Never Seen Before Pet

march 30th, 2024		saturday, morning (easter break)
wc: 650ish		dhampir | sensitive to sunlight
interacting with: npcs		mentioning: :]

"Please, please, please?" It was the day before Easter Sunday, and Baishu Fu-Hai was really feeling the effects. Scout had been at Hogwarts for over half a year now, and during that time she had been exposed to a plethora of pets and animals, all of which she wanted to have for herself. Given that before the school year begun, both Baishu and Nina had kept their feet down on the instance that Scout was absolutely not allowed to have a pet.

The first excuse was that no first year needed their own pet. Well, three weeks after her first day at school, Scout had sent home a letter detailing how almost all of the students she had met had pets. The boy who sat next to her in Transfiguration also had a pet, a black cat, and Scout yearned to have a pet like that. It seemed that the boy and his cat were the bestest of friends!

The second excuse was that Scout would be too busy to keep up with both her grades and having a pet. Three months ago, when she had came home for winter break, Scout pointed to her well-earned A's and E's, and even her singular O in Charms. Her grades weren't anywhere near as nice as Asteria's, but they were still much higher than in her muggle school. If it were possible to fail a second or third grade class, Scout teetered on the edge of failure.

There were a million excuses as to why Scout shouldn't get a pet, but she was getting kind of fed up with being one of the only students in Hogwarts without one! She had already felt ostracized from her fellow classmates, although that was more of an internal issue on her behalf, she wanted something to help her fit in! Even if it didn't necessarily give her the benefit of making more friends, she'd inherently have one in having a pet to talk to.

Baishu Fu-Hai had a tendency to put his daughter's wants over his own beliefs. He absolutely knew that it was against what he had stood for to get Scout a pet, and that his wife would be sorely disappointed in him for giving in so easily. But if he had a knut for every time Scout asked for a pet, he'd be richer than the Minister! Besides, Nina never went shopping with Scout, so she didn't understand how much her daughter begged. "Let's go to the Menagerie, then." Baishu urged, putting an arm around Scout and walking her from the store they were planning on going to, to the Menagerie that was a few stores down.

"Woah!" Her mouth dropped and formed an 'o' shape, looking around at the vast majority of animals in the store. There were so many animals, many of which she had never even seen before! She recognized the cats and the owls and the toads, and she took special notice of the rats and mice. Given that before the school year, she had accidentally mistook a mouse for a ferret... she didn't want to make a mistake like that again!

Entranced by the quaint shop, Scout didn't even acknowledge or seem to hear the voice of an old woman from behind the counter. In fact, Scout couldn't see anything except for a brown owl that practically locked its eyes onto hers. It was the most gorgeous creature Scout was convinced she had ever seen! It had big black eyes that practically enchanted her to come closer, and before she knew it, she was standing right in front of the cage the owl was perched on.

On the cage, there was a small notecard that said 'Pebble', as well as the breed of the owl and his age. Well, Pebble was as good of a name as any, Scout thought! And Pebble looked like he needed a friend just like Scout.

"Who's this, Scout?"

"Meet my new best friend, Pebble the owl!"

Total Wordcount: 669

What animal do you wish to purchase? Barred Owl
What do you want to name it? Pebble
Is this a boy or a girl? Boy
What is your pet's date of birth? March 25th, 2023