Closed A nugget of food

Wendall Layton

Requires Adult Supervision 🍿 father of 2
 
Messages
850
OOC First Name
Pheeb
Blood Status
Muggleborn
Relationship Status
Married
Sexual Orientation
ML ♡
Wand
Curved 16 1/2 Inch Flexible Rosewood Wand with Hippogriff Feather Core
Age
5/2038 (21)
“What do you even feed a cat?!” Wendall voice was strained as the second year tried his best to stop Nugget clawing at his face. Olives cat had to come to school with them now, but Wendall was delighted to have some more company even if it was overwhelming at times. He’d asked Lysander to join him in the kitchens so that he could help him locate some food; Lysander always seemed to know what to do with animals, having seen him homing a few already. The Hufflepuff was holding the black fluff ball under its front arms, pointing it face first around the room so that he could get a good look at what was going on, although he kept trying to struggle and Wendalls arms were quickly getting tired. Wendall didn’t want to risk putting Nugget down. Either he would go on the floor and run away or he’d go on the counter and get in trouble with the elves, no doubt after stealing his food. He looked across to the Gryffindor with a confused face, wondering if he should have gotten this creature a leash. “Do they like eggs?” He asked, eyeing up a large rack against the wall.
 
Lysander was incredibly excited about Wendall having an animal of his own, finally. It was no secret that Sander loved animals, with how many he took care of alone, but there was more to it than that. It sometimes seemed as if people didn't really understand him because they'd never had an animal of their own to know what it was like. Elio hadn't understood him wanting to rescue Hopsprocket from the wild, while others didn't really seem to get why he considered Fuzzfeathers one of his best friends since he was "just an owl". He hadn't had that issue with Wendall. He was his best (human) friend, and being able to share the experiences of having an animal companion felt like it would make their friendship even better. Now seemed like the best time for it too, with Olive passing away. Lysander couldn't always be around to cheer Wendall up if he was ever down, as much as he wanted to, and now he had Nugget to keep him company every night. He just needed to learn how to properly hold a cat so it didn't hate him.

"Eggs?" Sander asked incredulously, following his friend's attention to the wall rack. "Um, not until they've hatched." He told him. He'd never known a cat to eat eggs, but they did love birds. It was one of the reasons he hadn't wanted one of his own. Not with his owl around. His sister's cat filled the feline void if he needed it, he just had to keep a close eye on him. He searched around the kitchens, noting how similar to Nana some of the other house-elves looked. "They like raw chicken, and fish, and...cat biscuits." He said, wondering if the elves had any of that they'd be able to share. Maybe not cat biscuits, because none of the students ate those, as far as he knew, but they probably had some meat they could duplicate for Nugget. He looked back at his friend with a small, almost concerned smile. "Are you okay holding him?" He asked. At this rate, he thought Wendall would get an eye taken out for a stray claw.​
 
For a second Wendall forgot about where a chicken came from, and wondered why cats like to eat fried eggs, but then it hit him that he meant they prefer meat. He nodded at his friends suggestions, wandering through the kitchen trying to find something Nugget might be into, before he stopped in front of a plate of grilled chicken. No doubt it was actually for them for lunch, but so far Wendall hadn’t been successful at finding much else, and the creature in his hands was getting incredibly restless. “Mmhmm! Fine,” Of course, Wendall was not fine. The cat wiggled against him, and between his tired arms and inability to keep a tight grip on him, Nugget broke free and landed gracefully on the counter, helping himself to the plate of chicken. The second year was peering around the room, trying to position himself so that the elves wouldn’t notice what was happening. “I can’t take all this chicken,” he whispered to Lysander, hesitant even to pocket any of it for it either was destined for his own dinner or the bin considering the cat slobber it was picking up. He didn’t need that lining his pocket for weeks. “There’s got to be something else!” Taking the opportunity for Nugget to be distracted, the second year was pulling open random cupboards when the chefs weren’t looking, hoping to find those biscuits. “Would shortbread biscuits work?” He whispered, turning to look over his shoulder at the Gryffindor with a concerned look on his face. He liked those.
 
