Chapter 107 Special Fried Peanuts

"I can't believe it," Harry said hoarsely.

At Ron's urging, he tore open the long, large parcel, and he was breathless in surprise as soon as a beautiful, shiny broomstick rolled onto his bed.

Ron dropped the socks in his hand, jumped off the bed and took a closer look.

It was a Firebolt, exactly like the one Harry had seen every day in Diagon Alley and dreamed of.

Harry picked it up and it glistened.

He could feel it trembling slightly, so he let go of it—it was suspended in mid-air without any support, and the height from the ground was just right for him to ride on.

His eyes went from the golden serial number on the top of the broomstick to the perfectly smooth, streamlined tip of the broomstick.

"Who gave it to you?" Ron asked quietly.

"See if there's a card or something..." Harry asked Ron to tear off the Firebolt's wrapping paper.

"Nothing! Come on, who paid you so much money?"

"Well," Harry said with surprise on his face, "I bet it's not the Dursleys."

"I bet it's Dumbledore." Ron walked around the magnificent Firebolt, looking carefully from beginning to end. "Didn't he send you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously?"

"It's my father's, though," said Harry. "Dumbledore just gave it to me...he wouldn't spend so much money on me, he couldn't give students such expensive things."

"That's why he didn't say it was from him!" said Ron, "otherwise a guy like Malfoy would say he was biased. Hey, Harry—"

Ron burst out laughing, "Malfoy! He'll be sick when he sees you on this broom! It's a world-class broom, really!"

"I can't believe it," Harry muttered, stroking the broom with one hand, "who the hell..."

At this moment, Ron was lying on Harry's bed, breathless with laughter at the thought of what Malfoy would look like.

"Oh, that's right! There's still a package." Harry came back to his senses, bent down and picked up the inconspicuous little package.

"Uh... owl food?" Harry seemed more surprised than when he saw the Firebolt just now, "And it's a gift from Maca, why?"

"Oh, speaking of it, I seem to have a small package there too..."

Ron got up from Harry's bed and walked to his own.

Following the sound of tearing the wrapping paper, Ron gasped in surprise.

"Is Maca planning to have a pet food tasting party this year?" He wondered, "One bottle per person, Maca seems to be getting more and more stingy..."

"Oh—and there's a little card, let me see—" Ron said suddenly, "Well... this is Maca made by myself. It is said that it has very high nutritional value, and it can make my Scabbers healthier?"

Ron took Scabbers out of his pocket.

Harry was surprised and displeased to find that Scabbers, who had been so fat before, was now so thin that he was just skin and bones - and Scabbers' hair seemed to be falling off in patches too.

"It seems that Maca always knows exactly what I need." Ron felt a little moved. "No one noticed that Banban is not in good shape recently, but he has noticed."

He poured a few grains of reddish-brown rat food out of the small palm-sized bottle that Maca gave him, and put it in front of Scabbers.

Banban leaned forward and smelled it, looking a bit hesitant.

"Eat it quickly, my friend specially made it for you, it's rich in nutrition!" Ron pushed it closer to its mouth, and urged, "It should make you gain weight."

Scabbers shrank his head, realizing that Ron would not let him go unless he ate it, so he stretched his neck and ate a few.

With a gnawing sound,

Ban Ban found that she couldn't stop—what on earth is this thing made of? too delicious!

The kind is fragrant and crispy, and it seems to have a faint smell of barbecue, which is like...

"It's like..." Harry picked up one and sniffed it, then threw it into his mouth and chewed. "Fried peanuts! My dad ordered delivery from a Chinese restaurant, and that's the smell!"

"Hey! Don't compete with Banban for food!" Ron was a little dumbfounded.

"...but, I said, this is too delicious...why?" Harry widened his eyes and said, "I think I still want to eat, give me some more!"

"Don't you have it there too! Take it from your Hedwig—" Ron said angrily.

"What are you two talking about?"

Hermione came in through the door, still in her pajamas, with Crookshanks. Crookshanks looked grumpy and had a wire around his neck.

"Don't bring it here!" said Ron, hastily stuffing Scabbers back into his pocket. But Hermione didn't listen to him. She put Crookshanks on Seamus's empty bed and stared at the Firebolt with her mouth open.

"Oh, Harry! Who gave you this?"

