Author's Note: This plot bunny ambushed me, demanding I write it out. I originally intended this to be a much shorter one-shot but the length ran away with me. Still a one-shot, merely a few thousand words longer. Be kind.
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Harry Potter, if I did, I would not be working nightshift. All Harry Potter characters and places belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.
Through An Owl's Eyes
A beautiful Snowy Owl waited patiently to select her future wizard or witch from the streams of daily visitors. Her flashy plumage caught the eyes of many, only for them to turn away under her scrutinizing amber gaze. On an unremarkable summer morning, at a time when all owls begin to doze, a large man with kind eyes stopped in front of her perch. He spoke softly of a young wizard, in need of both guidance and friendship, before inquiring whether she would be willing. The owl hooted eagerly, carefully entering the traveling cage.
On first sight, her wizard seemed far too scrawny. His eyes lit up with excitement, just a hint of trepidation lurking beneath the surface. He spoke calmly to her, never raising his voice. His eyes were joy tinged with sadness. She did not know this wizard yet but felt a wild desire to protect and watch out for him.
Hedwig. A name her wizard, Harry, selected from a book he snuck into his room. Hedwig disliked this place and sensed Harry shared her feelings. His relatives were loud. Harsh voices, shouting, all at a subdued boy, desperately trying to avoid notice. At night, Harry spoke to her, sharing his thoughts, feelings, dreams, and worries. Hedwig listened from her perch on his shoulder, the windowsill, or headboard.
The Hogwarts Express. Hedwig hated the train due to the loud students and uncomfortable vibrating sensation combined with a swaying motion. She tucked her head, preparing to snooze for the entirety of the ride, before deciding to keep one ear tuned into Harry's conversations with his peers. As her wizard headed for the castle in a boat, a house elf released her for the flight to the Owlery.
Hedwig watched her wizard that first year. Hogwarts was freedom to him yet the sadness remained. He spoke to her whenever possible but their nightly chats were nonexistent. She watched as he learned to fly, racing her on free afternoons. The boy never required her to make long flights back to his home. To him, she was a treasured friend. She carried short notes but watched as his friends and teachers failed to notice his lack of family connections and absence of correspondence.
Summer meant a loss of freedom. Harry's relatives were terrified, locking her cage and forbidding her from hunting and carrying letters. Hedwig watched as the sadness in her wizard's eyes deepened. She cursed the meddling house elf. He did not understand the damage done. Her wizard was treated like a prisoner. His relatives fed him next to nothing but he made sure to she had enough to eat.
His friends freed him and let her fly for the first time in months. Hedwig sensed this was merely a break in a happy fantasy before the school year.
Hedwig swore off flying cars for life. The minute her cage burst open, she didn't even look back to see if her wizard was ok. Straight to the Owlery for a nap before a blissful hunting trip. The rabbit never had a chance.
The school was dark during second year. Harry disliked fame yet was thrust into the spotlight, first by that far too pretty professor then by the dark happenings. Her wizard could speak to snakes. Hedwig defended him, telling the other owls he was trustworthy and kind. She sat with him a lot that year. He sat up in bed many nights, unable to sleep but utterly exhausted. His teachers never noticed his turmoil. Hedwig saw, trying to comfort but powerless to do so, and so she listened.
Her wizard nearly died at the end of the school year. Hedwig was frantic, trying to get into the infirmary, to be the watchful eyes over her wizard. A tall, dark, professor soothed her rumpled feathers, calming her frazzled nerves before silently gliding into the room, setting her on the headboard of her sleeping wizard. She swiveled her head, hooting a quiet thanks to the dark soul who melted back into the shadows.
She and her wizard were allowed out that summer. It pained her when he sent her away to accommodate yet another unkind relative. He told her to go to his friend's house yet Hedwig stayed near. She watched and listened as her wizard absorbed countless jabs and insults. She watched the sadness as it morphed into simmering anger. She felt his loss of control and feared for his safety. As he boarded that hideous bus, she swept off towards London, arriving at the Leaky Cauldron not long after the Minister assigned him a room. Her wizard's eyes lit up as he greeted her.