"Ohkaaay then." Lysander responded with no attempt to hide the obvious doubt in his voice, or the dubious smile on his features. He watched the cat spring free from Wendall's arms, and couldn't help but snicker in amusement. It had only been a matter of time, but he'd enjoyed his friend's attempts to convince him otherwise. He took the opportunity to pet the cat while it ate someone else's dinner, and watched Wendall struggle to find something more suitable. "Shortbread could be good for a treat? I dunno about lunch and dinner." He responded with a small shrug. He felt like he should know, but from what he did know, they weren't meant to eat a lot of human foods. They had their own, special food. It tasted disgusting. He knew that for a fact. "My cats at home mostly have dry kibble or wet food, like fish flakes and stuff. Do you think we could ask the house-elves to make some cat food?" He asked, looking around the kitchen. The small elves already mostly seemed to have their hands full cooking for the people of the castle, but surely a bit extra for a cat wouldn't be too hard. "What about nuggets? He's called Nugget, so maybe Oli-" He paused, cutting himself off a bit too late. He didn't really know how to bring her up around Wendall, or if he should. It was so weird to think that the cool potion lady he used to stay with was just gone. He only saw her during the holidays, so the reality of her being gone forever hadn't quite hit him. "Maybe that's what he likes to eat?" It didn't seem like the best idea either, and he was almost certain his dad had said the skin was bad for most of the animals. "You know, my sister has a cat here, and she's in your house! If you want, I could ask her to share her food?" He offered. Their dad gave most of it to them anyway, so replacing it wouldn't be that hard.​
 
Now that Lysander mentioned it, Wendall did remember seeing some little pouches of wet food and biscuits around the house over the holidays, although he'd never really considered to put two and two together to figure out exactly what was in those pouches. Wendall glanced up when Lysander stopped half way through his sentence. He knew he'd been about to say Olive's name, or something about her, but the Hufflepuff noted that he just looked a bit uncomfortable that he'd even brought it up at all. The second year nodded, remembering that Ellie might have been a good person to ask too, if he could get hold of her. "Can't we ask your dad?" Didn't he work at the menagerie anyway? Surely he had like, a whole office full of cat food! Even though Wendall was keen to get to the bottom of his nugget dilema, the thoughts of Olive were still running through his head. He hadn't really directly told Lysander what had happened yet, although he knew he must have read the letter that he'd left beside him that awful day in the Great Hall. His eyes watched his friend for a moment, hovering over the subject and wondering if Lysander was just trying to cover up his previous mistake, although Wendall didn't think he was really going to feel fine about it unless he just went and said it. "You can talk about her you know." He started quietly, glancing up from the cat to his friend, trying to see if whether Wendall mentioning Olive was going to make it worse for him. Sander had known Olive almost for as long as he had, and even though it was his cousin, he'd spent similar amounts of time in her company. Wendall was a little sad about it all, but he knew he wasn't in the same state as Leda at the moment. "If you want to," he shrugged, half heatedly continuing to look for wet food.
 
"We could ask my dad." Lysander responded hesitantly. Before coming to Hogwarts his father had told him that, while he and his sister were able to get free treats for their pets, it was a privilege they couldn't share with all their friends, otherwise he'd get no business. "I'm not really meant to. He likes you, so it might be okay. Especially because like...yeah." He mumbled. Wendall wasn't just any friend, he was his best friend. His dad had been friends with Olive, too, and had been upset when he heard about her passing away. Since Nugget was her old cat, and Wendall had to look after him now, he was pretty sure he wouldn't mind helping. He continued to gently stroke the cat as something to do. Already he felt awkward for bringing up such a sensitive subject. It was tough not to, not when Olive had been present throughout so much of their time spent together over the holidays, and now with her cat literally right in front of them, it had been bound to come up. Sander tried to offer his friend a reassuring smile, but he didn't really feel happy enough for his smile to be genuine. "I don't know how to." He said after a few silent moments of cat petting. Leda had whisked Wendall away so soon after he'd gotten his letter, and afterwards it never felt like a good time to bring it up. "But it's not really about if I want to. She was your cousin. Do you want to?" He asked, retracting his hand to turn and face his friend. The kitchens, with all the house-elves bustling around, didn't really feel like the best place for a deep and meaningful, though they did appear too involved in their cooking to take much notice of them. "Are you like...okay? You haven't really said anything, and I just want to make sure you're happy and stuff. We don't have to talk about her if you don't want, but I don't really know what to do to try make it better." It was hard to know what to do or say, and how to act. He didn't know if it was better to be quiet about it and wait for his friend to move on or forget, or if it was better to talk about everything. He'd never had anyone he knew die until now, and he didn't know what he would want if he were in his friend's position.​
 
