Heavy Petting <Derek and Knox>

Dark and quiet. The leaves russled in the subtle breeze. The trees were dull and gray with harsh black hues giving it an eerie feel. Alone stood a figure. Five feet, eleven inches of shadow. The being morphed the large black shadow shifting into a small, feline like mass. A small meow echoed through the patch of forest as the sleek feline emerge from the forest line. It was mid-day but the forest still was dark in a never ending twilight.

The cat stalked out of the forest, bright yellow eyes gleamed with mischief as he waited for some poor child to come across him. If he played his cards right he'd have free room and board. An a comfortable bed of memory served him correctly.

Knox had just been released from his classroom and was on his way to another, upon crossing the lawns he couldn't help but notice something on the edge of the forest, he tilted his head and hesitantly shuffled over to it. Once he got close enough to see what it was he stopped in his tracks and stared at the cat for a bit in surprise.

"A . . . cat?"

He asked himself before smiling and kneeling down, digging into his school bag and ripping open a cauldron cake and ripping off a piece, holding it out. He clicked his tongue in an attempt to call the cat over.

"Here kitty cat . . . come 'ere . . . the Forbidden Forrest isn't a safe place for you."

Biding time for Derek was an ease feat. He was patient, to a point. He honestly didn't have to wait as long as he thought to be noticed in his feline form.

All the more fun for him later on.

A ginger kid seemed a bit confused to see a cat on Hogwarts' soil. If felines could scoff he honestly would have. Out of everyone that could have noticed him it seemed like a first year with no intellectual ability found him. Great. The sleek obsidian colored cat swished his head, leaning forward as his bright yellow eyes gazed over the form of the ginger that knelt to the ground and began to dig something out of his bag.

Curiosity killed the cat, but God damn it this would be a suicide mission at this rate.

Derek tentatively stepped forward to see the child ripping off something that smelt oddly like cauldron cake-- Derek mewled, a noise he couldn't honestly believe he made but, Jesus, cauldron cake? That stuff was fantastic and the kid was just handing it out to random strays?

...Did he just get found by a Hufflepuff? They were good finders after all. It honestly wouldn't have surprised him as much as it should have, honestly.

"Meow?" The cat spoke, walking and sniffling towards the assumed Hufflepuff. He kind of really wanted the cake now... Get your head in the game, Derek. He fussed at him self, cutely tilting his head and looking up to the ginger. With a tiny, almost shy mewl his mouths moved a bit closer to the cake. With a small bite he darted forward, brushing his face against the boy's soft skin. With an explosion of a purr that rumbled through his entire being he just knew he'd won his room.

Knox stared at the cat with a childish, yet excited twinkle in his eye, he hadn't ever had a pet before, but he wasn't exactly sure if the cat was wild or not . . . was there wild cats at Hogwarts? . . . there were half fish and half horse people running around, so the thought of a normal cat being wild didn't seem too over the top, but who really knew? His earthy toned eyes widened with anxiety as the cat stepped closer to the cauldron cake, biting the edge of his bottom lip.

He jumped a bit when the cat finally took the cake and brushed his hand, laughing quietly under his breath as he cautiously started petting the cat's head. The soft purr only brought out more excitement from him and after a few more pets he, more cautiously than before reached his other hand towards the cat, sliding his thumbs under the front pair of legs before lifting it gently, then rewarding him with another piece of the cauldron cake.

"Well . . . we can't have you staying out here now can we?"

(( I'm sorry. This phrase will never mean exactly how much I apologize for doing what I did but I'm truly, honestly, deeply apologizing for what I did. No amount of fried pickles could ever make up for what I did... I'm sorry. ))

Derek's ears twitched in amusement as the kid practically jumped when his furred head rubbed against the child's hand. He couldn't help but purr even louder at the thought of being a symbol of fear even as a helpless cat. Ego boost? Most definitely.

Oh, and it completely didn't help he was shameless. He chest rumbled even louder as the boy started to pet him. His feline instincts of "warm" and "touch" throwing him off of his game. He was here for a room not to be petted into oblivion... even if being pet into oblivion sounded like a blessing from Merlin.

"Meow?" He questions as he was hoisted into the air, a common practice from his victims.

"Well . . . we can't have you staying out here now can we?"

Hook, line, and sinker.