Disclaimer: As we all know I don't own the Potter series nor do I own Trouble. I actual wished I owned Trouble. Then again I might one day.

Bad Author Note: Special thanks for all the hard work to my Beta who will remain nameless. (I don't want anyone to steal her away from me.)

Trouble is on loan from Relle's Beauty Is Only Skin Deep.

Trouble On Four Legs

by Lady FoxFire

Jan 19, 2003

"Hermione, calm down!" Remus's voice floated down the stairs to the ears of Neville, Seamus, Dean, and their teachers. "Now what is going on?"

"I don't know why I didn't realize it earlier. I mean, Muggle doctors are using this treatment with a number of patients!" Hermione rambled loudly to herself as she ignored what Remus had asked. "And it's been successful in a number of cases."

Neville opened the door so not to disturb anyone in the room, not that it would matter: they were all in trance by Hermione as she paced back and forth with Crookshanks in her arms, berating herself with every step.

"How could I have been so idiotic? My Aunt Evy has been doing research into the subject for the National Health Service. She's currently in America because a hospital there is doing research there to see if it will help patients with brain damage. In her last letter, she stated that it seems to be working, but they won't have conclusive evidence for years," Hermione explained all this in one breath as she continued to pace.

Ron watched his best friend with awe. "I wonder how she breathes sometimes," he mused out of the corner of his mouth to Ginny, who just nodded her head in similar bemusement.

"Miss Granger, perhaps you would explain it to us," the Headmaster prompted as he stepped around Neville into the room.

Hermione twirled around to face the kind face of Albus Dumbledore. "Professor, I figured out a way…" her jaw dropped as she spied her fellow Gryffindors walking into the room followed by a peeved and sneering Professor Snape.

"What are they doing here?" Ginny asked as her eyes narrowed at the sight at of the boys, her wand suddenly appearing in her hand.

"I've been wondering the same thing," a deep, rich voice said behind them, as the door slammed shut.

The three boys turned at one to see who had closed the door. "Si… Sirius… Sirius Black." Dean stuttered as Neville and Seamus fumbled for their wands.

A mischievous grin appeared on Sirius's face, which caused Dean to pale and to drop his wand, as he gave the young Gryffindors a mock bow. "I see my fame has proceeded me," he stated regally as he walked around the boys towards a curtained off bed, his eyes boring into the boys the whole time.

"Stop right there, Black!" Neville commanded as he aimed his wand right at Sirius' heart. "Don't force me to do something I might regret."

"Don't you dare try to hurt Sirius, Neville Longbottom!" Ginny growled evilly as she took a step in between of the boys and Sirius, placing herself in harms way. "If you try to harm Sirius in any way, I'll make sure you're under Madam Pomfrey's care for a month."

"When did she become so violent?" Hermione whispered to Ron as she looked at her friend in shock.

With a shrug of his shoulders Ron answered nonchalantly, "Must be that time of the month."

"Make another comment like that, Ronald Andrew Weasley, and I'll hurt you." His sister snarled at her big brother.

"She's reminding me more and more of Lily every day," Sirius commented with a trace of pride for the red haired girl.

"Especially when you're involved. But then again, she was always threatening you," Remus added amusedly out of the corner of his mouth.

A cheesy grin crossed Sirius's face. "True. So true. I especially like the time she threatened to shave me like a French Poodle"

"What's going on here?" Neville snapped loudly as he watched with horror at his former DADA teacher joking with a mass murderer, and Professor Dumbledore looking on with pride and amusement at his current and former students. "Sirius Black has trying to kill Harry ever since he escaped! He's a Deatheater!"

"Actually, he's not. My rat, Scabbers, is." Ron replied calmly while the three boys looked upon him like he'd gone insane.

"WHAT?!"

"Ron's rat, Scabbers, was… I mean, is an Animagus." Hermione stated promptly in a 'know it all' tone. "His name is Peter Pettigrew. He was able to convince Harry's parents and Sirius to make him the secret keeper in the Fidelius Charm, so that Voldemort would never find them. However, what they didn't know was that Peter was also a Deatheater. As soon as he became the secret keeper, he told Voldemort where Lily and James Potter were hiding. Peter was also the one who killed all those Muggles on Pocock Street in order to frame Sirius."

