The Weasleys were visible from afar. And audible too. The walls of Fortescue's confectionery seemed to begin glowing sunny-red, like this family's hair, and laughter rang in the air, interspersed with various exclamations. But the merriment suddenly died down: everyone stared in surprise at Hermione walking toward them in Harry's company. The twins were the first to thaw:
"What people!"
"And without guards!"
"Or are we..."
"Missing something?"
"So you still haven't learned..."
"How to say hello?" Harry and Hermione answered in the same manner. The twins cheerfully guffawed.
Ron stopped chewing, and Ginny choked and blushed. Mutual greetings poured forth, and the noise and clamor that had died down returned to the table. Ginny flushed scarlet and dropped her ice cream spoon when Harry spoke to her. Before it could reach the floor, Hermione caught it with magic and levitated it onto the table beside the girl's hand. She silently took the spoon, squinting, looked at Granger and... simply continued eating, burying herself in her ice cream bowl. "And where's the 'thank you'?" — Hermione and Harry exchanged glances, understanding each other without words.
Arthur and Molly Weasley's eyebrows slowly crawled up and stayed there. Because Harry, having ordered tea, a couple of pastries and chocolate ice cream for himself and Hermione from the approaching waiter, immediately paid for everything.
The Weasley family shifted their shocked gazes from the girl to her friend. As expected, the twins were the first to thaw.
"Granger can..."
"Do magic without a wand?!"
"Harry taught me," Hermione smiled modestly.
Ginny silently turned crimson, what Ron had barely managed to bite off fell from his mouth, and the twins temporarily lost the power of speech, which Harry took advantage of, telling how Professor Snape had worked with him over the summer on the headmaster's direct orders.
Molly Weasley covered her mouth first with one hand, then with the other. The stunned twins, a fork that clinked against the table falling from the family patriarch's fingers... Only Percy nodded approvingly and quite calmly to the storyteller. While Potter, not sparing excellent expressions, praised his Mentor, not one but several colors truly changed on Ron's face. And as for the fact that he forgot about his own dessert...
Finally, Ron squeezed out:
"Harry, poor fellow. How you must have suffered this summer! That Slytherin git... that gre..."
"It happened," Harry smiled brightly, interrupting him. "But now I, you know, what I can do?"
And without any wand he levitated a piece of his pastry right into his friend's mouth. Ginny giggled. Fortunately, the reflex worked: Ron shut up, automatically chewing a rather decent portion.
And Hermione had already seized the initiative, asking everyone in turn, starting with the elders, about the trip to Egypt. Harry also began questioning Ron and Ginny about what unusual things they'd seen in the Valley of the Kings, but alas, he got nothing.
So he began to retell "Death Comes as the End" (Agatha Christie's "Egyptian" detective novel), and with such enthusiasm that soon not only the children fell silent with open mouths. Even Molly completely forgot that she'd been planning first thing to ask where Harry got the money. And Arthur simply fell into childish delight when promised to bring him this very book and a couple more just like it. Muggles write books! How could this have passed him by?
"Never would have thought that such pedagogical talent sits in Snape," Arthur Weasley addressed his wife in a strained whisper. "Harry has changed so much! I'm amazed!"
Molly opened her mouth to object... and immediately closed it. But she couldn't disbelieve her own eyes and ears.
Harry was brilliant. His story, though he hadn't traveled anywhere at all, differed so much from what their own children told about the trip that even Fred and George's cheerful remarks seemed like childish babbling. She herself was so captivated by the tale that she decided she must read everything the boy would pass on to Arthur. Of her children, only Percy distinguished himself favorably, appropriately recalling and telling coherently and interestingly a couple of legends about the Pyramids.
Dusty, sunny and hot Egypt appeared before the Weasley family as an amazing fairy tale, past which they had passed without noticing its charms... Reflections began to plague everyone, including even Ron.
And about Harry's money, by the way, no one bothered to ask.
***
"And my parents gave me money for a familiar for my birthday!" clever Hermione joyfully announced, again distracting the Weasley family from their thoughts. "I wanted an owl, but maybe you could advise something?"
"I'd get a Kneazle kitten, but they're terribly expensive," Ginny's voice broke through. "They're the smartest."
"They eat a lot," Molly sighed, hoping to get by with minimal investment in her daughter's pleasures. "Puffskeins are much more economical."
