Chapter 1: More than Familiar

A couple years had passed since the day that her mother had been taken and the little owl had grown up to be as beautiful as she was. It had been an early summer morning when she awoke at the sound of the tinkling bell. She blinked her eyes sleepily—wondering if today would be the day. Of course, her hopes weren't exactly high. After all, no one had ever noticed her before, and she saw no reason they would today.

But she knew that summer was about halfway over and that young witches and wizards often came in to buy owls for some reason. Here, it would be teeming with excited young ones, pointing and squealing over the number of owls in the shop. Because of that, all the other owls here knew that the odds of being chosen were higher than usual. Already, dozens of lucky owls had been taken and she would often watch them being carried out into the bright sunshine—her heart bursting with jealousy.

She had been living in this shop, in this cage, since she had hatched, yet she still didn't have anybody buy her. Every day she would hope that an owner would come and buy her, someone, anyone, to get her out of this dreary shop.

That familiar bell rang again and she opened her eyes to see young girl looking around at all the owls and was holding her father's hand. When she was a few feet away, she hooted as cutely as possible and ruffled her feathers impressively, hoping that she would be noticed.

When the girl heard her, she turned. She smiled broadly but… it wasn't her the girl was looking at. It was the brown Barn Owl next to her that had her attention. The slight bit of hope that had risen inside her died at once. Don't know why she was so surprised… it was no different than any other time… it was like she was invisible here.

The little girl had bought the Barn Owl and left soon after that. And so she was resorted to stretching her wings irritably and closed her eyes. Just as she was beginning to doze off, she heard the little bell ring again. This time, there was a young boy with silvery-blond hair and a pointed face. He seemed to have a permanent smirk plastered there, and his father looked the same.

Once again, she hooted to get his attention, but it was hard to hear any one owl with all of the other hooting and flapping of wings.

"Father, I want the best owl money can buy!" the demanded as he went around looking at every owl.

"Yes, Draco," his father said solemnly as he watched his son contemplating which one he would get. "But we need to hurry. Pick one and we'll go meet up with your mother."

"I'm not a child, Father," he said in annoyance. "I can do it all myself."

She stopped flapping her wings at once. She didn't like this boy at all. She wasn't going to be going with him. That was when he turned and looked over at her.

"I want this one," he said after a few moments of thought, and he reached for her. She backed into the edge of the cage. She wasn't sure why, but she just didn't like the idea of him touching her. She hooted warningly at him, telling him to go away. While she wanted someone to take her away from this miserable store, she wasn't so desperate to be taken by some spoiled brat.

Ignoring her warning, he stuck his fingers into the cage towards her and she nipped his fingers hard.

'Get out!' she snapped. Now he had it coming… she did warn him but he didn't listen.

As soon as she bit into his finger he pulled away, clutching his finger. "OW! Father… this animal bitme!"

'Get lost!' she hooted furiously. He glared at her as he went and picked another owl. As his father went to go and pay for it, the boy walked back and shook her cage hard. She shrieked loudly, drawing the attention of the owner.

The boy shrugged and said, "Don't know what's wrong with it. You should do something about savage animals."

While the father complained, the boy shot her a triumphant look and walked away. She let out another loud hoot of anger as he picked up the cage of a large eagle owl. The owl looked as if it was sneering at her as well—she knew him. Good… now that idiot would have an owl that matched him. Once they left, she calmed down and laid her head against the bars of the cage. She slowly went back to sleep, dreaming of the night sky full of stars and the shining full moon…

She didn't know how long she had slept, but all too soon—later that afternoon—the bell rang again. She opened her eyes wearily and looked to see who it was this time. A very small boy with thick black hair came into the shop this time. His strange—clothes they were called—were very big for him, and made him look even smaller than he was.

He looked very thin, like that one owl that had been brought in after he had returned from a long delivery through some kind of storm. It took him almost a week to heal from that. But it was this boy's eyes… such large eyes made of the brightest green she had ever seen. It made her think of the green fields and treetops that she often heard some of the other owls talk about. The boy walked timidly into the shop, as if afraid that he didn't belong there.

She watched him as he looked at the owls like every other person that ever walked in here. But there was something different about this boy… he looked so sad and lonely here… there was a feeling she knew all too well.

