The Newest Hollins Pet

24 December 2023
Carry-on from this thread

Edgar the cat burrowed happily into the fabric of Harmony’s winter jacket, completely ignoring the wonderland of pet-needs his ‘mother’ had just walked into. Melody caught her eye on a series of owls and got distracted with watching them interact and the two Hollins parents busied themselves with the very sensible task of looking for suitable food and other necessities for the sudden addition to the family while Harmony scanned the store with a drive to find the cutest little accessory for Edgar’s first ever Christmas present.

Harmony had been smart enough to owl her parents as soon as she could to let them know about her adoption of Edgar, resulting in only the slightest shocked silence when she returned home for Christmas plus a very serious conversation about the responsibilities of looking after a cat, especially when away at boarding school. Mature-talk aside, Edgar had been spoiled with attention and new experiences, from annoying Emily the owl into liking him to visiting an empty theatre, and he had only been with the whole family for a day. 

Harmony had battled with herself for names for her new friend. She wanted something that meant something; maybe a character she liked from a story? Finally, her options had come down to Antony, after Mark Antony from Julius Caesar, or Edgar, after the character from King Lear, but she’d quickly thrown away the name of Antony after discovering that her father actually had a middle name and that it was that same name. Edgar(the cat) quickly proved to be similar to Edgar(the character) as Harmony watched his initial personality fall away, revealing that it had indeed been a desperate yet skilled deception to protect himself and his loved one. The aforementioned loved one, Rusty, fortunately did not literally burst with joy as Edgar allowed his facade to fall away, and was happily living with Alyssea. It had taken quite a bit of time for Edgar to stop throwing a mighty tantrum every time the two Hufflepuff girls had to separate, but Harmony persevered and grew in the ranks of the grey cat’s eyes, leading to him finally being ok with going Rusty-less to the Hollins’ residence for Christmas.

Which brings the thought-train back to the Magical Menagerie. Harmony attempted to hold Edgar up to look at the various options he could get for Christmas, but his tiny head just swivelled all the way around to look Harmony upside-down in the eyes. “Mew,” he said. 

“I should cut up a bunch of rags and let you be Poor Tom,” Harmony teased, lowering her arms and beginning to slowly walk down the aisles. “You don’t care about clothes, do you? Because you’re a silly boy”. 

Her parents called out for the two Hollins sisters, having found suitable food and preparing to pay, and Harmony began to slightly panic. She didn’t have anything cute for Edgar! What a travesty this was! He would be barren this Christmas, with no accessory to emphasize his cute face! A shout came from nearby and Melody turned the corner, eyes bright and something red dangling from her grasp.
“Look at this!” She shook the red thing in Harmony's face, causing it to jingle. “We should get this!” 
Once Melody stopped shaking long enough for Harmony to get a good look, it was revealed that the red thing was a sparkly red collar with a sparkly red bow and a cute little bell, complete with sparkly, sparkly gold crown images lining the entire thing. 
It was perfect

WC: 589
What animal do you wish to purchase?: Egyptian Mau
What do you want to name it?: Edgar
Is this a boy or a girl?: Boy
What is your pet's date of birth?: 18th September 2022