 Erik Wowza!
There was a little freedom to happily licking her ice cream without an adult by her side; never mind that Flavia walked only three steps behind her. Nerissa was most uncharacteristically almost skipping down Diagon Alley. There was a definite spring to her step, at least. Acquiring any sort of pet wasn't part of the plan because having a pet had never occurred to her parents, and therefore, it had never occurred to her. It wasn't that Nerissa lacked imagination or had wants of her own; it was just that at a very young age she'd learned it was better, less prone to disappointments, to live within the confines of what her parents set for her.
But her parents weren't around, which was entirely their own doing. Or fault. Definitely fault. And Flavia, in the two years she'd known her, had never been much of an authority figure. So Nerissa saw little problem with planting herself outside the menagerie. She held her ice cream high in the air with one hand, and practically pressed her nose to the glass as she tried to get a better look of a particularly furry cat.
"He looks very off-putting." This was not said as if such a quality was a bad thing. Her grin was small and very slow. "Or is it a she? All cats look the same to me." She paused. "Oh! Maybe it's a kneazle." Her head tilted to one side.
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