"So you're saying that he's innocent?" Seamus exclaimed as he pointed at Sirius. "The Ministry doesn't send innocent people to Azkaban! The Ministry doesn't make mistakes like that!"

"You're right, Seamus. The Ministry doesn't make mistakes," Ginny said. "Just like the Ministry doesn't allow someone to be tortured, abused, and raped to save a Sickle." Ginny pulled the curtain surrounding the bed back to reveal Harry sleeping.

"Harry," the boys whispered frantically to themselves as they stared with looks of shock at their friend. Their eyes traveled down his painfully thin body, taking in the sickly green bruises, which stood out against his pale skin. "What's wrong with him? What happened?"

Over the next hour and a half, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Sirius, and Remus took turns explaining how the Marauders came to be betrayed by Wormtail, how Sirius was imprisoned, how he escaped, and why Harry was being hidden at Hogwarts.

"Fudge would probably send Harry to St Mungos if he could get a hold of him," Ron explained disdainfully with his arms crossed over his chest staring at the floor. "Or Fudge might even send him back to his relatives so they could finished the job. Either way, Harry would be no longer a problem for him."

"He would make it so no one would believe us about Voldemort's rebirth until it was too late," Hermione added dejectedly.

Neville chewed on his bottom lip as he paced back and forth, thinking. Suddenly, he stopped and turned towards the others. "Is Fudge a Deatheater?"

The expression of shock and horror raced across the faces of those in the room, slowly each set of eyes turned towards Professor Snape. His head was bowed in thought. "I don't seem to recall ever seeing that idiot at any of the meetings nor hearing his name mentioned. But I do remember that a number of high ranking Ministry members were either being recruited by or already being loyal to the Dark Lord."

Ron snorted at the Potion Master's comment. "Knowing the Minister, he would give Harry to Voldemort on a silver platter if it meant he remained in power."

Sirius began to pace the room angrily. "Great! So now we not only have to guard Harry against Voldy and his Deathies, but also against Fudge for brains and anyone loyal to him."

"I think you’ll find that there are very few who are actually loyal to Fudge," Dumbledore announced quietly from his chair next to Harry's bed. "Right now, most are confused, but when the time comes, you will find them loyal to the side of Light. They will protect Harry for us."

Sirius stopped his pacing next to Harry's bed. He stared down sadly at the sleeping form of his godson before reaching out and gently brushed a lock of hair out of his face. "Hermione you said that you figured out a way to help Harry," He said sadly finally looking at the young woman. "How?"

Hermione's face broke into a giant grin. "This is how!" She held up her cat towards Sirius.

The small trace of hope in Sirius's eyes fade as he stared into the oddly squashed face of Crookshanks. "Hermione, that’s a cat," Remus stated with disappointment in his voice.

"Exactly!" Hermione squealed. "Now, I think that we can use Crookshanks, Hedwig, Sirius, and Professor McGonagall. I'm not really sure if Sirius and McGonagall will work. Well, I'm pretty sure Sirius will; Harry always reacted positively to him," she babbled as she paced back and forth.

"Hermione could you please explain what you are talking about?" Ginny snapped in frustration.

"Animal therapy," Hermione replied simply as she took in their confused looks. "In a number of Muggle hospitals they are using animals to speed up the healing process. Sometimes, the animal is able to bring a person out of a coma."

"Let me get this straight, Miss Granger," Professor Snape spoke up with a sneer. "You're suggesting that we introduce animals to Potter in the hopes of waking him up?"

"Precicely!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly as she grinned like a madman.

"Wonderful, one by one, the Gryffindors are going insane," Snape muttered sardonically under his breath.

Dumbledore smiled at his Potion Master. "Come now, Severus. If the Gryffindors weren't insane, what fun would there be in the world?"

Snape crossed his arms in front of him and stared at the Headmaster, who in return, sucked on a lemon drop and smiled serenely back.

