Morning

It was cold and there had been sleet earlier, so Léonie was bundled up in a black hooded parka when she made her way down Diagon Alley. Her boots left muddy tracks on the cobbled street and she was close to shivering by the time she slipped into the menagerie. In the end, she didn't make it to the Alley earlier in the week like she had planned with Fig. Life got busy. Same old story.

The squib tugged down her hood and shook out her hair. It was quiet in the shop, human-wise. Its wares definitely weren't - crups whining in the window, owls grousing in their cages, newts staring out from large tanks with reptilian eyes. Yeah, she totally wasn't getting a newt. Nothing with scales. Nothing that could change its body temperature to suit its surroundings.

"Hey," Léo called out, looking for a sales assistant, "anyone around?" It pained her to admit it but she didn't fancy hanging around a lot of magical creatures - some of them needed the kind of care only a wand could provide. All she wanted was something catlike.

Puteh, her white tabby, had been a regular cat. A skinny bastard she'd picked up from the RSPCA when she started at university and was feeling sorry for herself (so it made total sense to pick a pet she felt sorry for too). But as much as she missed Puteh, Léonie was already yearning for another....

Pet didn't feel like the right word anymore. Another familiar. The one witchlike feature of her life.

Moira, hair messily pulled back out of her face with a clip, ran her fingers along a kneazle's belly, smiling faintly to herself as it wiggled happily, having finished up this particular creature's wellness check. Her being in the actual store was rare but her manager at the ranch told her to. Considering how she'd been the past few days she wasn't about to argue.

In some ways, she was grateful for her manager forcing her to take the day before off. The witch still wasn't sleeping much but she still felt more rejuvenated than she had been before. Lying about doing nothing but stare at the sky had been extremely relaxing, so long as she didn't start thinking about things.

Hearing an unfamiliar voice calling for someone had Moira looking in that direction, putting the kneazle back with his roommates. When no one else answered her a hint of irritation flashed in her eyes before fading. No doubt the staff managing the store had stepped out back for a quick smoke break, likely assuming no one would want to visit in this weather or that their guest coworker would take care of things. Too bad they were right. It wasn't the customer's fault they stepped out.

Stepping between the rows Moira found the girl, who appeared close to her own age, and gave a nod of her head in greeting,  “Hello, how may I help you?”

She was suspiciously eyeing a white corn snake when a witch appeared to assist. Léonie turned away from the reptile tanks and lifted a hand in a tentative wave, clocking the puppylike slant of the other girl's eyes. She didn't recognise her but it wasn't like squibs had much reason to be in the menagerie very often. Once every few years or something, depending on how unlucky you were with animals.

"I'm Léonie," her mouth tilted into a smile, "and I'm looking for a cat, or a cat-kneazle. Something that won't look too weird in a muggle setting, you know."

Why beat around the bush? Muggles kept weird pets too but Léo didn't want something that would call a lot of attention to her familiar. Spiders, newts, owls, out of the question. Dogs were cool but they needed more attention than she was willing to give; it wasn't like she had roommates to keep an eye on one in an emergency.

Cats were independent. They did their own thing and she always felt a bond with them.

"Do you guys sell kittens?" Léonie looked around, curious, wondering if she was up to the task of raising one from young.

Moira was largely separate from most things muggle. While her friends were the only reason she wasn’t completely oblivious, the witch did understand that non-weird creatures to muggles would be plain such as cats, dogs, or an assortment of unassuming rodents.

“Aye. We have adults, kittens, cats, kneazles, and cat-kneazle mixes with as many colors and temperaments someone could want. They’re back over in this area. I’m Moira, by the way.”

A pet like what she had, a niffler, would be completely inappropriate. Magic was necessary in their containment and it’s not like they were common sites for muggles. Casper hadn’t come from a store though, having been found wild instead, having come out of the Forbidden Forest. That had certainly made raising him more interesting.

Leading Léonie back to the feline section of the store she went straight by the color-changing calicos. They were fun cats, but not good for the setting the other girl had described.

“The full blooded kneazles are along that wall. The ones within the orange markers are half kneazles, and the more ordinary cats are on the other side of them.”

There were considerably more felines available than she was expecting. Léonie followed Moira, pausing to look at the odd cage or tank on their way. Spiders seemed like fun pets. Could she get a spider? Would that freak out potential models? Maybe she could get a spider later.... a cat friendly spider.

