It was so frustrating that there was always an answer to make something seem like a bad idea.  She could understand what Gracie was saying, obviously, and that some professors might not be so keen on finding bucket loads of kittens around, but it also wasn't as though they wouldn't help... Or would they?  Jordyn bit the inside of her cheek as the kitten in her lap started to bat at her fingers. 

The options left weren't entirely to Jordyn's liking.  She adored Professor Reid and Storm, for completely different reasons, of course.  She wanted to be like Reid - accomplished, put together, beautiful, poised - she could go on for days about the things she wanted to be just like her.  Storm was, of course, a force to be reckoned with, but not someone Jordyn would go to with problems.  Neither was Reid, really.

She supposed there weren’t any adults in Hogwarts that she would really go to with a problem, not even their head of house (maybe especially not him).  Rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingertips.  “I just figured having someone else know about it – they might be easier to take care of,” she gasped as the kitten stuck it’s claws into her cardigan and scratched against her skin as it started to climb up toward her shoulder, and she cupped her hand behind its behind.  The kitten meowed at her, blinking it’s many eyes at her, and she giggled, lifted it up so it could nuzzle her cheek. 

“I mean, maybe we don’t have to tell anyone straight away,” she admitted, “but we could keep our eyes out for someone we can trust?”  She shrugged her shoulders and let out a deep breath.  “Did you want to move them tonight?” she asked, gnawing on her lip. 

On her knees the kitten settled—sort of. Hunching over them– his claws digging into her jeans like a lifeline –he made an odd, almost distorted shape of smoky fuzz, the sharp angles of head and neck visible under all the fuzz. “Eventually,” Gracie nodded, distracted by eyes even greener than hers– and then her eyes shot to Jordyn’s, her face pinking when she realized that could’ve answered either question. “I mean, yeah- I did. Do. I do want to-”

She stopped… and sighed, too. “Eventually, yeah,” was drawn out, her reluctance clear—making it clear which question she was answering now. “Maybe, maybe Finnigan. I know Locksley is technically the better choice, but-”

He was odd, for all he seemed nice, but she liked Finnigan. Maybe it was a bit soon, seeing how she was just as new to her post as he was, and maybe the fact that the woman was a damn relief from her predecessor wasn’t really helping her case either, but they didn’t change how going to her felt… right. She was nice, and struck the teenager as understanding the way her predecessor hadn’t been. Gracie tried not to rely on appearances too much to determine personality, but it was hard to think someone who dressed so casually might be uptight about a few kittens, who were going to be adopted anyway.

She scooped the kitten off her knees and set him on her shoulder. There’d been a reason why she had chosen her old, sturdy parka, rather than one of her nicer, pricier jackets; she couldn’t feel his tiny claws nick into the cloth, though she was well aware of them. As he inched closer to her neck, she tilted her head encouragingly, until he was more or less securely tucked into the collar of her coat. “I’ll worry about it when we get there,” she finished, shrugging. “But today…”

Gracie picked up one of the bags and held it out for Jordyn to take, giving it a slight shake and her an inviting grin.

 Jordyn looked at the bag that was being extended toward her, and then up at Gracie’s hopeful face.  Then, she glanced down at the bag again.  It seemed so… barbaric, once she saw the bag.  Putting kittens in them, carrying them across the grounds and back toward the castle to them hide them in the kitchens… she was having all of the same problems all over again.  But, they’d talked about them – she was here. 

What was a girl going to do? 

She had a friend here who needed her help, and if there was something Jordyn was, she was loyal.  She was going to do what she had to do for her friend because her friend asked, and that was enough. 

With a deep, foreboding sigh, Jordyn reached out and took the bag from Gracie.  “You are so very lucky that I adore you,” she smiled a little and put the bag down on the ground.  The little kitten in her lap was going to be going straight into that bag.  But, she put him on the floor first (sadly, she quite like him) and pushed herself up – glad for her gloves as the dust settled around her, kicked up by her movements.  The kitten mewed, kind of like a squeak, and then – the cutest thing she’d even seen in the world happened.

The kitten sneezed.

Jordyn felt her heart skip a beat and squeaked a little bit herself.  “Oh Salazar’s Kneecap, that was…” Jordyn didn’t have words.  She made a sound akin to a baby chick and sighed with a brilliant large smile – at least it was cute enough to brighten her mood.  She looked at the bag, the stumbly little kitty and its brothers and sisters scattered around the room - and on Gracie.  She took a few careful steps forward and offered a hand to Gracie in order to help her up as well. 

“So, which kittens are going in which bag?” 

Gracie’s smile was positively radiant when Jordyn finally gave in—and it widened even more as she watched her friend melt right before her very eyes. If success had a form, she was looking right at it in all its cute, fuzzy glory. “I am very adorable,” she agreed, giving the pair of them a lopsided smile. “But not, I think, as much as that one,” and she gave Jordyn’s kitten a nod.

Gingerly, she looked around, and clambered to her feet. A few weeks back, she would have said any combination would do, but after disappearing into the Shack for hours on end, she knew better now—knew almost every one of them by sight and what each could do. Soundly catnipped, their little ‘quirks’ might not seem all that relevant, but once they were awake it was a different story, and she wasn’t keen on inviting a worst case scenario. “Um, that one,” she pointed at the little creampuff by the window, dozing quietly against the wall, “and that one-” another, skinnier one stalking towards her ‘twin’, “and… that one,” Gracie pointed at the one floating around, unfettered by gravity. 

Heading towards a dark-furred one, one of the few that had two tails rather than the extra eye, Gracie slung her own bag over a shoulder and began rifling through it, pulling out a few more packets as she did. Each one about 1”x1”, several fit in her palm easily; with a tap of her wand she made careful lacerations into each. “I left the rest in your bag.”

One by one - by hand or by spell - Gracie picked up the rest, gently setting down each with its own packet once it was firmly preoccupied before moving onto the next, and all of them with a quiet thrum of happiness that curled in her chest. Only when she worked did it finally sink in that she was… doing something, wrapping up one worry – and, admittedly, exchanging it for another, in a way – but the feeling of accomplishment was still there, light and buoyant. Although having the kittens closer to home meant having them closer to other people, it meant she was one step closer to getting them adopted, and the issue of just having them in the first place, dealt with.

She honestly, sincerely loved the things, but. She was sixteen, with friends and classes to worry about, and the only experience she had in taking care of someone else, was limited to her grandfather and Greebo—both of whom were already fiercely self-reliant to begin with. These tiny, mewling, mostly helpless things… were not, and although she might count on the house elves to at least keep them away from wandering into the ovens, it was up to her, mostly, to look after them.

But… mostly, though. Sneaking a glance at Jordyn, Gracie turned away with a smile.

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