for ql, tornados seeker (written by captain), write about getting a pet for the first time and it turning out to be different than expected

thank you to paige and sienna for the beta!

1174 words, by gdocs

There's a lot of things James knows about Lily. They've been dating for a while now, and even before that, they were friends.

Number one thing James knows about Lily: she loves cats.

It's not like Lily will ever become a crazy cat lady, but she loves them all the same. James sometimes teases her about loving cats more than she loves him.

She's agreed.

For their first wedding anniversary, James decides to surprise her with her one true love: a kitten.

"No you didn't," Lily says, a smile spreading across her face as James walks into the room, the kitten curled up in his arms.

"I did," he says. Lily holds her hands out and James gives her the kitten.

She strokes it for a few moments before placing it on the floor and watching it run away.

"Thank you, James," Lily says, getting up and hugging James.

There's a giddy look in her eyes and James feels excited inside, too. He never had any pets as a kid and now he gets to have his first one with Lily. This is going to be an experience for both of them — he's pretty sure Lily never had any pets either — and there's no one else he'd rather share this experience with.

…

James' eyes hurt.

"Are you okay?" Lily asks him as they prepare for the day, concern etched on her face.

"Yeah, why?" James says, rubbing his eyes. They're so itchy, but he probably just got something in them by accident.

"Your eyes are all red," she tells him, frowning a little bit.

James goes into the bathroom, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He didn't really expect Lily to be wrong — she's never wrong — but seeing his eyes bloodshot is still slightly startling to him.

It's been a week of them living with their kitten — Aristotle, they've named him — and sure, James has been sleeping a little bit less than usual due to the cat walking over them during the night, but he hasn't been so deprived of sleep that his eyes should be red.

Except he knows that they're probably not just bloodshot — they're really itchy as well. He goes to rub them again.

"You shouldn't do that," Lily says, walking into the bathroom and smacking James' arm. "It'll make it worse."

James lowers his arms, still looking into the mirror. He knows that he shouldn't rub his eyes, but knowing that he shouldn't makes resisting the urge to do it so much harder.

"What do you think this is from? Am I sick?" James asks her, clasping his hands together.

He doesn't feel sick, that's for sure. He feels the same way he does all the time.

"I don't know…" Lily says, trailing off at the end of her sentence. She looks as unsure as he feels, her brow furrowed and her lips quirked downwards. "We should probably just leave it alone for a few days and see if it gets better or worse."

James nods, giving Lily a swift kiss on the lips.

He's probably going to forget to not rub his eyes in twenty minutes.

…

James can't sleep. It's not because his eyes are hurting so badly that he keep on dwelling on them — they are hurting, but not that much. It's that he can't stop coughing.

Currently, he's laying on his bed and trying to sleep, but everytime he thinks that he's about to doze off, another cough attacks him. He's suffering.

"Shhh," Lily says from besides him, nudging him in the arm.

He wishes he could stop coughing. It'd be easier for him to go to sleep if he wasn't coughing every five seconds.

"I can't breathe," James says. It comes out as more of a wheeze.

Aristotle walks over to James' face at that moment. The cat never seems to sleep, or at least doesn't when James and Lily are in bed. He meows at James, who buries his head into the cat and coughs.

Again.

"You're going to get him sick," Lily says, nudging him again. James turns to look at her, and her eyes are shut tight.

"I don't think it works like that," he tells her. He's pretty sure whatever sickness is taking over him can't be transferred to a cat.

"Shhhh," is all Lily replies.

James turns onto hit back, shutting his eyes tight. He just wants to sleep.

He coughs again.

…

The face staring back at James in the mirror is not a pretty one. Which doesn't add up, because James knows that he's very pretty.

"What's the matter?" Lily asks, walking into the bathroom.

James knows why she's asking — his brows are furrowed and his mouth is set in a deep frown. James turns to her.

He knows that she's trying to hide her reaction, but he also knows that there's red hives all over his face.

"Look at my face," he says miserably. He reaches up to scratch his forehead — where most of the hives are — but Lily smacks his hand.

"We're going to go to the doctor," she tells him, looking concerned.

He doesn't even argue. He just coughs.

…

James feels like a little kid, sitting on the counter, his legs hanging off. He just went through a few dozen tests — scratch tests, the doctor called them — and he's just waiting for the doctor to tell him what's wrong with him.

Lily insisted that they go to Muggle doctor instead of a magic one because she thinks a Muggle one will be better for James' sickness. James disagrees — magic can solve everything! — but he didn't argue with her. He's in no mood to argue. Now he's sitting in a Muggle doctor's office, waiting for the doctor to fix him.

"It looks like you have an allergy, Mr. Potter," the doctor — Dr. Ronaldo, his nametag reads — says to James.

"An allergy?" James asks, absentmindedly scratching his face. "To what?"

"To cat dander. Any cat you've come in contact with could have caused this," he says, gesturing to James' face and eyes. James coughs for emphasis.

Doctor Ronaldo's words dawn on James horribly. He's allergic to cats? But Aristotle is supposed to be his and Lily's first challenge together as a married couple. He's allergic to Aristotle?

"Oh," James says, kicking his foot.

Does this mean they're going to have to get rid of the cat? Lily would be heartbroken. They've only had Aristotle for a couple of weeks, but she adores him.

"It's okay," Doctor Ronaldo says. "There's an easy solution."

James will take it.

…

Turns out, Aristotle doesn't like the 'easy solution' — he hates baths.

Still, James and Lily have fallen into a routine of bathing him weekly — it gets rid of the most of the cat dander and James can breathe again.

Plus, Lily can keep her love in the house.

(James, that is. Aristotle would have stayed no matter what.)