Chapter Text
Chapter One: Fuzz Ball
Severus looked at the tiny round fuzz ball that Harry had gleefully dropped into his lap.
Harry had found it earlier that morning under the hedge at the back of the back garden and came crashing into the house shouting at the top of his lungs, demanding that Severus drop everything.
Harry's thundering had nearly caused Severus to drop his freshly brewed bottle of Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent, a travesty that would have been truly unforgivable. Still, no matter how rankled he might be, he came out of the basement all the same; there was a chance, no matter how small, that it might be an emergency.
Only to be presented with a very round calico kitten.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" He demanded, while the kitten rolled about in his lap, staring up at him with huge unblinking eyes; her short stubby tail curling possessively around his wrist.
Harry ignored the question. "Isn't she cute?"
"Hm," said Severus.
He had a feeling this conversation was headed somewhere he wasn’t going to like and was already considering whether the ensuing argument would be worth the bother.
Harry bent over the back of Severus' chair to coo at the kitten.
Decidedly not worth the argument then.
Resigned to his fate as the future keeper of a tiny fuzz ball, Severus stroked its little head with one finger.
"And what do you plan on calling this infernal thing?"
Harry grinned, and instead of answering, squeezed Severus' shoulder.
"Thanks," he said.
And so began the trials and tribulations of cat keeping, an endeavor that Severus wholeheartedly wanted nothing to do with. Although, he would admit, at least to himself, the damn thing really was adorable.