for ash :D it's pure fluff, of course, and lowkey inspired by your ron&crookshanks fic aha. i hope you enjoy it!

for reserve league: s1, r5, keeper, write about ron weasley

for geek pride, mario, write about helping someone

for choose a side - (genre) family

for international worker's day - cesar chavez (family) and ministry of magic employee (hermione)

1330 words by gdocs

The first cat arrives before Ron's about to leave for work. He's standing on the front doorstep of his and Hermione's shared townhouse, and he's about to twist and apparate away, but a meow stops him. He's reminded, incredulously, of Crookshanks, but he knows that Crookshanks is probably dead by now. Neither he nor Hermione have seen him since before the war, since before Hermione had to let him go.

Still, he can't think of another cat that would be around their house. Plus, he knows that Hermione would be overjoyed if her old cat miraculously showed up on their doorstep. He peers around, and out of a bush slinks a pure black cat, with big green eyes. It's definitely not Crookshanks.

Still, Ron can't help but notice that the cat looks far too skinny to be healthy. It looks back up at Ron with it's yellow eyes wide, and it meows again.

Well, Ron can't just not help it.

With a sigh, he turns back around and goes back into their house. Hermione already left for work — being the Minister, unfortunately, means she has to go in earlier than Ron does, so they always leave at different times — but it's Ron's house too. He walks over to their cupboard of canned food and he pulls down a can of tuna. With a tap of his wand, the top of the can comes off easily, and he discards it, grabbing an empty bowl on the way. He heads back outside, and the cat is still there, waiting as if for Ron.

Ron places the can of tuna down, and the cat quickly approaches it. After a few hesitant sniffs, it starts to eat away. Ron carefully places down the bowl, too, and fills it with water with a simple charm. He watches as the cat notices the water, too, and sniffs at that before placing its paw in the bowl and licking at its paw.

Feeling satisfied that the cat's been fed, Ron walks a little bit away — so he won't frighten the cat while it's eating — and apparates to work.

…

Ron arrives home just before Hermione does, so he cleans up the now-empty tuna can and the bowl from their doorstep. He wonders where the cat's gone; probably to beg someone else for food, he figures.

When he and Hermione settle into bed later, he forgets about the black cat.

…

Except, he doesn't forget about the cat for long.

The next morning, like clockwork, just as Ron's about to leave for work, the cat is back, meowing up at Ron.

And it's brought a friend. The new cat is a tabby, and it looks just as expectant as the black cat, as if the first cat told it about Ron's tuna. Ron sighs. He's not one to want to disappoint them.

Ron heads back outside, and grabs tuna, and grabs a bowl for water. This time, when he brings it out to them, he decides to sit and watch them eat. He knows that he shouldn't be late for work, but it brings him pleasure, seeing the cats eat. When they finish devouring the food, they approach Ron, who stretches out his hand. Slowly, they allow Ron to stroke their heads softly.

Ron thinks he should invest in real cat food.

"I'm going to call you McGonagall," he says to the tabby cat, thinking back to his first ever Transfiguration lesson, and the tabby cat on her desk that Harry and he had no idea was McGonagall herself. "And you can be called Harry," he tells the black cat, its fur the same shade of black as his best friends hair. Harry meows in response.

…

The next day, there are two new cats, both long and orange. Ron names them Fred and George and thinks that he might be starting to become known amongst the cats.

He goes out, and buys real cat food from a Muggle store, and buys a couple of water bowls for them as well.

For some reason, he hasn't told Hermione. He doesn't know why, really. Maybe it's because he knows that she'll probably want to keep the cats as actual pets. Maybe it's because he probably shouldn't be making friends with random cats that could carry any type of disease. Maybe it's because he likes having this secret little group of his. Anyway, she hasn't brought it up if she does know anything.

For the next few weeks, Ron keeps on steadily gaining more cats to feed. There's one with sandy fure who strays a little bit away from the group that Ron names Remus. There's one who's pure white, whose official name is Malfoy, but can't help but calling him Ferret most of the time. There's one with bushy orange hair, and a bottlebrush tail that he fondly names Crookshanks, despite its lack of a squashed face. A hairless cat joins the group, with its head held high and aloof, and Ron calls it Voldemort, but loves it all the same. There's a reddish-brown cat and a spotted cat that both decide to start playing with Remus, persistent until he plays back, and Ron can't help but name them Sirius and James. Ron names the whitehaired Persian Dumbledore, and the big orange mama cat with her four little kittens after his mother and siblings. Ron's favorite cat — although he tries not to choose — is a longhaired brown cat, that he of course has to name Hermione. Hermione likes him right back.

It's only until he opens his front door and has nowhere to step due to the seventeen cats swarming at his feet, meowing for food, that he realizes just how many cats he's amassed. Of course he's going to feed them all still, but he has no idea how Hermione isn't going to notice.

Plus, he's running out of names for them.

Even though he knows that he'll get more cats tomorrow, he still feeds all of them and scratches their heads before he goes to work.

…

Ron does the shopping for them for that week, and he still prides himself on knowing how to use Muggle money well enough to go shopping by himself.

When he gets home, he sets down the bags on their table, and Hermione quickly gets up from working on her reports to help him put everything away.

Too late, Ron realizes that Hermione's going for the bag with his new stock of cat food. Before he can say anything, she's pulling out a can of cat food and looking at Ron with her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed.

"And what's this?" she asks.

Ron hesitates before quickly saying, "George asked me to pick up some cat food for him." He thinks that's a good enough lie.

"This is a lot of cat food," she says, gesturing to the bag. There's amusement in her eyes, and Ron can tell that his secret is about to come clean.

"His cat is quite large," Ron tries. It comes out sounding like a question. Hermione looks like she's holding back a laugh.

"Do you honestly think I haven't noticed your cat army every morning?" she asks, cocking her head to the side.

Ron rubs the back of his neck. He doesn't think they're an army. They're his cats. "No…?" he answers. A small part of him had been hoping that the cats only came out after Hermione left, but also he doesn't know if cats have a sense of time or not.

Hermione looks at him, her brown eyes soft. Ron's not sure what response from her to expect.

"If you bring them to a vet, we can officially adopt them," she offers. "I think it's cute that you're a cat father now."

Ron can't help it; he grins wide and heads towards Hermione, pressing a kiss on her lips.

"Do you know any good vets around here?"