Petty fights distracted her wizard's friends with inconsequential topics during third year. The squashed-face cat had no quarrel with her but communicated the scraggly rat was unnatural. Hedwig watched as her wizard struggled to be a peacekeeper between friends too wrapped up in their lives to ask about his. The unnatural cold from the dementors seeped into the hearts and minds of all living things. Her wizard battled a constant onslaught of terrible memories, learning a new method to keep them at bay. Hedwig often sensed another presence in the dark. Sometimes she sat on his shoulder, as he stood hidden in a shadowy corridor. She sensed goodness in this wizard, labeled as cruel by the students.
The scraggly rat was a fake. The large, black, dog was not a dog. Her wizard was denied a loving home but gained a semi-concerned, albeit brash, adult who gifted her wizard's best friend a tiny, hyperactive owl. Hedwig learned later the wizard's sister named it Pigwidgeon, Pig for short, a truly undignified name.
Hedwig was an owl of the north, traveling to the tropics to deliver letters during the summer. Her delivery was flawless but the flights required days of recovery and she stood out against a backdrop of sand and sea. Her wizard's relatives were wary of this convicted murderer godfather who was staying in communication. Her wizard eagerly awaited the mail she carried and all other letters, but Hedwig wondered why strange, exotic birds, kept showing at the window. Hedwig loved seeing her wizard's eye light up in anticipation of news. His nightmares increased to nearly nightly occurrences. His uncle constantly threatened him to be quiet and not interact with the neighbors. Hedwig suspected the attacks were not limited to verbal exchanges, based on the bruises her wizard sported throughout June and July.
Her wizard spent time staying with friends. Hedwig did not follow him to the Quidditch World Cup. She stayed near the house, her quiet presence largely unnoticed by the frenetic ball of fluff, the regal youngster, and the family elder. The head witch of the family made sure they were happy and free to come and go as they pleased. Her wizard returned looking haunted but excited to return to school. He sat up late with her the evening before the train, telling her what happened at the World Cup. She listened as he gently scratched her neck and under her wings, seeming lost in the repetitive motions, eventually lulling himself and her into slumber.
He let her fly to school, thus totally avoiding the train. Hedwig looked around upon arrival, noting an uncomfortable atmosphere seeming to hang over the grounds, an ominous feeling unlikely to be noticed by the students but all the owls sensed it. Thankfully the dementors were absent.
Hedwig sought out the dark man, finding him standing in a large, open, window overlooking the main student entrance. Alighting silently to his shoulder, Hedwig hooted almost inaudibly in greeting. He reached one hand out to run over her feathers, acknowledging her presence. The two stood watch as the students began the trickle into the school finding their way to the great hall. Hedwig's perch soundlessly moved through the halls pausing only once at a window to launch her into the air.
Hedwig perched amongst the other owls to listen to the start of term announcements. For an owl, Hedwig was very perceptive to the world around her. She sensed the scarred professor was not who he claimed to be which would likely make it a difficult year. Hedwig made a note to locate the squashed face cat.
The Tri-Wizard Tournament. A spectacle no doubt but her wizard should be safe for his fourth year. She should know better by now. Her wizard was too young to compete yet magic couldn't be convinced to break a contract. Hedwig was powerless to protect her wizard as he competed and succeeded in magical tasks meant for someone at the end of their magical learning years. It saddened Hedwig as her wizard's friends turned on him, one insanely jealous, the other preferring to stay away.
Hedwig could not watch the first task, in a fit of cowardice; she trembled in a back corner of the Owlery. The roars of the dragons set all the owls on edge. Her wizard found her hours later, gently coaxing her from the corner with his quiet voice and owl treats. She perched carefully on his arm, cuddled into his chest. He lifted her gently, carrying her back to his dorm. He did not boast of his success, he cried. With a trembling voice, after a hastily cast "Silencio", he stroked her feathers and told her of his fears; he spoke of his loneliness and jarring nightmares. She hooted in comfort, remaining in physical contact with him, in an attempt to soothe his ragged emotions.
Christmas was an interlude. Her wizard attempted to dance; leaving Hedwig convinced he should never try again. She stayed near him whenever possible, her presence acting as balm to his raw nerves. The night of the dance found her seated on a garden shrub watching the festivities. The dark man materialized out of the shadows, offering an arm to her. She stepped up and he carefully transferred her to his shoulder. He murmured softly to her, rendering her invisible, before continuing his patrol.
