Friday, July 31st turned out to be a perfect day for a trip to the Magical Animal Park. It opened at 8am, so, to avoid the opening crowds, they decided to arrive at 9am. As such, Luna, Vince, and Greg had arrived by 8:45. Bella Apparated to the Granger household and returned with Hermione a few minutes later.
They had all arrived with gifts, which embarrassed Harry to no end. He felt it was more than he deserved just to have a celebration. Bella and Narcissa shrunk down all of the gifts and put them in their purses. As soon as they were ready to go, they clamored into the fireplace, one after the other, destined for Britain's Magical Animal Park.
The public floo bank at the Animal Park let out directly in front of the entrance. Once they all made it through, they followed Bella up to the front gate.
"Mum? Don't we need tickets?"
"Yes, dear, but I've already purchased them. Come along, you lot. It's going to be a busy day." Their first stop was the café near the entrance for a quick breakfast. As they ate, Bella answered all of Hermione's many questions regarding the park: no, muggles couldn't come here; yes, it has anti-apparition wards; yes, the animals are magically kept in their enclosures; no, there were no fences; and so on.
As breakfast wound down, they looked over the park map to decide what animals to go see. Hermione wanted to visit the equine portion of the park, Vince and Violet wanted to see the magical reptile house, Luna desperately wanted to visit the fairy and fairy-like creatures, Draco was interested in the domesticable animals, Greg didn't have a preference, and Harry and Alexander's main interest was the dragon enclosure.
They planned their route for the day in the most efficient way possible, making sure to include easy access to eateries for lunch and dinner. They started at the back of the park first and worked their way forward, meaning the dragons were first. The enclosures all had many layers of wards, including flame barriers, visitor barriers, and heat retardants, among others. The enclosures were magically expanded to span several square miles each. There was a gate at each enclosure that signified the beginning to the magically expanded area. Once you entered the gate, you were able to see the full enclosure. Binoculars were available to be able to see to the farthest corner of the enclosure. The mated dragons were allowed their own enclosures, as they tended to get territorial, while the "single" dragons were separated by breed. Harry was especially interested in a particularly vicious looking breed, the Hungarian Horntail.
When their "dragon-viewing" time was up, they continued on to the magical reptile house. Hermione didn't quite agree with the name, as the exhibit housed more than just reptiles. There were firecrabs, flobberworms, salamanders, spiders, magical insects, and many other odd creatures. There were, of course, the requisite snakes, tortoises, frogs and toads, etc. Harry, Tom, and Violet especially enjoyed the experience.
"Dad, look at this one! It's really cute." Tom walked over to where Harry was staring at a small black snake with green stripes. Tom, who had always had an affinity for snakes, smiled indulgently. To Harry's surprise, the small snake uncoiled itself and sat up. Not knowing what else to do, Harry spoke to it.
"Hello, there. You're a lovely snake." He heard gasps behind him that almost drowned out the snake's reply.
"Thanksssss!"
Harry shot back up, surprised. "That snake just spoke to me!"
Tom hugged his son in glee. "Oh course he did, Harry. It seems you've inherited my gift as well. You're a Parselmouth!"
"A what?"
Bella answered this time. "A Parselmouth, dear. It means you can speak to snakes. Your sister is one too." Violet came over to look at the snake her father and brother were talking to.
"Wow!" Harry turned back to the snake. "What is your name?"
"I am Selwyn."
"It's good to meet you Selwyn. I'm Harry Riddle. This is my father, Tom Riddle. And my sister Violet Riddle."
"It is an honor to meet three tongue speakers. I have never met one before."
Harry looked to Tom. "Are Parselmouths rare?"
"Yes, son, very rare. We have our gift because of our relation to Salazar Slytherin."
"Cool."
"Harry, Violet, Mr. Riddle, you're all descended from Salazar Slytherin?"
"Indeed we are, Hermione."
