Chapter Twenty Two
A week later, Lily paid the 11 Galleons and seven Sickles for her, Sirius and Danica to enter the zoo. Danica could barely stand still as the stamp of a dragon was placed on her right hand.
"Were going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you you! Because we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!" Danica sung happily swinging between Lily and Sirius.
"Well someone's happy." Sirius laughed.
"Can we go see the dragons Mummy?" Danica asked.
"We can but we have to be back here by eleven. How much time does that give us?" Lily said, bending down so Danica could see her watch.
Danica studied the hands for a few minutes, tracing the face of the watch with her fingers.
"Umm... half and hour plus ten minutes?" Danica asked.
Lily nodded, "Well done, forty minutes. Shall we go to the butterfly house as well?"
Danica nodded and pulled them both off towards the sign with a picture of a dragon on.
They went inside the scorching hot enclosure, Sirius helped Danica take off her coat and cardigan. There was a keeper standing with a large badge saying 'Staff' standing next to the large glass wall.
Danica went over and looked into the large glass enclosure. Inside there were three green dragons ranging from the size of a kitten to the size of a large dog. There was also three different coloured dragons all small to large cat sized.
"The green ones are Irish greens." Danica said, feeling very clever.
"Well done!" The keeper smiled coming over, "We've just reintroduced several to the wild so we've only got the three right now. Do you know what the others are?"
Danica shook her head,
"The black on is a Norwegian ridge back, purple is a French feu and the little red one is an Enchanted wonder, when they grow up they can change colour." the keeper explained.
Danica smiled, "That's so cool."
"You like dragons?" The keeper asked.
Danica nodded, "Yeah. I've never seen any big ones here though."
The keeper sat down on a rock and nodded, "We don't keep big ones here. Our mission is to rehabilitate them and then send them on, either to their natural habitat or if they can't go back to the wild we send them to a dragon sanctuary."
"That makes sense." Danica nodded.
The keeper smiled.
Danica watched the dragons for a while and, with the keepers help, she read over the information plaques for the hundredth time.
"Come on sweetie, we're going to be late." Lily said, checking her watch, "Sorry."
"It's OK." Danica smiled, "Can we see the butterflies after?"
Lily nodded, "Why don't you go with Uncle Sirius and see a few things and I'll meet you in two hours at the butterflies and then you can stay and see the feeding time?"
Danica nodded excitedly, "Thank you Mummy!"
Lily smiled and gave her a kiss, "You OK to watch her?"
Sirius smirked, "Of course."
"No ice cream." Lily told him, "I mean it. We'll get some later."
Lily gave him a quick hug before heading off. She made her way through the crowded pathways to the front entrance and waited by the statue of an elephant with wings.
"Hi, are you Mrs Snape?" a voice came from behind her. Lily turned round to see a woman about her age, dressed in smart jeans and a red top with the zoo logo embroidered on the pocket.
"Lily, yes that's me." Lily smiled, "Nice to meet you."
The woman shook her hand, "Nice to meet you too, I'm Susan. I believe you spoke with Sam on the phone?"
Lily nodded, "Yes."
"He let me know, I'm head of flying mammals so will be in charge of the Hippogriff's care if they come here." Susan explained.
Lily smiled.
"It's a complicated situation I believe? How about we walk and talk so to speak. I'll show you the Hippogriff enclosure." Susan suggested.
Lily followed the woman's quick steps to a locked door with a large sign saying 'Staff only'. It wasn't a long walk to the back of the Hippogriff enclosure. It was a clear space with a slightly fussy edge in the stone wall.
"The wall is solid, but this is a seeing spell so we can observe the Hippogriffs at all times." Susan told her, "We have a large area for them, over six acres, divided into three enclosures, as well as nearly half a mile straight up so they can stretch their wings. They have a pool and a closed off sleeping hut if they want to be out of the public eye. This is one of their three enclosures, we rotate them throughout the year to make sure the ground is always in tiptop condition."
"It's lovely." Lily said. There were currently three Hippogriffs grazing happily in the field, completely unfazed by the people watching them, "Are you going to have enough room for Buckbeak as well?"
