BR: OK. I’m back after a nasty run-in with the four letter word we all know and hate... WORK. Yes, the all-power, totally-evil, soul-sucking w-word. And the rulers of the w-word... bosses. Notice how ‘boss’ is four letters too? Uh-huh. It’s a conspiracy. Anyway, thanks to Yami no Kaiba for covering and doing two chapters in a row. Now, I’ve got some ideas and here we go!

Severus skipped lunch and instead sat on his bed in his dorm room, looking at the tiny emerald green kitten. Her eyes were still lime green and the cute sun burst on her forehead was now forest green. She was almost as cute as when she’d been white and gray. That little blaze on her forehead was just the cutest thing in the world.

Reaching out, he lightly scratched her head with one finger. "What am I going to call you?" he murmured as she started to purr loudly. "Sunny? Greenie? Blaze? Hmm, how about... Blaize?" Her purring seemed to be getting louder. "All right then, Blaize it is!"

He scooped up the palm-sized green kitten and cuddled her just as Mrs. Holly stormed into his dorm.

"What do you think you’re doing up here?! And what do you think you were doing this morning!" she raged as she blew into the room. Her green eyes nearly glowed with her fury as Severus only smiled sweetly, his eyes the picture of innocence as the green kitten cuddled against his chest.

"I was only playing a joke," he said mock-meekly. His dark eyes glittered with laughter that he fought to suppress. "And as to what I’m doing here, this is my dorm. I am allowed up here whenever it pleases me to be here."

Christina Holly scowled, then suddenly smiled, looking cute and elfin. "If you loose any more points for this House, you will regret it, Mr. Snape," she said cheerfully, then turned and vanished from the room, the door shutting gently behind her.

Severus blinked down at Blaize. "She’s weird. Let’s get rid of her so I can get that job when I get rid of this stupid hex." Blaize purred and rubbed her forest green marking against his chin as if agreeing. "At least tomorrow I have Potions in the afternoon. Then I’ll get to do something that won’t turn green... or maybe it will," he grinned down at the kitten and hopped off the bed with her and made his way down to his next class.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus looked around at the group that was waiting for Hagrid to show up with the latest insane creature for them to learn about. At least this year they didn’t require a finger-eating book.

There was Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, and across the group that consisted of every House stood Draco Malfoy with his goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

Not liking either option, Severus stood in the center of the various groups, absently stroking the emerald green kitten.

A tap on his shoulder made him turn around slowly and smile at whoever was there. It was Draco.

"Professor," Draco said snidely. "I wanted to say that I greatly enjoyed your floating room this morning."

Oh no, Mr. Malfoy had the fun of flying around this morning. Poor boy, he thought evilly as he grinned. "I greatly enjoyed watching the after-effects of that spell myself, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco shifted slightly and then smiled thinly. "I am sure that we’ll be seeing more interesting spells, however the House would like you to refrain from loosing us more points. We only have fifty more points in the glass." There was a thinly veiled warning in his words that made Severus smile.

Just then, Hagrid came around his hut with a... was that... Oh God.

"Uh just wan’ ya all tuh be very quiet," Hagrid said as he led a muzzled Fluffy forward.

All the students took an involuntary step backwards and Ronald Weasley hid behind Harry Potter with a muffled "Not Fluffy!"

Severus Snape held his kitten closer as she started to wriggle in his grip and Hagrid started to talk.

"This ‘ere be Fluffy, muh other pet dog. As ye kin see, he’s a giant three ‘eaded dog. His species, bein’ called Cerberus Canus, will eat only raw red meat ‘n can be put ta sleep by the sound of anything musical, includin’ birdsong. Fluffy ‘ere ‘as no known preditors ‘cept the ‘ternal cats. ‘Ternal cats are a very rare magical cat whose aging period is so long that they remain kittens fer fifty years. They are born to regular cats under special circumstances that can be recreated by an intelligent wizard. The only way to tell a ‘ternal cat from a reg’lar cat is by the small size and bright lime green eyes as opposed to the slightly murky green eyes found in normal cats..."

