A Friend in Fur

Maggie was home for the summer, and she was reminded about how mind-numbingly boring muggle life was. She was sulking on a bench, reading her charms textbook with bored, half-lidded eyes. She gave up halfway through the freezing charm. She sat up and tucked her book into her bag, standing and beginning to walk down the street.

Maggie hummed quietly as she wandered down the street, occasionally kicking rocks along with her for brief intervals before leaving them behind on the sidewalk. She passed busy stores with neon signs and little cafes with chalkboard menus, watching the people hurrying in and out of apartments. It was early in the evening, and city was as loud as ever, people heading out for evening plans and heading back from shifts, all bustling around in their own little worlds.

Eventually Maggie made it to the quieter parts of the city, where soda cans and plastic wrappers littered the street, the stars hidden behind cigarette smoke and city lights. Her mom never really cared where she was as long as she was home by 11:00.

Her legs were tired. She ducked into an alley and sat back against the wall, bringing her knees up to her chest. She stared at the opposite wall for a while, trying to go through her spells in her head. She didn’t want to forget everything. She didn’t want to go back to being normal. Normal people got forgotten. She hated being forgotten.

There was a rustling in the alley.

She glanced towards the sound. The only things she could see were an old box, a few glass bottles, and other random pieces of litter.

“Hello?” She called.

There was more rustling.

A gray head poked out of the box at the end of the alley. It was a cat with little stripes on its head. As it started climbing out of the box, she saw the little dark dots on its coat. The cat had bright yellow-green eyes that reflected the light from the street lamps. It was so small, and it couldn’t be more than three or four months old. It had a little pink nose outlined with black and it approached with cautious curiosity.

“Hey there little guy,” she cooed, relaxing as she saw the kitten crawled towards her.

The kitten replied with a high pitched meow, padding towards Maggie. It sat down tilting its head slightly, looking with wide, questioning eyes.

“Do you have a mama little guy?” She held out her hand for the cat to smell, a soft smile on her face.

The kitten blinked.

Maggie sighed and shifted forward, picking up the little cat and holding it close to her.

“You wanna come home with me, baby?” She stroked the little gray head gently, cradling the little thing.

The kitten meowed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She giggled and stood up, taking the cat with her as she started back home. She heard something about Hogwarts allowing pets, and this sweet little thing would be perfect.

Wc: 508/400