Chapter 296: A shopping trip for the kitty (Edited)

Although he didn't know the exact day of Professor McGonagall's birthday, Fish was in no hurry, he can ask Dumbledore later, but the gift can be bought today.

"I don't know if two gold galleons are enough nya..."

?ω?

Fish stared at the two gold coins in his hand, twitching his ears with uncertainty.

He didn't usually get an allowance or anything, but this was the first time the kitten had been given money, let alone the time he had pawed at it out of curiosity.

Especially since Fish was given food and drink and treats everywhere he went, he didn't need any pocket money.

Besides the fact that Fish had no concept of money, Professor McGonagall was worried that the boy would buy something odd with the money, if it was just a splurge, fine, but if it was something less safe, which was not uncommon in the wizarding world, and that was why she never gave Fish an allowance.

"All right, Fish," Harry offered: "First let's have a look around first, and if we don't have enough money, I can lend you some."

Hermione interjected: "I should have some money left over after I buy myself a present, so I can lend it to you too."

"Thanks nya!"

(●?ω?●)

The kitten cocked its tail happily.

The Weasley siblings looked at each other for the third time... yet another topic they couldn't get into due to lack of money.

"By the way, Hermione, what are you going to buy yourself? a book?"

It was too hard to keep listening to them talk about it, and Ron had to step in and change the subject to Hermione.

"No, I don't want a book," Hermione said, shaking her head: "Mostly I want an owl. You see, Harry has Hedwig, Percy has Hermes and you have Errol..."

"I don't have any," Ron replied bitterly, the subject was equally hard for him: "Errol is the family owl, I only have Scabbers...and he's missing."

"Uh... sorry..."

Fish then scratched his head, confused: "Why do you want to have an owl? aren't there a lot of them at Hogwarts?"

"Because when I was in France over the summer, I wanted to write to you, but I couldn't find where to rent an owl, and it's easier to have a messenger of my own."

Hermione shrugged, explaining her reasoning.

Fish looked at her in admiration...

And to think she wants to actively write!

Then the kitten cocked his head to one side, thoughtfully, and said: "So Fish is going to send an owl to Minerva, too?"

In Fish's mind, Hermione was a lot like Professor McGonagall in many ways, so what she liked, Professor McGonagall should like, too....

"The gift might not mean much to Professor McGonagall," Percy shook his head: "Whether at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade, Professor McGonagall has no shortage of owls to send letters to, and.... You'd have to hide the owl now if you bought it, and it would be too easy to reveal."

"Well..."

⊙ω⊙

The kitten blinked and wagged its tail depressedly.

"Let's go buy Hermione a present first, and then we can take our time to help pick out a present for Professor McGonagall" Percy suggested, noticing that the group had been talking for a while without making any real progress.

And so, the group headed to the Owl Emporium.

There are two stores in Diagon Alley where you can buy owls, the Owl Emporium store, which sells owls and all the food and equipment they need, and the Magical Animal Shop, which sells all kinds of animals.

The two stores were split between Diagon Alley, north and south, and since Hermione wanted an owl, they naturally went to the Owl Emporium store on the north side of Diagon Alley, which had a wider range of owls and a better selection of food and cages.

Incidentally, Harry could also add some food to Hedwig.

As soon as he entered the Owl Emporium store, Fish was greeted by all the owls in the store, who gathered around the little cat in a flutter,

They all gathered around him and made a series of "cooing" noises to him.

"Hello nya~"

?(●ΦωΦ●)?

Fish greeted the owls politely and took out food from his magic bag and fed them, not looking at them as if they were prey.

"Oh, you're Mr. Fish McGonagall, aren't you?"

Although the clerk here had never seen Fish, the little cat's reputation had spread throughout Diagon Alley, and both he and the owls approached, the owls flying around Fish excitedly.

"Did you come here today with the intention of buying yourself an owl?"

"No nya," Fish said, pointing to Hermione beside him: "Hermione's the one who wants one."

"Oh... well, if you want to buy an owl in the future, remember to come to our Owl Emporium store, we have a much better range than that grocery store down south."

The clerk smacked his lips regretfully, slurred at his competitor, and then turned away to attend to Hermione.

"Hello, ma'am, do you have any need for owls?"

"Well, what kind of owl is stronger?"

Hermione was thinking that she would probably have to buy books in the future, so she wanted to choose an owl with a good weight capacity.

After a few recommendations and explanations from the clerk, Hermione chose a female barn owl named Katherine, which was a size larger than Austin at Hogwarts.

Austin, also a barn owl, was one of the largest at Hogwarts, otherwise Fish would not have chosen him as a mount.

After that, Hermione and Harry bought a large box of owl nuts at the store, and Hermione had planned to buy a nice cage, but thought she would have to lend Fish money later, so for now she used the cage the store gave her.

