For many it is expected that when you arrive at Hogwarts you will have an animal with you. This is either in the form of an animal to act as a pet i.e. cat, rat, toad or as a mail service i.e. owl. For muggle-borns I expect this concept is a little strange to them as over my years at Hogwarts I have only ever seen half-bloods and pure-bloods arrive with owls.

Some people get pets that are passed down through the family that perhaps an older sibling cannot take with them and some prefer to wait until they know what will be a useful pet. For instance, for many the thought of taking care of an animal seems a daunting task however when you find that your animagus is a cat, such as Professor McGonagall’s you may find that you want to get hold of a cat in order to befriend it.

People that I knew with noted pets would be:

Albus Dumbledore – Fawkes: Phoenix (Given by Newt Scamander)

Rubeus Hagrid – Fluffy: 3 headed dog & Fang: Boarhound dog

Harry Potter – Hedwig: Snowy Owl

Weasley Family – Errol: Great Grey Owl & Scabbers: Rat (technically Peter Pettigrew)

Hermione Granger – Crookshanks: Cat

Neville Longbottom – Trevor: Toad

Lee Jordan – Tarantula (this broke tons of school rules but we all do them!!!)

I was never to have a “pet” at Hogwarts I don’t believe my parents or my uncle did either. The common thing I share with my father is that I am a parselmouth. This means I have the ability to speak to snakes. I often spoke to snakes in the Forbidden Forest and also made friends with several of them. As many know, my father was friends with Nagini. I often found that I made friends with these snakes rather than made them into “pets”.