Susan nodded, "Of course, we have enough room for five or six Hippogriffs at the moment before we have to worry. A few of ours were recently released to a local herd, we'd been slowly introducing them since they were born here."
"That's brilliant." Lily smiled, "They look so happy."
"We think they are, at least for the most part. We'll work on slowly introducing Buckbeak, was it?"
Lily nodded, "Yes that's it. Will he be able to keep his name?"
"Yep." Susan said, "We name those born here, the three girls we managed to release were Fauna, Flora and Merryweather but the three we still have are Jerry, the black and white one, Sophia is the chestnut one and her sister Kokarose, she's the just off white one."
"My little girl knows all their names." Lily smiled, "I think she knows the name of every animal here."
Susan let out a gentle laugh, "You come here a lot then?"
Lily nodded, "Between my two children's love of this place we've seemed to come every other week."
"Well at least you'll be able to check up on Buckbeak every once in a while." Susan said.
"I was told to ask what they eat here?" Lily asked.
Susan took a clipboard from the wall, "They have a slightly different diet each. Kokarose has a hormone imbalance so she gets medication as well. The basic diet is sixty percent meat, normally beef or venison, all sustainably sourced, thirty percent is grass and other greens, mostly they get that from grazing in the field although during the winter we put out hay or haylage. The other ten percent is treats of some sort, they have a salt lick at all times and ferrets are normally a favourite."
"Yes, Buckbeak likes his ferrets as well." Lily laughed. She spent a few minutes staring out at the three Hippogriffs, one stretched out her wings and took off, flying around the enclosure for a while before landing gracefully in the pond.
"Shall we go get a cup of tea?" Susan suggested.
Lily nodded and followed her to a small café where Susan flashed her badge and got them both a hot paper cup of tea. They sat outside on a bench watching the ducks.
"There are always a lot of ducks here." Lily commented.
Susan nodded, "Yep. The muggle zoo has a lot of them as well but here the tend not to bother our animals so much."
Lily let out a snort and nearly had tea come out of her nose, "Yes I can imagine." she coughed.
"Is it yours?" Susan asked, "The Hippogriff. It was unclear on the phone."
Lily shook her head, "No. He sort of, well he lives..." Lily thought how to explain it, "He lives with a herd of others and a friend looks after them all but the ministry has ordered that he can't stay there so I said I'd help make other arrangements for him."
Susan nodded, "That makes a lot of sense. We sometimes get Hippogriffs from privet collectors who aren't very socialised which, especially with Hippogriffs, makes it difficult to introduce them to others."
"Yes I can imagine. He's never been an issue before, he's been around my five year old for years without an issue." Lily sighed.
Susan put a comforting hand on Lily's, "The ministry can be very strict with magical creatures, you should see how much paperwork we have to fill out for this place. They can be very dangerous though so I do understand why legislation is needed."
Lily nodded, "It's just sad he has to be taken from his family."
"I can go over our introduction plan if you want?" Susan suggested.
Lily nodded, Susan waved her wand and a hologram of the Hippogriff area appeared.
"As he is a wild Hippogriff and therefore never had any jabs he has to have a two week quarantine period. This will be in this area here." she pointed to a smaller field to the side, "Then over the course of two to three months we will get them all used to one another, some Hippogriffs take to each other straight away, others take a little longer. This will mostly happen in a controlled setting, with keepers there at all times. We start by making the dividing wall see through so they see each other but there is no smell so it's easier for them to get to know each other."
"Two weeks in quarantine? Buckbeak's never been sick before." Lily said.
"I'm sure that's the case. Hippogriff illness is rare in this country but sometimes they can be carriers without ever becoming ill themselves. It's just one of the rules we have to follow." Susan explained.
Lily nodded, "Yes, of course. What about introducing Buckbeak to the other male? I read it can cause difficulties."
Susan nodded, "Yes. Hippogriffs take after horses in that respect; there is normally only one stallion in a herd. Jerry was actually injured before he came here and as a result he had to be gelded. He's been around other males before and there hasn't been an issue."
Lily leant back against the bench and sighed.