"Yes, they're terribly cute..."
"Girlish..."
"But they feel great in a pocket."
"I'd take a raven," Percy unexpectedly surprised everyone, "also smart. And they can carry mail."
"An owl won't be put off," George objected.
"Depends on which owl. Maybe an eagle owl or an adult snowy will manage, but they're usually busy with their own affairs too," Percy shrugged. "And an inconspicuous postman is generally not bad."
"Hmm. Well, you're right there. And it can peck with its beak if a stranger tries to take the letter, won't seem pleasant."
"My brother George agreed with me?" Percy smirked. "I'll go circle this day on the calendar, I'll celebrate it now..."
The twins goggled:
"Perce... did you just learn to joke?"
"No, where would I, that was just irony..."
"But that's a huge step forward, continue, oh Percival, you're on the right path and soon, perhaps, will finally become human!"
"He'll die of happiness," Harry interjected, once again putting everyone into a stupor, and catching Percy's angry-bewildered look, winked at him and added: "In about three hundred years."
He snorted and ruffled Potter's hair:
"In three hundred years I'll agree, perhaps."
"Did you learn this from Snape too?" Fred asked when everyone stopped laughing.
"Well, you know: his tongue is like a razor," Harry winked. "I just couldn't pass it up! — he lowered his voice slightly. — Honestly, I've been envious for a long time... But I only realized it this summer."
"You... envied Snape?" Ron choked on air and started coughing.
"Just imagine how you could use his method to answer Malfoy," Harry patted him on the back.
Ron looked puzzled.
"He's just..."
"No, just imagine it properly, come on!"
Ron honestly tried and froze, and the expression on his face gradually became more and more dreamy, and a anticipatory smile gradually spread across his lips.
***
All this time Hermione was listening to the advice finally pouring onto her from all the Weasleys. The end of the discussion could not be expected... and the children rose from the table, continuing the conversation.
"Just don't take a rat, one on Gryffindor is enough," Harry took out his wallet and assessed its contents: his friend's birthday is in September, can't buy a gift at Hogwarts.
"What's wrong with Scabbers?" Ron emerged from wonderful dreams. At any mention of his familiar he always got wound up instantly.
"Everything's fine," Harry stopped him. "Just don't bring her to the table anymore, I read here..."
And he whispered something in his ear, from which the boy paled and the freckles on his face stood out especially brightly. And then he desperately whispered back:
"What are you talking about, Harry! He's clean! He's been living at our house for so many years!.."
"And how many, by the way?"
"Percy found him in first year..."
"So he's seven years old?! Impossible! They don't live that long, I mean, ordinary rats!" Hermione was amazed.
"Why not?.."
"The normal lifespan of a rat is about two years. That's written in all encyclopedias. You have a gray rat, right? Their sexual maturity age is a month and a half, that's, by our standards, a teenager, meaning thirteen-fourteen human years. And one year of a rat's life is equated to thirty human years!"
"So I have a real magical rat?" Ron was delighted. "And a real-real grandpa?"
"It turns out so. Though I haven't come across anything about them, I'll have to look in the library."
Ron goggled again and nodded, himself shocked by what he understood: he needed to go to the library too! And not just needed, but... wanted to.
"Wait, if you're not going to Eeylops, but to the Magical Menagerie, then I'm coming with you. I'll buy him vitamins. Just think... A real magical one."
Ron took the slightly balding little rat from his pocket and carefully stroked him.
"And you're shedding, probably from old age, right, buddy?"
The rat squeaked quietly and rushed back into its owner's pocket.
"So modest..."
***
In the shop Hermione stared at the owls, after all, initially she'd been set on getting her own postman. But there are enough of them at school anyway, and she doesn't really have anyone to send mail to. If she writes to her parents, then Penny's advice is really better: a raven, and even a crow on the windowsill really won't arouse any special surprise in anyone. But there were no such birds in the little shop, and she went deeper, examining all its inhabitants. After all, it's not necessary to buy now, but still she wanted something special... Harry walked beside her, also turning his head in all directions, and Ron was discussing something with the saleswoman at the counter.
They never chose anyone and turned back. And they saw Ron taking his rat from his pocket and placing it on the counter, and the seller diving somewhere into a cabinet, apparently for those very vitamins...
