15 15 - Ready for Second Year

Ah, screw it, i'll just get both.. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it? Leo Ignis and his army of birds and kneazles.

Now, I say I am planning on getting an owl, you may be wondering why I don't have an owl even though I had Barnabus. Well, you see..

'Dear Mr and Mrs Flamel,

I am sure you get many letters similar to the one I am sending right now, I won't sugarcoat my words, i'd like to become your apprentice. I'm not quite sure you'll even end up reading this, but if you do, I want to say that I am willing to swear any oaths or sign any contracts you give me.

I am not looking for material gain but the chance to gain knowledge that is lost or has not yet been discovered by the wizarding community. I hope you will consider my request.

Yours Sincerely, Leo Ignis.'

After sending this to the Flamels, Barnabus flew off in an unknown direction, never to return. Poor Barnabus.

Anyway, let's get back to the point at hand, I will stick to my plan of having a kneazle as a pet, however, I will also get a bird, the chance to learn a new type of magic unknown to almost anyone on the planet is already making me drool, not to mention, having a bird to survey an area or eavesdrop on a private conversation would be an invaluable asset.

What type of bird should I get though? A phoenix or thunderbird would be cool and all.. but there are currently only 6 known people with a phoenix as their familiar.. and a thunderbird hasn't been seen for years, not to mention, they are way too big and bright for my requirements, though i'm sure they'd be far more knowledgable on Aerimagic.. oh how I wish I could be an apprentice of fawkes, I could learn my own magic that no other person can use!

Sigh, I suppose there's no point dreaming over something that won't happen, I guess a regular bird will do.

Now, I wonder what type of bird I should choose? A peregrine falcon? They are the fastest bird in the world.. apart from some rare magical birds that I don't have access to.

Hmm.. nah, I don't need a bird purely because it's fast. What about.. A raven? I mean, I am in Ravenclaw, not to mention their colour is great for blending into the shadows, they could also fly around and act as surveillance without causing suspicion, Ravens aren't very rare after all.

A raven it is, I wonder if there are any Ravens here? But first! A kneazle!

Looking around the huge assortment of animals, I spotted a large caged off area in one of the corners. Aha, found you!

Making my way towards the caged off area, the cats/kneazles all looked at me.. pretty much all of them hissed at me and continued doing whatever the hell they were doing, apart from 2. An ugly looking ginger kneazle kitten with a scrunched up face, that one didn't catch my attention, but the other one was the most adorable thing I think I've ever seen. It had a thick coat of snow white fur with black ears and feet, it was tiny, easily being able to fit in one of my hands and looked up at me with two eyes, the left being blue and the right green. Only one thing went through my mind at this moment..

I had to have this kneazle.

Slowly approaching it, I carefully lowered myself down and plucked the tiny kitten off the ground.. 'its so soft!'.

Walking towards the counter, I cleared my throat to get the attention of the bored looking teenage girl who was reading some book.

"I'd like to buy this kneazle."

She looked at me with amused eyes, "many girls have tried to buy him, but he was always afraid of them you know" she said, emphasising the word 'girl'.

She might have been trying to embarass me but I didn't care, this kneazle was mine.

"So how much is he?"

"It's a rare breed of kneazle, worth 30 galleons"

'30 galleons? That's 150 pounds, how expensive.'

"Alright i'll take him, here" I said while taking 30 galleons out of my endless magical pouch that can contain over 5000 galleons.

"Also, I was wondering if you sell any ravens?"

She just turned back to her book, "Try Zander's Bird Collection, 6 stores to the right." she said while flicking her head to the right.

"Ok, thanks. Bye" I said, making my way out of the store.

Walking to the right, I got caught up in my mind, 'From what I read about kneazles, it's common for the kneazle to choose their owner instead of the other way around, each kneazle has an instinct towards the personality the person they see has and they all gravitate towards people who have a compatible personality with them.'

I was brought out of my musing as I looked up towards a normal looking sign with different colours around the edges reading 'Zander's Bird Collection'.

Walking in, I was met by a room filled with many different birds of all shapes, sizes and colours.

There were at least hundreds and there were so many voices that it felt like I was back at the Great Hall, so without even looking I made my way up to the front desk, finding a 50 year old looking man with brown hair, purplish blue eyes and average features

"Could you tell me where your Ravens are?" I asked in a polite tone.

"Yes, they're right over there, near the back."

"Thank you."

Making my way to where he pointed, I found myself looking at 6 different ravens.

"Hello, i'm looking for a raven to become my familiar and help me while i'm at Hogwarts, my school" I said in a cheery voice which probably sounded like chirps to any normal human.

All the birds who heard me speak suddenly stopped chirping which was incredibly creepy to be completely honest.

"A speaker? How rare!"

"Young speaker, I am corvus and I am willing to be your familiar!" said a voice that in human standards, would sound like a 20 year old british man with a posh accent.

All of a sudden, a female sounding voice said "I would be much more valuable to you, noble speaker, I would be honoured to be your familiar!".

And that's how I started Bird War 3.

Okay that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but half of the bloody store was arguing over who's the best familiar for me!

"Enough!" I said in a loud voice causing all of them to stop talking abruptly which creeped me out a little again.

"I've decided, you will be my familiar."

I said while pointing to the only raven that hadn't been part of the whole "I'm the best familiar" argument.

It was the smallest raven there and when I pointed to her, I heard a childish girls voice roughly around 10 and 12 that said "m-me?"

"Yes, you, would you like to be my familiar?"

Quickly nodding her head which looked pretty funny on a raven, she said "Y-yes noble speaker, sir!".

"None of that noble speaker nonsense please, just call me Leo."

"Yes, Leo sir!"

"And stop calling me sir too."

"Yes, Si- Leo!".

Making my way towards the front of the store, I pointed towards the Raven that was now standing on my arm. "How much?".

The man just stared at me with his mouth wide open.

I guess it's understandable considering he just heard me chirp some random noises and all of a sudden the whole store was full of birds chirping, cawing and hooting.

"I - I-I.. uhh, 10 galleons, sir".

"Here." I said, taking out the 10 gold coins and placing them on the desk.

"Thanks, bye!" I said before leaving the store leaving only a sputtering old man and a room full of particularly loud birds.

"So, do you have a name?" I asked my new raven familiar.

"Y-yes, it's Corvie."

"I see, nice to meet you Corvie, like I said before, i'm Leo, now, it's time for me to get a broom!".

I'll spare you the details of my broom purchasing adventures, I went into a broom store where there were a bunch of kids gaping like idiots at the newest broom on the market, I bought a Cleansweep 7 which was one of the best brooms they had at the moment and most expensive, but what can I say, flying feels great, I won't be cheaping out on my broom.

I'm now back at the orphanage, Corvie is off outside somewhere, probably hunting worms or something and Archie is purring in my lap. I've just finished my usual morning run and i'll be leaving for the Hogwarts express in a few hours. Archie is my kneazle, and the reason I called him Archie is because I like the name Archie, there's no special meaning or anything.

.. 3 hours later.

I've just got out of the taxi that brought me here.. near the train station, walking across the different platforms I finally got to the 9th platform. This time around I had everything in my shrunken trunk.. so it was just me and Archie who was in my arms while my trunk was in my pocket, the size of a small book.

Walking through the wall to platform 9 and three quarters, I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me.

The smells, noises and sights were all the same. I couldn't keep the grin off of my face. Apart from the odd trip to Diagon Alley and a few letters to and from my friends, I mainly just trained at the orphanage or dojo, finally being back in the magical world made me happy.

'This is it, this is home'.