"I know it can be hard to give up creatures but from what you've said this is what's best for Buckbeak and your friend." Susan assured her.
"Oh I know. I think Buckbeak will be really happy here." Lily smiled, "He needs to be moved by the end of the school year, I know that doesn't give us much time."
"Not a worry, we're used to working quickly." Susan told her, "I can start setting things in motion today if you're sure?"
Lily nodded, "Yes. Thank you."
Susan stood up and shook her hand, "Thank you for coming and arranging this."
"Thank you for being so understanding." Lily said, "I'll let my friend know."
"We should have everything ready to go in two weeks." Susan told her, "I'll send you an owl if there are any delays."
Lily nodded. She checked her watch, it had been nearly two hours and she needed to meet up with Danica and Sirius.
She waved goodbye to Susan and walked quickly towards the butterfly house. Danica was sitting on a giant statue of a butterfly pretending she was flying through the air. Sirius was leaning on a nearby bench and waved Lily over once he saw her.
"Did you guys have fun?" Lily asked, giving Danica a big hug.
"Yep! We got to see the dragons get fed and then we saw the Nifflers and we went though the danger house!" Danica said.
"Really? Wow! You're getting a big girl to be able to go through the danger house." Lily smiled.
"Did everything go OK?" Sirius asked.
Lily nodded, "Yeah, Susan, who runs the section with the Hippogriffs, is lovely and she says there should be no problem with looking after Buckbeak. I was worried that he wouldn't like it here but the enclosure is huge, even bigger than what you can see going round and the others look really happy."
"I'm glad." Sirius said, "I don't think that Buckbeak should have to leave Hogwarts but since he does it's good we've managed to find him a good home."
"Mummy can we go see the butterflies now?" Danica asked pulling gently on Lily's sleeve.
"Yes of course baby." Lily smiled, she knelt down and brushed Danica's hair off her face, fixing on of her daisy clips that had come loose.
They walked into the giant glass dome and were hit by the smell of thousands of flowers in bloom. Butterflies of every size and shape fluttered around.
"Butterflies can be found in nearly every country in the world. Many species are also found in the muggle world and pollinate all manner of crops. However many species belong in the wizarding world. These butterflies are monitored for many reasons, they only pollinate magical plants or they have magical properties themselves such as the Tinker Cimbalum who has a fine coating of dust on their wings that, temporally, give people the ability to fly." A moving picture on the wall said.
Lily pulled Danica back slightly to stop her getting hit by the wing of a huge bright purple butterfly. Each of it's wings was as big as Danica and Lily felt her hair blow backwards as it past them.
"I love it in here." Danica smiled.
Lily smiled back, "I know. Go on, go explore remember the rules?"
Danica nodded, "Yep, no going off with anyone, no leaving the house and no touching."
"I'll go with her." Sirius said, "It's busy in here today." He trusted Danica completely but others, not so much. It wasn't long ago that Danica had gotten into an argument with another child who was trying to grab at a small group of Sparkling Whites that where feeding on some roses. The argument had ended with Danica grabbing the child's hair and asking how they liked it.
Lily wondered around the dome for a while but it quickly got too hot for her. She went and found Sirius and Danica who were watching the butterflies quite happily.
"I'm going to go wait at the café. Come find me in a few minutes?" Lily said.
Sirius nodded, "Yep. Maybe we can get some I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M?"
"I know how to spell ice cream you know." Danica told them, not looking up.
Lily laughed and nodded, "See you soon."
Lily checked herself in the mirror and encouraged a blue butterfly off her back before leaving the butterfly house. It wasn't far to the ice cream and slushy café. Lily sat down on a bench on the little porch.
"Nikka?" She said. She recognised the purpley red hair and brown canvass jacket walking towards the exit.
Nikka turned around and smiled.
"You go on, I'll catch you up back at class." Nikka told the other students she was with. They nodded and went on. Nikka wondered over to Lily and smiled.
"I didn't expect to see you here." Nikka smiled.
Lily stood up and gave her a hug, "Me neither. How are you? I haven't seen you in ages. Since the New Year's party and even then I barely got to talk to you."
