Harry Potter and the Way of Things

Chapter 7 - Part 3 - Magical Menagerie

AN  - Hey everyone sorry for the delay on the Chapter. Been working ahead with Raven and a new Beta. Vote, Follow and Review. Replying to all of them (if I can)

Harry's first impression of the shop was that it didn't smell nearly as awful as it should. Upwards of a hundred cages and enclosure of all kinds encompassed the room. Animals of all sorts could be seen. Various rodents, reptiles, amphibians, felines, birds (though no owls). The sounds filling the room were an odd combination that would never be found in nature. Harry was here looking for a messenger bird.

Not an owl, but a raven, to match his animagus form. After he had found his inner animal, he had learned as much as he could about the bird. He had actually asked the librarian to special order him a book on ravens. He learned about its anatomy, intelligence, appearance, life, and relationships. Now that he had, he figured he could probably communicate with one, in human form, it helped that they could mimic human speech. He had yet to try a transformation of any kind. He had only read four books from the wizarding world, and even though he had accomplished the things taught in them, none of it was as advanced as human transfiguration.

A man came out of a door in the back of the shop and approached him, saying, "What can I do for you today young sir? Interested in a toad, or perhaps a cat?"

"No, I won't be needing either a cat, or a toad. No, today I'm just looking for a messenger bird. I didn't find an owl I liked, so I came here," he lied smoothly. Harry hadn't looked at owls, as he knew he wouldn't find his companion there.

"Well young sir, here at Magical Menagerie, we have a variety of capable messenger birds, from hawks to parrots and more. A few of them can even talk. Birds are smart things, you know. As he said this, he began to lead Harry toward a few bird cages clustered together at the back of the shop.

They reached the cages and the man began to go on about each bird in turn. But Harry wasn't listening. He was looking at the wire bird cage with the several blankets thrown over top of it.

"What's in this cage, sir?" Harry asked, pointing at the covered cage.

"You wouldn't be wanting that one, it's a real bastard. I keep all those blankets over it and a silencing spell on the cage, cause all it does is curse at me. Don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, won't let me touch it, you see."

Harry felt something from the cage, a pull, like something was drawing him in. And he knew he had found what he came looking for.

"Please remove the blankets and the spell. I'd like to meet this one."

The shopkeeper looked at him like he was crazy. Harry stared back, untroubled.

"If you insist. But be warned, your ears are in for a hell of a time." The shopkeeper began reluctantly removing blankets, five of them in total. As he removed the last blanket he pulled his wand out and cancelled the silencing charm.

The first thing the ravens eyes landed on was the shopkeeper. And it immediately began, cursing like Harry had never heard before.

"Fucking son of a bitch, bloody bastard, whore. Piss off you goddamn arsehole. Fuck you and fuck- Oh," the raven stopped its tirade the second it saw Harry. It looked him up and down then titled its head to the side in a questioning look. Looking at the shopkeeper, then back at Harry it said in a much softer, almost trilling voice.

"Who?" Harry knew the raven was asking about him, as it was obviously well acquainted to the shopkeeper.

"It's a customer" the shopkeeper said to the bird, who oddly enough, seemed to understand him just fine.

"Customer, who?" The raven was staring at him now, with intense black eyes. It must be asking me what my name is, Harry thought to himself. He contemplated the intelligence of letting the shopkeeper know who he was, but thought better of it.

Instead, he answered, "I'm a friend, and I'd like to take you home with me. That is, if you'd be willing."

The bird let out a sound of joy, and started to shift excitedly around in its small cage. "Go home, go home!" It said, in what Harry assumed was a happy tone.

The shopkeeper looked ridiculously shocked. He wasn't aware the raven was smart enough to hold a conversation, even a simple one. He had figured that it had learned only curse words from whoever breed and sold it to him, but this was obviously not the case.

Harry stepped forward and undid the lock on the cage with a bit of magic (the very same he had used on the cupboard door.)

The raven shuffled out of the cage before taking to the air. It looped twice around the interior of the shop, dodging and weaving through cages, and came to land on Harry's shoulder. As the weight of the young raven settled on his shoulder, Harry let himself smile a little. It seems he had made a friend.

Harry made his way up to the counter, with the shopkeeper beside him and his new friend on his shoulder.