In his experience, he didn't actually think Claudine could be anything but nice. But she always had been towards him, and prior to this term he had spared such little attention to anyone he never would have noticed had she not been to anyone else.

Her laugh actually made the Ravenclaw give a small smile, as he nodded in agreement when she continued to talk. "I agree. I've always liked animals, but I don't think I realized how much better their company was until this term." And he was still quite hopeful his parent's would let him get a cat when he went home for the summer. Helping to take care of Jinx and the dog and Lisa's lizard was great but... his own companion who could come to school with him next term would be really nice. The question of if he was an artist drew a small laugh from the boy, before he turned his paper around to show her his rather poor drawing. "I.. wouldn't say that. But there's an attempt. Ash reminded me I'll never be good at something if I don't practice it first." But there would be a lot of practice needed. "You like drawing?"

She reached down and scooped up one of the kneazles he had been attempting to draw earlier, one of the more regal looking of the lot he'd thought. The kneazle immediately looked very contented being in the Slytherin's arms. "Nice to meet you, President. Is he your kneazle?" He'd heard of people getting permission to keep their pets with the other creatures if they were outside of the normal allowed types.