While this was going on, Sirius had reached out and began to stroke Crookshanks' head, lost in thought. "Do you think this will work?" Remus asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "But it couldn't hurt."

"It'll work," Sirius said with determination. "I don't know how, but it will work."

With a nod of his head, Sirius directed Hermione to place Crookshanks on Harry's bed. Once on the bed the cat looked up at Hermione and then over at Harry. Then, with grace only a cat possessed, Crookshanks walked up Harry's bed and climbed on to his chest. Crookshanks looked down into Harry's battered face before curling up on the boy's chest as he began to purr.

~*~

"My Lord," the masked figure of Snape said as he kneeled in front of the snake-like man feared across the land.

Voldemort waved to Snape to rise to his feet. "What news from Hogwarts? What news on the boy?" he asked as he stroked the head his large snake.

"There is nothing to report my Lord. There has been no sign of the brat since his disappearance," Snape replied with only a trace of confusion in his voice.

"He lies," Lucius Malfoy countered icily as he stepped out from the shadows. "My son, Draco, says there have been strange occurrences at the school. And that at the beginning of the term you rushed out of the Great Hall behind a black hound, the very day Potter was kidnapped."

"Lucius, I did not give you permission to speak," Voldemort hissed as he turned his attention to the self-important pure blood.

Malfoy swallowed nervously, realizing he had over stepped his master's limits. "No, my Master. Please forgive me," he begged as dropped onto one knee.

Voldemort allowed his gazed to rest on Malfoy for a moment before finally speaking. "I will this time, Lucius, but next time I may not be as forgiving."

"My Lord," Snape spoke up drawing the Dark Lord's attention back to him. "I do not know what Malfoy or his spawn may have told you, but I did not follow a dog out of the Great Hall nor do I know of any stranger than usual occurrences at the school."

"Have you ever been to the young Mr. Potter's home, Severus?" Voldemort asked as he changed the subject

"Potter's home?" Snape said in confusion. "No my Lord. I've never been at his home."

"That is strange, my little spy, because I have it from a reliable source that you and Dumbledore's pet cat was at the Potter residence the very day he vanished." Voldemort leaned forward as he stared directly into the Potion Master's eyes, daring him to deny the truth. "What do you have to say for this?"

"I swear to you, my Lord, as a loyal Deatheater. I have never been to the Potter residence," Snape's eyes flickered over to Malfoy. "And I have never followed a black hound out of the Great Hall."

The Dark Lord leaned back his hands peaked in front of him. "You are lying to me, Severus." A smirk appeared on Malfoy's face at the thought of the punishment Voldemort would inflict on the Potions Master, however it was quickly wiped away with Voldemort's next words. "And yet, you are also speaking the truth."

Severus blinked up at his master in confusion. "How is…? Someone has messed with my mind," he growled angrily as he realized what had happen.

"Yes, undoubtedly it was that old fraud, thinking that I would be foolish enough not to see the truth or powerful enough to undo his little spell," he said with a snap of his wand sending a spell towards his spy.

Snape's head snapped back as the spell hit him in the chest. His backed arched as his hands clawed at his body trying to rip out the source of the pain. His eyes rolled back into his as the whites of his eyes began to turn red with blood. His mouth opened in a silent scream as the Dark magic ripped through his mind.

He finally collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting like a broken horse. "I will cut his heart out with a spoon for what's he's done to me," Snape snarled as he raised his head.

"A spoon?" Lucius asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Why a spoon?"

"Cause it will hurt more, you twit!" Snape snapped at his fellow Deatheater.

A softy chuckle drew the men's attention back. A kind smile was on Voldemort's face. "I believe you have information about the Potter child for me, Severus?"

"I do indeed, my Lord," Snape replied, a cruel smile on his face, his eyes twinkling with malice.

~*~

Fudge stormed into his office, throwing his overcoat and hat at his secretary. "Coffee, black. Last night’s report, now!" he snapped at the young mousy woman and threw open the door to his private office.

