{April MP} [Sugar & Spice] ~soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur (Reena)

...happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr~

"Awwwww! Reena, look how cute this one is!" Abby almost squealed at her friend, picking up one of the smaller calico half-Kneazle kittens, as it attempted to scamper past her. The tiny feline mewed quietly in protest as the young Hufflepuff carefully held it further away from her in order for the other blonde-haired girl to get a better look at it. "Isn't she so sweet?" Beaming, she turned to more fully face Reena, who was sitting on one of the comfy cushions beside her, placing the colourful kitten in her lap and slowly petting it after she'd repositioned herself properly. "Do you know what colour of kitten you want? Or what breed? Would you prefer a full Kneazle or a half one?" Abby wasn't normally the type to be so openly chatty and enthusiastic, but the Adoption Day at Sugar & Spice had brought out a new side of her personality. She hadn't been this genuinely excited about something in a long time and the normally-reserved witch was being much more outgoing than she usually tended to be because of that.

When she'd first seen the notices for the special April Hogsmeade weekend, the 13-year-old had felt like jumping around the Hufflepuff Common Room and whooping with joy. She'd already grown to adore the small wizarding village and its cozy critter cafe, but the thought of being able to see and interact with adorable half or full magical kittens for an entire weekend was almost more than the small blonde could handle. She, of course, loved cats. They were her favourite animal and her family had owned at least one of the furry creatures for most of her life. Abby would have probably adopted one of the kittens herself, if she didn't already have her own cat, Casper (who was not only her chosen animal companion at Hogwarts, but also one of her best friends, human or otherwise). She'd chosen to leave her white feline back in her dormitory that day though, knowing her focus and attention would be completely taken up by all of the cute baby Kneazles.

The young Hufflepuff would have willingly gone to the exciting event all on her own, but Reena had, somewhat surprisingly, offered to accompany her the week before, stating she was considering adopting one of the kittens for herself. Abby had instantly agreed to go with her yearmate, eager to help her pick out one of the tiny cats to bring back to the castle with her. The two girls were quite different, both in terms of their personalities and upbringings, but they'd always managed to get on quite well, regardless, even after Reena had been seriously injured during the previous Beginning-of-Term and ended up going to Beauxbatons for most of the school year. Abby enjoyed spending time with the confident Slytherin and wasn't nearly as intimidated or put off by her occasional bossiness as she used to be.

"You haven't had any pets before, right? Not even a family-owned one?" Abby asked Reena as she sipped from her luke-warm cup of tea. She placed it safely back down near the middle of the short, round table they were both sat around, so as to prevent any of the rambunctious kittens from accidentally knocking it over. "I didn't even think to ask you before now, but do you love cats? Is that why you decided to adopt one of the kittens today?"

Permission from Samm to post this late. <333

Reena pleaded by owl to her parents for an entire week of back and forth letters to be able to adopt a kitten at Sugar & Spice. She promised she would take care of it, feed it, love it, pick up after it, she did her best to go down the entire list of things a cat did and tried her best to come up with a case for her owning a kitten. She had to defend her stance, and give a good enough reason besides 'I want one'. She had been granted approval after she said she'd pay for it with her allowance money. The kitten was free, everything else wasn't. Her parents wanted her to know she was taking care of a little life.

She had overheard Abby mention she wanted to go, and it was a no-brainer that the Slytherin wanted to have some alone time with her Hufflepuff. She asked to join Abby to the cafe, stating she wanted to adopt a kitten, and wanting Abby to be excited about it - asked her to help. Admittingly, the third year knew nothing about pets, and only enough about animals because of Care of Magical Creatures, but she didn't believe that counted in this case.

So the witch was a little nervous as she sat on the cushion on the floor, the kittens crawling all over the place. They were so little, and so adorably cute. "Awwww!" Reena exclaimed as Abby showed off the small calico kalf-Kneasle. "That one is colorful," she wasn't really aware how many different colors and types there were. The possibilities would be endless with the amount of combinations if she really thought about it.

