Alvean and the Werecat

Alvean and the Werecat

Fabian chuckled unconcernedly and sat silently down beside Riana, thrusting his unshaken hand deep into his pocket and pulling out something that looked like licorice. He poked one licorice stick into his mouth, pointed teeth gleaming. Riana leaned closer, staring at his fangs ... fascinated.

Pretending not to notice her gaze, Fabian offered Riana a piece of licorice. She drew back quickly, shaking her head vehemently. "I ... I can't; wh-what is that?"

Fabian's feline mouth turned up at the corners, but he also looked slightly confused. "It's all right," he said, his voice a low, pleasant-sounding growl, "it's good. Licorice Wand, ya know."

Looking down in shame, Riana spoke again, "I can't eat it. I don't want to eat it," she corrected. She spoke in a quiet yet rough undertone as she lifted her chin, daring Fabian to question her.

Fabian, however, merely looked at her, curiosity shining from his yellow eyes. He cocked a shaggy, tawny eyebrow and twisted his mouth to the side, the Licorice Wand shifting with the movement of his red mouth. Under his inquisitive, bizarre stare, Riana lost her momentary bravery and cast a sullen look toward the dirty floor. She immediately wished she hadn't. Seeing where her thin hand lay on the wood floor, she gasped in disgust and hurriedly moved it away from a rat skeleton-ridden owl pellet.

If Fabian noticed, he didn't mention it; he was too busy staring at the tips of his fingers, picking lazily under the nails with claw-like precision while the Licorice Wand dangled from his mouth. "Suit ya self," he said, ceasing his nail-cleaning, shrugging carelessly, and returning the proffered Licorice Wand to his pocket. He sighed deeply and sucked on his Licorice Wand for a minute and then turned his yellow cat's eyes on Riana.

"So ya want to know what I am?"

At the sound of his proud and amused voice, Riana's gaze snapped up to Fabian's face. "I ... I meant who you are," Riana stuttered, then added quietly, "and what, of course." She finished her excuses lamely, looking up at Fabian from under a fringe of dark eyelashes.

At her hesitant confession, Fabian laughed out loud and leaned languidly backwards onto a nearby cage, which promptly slid out from behind him, its furry occupant hissing angrily. Fabian's eyes flew open in surprise, and sitting bolt upright, he cast a derisive glance back toward the cat who stared at him in silent fury. Shrugging again, Fabian turned back to Riana, licked his licorice-smeared lips, shifted the Wand to the opposite corner of his mouth, and leaned forward confidentially.

"Well, I'm a werecat...born not made. And I've been followin' ya all day. I'm down the hall from ya at the Leaky Cauldron, room number three." He grinned insolently and cocked his head to one side, his bizarre stare measuring Riana up and down as if waiting for her reply.

Riana gasped, "Oh! You're the one who was talking in his sleep." She narrowed her eyes and stared at him, daring him to contradict her.

Instead, he smiled. "Yeah, I do that from time to time. Drives me mum insane. I'll disappear in the middle of the night...cats don't sleep at night, even werecats...and she'll come upstairs to me room, checkin' on me ... as usual, and I'm not there!" At this, Fabian chuckled merrily, his mouth open, pointed teeth clearly visible. "But they can't do anythin' about it ... and dad, he doesn't really care, as long as I don't terrorize Muggles and get caught. Though I got to admit, it's rather fun scarin' those idiots ... especially the kiddies."

Fabian had a melodious Irish accent that sounded very pleasant to Riana's ears, and she smirked slightly as Fabian reached up a coarse hand and comfortably scratched behind his ear. Riana was beginning to like him, oddly enough. He made her feel happy ... accepted. Yet he also had a vindictive edge to him that she couldn't quite puzzle out. In a word, he was intriguing.

Fabian didn't seem to (or chose not to) notice her contemplation. "So ... Riana, what's your tale? All I know is that ya cry, sometimes, in the mornin's, and that ya wear black and grey ... never anythin' else."

Riana tilted her chin up and stared down its pointy length at Fabian, searching his tanned face as if to test its truthful interest. When he simply looked at her, Licorice Wand stuck comically in his mouth, she pulled in her bottom lip, grinned a little and began to tell her history.

Riana told Fabian everything, starting with the fact that she didn't know who her real parents were. She then related her adventure of the past week, starting two days ago when she'd received her acceptance letter to her present stay at the Leaky Cauldron.

When she related her midnight escape, he sucked in his breath, nearly choking on his Licorice Wand, and coughed, finally managing a weak, "Wicked," his merry eyes shining appreciatively.

Riana blushed slightly at his obvious admiration and found herself smiling and laughing, truly enjoying being alive for the first time since ... since when? She could not remember another moment in her life when this had happened.

"Then ya don't really know who your parents are? Do ya think ya are wizard-born?" Fabian asked, with a hint of suspicion no doubt stemming from his penchant for teasing Muggles. His words slurred together as the Licorice Wand shrunk quickly in his mouth.

Riana shook her head. "I don't for sure if I'm wizard-born. As for my parents ... I met somebody today who, I think, knew who they are ... or were. But he didn't tell me anything," she finished sullenly.