"Don't know," said Harry, "this gift didn't come with a card or anything."

To Harry's great surprise, she was neither excited nor curious to hear that. Instead, her face was elongated and she bit her lip.

"What's the matter with you?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's kind of weird, isn't it? I mean, it's supposed to be a pretty nice broom, isn't it?"

"It's the best broomstick ever, Hermione," said Ron.

"Then it must be expensive..."

"Probably more than all the broomsticks in Slytherin put together!" said Ron happily.

"Hmm... who would give Harry something so expensive without telling him who it was?" Hermione asked.

"Who cares?" said Ron impatiently. "Listen, Harry, can I go for a ride? Will you?"

"I don't think anyone can ride it right now!" squealed Hermione.

Harry and Ron looked at her in surprise.

"What do you think Harry's going to do with it - sweep the floor?" said Ron.

But before Hermione could answer, Crookshanks jumped off Seamus' bed and headed straight for Ron's chest.

"Kick-it-out-from-here!" Ron yelled immediately, covering his pockets.

But before he could cover it, Crookshanks' claws had torn Ron's dressing gown, and Banban managed to escape from Ron's shoulder desperately.

Ron grabbed Scabbers by the tail and kicked Crookshanks, but missed. He kicked the box at the foot of Harry's bed, knocking it over.

Ron hopped around on the spot by himself, screaming in pain.

Crookshanks' fur bristled suddenly, and the room was filled with high-pitched, faint screams.

"You might as well take the cat, Hermione," said Ron furiously, sitting on Harry's bed and rubbing his toes.

Hermione pursed her lips, then picked up Crookshanks and slowly walked out of the room. Crookshanks' yellow eyes were still staring fiercely at Ron.

At this time, Banban curled up in Ron's palm.

"It doesn't look very good, does it?" said Harry hesitantly.

"He's just overwrought!" said Ron. "If that big stupid furball doesn't mess with him, he'll be fine!"

But Harry remembered that the woman at Wonder Zoo had said that mice only had three years to live... and he couldn't help feeling that Scabbers might be nearing the end of his life.

Although Ron had been complaining that Scabbers was annoying and useless, Harry was sure that Ron would be very sad if Scabbers died.

"Maca said that rat food can make Scabbers healthier, he must know." Harry couldn't help thinking so.

There must have been a lack of Christmas spirit in the Gryffindor common room that morning.

Hermione locked Crookshanks in the dormitory, but was furious that Ron wanted to kick him; Ron was furious that Crookshanks wanted to eat Scabbers again.

Harry gave up trying to reconcile the two of them and turned his attention to his Firebolt, which he had brought into the common room.

For some reason, this also upset Hermione.

She said nothing, but she kept looking sullenly at the Firebolt, as if it had offended her cat too.

And while Ron and Hermione were sulking, Maca was flying happily in the sky...

"call out!"

Maca passed by at low altitude, and quickly rushed past Ernie and the three, causing them to scream.

"Oh—that's great!" Ernie yelled. "Come on, do it again!"

Beside him, the two little girls applauded so much that their hands turned red, and they also looked very excited.

But Maca circled in mid-air, then landed and stopped in front of them.

"It's not interesting for me to fly alone, why don't you come together?" Maca said.

"But we can't fly well!" Ernie said, "It's better to see you fly more vigorously."

"Then let's rest for a while!" Maca said, falling to the ground. "It's lunch time soon, isn't it? You haven't introduced this new friend to me yet!"

"Ha! This is Hannah's and I's good friend Layla——Layla Shafik, we've known each other since we were kids." Ernie shrugged.

"Hmm," Layla said, grinning, "Ernie told me about you—so many times!"

"I've said it so many times, but don't you still remember the name wrong?" Ernie couldn't help but said.

"Oh—I'm not very good at remembering names—"

"Leave her alone, Maca," Ernie said with a smile, "she's always so rash, don't mind..."

"It's okay, just be careful, don't knock yourself down." Maca also hooked the corners of his mouth, pretending to be smiling.

"Hey, don't laugh, you look awkward when you smile!" Leila said suddenly, "It looks a bit spooky."

"Uh, is it?" Maca touched his face.

It seems that I have to hurry up, and the current state is really not conducive to the progress of the plan.