            "...within the orange markers are half kneazles, and the more ordinary cats are on the other side of them."

Her attention immediately drifted to the half-kneazles. Léo liked anything with mixed blood because she came from a culturally mixed background; it made her feel like she would have camaraderie with her future familiar. Of two worlds, two facets. "Are any of them troublemakers?" she glanced at the witch with a smile.

"I have a lot of time on my hands to train a kitten," Léonie added while she watched the cats in their various states, staring out sullenly or rubbing affectionately against the grate of their cages. "But maybe one that doesn't mind strangers? I get a lot of visitors in my studio."

“A mischievous kitten that doesn't mind strangers. Okay.” Moira looked over the some of the different kittens in front of them. Because she didn’t work in the shop knowing the personality of each individual animal was impossible. However, since she had just finished up with this group of cats they weren't completely unknown to her and she could hazard a slightly educated guess. “This one maybe.”

Opening up the cage the witch scooped up the kitten, which playfully batted at her hand in the process. During the examination the kitten had never been aggressive but he had made it difficult at times.

“Would you like to hold and play with him a bit? See what you think?”

Léo made a sound that might or might now have been an excited squeal as she reached over to take the kitten into her hands, wrinkling her nose at its face. He was a tortoiseshell, with just enough scruffiness that she could tell there was some kneazle-ness in there. She carefully held him for a second before putting him down on the closest surface.

"Aw, he's a fighter!" she scratched underneath his jaw and glanced at Moira. "You must really enjoy this job, getting to play with cats and creatures all day."

The kitten mewled and Léonie melted, letting him push his head against her fingers and bat at the wrists.

"I like him. I'll have to find a funny name. D'Artagnan, maybe. Or Don Quixote. Did you know that D'Artagnan is suppose to look like Don Quixote?" she directed this last question at the witch, forgetting for a moment that not all wixes were widely read in muggle stories.

Moira watched human and cat interact while a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Seeing others appreciate and enjoy animals as much as she did was incredibly pleasing for the witch. Even more so was that her hunch on which kitten appeared to be correct.

“I mostly work on the ranches, to be honest. Since I’m studying magizoology, however, my manager wanted me to give the animals here a wellness check today. Make sure they’re all doing great.”

If even one of the animals were the slightest bit sick they were moved to a quarantined area to avoid whatever disease from spreading. Once the creature was clear they were returned to the shop.

Hearing Léoni’s references Moira shook her head. “Sorry, my friends haven’t introduced me to those stories yet. Are they easier to follow than,” she paused for a brief moment trying to remember the title fully, “Summer… Midsummer Night’s Dream?”

Léonie let the kitten claw at the sleeves of her parka as she looked up, trying to imagine the witch in front of her working on a ranch. There was a lot she didn't know about the world of creature handling - nobody in her immediate family went into that kind of thing and her knowledge was restricted to what she read in the Prophet, or in wizarding stories.

            "Are they easier to follow than...Summer… Midsummer Night’s Dream?"

She frowned a little, confused by Moira's phrasing. "Oh, um... it's not a play? So maybe? It's a book about a bloke in 1600s France who joins the King's guard and meets three legendary musketeers. Adventure story, really cute."

Of course Moira didn't know it; there weren't even wizards or witches in the book, probably not something normal magical folk would read. That always made Léo feel something like pity for wizarding society - they missed out on so much cool stuff - but then she remembered it wasn't a two way street. Wixes could choose to access muggle stuff, rarely the other way around.

"Where did you watch A Midsummer Night's Dream?" she asked, curious now. "That's like, a really bad one to watch if you haven't seen any Shakespeare before." D'Artagnan mewed and Léonie picked him up again to stroke his back.

Moira wasn't sure what a musketeer was, but she nodded in understanding anyway. Having understood everything else that was said, the witch felt confident in figuring it out if she ever did read the book. Of course that would only happen if someone loaned the book to her. The chances for it were slim.

She had always enjoyed reading. Most of the books she devoured were related to creatures and the care of but sometimes she liked taking a break with a daring adventure. Since graduating from Hogwarts Moira hadn’t allowed herself much time for such idle reading. Maybe she needed to start again, especially if her sleepless nights continued.

