41 A short Trip

Saturday, 22nd June 1991

It's been a few days since Matthew returned to London with the Hogwarts Express, his parents were happy to see him. The last few days he didn't do much besides training and testing if his trace was completely gone. After all, he still had a warning free to use at the ministry, he didn't care if they noted that down in his files. Since the Ministry would be of no consequence for him at some point in the future. So he first tried a simple Levitation Spell with his wand, for a few minutes nothing happened afterward he tested a few larger spells out in his room. His trace was really completely gone there were luckily no extra tracking devices placed in the Homes of Muggleborn students. They probably didn't believe someone could remove the Trace, especially a Muggleborn. Which would be actually hard since Matthew only managed it at this point in time with the help of his new Runic Language.

Today was an important day for Matthew, it's the day when the Harry Potter Canon truly starts. According to his knowledge of the Books had Dudley's birthday, and the Dursleys would take Harry with them into the Zoo. The Zoo they are visiting is the London Zoo, the world's oldest scientific Zoo, and the only one with a reptile house in the vicinity of London and Surrey.

The Zoo not only had the Zoo a non-Magical part, at some point after its opening in 18218 the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the British Ministry of Magic sanctioned the establishment of a Magizoology wing to be hidden in plain sight at the zoo, in accordance with Clause 72 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy. A Magizoology wing open for magical to visit, although he wasn't really interested in magical creatures, it was worth a visit.

But the main reason for his Zoo trip was obviously Harry, it was the first chance for him to leave a positive impression on him. He had no interest in being a part of the Golden Trio or bringing himself so recklessly into Danger like they so often did. But giving Harry a few times a helping hand or tip, and just being friendly to him would bring him the Assistance and Friendship of the Boy-who-Lived and the Potter Family, and later also the Black Family through Sirius Black.

Matthew arrived early in the morning in the northern part of the Regent's Park, where the London Zoo was located. He spent his morning exploring the magizoological wing of the Zoo since he only knew where Harry and the Dursleys would appear after Lunch.

The entrance to the magical part of the Zoo was hidden behind a wall, like the entrance to Plattform nine three-quarters he had to walk through into that wall and he would come out in an older-looking part of the Zoo. It was a least 80 Years out of fashion, with old lampposts and steel cages for the magical creatures.

He was able to see many different magical creatures here, but at most mid-sized ones and below XXXXX Classification, since large ones like Dragons or very Dangerous ones like Nundu's or Chimera's were too risky to keep in the middle of London. If an accident would happen, it was impossible to cover up with that many possible Deaths.

But there were still many interesting Creatures to visit he already knew Hippogriffs and Unicorns from Hogwarts. They had some Abraxan and Pegasi there. And smaller Creatures like Nifflers, Pixies, Murtlaps, and more. The interesting ones were a Runespoor a large three-headed snake, Matthew was pretty sure that it was arguing between its heads, and a Zouwu an elephant-sized five-colored cat that originates from China, it was a large feline-like beast with a striped body, scraggly mane, four fangs that curled out of its mouth, long sharp claws, and a disproportionately long, ruffled multicolored tail. Zouwus were incredibly powerful and fast, capable of traveling 1,000 miles in a day.

Unfortunately, all the magical creatures were behind the steel cages imprisoned by ward schemes, so he couldn't gather any materials or DNA probes from them. He could only scan them with the help of Sarah and collect some basic Data on them which he added to his Database.

As Lunch approached, he left the magical part of the Zoo and returned to the public part. After a quick lunch from one of the food stalls, he entered the reptile house, where soon Harry and the three Dursely's with Dudley's friend Piers, should arrive. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.

Matthew had to wait a while before a group of People entered the reptile house, first was a pair of adults a big, beefy man with a large purple face. He had thick, dark hair, a bushy black mustache, with hardly any neck and mean little eyes this was obviously Vernon Dursley. Together with him walked a thin, blonde-haired woman with nearly twice the usual amount of neck and large pale eyes. His wife Petunia Dursley.

Before they ran two boys one being scrawny with a face like a rat, this was Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss who always follows his lead. The other boy was very fat, he looked a bit like a pig in a wig, he had watery blue eyes and thick blond hair. This was obviously Dudley who loudly exclaimed that he wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. The pig boy instantly found the largest snake in the place and hurried to its window where he pressed his fat nose against it.

Behind the group trailed a small and skinny boy, he wore oversized clothes which made him look even smaller and skinnier than he really was. The boy had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and the brightest green eyes Matthew ever saw. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape. On his forehead, he could see a thin Scar in the shape of a lightning bolt or like one particular rune Symbol, the Sowilo. Sowilo stands for Sun and represents victory and protection. This was obviously the Boy-who-Lived Harry Potter.

It was obvious that he did keep his distance so the Dursleys would forget that he was even there and he could enjoy a Day in the Zoo without troubles. Even Matthew was angered by the unnecessary underfed state of Harry while the fat boy had too much. Harry watched the Durselys as Dudley complained that the Boa Constrictor wasn't moving and Vernon multiple times hit against the Glass.

As Dudley shuffled away with a "This is boring." Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. And it winked at him.

'Sarah begin recording and scanning everything that happens between Harry and the Boa Constrictor. Create a new file with the title 'Parseltongue' ' Ordered Matthew mentally who stood a few Windows away, but still in hearing range of Harry and the Snake. He had a good view of both of them.

As Harry looked around if someone was watching he pretended to watch the reptile in his Window. Harry began to communicate with the Snake in hissing sounds, Parseltongue. Matthew recorded the whole event, since he knew the exact text from the Books he should be able to create a translator with enough data.

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