After the strawberry cake came the crisps, pies, chocolate cream balls, and fruit jellies. Anthony turned on the car radio, and everyone quieted down, focusing intently on the match results for a local football team.
After the news, Cedric asked Angelina, "How's Oliver been lately?"
"Same as always," Angelina said, frowning and placing her hands on her hips, vividly imitating him. "'Muggle Studies? We've got the Slytherin match coming up, and they've all got Nimbus 2001s! No, absolutely not, Angelina, I forbid it.'"
"That's your captain, right?" Roger, taking a break from the crisps, leaned over the front seat to join the Quidditch players' discussion.
Angelina nodded. "I told him—objectively, mind you—'Oliver Wood, we train almost every day, and I've been waiting for this practical session all term. I'm just informing you that I'm going again next year, and I won't drop my other studies for Quidditch. I'm not asking for your permission.'"
"Wow," Cedric said. "I don't think Oliver took that well."
Euan, looking rather pale, piped up loudly. "How much longer, Professor Anthony? I think I'm going to be sick. Could you all stop talking?"
"You could also be carsick, Mr. Williams," Anthony told him.
…
The rain was still drizzling, so Anthony suggested they start with the drive-through section.
After Euan swapped seats with Cedric, he never complained about feeling sick again. He just kept twisting around, asking his classmates to pass him snacks from his massive bag in the back. That's when Anthony remembered Euan Williams was supposedly related to the owner of Honeydukes.
"I don't even remember what's in this bag," Euan said around a mouthful of chewy toffees. "Just dig around in there, don't be shy. Our dorm's practically overflowing."
"Can we have Fizzing Whizzbees, Professor?" Roger asked, peering into Euan's giant bag. "I know they're magical sweets, but no Muggles will see us, right?"
"You brought Whizzbees, Euan?" Cedric leaned in too. "Wow, is that a limited edition Chocolate Frog from the Quidditch World Cup?"
"Yeah, I got thirty-something of them," Euan said. "If you eat one, save me the card!"
Angelina turned in her seat. "I want a Whizzbee too. Euan, I brought jam and bread, do you want some?"
"What kind of jam—Oh, lingonberry! Brilliant, thanks!" Euan turned to Anthony, asking in an 'it's-my-birthday' tone, "Professor Anthony, Whizzbees?"
Anthony considered it, then agreed. "As long as none of you open the windows."
So the students became utterly absorbed in studying how the seatbelts kept them firmly anchored, unable to float, and no one even noticed when they drove into the zoo. Roger explained enthusiastically, "I know, if you eat a few more you can float higher—" As a demonstration, he shoved five Fizzing Whizzbees into his mouth at once. The magical sweets were so determined to make him fly that they tugged against the seatbelt, knocking his head against the car roof.
"I suggest you sit down, Mr. Davies," Anthony said. "You're blocking the rear-view mirror a bit."
"I'm not standing up, Professor, I'm—Ow!" Roger protested as they went over a speed bump, his head smacking the roof again. "Floating!"
Cedric, sitting next to him, hauled him back down with some effort.
"If there weren't any Muggles around…" Angelina said, looking at the car ahead of them. "We could put him outside the window and hold his hand while we drive, like Muggles do with their balloons or kites."
"We could use broomsticks!" Roger mused. "When we get back to school, we can do that. One person eats the sweets, and the other pulls him along while flying."
Anthony listened silently to their Quidditch-related planning, operating the windscreen wipers as they drove along the zoo's roads. Autumn leaves showed yellow, orange, and red, but many woods remained stubbornly green. The rain had eased, but so far, apart from a few birds flying into the trees, they hadn't seen any animals.
He drove slowly, following the car ahead, when he suddenly heard Euan ask, "What's that?"
"What?"
"Those black and white things. Are they animals? Oh! It moved! What is it?"
"Zebra!" Angelina shouted, her face pressed against the window. "I know, it's a zebra!"
"Can I open the window, Professor?" Euan asked.
"No," Anthony said, glancing at the rear-view mirror. "Not unless Mr. Kite ties himself to his seat."
Roger Davies hurriedly fastened his seatbelt, gripping the seat cover tightly as if afraid he'd float even a little.
Anthony laughed. "Alright. Except for Davies, everyone else can unfasten their seatbelts for a bit if they want. We're going very slowly."
Everyone cheered, fumbling for their seatbelt buckles. With a series of crisp clicks, Anthony noticed Euan was floating too.
"Oh, fine," Euan said, reluctantly buckling himself back in and grabbing another snack.
The zebras were far away and on the other side of the car. Anthony glanced past Euan's doughnut and thought that if he were driving alone, he might not even have noticed them.
Cool, damp air blew gently into the car, dispersing the stuffy smell of seven people and a giant bag of snacks. Anthony heard them discussing how they should have brought their Omnioculars, while Angelina explained to the others what zebras were.
"I think I mentioned this animal at the start of term," Anthony said to Euan. "Muggle alphabet learning. If a Muggle is telling you how to spell a word, for the letter Z you're more likely to hear 'zebra' than 'zombie.'"
Euan looked embarrassed. He silently turned his gaze away from the zebras, as if they had suddenly transformed into a herd of dancing 'Troll' grades.
…
The zebras, hidden in the tree shadows, soon disappeared from view. After catching a distant glimpse of 'some other horse-like things' (only Roger saw them), they soon drove into monkey territory. Unlike the peaceful, horse-like animals, the zoo's signs clearly warned them to close their windows and that this was not a troop of placid monkeys.
