Josephine absentmindedly scratched the base of Nikolay's dark ears, the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the bay window and warming the tatty, floral-print sofa beneath them. But as her mind drifted back to the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter lying open on the coffee table, and the contents of McGonagall's morning visit, her thoughts started racing—and with her fingers tense in Kolya's long silken fur—her heart along with it.
Reincarnating into an earlier time, with a different body and unquestionably different life—fortunately, in an arguably familiar city—was something Josephine admittedly at times still struggled to believe, this, on the other hand, on top of everything so far, was another fucking thing entirely.
Huddled together with the ragdoll, the rangy brunette pulled Kolya's floppy body closer into her tingly arms. Her pulse hammered against her chest, beating in her ears. Jo swallowed down the unwelcome sob that welled painfully in her parched throat.
It was when Kolya rumbling purr washed over her, however, that Josephine allowed her wet eyes to flutter shut, turning away from the sunlight soft and warm against her face.
(She couldn't be in Harry Potter... She couldn't—)