The second task saw her perched atop the spectators' platform in the middle of the lake. She watched as the scarred man all but pushed her wizard into the water. She caught the barely hidden anxiety in the eyes of the dark professor, his searching eyes finding her shifting anxiously while staring at the place her wizard disappeared. Her wizard surfaced long after everyone else but alive and shivering. Hedwig could not resist, she spread her wings, gliding down to him, landing with a sharp shriek and harsh nip delivered to his ear. Her wizard looked chastened, smoothing her feathers in apology.
The overwhelming sense of dread from the beginning of the year increased ten-fold as the weather warmed and her wizard stepped up his spell training for the third task. The dark man watched her wizard speculatively on many occasions, often grimacing as he noted a face tightened in worry and pain. Hedwig sensed the dark man understood some of the pain.
The third task found Hedwig riding thermals over the maze. She watched all the competitors but mostly her wizard. In the blink of an eye, he and the other boy vanished into nothingness. Hedwig screeched in terror, frantically diving towards the center of the maze. She looked around, no competitors, no cup, only silence. Professors swarmed the area, at a loss to explain the incident yet not communicating their panic to the waiting student body. Soft hands attempted to corral her but she never trusted the ancient headmaster. Hedwig took off for the school. She watched from afar as her wizard, lugging a lifeless body, popped back into sight. The scarred man separated and pulled him towards the castle. Hedwig headed for his office window, arriving on the outside sill just before the door burst open. She watched as the old headmaster and dark professor blasted the office door off its hinges, they contained the threat to her wizard, eventually escorting him away and detaining the impersonator.
The dark man opened the window, offering his wrist to the owl. He wondered about this owl, she seemed much more attached to her wizard than a typical familiar. He whispered to her, sensing her concealed distress. Once the aurors took over, the dark man carried her through the school, settling her on her wizard's headboard in the hospital wing. He paused only briefly to run one hand down the lad's face, smoothing his hair across his forehead. With a sharp intake of breath and one last glance at the owl, he strode from the room, off to re-join the master he never wanted to see again.
Harry woke with a harsh gasp from a vivid nightmare, to the sensation of being persistently nudged. The infirmary was dark and quiet. The next nudge was accompanied by a soft hoot. Harry smiled at his owl, thanking her for looking after him.
Hedwig watched as each violent nightmare caused her wizard's uncle to yell and slap him. She always tried waking him the moment he began thrashing but was not always inside. Hedwig hated causing pain to his friends but was happy to exact some of her own revenge on them for ignoring her wizard all summer. She sensed uncontained anger in her wizard. Not all was his but it was battling with him for control and winning.
She knew he worried about the trial. Hedwig was pleased to learn they would be returning to school for fifth year, all charges were dropped. She snubbed the headmaster at every opportunity, treating him as he treated her wizard. Her wizard was so alone, his godfather was not mentally stable, the werewolf was largely absent, his friends were not sure how to react to him lashing out, and he was not sleeping well. Hedwig wished she could communicate with the dark professor. He lurked about the house, entering the house as to not draw attention and only emerging from his assigned room well after the house was silent for the night.
Hedwig found him in the library late one night, not long before the start of term. She was desperate for help; she looked at him beseechingly, finally convincing him to follow her. She led him to her wizard's room where he was violently thrashing in the throes of yet another nightmare. Hedwig tried waking him once again with no success. She hooted pleadingly at the man paused in the doorway. He cast an inaudible silencing charm as to not disturb the other occupant of the room before approaching the struggling teen. He grasped the lad's shoulders, firmly shaking him awake. Green eye popped open, taking in his professor's proximity in shock. Hedwig watched as her wizard curled into a ball and started rocking, trying his best to self-soothe. With a sigh, the professor prodded the teen onto his feet, out of the room, and down to the library, before settling him onto a small couch and summoning tea. Hedwig perched on her wizard's knee as he tried to stem the tears. No words passed between the men, but the professor seemed to come to a reluctant conclusion. He took the seat next to the distressed teen and pulled him into a firm embrace, increasing the pressure when the lad stiffened, unaccustomed to comfort. Hedwig moved to the back of the couch and watched as the dark, stoic man sat holding her wizard, offering silent comfort to the drowning boy.
