The Badger Raccoon
Minisinoo

Summary:  How Cedric Diggory acquired his very non-regulation pet (and got to keep it).
Warnings:  none.

Notes:  Although this story fits into the Finding Himself  world, it was written for a challenge that required it to remain in line with canon, so Cedric does not survive the Third Task.

Cedric Diggory made his first ride on the Hogwarts Express without a pet.

That would have been less remarkable had his father not worked in the Ministry's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.  In fact, Amos Diggory headed the Magical Pet Licensing division, so Cedric had grown up hip-deep in animals of one sort or another.

"What, no kneazle-cat, Diggory?" asked one of the Weasley twins (Fred?) as he passed on platform 9¾.  They were Cedric's age, and had grown up nearby.

"I reckoned he'd have an owl, at least," said the other twin as they followed in the wake of their brothers.  Cedric had dropped his eyes when Charlie Weasley had moved past, too embarrassed even to look up at the older boy.  Charlie was a legend on a broom, and Cedric nursed a dim dream that he might someday make Seeker for Gryffindor himself.

Assuming the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor.  He knew his father hoped for it as Amos had been in that house.  Cedric thought Ravenclaw might be equally fitting, however, as he loved books and learning -- but either would make him happy, as long as the Hat didn't put him in Slytherin.

In fact, the Hat called out the one house that Cedric hadn't even considered:

"Hufflepuff!"

A bit bemused, Cedric took his place at the Hufflepuff table, wondering how he'd ended up here.  By the end of the year, however, he knew exactly why he'd been sorted into Hufflepuff.  He believed in the power of community, and compassion, and loyalty.

But he still didn't have a familiar.

That following summer, Cedric did something a bit ...  unusual, at least for a British wizard.  He spent 6 weeks on an Ojibway Indian reserve in northern Ontario, Canada.  Indian wizards didn't live like Europeans.  For one thing, they remained in the tribe, not apart from it.  For another, they used Muggle technology.  So if Cedric had never seen a telly before he arrived, by the time he left, he was fully conversant with light switches, microwaves, Nintendo, CD players, and -- of course (on the rez) -- basketball.  He'd grown used to Indian time and Indian cars, soft-cadence speech, and a fast right-hook when somebody made too much of his pale skin, not to mention the sharp smell of burning sage and prayers sung of a morning in a high ululation.

And while he was there, Cedric Diggory finally acquired a pet.

Or more precisely speaking, a pet acquired a wizard.

The last week of his visit, Cedric returned from a morning shower to find a small grey furball curled up half under the pillow atop the mattress on which he'd been sleeping during his visit.  Baffled because he wasn't quite sure what it was, he went after Leonard Whitecalf, the elderly meda, or native wizard, with whom he was staying.

"Baby raccoon," Leonard pronounced when he returned to the room Cedric shared with two of Leonard's great-grandkids.  "Probably snuck in the house after food, gorged himself, and fell asleep.  Fetch a towel."

"A towel!" Cedric replied, aghast.  "You're not going to smother it, are you?"

Snorting, Leonard peered up at Cedric out of walnut-black eyes.  "I'm going to take it outside.  Don't want to touch it or the mother will smell the man on it and never take it back."

So Cedric fetched a towel and the raccoon, hissing and chittering in fear, was picked up, carried out, and summarily left near the rear shed.

The next morning, it was back in Cedric's bed.  Baffled, Leonard carried it out again.  "Stupid esiban.  You live out here, not in a house."

"What's esiban mean?" Cedric asked.  Leonard spoke Ojibway fluently and sometimes peppered his English with native words.

"Raccoon," Leonard said.  "Names have power.  Call the animal by its name, and it knows you."

The next morning, the raccoon was back again, and when it heard Cedric's step, it burrowed under the sheets as if that might let it escape notice.  Sighing, Cedric didn't even shout for Leonard, just fetched a towel and carried it out on his own.  "Come on, esiban.  You really need to learn to stay outside, yeah?"

Two more mornings and two more appearances and Cedric asked Leonard if the raccoon had adopted him.  "Nah," Leonard replied, gravely old voice a bit sad.  "I figure he lost his mother.  He's hungry and looking for a safe place to sleep."

"What'll happen to him?" Cedric asked.  Tomorrow, he'd be driven back into Ottawa to catch a Portkey to Toronto, then another to London, so he was a bit worried about what would become of the little raccoon.

"Well, it depends," Leonard answered after a moment.  "He's old enough to eat solid food -- as our pantry is showing -- so he might make it.  But I reckon it's just a matter of time 'til something bigger than he is catches and eats him, ain't it?"

Frowning, Cedric asked, "Why not just let him stay with you?"

"That esiban is a wild animal, Ced, not a pet.  The Creator meant him to be free."

"But he'll die if left in the wild!  You just said so!"

Leonard nodded.  "He might.  But that's the way of things."

"It's cruel."

The old man shook his head.  "Crueler to make him into something he wasn't intended to be."

And if Cedric normally believed Leonard Whitecalf to be at least as wise as Dumbledore, in this one matter, he doubted.  So he counted on his little friend showing up the next morning as usual, and when he did, Cedric wrapped him in one of his pullovers, stuffed him in his bag, and closed the zip -- hoping the animal wouldn't burrow down too far in there and suffocate.  But even more, he hoped he'd stay quiet.

In fact, Esiban made virtually no noise at all in the car into Ottowa, nor in any of the Ministry buildings as if conspiring with Cedric to be smuggled out of the country.  Cedric was back in England before what would have been noon on the rez, and when he opened his pack in his family's sitting room -- face a bit defiant -- a masked visage poked out.  That won twin gasps from his parents.  "What is that?" his mother demanded.

"That, mum, is Esiban."  Squatting down, he offered the raccoon his hand, well aware that the animal might bite him.  But instead, Esiban sniffed his fingers, then let Cedric stroke his bristly fur.

The next autumn, when Cedric boarded the Hogwarts Express for his second year, he finally had a pet, and a special note from his father explaining to Dumbledore that Cedric's punishment for taking a wild animal out of its natural habitat was to learn proper care for it.  Esiban depended on Cedric now; Cedric had become both parent and companion.  And in turn, Esiban became Cedric's best friend -- and occasional hat.  The only reason Dumbledore selected Cho Chang to be Cedric's treasure in the Lake Task during the Triwiard Tournament in Cedric's six year was because a raccoon waking to find himself cold and wet in the middle of a Scottish loch was likely to maul his person in terror.

Four months later -- when Cedric died -- his housemates said Esiban curled up on Cedric's bed and refused to budge or eat.  Two mornings later, they found him cold.

He was buried beside Cedric.  The Badger raccoon.