Nikka shrugged, "Getting better I guess."
"Nikka, what's wrong?" Lily asked.
"He didn't tell you did he?" Nikka let out a small, sad laugh, "Sirius dumped me."
"He did what?" Lily said, "Why what happened? You both seemed so happy."
Nikka sighed and sat down on the bench, "I thought we were but one day, apparently, we weren't."
"When was this?" Lily asked. She knew she was asking to many questions but it had taken her by surprise. She'd known something was wrong but not something this bad.
"Just after Harry got hurt at the Quidditch game. He said... he said he had to protect his family and nothing could come in the way of that." Nikka whispered.
Lily put her head in her hands and let out a loud breath, "I am so sorry Nikka."
"It's not your fault." Nikka told her.
"No but the night that James and I were attacked by, You-know-who, Sirius was meant to be home but he had a date. He always felt that he was the reason James died, that he could have helped." Lily told Nikka.
Nikka closed her eyes and sighed, "Oh my god." suddenly everything made more sense.
"We've managed to deal with a lot of the past ghosts but some still haunt him." Lily said.
Lily could see Sirius and Danica leave the butterfly house.
"Stay here. I'm going to send Danica over." Lily told Nikka.
Nikka looked at Lily, "I don't want to cause any trouble."
Lily shook her head. "Yyou're not." She stood up and walked over to Sirius and Danica.
"Did you have fun?" She asked her daughter.
Danica nodded and grinned.
"Good, run along to..." Lily looked back but Nikka was gone. Lily sighed, "Run along to the shop, I'll race you."
Danice squealed with happiness as she raced along the path, followed by Sirius and Lily at a slightly slower pace. Danica found a seat and waited patiently for Lily to get the ice cream.
Danica was watching the ducks wonder around while eating a large bowl of strawberry ice cream, Lily was sure she was distracted enough to talk to Sirius without little ears listening in.
"I want to talk to you and I don't want you to get cross." Lily told Sirius.
"Well that bodes well." Sirius said, turning to face Lily fully.
Lily folded her hands on the table, "I know what happened with you and Nikka."
Sirius was about to say something but Lily put her hand up to stop him.
"You know it was wrong. It's not her fault Harry got hurt." Lily told him flatly.
"I know that but I have to protect him." Sirius said.
"No, we can't. You keep telling me I have to let him go, not to worry about him so much at school. At the end of the day neither of us can live our lives always looking over his shoulder and it's not what Harry, or James, would want." Lily told him.
Sirius let out a small growl of annoyance.
"I mean it. She made you happy!" Lily hissed at him, "And breaking up with her like that was unfair!"
"Don't you think I know that?!" Sirius spat back, "I hate not seeing her but I wanted to..."
Lily leaned back, "You didn't want to get to close to her. You've always been afraid of...of letting life go by, of regretting things. But having a full life is not always about running after monsters or fighting battles and if you let her go, you will regret it. For ten years you looked after me and Harry, you went on more dates than you could count but you never went on date number two until Nikka. Don't push her away out of fear."
Sirius looked up at the sky and tried not to cry, "I don't know how."
"What do you mean?" Lily asked.
"I don't know how to be anything other than this. Running after a different girl every night, I've fought in my fair share of battles but being head of a family? That terrifies me." Sirius said honestly, "What if I can't do it?"
Lily reached over and squeezed his hand, "I know. But if you don't give it a go, you're never going to know."
"It's not like I had a great example to follow." Sirius pointed out.
Lily looked at him for a moment, part of her honestly couldn't believe that he was worried about this. He had always been brilliant with Danica and Harry.
"Sirius it's not our parents that make us who we are. We choose that and when the time comes, be it with Nikka or anyone else you will make a wonderful husband and father." Lily told him.
Sirius gave a small smile, "Thanks Lily."
"Mummy can we go see more animals?" Danica said, coming over,
Lily turned her attention to her daughter, "Yep. You finished your ice cream?"
Danica nodded, with a rather mucky face.
Lily grinned, "Lets go then, you OK?"
Sirius nodded and took a deep breath, "Yep. Thank you."
Lily smiled and nodded to him.