"M'aah?" "Furry dunderhead, you know EXACTLY what this is. You watched me spend the last sixteen hours of my ONE DAY OFF brewing it." "Mraooow?" "Certainly not!" ::feisty feline glare:: ::patented Slytherin sneer:: "There will be NO unnecessary additives. YOU may indeed prefer that over-priced and utterly ineffective tuna flavoured swill of Slughorn's. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no desire to be inundated by fleas, vermin and any other parasites that may have attached themselves to MY familiar." ::ear flick:: :: tail swish:: "kekekekekekk?" ::very smug smirk:: "Yes, even those. ESPECIALLY those -- the formula was quite specific. Now kindly cease caterwauling about the taste of it and take. your. medicine!" A whisker twitch, a hesitant sniff at a bead of liquid, a tiny lick and a swallow. Then another. And another. His eyes water and he gags but keeps on drinking. It truly IS awful ... no bloody wonder the recipe went missing centuries ago. Probably hadn't been brewed since ol' Salazar himself last used it to deworm Godric's Lion, Helga's Badger, Rowena's Raven and his own pet Basilisk. Then again, how many Potions Masters nowadays were fluent in Parseltongue or had access to translations thereof? Not to mention a cleverly hidden trove of rare if not actually extinct ingredients perfectly preserved under stasis spells in the Chamber of Secrets. One more lick and praise be to Merlin, the vial is empty. He paws at it, bats it away, then leaps up trying to catch the pretty sparkles of green, purple, gold and silver that suddenly shoot skyward, dancing and fizzing as they surround him. Dozens, no hundreds, of electro-magical zaps that make every bit of his fur stand on end until he resembles a fuzzy black dandelion. All of a sudden he feels light. So very, very light and ... Oh! They're gone! The hungry itchy-bitey things are all gone! He blinks. Yes, even the nasty angry one that had been making his head hurt and giving him bad dreams ever since he could remember is gone. It won't be coming back, not ever again. And somehow -- though he isn't sure exactly how, magic is like that sometimes -- he knows the other six Nasty Angry Things just like it are also gone. Banished by Lady Magic and imprisoned by Lord Death (his very first and very best friend!) forever. There will be questions, so many questions, when the Wizarding World realizes it is really, truly, finally free of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-Alias-You-Know-Who/Lord-Moldyshorts. Maybe one day, some day but not soon, he might even answer some of them. As best as he can anyway. It all depends on his mood, not to mention who's doing the asking. Also whether or not they try to start up with any "Saviour" silliness again. Skeeter, Fudge and Dumbledore are still finding some of his little presents from the last time and he swears on all nine lives there will be hairballs, decapitated rodents and litterbox messes a-plenty if he hears one more word about the Prophecy or that "Power He Knows Not" nonsense. Ha! Yes, THAT ought to teach them! His plan of action -- or perhaps inaction, again it all depends -- decided upon, Harry settles into a bushy-tailed ball of floof on Sev's lap, closes his eyes and contentedly purrs them both to sleep. *************** PRODUCTION NOTES: Made using Playground AI, Photoshop CS2 and Paintshop Pro. Did a bit of manual painting, mostly for extra details, then some faffing about with filters and layer styles until I got the lighting, colour and contrast pretty much the way I wanted. CREDITS: Ron's Impressions (PSD/PNG Layer Kit) @ Daz 3d. It is also possible I used some of his brushes -- I have a LOT of Ron's Brushes and they are worth every penny. :-) DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan art from which I derive much enjoyment but make absolutely zero profit. Any and all persons depicted herein are intended to represent fictional characters, not the actors portraying them. FICTIONAL. As in: NOT. REAL. PEOPLE. Got it? Good. :-) tl/dr: Not mine, no money, don't sue. CONFESSION: I really meant to do this up right proper as a very serious and very dignified character portrait. But the cat had other ideas and my silly brat of a Muse agreed. *******