Her parents had still been a bit reluctant as well but the more the talk progressed, the more the dangers of leaving a magical child unattended got highlighted, the more they realised the situation they were in, which was in the end the reason why they found themself in the enclaves of the italian magic district.

Sen had wanted to take her brother's hands, slightly intimidated by the bustling place but the boy had pulled his hand back to dart over to his fathers side.

“Ren?”

He had crossed his arms, staring angrily at the ground.

Giorgia sighed, before she took Sens hand “Sen? Stellina? Give him a bit of time.”

“But… I don’t want to leave him.”

“Stellina… you heard Professeur Marino. You have to go.”

Her eyes misted over once again “I don’t want to leave Ren.”

“I know cara… I know.” the mother leaned down to hug her daughter “It will be alright. You’re a witch. Isn’t this amazing? Focus on that. You’re a very special Stellina, very, very special.”

Sen sniffed but followed her mother when she pulled her behind the professor, only to get quickly distracted by the odd bits and pieces surrounding them.

Her eyes widened more and more and she picked up more books that were necessary, Professeur Marino did cast a charm on the bag to make it lighter but in the end her father still carried it just so that Sen was free to run around and explore more.

“Stellina? Professeur Morina said you are allowed to have a pet. Would you like to pick one? So that you have a companion when you’re at school?”

Her eyes slit up “Really? I can have one?”

“If you promise to take care of it.”

“I will! I promise!” she was already darting into the pet store they had stood in front of “Can I take anything?”

“Yes, an owl can carry letters for you but you can also use the school owls if you would rather have something you can cuddle more.”

Sen nodded, glancing at her brother who was tugging on his fathers hand.

Francesco turned her attention towards Marino “Are those… regular pets? It would be unfair if Renato doesn’t get one too now.”

“Well.. they are a bit more special but as long as they don’t require a licence there would be no issue in getting him one here as well.”

Renato immediately lit up as he darted towards his sister, taking her hand to pull her towards the cages, almost forgetting his plight in his excitement.

The boy pulled his sister towards the reptiles, staring with wide eyes at the colourful animals.

Sen pouted slightly, “I want something cuddly.”

“i don’t. Cute is overrated.”

“it’s not.”

“yes, it totally is. My pet will be the coolest. Totally awesome.”

The shopkeeper had neared, smiling down at the children “I wouldn’t recommend one of the snakes. They are quite difficult to handle. We only hand them out to mages that are at least 15.”

The boy started to pout “But snakes are cool!”

“They are, they really are.” he glanced around “But… have you ever seen a shapeshifting chameleon?”

“Chameleons don’t change shape. They change colour.”

The man chuckled, gently pushing the children towards another section and opening a cage to let his hand into it to pick one of them up “This is one of our Glirancor Chameleons. They can change into anything.”

Renatos eyes widened “Anything?”

“Yes, try holding it, maybe you can coax it into transforming?”

Renatos hands already wandered up and to his delight the chameleon started to climb onto them. Even better when the small reptile started to transform into a ball.

The shopkeeper watched it for a bit, being relieved to see how careful the young boy was handling the animal and with a glance to Morina who assured him that she would take watch he placed a hand on the young witches shoulder “And you are searching for something more cuddly?”

She nodded, “Something cute and fluffy.”

“A cat maybe? We do have a litter of half kneazles right now. They are very intelligent.”

She tilted her head “Dunno.”

He smiled “Well. how about you take a look?”

He gently pushed her in the direction and the witch was already kneeling on the floor, staring in awe at the kittens “They are super cute!”

“Would you like one?”

She pursed her lips “Do many witches have cats?”

“Oh yeah, most beloved after owls naturally.”

“Then no.”

“No?”

She shook her head vehemently. “Ren always says that everything that is common is boring. He would make fun of me for ages!”

He looked a bit puzzled at her, before he looked around “Well… no one likes toads. But toads are not cuddly.”

“Don’t want a toad.”

“We got more birds?”

She shook her head again, still not happy.

“A bunny?”

“Too normal.”

The shopkeeper turned around “So… you want something special? Something uncommon?”

“Yes.”

“Well… rats don’t have much of popularity but I don’t think a young lady-”

“Where?”

He blinked “What?”

“Where are the rats?”

“You… would like a rat?”

“Yes! Ren showed me a book yesterday and rats are extremely intelligent and they can be trained and they are cuddly.”

He chuckled slightly “Well… then I show you our rats. I might have a special one for you as well.”

She cheered up even more, her smile almost blending as he took the lead to go into another part of the shop “we only have magical rats. They live for decades, especially if you bond with them as a familiar. Your magic can keep them alive for your whole life if you take proper care of them.”

She was already walking between the cages, trying to find one she would like when she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder and a tug on her hair.

Her eyes widened as she turned her head only to stare at a white and black spotted rat.

The shopkeeper immediately picked the animal up “Sorry. He has the habit, little troublemaker. He’s a Bilbogorian Rat, they apparate as you have just discovered and this little one is a bit of a ḱleptomanic.”

He sighed as he pulled out the hair clip out of the rats mouth.

The animal squeaked in outrage before vanishing again just to plop up on Rosenes head once again.

The witch slowly lifted her hands to pull the rat down and look at him. He stood up on his hind legs, staring straight in her face and she grinned “I want him.”