A Cat Between Worlds

Harry Potter had seen a lot of strange things in his life, but a boy falling out of thin air and landing face‑first in the Forbidden Forest at sunrise was new. Even for him. What made it worse was the cat. A sleek black cat sat beneath the boy like a cushion, completely unbothered by the fact that a whole human had just dropped onto it. The cat blinked at Harry with the calm, superior expression of someone who had planned this. The boy groaned. He rolled over, fell off the cat, and lay on his back staring at the sky like he regretted every decision that had led him here. Harry approached cautiously. “Are you… okay?” The boy squinted at him. “Define okay.” Harry opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. “Alive?” “Unfortunately,” the boy muttered. The cat hopped onto his chest and sat down like a paperweight. The boy didn’t even react. Clearly, this was not a new experience for him. Harry crouched beside them. “I’m Harry.” “Nico,” the boy said, sounding like he was confessing to a crime. The cat meowed loudly, as if introducing itself too. Harry pointed. “Is that your cat?” Nico looked personally offended. “No. He just… shows up.” The cat meowed again, louder, like it disagreed with this narrative. Harry studied Nico more closely. He was pale, dressed entirely in black, and radiated the exhausted energy of someone who had not slept since the invention of fire. Shadows clung to him like they were trying to file a restraining order against the sun. “Do you need help?” Harry asked. “No,” Nico said immediately, which would’ve been more convincing if he hadn’t tried to stand and nearly toppled over like a newborn deer. Harry reached out to steady him. Nico vanished. Just—gone. A puff of cold air, a ripple of darkness, and then nothing. Harry blinked at the empty space where a whole person had been. The cat remained. It stared at Harry with the weary patience of a therapist who had already given up on both of its clients. Then it turned and trotted toward the castle, tail high, like it expected Harry to follow. Harry sighed. “Brilliant. I’m being recruited by a cat.” He followed it anyway. Because honestly? At this point in his life, this barely cracked the top ten weirdest things he’d dealt with before breakfast.