This was normally a time when Moira would be in bed. Bed was a good thing especially on a Saturday, she and the other students - and teachers - had this in common. What, as far as she knew, they did not have in common with her, was going to all ends to be able to find and study a creature first hand. This drive was exactly why she was out about the grounds, on her hands and knees, around five in the morning. In her fist was a beaded bracelet and it glittered in a lovely way.

Anybody who paid attention, or read the book, knew that Nifflers loved glittery things. Which was why Moira had the bracelet. If she could get that fluffy black beast to notice the glittery bracelet and come to her, it would be the PERFECT change to study the thing. She'd never actually been close to one, however she did see a Niffler in this vicinity and as sure as a horse pulled a cairt she was going to study it! And hold it and possibly cuddle with it, but that was not for her academic interest.

Growling softly to herself, so that she barely heard it she looked around and moved on, making sure the bracelet glittered. Where was that dang Niffler?

---

Amara had woken up in the middle of the night on that cold Saturday. Freija had awakened her in a less than graceful manner, by jumping on the poor girl's chest repeatedly, for what reason, Amara couldn't possibly imagine. She tried to fall back asleep, with no success as Freija, definitely, wanted something from her, and made it evident by continuing to bother her. She glared at the cat. Freija in response, jumped off the bed, showing Amara a lovely view of her rear. She turned on the other side and frowned at a Grindylow that was apparently caressing the window. Definitely wasn't the best image to see seconds after you woke up.

'Alright, you demon, I'm awake' she mumbled to herself in a raspy voice.

She got out of bed grumbling, silent enough to avoid waking up her roommates and made her way to the bathroom. She washed her face, noting the dark circles around her eyes and the rat nest on her head. She growled and set herself to untangle the unruly hair, a task that took no less than 30 minutes. She returned to the bedroom, and lazily picked up the first piece of clothing she felt under her fingertips from her trunk. She pulled the curtains on her bed and changed into what proved to be a white, sleeveless, ruffled chemise. It was rather short, but long enough to cover her thighs, most importantly, however, because of the rather thin material, the dress was slightly see-through. She usually wore it as a nightgown on hot summer days. She was much too tired and rather half-asleep to rummage through the trunk for something else, so she simply grabbed her long bustle coat and put it over the dress.

Before she had time to put her boots on, she thought she had heard some noise coming from outside the dorm's door. It was four in the morning, who could possibly be awake at the time? She slowly opened the door, and it was enough for Freija to swiftly slide past Amara. Amara sighed in defeat as she knew what was coming next. She started running after the cat, barefoot, in a summer dress in the middle of October with only a coat over it.

Freija knew the castle like the back of her paw by now, she knew exactly where the shortcuts and all the small, secret passages were. Using those few shortcuts gave the cat quite an advance over Amara, that had to open doors, say passwords and stop to take a breath. After quite some running, Amara stopped to catch her breath. She looked at her bare feet and noticed a thick layer of mud on them, she raised one eyebrow and lifted her head to look around, only to find herself on the school grounds. She mentally cursed the cat and scouted the surroundings in hope of glimpsing some dusty white fur. It was too dark outside to even see two meters in front of her so she nonverbally lit her wand and started walking aimlessly.

Right when she was about to give up on her search, out of the corner of her eye she saw something small and dark move through the grass. She took a small step forward and managed to make out a small creature with black fur and what seemed like an incredibly long snout, before the animal made a run for it. Her eyes instantly lit up and she completely forgot about her escaped cat. She set herself to catch the creature, whatever it was, and cuddle it.

Having been searching for over hour Moira's fingers ached through her gloves. They were enough to keep her hands warm for short trips outside, not for hours of searching in the middle of the night on the ground. No doubt she was a frightful mess by now after crawling through grass and mud. Frankly she didn't care. The mud and other things would wash out, and after all this was done -if she didn't get caught up doing something else - she could a nice hot bath and go sleep until noon. Chances were something was bound to come up however, something usually did.

Finally Moira spotted the stupid Niffler's tracks. Grinning at her success she began to follow them. Completely focused on the tracks she didn't notice the other person and because she didn't notice the other person.... she bumped into her quite literally. Sitting back stunned she rubbed her head and finally looked up to see a girl who looked like she ought to be freezing with what she was wearing. To the entire situation Moira's brilliant response was simply, "Uh..."

Her hand was mere millimeters away from the fur of the strange animal, when Amara faced resistance,  literally, straight in the face. She fell backwards, her dress riding up and she took her hand to her head. Her forehead was pulsating painfully in the spot where it had crashed into... something. She opened one eye and looked for the cause of her outrageous pain. A girl, quite ordinary in appearance, sat on the ground and rubbed her head, much like Amara herself was doing.

She got up on her knees and recovered her still lit wand. Amara quickly pulled her dress down and looked at the girl for a second before she turned her head around, scouting for the animal again. She got up on her feet, passed a hand through her hair, only to realize the wet, slimy substance in in, was mud. She shrugged it off and took a step forward before realization of what had happened downed upon her . She turned at the girl and with a completely uninterested look threw a perfunctory "I apologize, Miss" at her. Amara circled the girl for a few times, looking in the distance and at the ground, for traces of the critter's trajectory, then mumbled something inaudibly.