She kept her eyes on him until all the other owls around her began to hoot in alarm. She looked up at the door to see the form of a large man squeeze in. But he was also the largest man she had ever seen. But the man was so small compared to him, he was bumping into things and knocking things over. His hands were big enough that he could have encased her whole body with just one of them and easily crushed her to death. She gave him a warning glare as he walked by. He seemed a bit uncomfortable in the small cramped room, surrounded by distressed birds, many of whom were sitting above him.

But the boy continued walking around and around—she was unable to take her eyes off him. There wasn't anything special about him at first glance… but…

"'Ello there," said that huge man once he walked up to the desk and began to talk to the shop keeper.

"Hagrid," the old witch said wheezy. As the two began talking, the boy was still looking. At the moment, he was currently looking at a large screech owl. She followed him with her eyes. She didn't know why… but she felt that she had to get his attention. So when the boy was close enough, she let out another hoot.

He heard her and his big green eyes found hers; and she felt a gentle pull from her chest that extended all the way to the tips of her wings. He gazed at her for a moment before he walked over to her cage. He was small enough that he didn't have to bend down to look into her cage. He tilted his head slightly—and she mirrored his move.

That brought out a small smile.

She wasn't sure why, but she knew that she liked this kid at once. He held out a small finger through the bars and slowly moved towards her, as if worried that she would bite if he got to close. So instead, she moved forward this time and brushed her head against his finger.

Which caused him to smile wider.

"Now, who're lookin' at, Harry?" said a loud voice. She looked to see the large man coming over to see the boy.

"I was just looking at her," the boy named Harry spoke.

"Now who's this?" he said with a gruff but cheerful voice as he looked down at the cage. She gave a little hoot as he bent down almost double to get a close look at her.

"Oh, she's a snowy owl, not very trained," the shop keeper told them. "She almost ripped the fingers off the last boy who was in here."

But Harry wasn't looking at anything but her and she couldn't deny that she liked it. He was very sweet… she liked this kind of person.

"Arr, she's just a real beauty she is," the giant named Hagrid said and she ruffled her feathers impressively. She was warming up to this giant as well…

Harry turned to Hagrid and said, "I really like this one. I want her—that is…" he added, turning timid again, as if afraid that he spoke out of line. "You really don't have to…"

The giant just smiled as he clapped a large hand on his shoulder, almost knocking him to the ground. "It's yer birthday isn' it?" the giant asked. "And I said that I' get you an owl. You don' need to worry at all about it."

He then walked over to the desk, while the owl was almost dancing in joy. Finally, she had someone to take her… she thought back to what her mother had said before when she asked what they were all waiting for. 'For a family…' she had said.

Was this what she meant?

But then she started hooting quietly yet endearingly, hoping that they could hear her over the din of the shop. Hagrid had just paid for her as the shopkeeper went over to her. She was startled as the witch pulled out a large key and fitted it into her slightly rusty lock; but when the door opened, she invited her to climb onto her gloved arm. Hedwig hopped off of her wooden perch and patiently waited as she was put into a new cage.

The witch than began explaining how to take care of her to Harry, who nodded in understanding at every word. Once they were set, she handed her cage to Hagrid. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she informed him.

"There you are," Hagrid smiled as he handed her to Harry. "'Happy Birthday there Harry!" She chirped slightly in distress at being raised so high in the air.

"Thank you," Harry said as he stared at her in wonder, as if he'd never seen an owl before. "What's her name?"

"That's your choice," she said shortly. She was about to turn, but then she stopped—and she did a double-take as her eyes were staring at Harry's forehead. Curious, the little owl looked up as well. She didn't see anything there except a strange spot on his head. Though it wasn't like any other spot she had ever seen on any of the other owls or humans. But the woman was staring at it in amazement…

Humans were strange creatures…

"Ok," Hagrid said rather hurriedly, now almost pushing them both out the door. "We still have a little more shoppin to do before we call it a day."

After a loud goodbye, they were out in the bright sunlight and she had to hide her head under her wing.

"Hagrid, she's brilliant," Harry said grinning from ear to ear, holding up her cage to eye level so that he could admire her. She looked at him through her feathers. Yes, she decided. She knew she could trust him. Well, she would have to now wouldn't she?

She hooted kindly as he nodded back with a wide smile. Suddenly she wished she could do that as well. Because she realized that it was her that had made him so happy. They were now out of the shadows of the dark shop where she had spent her whole life, and into the sunny, bright world that she had always wanted to see.

(Hope you liked it.)