A New Companion (Jae/Nia)

Jaelyn dropped the hood of her dark cloak and turned to the girl next to her as they entered the shop.

"Please Sokol, remind me, why do you need this?" she murmured as she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the filthy beasts that thrived in the shop.

"I am getting myself a birthday present," Ksenia said, simply to the Hitrost girl. "And no I am not getting one of those," she said in disgust as she looked at the ugly beast towards the front of the shop before walking further in.

Jaelyn arched an eyebrow at the Slushatel.

"You wanted a birthday present? You should have told me, Ksenia dear." She sneered at all of the animals in the shop. The girl hated all animals that weren't a cat.

"I could have bought you something much nicer." she murmured, shaking her head.

"I don't want a birthday present from you or anyone else for that matter, Jaelyn. I think the custom is stupid: getting gifts from people who barely know you. I wanted to buy one myself," she said as she walked to the feline section of the shop.

"I suppose you ought to know yourself better than anyone." She sighed, almost lovingly, as they came across the cats section.

"Now these beauties are worth gold." Jaelyn said, scratching a black cat's ear that was lounging on a shelf close to her.

"And you didn't want to come to the shop," Ksenia said with a smirk, her tone almost teasing. She ran her eyes over the small cats that were in front of her. No, that's not what she wanted. They would be like pets and nothing more. They wouldn't be able to do anything with them.

She took a few steps further along the back wall until her eyes came to rest on three spotted cats that were larger then all of the other kittens there. She knelt down to look at them more closely only to see that they were not cats at all. They were leopard cubs. "Goodness," she said under her breath, shocked to see such animals in a shop like this. Slowly she reached out one hand towards them, fascination getting the best of her. The cubs, who were curled around each other, looked up at her as her hand came closer to them. They studied it with their little eyes but did not move otherwise. "Hello,' Ksenia said with a small smile as ran her hand gently over the coat of the cub closest to her. The three looked so similar, there was barely any way to distinguish between them.

Jaelyn shook her head and smirked. "I have a soft spot for cats."

Jaelyn followed closely behind the other girl (just after she had finished stroking the black cat) and raised her eyebrows, impressed by the leopards. She knelt and studied them intently.

"Finely bred. Healthy...." she murmured.

"Gorgeous." Jae finished.

"They are perfect," Ksenia whispered in amazement almost to herself as she watched the young cats.

The cub to the left of lifted its head up as Ksenia reached a hand towards it's sibling, sniffing it. The leopard studied the witch for a few moments before curiosity took over the cub and it stood up, walking towards the witch. "Hello," Ksenia said with a smile once again as she extended her open hand towards the cat, letting it sniff it. After letting the little creature make sure that she wasn't a threat, the witch carefully reached her hand up to stroke it upon its fur. A purr came out of the cub's throat before it moved closer to rub its head against her leg. A smile spread across the girl's lips. "I think I will take this one," she said to Jaelyn.

"Nice choice." she nodded, eyeing the animal.

"Male or female? I can't tell from this angle." Jaelyn frowned.

"Little beauty needs a name, Sokol." she said, resting her chin in her palm.

"Female I believe," Ksenia said, cocking her head slightly to get a better look. "Perfect," she said finally before carefully picking up the cub. Though still a cub she was already the size of an average adult domestic cat.

"Excellent choice, Miss," she shopkeeper said as she carried the leopard over to the front counter. "Getting a leopard here is a rarity. It will cost you five hundred gelleons to buy that little beauty," he said before proceeding to tell her the care that the cub would require in the near future. Ksenia listened carefully, nodding her head towards the shopkeeper. Ten minutes later the Slushatel was making her way out of shop with her new pet in her arms.

"I think I will name her Cleo," she said to Jaelyn who walked beside her.

Jaelyn watched the cub as they were walking and chuckled to herself.

"She'll get a lot larger. You're just going to stroll into Durmstrang with a leopard, Sokol?" she smirked, then frowned a bit.

"You wouldn't mind me borrowing the darling and unleashing her onto a couple of annoying first years from time to time, would you?" Jaelyn asked innocently.

"Sure. Why not?" Ksenia said with a smirk as they continued walking. "I do not believe they said leopards are not allowed into the school specifically." The girl smirked once again.

'Well that would certainly be fun wouldn't it?" she said smirking at her friend. "Maybe a little later. Once she gets used to her new life."

"Ah, loopholes- possibly the greatest discovery...ever, really." Jaelyn sighed, a sly smile creeping onto her lips.

"Where is she going to stay once she's fully grown? And of course, the darling can't feed on first year meat all the time, someone may start to notice them dropping like flies." she laughed.

Ksenia only smirked at that.

"I got some meat for her for now. But the shopkeeper said that she should already be starting to hunt small animals," she said as she stroked Cleo's fur gently who purred in response. "We should be heading back to school now."

"And next- eating enemies. Ah, the fun of it. I think Cleo here was a rather good buy, Sokol." she nodded thoughtfully. "It almost makes me reconsider my own cat. Dear Caesar is the laziest creature that walks the Earth- and how he won my heart, I've no idea." Jae chuckled.

"Back to school with a leopard we go." she smirked, turning her direction back to Durmstrang.