It could be judged that pets in the Wizarding World should also have normal physiological reactions like aging; compared to similar creatures in the Muggle World, their lifespans might be longer, but not by too much.
The first possibility was ruled out; Lynn deleted the first scenario from her mind.
That left only the second possibility, which could perfectly explain why Scabbers possessed such a long lifespan.
Animagus. This was the second time today the word had come to Lynn's mind.
If a Wizard transformed into a rat, they could indeed live for a dozen years; after all, human lifespans themselves are nearly a century.
Among them, Wizards lived even longer; a dozen years was but a fraction of their life.
Therefore, Lynn's gaze locked onto the slightly bulging pocket on Ron's chest.
There was an eighty percent probability that Scabbers was an Animagus.
However, considering this Animagus had been by Ron and his brother's side for over a dozen years without doing anything...
It was very likely... he was a failed Animagus who had completely become an animal.
It was also possible he simply had some unavoidable reason for not being able to transform back.
Having deduced all conclusions, Lynn shifted her gaze back to the assistant.
Regardless of the situation, Scabbers had not posed a threat to Ron's safety, so Lynn independently determined the situation was not urgent and did not take the initiative to explain.
What her brain was most concerned with now was helping Hermione buy that cat.
Seeing from the corner of her eye that Hermione had started reaching into her pocket for her wallet, Lynn took the lead and stepped in front of the assistant.
"Hello, how much is that cat?"
Lynn pointed back at Crookshanks, who was lying in the cage licking his fur, and asked in an indifferent voice.
"Crookshanks?"
The assistant was slightly stunned, clearly not expecting someone to actually want to buy Crookshanks.
His attitude immediately became more enthusiastic. "Crookshanks has been with us for a long time, but believe me, he will be a very good pet."
"If you want him, little girl, five Galleons—no, how about I sell him to you for three Galleons?"
Considering that Crookshanks had indeed been in the shop for a long time without being sold, the assistant quite readily lowered the price for Lynn.
"Okay."
Lynn nodded without hesitation, pulled the money bag given to her by the world consciousness from her wizard robe, reached in, and pulled out five Galleons.
She handed three to the assistant and then put the remaining two along with the money bag back into her wizard robe.
The transaction between Lynn and the assistant was lightning fast, right up until Lynn turned to pick up Crookshanks' cage.
Only then did the three of them—Hermione, Harry, and Ron—snap out of it. Hermione's face clearly showed a look of relief and joy as she looked at Lynn.
Although she hadn't been able to buy Crookshanks as a pet herself, she was even more heartened that Lynn was actually going to keep a pet!
This was Lynn taking the initiative to do something unrelated to studying; if they weren't in the pet shop, Hermione would have wanted to go up and hug her, rubbing against her cheek.
Harry and Ron also looked at the scene in a bit of a daze. Lynn was taking the initiative to keep a pet?!
Merlin's beard, was this actually real?
Last year, they had struggled just to get Lynn to come out for a snowball fight, and now she was starting to keep a pet on her own?
While feeling happy for his friend in his heart, Ron still felt a bit of lingering fear looking at Crookshanks in the cage.
"Oh... no matter how I look at it, he looks like a little tiger."
"Don't be silly, Ron," Hermione turned to look at him, "Crookshanks is clearly a cat, or maybe... a bit of Kneazle cross?"
"He certainly is." The assistant nodded in confirmation.
"Alright," Ron shrugged, "as long as Lynn likes him herself."
Hearing this, Lynn cast a deadpan look at Hermione, and then, under the gaze of the four people present, she reached out and handed the cage containing Crookshanks to Hermione.
"Hermione wanted him, so I bought him for Hermione."
Her tone and intonation, which never changed like eternal ice, nevertheless caused the three people present, including Hermione, to gasp sharply.
Hermione swallowed, restraining her excitement as she reached out to take the cage.
"Thank you, Lynn..."
She heard herself say these words in a somewhat raspy, low voice.
Harry and Ron also held their breath while watching this scene; the two of them even "sensibly" backed away a few steps.
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