SEQUEL OF GYMNOPÉDIE
The war is inevitable. Wizards, witches, pick a side, pick your ruins. Because in the eye of war, brothers shared no blood though came from the same marrow, families strayed and abandoned, heart ostracized from mind, and you mi...
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It was common that familiars would be a witch's first and truest friend. They were a creature of magic just as much as wild beasts. A spirit bound as a company, a confidant, and a guide for their master. Sometimes they were the very picture of the master, harmonized at soul like a mirror's well. Other times, the familiars were the embodiment of the master's weakness. But Martin McKinnon and his pampered black cat were a mixture of the two—the best kind.
Six years ago, a curious Norwegian forest kitten ran away from her earlier master's fury. She jumped out like a practiced hare upon the snow and dragged her paws to the McKinnon's garden. She settled herself behind a chive bed that had been dried and harvested last summer, though it barely hid her ball-like figure she sat and waited until her master calmed. But the hope ceased as the day was dusking and she could smell the upcoming snow curdling on the clouds above.
The cat grew wary that the ground beneath her would freeze and then, after every single fur covered in snow, she, too, would follow. Death by frost. She shivered. It was until she saw a boy that her luck rocketed. His hair was pale as winter sun and yet his face glowed warmly among the slowly blanching chill. His posse was idyllic, it was as if every ray of sun rushed inside him and made a home there. If light was a person it would be him. The boy crouched before the barren bed and watched the kitten meekly. Shadow's fluffy ears perched up, and she growled at the stranger.
"I'm not going to hurt you," the boy told her, his voice was kind and melodious, something like a lyre note itself. Gingerly, he opened his palm and offered what lay on his mitten. Her silver whiskers twitched eagerly around her dark nose, it was a ball of dried catnip. The boy tossed it on the thawed ground then glanced at her.
The kitten stared, watching him. She placed her paw one in front of the other, approaching the boy like a clueless fish swimming to a colorful hook. When she was sure she didn't sense any danger she proceeded to sniff the catnip before she fell and rolled atop it as if she was a hummingbird bathing in the morning light. He smiled when the black cat began purring.
"My sister can be annoying sometimes. She said you're a devil's reincarnate for ruining her dress but I think you just wanted someone to play with." he told her as he brought his hand on her head, scratching the sweet spot. His fingers felt so warm, she leaned in for more. "I'm leaving for Hogwarts next year and I do not have that many friends. Do you want to be my friend?"
The kitten stilled for a moment, her back arched and she crumpled herself small as if a chunk of coal, gold pupils were blown akin to two hollow wells in the dimming sky. Before long, she brushed her cheek against his hand and purred, tail whipped side to side.
