Written for the Houses Competition, Year 2 Round 10
House: Hufflepuff
Year: Prefect 1 (stand-in)
Category: Short
Prompt: [Animal] Hampster
Word Count: 991
Beta: Aya
Victoire stared at it.
What was it?
Teddy said it was something called a hempsti, no, a hamstar, no, that wasn't right either.
She hadn't quite seen anything like it before.
It looked like it was a weird combination of a mouse and a chipmunk.
She didn't mind being around rodents, but owning one? No thank you.
But she couldn't refuse Teddy.
It was their two-year anniversary last week, and that's when he presented her with this thing.
Why couldn't he just give her jewelry, like a normal boyfriend?
But she wasn't complaining. She loved Teddy to death.
But a girl has needs sometimes.
Like getting something decent for her anniversary, instead of a rodent-thing.
Was he picking fun at her name? Weasley may sound like weasel, but it's now one of the most respected names in the Wizarding World.
When he gave her this thing, he said that it was a popular Muggle pet for children, although they came in a magical variation. He told her that his grandmother gave him one named Mr. Tibbles as a child. He had fond memories with Mr. Tibbles, and wanted her to have some of her own memories with her own mouse-chipmunk.
He came with a cage, a weird little water bottle that attaches to the bars of the crate, a food bowl, a strange wheel, and an instructional book just in case she forgot how to take care of him.
She would have given him to Louis, but the little brat was at Hogwarts and didn't have time for taking time for the thing.
She questioned her mum about it, but her mother had as little idea about it as Victoire did. Same with her dad. Her grandma Molly stared at it in disgust, probably because she thought it was a mouse. Grandpa Arthur was completely amazed by the creature, and tried to take it from her, but she refused. She knew that Teddy would be heartbroken if she gave it away, especially if it were to her Muggle-enthused grandfather.
She decided to keep the thing. She put the cage in her room, read that whatever it was liked to eat vegetables, so she went to the market earlier that day and bought some carrots and broccoli, chopped them up, and put them in a bowl for him. He happily ate them up, then walked to the wheel thing in his cage, stepped inside it, then started running. Victoire watched in amusement as the little guy ran faster and faster, but was going nowhere and just kept the wheel spinning.
She must admit, he was adorable.
She checked the book again (Hamsters! That's what they were called!) to see why he did this. Turns out, that was what he did for exercise. It was definitely entertaining watching him run around going nowhere.
She decided to name him Chip, because he looked like a chipmunk. He was brown and white, with a black spot on his back.
Victoire became attached to this little fellow. Every day, when she came home from St. Mungo's, where she worked as a Healer, she would throw off her robes and rush to see how he was doing. He always greeted her by running to the front of his cage and put his paws up on the bars when he saw her. She would then take him out of the cage and pet him in her hands.
When Teddy would come to pick her up at her flat for dinner, to hang out at her place, or to spend the night, he would always pay a visit to Chip and coo at him with a silly baby voice that Victoire found adorable.
When Dominique and Louis came home for the summer, she introduced them to Chip. They fell in love with him and begged their mum to let them have one.
Soon there was Hank.
Hank was Dominique and Louis's tan hamster whom they adored. When time came for them to go back to school, Victoire ended up with two hamsters.
It was a hassle at first, because Hank and Chip hated each other. So much so that they refused to be in the room together. But about a month after Hank moved in with her, her and Teddy decided to get a place of their own.
Hank and Chip were present when Teddy got down on one knee and proposed. Victoire could have sworn that they cheered when she said yes.
The day that they got married, they were there. Her brother and sister held the two rodents as they exchanged their vows.
What Teddy never told her was that hamsters only live to around two to three years. She wept as Chip passed away in her hands.
It took some time, but soon Victoire was begging her husband for a new hamster.
Gus was the name of this next one. He was white with black spots. Victoire was overjoyed when Teddy gave her him.
She loved him even more than Chip, which she thought was physically impossible. He did this adorable thing when presented a treat: he would stand up on his hind legs and beg like a dog, which neither Hank nor Chip had done before.
Gus was the second of many.
Throughout the years, Victoire probably owned en hamsters. She got hooked on an addiction.
When her children got to the right age, she would take them to get a hamster of their own. They usually didn't pick a hamster, though, because they knew their mum only wanted them to have them is because she would get to take care of them when the kids left for Hogwarts.
When she got older, most ladies would decide to own a ton of cats, but Victoire was a crazy hamster lady.
Hamsters are a kids' pet, said Victoire never.