A/N: You people are awesome, you know that? Forty reviews have been reached! Thus, below is your reward, as promised. Oh, and this one - like the new quotes at the beginnings of Fox Wish chapters - has things other people have said to/about Albus or Ciel. I thought it was interesting, anyway.

Title: Fox Kits

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: Ciel/Elizabeth

Genre: Friendship

Warnings: None

Summary: Albus meets Ciel one day in a bookstore in Diagon Alley.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.

"Welcome, boy. On an errand for your father?" – Walking Stick Crafter (Kuroshitsuji)

Albus looked up at his mother and smiled. "We can go to the bookstore now, right?" he asked hopefully.

Kendra laughed softly. "Fine, Albus. Yes, we can go to the bookstore."

Albus grinned and instantly ran off in the direction of said bookstore, leaving behind his mother, who shook her head slowly, amused.

Albus burst into the bookstore, as he had many times before, and headed straight for the advanced section. He'd already read all of the assigned first year books, but they weren't enough. He wanted more. He wanted to understand, not just know.

His gaze fell on a boy who was just entering, who was accompanied by a black-haired man. And was that an eye patch on the boy? How strange.

Albus paused, hovering just on the other side of the shelf. The boy seemed a bit young to have an eye patch, he mused, probably not even a first year, and fragile-looking to boot. But then the boy split off from the man and headed straight for the first year section. Ah. Just small for his age, then. But still fragile.

He continued to watch, task forgotten, as the boy went through the books. Each one he pulled out seemed to make him progressively more frustrated, until finally he put them all back on the shelf and moved on to the second year section, a bit closer to where Albus himself was, in the fourth year's area. The boy didn't seem any more pleased with those, and Albus suppressed a chuckle, but didn't bother to bite back a smile. Finally, someone who seemed to understand!

Albus made a split second decision and started toward the boy. He took a quick peek at the books and nearly grinned. Magical theory. It was one of Albus' favorites, too.

He reached out and tapped the boy on the shoulder. He shut the book and looked up at Albus, curiosity and a hint of wariness dancing in one startlingly blue eye, and Albus paused to muse on the eye patch for another moment before explaining himself.

"I noticed that you seemed interested in magical theory," he explained. No need for the boy to have to go through every book till fourth year like he had. It was a waste of time. "It's an interest of mine too, but most of the detailed books are in the fourth years' section. They're simple enough, really, so I wondered if you would be interested in going through them with me." He glanced at the title of the particular book Ciel was looking at – he'd seemed, well, not pleased, but not displeased with it – and recognized it as one he'd looked at himself. "I looked at that one earlier and it should be good as a reference if we don't understand something from the higher level books, but don't be fooled by the table of contents; it's not actually very detailed." Which frustrated Albus. If you were going to go over so much material, why not do it right?

He inwardly shook himself and waited patiently as a considering look flickered through the cerulean gaze, his own ice looking expectantly at the boy. If he said no, well, that would just prove that Albus didn't get along with his peers. If he said yes, his mother would stop pushing him to start talking to people his own age. Hopefully. If she believed him, anyway. He suppressed a chuckle; yes, he was willingly talking with someone who wasn't an adult or related to him. Aberforth would never believe this.

Finally, the boy replied, sounding almost resigned, "I may as well."

Albus smiled at him, pleased, and then started to lead the smaller boy to the fourth years' area. Oh, right. He hadn't introduced himself. "My name is Albus Dumbledore," he told him over his shoulder.

"I am Ciel Phantomhive."

Ciel? Oh, Phantomhive. He recognized that name, sort of. Hm, maybe his mother wouldn't be so pleased, then – the Phantomhives were a Grey family, much darker than Albus' own Light one. Still, Kendra couldn't do much about it if she didn't find out until they were at Hogwarts.

They quickly reached the section and Albus pointed the 'theory cluster' out to Ciel, who nodded in acknowledgement and then began to look through the shelves.

A while later, Albus glanced at Ciel as he pulled another book off the shelf. Catching sight of the title, Albus grinned. Ha, Phantomhive would be unafraid of Dark magic. Still, it was nice to see he wasn't the only one with few compunctions against it. "That interests you, huh? That's borderline Dark magic. It's very powerful, but controversial. I don't mind it myself, but if you're going to look into it, you best keep it to yourself."

"Indeed," Ciel murmured, opening the book with a very clear interest.

It was a while later when Albus glanced up again. A girl had attached herself to Ciel, who didn't looked displeased, but did seem rather flustered. Albus chuckled and looked back down. Now, this was an interesting look into elemental magic… He ignored the commotion in front of him, barely remembering to respond when Ciel said good-bye.

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually he became aware that Kendra was standing over him, looking down at him with fond exasperation. "Oh, hello, Mum."

Kendra nearly laughed as he stood, gathering up his books. "Hello, Albus, good of you to acknowledge my presence."

Albus didn't blush. He didn't.

"You spent the entire time reading, didn't you?" she accused, tone fighting amusement.

"No!" Albus said defensively. "I talked with Ciel some."

Kendra nearly perked up. "Oh? So you made a friend."

Albus rolled his ice blue eyes. "I didn't make a friend, Mum. We just talked some." Not that he would mind making friends with Ciel, but that wasn't the point. They weren't friends. Judging from what little he'd seen of the boy's personality, Ciel didn't want to be friends, either.

Kendra chuckled softly. "Whatever you say, Albus."

There it is! I put a lot more of Albus' thoughts into it, because I didn't want it to be too similar. I mean, the same things happened and the same things were said, so the thoughts were the only things I could add/change. Mostly. Oh, well. Hope you liked it! Please review! Next Fox Kit is when Ciel's servants received his letter home, and the one after that Albus' family and his letter, at sixty and eighty reviews respectively (not AS much when you realize it's twenty reviews for each, right? *hopeful look) or chapters fifteen and twenty. Please review!