Not Alone (Hyacinth/Jory)

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Suddenly, Hyacinth was knocked to the ground, and Remiel tumbled out of his coat. She hissed and spat as a group of large men wearing pointy black hats and capes started beating him up. Filthy Mudblood! they growled. One of them grabbed at Jory too. Let's get them! Let this be a lesson! If you were real wizards, you'd have protected yourselves! With Hyacinth's last breath, he prayed for their souls. The end.

---

"I see the pet shop," Hyacinth said, as though his writer hadn't tried to kill him off to create interest.

[Jory Addison]

"Yeah, come on," Jory said, letting the subject drop. He needed to actually buy something this time. How many times had he been in here without buying a pet? It was past his time to contribute, but he was kind of glad he had waited. Maybe he could get something big to cuddle with instead of something small. The bell over the door tinkled merrily as they went in, and Jory was immediately glad for the warmth of the building. "So what do you think?" he asked, moving right for the pygmy puff display. He couldn't help it, the things were adorable.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth smiled, though Jory wasn't looking at him anymore. "I think that you like the puffs," he said. Jory had brought him immediately to the fluffy, humming things when they'd first come here together, though they'd ended in leaving with Remiel. He pulled the cat out of his jacket now, and held her comfortably against his chest with one arm. She blinked, and her ears perked.

[Jory Addison]

Jory grinned. "I can't help it, I mean really, look at them." A pygmy puff wouldn't be enough for him, though, however much he liked them. Maybe he could get a puff someday, maybe he'd end up with an apartment full of various pets. Right now, he just wanted something for company. He gave a tan puff a final stroke before slipping over to the side of the store to look at the other pets. Did he want a cat? Not particularly, and there were enough cats running around Hogwarts, anyway.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

"You will not get a puff?" Hyacinth asked. He blinked down at the little furballs, which Remiel was watching with avid curiosity. He'd been sure that Jory would get one, or maybe a fluffy cat. "There are cats," he pointed out. "That one is large, and it has long fur." He eyed it, wondering if Rem would ever grow that large, or if she would stay at her current weight of four pounds forever.

[Jory Addison]

"Well, a puff is so small, and they don't do a lot but look cute," Jory said. "I'm alone a lot more now, you know? I want something that'll keep me company." He eyed the cats before turning to the dogs, not all cats were like Remiel. He hadn't really considered a dog, but he'd had one before and liked them. It was always nice when he managed to see Dare or Michael out with one or both of their dogs.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth could tell that Jory was thinking, but didn't know what he was thinking. It seemed like he didn't want a cat though, since he'd walked past them. As they headed toward dogs, Hyacinth's free hand came up and rested lightly on Remiel's back. He didn't want to risk her jumping down and running like she had in Hogsmeade. She was surprisingly fast.

[Jory Addison]

"If I got a young one, it'd be easy to teach it to treat Rem nice," Jory said, looking over at Hyacinth. Any pet he got would need to be introduced to the little cat, a dog really wouldn't be much different, especially if it was an easily trainable one. He thought to how much money he'd brought, wondering how much a full set of dog supplies would set him back.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

"You like a dog?" Hyacinth asked. He trusted Jory, but still worried that Remiel might jump. Of course, he worried a little any time an animal larger than her approached, especially after meeting that other cat. It was a blessing that she'd been left unharmed.

"Big dog like professors? Maybe a small dog?" He remembered the ones with forked tails, and hoped that Jory wouldn't get one of those.

[Jory Addison]

"Maybe not as big," Jory said as he walked the kennels. "But little ones are loud and yippy and jumpy." His family's dog had just been a simple mutt of an unknown number of breeds. Happy, hopeful puppies looked up at him as he looked, but the one that caught his eye had bright blue ones of its own set in a fuzzy, pastel face. "Hello, there," he said. The puppy responded with an enthusiastic wagging of a stumpy, fluffy tail, ears perked.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

"Ah, it is so cute!" Hyacinth exclaimed. "It has many colors," he added in admiration. He gave Jory a teasing glance. "It is like a person I know." His own hair streaked with blue-greys and orange-browns in mirror of the little canine.

[Jory Addison]

Jory smiled broadly and glanced toward the counter for permission before reaching in to pick up the wiggling puppy. "Oh she's so soft! Feel," he said, turning to Hyacinth. The puppy looked curiously between the two of them and Rem. "Hyacinth, I might be falling in love." He could handle a dog, he had plenty of time to take care of one, and his apartment wasn't super far from the front gates.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth gave a soft laugh at Jory's excitement, then looked down at Remiel before finally moving his hand. "Ah, it is soft!" he echoed. He looked from the puppy, with its long, thick fur, to Jory. "It is she? It is girl?" he asked. Jory had called it she, but Hyacinth didn't know how to tell.

[Jory Addison]

"I think so," Jory said. He looked over at the card hanging on the puppy's kennel just to check. "Yeah, it's a girl. Does Remiel approve?" The cat wasn't hissing or hiding or anything, as far as he could tell, and that was a good thing. Oh he really was already falling in love with the little animal, who had turned her attention to nosing at his neck.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth brought both hands back to Remiel and scooped her up in them. He gave her a quick cuddle, then held her just outside the dog's reach. She blinked, and her fluffy tail swished rhythmically in the unsure heartbeats that followed. Then she stretched out her neck to try to sniff the much larger animal.