The Familiar Ferret (oneshot)
The pet store was bustling with young witches and wizards. Each student was looking for a companion in life, fit for their styles and fancies. The building was stuffy but cool, magically kept with a mystifying air. Cats, owls, toads, and rats were displayed in various areas. Numerous different types of animals were advertised and exchanged around the shop. A stray parrot made her way onto the shop owner's shoulder as he exchanged galleons and sickles for owls and bats. Bunnies' ears perked in attention as students browsed and wiggled their noses at cooing little girls. A snake sat coiled around a stand, tasting the air around a young boy's head.
The young boy's wide green eyes were taking in the atmosphere of the pet shop with awe. His hands were wrapped around a small green velvet pouch. The pouch clinked and chimed as he walked, jaw dropped in excitement as he peered up at the animal displays. His father had dropped him off in the shop, alone, to pick out a familiar. The boy was thrilled to have a pet, but now that he could choose whatever he wanted, he was having trouble. Eyeing the owl display, he was uninterested by the standard pet. Nearly every witch or wizard kept an owl. He wanted something more unique, more him, less standard. He didn't think himself extraordinary, as most people saw his family, the Potters, he just saw himself as a bit off the edge of square. Passing by the bunnies without a second glance, he headed for the bats. He wasn't that odd, he concluded after a brief session of insight. No, he didn't like the rats, either... He had heard bad stories about rats.
After making a few rounds of the shop's displays, the boy frowned. He dropped onto a vacant bench in the middle of the shop, watching all the other witches and wizards beg with their parents or giggle with glee. How was he ever going to find his familiar with so many animals to see? Eventually, he just dropped his chin into his hand and balanced his elbow on his knee. He sighed, silently wishing for help as he tossed his purse in the air with his free hand.
A middle aged man draped in fine black robes entered the storefront. He was holding the shoulder of his son, another boy about the same age as the Potter boy. Both the man and the boy were a shocking blond, hair slicked back and aristocratic. The Potter boy didn't notice them walk in; he was immersed in his own personal cloud of melancholy. The middle aged man noticed the Potter, however. The man directed his son towards a display of chirping white birds, making his way towards the green eyed Potter. The man took a seat on the bench beside the boy. He stole a quick glance at him, noting his brooding. He averted his gaze to his own child while addressing Potter. "Can't find your familiar?" he asked quietly.
The boy lifted his head from his fist to regard the man. "Yeah," he answered, cautious of the stranger. He looked awfully familiar. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"No, probably not," the man answered, hiding a small smile. "Your father and I attended school together. I think I might be able to help you find your pet." he rose from his seat, gesturing for the boy to follow.
"Your name is Albus, am I correct?" the man tossed over his shoulder as he guided Albus to one end of the shop.
"Yes." Albus answered as he tried hard to place a name with the face before him. Thinking back to the old photo albums his father kept, he mentally turned the pages, searching for any image, any story his father might have told. Blond hair slicked back, pointy face, fine robes; Al did a tally. Malfoy. Al's eyes widened slightly, his nerves on end. His father didn't talk about the Malfoys very often, but whenever he did, Uncle Ron would glower and Aunt Hermione would go pale. His father would laugh, though; he found their acquaintance funny for some reason. Al decided he'd best keep his knowledge to himself.
"Are you a cat person, Mr. Potter?" asked Malfoy. When Al shook his head 'no', Malfoy smirked down at him, continuing on his way to a very specific display. "None of your family takes to felines then?" Al shook his head again. "Should have guessed you all were more dog people." the last part was directed more towards himself, mumbled pensively as if the statement was undeniable fact.
"Well," Al mumbled, unsure if his opinion really mattered to the Malfoy, "Whenever we visit Rose and Hugo, Mum always says that Aunt Hermione's cat sheds much more than she could ever tolerate..."
"Yes, shedding is quite the nuisance... Here," Malfoy announced, steering Al gently by his shoulder towards the display.
Jumping and bobbing around in the display were several ferrets of different patterns and colors. Al stared, transfixed. There was one ferret, gray and white stripped, bobbing his head up at Al. He seemed to be looking right into Al's core, judging him. Snapping out of his bewitched gaze, Al whipped his head to Malfoy. "How did you know?" he questioned, baffled and enthralled with the creature in the display.
Malfoy smiled, "I had a hunch," he seemed almost sad as he looked down at the ferret.
Al reached into the display and lifted the gray and white ferret out. Cuddling it to his chest, he smiled and laughed, already bound to the creature. "I think I'll call him Drake," Al declared to Mr. Malfoy with a sly smirk on his face. Drake perked up at this in Al's arms, twisting and bobbing his head in approval.
Malfoy nearly bristled at the child's name choice. Instead, he chuckled softly to himself, patting Al on the back and began to steer him towards the checkout counter. His eyes were shining with mirth as they searched out his own child in the crowd. "I'm sure your father will be amused by your choice in naming. If he isn't, your Uncle Ronald will probably be very pleased."
"Why's that?" Al asked. He couldn't think of any reason for his family to like the fact that he had named his familiar after Draco Malfoy of all people. Mr. Malfoy didn't seem inclined to answer Al, opting to shake his head softly and scope out the bustling shop.
As the pair reached the counter, Al reached for his velvet pouch but Malfoy held up his hand and smiled down at Al again. Al began to protest, but Malfoy disregarded him and reached into his robes, pulling out a handful of glittering galleons to place on the counter. "One ferret and that cage, sir," he addressed the shopkeeper politely, pointing out a domed cage behind the counter.