Severus tuned out the words of the grounds-keeper and turned his eyes to Blaize a small smile tugging at his lips. "So you’re an eternal cat, huh? Want a go at Fluffy, baby Blaize?" Blaize’s tail lashed back and forth and her lime eyes lit with pleasure and hope. With a full-fledged grin, Severus set the kitten down and watched her race towards Fluffy.

The first sign that Fluffy saw Blaize was that all six of his eyes widened. Next he whimpered and fought against Hagrid’s grip on his leash. The students all took another step back as the tiny emerald green kitten leapt off the ground at the giant dog’s center face.

Then all hell broke loose.

Hagrid was bellowing, the students were running every which way, Fluffy managed to get one of his muzzles off as he raced for the Forbidden Forest and was howling in fear, and Blaize was bright streak of green as she raced after the large dog.

Severus grinned as he headed lazily back to the castle. Blaize would find her way back to his room, or someone would return her somehow. He knew she’d end up back with him before dinner.

He was almost wrong.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, stared down at the tiny emerald green kitten with the forest green sunburst on her forehead as she slowly and methodically washed herself on his desk.

He had just managed to calm Hagrid down enough to send him out to look for Fluffy.

Just then, Chris stormed into Albus’ office dragging the smaller Snape behind her by the ear. "Sir, I have a problem," she said flatly.

"Blaize!" Severus shouted and tore himself from Mrs. Holly’s grip, raced up to the Headmaster’s desk, and scooped the tiny kitten up into his arms, where the kitten proceeded to purr loudly and start cleaning the age-altered Professor’s face with a rough pink tongue.

Albus lifted one bushy white eyebrow and turned back to the fuming elven Head of Slytherin House. "May I help you, Chris?" he asked genially.

Tangling a hand into her riotous red curls, Christina looked at Albus. "Headmaster, I found him in my rooms. My bed has turned emerald green and sprouted branches, not that I mind. I just don’t like the color and I can’t seem to get it out. Further more, the library that was in my rooms has gone missing."

Albus sat back in his chair and regarded the small elf. "What do you want me to do about it, Mrs. Holly? He’s in *your* House."

"What I *want* is for you to get the keys back from him! He’s obviously got a spare set of Faculty Keys if he’s gotten into my rooms. And I want my books back!"

Albus sighed silently to himself, then turned to look at the tiny, clean boy whose face was slightly pink from being washed by the kitten that was now nuzzling him. "Severus," he said, looking into the dark eyes that met his. "Do you still have your Faculty Keys?"

"Yup," the boy said with a smile, pulling them out of one sleeve and offering them to the Headmaster.

Taking the ring of keys and putting them into his desk drawer, he said, "You may have them back when we find a fix for this hex. Now, what about the books, Severus?"

"They’re in the main library, Albus. If she wants them that bad, she can go get them herself. I told the House Elves that Mrs. Holly was donating her collection to the school."

Albus ran a hand over his face before looking back at the smiling boy. "That’ll be a hundred points from Slytherin, Severus... and an extra two nights of detention. Now go down to dinner before I hex you myself," he said with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Severus grinned at the Headmaster and skipped out of the office, heading down for dinner.

Chris looked at Albus and pleaded, "Please say you’ve heard from Nevyik, Albus. And please say that you’re going to make her Head of Slytherin when she gets here."

Dumbledore settled back in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach before answering. "Yes. Nevyik has replied and told me she is willing to come teach Potions. However, she specifically stated that should would not be Head of Slytherin, seeing as how she spent seven years here as a Gryffindor. You, at least, have the distinction of being an old Slytherin," he held up his hand to stop her from interrupting. "The lady in question will arrive tomorrow, mid-morning, in time to be introduced to the student body and faculty at lunch and then teach fifth year Potions with Gryffindors and Slytherins. Now let’s go down to dinner," he said, pushing up and coming around his desk to offer the tiny elf an arm. "I hear that the House Elves are experimenting tonight."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

BR: Oooo, just who IS this Nevyik person? And what’s she going to be like? You’ll have to find out. Umm, just so you all know, the species of ‘Cerberus Canus’ was off the top of my head and if anyone has any idea what his real species is, please let me know. Also, Eternal Cats, Christina Holly, and Nevyik are ours. No touchy unless asky!

--To be Continued.