Neither spoke of the incident. Hedwig was not happy to be back on the train but knew her wizard was eager to return to school.
Hedwig caught sight of the pink toad a few days into term, swooping down to get a proper look. She immediately sensed the woman was not a good person. She also seemed frightened of birds, shying violently away from Hedwig's shadow.
The woman was a dictator. Mail delivery became dangerous as interference became a daily hazard. Hedwig refused to be deterred from delivering letters, sustaining injuries but never depositing her mail into the wrong hands. The Care of Magical Creatures professor helped heal her physical wounds but Hedwig stressed over what her absence might do to her wizard. She understood the sedatives and hated the necessary confinement. Her wizard was hurting. The evil toad-lady tortured him. His friends noticed but his teachers refused to acknowledge the severity of his detentions.
Hedwig rarely encountered the dark professor. He seemed determined to make her wizard loathe him more fiercely. She knew his godfather's constant slips and determination to see him as his father, not as his own person, cut deeply. The dark professor hated his godfather but both men refused to see her wizard as his own man.
Hedwig watched powerlessly as her wizard suffered nightmares and visions. He worked to help his classmates and save those who mattered to him but the anger simmered under the surface. He was falling to pieces. Hedwig knew the flying ban added even more stress. The end of the year presented its normal disaster, exacerbated this time by the death of his godfather. In that moment, the dark professor stood in the shadows of the infirmary, watching all the badly injured students sleep, mentally cataloguing the necessary potions. Her wizard was not among them; the headmaster still had him, and so she sat with the dark professor waiting. The headmaster entered without the boy in tow, making hi way first to the shadowy corner. He seemed shocked then delighted to see her sitting on the professor. Hedwig offered a withering glare before gently nudging the professor with her head and flying off to find her wizard. She found him on a balcony several floors above the infirmary but nowhere near a tower. Hedwig landed next to him before stepping onto his lap. The anger was absent, the grief emanating off him in waves. She sat in silence as his silent sobs shook them both. She let him know he was not alone.
Summer was quiet. Her wizard withdrew into himself, shutting out the world around him. His relatives ignored him but allowed him to keep his school things in his room plus she was allowed to go in and out as she pleased. The old man picked him up, dragging him on what Hedwig assumed was a fool's errand. She met him at the Burrow. He was wallowing in grief yet his friends were still oblivious, caught up in the frivolous pursuits of childhood. In that moment, Hedwig realized her wizard never enjoyed a childhood. He was old for his years when she met him and matured beyond where a sixteen year old should be.
Sixth year was a year of minimal mail. Hedwig kept close tabs on her wizard though he never seemed to open up. He talked to her and she watched over him. The werewolf abandoned him, just like he did after third year. His godfather was gone and his friends were fighting.
The dark professor was strained. In watchful moments, she sat with him as he overlooked the courtyards, her gentle presence soothing him as it did her own wizard.
On an early summer evening, she sat ever watchful with him. The dark professor paced. The Headmaster and her wizard were away, the castle was settling for the night, but both watchers sensed impending doom. The sudden appearance of many dark-robed individuals caught her off guard, sending her to the skies and winging back to the Owlery in fear. She joined the other owls as they watched a battle begin and a lone blast of brilliant green light send a body over the Astronomy Tower.
In the chaos, Hedwig finally located her wizard. He was unharmed but terribly distraught. The Headmaster was dead. In that moment, Hedwig knew it was the start of darkness. A sense of normalcy had her and her wizard returning to his relatives. She spent as much time as possible with him. Watching as he sorted his belongings and packed a traveling bag. She listened as he struggled with grief and prepared himself to embark on what sounded like a scatterbrained quest.
And still he protected those around him. His relatives headed into protective custody, concealed from a world they detested by people they detested. Hedwig wanted to protect him, to shield her wizard from harm. He gave her a tour of the empty house. She cringed at the sight of the cupboard. His friends and colleagues prepared a plan that went against all his tendencies, refusing to listen to his valid protests. He released her during the air battle, begging her to flee to safety. His eyes brimming with pain, with a desire to protect her as he'd always done. She wouldn't leave him; it was her self-appointed mission to protect her wizard. In a flash of green, she knew no more.