"Well, since it has nothing to do with me…" Harry said as he handed her back the basket. "I'll let you give it to - Dobby!"
Dobby's eyes slowly grew and his mouth threatened to hit the floor as Hermione explained what she had gotten him. The excitement was quickly checked though with a furtive glance Harry's way and he started to deflate again, so he decided to put his mind at rest.
"Now Dobby, this has nothing to do with me," he said, echoing Hermione's words from earlier. "This is up to you, so if you want it you can have it."
Dobby's reaction was immediate; he raced to hug Hermione's leg so fast he almost caused her to fall over. A few of the animals became disturbed by the sudden noise and movement that Harry thought the shopkeeper might throw them out. He didn't, but he did start watching them in any case.
Even when Dobby had left and the animals quieted down again Hermione still looked frazzled; her hair looking like she'd just been put through a tiny tornado. Who would've thought such a small being could be one giant explosion of emotions ready to go off? They both would have to be careful about giving any house-elf a present in the future if this was anything to go on.
After a moment, Hermione seemed to pull herself back together; her eyes flickered back and forth between him and the terrarium.
"Harry, I was curious about what happened in here yesterday," she said seriously before lowering her voice. "About you and the snake."
"What about it?" he asked, glancing over to the leafy enclosure again. The python had hidden itself again. "Where did you go?"
"Let'ssss gooo…" Hermione said quickly, making an elongated hissing sound like air escaping from a tire as she pulled him towards the door and gave the shopkeeper a bit of a panicked look. It wasn't until they were outside again that he was able to ask her about it.
"What's wrong?" he asked confused.
"The shopkeeper was watching us, Harry," she said with her voice pitched low so as not to be heard over the now-increasing traffic in the alley.
"So?" he asked, lowering his voice to match hers as she purposefully led them to another shop.
"So? What did you say to the snake?" she asked, as if that had anything to do with it.
"I asked him where he went," he said. "You heard me."
"No, Harry, I didn't. That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Hermione explained. "Follow me," she said, darting off to Flourish and Blotts. Wondering what he could have possibly stepped in this time, Harry followed along behind her.
The bookstore was almost deserted, though a sign saying no refunds would be given on any of Lockhart's books might've been the cause for that, or the presence of Lockhart himself. The shopkeeper was shooting glowering looks at the man as if he was the jailer tasked to make sure his troublesome charge didn't escape.
There was a woman there too, dressed all in green with rhinestone studded glasses, her blonde hair in elaborate curls; Harry wondered if she was Lockhart's wife. Whoever it was, their would-be professor didn't seem happy to see her. He had a frustrated look on his face like he wanted to disappear on the spot.
If she was his wife, she probably wasn't happy about the bad press he'd gotten. Harry decided that it'd be best to avoid them and slipped back through the shelves to search for Hermione. He found her nestled in the back corner of the store, her nose predictably stuck in a book.
'When there's trouble, go to the library, ' Harry thought, both frustrated and amused at his girlfriend's actions. 'And if you don't have one, use the bookstore. '
"Hermione, could you please just tell me what's going on?" he asked. "What are you reading?"
"It's Hogwarts, a History, " she said, glancing up at him. "I know Bagshot wrote it - so it's shoddy at best - but it's the only place I knew where to look," Hermione explained. "Look there," she said, passing him the book.
It was turned to a page very near the front, one corner of which was given over to a picture of an old, gaunt, monkey-faced wizard with a long thin beard and labeled Salazar Slytherin.
"Hermione, why am I looking at this?" he asked, growing increasingly agitated at the number of times Slytherin House was being mentioned around him.
"It's right here, Harry," she said, pointing to one particular passage as Hermione tried to angle herself so she could look in every direction at once. "One reason Salazar Slytherin is so famous is because he's a Parselmouth," she explained, almost reciting the passage verbatim. "He could speak to snakes. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."
"So why should I care if that old bigot could do it?" he asked defensively. "There must be loads of people who can."