When Harry was finished at Madam Malkins, she and Severus went to the Magical Menagerie so that Harry could pick an animal to take to Hogwarts with her. Severus almost bumped into Harry as they entered the store because once she had entered she stopped and stared. "This place is amazing!" Harry gasped.
Quickly she moved to the first cages looking at all the different animals that were living in them. There were little fuzz balls with only one eye that seemed to be running around in circles labeled Cyclones; kittens could be seen and frogs and lizards in every known color, and further in the back of the store there were large tanks filled with snakes that all seemed to be talking at once.
Harry stopped., Wait, she thought, talking snakes? She turned to Severus who was standing behind her and asked, "Do all snakes talk in the Wizarding World?"
Severus stared at her with wide eyes and then looked to the sky and mumbled, "Why did she have to be a Parselmouth?" then he looked back down at her and said, "actually Harry they aren't talking per sayse, you can just understand what they are saying."
Now it was Harry's turn to stare at Severus with wide eyes. "Harry, listen to me this is very important," Severus continued, "not many people can do what you do, actually the only other person in recent history who was known to be able to do that was the Dark Lord himself!" Harry nodded and glanced frightfully at the snakes, then she made her way back to the front of the store where she noticed another room.
When she entered it she gasped. In it where hundreds of birds of every shape and size! Out of nowhere a large white snow owl flew at Harry and landed on her shoulder. Harry almost screamed in surprise having never been quite so close to such a majestic avian.
"Finally," came a voice from behind Harry, she jumped in surprise and the owl let out a disgruntled hoot. Harry turned around to face a bored looking young man who she had seen earlier at the front desk. "That owl," he continued, "has been with us since birth, and it hasn't chosen anyone before you." Harry looked at the owl perched on her shoulder and gently stroked its feathers.
"I'm honored," she said then she turned to the shopkeeper, "how much do I owe you?"
It was a very happy Harry in the company of a beautiful snow owl and Severus that walked out of the store a short time later. "As I have already purchased your potions equipment for you, the last stop we have is to get you a trunk so that you may place all of your things in it," Severus said taking hold of some of Harry's bags and leading her to a shop that had tons of trunks laying about.
With Severus' help Harry picked out a very nice trunk that had three compartments, one for books, one for school supplies, and one for clothing and personal items. Once she had bought the trunk and placed all of her items in it, Harry along with her owl and Severus made their way to the Leaky Cauldron.
In the bar Severus sought out an empty booth in the back and motioned for Harry to follow him. He then signaled to Tom the barkeeper who nodded and made his way over to their table. "Two meals and two Butterbeers please," Severus said to Tom and turned back to Harry, "now let me tell you about your parents…"