A Daunting Task Pet

When Aly Salinger had first gotten her Hogwarts letter shortly after her eleventh birthday in May of 2019, naturally, she had been all too excited about all of the different things she would be able to purchase at Diagon Alley- books, namely, but also robes, her first wand, and, of course, a pet. Owls were the most popular, but she could always use school owls to write letters home to her parents Benjamin and Hesper; no, Aly Salinger was and always had been a cat person, and so she had begged Hesper Livingston-Salinger to buy her a kitten during their trip to Diagon Alley that summer.

Not unexpectedly, the answer had been a resounding no.

"Grades first," Hesper had reminded her. "Five years of Outstandings and I'll get you that cat when your O.W.L. results come in."

Aly had turned emerald-green puppy eyes to her father. "Five years?!"

Benjamin had just grinned his awkwardly charming smile at his wife. "Does seem a bit unreasonable, Hess. How about two?"

So now, two years later, after a pair of consecutive school years with the promised good grades, Aly Salinger was finally able to get a cat. Benjamin was busy with his Ministry job, too busy to come with Hesper and Aly on their yearly trip to Diagon Alley, so the curly-haired third-year was accompanied by her mother only as she pushed open the door to the Magical Menagerie and was instantly greeted by the distinctive smells of cat hair and owl droppings.

Hesper, naturally, wrinkled her nose and simply pulled a pouch of Galleons from the pocket of her robes. "I will be waiting at Flourish and Blotts, attempting to get your schoolbooks for the year," the sharp-boned, dark-haired woman said stiffly, emptying about half of the pouch back into her own pocket and handing her daughter the rest. "Get your... creature... and meet me there; I expect you will take no less than thirty minutes."

Aly, who was already bouncing up and down on her heels and casting starry green eyes around with a wide-eyed gaze, excitedly took the pouch and gave her mum a grin that felt as though it stretched legitimately from one ear to the other. "Yes, Mother! See you soon!"

And then the door was closing behind Hesper with a little jingle and a soft slamming sound, and Aly turned in a slow circle, taking it all in: the crowded shelves, the low ceiling, the warm golden glow, the dozens of animals. Over there were the toads, in varying shades of green from forest to olive to an emerald that almost perfectly matched Aly's own eyes... over there were the owls, hooting and flapping their wings at the prospect of being adopted by a not-so-new Hogwarts student... over there were the rats, right next to the brightly-colored pygmy puffs... the spiders... the lizards, of course... there was even a spotty snake in a glass-walled cage in the corner! Shuddering, Aly avoided that one, heading straight for the wall of cats.

There were so many, she reflected as she slowly strolled along the wall, her gaze roaming over each and every one of the beautiful fluffy creatures. That one had stripes- that one was bright orange- that one's eyes were different colors- that one was meowing at her! Trying not to let her smile become too painfully big, Aly wandered back and forth along the wall, reaching her fingers into cages to give some of the friendlier ones some head scritches, murmuring sweet nothings and excited little hellos to each and every one of the cats.

"Aren't you just the sweetest little thing?"

"Oh, hello there! Hey now, that's my finger you're biting!"

"Your fur is so soft, did you know that?"

She had just reached the very end of the wall and was about to turn back to give the cats another once-over, knowing that having to pick just one would be the hardest task she had ever completed, when a loud meow broke through the chaotically noisy air- and, almost at the exact same time, Aly felt something paw against her foot.

The Ravenclaw glanced downwards to see, unsurprisingly, a paw- a fluffy, silvery one, reaching as far as it possibly could out from between the bars of one of the cages at the very bottom, directly on the floor. The animal inside had apparently taken a liking to Aly's brightly-colored socks- she had neglected to actually check which socks she had been grabbing out of her drawer that morning, and ended up with one neon orange and one pale purple. The accident had earned her an annoyed glance from her mother, but Aly didn't mind- in her opinion, mismatched socks were the least of her concerns. Still, now there was a little clawed paw trying its darndest to get to the orange sock, and Aly's eyes crinkled in amusement.

How adorable!

She knelt to the floor to peer inside the cage- and the sight with which her gaze was met nearly melted Aly's already-soft heart.

A huge, fluffy silver cat was crouched on the floor of the cage, its floccose grey face pressed nearly up against the bars as it reached its front right paw through to get at Aly's sock. Intelligent but playful greyish-green eyes peered out at the Ravenclaw, sitting above a pinkish nose located on a furry muzzle of pure white. Almost as though the cat knew it had piqued her interest, it flicked one of its grey ears back, sort of as if to say, Yeah, I've got your sock. And what about it?

Yep, that was it. Aly was sold.

"Hi, there," she whispered breathily, reaching two fingers through the bars of the cage to allow the cat a proper sniff and then gently scratching at the top of its head. "Had to get my attention, didn't you? Well, it worked... I wonder what your name is..."

"Met Dauncey, have you?"

Aly startled at the unfamiliar voice, shoving her weight backward and falling onto her rear with a small "Oof!" Casting her gaze upwards, she saw now the shopkeeper towering over her seated frame- a kindly-looking woman with curly white hair, in a pretty floral dress that looked very much like something Aly herself would wear. In fact, with her diminutive stature, curls, and apparent love for florals, the woman could have perhaps been an older version of Aly herself- not that the younger version noticed.

"Sorry about that," Aly apologized with a small tittering laugh. "Erm- did you say... Don-see?"

The woman extended her hand softly downwards to help Aly up, and the Ravenclaw accepted it with another apologetic smile as the shopkeeper explained, "It's Dauncey, yes, that silver Siberian- D-A-U-N-C-E-Y. It's the surname of the family who first purchased him; poor thing never responds to anything else."

Aly was already intrigued. "Someone already adopted him? Then why is he back here?"

The kindly shopkeeper shook her head, a wistful look crossing her face. "I suppose their children wanted a small kitten, but Dauncey grew so big so fast that they couldn't keep up. He weighs nearly two stone, you know, and he's a clumsy thing- doesn't know his own size, knocks things over, that sort." She smiled at Aly. "But he's lovable. Friendly, too. It's just that incoming first-years don't tend to want him... they favor the smaller ones."

Aly knelt again to peer through the bars of Dauncey's cage, looking at the big silvery cat with newfound love in her eyes.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a first-year, then," she said fiercely. "Because this sweet boy deserves to be wanted."

What animal do you wish to purchase? Silver Siberian
What do you want to name it? Dauncey
Is this a boy or a girl? Boy
What is your pet's date of birth? December 11, 2018