Chapter Text
Dudley, Piers, and Dennis all stared at him, varying expressions of glee on their faces. Harry flinched and backed up, watching the other ten year old boys flex their fingers into fists and scuff dirt at their feet. The only source of light was the moon and the dim lights from cottages on either side of them.
He knew no adult in the neighborhood would help now; they all thought their kids were at each other’s houses. Ms Figg wouldn’t help him either. The first time he had run past her house she had shut the blinds on the window.
Dudley had started to bulk up, taking pride in almost being a teenager.
Harry backed up again, his back colliding painfully with a rotted fence. “Dudley…”
“He’s whining,” Piers teased, his nostrils flaring like he had scented prey. “Like a baby.”
Harry flinched and pressed lightly against the fence behind him, watching as the boys stalked up to him.
The roar echoed throughout the alley, throughout even his whole body. Goosebumps rolled up his arms and legs as the roar reverberated through the air. Something flickered in his eyesight and warmth blossomed next to him. The ground shook as something changed in the very earth.
A giant cat, bigger than Harry, padded right up to his side. It looked like a lion but not like a lion at the same time. It was not anything that Harry had ever seen before, with reddish, brown fur and what looked like a cloud of smoke running alongside its entire back. It had grey plates of some kind of material on either side of the smoke, with black…cuffs on its legs. It had a yellow, three pointed crest above its eyes, and red fur right over its eyes.
And red eyes.
The giant lion growled menacingly as it stopped at Harry’s side, heat radiating from its entire body. Harry shivered with it, taking a step back carefully, thinking he had been quiet enough but not quite succeeding. The lion that was twice his size immediately turned to stare at him, meeting his gaze with an almost serene expression.
It was near like the lion had fire for eyes and Harry spared a glance down to where the giant cat’s paws met the cement. The cement was burned, as if the cat’s paws were on fire. He suspected that the cement would never be the same. Those paw prints would forever be burned into the ground.
Harry shivered, his heart thundering in his chest, his blood roaring in his ears like the cat had done.
The cat began to purr loudly, arching its neck towards him and thus its head. It lightly head butted him, making Harry’s knees shake with the force of it. A giggle bubbled up out of him and he clapped his hand to his mouth, turning to stare at Dudley and the others.
Dudley’s skin had gone pale. Piers was shaking in his shoes, his skin gone white and the other two boys had fled.
“Oi, Potter!”
Harry held out a hand to the giant cat, glancing up into its eyes cautiously, and waited. The cat dipped its head in a nod to him and pressed its forehead to his palm, having to bend down a little bit. Harry let out a sharp gasp, feeling the immense heat that the cat was putting out.
“You’ve gotta be at least seven feet tall,” Harry whispered in awe, stroking the cat’s soft fur slowly.
The cat purred even louder and then turned its fierce gaze onto Dudley and Piers, a threatening rumble of a growl leaving its throat. Smoke curled from its back and covered the alley. A puff of flame left the cat’s mouth.
Piers yelped and took off. Dudley did the same, yelling for Vernon and Petunia.
Harry flinched at the thought of facing his aunt and uncle but the cat didn’t move from his side.
“I didn’t quite wish for this for my eleventh birthday,” Harry whispered, tangling his fingers into the cat’s fur, along its neck. The cat was half bent over, to accommodate his fingers, as if it was enjoying the attention. His birthday was in two days and he was turning eleven. Nothing special. Another year spent in the company of people who hated him.
He hoped that Uncle Vernon’s sister wasn’t coming any time soon. He hated her even more than he did Petunia or Vernon.
“I gotta go,” Harry said, staring into those red eyes.
The giant cat peered down at him and then ducked down its whole body. Harry blinked and stared for several minutes. The cat turned its red eyes to him as if waiting and Harry blinked again before stepping up closer, tangling his fingers deeper into its fur and climbed up onto its back.
The cat purred again, this time quieter, more calming, and waited for Harry to situate himself. He tucked himself onto the cat’s back, heaving a big sigh as the heat turned down a little, leaving him relaxed and less tensed up. “Alright. I’m on.”
