Hermione awoke to the sound of her owl, Twix, tapping loudly on the glass of her window. An indication he was his usual impatient self and most likely hungry too.
She pulled herself out from the bed and walked over to the window and opened it. The tiny brown tawny owl whizzed in with a screech, flapping past Hermione in her silk nightgown, before diving head first into his bowl of owl treats.
Hermione looked out of the window, it had snowed heavily that night and the entire countryside that surrounded her small farmhouse cottage was a brilliant winter wonderland, covered in thick snow.
There was a loud burp noise from behind her and Hermione turned around to see Twix, standing proudly at her feet and holding out his leg. Attached to it was a piece of parchment and scribbled on the edge of the rolled note was: 'Hermione. URGENT!'. She instantly recognised the handwriting as her best friend, Harry Potter's.
She knelt down and gently untied the note from the owl's leg. Once freed, Twix flew straight up and landed perfectly on Hermione's shoulder and watched her unfold the letter. "Its rude to read over someone's shoulder you know." Hermione teased the bird and he hooted before burying his head in her wavy brunette hair.
"Hermione. Need you to come in today. The charm works. New subjects being brought in today. You get first pick! HURRY! Harry."
"Ohh, Harry, noo…." She moaned aloud, "I know the charm works, but I don't want to work with any of the subjects. Oh, Blast!" As she said it Twix leaned over her shoulder to look at the note in her hand quizzically, giving off quiet hoots as he looked at it. "Three days before Christmas and I've got to work. Nice." Twix clicked his beak as she spoke.
"I know Twix, it's not fair is it?" She put the note down and walked over to her wardrobe. The tawny owl clicked his beak in agreement. "Well, as long as I don't get any ex-Deatheaters I should be fine, right?" she said as she searched through her clothes trying to decide what would be the most suitable to wear.
"Oh stop it Hermione! You'll be fine, the charm works as it should so this wont take long whatever." She thought to herself as she pulled out her usual amber dress and tapped it with her wand. In the blink of an eye she was now holding her pale silk nightgown on the hanger and wearing the amber dress.
She glanced at herself in the mirror, while her tawny owl flapped off of her shoulder to get a better look at his reflection and pecked it several times just to make sure it wasn't an intruder. Hermione laughed, "Stop it Twix I need to be quick here." The owl hooted but still watched as his reflection starred back at him.
Hermione walked over to her fireplace in the bedroom and grabbed a small lavender bag of grey Floo Powder from the mantle piece. She opened the bag and she looked inside it with dismay. "Only enough here for one trip. Typical!" She sighed.
"Minx!" She summoned her elf. With a loud crack a very clean looking house elf appeared in the bedroom.
"Mistress called?" The elf squeaked.
"How many times Minx, I said don't call me that please." Hermione didn't like having a house elf but Ginny had thought it would make a good Christmas present a few years ago and Hermione couldn't bring herself to decline and since then she had enjoyed having the extra help, as well as the company.
"Sorry mistress. I mean Miss….Ermm…OOO…Madame…Maid…OOO.. Nooo…Ermmm!" The elf began to look distraught and started to panic on the spot.
"Minx stop!" Hermione tried to command the elf calmly. Minx instantly stood stock-still. "We'll work on that later." The elf nodded frantically. "I need some more Floo Powder, can you go to Diagon Alley and buy me some and then meet me at the Ministry on the 54th floor, if you can?" She asked kindly.
The elf beamed at her new chore instruction, "YES YES YES MISS….You watch, Minx will do it! Minx do good job and get mistress powder. Make mistress pleased Minx will! OOOO!" Her hands flew to her mouth, a look of terror in her eyes as they filled with tears. "Minx called mistress, mistress! Minx bad, Minx very, VERY BAD!" The elf wailed loudly, so much so Twix screeched loudly in frustration at the elf.
"Don't worry yourself Minx please." The elf blew her nose into her large floppy ears and looked at Hermione. "Please Minx just get the Floo Powder to me when you can and then have a shower or bath if you like." Hermione said, glancing at the elf's ears. Minx beamed back at her, nodded in appreciation and then clicked her fingers. With a smoky crack, the elf was gone.
"Right, I'll see you later Twix, alright?" she looked at the Owl as she stepped into the fireplace. The owl hooted a goodbye.
"Ministry Of Magic. Office number 4.3.4!" She said clearly and tipped the contents of the lavender bag onto the hearth and was instantly absorbed into a whirl of emerald green flames.