A whole new world

[Phoenix Levon Scamander]

Manor Park, Central Sutton

Monday, 29. May 1989 - 13:00
(Second Spring Bank Holiday)

(The niffler as a baby.

Now everything's just a bit bigger.)

It had been an absolutely lovely, warm and sunny May this year - some days had been even too hot but today was perfect, so there was no way Phoenix would spend this day off from school cooked up inside. He'd turned eleven three months ago and was now allowed to visit the neighbouring town by himself as it was only a few kilometers from their house and known to be one of the safest towns in London. But he would have to be back home by six. He didn't really know anyone there but he decided to go just because he could. After lunch Phoenix changed into lighter clothing, a white t-shirt, thin red flannel button-up shirt which he left open, dark blue summer jeans,and very light and airy red-andblack sneakers. He packed a water bottle, some candy, niffler treats and a leash, and one of their cat's toys into a light blue denim backpack and then tricked his pet niffler into a carrying bag, gently put it in his bike's front basket, hopped on and headed to Manor Park in central Sutton.

Twenty minutes later he parked his bike against a thick tree at the pond inside the park and broke out the leash. Very carefully he opened the carrier bag, offering the little fluffball a treat to distract him from the freedom. While it munched away, the boy quickly attached the leash to the harness he'd already put on at home. As the day was beautiful and warm, just over 20 degrees celcius and sunny skies, the park was full of what were most likely all muggles but Phoenix didn't worry. In muggle eyes his multi-coloured niffler appeared to be just an average black mole. Sure that was a very unusual pet but still, nothing sensational or too unheard of. In wizarding eyes it was a regular niffler, a mole-like creature that also resembled a platypus because of its hairy snout that looked like a duck bill but once you touched it you noticed it's not. His niffler wasn't the boring typical black variety but a unique mix of grayish white and black bits and one spot of light brown over its left eye. Its big round googly eyes were cure in some people's opinion and creepy in others'. But this one's eyes were grayish blue, making them more on the cute side.

After downing the treat the young niffler leapt out of the bag, sniffed the air and took a good look around his brand new surroundings. Phoenix held on to the leash tight, just in case it saw something that excited iit. First it stared at the pond where the water glimmered in the sunlight, but realizing it wasn't something to have and to hold it took another look around and soon rushed towards the tree where Phoenix bike rested.
"Ooh, almost brand-new one pound coin!" the boy stated as the niffler picked it up and hugged it.against its cheek whilst staring up at him. "Okay, mate, you can keep that one but the next one is mine. I should take you with me more often. Extra pocket money would always be welcome. You know, one that doesn't require extra chores." he squatted down next to it and scratched the top of its head as it hid the coin into its tummy pouch.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

While Sam was a fan of video games and was quite capable of sitting at home, playing, today was a day that was made to be outside. It would be such a shame to waste this day sitting home. Once the 9-year old stuck his head out of the window right after the lunch he knew he will be outside as long as he was allowed to be. Running to his room as quickly and loudly he pulled out a dark blue shirt and shots of a slightly darker tone of blue. Dad would probably say that he should wear something else but Sam knew better! In his rush, he pulled on two completely different socks - one blue and the other black. Running right back he jumped into his red/white sneakers that completely clashed with the rest of his clothes - he didn't care.
"I'll be back before dark, promise!" he yelled at dad, not letting him say anything before he left the house. The young boy had no plans for what to do but that wasn't a problem. He often just walked around waiting for something to happen. He had few friends he could run into and there was always a possibility to find a new friend. Not that happened that often.
The best chance to bump into his friends was to go to a park so he went there. Arriving at the park he looked around but found no friends of his. What he did see was an older kid he never saw before that was playing with a ... well, he didn't know what it was. Looked like a mole... platypus? Probably some exotic animal from abroad. He usually didn't speak with older kids but he was curious about the animal... and he would probably risk it. Slowly, he decided to get a bit closer.
"Uh... hello. That's a cute platypus... mole you have there... " he said a bit nervously

[Phoenix Levon Scamander]