"Wow, that's amazing. But...everything I've read indicates that Parselmouths are evil. You three aren't evil." Draco and Vince gasped at that statement and Alexander looked a little guilty, but Tom merely laughed.
"The books indicated that speaking Parseltongue is the sign of a dark wizard because of Dumbledore's campaign against myself and my followers. He was willing to use any methods to turn the wizarding world against me, and so, used his influence to spread such slander. Older witches and wizards still know the truth, though." Hearing the implied close to the topic, Hermione nodded.
"Father, I don't suppose we could buy Selwyn from the park, could we?"
"I don't think so, Harry, but I'll see what I can do. It was a delight to meet you, Selwyn, however, I'm afraid that we must be on our way."
Selwyn hung his head slightly. "Of course, I understand. Enjoy your day."
"Until later, Selwyn." The snake nodded somewhat woefully at Harry then curled back up.
The group's next stop was the equine portion of the park. There were unicorns, hippogriffs, winged Abraxans, thestrals, and many other creatures that had horse-like qualities. Hermione was particularly interested in the unicorns and thestrals. Among the party, only she, Vince, Greg, Bella, and Violet were unable to see the thestrals. Harry, of course, had been present when the Potters were killed all those years ago; Tom was the one who had killed them; the Malfoys had been present when Lucius' mother had passed away two years previously; Luna had seen her mother's passing, and Alexander had been there when his grandmother died. Those who could see the thestrals attempted to explain their appearance to those who couldn't.
By this time, they were all getting very hungry, so they visited the café near the thestral exhibit. They all ordered different things, and, when they were done eating, urged Harry to open his gifts. It was Luna who finally succeeded in convincing him.
"Do open your gifts, Harry. I didn't get to see your reaction to your Christmas gift, so it's the least you can do." With a smile, Harry tore into his gifts: books, clothes, games, more books, a set of trick potions from Alexander, and finally, his favorite, a necklace from Luna. It was just a chain, but each link was a small snake coiled into an "S".
"Luna, how did you know?"
"Your parents had a hunch. I figured if they happened to be wrong, it was still an excellent representation of Slytherin house."
"Well thanks, to everyone. This is the best birthday ever!" Everyone shared a chuckle, then Bella shrunk all of the gifts (except the necklace, which Harry put on) and placed them in her purse. Their next stop was the woodland area. They saw bowtruckles, doxies, pixies, fairies, sprites, imps, and more. Luna happily declared she could stay there all day long. Violet seemed equally impressed. Harry delighted in Luna's happiness, as was Alexander in Violet's, much to the amusement of his parents.
Their final stop before the shopping area was the domesticable animals. This included kneazles, cat-kneazle hybrids, magical cats and mice, nifflers, owls, puffskeins, etc. Some of the animals were in a petting enclosure. They all especially enjoyed that.
Finally, the adults allowed them free reign at the gift shops. Tom and Bella gave Harry an extra ten Galleons to buy himself a final gift. Harry wound his way through the shops, finally settling on a set of miniature dragons. They were working models, so they were practically live, you just didn't need to feed them. There were five in all: the Hungarian Horntail, the Peruvian Vipertooth, the Norwegian Ridgeback, the Hibridean Black, and the Welsh Green.
Hermione, predictably, bought a book; Vince, Greg, and Draco pooled their money to buy some kind of board game, and Luna bough working models of different fairy-like creatures. Alexander bought a book on magical creature care. Violet got herself a coloring set where she could color the different creatures they saw that day. Finally, it was time to return home. Harry was disappointed that they were unable to purchase Selwyn. He felt sorry for the snake. It seemed lonely.
"I suggested that they find Selwyn a mate, Harry, and the owner has agreed to try to do so." Harry perked up at that information. As they arrived at the exit, Harry and his friends all said good-bye to each other. Luna, Vince, and Greg were taking the public floos directly back home; Bella was Apparating Hermione back to the Grangers. One by one they all left. Tom was the last to go, following Harry through the floo to Malfoy Manor.