A ginger shaggy lightning bolt flew from nowhere and in one fell swoop swept everything that was on the counter. The rat disappeared, Ron's thin wallet, three vials of some remedy... Then the ginger with a woeful cry of "Scabbers-s-s!" flew out of the shop.
"Help your friend," Hermione whispered, and Harry rushed after him.
Amber predator eyes looked directly at Hermione.
"Wow, what a beauty! Just a little lion," she thought, "and handsome! It's just a shame he's an adult, a kitten is easier to raise, and one like this... It's still unknown who will raise whom."
She sighed but came closer.
"Careful! That's a real half-Kneazle, stay away from his claws, girl!" the seller exclaimed, but it was too late: Hermione, as if enchanted, extended her hand...
"Crookshanks..."
A flat ginger muzzle pressed into her palm, and a cunning eye continued to squint at the saleswoman. A bass rumbling sounded a second later, and the girl began stroking the untidy ginger fur, which with each of her movements became softer and more groomed.
"So that's who you've been waiting for all these years," the seller whispered. "You know, miss, I'll give him away for a purely symbolic price. It's not so often that we have animals themselves choosing whose familiar to become. I've only heard two such stories, and both of them were beautiful! I'm glad I witnessed this miracle, and I hope your friend and protector will be healthy and strong for a long time yet, despite his age."
"How old is he?"
"When I came here to work, this completely adult cat was already here, and that was nine years ago. But he's a half-Kneazle, and they live four or even five times longer than ordinary cats."
***
This girl called him Crookshanks? What a clever one. Yes, probably exactly such a one he'd been waiting for all these years... Years. Far from home, though what is home for a spirit? But he remembered.
He remembered sand flying into his eyes, a searing shot, remembered how his body was displayed in the middle of the tent camp for public viewing, with his head propped up by sticks. How the white man, the killer of his first body, sat next to him from one side, then from the other. He learned much later that he was posing for a photographer.
He learned a lot about many things. He became very smart. Because the man-eating lion named The Ghost from the valley of the yellow Tsavo River was not destined to die for real.
The shaman's conspiracy held firm — the spirit couldn't take final revenge, which meant he couldn't leave this world... They killed the lion, yes... No one knew that on the same day one of the natives got rid of a litter of five ginger kittens found under his house, wringing their necks and burying them away from the dwelling so as not to attract predators. And since he'd received payment for work on the construction, he was, naturally, drunk and didn't notice that one of the tailed babies was still breathing.
All the villagers and all the visitors gathered in the square to look at the body of the one who had been their fear and terror for several months and had taken more than twenty lives. Of course, no one noticed how one of the small ginger bundles shuddered, jerked up its head, with a crunch setting right the slightly twisted neck, and hobbled back to the dwelling because it suffered terribly from thirst.
And before the village was a huge camp of builders, and the first place that smelled of water turned out to be the tent of John Henry Patterson. Hunter, writer and construction manager, a ginger Irishman about thirty years old. The old hound shied away from the kitten, immediately sensing something wrong. But the spirit was no longer as stupid as at first: having drunk water from the dog's bowl, it managed to ingratiate itself with the bewildered dog. To England the kitten got in the arms of its owner...
And grew into a huge cat, meanwhile adopting some useful habits from the old hound.
He got used to it, completely used to being a cat, hunting rodents and birds — the owner loved him and was incredibly proud, especially when Reddy, as he called him, brought a dozen strangled rats. Spirits can also be grateful. And with this man it was also interesting.
"A real hunter, like me," the man rejoiced and set out treats for him worthy of... oh, very worthy. Fresh offal, the tenderest liver, wonderful meat. Much tastier than African human flesh.
Only after a couple of decades they began to pay special attention to him, and Reddy heard that he was living too long for an ordinary cat. The neighbor vicar was especially zealous, now trying to sprinkle him with something, now beginning to emit strange and terribly unpleasant sounds. And the owner was going to leave somewhere.
The cat simply left. And first got into the Leaky Cauldron, having once gotten carried away chasing a huge fat rat, where he lived until the owner of the pub changed, and the new owner decided to earn some money at the cat's expense by selling him to this very shop, which became for him not so much a dwelling as the main observation post.
And when he saw the rat... oh, an unusual rat! One whose long-dormant but not vanished man-eating inclinations inherited from his past body flared up instantly. He understood that all these years he had wanted... human flesh. And such human flesh enclosed in a rat became the limit of his dreams.
