Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 186 The Amazing Zoo

After leaving Flourish and Blotts, the four of them each bought four ice creams and then went to the Magical Zoo.

Although Hermione's birthday is in September, this was to recognize her for finishing second in her grade for two consecutive years—

That is, he ranked second in the first grade, and since there was no exam in the second grade, he retained that second place.

Hermione's parents gave her some money so she could choose a gift herself.

After seeing that Harry, Ron, and Tyrell all had their own pets, Hermione decided to use the money to buy herself one too.

The magical zoo doesn't have much space, but every inch of the walls is covered with cages.

The shop was hot, smelly, and noisy, filled with the various squeaking noises of the small creatures in the cages. Behind the counter, a witch was already instructing a wizard on how to care for two-tailed salamanders, so Tyella, Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited nearby, watching the cages.

A pair of purple toads with huge eyes sat there, unappealingly gobbling down a dead fly.

A large tortoise with a hard shell inlaid with gemstones flaunted itself near the window.

Poisonous orange snails were slowly emerging from the edge of their glass tanks, and a plump white rabbit kept transforming into a silk top hat and then back again, making loud popping sounds.

Then there were cats of various colors, a cage of noisy ravens, a basket of ridiculous mustard-colored fluffy balls humming loudly, and a large cage on the counter containing smooth black mice playing some kind of jumping game with their long, bald tails.

Finally, the wizard who kept the two-tailed salamander left, and Tierra stepped forward.

“I want to buy a cage of mice,” Tierra said, pointing to the large cage on the counter.

Upon hearing that someone wanted to buy it, the mouse in the basket on the counter instantly became lively, doing its best to show off its abilities.

What kind of girl do you want? A cutie.

"That's what the witch behind the counter said."

“Please pick out a cage for all the female mice and put them in it, thank you,” Tierra said. “Oh, and please cover the cage with a black curtain.”

"..." The witch behind the counter gave Tiera a strange look, then replied, "Alright."

The witch waved her wand, and a black curtain and a metal cage floated out from behind the counter—

Then the witch waved her wand again, and the door to the cage containing the mice on the counter opened, and one female mouse after another flew out and into a new cage.

Waiting for the last mouse—

Tierra counted, and after all thirteen mice flew into the new cage, the black curtain was draped over the cage.

“Sixty-five Galleons in total,” the witch said.

“How about giving us a free treatment while you’re at it?” Tiera stepped aside to make way for Ron, who was standing behind her. “I’ve already bought so much stuff.”

"Alright, alright." The witch looked at the harmless-looking Scabbers in Ron's hand and said helplessly, "Give it to me, but the potion isn't free."

“That’s enough,” Tiera said with a smile.

“This is my pet, Scabbers,” Ron said to the witch as he approached the counter. “It hasn’t been doing so well ever since I brought it back from Egypt.”

“Put it on the counter,” the witch said, pulling a heavy pair of dark glasses from her pocket.

Ron took Spotty out of his inner pocket and placed it not far from its fellow mice. The mice in the cage stopped playing their jumping games and crowded around the edge of the cage, wanting to get a better look.

Like everything Ron owned, Scabbers was old stock; it had once belonged to Ron's brother Percy, and it looked somewhat battered. Compared to the sleek, shiny mice in the cage, it looked particularly gloomy.

"Hmm..." the witch said, picking up the spotted mouse. "How old is this mouse?"

“I don’t know,” Ron said. “Anyway, it’s very old. It used to belong to my brother.”

"What can it do?" the witch asked again, examining the spots closely.

“Hmm…” Ron said. The truth was, Scabbers had never displayed even the slightest ability that was interesting. “It eats a lot,” Tierra added.

The witch remained noncommittal, her gaze shifting from the tattered ears to its front paw, where a toe was missing. She made a clicking sound.

“It must have suffered a lot, this mouse,” the witch said.

“Heh, that’s for sure,” Tiera scoffed.

“It looked like this when Percy gave it to me,” Ron defended himself.

"Don't expect a common house mouse or garden mouse like this to live more than three years," the witch said. "Well, if you want to find a more durable animal, you can choose one or a few from there, just like your friends..."

She pointed to the shiny black rats, and they immediately started jumping around again.

Ron muttered, "Show-off guy."

“Alright, if you don’t want to change it, you can try this potion,” the witch said, reaching under the counter to take out a small red bottle.

“Okay,” Ron said, “how much—”

"Ouch!"

A huge, ginger-yellow creature leaped down from the top cage, landed on Ron's head, and then charged forward, growling angrily at Spot.

"No! Crookshanks, no!" the witch cried, but Scabbers slipped from her grasp like a bar of soap, landing on all fours on the floor before fleeing toward the door.

"Spotty!" Ron shouted, and ran after it out of the store.

Harry followed behind, while Tyella stayed inside the shop.

"I'll take that potion. How much is it?" Tierra asked.

It took them about ten minutes to find Scabbers, who was hiding under a wastebasket outside the Quidditch boutique.

Ron put the trembling little mouse back into his pocket, then straightened up and touched his head.

"what is that?"

“It’s either a very big cat or a very small tiger,” Harry said.

"Where are Hermione and Tyella?"

“They’re probably buying owls,” Harry said. “Let’s go back.”

They turned back down the crowded street and returned to the Magic Zoo.

Just as they arrived, Hermione came out, and Tyella was holding the red vial.

But Hermione wasn't holding an owl. She was tightly clutching the huge ginger cat in her arms.

"Did you buy this monster?" Ron asked, his mouth agape in astonishment.

“Its fur is quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Hermione said with a grin.

Indeed, the cat's ginger-colored fur was thick and fluffy, but its legs were clearly a little bent, its face looked sullen and rough, and it had a strange, flattened appearance, as if it had once charged headfirst into a wall. Scabbers was gone, and the cat was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms.

“Hermione! That thing almost ripped my scalp off!” Ron yelled.

“It didn’t happen on purpose, did you, Crookshanks?” Hermione said with a grin.

“So what about Scabbers?” Ron said, pointing to the bulge in his breast pocket. “It needs rest and relaxation! How can it rest and relax with this thing next to it?”

(End of this chapter)