The cat rumbled low in its throat and took off at a slow gait, trotting through the alley and down another, heading for Privet Drive. Heading for home and.
“What am I going to tell my aunt and uncle? They won’t--”
The cat growled at the words, interrupting him, and Harry fell silent, thinking of Dudley and Piers’ reaction.
Harry pushed the front door open and the cat trotted through the door, like it already knew where it was. Knew where Harry lived.
Shouts and yells filled the house as he turned to see Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon in the living room. The yells stopped as soon as they saw the giant cat, saw Harry on the cat’s back, and their skin went as pale as the moon.
“Freak! What is this?!” Vernon shouted.
The cat rumbled, near a growl, not quite a roar, but at the sound of it, Vernon fell silent and paled even more.
Aunt Petunia trembled, holding out her hand and pointed glaringly at Harry. Dudley was held tightly in her arms, shaking and muttering words that vaguely sounded like he was accusing Harry of something.
The giant cat growled and Harry could feel the sound travel through its entire body, threatening and loud.
“This better not be more magic nonsense!” Vernon shouted.
Harry blinked from the cat’s back, tilting his head. The cat stalked through the hallway and leapt up the stairs, leaving his aunt and uncle behind. Harry glanced down behind them, at the faint reddish smoke stains that the cat was leaving behind.
“Please don’t burn down the house,” Harry whispered, ducking down to whisper it into the cat’s ears. “I don’t know where I’d live.”
The cat purred and the smoke subsided a little bit, the flare of heat tuning down. It carried Harry to where Dudley’s second bedroom was, nudging the door open with its nose before slipping in.
The bedroom was filled with Dudley’s broken toys and unwanted gifts from birthday parties. Harry recognized the things that Dudley had gotten just a few months ago at his own eleventh birthday and scowled.
The cat finally stopped at the bed that lay in the corner of the room and ducked its body down again. Harry slipped off its back and sat on the bed, glancing up into the cat’s eyes, watching as it looked him over. There was a kind of intelligence in those eyes, something above a regular cat’s smarts.
“What did my uncle mean by ‘magic nonsense’?” Harry muttered, holding out his fingers to the cat’s neck again. The cat rumbled low in its throat and lay down at his feet, presenting its back to him.
The tension in Harry’s body eased as it lay between him and the door, between him and Vernon and Petunia.
“I keep having these dreams,” Harry said, curling his fingers into the cat’s thick fur. “Green light, high pitched laughter. What’d they mean?”
The cat peered up at him, its red eyes blinking slowly.
“This isn’t my bedroom,” Harry added belatedly, glancing around the room. “I wish it was.”
The lion rumbled again, letting its head fall down to rest on its massive paws, its head facing the door. Harry lay back against the bed, his stomach growling a little and grinned faintly.
“Mail! Freak, go get the mail!”
Harry nodded, already walking down the stairs two days later. The giant cat followed behind him, nosing against his back, having not left his side at all. They passed the kitchen and Harry spared a glance to where Vernon’s eyes were glued to the small television screen.
The screen was showing a big volcano, the scrawl of words at the bottom saying it was Mount Vesuvius. Lava spewed from the top of the volcano, big clouds of smoke and matter shooting from the mouth of it. More than 200,000 people had been evacuated in the past day and a half, hurriedly, and more would be in the coming days. Military vehicles were spread out around the city in front of the volcano and Harry watched as soldiers on the screen directed people.
Vernon turned up the volume as the scientists on screen talked.
“First eruption since 1944. This came out of nowhere!”
“No warning other than smoke and the ground shaking!”
Harry blinked at the sight of it, twitching a little, and glanced at the giant cat beside him. He knew it hadn’t left his side since it had appeared, scaring Vernon and Petunia every single time they saw it. It hadn’t let anyone else touch it either, just letting Harry close. But…that roar when it had first appeared. Harry had felt something change and he wasn’t sure what it had been. Maybe the giant cat had really caused a volcanic eruption all the way in Italy.
Petunia had let Harry stay in Dudley’s second bedroom after it had growled at her, rumbling menacingly.
“Did you do that?” Harry quietly asked, as they passed Vernon and Dudley. Petunia was in the kitchen, her attention on her husband and son.
