Tag: fantasy

Hello and welcome to the third installment of my fan fiction series. You can find the first episode here. And the second here. This afternoon Hedwig discovers the secrets of the third floor corridor.

Hedwig and the Owlery

“I won’t write home to your mother for beating me at chess. I want you to respect women.”

“I’m trying,” said Francis. “We all know what happens if I don’t.”

“That’s missing the point,” replied Hedwig.

Their conversation was interrupted by a tawny owl. “There’s a problem,” she squeaked. “Harry left the common room. I think he’s going after Quirrel.”

Hedwig flew swiftly toward the castle, afraid for him. It was clear Harry planned to defeat Quirrel before he reached the Philosopher’s Stone. The poor dim boy still thought the culprit was Snape, but that didn’t matter. The hallways were dark and she knew he was likely underneath his cloak. Which room had Dumbledore told them to stay away from? His speech had echoed to the owlery that night….

She rushed down the third floor corridor. The door hung open and she darted inside it. Her eyes did not register what was a gigantic three-headed dog at first. It soon woke, and she sang a hasty melody that put it to sleep.

There was total darkness beneath the door, but her eyes easily saw the next obstacle without light. Hedwig carefully maneuvered to avoid the Devil’s Snare. Its vines caught her claw, but she didn’t struggle. Instead, she chewed her way through its creepers and tendrils methodically.

The next room made Hedwig laugh: winged keys flew everywhere. Her eyes spotted the difference among them. It was an easy affair being airborne. She quickly dived from above, snatched the silver key in her beak, and jammed it into the door. It opened and she was almost afraid.

A large troll lay sleeping on the floor. It easily could have crushed her had it not been unconscious. She squawked with fear as it stirred slightly. Her challenges could only become greater.

The second to last room held a massive chess board, transfigured to play. Whether it was because the chess pieces had suffered severe trauma, or Hedwig had superior logic, the game took little more than ten minutes to complete. Her time spent playing with Francis had been well spent. He could never know, of course….

Hedwig flew over the potions and fire with ease. By the time she arrived in the final room, Harry had defeated Quirrel. His corpse had been abandoned by Lord Voldemort and there was nothing she could do for him, but Harry clung to life. Hedwig wrapped her wings around him and hoped for a miracle. Albus Dumbledore soon came, but Hedwig’s happiness was short lived.

“The boy almost died!” Hedwig told the headmaster, who spoke fluent owlish. “What were you and the other teachers thinking?”

“We wanted him to prove himself. Don’t tell me you’ve grown to care for the boy?”

“Whether or not I care is irrelevant. You almost let a living creature die because you failed to properly observe your students. Harry Potter is my pet, and you will treat him with care.”

***

You can find the next episode here.

Welcome to the second installment of my fan fiction series, Hedwig and the Owlery. You can find the first episode here. Today Hedwig discovers a new home in the Hogwarts’ owlery.

Hedwig and the Owlery

Her time in Surrey proved uneventful. Hedwig wiled away the hours at Privet Drive much as she had at Eyelop’s Owl Emporium. The only difference was the lack of company. She would be grateful to meet the other owls at Hogwarts.

Platform 9 3/4 was terrifying, and the train ride was no better. Hedwig would have liked to fly as any normal owl would. The bumps and groans of the mechanical monster stirred her from sleep. Despite all of it, however she was glad to see the castle. It was a beautiful distraction from what had been a most distressing journey. The turrets stretched up and up until she could no longer see them. Perhaps it was a better home than the nest after all, she thought.

The Hogwarts’ owlery was a dirty but interesting location. During the evening Hedwig and other owls shared various potions they had nicked from their owners. The bottles, often having little effect on humans, were surprisingly potent for birds. Hedwig occasionally imbibed a drink or two before playing stolen gobstones or wizard chess with her claws. It irritated her greatly when the other owls cheated or demeaned her.

“Why play without rules?” Hedwig asked a doughy owl named Francis.