After leaving the Owl Emporium store, the group headed straight for the Quality Quidditch Goods store, where, in addition to helping Fish pick out a gift, Ron and the others wanted to see the Firebolt, the "perfect" flying broom that Harry had described.

When they arrived at the Quality Quidditch Goods store, they found the twins already there, both looking at the samples on display with such fascination that they hadn't even noticed their arrival.

"My goodness, what a beautiful broom!"

As soon as Ron saw the Firebolt, he leaned forward obsessively like his two brothers. Even though Harry had seen it many times, he still couldn't help but keep his eyes fixed on the Firebolt and even Percy and Ginny looked amazed.

"Hermione, is this broom really powerful nya?"

(●?ω?●)つ

Fish tugged Hermione's sleeve to her side and asked suspiciously, he couldn't see anything special anyway.

Hermione, who didn't know much about Quidditch either, spread her hands and said: "I don't know, I'm not really that interested in Quidditch."

"Is that so?" the kitten found a companion and moved close to Hermione's ear and whispered: "I don't see what's so funny about it, there are a lot of rules for pouncing on a ball, and it doesn't fly as fast as Shadow."

(?ω?)

Hermione's mind wandered slightly, she had been thinking that she should go back to studying Quidditch in the future, but now...

Quidditch? what is that?

At that moment, the twins finally saw Ron, who had come over to them and was looking next to the Firebolt, and the three brothers had a heated discussion about the flying broom.

They seemed to know a lot about it, and Fish immediately approached them.

"Ron, is this broom awesome nya?"

?ω?

Fish asked, pointing to the Firebolt placed on the table.

"Of course it is! The Firebolt is the fastest broom in the world. And look at his cushion, and here..."

Ron spluttered in excitement, he had just seen the Firebolt for the first time, and yet he was able to relate all its advantages... except that Fish had heard Harry say these things many times before.

Then George and Fred joined in, and the three Weasleys gathered around Fish to talk and discuss from time to time.

Unfortunately, the kitten was too confused to understand the meaning of what they were saying.

(?ω?)

At that moment the owner of the Quidditch Quality Items store approached, he was used to the scene of a group of people talking loudly around the Firebolt, so naturally he didn't care about Ron's discussion.

His focus was Fish, who was a joy to behold.

Due to his lack of interest in Quidditch, Fish had slipped away after his last visit, and because the store was so crowded, the store owner hadn't been able to talk to the young wizard, who was already well known in Diagon Alley, but this time he wasn't going to miss it.

"Hello, Mr. Fish McGonagall, welcome to our store."

The shopkeeper greeted Fish, then pointed to the Firebolt and asked: "You want to know what's so good about the Firebolt, don't you?"

He had overheard the conversation between Fish and Ron, and realized that Fish didn't know anything about Quidditch, or even had much interest in it, so he knew it was useless to talk as much as Ron did, because Fish didn't understand what they were talking about.

"Yeah nya."

Fish nodded and replied.

And Ron and the others stopped their discussion and looked at the merchant to hear what he had to say.

The shopkeeper smiled confidently and said proudly: "Let's just say that anyone who likes Quidditch can't resist owning a Firebolt!".

The shopkeeper's words struck a chord with Harry and the others, and the group nodded in approval of the shopkeeper's statement.

This simple, straightforward statement was understood by Fish, and the little cat's eyes lit up.

"Then Fish will buy one of those nya!"

?(●?ω?●)?

"Ahem...," the shopkeeper asked dumbfounded: "How much money do you have, Mr. McGonagall?"

The kitten rummaged through his pockets, pulled out two gold galleons and placed them in front of the shopkeeper.

"Fish has two gold galleons, is that enough nya?"

?(●?ω?●)?

Fish was not joking with the shopkeeper, but really thought that two gold galleons would be enough to buy a flying broom.

After all, in the kitten's mind, brooms didn't seem to have much value, they were everywhere at Hogwarts, even when wandering around Muggle society, he had seen many.

He also remembered that last term, Malfoy had gifted seven of the best brooms of the time to the Slytherin quidditch team, so Fish had always thought that even if these flying brooms were a bit more expensive, they wouldn't be much more so.

"..."

The owner of the Quality Quidditch Supplies. store fell silent at Fish's serious and anxious look.

Being a celebrity in Diagon Alley, Fish's situation was well known, so the shopkeeper didn't think he was looking for trouble, but it seemed that Fish really didn't know the value of a flying broom, so he didn't know what to say to him for a moment.

The shopkeeper's puzzled expression was obvious, even to Fish, and the kitten scratched his head and turned to Harry and Hermione.

"Not enough money nya? how much is left nya? Harry and Hermione said they could lend Fish money nya."

Harry: "..."

Hermione: "..."