARTS!
The details in the story were not reassuring, if the faces of those raised in the magical world were anything to go by. Harry glanced at his mate, amber eyes meeting emerald, and then asked the question plaguing them both. "Excuse me Mr Weasley, but what's a dementor?"