At number 12, Grimmauld Place, the house was silent, save for the unpleasant squelching sounds made by Kreacher as he mopped the floor. The other sound that kept some silence at bay was the sound of flames crackling. In the living room, a roaring fire was devouring some logs in the fireplace. Ocassionally it was stoked by one of the two creatures sitting on the couch. One was a tall tom cat, his fur white at the tip of his tail and on his belly and paws, but blue everywhere else. His face showed little signs of his age (around fifty in cat years), save for a few wrinkles around his wide, yellow eyes and a few small tufts of white hair in his ears.

The other creature was considerably smaller than the cat. He was a mouse, but not like any other mouse. This was in more than the fact that his fur was orange, once this mouse had lifted objects more than fice times his own weight, and had regularly beaten up the cat he was sitting next to. But those days were long behind him, and now in his elderly years he and the cat sat together quite peacefully.

Twenty six years ago it would have been unthinkable for Tom and Jerry to sit together side by side as friends, but twenty six years ago, something had happened to both of them that had changed their lives and made them into the good friends they were now. Right now they were discussing just that event. A battered looking photo album with moving pictures in it sat between them. Tom stretched out on the couch.

"This is the life, isn't it Jerry?" he said.

"Sure is, Tom. Sure is" said Jerry. He took a bite of the small lump of cheese he had been holding. "You know" he said with his mouth full. "It's kinda hard to believe that things were so different between you and me once upon a time, isn't it?"

"Yeah" said Tom. "I remember what our lives used to be like. Until that day" he added with a conspiratorial wink. Jerry nodded as he swallowed his cheese. He and Tom both remembered vivdily what had happened that day at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. Nevertheless, Tom turned to the appropriate page in the photo album.

Magical Menagerie, Diagon Alley, 26 years ago.

Jerry sat slumped against the wall of the cage he and Tom and been sharing for the past two weeks now. Tom lay curled up as far away from Jerry as he could get. Neither had spoken to the other for hours.

Up till two weeks ago, Tom and Jerry's lives had involved chasing each other up and down the streets of London. Both were equally street smart of the city, but Jerry had always managed to outsmart his way out of being caught. This usually involved some painful accident on Tom's part. However, one had to give the cat points for never giving up his chase. Everyday, day in day out this happened. But then one day Jerry had led Tom right into a pub. As soon as he had entered it he had begun to develop strange feelings. Certainly the people surrounding him with their tall, pointy hats and their long robes had looked rather strange. At one point Jerry had even seen a whole tray of empty glasses glide straight over his head.

He had not been left alone to watch this spectacle for long however before Tom had resumed his chasing. Jerry had dashed through the legs of countless people in his efforts to shake off Tom. However the cat was as nimble as he was determined, and he never once lost sight of Jerry. Presently, they had run into a nearby room of the pub where there was a brick wall. What they had failed to notice at the time however was that this wall had a large hole in it, they did however notice the alley they had run into. But as in the pub, they had had little time to get a good look at their surroundings before someone had snatched them up and bundled them into a cage at the Magical Menagerie, where they had spent an entire fortnight.

Jerry rose to his feet and stormed over to Tom.

"This is all your fault!" he snapped. "If you hadn't been chasing me through that pub, we would never have come to this stupid alleyway, and we would not be sharing a cage right now!" Tom glared at him intensely.

"You think I like it here, mouse? You think I like having to share a cage with you? You are the most annoying thing I know, you constantly steal all my food and try to sleep in my beds. It's no wonder I chase you!"

"Oh that's your excuse" retorted Jerry. "You're just full of those, aren't you?"

"Oh just give it a rest, mouse" said Tom, as he resumed his curled up position. Jerry fumed and kicked him. Tom sat up immediately and lunged for him. But Jerry had been expecting that. He leapt on to Tom's head and scurried long down his back. Tom wriggled and writhed about in a vain attempt to get Jerry off. Soon the cage was tossing to and fro as the two animals battled it out with each other.

Suddenly the bell in the shop rang. A customer had entered. Tom and Jerry immediately stopped their fight. They knew from watching the other animals in the shop that the presence of a customer could very well be their ticket to freedom. They both set about trying to make themselves look presentable. Looking out of their cage they saw an enormous man with a baggy, brown coat and a beard that looked like the black version of Santa Claus'. He was so huge that both Tom and Jerry had to crane their necks to get a good look at him.

Suddenly the man walked away to reveal a small boy standing behind him. The boy was very skinny and had black hair that was so messy that no amount of combing would ever straighten it. He was wearing circular glasses and some jeans and a t-shirt, a far cry from the robes that many of the shop's customers wore. His most noticeable feature however was undoubtedly the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Slowly he approached Tom and Jerry's cage and crouched down in front of it. As they looked into his green, almond shaped eyes, Tom and Jerry could both tell that this was a boy who meant them no harm and never would. If only he would by them.

Eventually he stood up again and spoke to the woman who ran the shop.

"I'll take those two" he said, pointing at Tom and Jerry's cage.

"Oh you're welcome to them" said the woman. "They're always fighting, it frightens the blood ravens."

As the huge man picked up their cage with one hand, Tom and Jerry stood where they were, motionless with glee. Later they would be feeling resentful at having both been bought by the same person, but for now they were so pleased to have been bought at all. Little did they know that their owner was undoubtedly the most famous young wizard of all.

Harry James Potter.