Acknowledgements: I would like to credit Arnel at PhoenixSong with some of the ideas that appear in this chapter.
If it weren't for the fact that she held the hands of both boys firmly upon walking through the gates to the zoo gates, Lily would have lost them both within minutes. Doing what they were told ha never been their forte, and considering their excitement, they certainly couldn't be bothered to follow the simple instruction, "Stay near me."
There were naturally plenty of animals to see, many more, in fact, than there was time to see in a single day. They started the day with the lions –Lily was a Gryffindor after all and the zoo wasn't likely to have any actual griffins – and the young mother found herself as enthralled as the boys by the mighty roar they were graced with, though she certainly didn't squeal in response. Her awe lasted only as long as it took the boys too stop squealing and inquire, "Why did they shave that lion's hair off?" in regards to the one of the lionesses. They moved on to the next big cat while Lily tried to formulate her answer.
After all, it wasn't the animals themselves that made the morning trying. No that honour was reserved for the hundreds of questions the boys sent her way. Some questions were easy: "What's that, mum?" Some were slightly harder: "What's the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, Lily?" Some were challenging: "Mum, why do zebras have stripes?", "Why does that bird have it's head in the ground?". Some were ridiculous: "Why doesn't the crocodile grow wings and fly away?" Some were funny: "If storks deliver babies, who delivers baby storks?" That last one really caught her by surprise since she knew for a fact that neither she nor James had ever mentioned storks as the world's source of babies.
Then of course there was the bloodcurdling moment when the boys asked if they could go play ball with the bears, who were playing lazily in the sun. At least they hadn't tried to jump in with the crocodiles whose enclosure they could have conceivably gotten themselves into, a fact that caused her to increase her grip on their hands as they walked past.
By the time lunch rolled around they'd seen only a fraction of what the zoo had to offer. Lily's voice was hoarse from answering questions, and neither boy seemed interested in slowing down or at least letting up on the questions. Only by promising ice cream later in the afternoon was she able to convince them to settle down to eat.
Even then, she barely had a moment to sit down and take in a deep breath, let alone eat, before they were dragging her out of her seat and nagging to get back to the exhibits. Neville practically begged to see the snakes next, a suggestion Lily didn't quite understand. Wanting to get out of the midday sun, Lily elected, leaving no room for objection from the boys, that they visit the indoor exhibits for nocturnal animals which were kept in relative darkness in the day and lit at night, insuring that they'd be most active during visiting hours.
The first thing they saw there were the bats about which Harry inquired, "Are those vampires, mum?"
Before Lily could respond, Neville added, "Like Snivillus?"
Taken aback, Lily's original response died on her lips, "Snivillus?"
Harry answered for his brother, "Dad said he was a 'greasy git' that went to school with you, and that he liked to lurk in the dungeons cause he was a vampire, and –"
"That's enough Harry. Firstly, Severus Snape may have been a rude man but he was not and is not a vampire. You will not go around insulting him either. He is a professor at Hogwarts now and deserves your respect. Secondly, those bats are not vampires. There aren't any magical creatures in the zoo.
Lily didn't get any more uncomfortable questions until the final nocturnal exhibit where the boys became enthralled by the zoo's Barred Owl. It was Neville that popped the question, "Can we get an owl like that one, Lily?" to which she responded, "No dear, they only live in America," hoping in vain that they wouldn't ask what America was…
When Lily finally the boys to visit the snakes, the first words out of Harry's mouth –after "Wow", that is –were, "Is that really a snake? How come the ones in our garden aren't that big?"
Lily attempted to explain to Harry that big snakes like that only lived in the rainforest, and then answer his questions as to what exactly a rainforest was, explaining that the trees in said forests were not in fact made of rain but rather that it rained a lot. That response prompted the question as to whether or not snakes could swim, which was followed up by a query as to why they didn't drown in the rainforest…
While this was going on, Neville turned to the snake behind the glass and greeted it, "Hello."
To most human ears, had anyone been paying attention, the greeting sounded like a random hiss, no different from when the boys had tried quacking at the ducks or roaring at the lions. But the snake understood his words, and unlike Lily who was still trying to field Harry's questions, was paying attention to the human child. So, despite its shock at being addressed by a human, it responded, "Hello."
