"Why?" he asks Scott.

"I can guess by looking. Different animals are different, I should make sure. Or maybe there's a spell to tell. I can't actually ask."

"It's a magical rat! Richard told me when I asked."

Hoot!

"Does he talk to you? If wizards can talk to animals that's just unfair."

"You're a wizard, Scott."

"Still unfair."

He attempts to talk to his rat as they make their way to the the bookstore.

"Well mine hoots like he understands me," he shrugs.

They arrive at the bookstore shortly.

Flourish and Blotts has tables piled high and shelves filled to the brim with books, bound in leather, hide, and...silk?

Some are larger than Sadde's head, while other's look about the size of Scott's rat.

Presumably, of course, they're here for their textbooks.

Well, sure, amongst other things. Like books that aren't textbooks but are still books by magical people!

Scott is mostly interested in his textbooks and animals. Are there any books about animals?

Men Who Love Dragons Too Much and Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests quickly find their way into his hands. 

"This is so cool," he enthuses. 

Sadde wrinkles his nose a bit at this. "I think I prefer the waving wands around type of magic."

"Have you ever met a dragon? I've never met a wand, but I think they're less fun to be around."

"Have you met a dragon?"

"No! I'm going to meet both! We're wizards now."

"Yeah. You haven't bought your wand yet?"

"Mom thought if I got it first I would play with it too much. I wouldn't. I'd want to, but I wouldn't."

"Well I know I would, but the Deputy Headmaster said not to until we got to Hogwarts. And besides, it's bound to be cool, so I wanted to leave it for last."

"Yeah. What else do you have left, or is it wand time?" 

"After books was Potions ingredients and cauldron and last was wand."

"I should still get parchment, we can meet at the wand shop." 

"Okay! See you in a bit!"

And in a bit, Scott and his mother are waiting to be shown wands.