Familiar's House

They didn't have any trouble finding the familiar's house, located just west of Hogwarts at the western tower which rested above what looked like a rocky outcrop but was magically carved out into a building to house the land-based familiars while the tower above housed the flyers.

Trenton and Hermione just followed the many kids who went to check on their magical pets during their free time.

Arriving to find Rocky playing with a brown warthog that no would expect was magical. Rocky was running around it trying to get it to play with him while barking. Doing the classic leaning forward butt up, wagging his tail like dogs often do when they wish to play with someone.

The warthog mostly ignored him with the occasional snout push when the dog got to close. Ernest or Ernie as his friends call him now, watched on with amusement along with Justin, Wayne, and a blonde-haired girl he hasn't met yet.

Rocky catching Trenton's scent stopped everything as he looked around excitedly before charging towards Trenton and Hermione who were making their way over.

Wayne- "Damn that dog sure can run."

Trenton grinned seeing the approaching pooch, bracing himself for impact. Sticking his hands out as he placed his feet in position so he doesn't get knocked over, only for Rocky to run right by him and attack Hermione who was taken by surprise as she let out a yelp before falling over and having her face attacked by his tongue.

Hermione giggling- "Rocky, enough boy, enough, down boy, down." she said while trying to defend against his licks. - "Haha, yes it's good to see you too."

Trenton feeling left out could only sigh- "I see how it is, to think I took care of you all this time."

Rocky perked up feeling his master's dejected attitude and went over to cheer him up, only to see Trenton sadly walk away.

Rocky barked at him before following only for Trenton to continue to ignore him. Not liking that he was being ignored, he started to do everything he could to gain his attention as he ran around Trenton, only for him to continue towards his Hufflepuff friends.

Hermione getting up could only wryly smile at their play as she followed behind.

Rocky having enough nudged Trenton from behind, making him fall down.

Trenton laid face down in the grass unmoving as Rocky growing frustrated started to bark and playfully paw at him to get a reaction. Going up he started to sniff around his face only to have Theoric turn his head away. Then Rocky went around to get as his front face only for him to turn it around again.

Rocky let out another frustrating bark before he dived headfirst into Trenton's face and burrowed his way underneath trying to lick his unprotected face.

Trenton started to laugh- "Haha, Alright, alright, I was only playing, now you know how it feels to be ignored." he said as he rolled around and petted the happy dog.

Hermione grinning- "Trent was that really necessary?"

Trenton now rubbing Rocky's belly paused to look at Hermione who giggled when an upside-down Rocky also looked over at the same time wondering why she was ruining his belly rub.

Trenton- "It's all in good fun, isn't that right boy, oh yes, your such a good boy, yes you are, yes you are." he said in his baby doggy talk while scratching his belly in just the right spot that his legs started to involuntarily move.

A bit later they finally made their way to where the others were still hanging out and talking while the Tebo (warthog) called Tidus peacefully grazed nearby before the returning Rocky started to mess with it again.

Trenton greeted everyone- "Hey there guys, This is Hermione, my best friend, Hermione this is Wayne, Justin, Ernest but we all call him Ernie, and I'm sorry but I don't believe we've met yet."

Wayne- "Aw mate, I thought we were best friends, that hurts, naw I'm just joking, this is Hannah, we met in class and she's nice."

Hannah grin- "Hi, I'm Hannah, Hannah Abbott, it's nice to meet you."

Hannah Abbott is a half-blood with long blonde hair, blue eyes with average looks.

Trenton hearing Rocky barking again felt he needed to apologize to Ernie- "Sorry about Rocky bothering Tidus."

Ernie- "It's fine, Tidus can be lazy sometimes, it'll be good if Rocky can get him moving, don't worry about it."

Trenton seeing Rocky tug on the tail looked over to Ernie again just to make sure he was fine with it.

Ernie grinned- "Your dog is certainly brave, not to brag but my Tidus is a little ball of muscle, I just hope he doesn't get angry and hurt Rocky." he boasted.

Trenton wasn't about to take that lying down though- "Don't worry, Rocky is smarter than most, he won't have any troubles."

The others could practically see the sparks between their eyes as they faced each other.

Hermione who was talking to Hannah since she was the only other girl, broke it up- "Hey, Hannah wants to go to the tower to check on her parrot."

Trenton and Ernie broke eye contact.

Trenton- "Sure thing, let's go."

On the way, Trenton wondered what all the commotion was up ahead as people were gathering around.- "What's all this about?"

Ernie snorted- "We heard Zacharias earlier spouting off about how he has a Golden Snidget, so everyone must be going over to check it out."

The Golden Snidget was a small golden magical bird with fully rotational wings, best known for early use in the wizarding game of Quidditch, eventually being replaced by the Golden Snitch.

Hermione gasped- But they are an endangered species, a protected species at that, how does he have one?"

Wayne snorted- "He's a legacy." he said in a mocking voice- "He probably has some sort of special privilege that we mere mortals don't have."

Hermione- "That's just wrong, how can they allow that?"

Ernie not ashamed of his pureblood status, grinned- "That's just some of the perks of being born better." but he soon found himself surrounded by unhappy stares. Feeling awkward he tried to say it in a different way- "Err, I mean that's the perk of being, luckily, born better?" he ended up phrasing as a question so he didn't make them mad. Thinking the word lucky showed that he understood it wasn't their fault they were born inferior and that he was okay with it.

They just ignored him knowing while he didn't have anything against them, he still had the blood elitist belief.

Hermione couldn't leave well enough alone though- "Is it really better to be pure blood as you put it? I have seen nothing that should suggest purebloods are superior in any way to half-bloods or muggle-borns for that matter."

Ernie not wishing to take things further surprisingly backed off as best he could- "You must be a muggle-born, all I will say is, Purebloods run the magical world."

Trenton grabbed Hermione's hand before she could say anything else, catching her attention as he shook his head, indicating that was enough. He did this whenever Hermione was getting ready to take things too far and isolate herself from those around her. She knew this and appreciated it since she still had trouble making friends thanks to her low EQ.

Although she didn't always agree, she felt sometimes it was necessary to take things further and get to the proper answers, but she trusted Trenton's judgment and would discuss things with him later to know what she was doing wrong.