Squirrely | One shot for Rodent Affinity

[Deleted]

Ever since Fiona Ebner could remember she attracted small woodland creatures. Field mice would always find a way into her yard when she was playing outside and they would make her giggle. As a baby she was never afraid of them even though her mom very much was afraid of them and continued to explain to Fiona that they were “icky” and could be carrying diseases. Fiona wasn’t a very disobedient child, but she never turned down the opportunity to play with some of her creature friends when they came to play with her.

When she was 8 years old, she found a squirrel that had been abandoned by his mother. Later, Fiona would learn from her father that he had seen a dead squirrel a few roads down which had obviously been ran over by a car and that was likely the cause of abandonment. Fiona cried until her parents let her go and rescue the squirrel. To make her happy, her parents went out and got a hamster cage and a few little bits necessary for it. Fiona kept the Squirrel for 6 months before she reintroduced him to the wild. And by wild, of course, she meant the London neighborhood in which her family lived. However, there was a good-sized squirrel population and her little rescue was able to fit right back in.

When Fiona and her family found out that she was a witch and was going to Hogwarts school, she began to wonder if her attraction to rodents was magically based. She could bring a small pet with her to Hogwarts and so her parents let het pick out a pet on her own. They went into the pet store and Fiona found her way over to the cage of mice. She chose a tan mouse that was the first to run over to her when she looked into the cage. Since the family already had the set up from the squirrel a few years ago, they already had a cage and some materials. Fiona brought her mouse, who’s name was Copper with her on the train and to the castle. After Fiona was a student, she was able to talk to the care of magical creatures professor about her affinity and learned that it was magical based and various other witches and wizards had the same affliction for various types of animals and it was more common than not.

Copper died at the very beginning of her 4th year, an incredibly long life for a mouse, but a very well taken care of, well spoiled mouse. Over the last year and a half, instead of getting a new pet, Fiona bonded with some of the creatures around the castle and grounds. The dungeons and basements were a good place to find mice, not that she actively went looking for them, but every now and then they found her coming or going from the common room. Outside, she’d often get squirrels and chipmunks, along with the occasion rabbit at her feet on sat beside her while she did whatever she was doing. She tried not to spoil the wild ones too much out of fear it would disrupt their lives and environment, but, if she had any food on her, she couldn’t help but share.