Harry Potter and the Old Ones

After coming out of Lihen Bookstore, the four of them bought four ice creams each, and then came to the Magic Zoo.

Although Hermione's birthday is in September, in order to commend Hermione for being the second oldest for two consecutive years——

That is to say, he got the second place in the first grade exam. Since there was no exam in the second grade, this second place was reelected.

Hermione's parents gave her a sum of money to let Hermione choose the gift herself.

After seeing that Harry, Ron and Tierra all had pets of their own, Hermione decided to use the money to buy herself a pet as well.

There isn't much room in Wonder Zoo, but there are cages hanging from every inch of the wall.

The store is hot, smelly and noisy, because the little creatures in the cages are making all kinds of noises. The witch behind the counter was already telling a wizard how to take care of the salamander, so Tierra, Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited, looking at the cages.

A pair of purple toads with huge eyes sat unflatteringly gobbling up a dead blowfly.

A large bejeweled tortoise flaunted near the window.

Poisonous orange snails were slowly emerging from the edges of their glass cases, and a fat white rabbit kept transforming into a silk top hat and back again with a loud popping sound.

Then there were cats of every color, a cage of rowdy ravens, a basket of ridiculous mustard-coloured furballs whining loudly, and on the counter there was a big cage of silky black mice growing out of them. The long bald tail plays some sort of game of bouncing.

Finally, the wizard who raised the two-tailed salamander left, and Tierra took a step forward.

"I want to buy a frame of mice." Tierra pointed to the big cage on the counter and said.

Hearing that someone wanted to buy him, the mouse in the frame on the counter instantly became active, doing his best to show his ability.

"What do you want? Cutie."

said the witch behind the counter.

"All the female mice, help me pick a cage and put it in, thank you." Tierra said, "Oh yes, help me cover the outside of the cage with a black curtain."

"..." The witch behind the counter gave Tiera a strange look, and then replied, "Okay."

The witch waved her wand, and a black curtain, a metal cage floated over from behind the counter——

Then the witch waved her wand again, and the door of the mouse cage on the counter opened, and one female mouse after another flew out of it, and flew into a new cage.

Waiting for the last mouse—

Tierra counted, and after a total of thirteen mice flew into the new cage, the black curtain enveloped the cage.

"A total of sixty-five Galleons," said the witch.

"How about giving us a free treatment by the way?" Tierra turned sideways, letting Ron who was standing behind him say, "I've already bought so many things."

"Okay, okay." The witch looked at the harmless Banban in Ron's hand and said helplessly, "Bring it, but the potion is not free."

"That's enough." Tierra said with a smile.

"This is my pet Scabbers," Ron said to the witch as he approached the counter. "Ever since I brought him back from Egypt, he's been a little bit off."

"Put it on the counter," said the Witch, drawing a pair of heavy black spectacles from her pocket.

Ron took Scabbers out of his inside pocket and set it not far from his fellow rats. The mice in the cage stopped playing the jumping game, and crowded to the side of the cage one after another, trying to get a better look.

Scabbers, like everything Ron owns, is second-hand, he once belonged to Ron's brother Percy, and he looks a little bit battered. Compared with the slick mouse in the cage, it looks particularly sad.

"Hmm..." said the witch, picking up Scabbers, "how old is this mouse?"

"Don't know," said Ron. "It's pretty old anyway. It belonged to my brother."

"What can it do?" asked the witch again, examining Scabbers carefully.

"Um..." said Ron. The reality is that Scabbers has never shown the slightest ability to be interesting.

"It's very edible," Tierra added.

The witch was noncommittal, and turned her gaze from Scabbers' torn ear to its front paw, where a toe was missing, and the witch made a tsk-tsk sound.

"It must have suffered a lot, the mouse," said the Witch.

"Oh, that's not a big deal." Tierra said with a sneer.

"That's what it looked like when Percy gave it to me," Ron defended himself.

"You can't expect an ordinary house mouse or a garden mouse like this to live more than three years." said the witch. Pick one... or several..."

She pointed to the shiny black mice, and immediately they started jumping again.

Ron muttered, "Shower."

"Well, if you don't want to replace it, you can try this potion," said the witch, reaching under the counter and taking out a small red bottle.

"Okay," said Ron, "how much—"

"Ouch!"

A gigantic ginger thing jumped down from the top cage, onto Ron's head, and then charged forward, grunting at Scabbers.

"No! Crookshanks, no!" cried the witch, but Scabbers slipped from her hand like a bar of soap, dropped to the floor on all fours, and fled for the door.

"Scattered!" Ron yelled, following it and galloping out of the shop.

Harry followed, while Tierra stayed inside the shop.

"I want that bottle of potion, how much is it?" Tierra asked.

It took them about ten minutes to find Scabbers, who was hiding under a wastebasket outside the Quidditch Boutique.

Ron put the trembling little mouse back in his pocket, straightened up, and stroked his head.

"what is that?"

"Either a very big cat or a very small tiger," said Harry.

"Where's Hermione and Tierra?"

"Probably buying owls," said Harry. "Let's go back."

They turned back down the crowded street and returned to Wonder Zoo.

When they got there, Hermione came out, and Tierra was holding the red potion bottle in her hand.

But Hermione wasn't holding an owl in her arms. Clasped in her arms was the huge ginger cat.

"Did you buy the monster?" Ron asked, jaws dropping from ear to ear.

"It's got nice fur, doesn't it?" said Hermione, grinning.

Yes, the cat's ginger fur is thick and fluffy, but its legs are clearly a little bent, and its face looks gruff and squashed, as if it's been thrown headfirst into a wall at some point like. Scabbers was gone, and the cat was purring contentedly in Hermione's arms.

"Hermione. The damn thing almost took my scalp!" roared Ron.

"It didn't mean it, didn't you mean it, Crookshanks?" Hermione said with a grin.

"So what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing to the bulge on his breast pocket. "It needs to rest and relax! How can it rest and relax with this thing around?"