Wendall didn't really want to put Lysander in a position that would mean he got into trouble with Professor Summers, but his friend seemed to think that maybe it would be alright to ask him. "I'll pay for it and everything. It would just be easier than going to the store you know," he added, not wanting him to think that Wendall was just trying to cheat him out of his products. The Hufflepuff watched as Lysander petted Nugget, and hesitantly he let Lysander say what was on his mind, even though it was a little bit of an awkward subject and part of Wendall wanted to dig his head into a cupboard. He didn't really know what it meant when Lysander said he didn't know how to, but when he asked him if he wanted to talk about Olive, Wendall had to think for a moment. It was strange, that Olive was already gone from his life almost as quickly as she'd entered into it, and he'd grown closer to her than his own mom in years. "I do." he began, looking at the cat between them rather that at his friend. "I didn't really know Olive for very long, but she was there for me. She taught me things and we had fun." he explained, unsure whether to let the Gryffindor know just how bad things with his immediate family were. He didn't want to make things too awkward with their conversation but he couldn't lie to his best friend. "Olive took me in just before I started school, because she was like.. part of this world, you know? My mom has her own company and she's a muggle, she doesn't know about all this stuff. Most of the time if I'm at home I have to find my own entertainment because she's always too busy," his voice was a little quieter now, "Olive was meant to be like my second home. Leda was a bit rude to her and I think she's sad about that now, but I'm glad that Leda and West said I can stay with them during the holidays." he said, trying to focus on the positives, but as he glanced up to Lysander, he knew he didn't want him to be confused and really it was nice to say it out loud, "My mom hasn't really spoken to me about anything asides from her company for years. When Olive died I thought I would have to go back to her, and okay yeah I love my mom but it's not the same as staying here. Olive isn't really gone, because she still had a lot of influence over my family." The fact that Wendall got to stay here now was all because Olive had opened her home to him in the first place, and he didn't mind talking about the times he'd shared with his cousin. "I do miss her, but I had more fun with her in the last year than I had at home for like, as long as I can remember!" he added, hoping it would make sense to the boy who had always had his family right next to him for support.
 
Sander quickly shook his head when Wendall offered to pay for the food. "Don't, it's okay. My dad owes me for helping out at the store anyway." He told him. He wanted to help out, and having his friend pay didn't feel right. He propped his elbow on the table and rested his cheek in his hand as Wendall spoke, and opened up about his feelings toward Olive and what had happened to her. He nodded along to show that he was listening, but couldn't help the concerned frown touching his lips. He really had no idea when it came to Wendall's actual mother. It was easy to assume that Olive was kind of like his mum now, and he'd never thought to question it before. Wendall living with her and Leda had always just been normal for him. He couldn't begin to picture what it was like to have a parent more interested in their company than their kids. It was like if his dads only focused on the Menagerie. It was a big part of all of his families lives, and they all shared in it, but it wasn't all they talked about. "I'm sorry." He said when his friend had finished speaking. It seemed like the right thing to say, even though he didn't really have anything to be sorry for. He stood up and wrapped his arms around his best friend to pull him into a comforting hug. "You know, you can come and sleepover at mine whenever you want, if you get bored of Leda and West. I bet my dads would be fine with it. There's always lots of animals you could play with, and Nugget might make some new friends too." He smiled. He let his friend go and stepped back, jerking his head towards the kitchen door. "Come on. Let's go ask my dad about the cat food. I don't think we're going to find any here." He offered, and scooped up Nugget from the table to lead the way out, and avoid Wendall earning himself any additional scratches on the way.​
 

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