Human Nature

Unlike her peers, Kayla had never really been a dog person. She didn't beg her parents "Please? Pretty pleeassee?" with puppy eyes for one. Of course, she would never base her arguments on such fluffy fallacies. However, that morning, she'd began to sympathize with dog lovers.

"Look at this," she snarled at breakfast, banging the newspaper on the table. "This is why the Ministry needs to have tighter regulations on Magical Creatures."

"Besides the fact that executions should be outlawed?" her father asked, somewhat amused.

"No, look at this," Kayla read aloud, "'Three magizoologists were arrested for illegal charms on ordinary stray dogs, attempting to give them various magical powers. Twenty-seven of the rescued dogs are currently in rehabilitation.' Look at the state of these poor dogs!" She continued reading. "'One of the uninjured dogs is at De Beaux Animaux, under the caring protection of Mr. Lorcan Sylvestre. He is not currently for sale.' Aw..."

Her mother finished her drink. "If you want, you could visit there today. I have some errands to run in Amethyst Alley."

Three hours later, Kayla had never ran into De Beaux Animaux so enthusiastically. "Hi, Mr. Lorcan," she greeted the shopkeeper at the doorway. "I'm looking for rescued dog-"

"Yes, yes, the one in the newspaper, and call me Mr. Lorcan." He ushered her to a large pen in the left. "Poor thing, I've named him Fluffy, he still doesn't trust people. Please, don't frighten him."

Kayla instantly felt her heart melt at the sight of the dog. Fluffy's white head was resting on a lavish pillow. He didn't seem physically scarred, but his large eyes looked afraid. He was reluctant to get near his crowd of adorers. Kayla couldn't blame him. "Guys, give him some space," she tried to insist to the people leaning over the pen and taking pictures.

She kept her distance, watching Fluffy grasp toys as she reflected on human cruelty. Maybe wizards felt a natural superiority over Muggles and small animals, even though it didn't seem fair. The universe just put them that way. People were just born with that kind of power. She knew some pureblood supremacists thought Muggle-borns stole magic. It was easier for them that way, believing their hatred was justified. But what had dogs ever done to deserve abuse? She turned to the boy next to her, also adoring Fluffy. "Sometimes people are just so cruel to creatures," she lamented aloud. "Just because they don't understand them, they shouldn't exploit them."

Wolfgang had already finished his shopping days ago, but since he was to be heading out to Beauxbatons later in the week, his family had rented a room above La Petit Dragon until he was to depart. Every day, Wolfgang would visit the pet shop to pet the puppies. He was filled with some sort of mixed emotion of happiness and jealously each day as the number of puppies dwindled. That meant people were adopting them, which was good, but Wolfgang was envious that it wasn't him who had adopted them.

Today the shop was unusually busy. All sorts of people of every age, some with cameras, lingered around a pen with a single grown dog. At first, Wolfgang wasn't suspicious of the increased activity. The dog was a new addition to the shop and Wolfgang always thought dogs were the best so naturally it drew more attention. He wanted to steal a sneak peek for himself and had to push a little through the crowd to get a glance. He frowned as the dog looked so sad and scared. No dog should ever feel that way and Wolfgang felt compelled to yell at the crowd to give the poor dog space.

As if thinking the same thoughts, the girl next to him uttered something about animal cruelty. Wolfgang faced her with interest, assuming she was a dog enthusiast like he was. "Right? That poor doggy looks so scared and sad and it can't help that all these people are staring at it like it's some sort of exhibit at the museum! It's only a sweet dog with feelings. Bloody hell, give it some space," Wolfgang noted, naïve to the true story of the dog. He meant well, though.

Kayla watched as Lorcan tried to calm the crowd down while she listened to the boy. "Yeah, poor Fluffy, people should stop ogling at him," she noted. The boy was so sweet and earnest, he reminded her of Cameron. She turned to him, sizing him up to see if he was interested. "Honestly, dogs kind of scare me." Dogs were giant, barking, adorable creatures with way too much boundless energy for her. She wasn't sure what instance had triggered the fear, it was probably just a general thing. She preferred cats. "Still, at least they should be left alone. People like the ones who tortured Fluffy and the other dogs need to be stopped." But how? her mind desperately nagged her.

She sighed gloomily. She couldn't get too wrapped up in this, with school right around the corner. "Are you going to Beauxbatons?" she asked the boy. Judging from his size and the weariness she knew all too well from school shopping, she figured she was right.

The shopkeeper had to get involved, the crowd was so bad. Wolfgang respectfully took a few steps back as the crowd dispersed some. He got a better glimpse of the dog that way. He looked sad and tired. "He looks like he needs a nice big field to run in. Dogs love doing that. If I were his owner, I'd take him to a field and let him go and run around with him," Wolfgang noted. Though he wanted nearly every dog he encountered, he specifically wanted Fluffy because he wanted to cheer up the sad dog.

He looked towards the girl as she confessed dogs frightened her. "How?" He couldn't help but question. It seemed impossible to him. "Dogs are filled to the brim with happiness and they just love so much sometimes it hurts. They're just so pure and good. The only time you ever hear a story about someone being attacked by a dog, it's only because the person did something to spite them," Wolfgang noted. Dogs didn't usually attack unless they had good reason to. He didn't understand what she said about Fluffy next either.

"Tortured?" He repeated. Suddenly he felt angry. He didn't need the details of how the dog was hurt to get fired up about it. "Why!? What did Fluffy do to deserve that!? Nothing! Who did it!? I swear to Merlin if I find that person I'm going to-!" He broke off. He wasn't sure what his little eleven year old form could do in retaliation to a grown wizard that would make them pay, but he wanted ever so to protect every dog ever.

He fell quiet and turned away as his wrapped his arms around himself, his brow furrowed beneath his bleached bangs. It wasn't fair. People were cruel enough to each other. Why bring something as innocent as a dog into the mix? He almost didn't hear the other girl's question in his irritation.

"What?" He asked, turning back towards her. "Yeah, uhhh, I start this year," He answered. He sulked for another moment more before realizing he hadn't even introduced himself yet. "Wolfgang," He uttered. "My name is Wolfgang, in case you wanted to know."