"Did you see where it went?" she asked, more to herself then anything else.

Before the girl had any time to answer, if it even was in her intention, Amara's eyes sparkled as she glimpsed a tail through the grass. She dashed forward leaving the girl behind with not so much as a second look.

A very strange girl was the cause for her now upset head and not a tree. Moira was sent a brief, curt apology before the girl took off again, looking for something. Fleetingly it crossed her mind that they were looking for the same thing, though the thought that it was getting further away now jumped to the forefront and she get back up and moved quickly, following the trail.

When she did come upon the creature she noted that girl was there as well but the two of them were on either side of the Niffler, properly blocking it's path. Looking at the Niffler she began to assess the best way to get to it peacefully without freaking it out when the most bizarre thing happened.

She had seen the girl out of the corner of her eye following her but she gave it no second thought, that until she realized —seeing her opposite of herself with the creature caught between them— that they were probably after the same thing. Taking advantage of their positions and the trapped animal, she threw herself at the furry little thing, barely catching it in her arms. Satisfied she mumbled "Finally!" and pulled herself upwards, kneeling on the ground.

Completely ignorant at the other girl, she started petting the scared animals that was trying to free itself from her grip. Holding it tightly she observed it, turning it around and squinting her eyes at it, as if it were some marvel of the world. Without even looking at the other girl she huffed and asked in a completely natural tone: "Pardon my interruption... this little guy —its name escapes me. Any chance you might know?"

Moira stared wide eyed as the girl threw herself forward and caught the Niffler in her arms. Then she continued to stare as the girl examined it and wouldn't let go of it as she examined it. It wasn't until she spoke however that Moira became truly startled out of her non social ways. "You tackled it and you don't know what it is? What if it was poisonous or burrowed into your flesh and ate you inside out?!"

Taking a couple deep breaths to remain calm so she wouldn't upset the creature further she moved over next to the slytherin and sat down. "It's a Niffler." Pulling out her necklace that had recently been polished she held it so the Niffler could see it and get it's attention. "They really like shiny things."

She watched the Niffler as it suddenly stopped moving, and became enthralled by the girl's necklace. She moved her arms closer to the other girls as the creature put its claws around it, examining it with big, wanting eyes.

"It happened once or twice, but I can usually recognize if they're dangerous by their physical  appearance. If they are, I make sure to secure their legs and have their heads unable to turn towards me before I... "tackle" them. Besides, it's usually only reptilian ones that are poisonous and I rarely have impulses towards the creatures that aren't fluffly. They must be extremely lovely for me to touch them" Amara said, while watching the Niffler in profound fascination as it was trying to pull the necklace from the girl.

She slowly loosened her hold on the animal until only one hand rested on it, caressing its fur, while the Niffler busied itself with the necklace, apparently ignoring the two girls. For the first time, she really looked at the girl, there was no sign as to her house on her presence and she didn't look familiar at all, despite the fact that her physical appearance suggested they were very close in age. Amara had very good visual memory, so if she didn't know the girl's face, she assumed she must be quite a loner. Her damp feet were now facing the repercussions of running barefoot in October in a quite cold climate. Looking at her feet —now properly awake— she noticed her clothes, or lack thereof... With no visible reaction she turned to the girl and casually said: "I'm terribly sorry for my attire I was chasing my escaped cat".

The Niffler was absolutely amazing what with it's long snout and rather fluffy black body. Really she had to wonder what sense they had which allowed them to find treasure buried in the ground. It would be fascinating to learn but she wasn't going to harm or experiment on the creature, that would be cruel and inhumane. Simply studying it was more than enough for her. Reaching with her other hand she pet the creature, listening to the Slytherin's explanation of how she could normally detect them and how she kept from being bitten and what not. "That may get you into more than a little trouble some day."

Looking up at the girl, still holding onto the chain of the necklace firmly, at her apologies for her appearance she blinked. Glancing over her she took full stock of her, and then herself. "I'm not much better off, so it's okay. Did you ever find your cat?" The cat could probably take care of itself, but it was too cold to stay outside for long. Which would be exactly what she had done and, though she didn't realize it, she was very,very cold by this point.

"She's probably off hunting for a late night snack. It's nothing, but I still want her to realize that being a familiar means actually having respect for each other, and darting off in the middle of the night, without me having any idea where she is and worrying hopelessly, falls far from proper behavior" Amara said with her brows slowly furrowed.

She felt a shiver pass through her, and instinctively pulled her feet under her to keep them warm. She pulled her wand from the holster, that never left her thigh and conjured some Bluebell flames between her and the other girl to keep themselves warmer. She  passed her hand through the Niffler's fur, and scratched it behind its ear.

"I did" she said out of the blue "get in trouble. My six year old self thought Manticores would be cute and cuddly when I was visiting Crete. Luckily it was merely a baby or I might've ended up as lunch, instead I got what could've been today a really ugly scar on my back, but my father chose to spend a small fortune to get it completely healed. Amara Ectaerina Báthory, by the way" she said extending her arm towards the girl "I'm sorry for the lateness of my introduction, I tend to... forget myself to say the least, in the presence of animals."

