Sam smiled as Rachel replied in the affirmative, carefully placing Ollie on the desk. "Fanks," she replied, leaning forward slightly to greet Haddie on the Ravenclaw's other side. "I'll 'elp too, cos I don't wan' anyfink 'appenin' to Ollie eivver." Though Madam Curie wouldn't possibly let anything happen to a fellow rat, right?

As for why they were asked to bring their pets? Sam hadn't a clue. She'd had a flick through her potions book after seeing the announcement posted, but she hadn't found anything specific. One type of pet, maybe...but not a whole menagerie's worth.

Which led her to think it was something about them being familiars. Except that wouldn't work for Kitty, who didn't have one to bring and had just been offered a random toad.

HMM.

A guess then. "Cos our famili-ehs make us strongeh? 'n' dat'll 'elp our potion?"