Bringing the new owl home, Cohen was happy to see that Earl hadn't returned yet – and indeed, it wouldn't be that quick. He had at least a round trip to make between the Scottish Highlands and Surrey, where Privet Drive was located.
Rose and Martha had no objections to Cohen getting another owl, and Martha seemed quite surprised and happy when she learned it was intended as a "wife" for Earl.
"When the little owlets are born, can Grandma raise a few?" Martha said happily. "Your grandpa used to love reading books about magical creatures..."
Cohen agreed, not wanting to comment on whether Grandpa read those books because he "loved magical creatures" or simply to find out the origin of the mysterious monster in the basement.
At dinner, Dobby served several plates of various roasted fish covered in gravy, all made under Martha's "guidance" – of course, Dobby could roast fish himself, this was just to give Martha a sense of participation, lest she personally turn the roasted fish into "charred fishbone skewers."
"Watch out for bones," Rose reminded Cohen while eating fish.
After devouring an entire conger eel, Cohen patted his stomach contentedly.
The remaining few haddock were thrown to the three cats in the house. Mr. Fluffy very gentlemanly let the two kittens eat first. Cohen was certain that if it were Earl, he would have chosen to eat his fill first.
Back in his room, Cohen covered "Mrs. Earl's" cage with a bright red square of cloth – it looked just like an Eastern bride waiting to be married.
Before long, Earl flew in hurriedly through the window,
"Presents, presents! Where are the presents!"
He looked around Cohen's room, spotting the abrupt, red-cloth-covered object that looked like a new birdcage.
Birdcage... mysterious big gift... Christmas...
If someone else had prepared this, Earl would have undoubtedly assumed it was a female owl.
But if it was Cohen who prepared it...
"You didn't just buy me a new cage, did you?" Earl cautiously lowered his expectations.
"Do you really think I'm that evil?" Cohen said with great distress. "I wouldn't buy you a cage – you don't even stay in your cage once a year."
"Then it's..." Earl said, his eyes lighting up.
"Ta-da!" Cohen whipped off the cloth. "The wife I prepared for you!"
The colorful owl called out when it saw Earl.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Cohen asked the stunned Earl.
"..." Earl was silent.
Something seemed off...
Cohen narrowed his eyes—
"This is my friend's chick," Earl said dryly.
"You're so old, a little mess-up is fine," Cohen comforted him.
"I hatched it," Earl added unwillingly.
Cohen, carrying a large stack of gifts for the "relatives" in the chest, prepared to climb in.
"Go for it, I've already paid, wishing you an early victory over your bottom line—"
Earl let out a series of frustrated, sorrowful, sad, miserable, and indescribable screams.
But Cohen couldn't hear it anymore because he had already climbed into the chest with the gifts and closed the other half.
"Gather 'round, gather 'round!" Cohen gathered all the "parents" and some other magical creatures together.
Although it was winter, the three Basilisks were not hibernating. On the contrary, Norbert, who needed hibernation the least, was snoring soundly in his den.
"I have something to say—"
[I told you he would prepare Christmas presents for us,] Thessalhydra said smugly, [Good little hatchling—]
"Lie down," Cohen said irritably. "Do you have to say such a short word with such a weird, long drawl every time? (Son)"
[Daddy!] the baby Basilisk said happily.
[Can we get them privately?] the old Basilisk shrank behind Thessalhydra and the baby Basilisk, secretly saying to Cohen.
"I smell the scent of book pages," the Billywig said.
[I don't smell vodka,] Allie said disappointedly.
"Roar!!!" The lion roared excitedly because it saw a round package.
The unicorns gathered to the side, whispering to each other, they didn't know what Christmas presents were—
"I prepared Christmas presents for all of you, you even asked last time," Cohen said. "One by one..."
"Thessalhydra, yours." Cohen tossed the soft package to Thessalhydra, who caught it with his tail.
"And Sophia's..." Cohen tossed the insulated box containing a large piece of cumin-roasted meat to the baby Basilisk.
But the baby Basilisk swallowed it in one gulp.
[Hey hey hey—you're not supposed to eat that in one bite—]
Thessalhydra didn't have time to unwrap his own gift. He dropped it and immediately grabbed the baby Basilisk's tail, shaking it upside down vigorously.
[Why do you swallow everything? Spit it out quickly! Spit—it—out—]
Every time Thessalhydra hissed, the baby Basilisk was shaken violently.
It wasn't until the box containing the roasted meat was spat out with great difficulty by the dizzy baby Basilisk that Thessalhydra breathed a sigh of relief and began to teach it step by step how to unwrap the package with its tail and teeth.
"Then it's the old Basilisk's—"
[Just give it to me...] the old Basilisk hurriedly interrupted Cohen's explosive statement, quickly snatching the strangely shaped package from Cohen's hand and hiding it guiltily under his tail.
"Then it's the lion's yarn ball..."
The ball-shaped package was bitten by the impatient lion. It didn't even unwrap it before using its two front paws to roll the ball around on the ground.
Felines couldn't resist this kind of thing.
"And the Billywig's *The Republic*... Do you need a reading stand or anything?" Cohen asked.
"No need to trouble yourself... no need to trouble yourself..."
The Billywig said politely. The book suddenly floated up from Cohen's hand, slowly drifted in front of the Billywig's head, and then leaned against the back of the lion's head.
"The Runespoor's rabbits... I brought a litter, they can be raised here later." Cohen helped unpack a large cage filled with a bunch of small white or gray rabbits.
Norbert wouldn't eat something so small, the only possible threat to the rabbits' reproduction was the baby Basilisk.
As soon as these rabbits left the cage, they were scared unconscious by the circle of ferocious monsters around them.
"No big deal... they should wake up..." Cohen forgot about this – he had no choice but to use the Levitation Charm to move all the rabbits next to the sheep pen, where it might be relatively safer (for the rabbits).
"Then it's the unicorns and Allie." Cohen unwrapped a package of tree seeds – originally, planting trees required saplings, but with the unicorns' magic, even seeds would quickly grow into fruit trees.
"Some fruit trees, they can be planted in the open space to the north, oranges, peaches, and stuff..." Cohen said. "I also brought Allie's drink."
"Vodka!" Allie questioned.
"Go drink your juice. You can have vodka when your blood alcohol content is below 20%," Cohen said seriously. "Your blood is almost half the alcohol concentration of vodka! If you weren't an abnormal animal, you would have kicked the bucket already—"