"Minister Fudge?" the young woman timidly prompted as she picked up the Minister's hat off the floor. "Sir?"

"What?" Fudge turned and snarled at his secretary, causing the girl to pale and to shake nervously.

"Umm… Sir… There's more…" she stuttered as she twisted the overcoat in her hands.

"More what, Miss Dwain?" Fudge snarled as his eyes narrowed with contempt for this young woman.

"Howlers, sir," Miss Dwain flinched as if expecting to be attacked by her boss. "Also a number of requests from news agencies and foreign governments for a meeting concerning Mr. Potter’s disappearance and the abuse he suffered at the hands of his relatives."

The Ministry marched up in his secretary. "I don't care if Odin himself appeared in my office asking about that brat," Fudge snarled in the woman's face. "You will send all the Howlers to the Department of National Security as terrorist threats against me. Unless the reporter is on my list of approved people, tell them to shove it up their ass. As for those bloody foreigners, tell them to go back to whatever rock they crawled out of and leave me to run my own country!"

"Y.. Ye.. Yes sir," Dwain mumbled as Fudge slammed the door to his office shut hard enough to make the portrait of his predecessor to fall to the floor. "Bloody git. Hope a Dementor gives you a kiss!"

~*~

The door to Harry's room swung open just enough for the head of a red haired Gryffindor to pop in and look around.

Remus looked up from his book as the door open. "Ginny?" he prompted when he spotted her. "What are you doing here?" He asked with a quick glance out the windows to confirm that it was still hours before sunset.

"I wanted to see how Harry was." She replied as she slipped the rest of the way into the room. "Has there been any change?" She reached out and stroked Snuffles' head as it rested on Harry's chest.

"Some," Remus said as he closed his book. "He seems to responds to Sirius more than McGonagall or Crookshanks."

Snuffles opened his eyes and yawned before slipping off the bed and changing back into his human form. "I should be worried, shouldn't I," he announced as he eyed the youngest Weasley seriously.

"Of course not," Ginny responded in an offended tone. "Why should you be worried?"

Remus licked his lips nervously. "Well, it is a Hogsmeade weekend. I would have expected you to be in town with the others."

"Yeah, we never missed a weekend unless it was because of a detention or a prank," Sirius mused wistfully as he remembered his time at Hogwarts.

"Oh, I’ve already been to Hogsmeade, " Ginny replied innocently. "I was able to get everything I need, so I came back."

"Oh," Remus and Sirius replied as the continued to eye the fiery red head warily.

"I picked up something for Harry, too," she continued with an innocent look.

"Oh," the men replied with dread as they unconsciously took a step away from the Weasley girl.

Ginny reached up and pulled a bag off her bag. "I figured that Professor McGonagall, Crookshanks, and Sirius couldn't always be with Harry, and that Hedwig isn't exactly cuddly. Sorry, Hedwig." She said to the Harry's owl who only days ago was released from Hagrid's' care.

The men's eyes the bag nervously, especially when it started to move. "Ginny, what did you buy for Harry?" Remus asked finally breaking the silence.

Ginny smiled serenely up at the men, her face angelic with its pure innocence. She then untied the bag and reached inside. "I figured Harry need someone to cuddle with," she explains as she pulled out a small jet-black kitten with a tiny pink nose. The kitten let out a tiny meow as he squinted it's large emerald eyes that sparkled like large jewels at the suddenly daylight.

Ginny placed the kitten on Harry's chest. The kitten looked up at her, over at Harry as he slept, then up once again at Ginny, before returning its attention to Harry. The kitten cocked its head at Harry before letting out a meow. He carefully walked his way down Harry's chest until he was next to Harry's face. The kitten let out a meow before beginning to clean his face with its pink tongue.

"Do you know how much trouble a cat is?" Sirius asked with a dark eyebrow raised as he stared down at the tiny kitten.

"That's a perfect name for him, Sirius," Ginny replied sweetly, bouncing on the balls of her feet, grinning from ear to ear. "Thanks."

"What name?" Sirius asked with dread.

"Trouble."