The shopkeeper regarded the ferret in Al's arms for a moment before reaching behind himself and grabbing the cage. He counted the galleons and handed Mr. Malfoy three sickles. Al placed his familiar inside the silver cage with care, still smiling with glee. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy." Al said, looking up at the blond wizard.
"You're welcome," Malfoy smiled down at Albus. The boy was the spitting image of his father. "Take care of that ferret," he warned as he walked away from Al. Al watched on, meandering out of the shop to the street. There, he spotted his father and brother heading into Madam Melkin's Robe Shop.
Draco Malfoy walked up beside his son. "Scorpius, have you chosen your familiar?" he asked, regarding the small rabbit in his son's arms. His brow was slowly creeping towards his receding hairline.
Scorpius was petting the rabbit, grin firmly in place upon his face. He barely spared a glance for his father beside him before presenting the rabbit to him, Rafiki style. "Isn't he, the most, adorable thing you've ever seen?" Scorpius declared, grinning like an idiot up at his father.
Draco flinched at his son's loud enthusiasm in such a public place. The rabbit was, admittedly, adorable. It was small, black, and had blue eyes. It's ears would wiggle and rotate in the direction of any sound in the vicinity. Draco drew his face centimeters from the rabbit's and squinted in his most intimidating Malfoy sneer. The rabbit was impervious, quite like Draco's son. "He suits you. Do you want him?" he asked, straightening back to his full height.
Scorpius's expression was comically over exaggerated. His eyes bulged and his face split in glee. "Yes! Yes! Thank you!" he cheered, snuggling his new bunny back to his chest. "I'm going to spoil him rotten." Scorpius decided, hugging his father's legs with one arm so he could continue to hold his bunny close.
Draco rolled his eyes at his son's antics, soaked up the attention, and pretended he could resist a single one of his boy's demands. "Scorpius Malfoy, you are a hopelessly spoilt Hufflepuff. Thank Merlin you're intelligent, or I just wouldn't stand you," he mumbled to the air around him.
Scorpius pulled away from his father to look up at him. With a grin, he laughed, and whispered conspiratorially, "You deny it all you want, I know you love me and you can't get rid of me." He proceeded to practically skip to the front of the store with his bunny and pay for the pet himself.
Watching the blond head disappear amongst the bustle of the shop, he realized his son was right: he did love him. He wasn't at all inclined to get rid of him either...
Al Potter pushed open the doors of Madam Melkin's robe shop. His father was on the measuring platform, arms outstretched and face quizzical. "Al," he called when he spotted the boy through the mirror. "You've found yourself a familiar already?" he grinned, hopping down from the platform to approach his son properly. "Oh," he faltered, when he got a better look at the ferret in the cage.
Al caught on to his father's confusion and quickly jumped to explain himself. "He's a ferret! Mr. Malfoy bought him for me," Al smiled hesitantly. He felt as though he had been naughty for some reason.
"Mr. Malfoy, ehh?" His father questioned, scratching his head and looking rather confused. "Well, you like this little guy?"
"Yes, very much," Al smiled down into the cage.
"Alright," His father crouched down to eye level. "Have you named him?"
"Drake," Albus answered and Harry Potter nearly fell over and choked on his own spit. "Mr. Malfoy helped me pick him out, so I thought it only proper to name the little guy after him." Harry Potter was laughing heartily, eyes to the sky, mentally questioning the logistics of probability and fate.
"Very good," Harry murmured, poking his fingers into Drake's cage to pet the ferret. "Drake."
"Al! You've gotten yourself a ferret!" James laughed in amusement as he swooped into the room from a changing stall. "You know, your familiar says a lot about your character. Does this mean you're a sneaky little ferret, snooping around and getting into trouble?" James teased, rattling Drake's cage. "What's the thing's name?"
"Drake," Al answered, trying to shield the cage from James. "Stop shaking his cage, you buffoon. You're gonna hurt him."
"You named your ferret Drake? Is that supposed to be intimidating, or cute?" James laughed at Al's crestfallen expression and continued on his appraisal of the ferret. "You know, when Da, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were in school, Draco Malfoy was transfigured into a ferret. Caused quite a spectacle; he got shoved down some dude's pants"
"What? Really?" Al looked over his shoulder at the pet shop he had just left. "He was transfigured into a ferret?" Al thought back to Mr. Malfoy and imagined the regal man as an unfortunate little ferret being sent through some guy's pants. Poor fellow.
"I bet you're a Slytherin," James looked down at his little brother with a smug smirk.
"Don't say that James!" Al pleaded to his older brother.
"Slytherin's where all the bad kids go. They like dark magic there. You're gonna be a dark wizard, aren't you?" James antagonized, swooping down to rattle Drake's cage with emphasis
Harry watched his children, wondering over brotherly dynamics that he would never really understand. "James, you know that's not true. Slytherins are people too. Now stop teasing your brother, we need to be at Olivander's in ten minutes." He left it at that, ordered his sons' robes for the year, and swept out of the store. His son had named his pet ferret Drake. I guess life is funny that way, he thought as he listened to his children bicker behind him in the light August air.
AN: Don't forget to Review! My explanation to the ferret Al has in the epilogue for Deathly Hallows. I had to: ever since my friend pointed it out to me it's just… been there. I just had to! All signs point to Al being a Slytherin, just saying. XD