She'd walked right into it. Nancy and Jake seemed to know each other, but, stupid as she was, Kiri had mistaken Jake's hesitation for shyness. But of course it wasn't anything like that. Kiri didn't really care what their problem was, but she spent a few moments wondering why embarrassing situations such as this one always happened when Jake was around. This was the second time already! Kiri's faux-pas was at least partly covered by the fact that Jake's cat (Oh Merlin, he has one, too, Kiri thought desperately) chose this moment to start meowing very loudly - it was matched in volume by Nancy's cat, and Kiri wondered how Shana managed to stay asleep despite the racket.

What was done was done, though, and Kiri resigned herself to what would probably turn out to be a very uncomfortable train ride back to Hogwarts as Nancy made room for Jake and slid down into her seat again. Two cats and two people who didn't like each other... If it hadn't been for the pygmy puff, Kiri would probably have started tearing up right then and there, but the little creature in her hand, stirred into a right trembling frenzy by the two cats, managed to occupy enough of her attention to leave her eyes dry. She turned to Jake and said, a little awkwardly: "Can you watch out with your cat? I'd kind of like to keep my pygmy puff for a while."

Nancy turned out to be even more diplomatic than Kiri thought (at least on the outside) as she forced the conversation back to more mundane matters, and Kiri seized on the subject gratefully: "Are you looking forward to being back at Hogwarts? I've heard that we might have a few new teachers this year!"