Here, kitty kitty...

[Twyla Rothery]

Gardens had always played a special role in Twyla's short life. It seemed like every other month or so, she was planting new seeds in a "secret" corner of her family's yard - only for the flowers and plants to wither a short few weeks later. She was excited to learn that this wondrous new school of magic had a garden, and exploring it became one of her top priorities after settling in.

Once she was free and able to, Twyla and her new cat - she was still settling on a name for it - wandered down into the Hogwarts Garden to take in all the sights. It was quite a pretty place, and that soon upset her. Many of the flowers were prettier than she was, and they were all so vibrant and fuller of life than any of her plants had ever been. Her feeling of wonder had been replaced with jealousy as she stared at the blooming plants before her.

Her cat quickly became distracted and bored from the lack of attention it was getting, and so wandered off into the plants to find some bug or other to chase. Twyla took absolutely no notice of it until she heard a meow that drew her attention away from the plants. Her head swiveled around. "Kitty? Come back!" She got down on her knees and crawled into the jungle of plants, trying to find any sign of her cat - who had already found another student to beg for attention from.

 

[Miya Bell]

Ever since she had arrived at Hogwarts the year before, the gardens had become a place Miya visited often and had offered her a refuge from the crowded corridors. She had almost perfected her flower crown-making skills over the holidays, having very little else to during her accidental-but-successful avoidance of human interaction, and was excited to see what she could do with the superior vegetation housed at the school. The garden never ceased to amaze her.

Miya had finished her first flower crown of the school year and was in the process of settling the wreath on her head, when she heard a noise and felt something bump against her. Startled, she looked down to see a cat looking up at her and her eyes widened in surprise. "Um? How do you do?" she squeaked at it. It looked like a regular cat to her, but one could never be too sure in a school full of wizards.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

After a few moments of crawling, Twyla heard a squeaky voice nearby and headed for it. She found her new cat apparently trying to get attention from some other girl. How dare it! The girl stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Get away from her, kitty!"

The cat completely ignored her in favour of rubbing against the other girl's leg. Twyla glared down at her. "What are you doing with my cat?" she demanded.

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya stared at the angry girl who had come to collect her lost cat. Confusion mingled with annoyance as the student spoke to her. Miya had never owned a cat before, but she was under the impression that most animals didn't understand full sentences. Or possibly they did and were just very stubborn and good at ignoring people - Miya was willing to accept both as truth. Nonetheless, the cat did not appear to be listening to its owner and the sudden attention from both beings made Miya nervous. "Making friends?" she answered. "I'm sorry?" The apology slipped automatically from her mouth, even though Miya wasn't certain what she'd done wrong. She looked down at the cat and then back at the girl in front of her, wondering what on earth she had done to deserve being confronted by an unreasonably grumpy first year.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

"Hmph, you should be!" Twyla bent down to pick up the cat as best she could. She had only held cats a few times before, so she didn't know exactly how to do it. Obviously, she did it the wrong way; the cat immediately scratched at her and escaped in the opposite direction.

She glared at the girl again. "Now look what you've done, you...flower-picker!" A silly attempt at an insult, but she had never been the best at them when stressed.

 

[Miya Bell]

The whole hostility of the situation was just befuddling to Miya. She did live her life in a state of perpetual confusion when around other people, but she was rather sure interacting with a cat wasn't something most people got mad over. Miya wanted to explain that she was not in cahoots with the feline and that their meeting had been completely accidental, but the angry girl and her failure at picking up her cat stopped Miya from speaking.

Flower-picker? Miya felt a little insulted at the non-insulting attempt at an insult, but then immediately began to panic when her brain caught up with events and noticed the cat scratch. "Oh no, I'm sorry!" she apologised again. "Are you okay? Are you bleeding? Do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

 

[Twyla Rothery]

Twyla rubbed at the scratches on her arm. They were barely even bleeding and she'd had worse cuts and bruises in her life. "No, I'm fine." She sniffled. "Help me find my cat? Again." It didn't particularly matter to Twyla what this girl had been doing before all of this, but figured she might as well help out.

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya frowned slightly at the dismissal, but nodded. "Okay?" she said, in a very small voice. She didn't really want to help the student, even if Miya had just caused her to be grievously wounded, but a runaway cat could get itself into trouble. Miya had only known the cat for a few seconds, but she already felt responsible for it. "Kitty, kitty, kitty?" she called softly, and began moving in the direction the cat had scampered off to. Miya realised she didn't even know the cat's name, but she wasn't about to ask the girl for it. Hopefully referring to it as 'kitty' wouldn't catch the attention of every cat in the school. Miya definitely didn't have enough hands to pet them all, if that were to happen, and the thought followed her as she peered through the flowers for the lost cat.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

Twyla walked with the other girl through the garden, staring around for her cat. "It doesn't have a name yet," she explained. "I only just got it a few days ago. It looked so cool, I just had to have it!" The label on the shelf had called it a bengal cat, designed to look like exotic wild cats. It was one of the more expensive breeds, but Twyla didn't care as long as she had something that was more special than what the other kids had. And now she'd gone and lost it! She had no idea what she'd do if she couldn't find it and ended up wasting those 40 galleons.

