An Infiltration

Harry waited for the weekend before letting Wally hand over his kitten, Robin. After taking the small animal into his arms, he headed straight to Headmaster Dumbledore's office, quickly telling the gargoyles the password and heading up the stairs.

When Harry entered the office, Dumbledore looked up from his work and stood up to greet him. Dumbledore came over to him and looked at the small cat with a face full of amusement and a twinkle in his eyes. Robin looked up at the old Headmaster with his own curious look, before he pushed his paws against Harry's arm, wanting to be put down. Harry complied with the kitten's order (because it couldn't have been anything else) and placed him on his Headmaster's desk.

"So, how does this work exactly?" asked Harry after a few moments of looking around the office. All of the moving pictures and shiny objects seemed to hold his interest, no matter how many times he had been there.

"I will have to ask you to leave before I can start. These spells aren't necessarily forbidden, but minors are defiantly not supposed to know them, which will also mean that young Robin here will be partially human until the end of the tournament." Harry nodded his head in understanding, and shooting one last look over at the small black kitten that would be his only hope for getting out alive.

Harry left Dumbledore's office with his guts twisted in knots.

Once Dumbledore had locked his door and put a silencing spell over his office, he turned back to Batman's young protégé.

"Just couldn't stay away, could you?" He asked the young cat that looked like he could have been smirking. "Always looking out for others in your own way. Well, here you go." Dumbledore said as he took off the boy's collar. Now, sitting on his desk, was Robin dressed in his regular wear (just without his sunglasses), who was studying his phoenix.

Robin looked up and smiled at the older man. "I've been told I'm only allowed to be a partial human."

Dumbledore nodded his affirmation. "I'll have to put a different spell on you, since you're actually a human. Do you still wish to do this?"

"Yes," Robin responded without hesitation. "Harry needs my help, and it's not like he has many people looking out for him right now. It would satisfy me to knock certain people down a few pegs. Metaphorically, of course."

Dumbledore shook his head in exasperation. "Try not to hurt anyone too much, eh?" He then cast the spell before Robin could return a cheeky answer. A blue light shot out and hit the teenager before him, which turned to dust the second it touched its receiver.

Robin had to force himself to breathe in the blue dust, as opposed to his instincts screaming at him to not ever breathe in foreign substances. He soon felt a small jolt shoot down his spine, and then shot straight back up again. Soon after, the dust cleared away quickly, leaving Robin still sitting on Dumbledore's desk, coughing a bit.

Suddenly, Robin felt something atop his head twitch, and lifted his hand to pet the new silky ears sitting there. A quick look to his back provided him with a great view of a black tail poking out of the back of his tattered jeans.

"Do you mind?" Robin asked, gesturing to the torn hole in the fabric surrounding his new appendage. A flick of a wand later gave him fixed jeans. "I will never get over how cool that is," he said, mostly to himself.

"You should still have a few cat urges," Dumbledore stated, breaking Robin out of his musings.

"I'll try to avoid the sunbeams," Robin commented dryly, pushing off of the desk to stand on his own two feet for the first time in a week, or whenever their last meeting was.

"So, are you going to 'introduce' me to Harry Potter, or what?" Robin asked cheekily.

"Of course, one moment," Dumbledore replied as he released the silencing spell covering his office. "Harry, you may enter," the elderly headmaster called. After a few seconds, the door slowly squeaked open and Harry's head poked through nervously, not knowing what to expect. Harry's eyes traveled throughput the room before catching sight of Robin.

As their eyes connected, Robin's head cocked to the side and Harry's jaw dropped. Dumbledore chuckled with amusement before stepping forward to start introductions.

"Harry, this is Robin. Robin this is Harry, the one who you'll be helping in the tournament." Harry stood there, mouth open and gapping like a fish as Robin slinked up to him.

"Hello," Robin said, sticking out his hand for the other to shake, before mentally berating himself. He's supposed to have been a cat his whole life, why would he offer a handshake?

Harry stared down at Robin's offered hand stunned, and Robin took that time to make up for his mistake. "This is the correct gesture, isn't it?" Harry broke out of his stunned state long enough to grab his hand a vigorously shake it, as if testing if it were really there.

"H-hey," Harry stuttered out, suddenly shy.

"We'll take our leave then Headmaster," Robin called out as he led Harry out of the office, wanting to sit down and have a nice conversation with Wally sooner rather than when Harry decided to pull his life together. As Robin pulled Harry along, Harry started to notice the extra appendages attached to his once feline friend.

"You still have a tail, and cat ears," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, the spell couldn't completely turn me completely human, which is kind of unfair since you humans can turn all the way into animals." So Robin had read up on a lot of wizarding spells and life, it's not like he much else to do while everyone else got to take actual classes.

"How weird is this for you? Suddenly being human and having to help me on a bunch of life threatening tasks after just moving here a few months ago. Are you okay with this?"