"I..." her eyes widened, feeling slightly overwhelmed with what a decision it was to pick one cat. What kind? Abby was truly excited about the event, Reena could tell, as she was lobbing questions at Reena faster than she could process them. The thirteen year old pet a kitten as it walked passed her, "a half-Kneazle," she affirmed with a nod.

"No," she fell silent for a moment, "we don't have pets." She shifted her weight on the cushion. "It wasn't really discussed." Whenever she brought up the idea of a pet, her parents tried to reason her out of it. It worked for a little while, even skipping buying a pet before her first year because she was lead to believe that she wasn't able to take care of it for numerous reasons including always being busy with school work and after-class activities. Things changed though, she wanted to have a kitten, because she wanted a companion. She felt so alone. Maybe that was why her parents eventually gave in, to give her a chance to blossom. "But my parents said it's okay to have one now."

"I like cats. They're... different. They're smarter than some of the other pets I have seen." She reached out for a half-Kneazle half-ragdoll, petting the kitten gently. "This one is fluffy," she pulled the kitten closer to her. The half-Kneazle went limp, accepting its fate. "There's so many Abby..." she softly spoke, still feeling the burden of the decision as she gently cradled the fluffball with big ears in her lap. "How did you pick Casper? How did you know he was the one?"

Abby waited patiently for Reena to answer her questions, continuing to methodically pet the calico kitten in her lap as she did so. She nodded as her yearmate stated she wanted a half-Kneazle. "Good choice! Then you can have parts of both a normal cat and a magical one. That's what I'd choose too, if I was adopting one myself." The young Hufflepuff looked around at all the tiny cats, a glimmer of longing in her eyes. They were just so cute! She'd get one one day, she was sure.

"Really? Not even once? Did you at least ask for one?" The sympathetic teenager frowned, almost feeling sad that her friend had never had the experience of owning a pet before. Abby couldn't imagine not growing up with some sort of animal companion. She wondered how different, even lonely, her childhood would have been without her family's two (now three) cats living with them. "Well, that's good. I'm glad." Her small frown quickly turned into a big smile, the blonde-haired witch being genuinely pleased that the Slytherin had finally received permission to get her own pet. "Do you know what changed their minds?"

The 13-year-old couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her mouth. "Yes. They are a bit different, aren't they? They're definitely smart though too, at least for the most part." Abby had seen Casper skillfully stalk and catch a bird or mouse in the garden behind her house many times, but she'd also seen him clumsily run into things for no apparent reason just as often. There didn't seem to be a middle ground between the two behaviours. He was either in peak form or a total klutz.

"Awwww! He is!" Unable to resist the temptation, the young Hufflepuff leaned forward slightly so she could quickly feel the half-Ragdoll's soft fur. "I've never seen one of them in person before. It's so cute how they go limp like that. Their name's very fitting, now that I think about it." Sitting back normally, Abby took a long sip from her tea, knowing she should probably try to finish it before it got completely cold. The colourful kitten she'd placed in her lap had seemed to take a liking to her, as it had curled up in a tiny ball and fallen fast asleep. The small blonde knew it was going to be hard to leave the adorable feline behind, when she'd eventually have to go back to the castle.

Abby almost smirked at Reena's woeful statement. Her yearmate was obviously feeling the pressure to try to choose the "perfect" cat for her. "Well... In a way, he picked me. I - or, well, my mum - wasn't looking to buy another cat that day, but when I saw Casper in the Magical Menegerie and how sad and lonely he looked, I knew he needed to come home with us. I couldn't leave him there. I didn't necessarily have an instant connection with him then, but I do think he was meant to be with me, especially knowing how close and special our bond is now." The third year suddenly wished her white cat was there with her, so she could hug and kiss him. She picked the snoozing kitty up from her lap instead, lightly kissing her forehead before flipping her onto her back and gently cradling the half-Kneazle in her arms.

"So, I think, you just need to see if you can find a kitten here, today, that you feel some sort of connection or bond with, whatever their colouring or breed. You'll have a certain feeling when you've picked 'the one', I'm sure." Grinning, Abby nodded in the direction of the half-Ragdoll that her friend was still holding. "What about that guy? Do you feel anything special towards him?"