Chapter 73 Chapter 73
Days went by, and the last day of summer vacation was approaching.
Early in the morning, Evan and Harry had just descended the stairs when they saw the Weasleys emerging from the fireplace; it seemed they had just returned from Egypt, wearing a blend of regular wizard robes and traditional Egyptian attire that looked peculiar.
Mrs. Weasley then approached and embraced the two. Mr. Weasley had reserved several rooms at the inn; they were going to spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron.
A few minutes later, the elder Tom brought them their breakfast.
After breakfast, Percy approached and greeted Evan and Harry, proudly displaying his Head Boy badge; Percy carried himself as if he were the king of the world.
Fred and George didn't let Percy speak much, they chuckled at him and mimicked his mannerisms.
Mrs. Weasley scolded them, proud of Percy's achievement.
The conversation shifted to Egypt, the Weasley family told them all about their travels.
Ron showed Evan and Harry his new wand, a 14" long one made of willow with a unicorn hair core. As for Ginny, she kept blushing at the sight of Harry but now appeared much calmer around him.
After everyone finished eating, Hermione and her parents entered the inn.
Hermione was wearing a sky-blue dress, with a pale yellow dome hat on her head; her complexion was radiant. She seemed elated, her smile lighting up the room. She greeted everyone joyfully.
They chatted for a while, but the Grangers had to leave early because they had some matters to attend to. They left Hermione in the care of the Weasleys and allowed her to stay at the Leaky Cauldron that night.
As everyone went their separate ways, Harry began telling Ron about how he had inflated his aunt, and Hermione pulled out a stack of papers she had written while in France.
"I heard everything from my dad; he said he was on the roof for two hours." Ron burst into laughter, finding the idea of inflating his aunt hilarious.
"It's not funny, Ron. To be honest, I'm surprised I wasn't expelled," Hermione said sharply.
"I thought they'd send me to Azkaban. Ron, does Mr. Weasley know why Fudge didn't punish me at all?"
"Probably because it's you," Ron shrugged and laughed, "The famous Harry Potter or something, if I inflated my aunt, the ministry wouldn't just give me a warning. But they'd have to dig up my grave first because my mum would kill me."
"I think you two should learn from Evan, he never..."
"I know I was wrong, Hermione! I just lost control." Seeing Hermione slightly upset, Harry quickly changed the subject, "Where should we go now?"
"I think we should go to the Magical Menagerie." Hermione checked her purse and said, "My birthday's in September, so my parents gave me some money to buy a birthday gift, and I want an owl."
"I think I should take Scabbers for a check-up, I don't think Egypt was a suitable place for him," Ron said as he took the rat out of his pocket.
Evan's gaze shifted from the parchment in his hand to the rat, which appeared thinner than before, its fur had lost much of its luster.
"Ron, your rat just needs some exercise," Evan said with a sardonic smile, "Peter Pettigrew must be stressed due to Sirius Black's escape."
"Exercise?!" Ron said, looking at Evan suspiciously.
"Yes, I suggest Hermione gets a cat to help you."
"Ignore him, Hermione," Ron said as he instinctively placed the rat back in his pocket.
"There is the Magical Menagerie!" said Harry, after two weeks of wandering through Diagon Alley, Harry was already very familiar with it. "There you can buy almost anything, even an owl or a cat."
"You shouldn't buy a cat!" said Ron with a touch of fear.
The four individuals crossed the street and arrived at the shop called Magical Menagerie.
There wasn't much space in the store; cages occupied every inch of the wall. The small creatures in the cages all smelled bad and were noisy.
"Hello, this is my pet," said Ron to the witch behind the counter, "Could you tell me what's wrong with him? Since I brought him from Egypt, he seems a bit sick."
"Put it on the counter," said the witch, took out a pair of glasses from her pocket, and examined Scabbers.
"Hmm," said the witch, "How old is it?"
"I don't know," said Ron, "But it should be very old as it used to belong to my brother."
"What powers does it have?" asked the witch as she observed it carefully.
"Ehm..." Ron didn't know what to say; the reality was that the rat had never shown the slightest hint of any interesting power.
The witch observed its torn ear, its missing toe that made Tutt sound loud.
"It has been through a lot," said the witch.
"That's how he was when my brother gave him to me," said Ron, defending himself.
Harry nodded in agreement as he knew Ron's rat had always been like that; usually just sleeping, eating, and then sleeping again without showing any abnormality.
"One cannot expect a regular or garden rat like this to live more than three years." The witch then pointed to the black rats in the cages next to him and said, "If you want a more robust one, maybe you'd like one of those."
Evan chuckled slightly, wondering if he told her that the rat she said would live only three years at most had been at Ron's house for over ten years, would she have been startled?
"Well, if you don't want to replace him, try this rat tonic," said the witch, reaching under the counter and pulled out a small red bottle.
"Alright, how much does it cost...?" said Ron, but before he could finish, he saw something huge and orange jump from the cage above and land on his head.
It was a peculiar-looking cat, very large, with arched legs, ginger-colored, and a flattened head.
The cat lunged towards Scabbers.
"No, Crookshanks, no," shouted the witch.
The rat slipped through her hands like a slippery bar of soap, fell to the floor, and scurried towards the door.
"Scabbers!" cried Ron as he ran out of the shop, soon followed by Harry.
After Scabbers disappeared, Crookshanks became docile, turned his head, and looked at Evan, not as fierce as before, perhaps because his animagus was a cat; Crookshanks took a liking to Evan, even taking the initiative to lick his hand.
This surprised the witch behind the counter; she had never seen Crookshanks show interest in a wizard or witch without them taking the initiative.
"What a lovely creature, his fur is beautiful, isn't it, Evan?" said Hermione as she crouched down and petted Crookshanks.
The cat was cautious but soon warmed up to her.
"His fur is a vibrant orange, like a big wool ball," said Evan as he gazed at the cat, thinking that its face was not very pleasant to look at.
"I've decided!" said Hermione as she held Crookshanks in her arms and stood up.
"What have you decided?" Evan looked at the others in astonishment, sensing something amiss.
"You didn't want me to buy a cat, right? Well, I've decided to buy Crookshanks!" said Hermione as she pointed to Crookshanks.
"Buy this cat? But if you do, Ron will kill me," said Evan with an ironic smile.