“The Stardust Theater,” she responded. “An old classmate of mine, Carstairs, was performing and a mutual friend invited me along.” Moira shook her head slightly. The evening hadn't been terrible at least, even with her and Virgil not getting along.

“My friend explained everything before the show started. Or he tried to, anyway.” Some of Sasha’s explanations had to be explained. Still, with his help she had at least gotten the gist of the play and that was more than she could have hoped for.

Watching the kitten, D’Artagnan, cuddle into Léonie’s arms happily made Moira smile again.

"Oh, I like Stardust!" Léo looked up from the kitten, eyes bright. "I couldn't get tickets to that. You know Virgil Carstairs? I saw him as Rapunzel last year, it was wicked."

There were some things about magical theatre that just couldn't be replicated by muggles in the same way. People could fly and casts spells for real, and Rapunzel had actually had a long rope of hair that she used to do perform feats. Maybe she would go see their version of A Christmas Carol this year, just to find out how they were going to pull it off.

"I see a lot more muggle stuff," she added as she scratched behind D'Artagnan's ears, inciting a low purr, "so it's cool that Stardust uses muggle stories you know? Keeps things interesting." Léo looked down at the cat in her hands and smiled to herself. "I think I'll take him. We've bonded, no choice now."

And when she got home she was going to try and paint him, if he could sit still for a bit.

Relieved she didn’t have to explain about Stardust Moira nodded, “Aye.” They were the same age, just had shared different houses. She was glad for it but didn’t say as much.

Moira also didn’t know the story of Rapunzel, but stayed quiet about that as well. No need to widen the gap between them more than necessary. She did that just fine even without the muggle vs wix issues. Instead she just nodded her head in agreement about Stardust using muggle stories.

“Aye, it seems you have. I’m glad I was able to help you find him so easily.” First kitten. They hadn’t even had to try the others she had in mind. “There are supplies on the shelves if you need some. The register is in the corner over there.”

With any luck, one of the other employees who actually ran the store regularly would come back in and be able to finalize the purchase. She’d hate to get told off for doing their job.

             "There are supplies on the shelves if you need some..."

"Oh, it's okay." Léonie's smile turned down at the corners just the slightest, "I still have all the stuff from my last cat, Puteh. He was a regular shorthair and he passed last month. Old, you know, but I was always worried he would get into my more toxic paints and poison himself."

She'd learned very quickly that cats were not like infant children, and did not put just about anything into their mouths. Puteh had tried to drink her coffee, though.

"Do Kneazle mixed breeds need any special supplies?" The squib glanced at the shelves Moira had pointed out. "We never had one growing up so I might need a crash course, if you don't mind." Léonie smiled, glancing down at the kitten held close to her chest - purring now. "I want to do this right."

Moira nodded in understanding when she mentioned her other cat having died of old age.

“Nothing special, no. He’ll be quite a bit bigger than an average cat so prepare to feed him more. Regular cat food works just as well if you prefer though there is a brand meant for kneazles and half kneazles.” Moira offered a hint of a smile to the other girl. “The owners claim it adds a gloss to their coats and helps boost their intelligence. I think it’s just more filling so they don’t need as much.”

That was advertisement though, everyone had to make out like they were the best.

“The usual toys would work too. Rolled up receipts and other things to chase around and play with are all fine. Depending on his personality he might like something more challenging. That’s half the fun though, finding their likes and dislikes.”

D’artagnan was adorable. If it wasn’t for her Niffler she might have gotten a cat. She still might.

“They also seem to have the ability to sense if a person is suspicious or untrustworthy - since you said you have people coming by regularly - and they can be more loyal than an average cat.”

The back door opened, bringing in the sound of feet and voices as the shop employees returned from their break.

She nodded studiously as Moira quickly went through some care instructions for Léonie's new pet. D'Artagnan was purring in her hands, pressed against her chest, already at home with his chosen keeper. The squib felt more confident about her decision now: this kitten was exactly what she wanted.

          "...and they can be more loyal than an average cat."

Léo laughed in agreement. "Thanks for your help. I appreciate it," she smiled at Moira as the other menagerie staff finally made an appearance. "I'll see you around maybe."

Maybe. Léonie wasn't often around Diagon Alley after all... but between Dido and Nemo and Fig, maybe she had more reason to check on the wizarding world nowadays. She headed towards the counter with D'Artagnan purring away and a mental list of things to ask for.