Bubba was very excited. He had been saving his allowance up for a few months and with that and his belated birthday money he was finally ready. Bubba had wanted a pet for a while but he hadn't been able to afford it. He knew he could've asked his father but he didn't want to impose, his father was already paying a lot of money for his books and supplies. He wanted to buy this on his own and he was finally ready. He had been going between a cat or a ferret until he'd seen Alan and his cat, Tiger. Tiger was a majestic creature. He looked like a leopard in miniature and was genuinely the coolest cat Bubba had ever seen.

He was so excited that he felt like the walk down Diagon Alley to the Magical Menagerie had taken hours. At last, he finally saw the door, he sped up to a brisk walk. He opened the door and bounded inside. It was wonderful. There were so many creatures and they were all talking to him. Owls hooted, cats meowed, toads croaked, rats squeaked, spiders spun their webs, snakes slithered, and pygmy puffs... well they were doing whatever pygmy puffs do. The ferrets did look cool, he liked how they ran around with seemingly endless energy. He'd read about them though and learned that they liked to have a den and gave off a musky odor. He wasn't sure if he wanted to subject his dorm mates to that.

Next Bubba shuffled over to the cats and looked at them. Two immediately got his attention. The first was red mackerel tabby which seemed mildly interested in him, the second was a siamese who was considering him carefully. The cat looked interested but it looked like it was nervous. They used to have a siamese cat back in Boston and he knew from experience they were slow to approach. He decided to stand there for once and lets the cats consider their options.

@Nicholas McCowan

Nicholas hadn’t brought George with him to summer camp, rather, he’d opted to leave the lizard under the watchful eye of his parents back in Belfast. He wasn’t entirely sure how he would go about caring for the creature whilst bunking in a tent and, for the most part, he’d not come to regret that decision. Whilst he did miss the critter, he’d never found himself to be the sort to obsess over his pet. Yes, he loved the lizard dearly, and was extremely excited to feed him crickets and watch it try to comprehend the very nature of its terrarium, but he did not feel as if a part of his very soul was missing. That said, he did feel the need to spend one of his free moments during the summer camp attending Diagon Alley. Not for any exciting purpose, but to ensure that he at least had something to bribe his lizard with, upon picking him up from his parents at the train station.

The Magical Menagerie was an interesting shop, filled to the brim with all types of animals and their associated accessories. Had the events of the preceding summer not taken place, he’d likely feel a great deal more excited about the prospect of visiting it. Alas, he’d steeled himself, cast asunder any memories of Leia and her utterly peculiar behaviour and set forth to explore the goings on of the shop.

It hadn’t taken him long to find what he was searching for, namely a new rock-shaped home for George to hide under. It was slightly expensive, but he’d never particularly wanted for money. Sure, his family had fallen on hard times, but they were still decidedly middle-class, and that meant he was certainly capable of affording that small luxury.

After picking it out, he found himself distracted by the sounds and surrounds of the shop itself, the chirping of birds and the occasional purr of a cat. It was a veritable symphony of the domestic jungle. Such was his distraction that he did not notice the boy looking at cats, nor did he realise when he bumped into him.

The rock he’d been holding fell and clanged against the ground with surprising resonance, but fortunately, did not break. Still, Nicholas found himself biting his tongue.

“Shite,” He muttered, before swiftly adding, “Sorry, mate, you right?”

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba had been standing there for a few moments while the cats sussed him out. Eventually, the siamese cat started to walk towards him. It was very cautious at first, clearly not sure what to make of him. After a few moments, however, the cat gave a soft meow and walked up to the edge of its cage. Bubba stuck a couple of fingers in and scratched the cat on the side of its head. The cat clearly enjoyed it because he immediately started to purr quite loudly, walking back and forth, rubbing against the side of the cage while letting Bubba continue to pet him.

Bubba was starting to think that this might be the cat for him. He also knew he should take some time to think about it too. Ferrets sounded quite cool and he wasn't quite sure if he could rule out a lizard of some sort either. He remembered the advice his father had given him: Don't make a quick decision you'll regret later. Bubba had already resolved that he was not going to be buying an animal today, he was going to come back sometime next week when he knew exactly what he wanted. Still, he also was afraid if he came back the cat that clearly like him would not be there next time. Bubba resolved to stick to his father's advice and wait.

