Surrogate Best Friend

[Ophelia Dippet]

Ophelia nodded along with the man's comments, though she was still far more preoccupied with the niffler. She laughed when the man slid his ring off, because this caused the creature to do a sort of agitated dance--like young children did when they desperately needed to use the bathroom. "Oh, stop it, you silly thing," she admonished lightly, tapping the creature's back to try and distract it from the now-hidden ring. The niffler turned at the pressure, then spun in a quick circle, trying to determine what had touched him. When he didn't see anything, however (Ophelia having since pulled her hand back to the top of the pen), it scuttled over as close as possible to the man and resumed staring at his pocket.

"Well, he might be very happy at your mother's, though I suspect she would be much less so," Ophelia pointed out. "But you'll have to look elsewhere if you decide on a niffler. I've made up my mind to buy this one." Her grandfather knew nothing of the matter, but Ophelia wasn't worried about that. She'd convince him. Even if she had to be unpleasant in order to do so.

"I think it's a he, what do you think?" she asked, though she didn't wait for an answer before reaching down and playfully prodding the niffler's back again, this time more to the center. He reeled back to look at her hand, then lost his balance and tumbled backwards--exactly the way her last niffler had done!--and revealed that she'd been correct in her assumption. Looking over at the unknown man with a mischievous glint in her eye, Ophelia said, "Well, you can help me name him, sir, and I'll help you find a pet for your mother. How's that for a trade? You couldn't do better than to be advised by the daughter of a famous Magizoologist." Infamous might have been a better word--and mostly due to how her father had died--but it didn't have quite the same ring to it. Besides, she was just having a bit of fun.

@'Roberto Devine'