“Why play at all if you bother with rules?” He quipped to general applause. “How about a peck on the beak, sweetie?” She wished the others had not encouraged him..

Hedwig left the owlery. She preferred to fly around the grounds and explore. It was a particularly balmy autumn night, when she saw Hagrid emerge from the Hog’s Head with a suspicious looking package. Hedwig chose to ignore the problem as another distracted her.

Blood glittered in the moonlight but it was far from human judging by its color. Silver reflected from its streams and puddles. “Unicorns are bleeding,” she thought. Hedwig had only heard rumors but felt frightened. Something accursed had reduced itself to hunting unicorns and would therefore live a half-existence….

She continued to investigate, asking centaurs and other creatures in the forest. Firenze appeared to think the culprit was Lord Voldemort. Bane and the other centaurs weren’t so sure. They often saw many possibilities within the stars.

The trail went cold over the next few weeks. Hedwig took up playing wizard chess with Francis once more. His manners had improved considerably since the beginning of the school year. It may have been Hedwig hitting his face, or after one particularly vulgar display, writing home to his mother. It turned out owls could receive howlers as well. Her voice boomed across the owlery: RESPECT WOMEN OR I’LL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE THEM BEHIND THE QUIDDITCH PITCH!

“It looks like a check mate,” Hedwig told him near the end of a game.

“Please don’t write my mother.” Francis looked worried.

***

Find the next episode here.

I wrote my first fan fiction for NaNoWriMo this year. Unfortunately, I only ended up with 5,500 words. The good news is I plan to post it on my blog in serials over the next month. So, enjoy my Harry Potter fan fic about Hedwig the Owl.

Hedwig and the Owlery

Hedwig was a beautiful snowy owl and she damn well knew it. Her mother had said it since the day she was hatched. “You’ll go far in this world,” she hooed between preening and regurgitating worms.

Clearly, she had her pick of the best suitors in England. Male owls flew in from as far as Australia to vie for her claw in marriage. Fate however had very different plans.

Owl poachers caught her basking in the glow of admiration one tepid spring morning. The male owls fawning over her ample plumage fled at the first sight of danger. They were first and foremost aristocrats and not prepared to die.

“Leave me!” Hedwig yelled in Owlish as two men shoved her into a cage. They did not understand her pleading and proceeded transporting her to the nearest owlery.

The wall into Diagon Alley had initially filled the young owl with hope. “They’ll never get through the bricks. They’re obviously mental.” It soon became clear as the door appeared her optimism was short lived.

“Magic!” she scoffed as they walked past shops buzzing with cauldrons and the latest broomsticks. “Enough to make an owl sick!”

Eyelops Owl Emporium soon came into view. Hedwig saw the other owls imprisoned in their cages and already longed for freedom. The wizards talked of Azkaban as if it was terrible, but they had no idea what true misery was like. Had an owl ever broke free? Or would she rot behind the iron bars until she perished?

It was several months before young witches and wizards came to buy new owls. Hedwig bided her time, played harmonica, and made trades for owl cigarettes. Owl cigarettes were little more than mice wrapped in paper but they were a fattening vice nonetheless.

She noticed the rat-haired scamp the first time she saw him. He had a lightning scar on his forehead but she wasn’t about to be taken in by all the hype. The boy who lived, indeed: by complete accident… No one really knew the details, but she guessed Voldemort got antsy and bumbled his killing curse at the last moment. Wizards had no grace or subtlety.

Hagrid had already chosen her before she got a good look at Harry. “He would have made a good pet for me,” she thought of the half-giant. Harry however was slight and did not look like much in a fight. Hedwig would be forced to do a good deal of the dueling. She was a rich girl, but knew how to fight dirty. Some of her suitors did not like taking no for an answer back at the nest. One particularly insistent owl named Joffrey insisted he was the Prime Minister of all owls in Britain and demanded a kiss by decree.

***

Find the next episode here.