House: Gryffindor

Category: Theme (Pets)

Prompt: Castelobruxo

Word Count (without AN): 554

Beta: Kurotsuba Thanks Tsu!

-AN Guariba-boia is the howler monkey snake from Brazilian folklore. Iara is a freshwater mermaid myth. Iemanjá is an Afro-Brazilian sea goddess. Trouxa is the Portuguese word for muggles. All facts/notes are according to Wikipedia, A Book of Creatures, and HP wikia. I do not speak Portuguese, so forgive my mistakes.


"Would you read this? I just received a letter from my pen pal at Hogwarts," said Miguel Álvarez. He handed the thin piece of parchment over to his dorm mate to peruse. "He says that Hogwarts only allows its students to bring an owl, a cat, or a toad along with them to school. Can you imagine?"

"No!" replied his friend, Tómas. "You mean I would have had to leave my Iemanjá at home if I attended Hogwarts?" The capybara in question let out a soft snore from the foot of Tómas's bed. "Who would want an owl anyway? They're bad omens."

"According to Bill, the English use owls instead of macaws to deliver their mail! He says that it's pretty common throughout Europe."

Miguel flopped over on his bed and stretched. His pet guariba-boia, Iara, slithered along his body and came to rest by his shoulders. Miguel gave the serpent's mane an indulgent scratch and his pet hissed in pleasure.

"I can't imagine being at Castelobruxo without Iara. She's been my faithful companion since I was five years old and did my first bit of accidental magic."

"Really?" asked Tómas. "What happened?"

"You know my parents are sem-magia, right?" Miguel waited for his friend to nod before continuing. "Well, we were celebrating my mother's birthday. We were outside having a picnic when Iara here jumped out of a tree and landed right on my sister's plate. Everyone but me started screaming and my father tried to attack Iara with a knife. I had an overwhelming urge to protect her and wound up freezing my father in place with a wave of my hand!"

"Wow! How did your family react to that?"

"My sister promptly fainted. My mother just stared at Iara as though she expect her to eat her at any moment. Luckily, la policia de magia responded quickly. They took control of the whole situation, unfroze my father, and allowed me to keep Iara as my pet."

"I'm surprised you were allowed to keep her, to be honest," Tómas noted. "It's unusual for a sem-magia child to have a magical creature for a pet. It's a risk to the International Statute of Secrecy."

"Guariba-boia are unique. She bonded with me the first time she saw me. If they had removed her, she would have started howling. That ear-piercing cry can be heard from ten kilometers away. I think that would have posed a bigger risk of revealing magic to the trouxa if all the people in my city went deaf from Iara's wailing."

Tómas laughed so loud that he woke Iemanjá. The disgruntled capybara raised her head to give the two boys a glare. She then stretched her long body and shuffled out of the room, no doubt in search of a snack.

Miguel checked his watch and groaned. "We've got to head to Herbology. Professor Fernandez will have my head if I'm late again."

Begrudgingly, Tómas collected his books and handed Bill Weasley's letter back to his friend.

Miguel set the parchment down on the desk and promised himself that he'd respond that evening and express his dismay at Hogwarts' silly rules limiting what type of pets you could bring. The thought of possibly being separated from his beloved Iara was just awful. Castelobruxo was far superior to Hogwarts, he concluded.