Neville hadn't really been expecting an answer he could understand, so naturally he was surprised. Interrupting Lily's explanation of habitats, he commented, "I didn't all know snakes could talk."
Not knowing exactly what the child was talking about, but glad for the respite from the dead-end conversation she was currently having with Harry, she answered him, "They can't."
Neville, however, was quite sure he hadn't imagined the whole thing and insisted, "But the snake just said hello to me…I heard it."
Lily paled in response, "Are you sure?"
Determined to prove his point, and wondering why grown-ups never believed him or Harry –so what if they were always making things up? They still told the truth sometimes. Grown-ups should know the difference–he replied, "Yes, listen," then turning back to the snake said, "I'm Neville, what's your name?" Lily paled further as she heard him hissing.
The snake's response, which only Neville could understand, was, "I don't have a name."
Neville turned back to Lily, "Isn't that sad?"
"Isn't what sad?" Lily tried to hide her concern at the display, and failing miserably.
"That he doesn't have a name."
"Did he tell you that?" she asked, fearing the answer.
The confused boy responded, "Of course, you didn't hear him?"
"No I didn't. Not many people can talk to snakes, Neville. It's a very rare gift." It's also a gift associated with evil she added to herself. Of course I don't believe that stuff, but it's frightening nonetheless.
Harry chose this moment to speak up, interrupting her train of distressing thought, "Can people really talk to snakes, Mum? Colin and I thought he was making it up."
Lily turned to her son, "Making what up, Harry?"
"About talking to the garden snake. He said it was a magic talking snake, but we didn't believe him."
She turned once more to Neville and asked, "It's happened before that you've spoken to snakes?"
Neville squirmed uncomfortably, "Yeah, but it was a magic snake. You said the animals in the zoo weren't magic."
"Did the garden snake tell you it was magic?"
"No, but I thought it must be, cause snakes aren't supposed to talk."
Lily sighed, as tempting as it was to explain the situation away as the work of magical snakes, which certainly did exist but were rare, it didn't ring true. Besides the snake before her was undeniably of the non-magical variety. "We don't have any magic snakes in our garden, Neville. It's you that's special, not the snakes. But just so we can be sure, can you do me a favour?" He nodding slowly. Glancing at the plaque on the glass she said, "Ask it if it's a girl or a boy"
Neville nodded again, more quickly this time then turned to the snake and asked, "Are you a boy snake or girl snake?"
The snake seemed to take offence at the question and answered curtly, "I'm male, thank you very much."
Neville turned back to Lily and relayed the message, "It says it's male. What does male mean Lily?"
Lily paled further, there was no doubt now, "It means, it's a boy."
"So he can really talk to snakes?" Harry asked once more.
"Yes, he can really talk to snakes." Thankfully there was no one else around within hearing distance.
"Is it supposed to sound like he's hissing when he talks to them?" he asked, curious, "cause all I heard was hissing"
"I think so, the hissing means something to him and the snake. It's snake language."
Harry asked, "Do all animals have their own language that they talk in?" just as Neville asked "I was hissing?"
"Slow down, boys. One at a time. Yes, Neville, you were hissing. Some people think they do, Harry, but because people can't understand animals talking we can't know for sure."
"But I was just talking normal," Neville insisted.
"To you it sounded normal but Harry and I just heard hissing."
"So I can talk a different language?" When Lily nodded, he continued, excited, "I can't wait to tell Gran."
A look of horror crossed Lily's face, "No, no," she replied quickly, "perhaps it would be best if I told her." What will she say? Then changing the subject she suggested, "How about we go get that ice cream I promised? Then we can go to the petting zoo."
"What's a petting zoo?" already the boys' minds had moved on but Lily's still dwelt on the incident. How was she going to explain to Augusta?
A.N. Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Sorry for being so predictable but it was an issue that had to be dealt with. I promise that there will be some surprises in the chapters ahead. Also, for those of you who have been following this story from the beginning an may be confused by the last sentence, in the wake of HBP I felt I should change Gran Longbottom's name to reflect canon. On a different note, please review and feel free to flame.
I'd like to thank Arnel who shared some wonderful anecdotes and observations about her own visits to the zoo, most of which I'm afraid to admit I didn't end up using in the end. I'd also like to thank my wonderful beta Aggiebell, who is currently betaing this chapter, for her continued hard work.
