The jingle of the bell on the door woke Crookshanks from his nap. Yet another customer at the Magical Menagerie who wouldn't be interested in him, no doubt. He hated this stupid shop. How had he ever ended up here? He wasn't even going to bother paying attention, but he smelled something … funny. He opened his eyes and stared down from the top of his bookshelf at the three people who had just entered the store: two boys and a girl.
The girl turned around, almost as if she was sensing someone watching her. She had a nice look about her, something he knew he should recognize. She smelled good too. But right then, one of the boys pulled something out of one of his pockets. That was it, the funny smell. It was a rat, but it wasn't a rat. It didn't smell right.
Crookshanks got up and started stalking closer. It smelled … bad, wrong somehow. The closer he got, he sensed it—an evil so clever it tricked all around it. He jumped onto the top of highest cage and watched its whiskers wiggle. This thing, whatever it was, was up to no good.
That's when he jumped. If only he could kill it before it hurt anyone else, especially the girl. But his aim wasn't quite right. He missed the counter and landed on top of the boy's head.
"OUCH!" the red-headed boy screamed. But Crookshanks didn't care. He had to kill that thing. He propelled himself, spitting madly at the rat that wasn't a rat.
"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!" cried the witch behind the counter. As if that had ever stopped him before. The rat shot from between her hands, landed on the floor and scrabbled for the door. Crookshanks couldn't let him get away. It was bad and had to be stopped. He ran after it.
He could hear the red-headed boy scream after him, "Scabbers!" and he heard footsteps behind him. He had to catch that rat! But then he felt something stop him, something beyond his control that grabbed him around the middle like a rope. The two boys ran past him after the rat and he knew he had lost. He hadn't even been able to succeed in stopping a stupid rat.
He felt old and useless. No wonder no one wanted him. Then he felt a tug around his middle, a tug that was pulling him backwards. What now?
Then there were hands, small hands that were gingerly picking him up. He looked up into a pair of beautiful eyes. It was the girl from the shop. He looked into her eyes and saw her for what she was: loyal, hard-working, friend. And again he recognized something he saw there, something he couldn't name.
"It's okay, big guy," she was cooing to him as she walked back with him. And she rubbed his ears in that special way that made him feel like he was King of the world. No one had rubbed his ears in ages. He closed his eyes and purred with sheer bliss.
Then he heard the bell jingle on the door of the shop again. His eyes flew open and he saw that he was back in that horrid shop. She was taking him back! His heart sank.
The witch came around the counter, waving her arms in distress. "Oh my goodness, that cat!" she practically spit in disgust. "He's always up to no good." She held out her hands for him. "Thank you for bringing him back."
But what was this? The girl wasn't letting him go. "I want to buy him," she said. And he felt his heart soar in a way he had forgotten it could. He looked up into her eyes and he saw it there again, that thing he couldn't name. And this time he recognized it. It was home.
Disclaimer: These characters are not of my own creation. They are the sole property of JK Rowling, authoress extraordinare.