Chapter 182

Chapter 182

Hermione arrived at the Leaky Cauldron shortly after Suer.

“Good afternoon, Mr Tom.” Suer greeted the landlord behind the bar. “We’re here to see Harry. Is he in his room?”

Old Tom, who had only a few hairs left on his head, was wiping the counter with a grey-black cloth. He looked up. “And you are?”

He narrowed his cloudy eyes and studied Suer for some time, apparently searching his memory.

“Mr Bones. I remember you.” Old Tom revealed a mouth missing most of its teeth.

“Mr Potter went out at midday. You can wait for him here. Would you like a butterbeer?”

“Of course.” Suer nodded. “We’d also like to stay for one night. Do you have any rooms available?”

Old Tom looked at Suer, then glanced at Hermione beside him.

“Oh, certainly. Are you after one room, or…? We have twin beds, and we also have large beds with room for two.”

“Two rooms will be fine, Mr Tom.”

Old Tom looked faintly surprised and gave Suer an unreadable glance, but soon nodded and produced two keys from beneath the bar.

“As it happens, there are two empty rooms beside Mr Potter’s, though one has a double bed. Is that all right?”

When Suer nodded, Old Tom came around the bar. “This way, Mr Bones–and you too, young lady. Follow me.”

The accommodation at the Leaky Cauldron could not have been more different from the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade, where Suer had stayed before. It also contrasted sharply with the dirty, cluttered pub downstairs.

The rooms were not luxurious and were rather small, but they were extremely clean. The bedding smelled of sunshine, making it clear that someone cleaned the rooms regularly.

The windows opened directly onto a Muggle street.

At nearly one Galleon per night for the two rooms, the price was high, but still fair for what they received.

Suer chose the room with two single beds. Displaying proper gentlemanly conduct, he left the only double-bed room to Hermione.

They soon returned downstairs and found an empty table in the main room. Hermione took one sip of the butterbeer Suer had ordered and immediately lost interest. She settled Crookshanks in her lap and combed the cat’s fur in slow strokes.

Crookshanks purred with pleasure.

They did not wait long. Harry returned with a worried-looking Ron Weasley behind him.

“Harry, over here.” Suer’s seat faced the rear courtyard, so he spotted Harry at once and waved.

“Hi, Harry. Ron? What are you doing here?” Hermione turned and saw both Harry and Ron.

“Mr Weasley brought him. They came to have Ron’s rat examined,” Harry explained.

“Scabbers? What’s wrong?” Hermione asked in surprise.

“It’s ill,” Ron said. “Ever since I brought it back from Egypt, its colour has looked wrong. It hardly eats, and it’s lost a lot of weight.”

Ron drew Scabbers from an inner pocket and placed the rat on the table. It lay there weakly, almost asleep.

“I took it to the woman at the Magical Menagerie. She recommended a bottle of something called Rat Tonic.”

“This.” After setting Scabbers down, Ron produced a small red bottle from an outer pocket. Pain crossed his face. “It cost me two Sickles. I hope it works.”

Ron hated spending the money. It came from the rare pocket money Mrs Weasley had generously given him after his father won the prize, and represented a substantial part of his meagre savings. But Scabbers was his only pet, so he had little choice.
An owner was responsible for keeping a pet healthy.

“Try it now,” Harry suggested. “It should work quickly, but Scabbers is very old. Perhaps give it half a dose–no, how about a third?”

Ron nodded, removed the stopper and prepared to tip some into Scabbers’s mouth.

“Keep still, Scabbers!” Ron said in frustration. The rat clearly did not want the medicine and twisted its head violently away from the bottle, spilling some of the liquid.

Hermione watched the struggling rat with concern, and her hand stopped moving through Crookshanks’s fur.

That was when disaster struck.

Crookshanks noticed that Hermione’s hand had been still for too long. The cat shifted in dissatisfaction and meowed, then spotted Scabbers being dosed on the table.

“Rrrrr…”

Crookshanks immediately adopted an attacking stance. Both ears flattened against the cat’s head, and gleaming claws slid from the soft pads.

“Oh! No, Crookshanks!” Hermione looked down and saw what was happening, but she had time for only one cry. Crookshanks broke free of her arms and charged fiercely towards Scabbers.

“Oh, why did you bring that cat?” Crookshanks’s sudden appearance startled Ron. His grip loosened, and Scabbers shot from his hand like a bar of soap. The rat landed on its back, sprang upright and fled.

In his panic, Ron also lost the red bottle in his other hand. Crookshanks leapt onto the table and knocked it to the floor, where it shattered with a sharp chime.

“My tonic!” Ron cried. “Scabbers! Catch that damned cat!”

Ron raced after them. Scabbers no longer looked half dead. The rat darted nimbly between tables and chairs with Crookshanks close behind.

“Go away! Go away!” Ron anticipated Scabbers’s path, seized the rat by the tail and lifted it into the safety of his arms.

Crookshanks’s pupils narrowed to slits. The cat bared sharp teeth and unsheathed gleaming claws, ready to leap at Ron.

“Go away, you horrible cat! Go away!” Ron shouted as he stuffed Scabbers back into an inner pocket.

Suer followed close behind, scooped up the eager cat and placed Crookshanks back in Hermione’s arms.

“Oh, Crookshanks!” Hermione stroked the cat’s fur and whispered into one ear, trying to calm it.

Once Scabbers disappeared from view, Crookshanks soon began purring contentedly in Hermione’s embrace.

“Why did you bring that enormous cat?” Ron complained, one hand protecting the bulge inside his robes. “It chased Scabbers several times last year. If Suer hadn’t taken Crookshanks back to his dormitory, Scabbers would have been eaten ages ago!”

“Poor Scabbers. Now the tonic is gone too!”

“I’ll go and buy you another bottle now. Rat Tonic, wasn’t it?” Hermione said irritably. “Crookshanks is a cat. What is strange about a cat chasing a rat?”

Ron muttered under his breath and lowered his head to comfort Scabbers.

Yes, cats chased rats. But Crookshanks was plainly interested only in Scabbers, even though Hogwarts had plenty of other rats.

At least Suer had never seen the large cat pursue another one during the time Crookshanks lived with him.