To Find a Companion (Kayleigh)

Layla looked at her reflection in the window of the Menagerie. She look tired, worn and completely stressed out, even for a newly fifteen year old. Her friends parents had finally grown tired of her presence, though she was rarely there and within the madness, she'd escaped to Diagon Alley for an ice cream date with Ethan. However, after a conversation and a kiss, he had to rush off to work, something Layla didn't quite understand yet. Sure, she had her musical career, but with being sick for so long her doctor told her to take a while off that way she could give her vocal chords time to renew their strength. The girl let out a cough and looked down to the three sweaty galleons in her hand. It was all the Wizarding currency she had left and she needed to save it in order to survive.

She couldn't live with Ethan, not yet. It was entirely inappropriate and couldn't it get him into trouble anyways? That was the last thing Layla wanted to do because she truly loved him. Layla sighed a hearty sigh and looked back up to the glass, an orange coloured cat now rubbing it's body against the window. In a time like this she longed for a companion. She never got a pet when she started Hogwarts and now she wished se had. However what would she have done with it while on tour? Taken it with her? She set her empty hand on the glass pane, a feeling of loneliness setting in her heart as the cat meowed at her, clearly begging to be adopted.

The Gryffindor wished that she could adopt the furry creature but soon she wouldn't be able to tend to herself, much less a cat. In fact, what animal would even be as cheap as three galleons? Probably not Tiggy. She frowned, she shouldn't have named him because it would only make it harder to leave. It was already hard enough when her parents kicked her out, it was even harder to have to leave her friends house and her home country of Australia, she couldn't possibly imagine leaving Tiggy or even Ethan.

Layla had figured a quick trip inside the shop would do her no harm so that's what she did. The doorbell clanged overhead as she opened the door and made her way over to Tiggy. Picking him up, she scratched beneath him chin and smiled at the purring vibrations he created against her chest. Instantly she felt more calm than she had been all day and while it was nice, she knew it wouldn't last. Looking at his collar, she noticed he was only sixteen galleons but that was thirteen more than what she currently had and that didn't include cat food. Frowning, she put him back down and continued petting his back ans he arched up and spun in circles.

Layla let out another sigh as the doorbell once again clanged and she found herself nearly crashing to the floor. Someone had run into her, someone smaller than her and familiar looking. The Gryffindor quickly wiped the frown off her face and turned to the younger that she recognised only vaguely because they'd spoken like once. Kayleigh she believed it was. "Oh no, I'm fine," the girl said, even though she probably didn't look fine but that wasn't the young girl's fault. Layla nodded at the girl, telling her that she was indeed Layla and that she had remembered correctly.

The younger girl was definitely more hyper than she was, but that was likely because she was - well - young, like Layla had been once. "Oh, no," Layla said, the cat rubbing against her legs once more, "I'm just looking." She gave the girl a half-hearted smile mostly because she couldn't bring herself to admit that the once rich international popstar was now broke, or at least in the means of wizarding money. She didn't have access to her Muggle money, her parents did.

Layla offered the girl another smile of reassurance when she spoke. Layla was glad that the girl was fine because she didn't want to make her feel bad, it wasn't like she was big enough to actually knock her down or hurt her anyways. It would have just been more annoying than anything but even annoyance was something that Layla didn't feel or at least not often.

The girl's face lighting up made Layla chuckle a bit. "His name is Tiggy," Layla found herself saying, "but no, I'm not buying him, though he seems to fancy me." The Gryffindor smiled down to the cat again. It seemed to really want out of this place and it hurt Layla's heart. "Owls are cool," the girl replied. It was nice to be talking to someone, it sort of helped her forget her situation, if even for only a mere minute. The distraction was all Layla needed.

Layla shook her head no, unable to really explain anything to the girl, mostly because Layla tended to be reserved as opposed to being an open book. "I don't have a pet," the girl replied, "and my er - parents aren't here." She shrugged trying to play it off as no big deal before she gently slid the three galleons back into her pocket. She should likely be going soon before Tiggy got even more affectionate. Besides, she'd need to find shelter and food for the night anyways.

Layla shrugged, the name could really be either gender in her opinion but there was no use in starting an argument, even if she did believe the cat was a boy. She wasn't an expert at animals or anything but she was certain she could semi tell the difference between a male and female, unless cats were different. "Yeah I do like him, but my parents - they won't let me," the girl stated. It was sort of true. Her parents wouldn't let her buy it, or anything for that matter because they disowned her.

As much as she thought it would get easier to accept as time went by, it seemed to only get harder and harder and she found herself hating to admit to herself that she no longer had a family.

Besides Ethan. Ethan would always be her family unless he too disowned her.

"I travel a lot during the summer and caring for a pet would be hard," Layla stated, "I go on world tours because I'm a singer." That was completely true, unlike most of everything else she'd been telling the girl. "I don't write letters home, my parents are Muggles." It felt weird to say such a thing about them, but she didn't know what else to call them that would make sense to the girl.

"Oh," the girl said surprise, "I flew in - on a plane to meet a friend."