Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites, or alerts so much! *Hands out cyber goodie bags.* These next two chapters are going to be flashbacks necessary to understand chapter 12. Also, the story cover was drawn by me. Which took longer than you might expect lol; at one point I had to redraw it because, amongst other things, Tracey's arm wasn't properly attached, but in the cover on screen it is correctly attached, and she will not need surgery for her arm, lol. The characters in the cover from left to right are: Daphne, Arla, and Tracey. Anyway, this chapter takes place in the summer before third year… please enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters used in this, except for my OC Arla Paxton.

Chapter 10: Pets

Every Slytherin girl in Tracey's year had a pet. Everyone except Tracey, that is. Pansy, Daphne, and Arla all had owls. Millicent had a black cat with fur that matched her hair, and it was vicious towards anyone other than its owner (If only because it was frightened of her) who got in its way, except for Pansy, who it seemed to like. Tracey personally did not understand this, being as Pansy hated the cat, and was always annoyed whenever it got in her way. Daphne had one possible theory for this that could be summed up in four words: "Evil cat, evil girl."

Personally, Tracey believed she was right. The real problem for Tracey though was that she was the only Slytherin girl in her year without a pet…. And she was determined to get one.

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It was the summer before third year began that Tracey decided that this year she would like a pet for her birthday instead of some Muggle things or a visit to Ireland like last year. It was a few weeks before her birthday that she brought this idea up to her parents. They agreed, and went into Diagon Alley to go window shopping for what pets she might like. Tracey did not know what she wanted to get, exactly. Students at Hogwarts were allowed a cat, a dog, or a toad. (Although despite this, Ron Weasley was able to keep his pet rat, Scabbers. Hmmm….)

Tracey wanted to buy an animal that would make people look at her pet in wonder. Since her parents would not let her violate school rules, that left the three choices. An owl would be the most practical one to get. Whenever she wrote home she would use one of the school owls, or borrow Daphne or Arla's. If she had an owl of her own, she wouldn't have to rely on anyone else for an owl; she could be more independent. However, it was always easy to acquire and use an owl at Hogwarts, so in actuality it wasn't really that necessary. Moreover, a birthday gift, in Tracey's mind, shouldn't be a gift you actually need. It should be something fun and frivolous.

She knew having a pet took great responsibility, due to the fact she would be the only caring for it at Hogwarts, and she wanted a pet she would know was right as soon as she laid eyes on it. Owls mainly were able to take care of themselves, but maybe it was because it was so sensible for her to get an owl it made her less certain about getting one.

She considered a toad, but she suspected she would turn into the female Slytherin version of Neville Longbottom: Always losing her toad. Tracey bore no grudges against Neville, but she could not deny he was always losing Trevor. Lord knew she was forgetful enough as it was without having to wonder where an amphibian was. A cat would be nice, but what if it had a problem with Millicent's cat? Millicent's cat didn't seem like it would get on well with other animals.

Tracey and her family wandered around all day, looking for a pet, and while Tracey being an animal person liked looking at all of them, she couldn't find one she wanted to keep. Finally, while they were at the Magical Menagerie, she saw him: There he was. A beautiful Siamese cat. And in that instant, Tracey knew: He was the one. She didn't care whether or not Millicent's cat would get along with hers, or how responsible she would have to be with it, she wanted him so badly that she was able to put up with all of that. Tracey enjoyed her birthday present very much that year, needless to say.

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