It's been a thunder spell from the druid both times.
I gave her owl stats but flavored her as a very small dragon who has a fondness for polyhedral gems. Yep, she's a dice dragon.
I guess that makes my familiar my self-insert character.
Yeah an hour and a few gold isn't really a penalty at all in 5e with how easy it is to get money. Even at low levels imo. I've been doing this gag since level two (we're now level fourteen) and the cost was a joke then too.