She smiled and squeezed his hand when he opened the door for them. The smell of confined animals filled the space inside, mostly cat and owl with maybe a hint of those little wood-chip shavings people use for hamsters.
"I won't be long," Hermione said before darting towards the back, though he saw her dawdle for a moment and duck down to poke a finger inside a cage he was willing to bet housed a certain squash-faced ginger cat.
Harry, meanwhile, made his way back to the corner they'd been in yesterday. This time he found the small snake lying out enjoying the bit of light its leafy terrarium allowed. It saw him and started to move into the shrubbery when Harry spoke.
"It's alright, I'm a friend, " he told it.
The snake folded back along itself and lied there, watching him.
"Could you coil yourself up into a ball again? That was neat. "
The black and blotchy-gold - ball python, the card by the tank said - seemed to consider his request for a moment before it started to move again, coiling its body around its head until it became quite compact.
"The shopkeeper had no idea what 'hypoallergenic' meant," Hermione said, walking up to him carrying a wicker basket.
"I don't think I know what 'hypoallergenic' means," Harry said, giving the basket a curious look. "Going on a picnic?"
"Maybe later," she said with a smile that was mix of 'I just outsmarted you' and 'I'm going to hold you to that' springing onto her face. "It means 'unlikely to cause an allergic reaction,' because apparently my mother's allergic to all things cute and cuddly."
"Well you should've known that," Harry said, feeling the desire to poke back a bit.
Hermione gave him a look that warned he was getting closer to dangerous territory.
"It must be the reason you two don't get on," he said with a shrug.
Her look turned into one where she couldn't understand a thing that just happened; it was as if he'd suddenly grown antlers and spouted gibberish. He grinned and felt a bit of heat in his cheeks as he tried to look innocent. For a girl who was usually a step ahead of him on everything, Harry was starting to like moments like these.
"I don't think I've ever been called either before," Hermione said finally, still looking at him like he was getting ready to hit her.
"I didn't call you 'Either,'" he couldn't resist saying, "I called you-"
"-This one's yours," she cut in quickly as she thrust the basket into his arms. She was a little red-faced from embarrassment with a look that said she'd had quite enough of that nonsense, even if it wasn't unwelcome. Harry tried to hide his smile but wasn't making much headway at it.
She was obviously unused to getting a compliment. 'Cute' might be a matter of opinion but he supposed he couldn't really say she was 'cuddly' until he had experienced it for himself. He had liked her hugs though, so 'huggable' was definitely an adjective for her.
"It's mine?" he asked, giving her the conversational way out.
"Well, I should say it's Dobby's, because I bought it for him," she explained. "I didn't know what you were doing for bedding, but he should have more than a pallet on the floor to sleep on."
"Oh, thank you," Harry said. "Molly said something about having a bassinet but after she put him in a high chair for dinner I thought it might be going a bit too far."
"Well ideally, I'd like to find them little beds to sleep in but I doubt I'll ever find them."
"How much do I owe you?" he asked, wondering if he could get to the pouch of money in the sleeve pocket with the hand on that side.
"You owe me nothing," Hermione said with the look saying she'd outsmarted him again. "This is a gift from me to him; it has nothing to do with you at all. I got Mipsy one as well, but Dobby didn't show up when I called him," she finished curiously.