Quickly understanding that the children came together, which meant he'd have an excellent chance to get to this rat by attaching himself to one of them, he began to act... Charming the girl was not difficult, but when she herself pricked her finger and let him lick a drop of her own blood, he understood: he would never leave her anywhere or ever.
Hermione, who risked conducting the small ritual of familiar binding, didn't know that her blood would forever bind the spirit, obliging him to become not just a companion, but also a protector, whose loyalty would belong to her until his very death... And killing him for real is far from simple.
***
When Hermione came out of the shop with the cat in her arms, satisfied as an elephant after bathing, Harry and Ron had already found Scabbers. And if Potter took the cat philosophically, then Ron, who had finally burned with tender feelings for his own pet, tried to express everything he thought about Hermione's purchase, so they definitely would have quarreled if not for Harry.
"Think he'll sneak into our bedroom from the girls' corridor?" Harry asked.
"Cats are freedom-loving animals," Hermione stroked the cat. "And I won't keep him on any leash. You can just put charms on the door, and no animals will get to you. We learned it back in first year, and Lavender Brown was the first! As soon as she saw a mouse near her bed. You're not dumber than Lav-Lav, are you, Ron Weasley?"
"Will you show these charms?" Harry joined in. "I want to learn too!"
It was strange to lag behind his friend, so while they walked to the Leaky Cauldron, where they'd agreed to meet with all the other Weasleys, the boys practically learned the charms, which indeed turned out to be quite simple.
***
When they entered the pub, Hermione wrinkled her nose: she never liked this untidy place. And even to think about spending the night here... Brrr. How can the Weasleys stand it? Harry was of completely the same opinion about this establishment, but restrained himself: he noticed they were being watched. The Weasley family was waiting for them at two pushed-together tables where places had been prepared for them.
The children didn't like at all that Hermione and Ron ended up on one side of the table, and Harry and Ginny on the other. But the girl didn't even sit down: she perfectly imagined that if during lunch Crookshanks and Ron's rat were nearby, then kitty would also, most likely, have lunch... Ron, realizing what he was risking, approved her maneuver and nodded to the dissatisfied Ginny.
"Ginny, look how beautiful! I took your advice! But because he's an adult, I managed to save money, imagine? So if you want a Puffskein, I'll share the money. Mrs. Weasley, you'll allow Ginny, won't you?"
Harry, instantly orienting himself, was already settling next to his "best friend," and Ginny was making eyes at her mother: she wanted a pet after all.
While they had lunch (Harry and Hermione limited themselves to potatoes with sausage), the only daughter, of course, persuaded her parents, and Hermione passed her several sickles.
And then Molly Weasley announced that Harry and Hermione were staying with them today at the Leaky Cauldron inn by the headmaster's order, and tomorrow they'd all go together to King's Cross station in a Ministry car.
Hermione nearly lost the power of speech: they're waiting for her at home, actually, and here someone just took it upon themselves to decide for her. And she won't stay here overnight for anything in the world! But she'd always been a polite girl...
"Thank you, my dad will drive me as always. I can't just not come home! And besides, I'm without my things!"
Molly pursed her lips, which didn't escape Harry's attention.
"Arthur will Apparate you and wait until you gather. What's your address?"
"Oh, let's finish lunch first," Harry figured out how to interrupt, receiving a grateful look from the family patriarch, whose plate was still half full. "Not this very minute to do it. And we'll see Ginny to the shop, right? By the way, I haven't packed anything either."
"Harry, mate, I missed you so much... You'll stay with us, won't you?"
"Hmm. Actually, there were other plans. And I need to warn the Dursleys, and Sirius. Or just slip away? Because there's already so much that definitely needs to be discussed with Hermione."
Harry shrugged and nodded to the immediately beaming Ron, winking at his displeased friend. She showed surprise but also nodded in response.
"Eh, need to learn Legilimency! But for now I'll have to pretend that 'yes-yes, same as everyone, so are we'? He's lucky that Hermione understood everything so quickly!"
Ron immediately dragged him to the room where he'd settled with his father and brothers, and Ginny, finally imbued with something like gratitude toward Hermione, showed where they'd be spending the night. The girl shuddered, seeing the shabby room and the washed-out gray linen on the beds, of which, by the way, there were only two. Even Crookshanks, examining the room, a couple of times disgustedly shook his paw. Hermione looked questioningly at the youngest Weasley.