The giant cat yowled quietly, its eyes fixed on him a little unerringly. Harry stared at it before running for the mail, catching it right as it fell through the mail slot. He idly looked through the envelopes before his eyes caught on the one on the bottom. The envelope that was addressed to him.
Mr Harry James Potter
Second Bedroom
4 Privet Drive
Harry stared at it for several minutes, feeling the warm breath of the giant cat.
“Dad! Harry’s opening our mail!!” Dudley shouted, bringing him out of the daze of getting mail addressed to him.
Dudley jerked up out of his chair and Vernon followed, his skin pale but there was a little bit of red in his cheeks. Harry glanced down at the letter addressed to him and then let the others fall down to the floor.
“You guys can have those,” Harry offered, shrugging.
The giant cat growled warningly as Vernon took another step towards Harry.
Vernon lost that little bit of red in his cheeks and turned white as flames issued from the cat’s mouth. As smoke twirled around the cat’s back.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Vernon yelled, jerking a shaky finger at the cat that blocked Harry from their gaze.
Dear Mr Potter
Harry’s eyes widened as he read the letter, his heart skipping several beats.
“I’m a wizard?!! Magic is real?”
Vernon swore under his breath.
The giant cat’s growl grew in volume and echoed in the house. Flames bloomed around the cat’s paws.
Petunia shrieked and dropped the frying pan she was holding. Harry flinched at the loud noise and took a step back, feeling the door at his back.
“Why did you never tell me?” Harry finally looked up, meeting Vernon’s eyes.
Vernon vehemently shook his head.
Harry winced and edged around the cat, walking over to sit in the living room in a daze. The cat followed him and once again lay down in front of him, staring at Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon idly.
“Are you magic?” Harry met the giant cat’s eyes.
Petunia let out a strangled squeal.
Hagrid stepped through the doorway, peering down at the big kid who had opened the door. “Oi, Harry! You’ve certainly grown!”
The kid was pale, his skin white and overweight but.
“I’m…I’m not Harry!”
Hagrid tilted his head and looked further into the living room of the muggle house. “‘Course you’re not!”
Another boy sat on the couch and--
Green eyes. Black messy hair. Glasses.
Definitely Harry.
But.
The giant cat that lay at Harry’s feet was not anything Hagrid had ever seen before.
It purred contentedly as Harry stroked its reddish brown fur, the boy’s fingers tangling in the fine strands. Harry peered up at him, his eyes widening, as he slowly stood up.
“What do you have there, Harry?”
“Who are you?”
“Hagrid, groundskeeper at Hogwarts. I’ve come to take you to get your school supplies,” Hagrid offered, his eyes still glued on the giant beast.
Harry peered into the eyes of the snowy owl, already falling in love with the bird. “Hedwig.”
He glanced up to the rooftops of Diagon Alley, to where he had last seen the giant cat. It was still keeping an eye on him, finding some other way to enter Diagon Alley. It was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally rumbling to draw his attention. Hiding behind smoke stacks whenever necessary.
The giant cat peered steadily into his eyes as the train hooted a warning. Harry had tucked himself into a nook he had found, in the station, hiding himself and the giant cat from view.
The cat rumbled again, leaning its forehead against his head. Or more leaning its head on his head. Harry giggled and rubbed its neck, squeezing gently.
“You’re leaving.”
He was decked out with his holly wand and Hedwig’s cage, the bird behaving herself around the giant cat.
The giant cat dipped its head in a nod, rearing back a little to look at him.
“I don’t think you’re magic,” Harry said, tilting his head in thought. Hagrid had said he’d never seen something like it but then again. Hagrid had stared at his scar in awe, not appearing to see past it.
The cat purred and lightly headbutted him.
“I’ll see you later?” Harry questioned, already seeing an open cabin on the train. The train that would take him to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardary.
The cat’s red eyes seemed to burn before the cat nudged him with a paw.
Harry’s smile widened and he nodded back, walking up and into the train. He picked a window seat and as the train left the station, he could see the cat lope off, disappearing after a minute onto the horizon.