Because she’s clearly a queen and wants us all to be happy, J.K. Rowling jumped on Twitter yesterday to tell us (and the eager fan who tweeted her the question) what her patronus would be if magic were real. Harry had his stag. Hermione had her otter. Ron had his Jack Russell terrier.

.@acciowandspells It’s a pine marten.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 10, 2014

J.K. Rowling would have a pine marten if she had her way. (We’re betting that wand would be unbelievably special too – like oak-encased eyelash of the offspring of a dragon and a unicorn or something!) In case you’re not familiar, a pine marten is part of the mustelid family and is thus related to mink, wolverines (wow) and otters. They live in Europe and North America, and are about the size of a small house cat. Their fur is generally shades of brown and many have a bib pattern under their chin and down their throat because only an animal with such adorable markings would do for Rowling’s patronus. Kidding. There is probably a great reason these animals have a bib marking but generally evolution doesn’t account for “adorable” unless it’s making baby animals’ eyes gigantic for a reason. They are most common in the UK in Scotland where some have even been semi-domesticated and will take peanut butter and jam (we’re not kidding!) from human friends. In England, they are very rare – as is J.K. Rowling so we understand the kinship there.

In case you were wondering about the adorableness of this creature, we dug up a video. Look at its little paddle feet!

 

Image: Arnfinn Johansen Wildlife Photography