Hawthorne was so excited when she had heard about the pet adoption fair, she had been in the ice cream parlour when she saw a flyer. Right away she ran back to and through the Leaky Cauldron and back to her flat around the corner. Out of breath she tried to communicate what was going on to her father.

"Pets." She breathed heavily. "Homes. Need. Come." She grabbed her fathers hand and he just sort of went with it. He was used to the odd habits of his daughter since he home schooled her from their apartment. Even still, he was glad she was going to Hogwarts finally this coming year. It was hard to believe for him she was already ten, nearly eleven. He let himself be led frantically through the streets of London, back around the corner and straight through the Leaky Cauldron, he could barely give a half nod of recognition to the staff before he found himself in Diagon Alley, still being pulled by his excited daughter, her hair in a messy bun and her scarf just barely on her shoulders trailing behind her.

When Hawthorne finally stopped he took a moment to take a good look around himself and saw that he was surrounded by cages and pens full of owls and rats and toads. Looking around he saw a banner overhead that said 23rd British Pet Adoption Fair.

"See?" Hawthorne said, pushing her black thick rimmed glasses back up her nose, her green eyes were magnified behind with a pleading look.

"Oh, you want to have a pet? I thought you were taking Darwin to school with you this year?" He asked, referring to the barn owl that sat on his perch back in their flat.

"But daddy, Darwin is the family owl! You need him too, how else will you get your orders delivered?" She made a good point, her father worked from home making and selling everyday household potions. He delivered all over London and people often didn't have time to come and pick them up, and she didn't want to hurt his business.

To tell the truth he had been a little worried that his business would suffer, but he didn't have money for a nice proper animal for Hawthorne to take with her. After all, having a loving companion those first few terrifying days in the castle were crucial. How fortuitous, then, it was for this adoption fair to pop up.

"All right, snidget, what do you think you would like. Your own owl?" He asked, ruffling what hair was left out of her bun as he spoke the pet name.

Hawthorne looked around at all the animals that were around them. She saw further down the way some more exotic pets like kneazles and pygmy puffs, but Hawthorne was more a girl of simple tastes. She looked back at her father.

"I don't know... I mean to write me you can send Darwin, and I can send him back. And if I ever want to write you first the school has it's own mail owls." her mouth set askew and her eyebrows furrowed in thought. She didn't want to make the wrong decision, after all a pet is a friend for life, and you can't make these decisions lightly.

"That's very true..." her father trailed of, watching his daughter ponder what must seem a big life decision to her. He chuckled under his breath, even though she was only ten she really didn't make decisions lightly, he decided that she must get it from her mother.

Hawthorne walked around and looked closely at the animals.

"I want a rat." she declared, matter-of-factly.

Alright, then, how about we talk to a volunteer first and see what taking care of a rat entails."

"Okay!" Hawthorne looked through the crowd and eventually found a volunteer. "Excuse me!"