As he was preparing to go look at some other animals he was suddenly bumped into from behind. He turned around to see a boy he thought he might have seen before at Hogwarts. He at least thought he'd recognized the longish black hair. It looked like the boy was clutching... a rock?

The only response bubba could think of was, "Yeah, I'm ok... uhh... nice rock."

Interacting: @Nicholas McCowan Mentioning: N/A

Nicholas knelt down with all the elegance of a mid-century coal miner, knees hit the ground and the rock was collected. The boy looked it over once or twice, made sure that nothing except the most surface-level of damage had occurred, and let out a huff of relief. He raised back to his full height, brushing his knees down with his free hand as he did so. Paying for an item he’d not even had the opportunity to use was hardly his idea of an afternoon well-spent.

Still, there were other things to be concerned with other than the decorative reptile shelter. For one, the boy whom he’d bumped into answered his apology with forgiveness, a gesture that earned an easy smile from the soon-to-be-third-year.

“Ah, thanks,” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “It’s a… house? Shelter? Y’know, like a hidey-hole? For a lizard. Got one of ‘em, myself.”

He shrugged, before turning his attention to what the other lad had been looking at, cats, it seemed. One of whom had the all-too distinct look of being put out. No doubt the other boy had come with the intention of scoping out animals, perhaps in looks of getting a pet himself prior to the new school year.

“Lookin’ at cats?” Nicholas asked, attempting to move the conversation away from his own purchase of the rock.

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba appreciated the kind smile from the boy. He was afraid he might be one of these bigger kids that just liked to blame the little kid for everything. Still, he seemed pretty nice, although not all that graceful. The way he basically dropped the floor to pick up the rock was kind of funny, but Bubba was polite enough not to laugh. Now that he took another look at it he could tell what it was. He'd never had lizards but a couple of kids did at home and as he looked closer he could see what it was.

"Oh ok, yeah, I see it now." He said after reappraising the shelter, "Yeah back home a couple of my friends had iguanas and stuff they had massive terrariums with logs and all sorts of things. They seemed cool, I liked them but there just seemed like a bit more upkeep than I thought I could keep up with." He realized he had probably been rambling for a little bit and decided to try to cover it off with a question, "What kind of lizard do you have?"

He regretted it almost immediately when the boy tried to change the subject. He was immediately afraid that he'd get to rambling again but figured it would be impolite to just stand there and gawk at him. He didn't know why he got like this around new people, he liked talking to people but got nervous when he met someone, being afraid of annoying them. He was clearly a little flustered but he pressed on anyway, "Well, I'm looking at a few different options but yeah, I want to take a pet with me to Hogwarts this year."

He paused for a moment before gesturing in the direction of the cats. "We have a cat back home but I don't want to take him away from there, he's just so used to it. So yeah, I've been checking out the cats. Before we moved we had a Siamese cat and I wouldn't mind getting one of my own. They're very loyal and fun to play with." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I'm also looking at maybe a ferret but I heard they can make some funky smells and I don't know if my dorm mates would appreciate that."

Almost as an afterthought, he realized he didn't know the boy's name, "I'm Bubba, by the way," he said, extending his hand, "Bubba McGarry."

Interacting: @Nicholas McCowan Mentioning: N/A

“Bearded dragon,” Nicholas answered, somewhat sheepishly, “Got him about this time last year actually. Spent most of the last year with him actually.”

He nodded at the younger boy’s response, his own intention to take a pet with him to Hogwarts made clear, “Good plan. Makes the dorm a bit less sterile, gives you a bit of companionship that isn’t an annoying git of a younger year. I mean, not that you were likely to be an annoying git, o’course, just an example, you know?”

Nicholas scratched the back of his head, afraid he’d incidentally offended the other boy. Social grace was hardly in his repertoire and he was about as far as skilled from a wordsmith as one could be. Moreover, however, the topic of conversation was hardly one that he was familiar with. He liked animals, was quite fond of them as a matter of fact, but he barely understood them. So it was that he wasn’t familiar with the allegedly smelly nature of ferrets. Not entirely surprising, granted he’d never met one before. Cats, though, cats he knew. He was dating the equivalent of a teenage crazy cat lady and, more than that, at least a couple of his childhood friends had grown up with the animals.

