As usual, Jane had been visiting Mrs. Snake regularly over the summer, often taking other people with her. Neville, who went with her the most, was understanding more parseltongue than ever.
A few days before the end of summer, Jane and Neville biked to the local zoo. They went into the reptile house, only to find Mrs. Snakes' enclosure empty.
The zookeeper noticed them. "Sorry kids, but she was getting old for a python. She won't lay eggs anymore, and we were worried that she'd start to show more obvious signs of aging soon, so we put her down before she did."
Mrs. Snake didn't know how old she was, so Jane didn't know either, but Jane doubted that she would have been old enough to justify that.
"We'll get a new snake though, maybe one that's less scary."
Jane let out a loud wail and then started trembling, sobbing, and sunk down to the ground.
Neville quickly crouched down beside her.
"Look kid," the zookeeper said in a harsh tone, "she's just a dumb snake in a zoo. You need to grow up."
"Don't talk to her like that," Neville yelled.
The zookeeper walked off.
Jane rocked back and forth and grabbed Neville's hand. She wondered why anyone would be afraid of a python. Python's were not even venomous.