Chapter Text
Chapter Eight: Bad Company
For a man who had until recently proclaimed that he preferred to live alone, Severus did not like it when Harry went away. He liked that Harry's absence bothered him even less, and since Harry's departure early that morning, he'd been sulking.
Severus sat hunched over the kitchen table with a book and cup of tea in a fit of petulant rebellion- Harry always complained when he did that.
"You're going to ruin your back."
And while it wasn't as though Harry was wrong, Severus would never admit that under pain of death.
So he ignored the twinge in his lower back, and turned the page.
"Mrow?" said Cat. She wandered into the kitchen on her stubby little legs, winding between the table legs and rubbing deliberately against Severus' shin, leaving white fur plasters all across the hem of his robes.
"I'm busy," he said, "go entertain yourself."
"MMmmmrup," replied Cat.
"Hm," said Severus. Cat seemed to take that as some sort of affirmative answer, wriggled her whole body, and then leapt into Severus' lap, where she turned three times, curled into a little purring ball, and went to sleep.
Severus sipped his tea and kept reading. Occasionally, he'd stroke her head. The little thing wasn't such bad company after all.