Harry Potter and The Vanished Slytherin Prince

Chapter 2

Harry buys pet-things

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"Uh, why do you ask, sir?" The employee asked warily.

"I'm only curious as I wouldn't want a human who did happen to eat this cat food to be poisoned." Harry explains.

He's well aware that he's an incredibly strange sight today.

He's wearing muggle clothes with his old dragonhide auror boots, plus a prim white cat across his shoulders, and he's inquiring about which cat food would taste the best to a human.

"It's erm, it's cat food. It's not meant to be eaten by people."

"No, I know that. But if a person did eat it, would they be alright? Does cat food taste good?"

"I don't know, I've never tried any." The employee says, baffled. "Should I fetch my manager? She may be more helpful."

"Sure, that's fine." Harry agrees, turning back to the cat food shelves. Once he's gone, Harry looks to the little fuzzy face on his shoulder. "Anything strike your fancy? I could get a couple if you want to try different ones before deciding."

Harry has no idea why he's being so generous with a cat who may be his once arch-rival. But still, it's nice. Harry hasn't had a pet since Hedwig and he's missed the company.

Hermione and Ron are busy all the time, and Neville works long hours in his private study even when he is home. The rest of their friends from school are all doing different things, some aren't even nearby anymore. And the aurors Harry had been friendly with didn't invite him to drinks now as he hadn't worked with them in nearly a year.

When Harry had happened upon Malfoy's book shop shortly after quitting, he'd taken his book recommendations seriously and found that Malfoy had wonderful suggestions. Much of Harry's downtime now was filled with reading Malfoy's carefully curated choices.

A meow brought him back to the present.

"Right, can't talk. Er, could you point? With your nose or something? I'll put you down." Harry suggests, taking Draco off his shoulders.

He glances up at Harry, but eventually sniffs about a little, looking at the different bags, cans and cartons of food. He leaps up onto a shelf, nudging a bag with his nose.

"This one?" Harry asks, but the cat just looks at him blankly. "Okay. Any others?"

Draco turns his nose up at the rest of the food options, then leaps back onto Harry's shoulder gracefully, settling across them once more.

"Sir, Evan mentioned you had some questions about choosing a cat food." A middle aged woman approached Harry with a friendly expression.

"Yes, I've recently acquired this cat and he's very picky. What would you say is the best tasting option for food? I'm looking for something that would also be alright for a human to eat."

"That's... a bit of an unusual request. But none of these food options are harmful if ingested by a human. Do you have children who may get into the cat food?" She asks.

What an obvious reason to ask the strange question!

"Yes! I do. A toddler, cutest thing ever but he's always getting into the cupboards." Harry lies, and Draco sort of startles on his shoulder at the vigor of his response. Harry strokes the tail draped easily over his shoulder. Draco meows righteously and hits Harry's nose with the tail, though it doesn't have much force behind it. "Draco, behave!" Harry hisses at him. Draco meows angrily again.

"Right. Well, all of the foods we sell are organic and healthy options for your pet, and are harmless for humans to ingest. I can't personally offer my opinion on taste, but I've found that this type of wet food is particularly popular with our cat owners." She says, pointing at a can that Draco had specifically turned his nose up at.