before the hurricane of our years

Pidgey started to pace in his cage excitedly, as if he understood what Roxi had suggested. This annoyed Damien, but he still reached for the cage and swing open its door. Pidgey wasted no time, hopping a little, as if its leg had a lack of blood from the lack of movement. Soon, he was flying a little in the small compartment, as much as he could. It seemed to like Roxi, and landed itself shortly on her shoulders instead. As it did so, however, it began to sneak glances with Georgia's owl, as if he was unsure about how to interact with another of his kind. Damien watched Pidgey land on Roxi, and scowled. He did not want to make a scene, though, and decided to let the bird so whatever it wanted, for now.

"Why don't you have a pet? I thought everyone gets one." It was not a very sensitive question, but he was young, and he had very little experience talking to anyone besides family who gave in most of the time because he was just a baby to them. Besides, Damien's question was a genuine one. He really did think it was compulsory for every student to have a pet. He was clearly not very aware of the world, for now.

Damien listened when Roxi began to explain her a little bit of her family and houses, nodding with approval at the last one. "Your cousin, Albus, is he still at Hogwarts?" As he asked, Damien made a mental note to find out who this cousin was. If he was still at school, perhaps he could make a friend. "Well I've never been to a school," he continued, directing it to both girls now. "My mum teaches me everything. She's an Obliviator at the Ministry." Damien announced that last fact as if it was one of the best jobs in the world. Because at this time, Mother had still taught him about Purebloods and the infiltration of muggles, he could appreciate that her job was to obliviate muggles for good. Damien even considered himself doing the same thing in the future. It sounded like an interesting job, keeping the wizarding world exclusive to magical people only. He had always enjoyed the feeling of being exclusive, thinking himself part of an elite group of people, with more rights and privileges.

The boy's train of thought was suddenly broken when Georgia said that she came from a muggle school. He frowned a little. He had thought this girl more acceptable than the other, but now it seems as if she could be just a muggle. A little cautiously, Damien ventured, "you're not really a muggle, are you?" He was still hopeful, hoping that the girl had at least a parent who was a witch or a wizard. It would be disappointing, to say the least, if it was not so. Damien eyed the blond girl, biting his bottom lip as he did so.

Suddenly, there was a sound coming from outside the compartment door. Damien turned and directed his attention to the door instead. A lady stood outside with a trolley full of titbits and goodies. Upon the sight of that, Damien felt his eyes light up as he reached into his pockets to check for the money that Father had slipped to him before he rushed through that pillar earlier. Mother had placed money for him in his trunk. But Father had given him even more. Damien was pleased. He stood up and walked towards the compartment door, before he pushed it open.

Damien and Georgie released their owls and Roxi squealed with excitement, stomping her feet excitedly as the owls came out. Georgie's seemed a little more reserved than her master was, but Damien's owl seemed curious by Roxi and fluttered to Roxi's shoulder, making Roxi gasp, her eyes bright, her mouth pulling into a big smile. She reached up and petted the owl, looking right at Damien to inform him, "He likes me." She giggled pleasantly.

She quickly explained. "Well. I've had pets. I had a rabbit once but.. What happened to Pepsi? Oh yeah. I fed him too much Pepsi and he died." She nodded. "And then there was the bird Pookie... OH YEAH! I wanted to go kite flying and then I thought it'd be cool to have a parrot in the strong instead of a kite. He snapped the string and flew away. I had a pig once too, Arnie... I can't remember what happened to him. That was that year we ate a lot of bacon.. And then I've had a bunch of pygmy puffs. Gary, Gary 2, Binki, Gary 3, Rusty, Booger, and Gary 4 and a half.. He was fat. How'd they die? Lost, overfed, bathtub, brother's cat, mum's owl, lost, and ran away with the circus." She nodded. "Tragic really. My parents think I should take a year off pets. I'm pushing for a miniature donkey for Christmas, though."

She nodded as he inquired about Albus. "Oh, uh huh. Albus is only is little bit older than us, just by a few years." Damien seemed a little scandalized by the thought that Georgie might be a muggle, though she could be mistaking his tone for excitement. "Of course she's not, muggle don't go to Hogwarts. She might be muggleborn though." She nodded. She didn't mind muggleborns. Her Auntie was one and she was brilliant.

The candy trolly rolled up and Roxi squealed, diving into her bag, causing the owl to alight from her shoulder with an irrate hoot and flutter to the luggage rack. She dug out a handful of coins and stood in the doorway with Damien, bouncing. "Two of everything. No three, no four! How much will this get me?" The woman looked at thecoins and began plunking candies into a bag for her, getting quite a bit of everything. "Here," the woman said. Roxi chirped, "Thanks!" and skipped back to her seat, plunging her hand into the bag.