"Mum will be with Dad," she answered her unspoken question. "Well, shall we go to the shop?"
They headed to the common room where Arthur and the boys were already waiting for them, but in the corridor Crookshanks, seeing Ron, jumped right at him and hit his paw on the pocket where the rat squealed. Ron was about to punch the cat with his fist but naturally missed.
"Crookshanks! You can't do that!" Hermione pulled back her pet, but then Ron got wound up, not noticing that the girl was restraining the cat, and they really quarreled.
When the boy in his fervor called Hermione a torturer, she was actually taken aback, and moisture glistened in her eyes. Harry couldn't stand it and stood up for his friend, as a result of which the boys decided to "go sort it out" in the back yard. Ginny hung on her brother, but Harry looked at her attentively:
"We'll just talk. Let go."
It sounded so weighty that she released Ron's sleeve and stared at Hermione. She only spread her hands. Crookshanks, standing on the floor, angrily beat his tail against his sides, and the girls began to calm him down. Ginny was delighted by the magnificent ginger as soon as she saw him.
On the way Harry and Ron passed by the room where the elder Weasleys had settled, and through the ajar door heard such things that both instantly slowed down. The argument about whether or not to tell Harry that the escaped Sirius Black was looking for him to kill him was in full swing...
After what he heard, Ron felt uneasy, and he tried to apologize to his friend.
"What am I," he shrugged. "Apologize to Hermione, she was holding back her cat..."
"Why did you... rush to fight for her?"
"Who else would? She had no one but us who would stand up for her. Now, it seems, I'm the only one left?"
"Really?" Ron thought for a long time. "Alright, let's go back."
"Um... Sorry, Hermione, I got hot-headed." Ron was looking at the toes of his own boots. "But keep the cat away from my rat, please."
"How about you each deal with your own familiar?" Harry voiced a sensible thought. "If both are supervised, there won't be problems, I think. You'll explain to the cat?.."
Hermione nodded.
"Alright, let's go already," Ginny pulled her brother by the hand.
"Wait... Harry, isn't it dangerous for you to appear on the street like that?" Ron figured out.
"That's why Dad is coming with us!" Ginny answered, nodding at Mr. Weasley standing near the pub's entrance.
"Actually, my mentor is keeping an eye on me..."
"Professor Snape? He's somewhere here under invisibility?" Hermione was amazed.
Arthur began actively looking around, and Ron paled.
In the shop Ginny chose her pet for a long time, finally settling on a cute white ball with brown eyes, and Ron acquired for Scabbers a cage with fine mesh that the cat couldn't get a paw into no matter how hard he tried. True, the rat for some reason wasn't pleased by this...
***
Returning to the Leaky Cauldron rooms, on the stairs they met the satisfied twins, who boasted that they'd stolen Percy's badge and changed the words "Head Boy" to "Bighead Boy." Ginny immediately took out her Puffskein and began questioning her brothers about who at school they'd seen with the same ones and how best to sneak him in — Puffskeins weren't on the list of recommended creatures. By the way, Crookshanks ignored him as if he were an inanimate object. Thus the twins were neutralized by their younger siblings, and Harry and Hermione finally got a chance to exchange at least a word.
"Typically Weasley prank," Hermione whispered, "neither educational nor heartfelt... Harry, what did you come up with? I need to go home! I don't want to stay here at all, my parents are waiting for me!"
"And I promised the Dursleys. And I really don't have all my things packed yet."
"But what about the headmaster's order?"
"We need to find that out. But for now I invite you to visit the Professor. Will you come?"
"To Professor Snape? Is... that convenient?"
"Where else can we talk normally? You have your parents, I have... Dudley. They just won't leave us alone. And we won't be long, we'll manage in half an hour to an hour, what do you think?"
The girl nodded.
"Then I pretend I received a signal from the Professor, you as if accidentally grab my hand so I don't leave the pub alone, and we transfer before everyone's eyes. Yes, the headmaster knows that Professor Snape gave me a portal to his place, so nothing special will happen."
"Dumbledore approved?"
"Did he have options?" Harry smirked. "I told you about it."
Not having time to sit down for another meal, the children disappeared right before the eyes of the surprised ginger family.