Late night snack. Food wasn't sounding like such a bad idea actually. A nice, hot meal. It could wait though, there were much more important matters at hand. It wasn't until the Bluebell flames started warm her that Moira realized how cold she was. Shivering suddenly she shook her head and paid close attention to the story. A smile touched the corner of her lips but it faded, having had a similar experience when she was five though much more devastating.

Casting that shadow of a memory off she switched the necklace into her left hand, almost lost it to the Niffler for a moment but secured it quickly enough, and shook Amara's hand. "Moira Rose McBoid. I'm afflicted with the same type of symptoms, so I can sympathize with forgetting oneself." Shifting a little so that the flames could warm up more of her body she stroked the Niffler's side. "I'm rather tempted to take it in, actually, but that would cause a huge mess. Niffler's are known for tearing up houses and rooms and places in search of treasure."

"That so? It's good to know I presume... I hoard them senselessly at home. Animals I mean. Both magical and non-magical. Most magical ones turn up to be either pesky or right-out dangerous. But I pick them up in their infancy and happily, they grow up to see me as the alpha so they are, more or less, obedient around me. But, obviously, I'm not home all that much so the menagerie is something of an off-grounds place apart from the Keeper I have to pay for myself. I have a Crup, Loki, well I had no idea it was one until I took it home and my father made me apply for a license and explained what it was and we had a huge fight about severing its tail, which I refused to do. He's awful really, incenses the whole menagerie to mischief along with my two Cornish pixies —don't even get me started on those two. I even had the luck of bringing in —unknowingly, of course— a Demiguise, Damion's his name, he's lovely, calm and lovely, but he really doesn't get along with Ada and Celine —the pixies— so I usually spend hours trying to find him while he's invisible. I started making myself an Invisibility cloak since he started shedding heavily once he passed adolescence. There's lots more, and I love all of them equally... most of them are just misunderstood. Dracul —cliche, yes— is our family dragon —yes, family dragon— my family is Romanian, we only moved here in the war for my father's job. But back home, we have a Romanian Longhorn, since over 40% of my extended family works at the Sanctuary and more than 20% are dragonologists. Don't think that we keep him home, he lives in the reservation, but he brings pretty galleons from the breeding program, and some uncle of mine can apparently ride him." she took a deep breath and settled into silence, realizing she had been, once again, an endless flow of words.

"The sun is rising" she said out of nowhere "I should probably be going back, I feel I need some Pepperup and a very long bath. If you live in London back home, I could take the little guy in and keep him for you during school time, I'm sure proper arrangements can be made to quell his destructive habits, there's lots of useless shiny trinkets in the house that could be used to make him  —or her?— a hideout in the menagerie."

Shutting her mouth tightly she cast a non-verbal Scourgify on herself promptly followed by a drying charm, doing the same for the other girl, before she got up on her feet.

Moira listened intently as the other girl spoke of the pets she had, fascinated. To have so many... that was amazingly exciting. Of course, having a herd of winged horses was highly exciting as well. As she got older her dad even let her take on most of the work for a unicorn or two whenever someone had them hold onto them. "I've always wanted a Kasimir...." Granted it wasn't one of the creatures Amara had mentioned, likely hadn't even heard of it. Still, just the idea of all those pets made her long to have one again.

Looking up when she mentioned the sun was rising she noticed Amara was correct. A bath sounded lovely too. "London? Oh, I kind of live in the wilds of Scotland, rather out of the way. We have a herd of winged horses so and it's easier to hide them somewhere no people go." Standing as well, she brought the Niffler up with her which was still gazing and fondling the necklace, she nodded a thanks for the spells. "Maybe for now I'll just take him to Hagrid, surely he has a way to keep this little guy out of trouble."

"Winged horses? I must say I never had the pleasure of seeing one up close. They must be fascinating..." Amara said in response to the girl with a bit of longing in her voice. "Yes, Professor Hagrid seems like the best option right now. Do let me know how it goes, please?" she added while petting the creature in Miss McBoid's arms.

"Ah, there's the little demon" the silver-haired witch said in a fond voice, spotting Freija strolling leisurely towards her. "I am very sorry for this entire situation, Miss McBoid -and your head" she added hastily while rubbing her own forehead. She picked up the beautiful cat and glared at her. "What the devil has gotten into you lately?" The cat flicked its tail unimpressed. "It's the fourth time, this month, only, when you disappear on me like this. I am not pleased with you" the girl said as glacially as possible with a hint of disappointment in her voice, as she dropped the cat to the ground.

"Miss McBoid, again, I offer my apologies. I do hope to hear about the niffler soon and perhaps we might talk about your winged horses some time?" Amara was now back to her true self: monotonic speech pattern, expressionless face, a cold look in her eyes and an eerie aura about her person. "If you'll excuse me" she said to the other witch and turned her back to Moira. She started walking back towards the castle then stopped for a moment only to address her cat in a stern, displeased tone: "Come!" Freija flicked her tail nervously but quickly caught up with her master whom was now nearing the entrance of the castle.