[font= Allegra]O[/font]h boy was Remy excited. He had been jumpy for the whole morning, like a buzzing alarm clock refusing to tone it down. And he had a very good reason for it. His mother had promised to take Remy to the magical menagerie to pick a pet. For the duration of the whole summer, the boy had whined and begged for his parents to finally get him a pet. After all, all of his mates seemed to have one!

And so, they had finally arrived. His mother had flunked out of the plot and instead, Remy's grandmother had tagged along. A poor, senile but still witty old woman with gray hair and a sharp gaze resembling that of Remy's. The magical menagerie was a wonderful place. He couldn't contain his excitement and kept letting out all kinds of 'oohs' and 'aahs' upon witnessing all of the animals. They were greeted by an older couple, Remy assumed that they were the shopkeepers. They looked nice, but he didn't bother ogling them for too long. He was surrounded by far more interesting creatures all around than old people.

Take for instance, those pygmy puffs! Remy had never seen anything quite like it. So fluffy, so colorful. His eyes widened at the sight of those little critters, squeaking and squealing, begging to be picked up. He almost extended his hand to touch the fur of those things, and just as he was about to do so, a voice rang behind him.

"No." Remy was rudely reminded of the presence of his grandmother. Right. No pygmy puffs. He could understand that. She was absolutely right. Those things were for girls! Remy was a boy, as far as he was concerned. Who knows what kind of cooties one could get from them! He needed something else. Walking through the shop, attempting not to get distracted by everything in his way, he was surrounded by so many choices it was becoming an impossible task to choose just one. He wanted to adopt them all! Yes, even the fluffy pygmy puffs.

Remy had always had an affinity to rats. Yes, maybe it was all in the name, but he found those little things absolutely adorable. He had even gone so far as to try and capture one of those sewer rats in the abandoned bathrooms of Hogwarts. Not so surprisingly, the attempt was not so successful and he had to let go of his beloved sewer rat, Sharon. Well, more like she had bit herself free from his grip.

Peering into the cage literally infested with rats, he was starstruck, quite audibly gasping. By that time, the shopkeeper had taken notice. A tall man with a gentle look on his face would join Remy in marveling at the rats. "Wonderful, aren't they?" the older male smiled and picked one up. It was a gray rat, a rather fat one on top of that, and Remy was immediately smitten. He extended his hands to cradle the rat, feel its smooth fur in his palms.

"Can't you get anything reasonable? Say, an owl, or even a cat?" his grandmother blinked a few times, her face turning into a frown as she peeked to look at the rat.
"Rats live for an awfully short time too, you know?" she explained, but Remy was beyond sensible arguments anymore.

"But Nan, I like this one!" Remy yelped, already holding the poor rat against his chest as if to protect it from any hands trying to snatch it away from him. He got unimpressed eyes from his grandmother as a response, but her face eventually softened. Remy's pout grew into a large grin as he realized that his grandmother had given up. It was no use trying to fight someone like Remy.

"Shannon! I'm naming it Shannon!" the boy announced in a theatrical voice, holding the rat above his head. He could hear the clinking of coins as his grandmother paid up for a rat, mumbling something about it being the most useless purchase that she had ever done in her whole ripe age of 75. 

"Shannon, my dearest. I promise to love you forever!" Remy exclaimed again in a loud voice as his grandmother shook her head, holding her hand on the back of the boy and leading him out of the menagerie.

"From how I see it, there are two rats in here now."

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What animal do you wish to purchase? Gray rat
What do you want to name it? Shannon
Is this a boy or a girl? A boy
What is your pet's date of birth? 1st of July, 2019