 

[Miya Bell]

A frustrated smile appeared on Miya's face upon hearing of the cat's nameless state, and she stepped forwards a little so the girl wouldn't see the expression. Getting a cat because it looked cool didn't sound right to Miya, and reminded her why she hadn't gotten one of her own. She probably would be been a good pet owner, but the stress of responsibility stopped her from making any purchases whenever she visited the pet shop with her family. "It looks like a cheetah." Miya stated. "You could name it after that?" As long as it didn't run like a cheetah, Miya was hopeful they'd find it soon. "Um, do you? Have a name?" she asked, tilting her head towards the other girl.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

Upon hearing the girl's name suggestion, Twyla stopped in her tracks and stared flatly at her. "I'm not naming it after a cheetah. It needs a cool name. Like..." She really couldn't think of another possibility, and sighed heavily. "...cheetah, I guess."

They kept walking for a few moments until the other girl asked about her own name. "Me? My name is Twyla. Twyla Rothery."

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya ducked her head and shrugged defensively. She hadn't meant literally calling the cat cheetah, and it was only a suggestion anyway, but animals named after other animals never failed as a naming scheme. Miya nodded thoughtfully when Twyla introduced herself. She'd never met any other people called Twyla before and the name was curious and made Miya want to say it out loud and vocally stretch the letters to see how it sounded. "I'm? Miya." she said, figuring it was only polite to introduce herself also.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

Twyla smirked. "Miya, huh? Do you always speak in questions or are you capable of just saying things?" It really was a strange way of speaking and made Miya sound like she was always confused and needed something explained to her, which Twyla had neither the time nor interest to do. Maybe she was a Hufflepuff; she had already learned from other Slytherins what Hufflepuffs tended to be like.

Her retort - a little better this time! - was punctuated by a distant meow, and Twyla headed in its direction. They came upon a gnarled tree that Twyla stared up into until she found the form of her cat. After a moment, she glared at Miya again. "Well, what are you waiting for? You're the one who scared it off, go get it back for me." Twyla was perfectly capable of climbing the tree herself, but Miya was the one who distracted the cat in the first place, so why should Twyla have to go up and get it herself?

 

[Miya Bell]

Miya knew her speech patterns were unusual. Whether it was just nerves, or her occasionally questionable grasp of the English language causing it, even years of speech therapy hadn't cured her of her habit of ending sentences with a higher pitch. "Oh, uh? I can say things?" she said, yet another squeaky sentence that sounded unsure. Miya pouted. Her habit got worse when people asked her about it and made her self-conscious.

Her head shot in the direction of the meow and she followed Twyla towards it, half-jogging to keep up. She made a small noise of disagreement when Twyla told her to climb the tree, but she was already moving towards it. Arguing seemed pointless and Miya didn't mind too much anyway, not when a cat's life was on the line. Although, she suspected the cat was perfectly fine in the tree and was perfectly capable of getting itself down. She clambered up the branches with a practiced ease, until she reached the cat. "Hiya, kitty." Miya said. She put her hand gently on the cat's back, hoping it would be enough to nudge it into returning to the ground without having to carry it down.

 

[Twyla Rothery]

Twyla crossed her arms and watched Miya climb the tree. It looked pretty high up and there was a large part of Twyla that wondered what it would look like if Miya were to fall. Then she realised that she'd just have to go up and get her cat back herself if that happened, so maybe she shouldn't hope for it.

The cat mrowled at Miya's grabbing hands before climbing down and hopping on the ground, leaving Miya alone in the tree. Twyla knelt and offered her hand to the cat, who soon let her pet it. "I'll have to get a leash for you, kitty, so you don't keep running off!" Twyla turned away from the tree, her back to Miya, with the full intention of heading back to the castle with her cat.

 

[Miya Bell]

Pleased to see the cat was safe, but feeling somewhat manipulated, Miya slowly climbed back down the tree. Twyla's unfriendly attitude didn't bother her overly, but the Hufflepuff did wonder what her problem was. Not everyone at Hogwarts was what Miya would consider nice, but being friendly to a cat had never gotten her in trouble before and Miya was almost amused at the whole situation. At least the cat was okay. "Bye, then." she murmured, staring forlornly at Twyla's retreating back. Trying to tell herself she wasn't upset Twyla had gotten mad at her, Miya went back to the garden. She had things to do anyway, and flowers made better friends than grumpy Slytherin girls.