Chapter 358: Poisonous
Chapter 358: Poisonous
The door to the cabin was suddenly knocked on, and Lee Jordan, carrying his luggage, stood outside, curiously eyeing the standoff between the cat and the owl.
"Your cat?" he asked.
"Who else would it be?" Albert replied irritably.
"Looks even fatter than in the photos," Lee Jordan said with a grin. He reached out to poke the cat's forehead but quickly withdrew his hand as Tom swiped at him. "Quite feisty."
"Yeah, he is."
Lee Jordan didn't seem bothered and moved his luggage to a corner of the compartment.
"He used to be shy and stayed at home a lot," Albert said, lifting Tom onto his lap and stroking Sheila's head, signaling for the owl to return to her cage. "And would you let a stranger touch your head?"
"No, I wouldn't," Lee Jordan said, placing an insect box on the table excitedly. "Look what I got here."
"What kind of spider is that? I think it might be poisonous," Albert said, examining the spider in the box. The spider had patterns on its body, and brightly colored spiders were often venomous. As for its size, it was quite large, but to Albert, who had encountered an Acromantula, it wasn't that impressive.
"It's a purse-web spider," Lee Jordan said. "A venomous spider native to South Africa. It was a gift from an uncle of mine who brought it back from Africa."
"Did he tell you what would happen if you got bitten by this thing?" Albert felt that Lee Jordan's uncle was rather unreliable.
"No, he didn't," Lee Jordan shook his head after a moment's thought, apparently not understanding Albert's implication.
"Then you'd better not let it bite you. Most brightly colored spiders are venomous," Albert reminded him, seeing that Lee Jordan didn't seem to get it. He then pulled Tom away from the insect box, as the cat was now curious about everything.
"So, what does it eat?"
"Usually insects, mice, frogs, that sort of thing," Albert replied while stroking the cat.
"And where do you plan to get that kind of food at Hogwarts? Why didn't you just get an owl like everyone else? Why a spider?" Albert rolled his eyes.
"What about your cat, then? Do you expect this fat cat to catch mice or go out hunting for food?" Lee Jordan countered.
"I bought a bunch of cat food and cat treats," Albert said, pulling out a bag of cat food from his trunk. "And there are fish in the lake. I can go fishing when I have time."
Tom immediately moved closer when he saw his food and tried to claw at the package, but Albert tapped him on the head, and he settled down.
Lee Jordan's gaze shifted from the cat food back to the purse-web spider in his box, and he suddenly looked glum. He hadn't prepared any food for his new pet.
"If it doesn't work out, I'll just release it into the Forbidden Forest!" he muttered gloomily, glancing at Albert's bag of cat food and wondering if the spider could eat that.
"You should have gotten an owl. They're low maintenance and don't need much care," Albert said, pointing at Sheila. "They can also help deliver messages. They're reliable companions."
"You're right!" Lee Jordan looked even more glum.
"By the way, why did you only bring two pets?" he asked, eyeing Tom's fat belly and wanting to stroke it.
"Hogwarts didn't say we could only bring one," Albert said with a shrug. "And they don't even let us go out at night!"
"That's true." Lee Jordan suddenly felt that Albert made a lot of sense.
"I had no one at home to take care of them, so I had to bring them with me," Albert added, noticing Lee Jordan's low mood and trying to cheer him up. "Look, George and Fred are here."
"Where?" Lee Jordan looked out the window but couldn't spot the Weasley twins.
"You're not tricking me, are you?" He turned back and looked at Albert suspiciously.
"I really did see them just now," Albert nodded.
Well, Albert was just making things up. He felt it was already past 10:30, and the Weasley family should be arriving soon.
"Are you sure?" Lee Jordan pointed to the exit of the station and said impatiently, "You're tricking me again. They've just arrived, so how could you have seen them before?"
Lee Jordan stuck his hand out the window and waved at the Weasley twins.
"Hey, by the way, do you think that skinny black-haired boy could be Harry Potter?" Albert casually changed the subject, having indeed glimpsed a skinny black-haired boy pushing his luggage towards the back of the train.
"Hey, don't change the subject," Lee Jordan said, annoyed.
"I think he might be Harry Potter," Albert said.
"What black-haired boy? You're tricking me again," Lee Jordan said, determined not to fall for it this time.
"I saw it in my crystal ball last night," Albert said mysteriously. "Harry Potter entered the station with the Weasleys."
Lee Jordan started to roll his eyes.
"If it's not true, I'll give you a can of cat food. And if it is..."
"What do I want with your cat food?" Lee Jordan interrupted.
"You can feed it to my cat, Tom," Albert said, pointing at his chubby pet.
"So, in the end, it still goes into your cat's belly. Can you be more shameless?"
Fred knocked on the door, and after Lee Jordan opened it and stepped back in, he asked with a smile, "Who was just talking about Harry Potter?"
"Albert here claimed that he saw you guys entering the station with Harry Potter last night through his crystal ball," Lee Jordan said impatiently, repeating Albert's words to Fred and George.
"Harry Potter... just now..." Fred and George looked at each other, and the latter suddenly said, "There was indeed a black-haired boy next to us, asking for directions."
"Are you sure that was Harry Potter?" George quickly dropped his luggage and turned to confirm.
"Where are they going?" Lee Jordan asked, watching the twins' hurriedly departing backs.
"To check out Harry Potter, of course," Albert said helplessly.
"Is it really Harry Potter? Should we go too?" Lee Jordan was also curious about the legendary boy.
"Harry Potter isn't some monkey in a zoo. You'll see him at the Sorting Ceremony later, and he'll probably be in Gryffindor like his father. You can see the savior every day from now on," Albert said, exasperated. "And do you think he still remembers what the Dark Lord looked like?"
"Do you remember anything from when you were one year old?" Lee Jordan asked.
"Maybe he has memories from that time. After all, he's Harry Potter," Lee Jordan mumbled.
Albert was left speechless. In these people's eyes, what kind of mythical being was Harry Potter?
(End of Chapter)
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