"Thanks. His name is Gibson," Phoenix replied as he looked up whilst Gibson was still going through his pouch. "It's a niffler. You've really never seen one before?" he said in a surprised but quite friendly tone as he registered the nervous approach, now taking a better look at the boy whom he reckoned was a few years younger than he. Then it dawned on him the boy was probably a muggle-born and thus perhaps didn't even know about the magical side of the world yet. At least he couldn't see how else a wizard child would not recognize a niffler, even if not everyone had relatives deeply into magical creatures and most parents wouldn't get one as a pet. He considered himself super lucky that he had a great-uncle who had many decades of experience in studying, caring for and training a vast variety of creatures, possibly all known to the wizardkind and had even discovered several previously unknown speacies. Without great-uncle Newt's help he doubted they would've turned baby Gibson into a tolorable house pet. Phoenix rose to his feet as Gibson looked up and noticed the stranger. The niffler quickly paced towards the new boy and around him, sniffing at his bare legs, Phoenix following so it wouldn't wrap the leash around the boy's legs.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam blank a few times in confusion.
"A whatnow?" he asked. He never heard about anything called "a niffler" not to mention seeing one. Then again he wasn't exactly an expert on fauna. There were probably thousands of animal species he never heard about. Though one would think that he would know an animal that was kept as a pet by kids roughly his age.
"Well, can't say I ever saw one, but he looks kind of cute," he said as the niffler came closer and starting sniffing his legs.
"He... he doesn't bite... does he?" he asked just to be sure. Dogs could be cute but they could bite and Sam had no idea how powerful could this little animal's beak be. But Sam still liked cute little animals and this certainly fell in that category. 
"Can I pet it?" he asked still a bit nervous since the critter was sniffing around.

[Phoenix Levon Scamander]

"Don't worry, he's friendly," Phoenix said while digging in his jeans' pocket.
"You can make friends by giving him treats," he handed the boy a few medium sized colourful balls that were a mixture of several different kinds of vegetables with some smushed earth worms mixed in, held together by oat and raw egg.
"Do you have pets?" he asked, eager to recommend all kinds of cool and fun magical animals if they didn't. Having been raised by a pet shop owner and having a magizoologist as a close relative Phoenix couldn't imagine life without some kind of a magical creature in his home.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam smiled warmly at the older boy.
"Thanks, I'll try that," he took the animal treats and crouched down to the cute little animal.
"Hello Gibson, would you like a treat?" he said and slowly extended his arm to the niffler trying not to spook it with sudden movements or loud voice. Once the critter took the ball he straightened up again.
"No, unfortunately, I don't. We had a cat but... that was a long time ago. I think my dad doesn't have time to take care of a pet and doesn't believe I can take care of one by myself," it was a bit of a sore point since he always wanted a pet.

[Phoenix Levon Scamander]

"Couldn't you ask to babysit your friends' pets to show your dad?" Phoenix suggested. Gibson wolfed down the treat and quickly climbed up Sam's body, hanging on to his clothes whilst eagerly sniffing for more, having not seen that the first one had actually come from his own human. Phoenix thought of removing the animal but since the boy didn't seem to be so unsure anymore and the niffler had bwen well sociolised with people he reckoned it woul be okay and instead offered one more treat for Sam to give, out of Gibson's view.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

"I suppose that's worth trying. Though I am not quite sure if any of my friends have a pet... " the truth was that Sam didn't have that many friends, to begin with. As he was saying that the niffler began climbing him which startled the young boy a little.
"Oh... you want another treat?" he asked and quickly took another ball from the kid and offered it to Gibson.
"Could you please..." Sam's hand movement suggested he would like to get the niffler off him. While Sam liked animals this was unexpected and he wasn't completely comfortable with it yet.

[Phoenix Levon Scamander]

"Oh, sure," Phoenix said quickly, catching the niffler just before it would fall on the grass from accepting the new treat. He realized that the boy might still be uncomfortable what with not even knowing anything about nifflers. Phoenix lifted Gibson on his own shoulder where it began munching on the treat.
"Well, if you were to have a pet, what would you want? We also have a cat and an owl," he said, looking from Gibson to the boy, excited to be discussing animals which were one of his favourite things in life, be it magical types or not though if he was to work with animals he'd most likely choose the magical kind.

[Samuel Connor Rees]

Sam felt a lot better once the niffler was off him. Not that the critter wasn't cute but he just needed to go a bit slower with animals. Once it was back on the boy's shoulder it was much cuter again.
"I like cats, they are adorable. But an owl? I never heard about someone having an owl. I like owls though... they are majestic and large and a bit scary. Saw one in a zoo, it was angry and was hissing loudly. The sound was terrifying." hearing something like that in the dark forest would be... chilling.
"I am not really a dog person... and animals like turtles of fish are just... what is the point of having a pet you can't pet properly," he explained.
"So I think I would get a nice cat, probably an orange one," he probably gave it some sort of thought in the past.