Even without the zoo's warnings, they could see for themselves. On the cars ahead, monkeys were perched on the roofs. Some sat there idly as if just catching a lift; others walked about, curiously grabbing things they fancied—like car antennas.
"Merlin, they're tiny," Roger said, craning his neck to watch several monkeys climb onto their roof from behind. The long-fingered, long-toed creatures climbed with ease, using the subtle grooves between the window glass and the door. The students crowded excitedly against the windows, meeting a monkey's dark, bright eyes, examining its reddish, slightly protruding face, and imagining the texture of its fine fur through the glass.
"They're a bit like—I don't know, some sort of humanoid."
"Muggles believe we share a common ancestor with them," Anthony said. "Then again, Muggles believe all living things in the world share a common ancestor."
"No way!" the student sitting next to Angelina said. "Us and monkeys? Not great, but maybe possible. Us and the zebras from before? Muggles must be mad."
"Muggles once thought the person who proposed the idea was mad too," Anthony agreed. "But science accepted it because it seemed to fit the evidence they found better than other explanations."
The student pressed, "What evidence?"
"That's seventh-year material," Anthony said. "But if you're interested, you could look up literature on 'fossils.'"
She nodded, placing her hand on the glass opposite the black paw of a monkey pressed against their window.
"They're so small," she repeated.
Just then, Roger cried out, "Professor Anthony, the monkey's stealing our wiper!"
"What?" Anthony asked, confused. He glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw a pair of tiny hands on the rear wiper, struggling to bend it.
Roger's Whizzbees had worn off, so he'd unfastened his seatbelt. Now kneeling backwards on his seat, he provided Anthony with a live commentary on the monkey's thieving progress. "…I don't think that grip works well. Ah, it's changed position—the wiper's bent up, Professor."
The others were captivated by the monkey. The little creature had climbed onto the rear window and was now sitting there, wholly devoted to its battle with the wiper. The students stared up, mouths agape, at the damp, furry imprint it left, barely concerned about the wiper itself. Anthony even heard someone muttering encouragement for the monkey.
Anthony hesitated between letting the monkey be and protecting the car, but ultimately chose to switch on the rear wiper. The monkey, however, was heavier than he'd imagined. It happily pressed down on the wiper arm, clearly even more intrigued by its sudden movement.
"Muggle-Repelling Charm, Professor?" Cedric suggested. "Since Muggles say we're all related…"
"I'd be very surprised if a Muggle-Repelling Charm worked," Anthony said. But Cedric's comment gave him an idea.
"Duck your head, Mr. Diggory," Anthony said. Cedric, sitting in the middle of the back seat, looked surprised but complied. The next second, the monkey let out a startled shriek, dropped the wiper, and scampered away. Anthony saw in the rear-view mirror that it quickly chose another car. He felt a moment of concern for the other vehicle's wipers.
"Cool, Professor!" a student exclaimed. "What spell was that?"
"My hands are still on the steering wheel," Anthony said. "How could I have possibly cast a spell?"
The student scrutinised him for a moment and had to admit Anthony was right. After all, he'd had no chance to take out his wand. Anthony smiled, continuing to follow the car ahead slowly, privately confident the Ministry couldn't convict him for violating the Statute of Secrecy over a traceless intimidation charm.
As they drove out of the monkeys' territory, the students leaned against the windows, watching the creatures with a sense of loss, but Anthony breathed a genuine sigh of relief. At one junction, he'd even seen a monkey playing with a car's license plate, holding it over its head to block the rain. Some poor sod had clearly left their plate behind.
"Professor Anthony?" Angelina asked, her gaze fixed on a spot outside the once-again open window.
"Yes?"
"Can we go back that way later?" she said. "I think a monkey took the cover off our left wing mirror."
Anthony looked over and raised an eyebrow. While they'd been focused on one little rascal, another had clearly seized the opportunity and succeeded. At this rate of loss, Anthony privately suspected the monkeys would soon be able to assemble a car of their own in their woods.
"Forget it," Anthony said. "It's not that expensive. Let's just hope the lions here aren't thieves too."
…
Luckily, the sky actually began to clear. The clouds seemed to have blown further away, and precious sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, spilling onto the leaf-strewn, muddy ground.
They encountered a large herd of red deer. All the cars had stopped, their occupants rolling down the windows to buy feed for the deer.
"You pay to get into the zoo," Angelina complained as a deer licked food from her hand, "and you pay to feed their animals for them. What's the logic in that?" But when a deer stuck its head into the car and sniffed her hair, she laughed delightedly.
Perhaps because there were six students in the car, the deer realised it was a veritable treasure trove of food, and many poked their heads inside.
One deer met Anthony's gaze through the driver's side window, nudging the glass gently with its nose. Anthony spread his hands to show he had no food, but the deer persisted, turning its head to rub against the window.
Finally, Euan leaned over and fed the deer. Anthony, looking at the deer's head now positioned between him and the steering wheel, couldn't resist reaching out to pat it.
Its fur was stiff, coarse, and damp with rain, as cool as Anthony's own skin. Anthony laughed. The deer shook its head and pressed down on the steering wheel's horn.
A loud car horn suddenly blared through the quiet, peaceful woods. The deer lifted their heads from various car windows, looking around warily.
"Er, sorry," Anthony said, firmly pushing the deer, which was still contentedly licking Euan's fingers, out of the window.
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