Fabian gazed at her with concern in his crazy eyes. "I'll tell ya what," he said. "Why don't we stick together for the rest of the day and I'll show ya Diagon Alley. Sound like a plan?" He stuck out his callused hand for the second time since he'd met Riana.

Pursing her thin lips, Riana lowered her eyelids over her slanted eyes, hardly daring to believe that she might have a friend. Opening the silvery grey orbs, she saw Fabian still looking at her speculatively.

Nodding slightly, Riana replied, "It's a plan," and reached out her own tiny hand to shake hands with the werecat. His palm felt smooth and rough, all at the same time, and smiling hugely ... pointed teeth and all, Fabian effortlessly leapt to his feet, hoisting Riana's slight body along with him.

"All right!" He exclaimed loudly, with barely contained excitement, "Now that we're here, I suppose we might as well get our animals. Rain's stopped outside." He indicated the cloudy day, dropping Riana's bony fingers, and turning around, looking at the owls, speaking over his shoulder, "I want an owl. I mean, there's your own personal mail-carrier right there and they're intelligent, too. Plus, they scare Muggles to death if ya send messages durin' the day," he added with an amused grin. "Oh, that, and it wouldn't feel quite right buyin' a member of me own family," he continued, glancing toward the cages of cats.

Riana stared at Fabian's back. Mail-carrier? she thought confusedly.

"But ya, I suppose, want a cat," he turned back, flashing a smile in Riana's direction, "and since ya can't have me, I suggest you try one of the kittens ... they'll be easier to train. We grown cats have bad habits." He chuckled, stressing the word 'bad' and, baring his fangs, mimicked a crouching cat. Riana shrank back involuntarily at Fabian's fierce mien. He chuckled at her discomfort, but it was a companionable snicker, not a cruel one.

Riana narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, turning her back on him and walking quickly to the wire cage filled with kittens. Despite her saucy manner, however, Riana was thrilled to have met Fabian, and her face was wreathed in a smile, stretching it into tight smile lines.

The little, sleeping kitten was the one she eventually chose, and she cuddled the tiny creature to her emaciated frame as it slept on. "I ..." she hesitated momentarily then plunged ahead, murmuring softly in the kitten's ear. "I love you, you darling thing. You're so sweet, so warm ... what do you want to be called?" She glanced toward Fabian who was browsing through the cages filled with owls and then returned her gaze to the fluffy, grey-haired Persian in her arms. Recalling a name she'd wandered across in Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried, she rubbed a stick-thin finger on the kitten's velvety nose and whispered, "I'll call you Alvean."

*

A few minutes later, the two stood at the front desk, waiting for the witch who was fetching feed from the storeroom in the back. Fabian had ended up with a nip on the finger from a particularly vindictive barn owl that he'd tried to tease with a half-eaten rat. It was this owl that he chose, laughing merrily at Riana's raised eyebrow. "It's more of a challenge this way," he explained. "Now I have to get the big idiot to like me."

The two were amiably chatting now as they paid the skinny witch for their pets, a few days' supply of dead rats, and a cloth sack full of kitten food, and ambled out of the menagerie. Fabian told Riana about one of his escapades during which he'd appeared on the windowsill of a young Muggle boy during the night and transformed quickly into human form, then back to werecat, scaring the toddler half to death.

"I don't really hurt them," Fabian admitted, hauling his giant, domed birdcage quite easily for such a small boy and grinning as the bird beat its angry wings against the bars of the cage, finally settling down on its perch and glowering angrily with round, yellow eyes. "But I do like to have some fun. Fabian raised the cage to eye-level, speaking to the owl as it clicked its sharp beak and stuffed its fluffy head under its large, brown wing. "Well, Bevil," he said, "now ya have to work with me ... despite this wicked nip here." He showed the owl his bleeding finger. The owl glared fiercely at him and snapped, causing Fabian to jump back. However, he continued to swing the cage breezily as he and Riana emerged from the shop into the muddy alley lane.

Riana couldn't figure out why she liked Fabian so much. No, scratch that, she couldn't figure out why she liked him at all. He was the oddest combination of humor and vindictive obsession that she'd ever met. Mind you, she really hadn't had the pleasure of meeting anyone with whom she really got along. Fabian seemed to traverse all those obstacles.

"Fabian, I ... I don't have all my school things yet, and..." Here, Riana shifted her kitten to one hand and slid the other deep into her trouser's pocket, groping for her school supplies list. "So do you think we should go get those now? Or wait until tomorrow ... you will still be here tomorrow?" She asked anxiously. She really did enjoy being around Fabian. He was such a happy, self-satisfied person that it made her happy to be alive, as well.

Fabian glanced at Riana, his laughing eyes taking in her worried expression. He nudged her bony shoulder with his arm and replied, "Of course I'll be here. We're stayin' 'til it's time to go to Hogwarts, and ya can meet me parents when we get back to the Leaky Cauldron. So ya don't need to look so worried. Or..." He glanced at her roguishly before continuing, "...is it because you'll be missing me cuddly self?" He shot a grin at Riana as her mouth and eyes snapped open in shock. Then, as she realized what he'd said and sprang toward him, Fabian whooped loudly, sidestepping a cuff from Riana's petite, ineffective fist and dashed off down the muddy Alley, kicking mud in every direction. Riana jerked up her pointed chin and followed, scampering after her new friend.