“Cats are a good animal, I swear half the students roam around the school with a cat or two in tow,” Nicholas answered, “Seem to be more of them then there are students… Testament to them being good pets, y’know?”

He grinned, and accepted the boy’s offered hand with a too-vigorous handshake, the sort that was filled with too strong a grip, a youthful attempt to radiate raw masculinity.

“Nicholas McCowan,” He replied, “Good to meet ya.”

“Can’t say I’ve seen you around, you going into first year? Second year?” Nicholas added, withdrawing his hand and digging it into his pocket lazily, “I’m heading into third myself, Gryffindor.”

With introductions finalised, he peaked over the other boy, Bubba’s, shoulder once more, craning his neck to review the cats.

“That one looks friendly,” He nodded at the closest cat in the cage.

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba had heard of the bearded dragon but had never seen one before. He knew a bit about lizards, enough to know that they weren't really the thing for him. "I think a friend of mine might've had one of those but I'm not sure. It's one of those deals where they seem like cool animals but just not for me. I like something I can hold, scratch behind the ear, stuff like that, and it least seems to me that's probably not something you could do much with a lizard... I could certainly be wrong though."

He could tell the boy was nervous he'd offended him with his statement but didn't mind at all. He thought it was funny and gave him a warm chuckle that would sound genuine because it was. "Don't worry, no offense taken... I have it on good authority that I can definitely be a pain in the ass... well my dad says that at least. Plus, benefit of a pet is that they don't talk back. Sometimes I just want to chill out and not have to talk to anybody."

Bubba was a bit of a contradiction because he could be gregarious and was comfortable at the center of attention, but sometimes he still liked to go into his shell. He personally thought it was more about needing to recharge because he'd been overstimulated. "Trust me, I've noticed, there are cats all over the place. At least I won't have to worry about my cat being lonely when I'm in class or whatever, plenty of cats to hang out and spar with."

"Nice to meet you, Nicholas," He said with a warm smile before asking, "Do you prefer Nicholas or Nick? Or do you not care?"

"I'm going into my second, but I'm not surprised you haven't seen me around." He said as unconsciously ran a hand through his hair, "I spent basically all of my time studying, trying to get good grades... apparently it worked though, they made me a Ravenclaw prefect... Dunno who in their right mind would give me any responsibility but... here we are."

He looked at the cat Nicholas was referring to, "He does... most of them seem to barely acknowledge my presence."

Interacting: @Nicholas McCowan Mentioning: @ N/A

“Fair enough,” Nicholas nodded, “They don’t really do much. George just kinda sits in his terrarium for most of the day, then eats crickets when I feed him. Definitely not as smart as the fuzzy little ones that people run around with. I look into his eyes and see nothin’, just black.”

The boy nodded sagely, as if he had just dispensed great witness to his younger compatriot. Of course, the question as to his name required a great deal more thought and wisdom. For one, he’d never really considered it. Growing up he’d always been Nico, but school had swiftly seen that nickname disappear. Very swiftly he’d become a ‘Nick’, his own name too long for lazy eleven year olds to bother with. He hardly minded it, but he’d never put much thought into whether he identified with the name more than any other, or hell, what name he did identify.

Simply he said, “Either is fine. Hardly matters to me.”

What he didn’t expect was for the American boy to be one of the prefects of Ravenclaw, let alone a second year. That meant that not only had Nicholas failed to accurately guess the boy’s age, he’d also be working relatively closely with his own girlfriend.

“Oh, congrats, Mr Prefect,” Nicholas beamed, putting a firm hand on the other boy’s shoulder, “Watch out for Ranvier though, she’s a menace. Rumour is she pepper sprays people.” The shit-eating grin didn’t fade from the broom racer’s face, even as his eyes peered away from his conversation partner and back toward the assorted animals.

“Cats are a bit like that, aren’t they?” He mused, “Some of them give you all the affection in the world, and some think they’re too good for you.

“Best to get one of the first type, that’s an animal you can actually scritch behind the ears.”

Turning his attention away from the cat, Nicholas allowed his eyes to wander around the shop, taking in the utter chaos that was the menagerie.

“Say, how do you think they get all the animals anyway? They can’t breed them all themselves, can they?”

@Bubba McGarry