Adam caught on to what the other man was doing just a half-second before he reached for the cat. If he'd realized earlier, he likely would have tried to stop him. He was sporting his own wounds from the cat's claws, and he didn't want to see someone else inflicted with similar wounds just because they'd stopped to help him. Luckily, the kitten skittered away instead of launching into him and attacking, then headed towards Adam. He put his hands down to catch the cat, then realized that this was stupid — he was a wizard, and almost an auror, at that. He was meant to be catching dark wizards as a career. He ought to be able to catch a kitten without getting his hands torn to ribbons!

The kitten feigned away from him, and Adam drew his wand as quickly as his auror-in-training reflexes would allow. With a quick spell, he encircled the kitten in a harmless — but quite impenetrable — sphere of blue magic.

"Ha!" he said, sitting back on his heels. "Gotcha!"