"Sure I am! Do you know what it's like to be a cat around here? You wander around, listen to a bunch of cats gush about their humans, get petted, wait for your human to be done with classes, and take a lot of naps. This'll be a great change a pace. I haven't been so exited in months for when we first moved here!"

"What about the possibility of dying? Doesn't that scare you? What would Wally do if you died during this?" Robin slowed down his walking until he stopped, and turned to fully face Harry, a serious expression fixed on his face.

"Everyone dies eventually, Harry. It's a part of the circle of life, how things were made to be. But, it's up to you if you die wondering what you could have done, or if you die actually doing it. And Wally would just have to move on. He may not ever find another cat as awesome as me, and he may not want to, but one day he'll truly have to let me go. Cats don't live forever, you know? Now, no more sad stuff. I'm doing this to make sure you live, and so your friends don't end up having to attend your funeral, regretting dissing you for having your name called to participate in the Tournament of Death."

"You think we'll be able to be friends again?" Harry asked hopefully.

"If they, somehow, don't want to be your friends still, then they don't deserve you as a friend. You could possibly die and all they can think of is how you got your name in the goblet? Ridiculous. But, it's also so like humans your age, to get so irrationally jealous over such matters."

"You are really wise for a cat, no offense."

"And you are surprisingly knowledgeable for a wizard." Harry gave him a confused glance, so Robin elaborated. "Wizards are completely ignorant to the world around them, muggle or not. They think they're the top dogs, the ultimately powerful beings, when they truly aren't. Most wizards have trouble admitting the need for help, usually choosing to go all the way and screw everything over, as long as they do it alone. And some of the things they say about muggles are just ignorant. You seem much more intelligent than most wizards, so congratulations."

"Thanks, I think," Harry said, and they continued their trek towards the Gryffindor common room. Surprisingly, they didn't meet anyone on the way, which was astonishing because it was a Saturday morning, but who was Harry to complain? He knew that sooner or later, the entire school would find out about Robin, and Harry was trying to block out the outcomes that the news would take.

Harry reached the painting of the Fat Lady and told her the password while ignoring the coos she sent Robin. The second the passage opened for them, Harry saw the Gryffindor common room's mood shift. They were obviously still angry with him, but he could ignore that. He turned to Robin so say something, but ended up looking at nothing. Robin was no longer by his side.

"What in Merlin's name…?"

"Harry!" Hermione called out to him, making her way towards her friend. She frowned in confusion when she realized that he was by himself. "I thought you were getting Robin to be part human today."

"I was, I did, and he was right here a second ago."

"Honestly Harry, I-,"

"Robin!" Wally's high pitched shriek cut through the common room's noise like a knife, causing everyone to look at the pair in the corner of the living room.

"Did you miss me, Wallace?" Robin asked cheekily as he sat on the arm of the chair Wally was occupying.

The common room burst into confused whispers, seeing the half-cat, half-human boy they had never seen before inside of their territory. Hermione and Harry jolted in surprise, wondering how Robin had made it past everyone in the room without being noticed until Wally had called him out.

"Wow," Hermione said, amazed. "Maybe Robin will be good help for you." Harry could only nod his head in agreement.

heyzzheyzzheyzzheyzzheyzz

News of Robin's new form spread over the castle quickly, so by the time lunch rolled around, everyone was eager to see if the rumor was true. So when Harry and Wally strolled in with Robin walking in between them, everyone was a bit stunned.

Of course the Slytherins sneered at him while the Ravenclaws studied him with a measured eye, and the Hufflepuffs looked at him with amazement and confusion. They made it to the Gryffindor table without too much fuss, and the second Robin sat himself on the bench, the Main Hall erupted with noise.

Robin winced a bit as his more sensitive ears got slammed with more sound than usual, but tuned it out quickly. There was no time to show weakness or to hesitate; he had to be on his guard.

"Wally," he heard Megan call to them as she approached, Conner in hand, and excitement written all over her face. "Is this Robin?" she asked as if they had never met. It seemed as though the entire room quieted in order to hear their conversation.

"That would be me," Robin answered in an affirmative voice, pleased that she was playing along well. Megan let out a happy noise and started to fawn over him, rubbing behind his ears and admiring his tail. Conner looked on as she did, a bit of happiness popped into his eyes as he watched her.

"You are still small," Conner told him, a teasing lit in his voice. Robin turned a bit red with his height being poked at, and folded his arms.

"When I grow up, I'll be taller than you," he retorted, his ears flickering back a bit. Megan and a few of the others girl 'aww'ed at the sight, causing Robin even more embarrassment.

The things he did for civilians.

But as Robin observed Harry, he found that the boy was more relaxed than he had been for the past few days. He truly felt safer with Robin around to help him out. And Robin was not about to let him down.

heyzzheyzzheyzzheyzzheyzz

Well, I haven't updated this in a while. Sorry about that. This has been sitting on my computer, half done, and not helping me with my writer's block. I hope to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, without it taking as much time as it did this time.