Round 3: Uninvited Guests

"I can't see what we could possibly have to talk about Mr. Potter." The sight of Snape's signature sneer on Ginny's face was very disconcerting. Once again Harry was hit with the wave of disgust and grief that came over him every time he happened to see the Potions Professor since this travesty occurred. Briefly Harry wondered if he would be able to go through with this conversation after all, but then quickly pushed that thought aside. He had to do this! Harry squared his shoulders and concentrated his gaze on a spot just above Snape's shoulder so he wouldn't have to stare into Ginny's face while talking to him.

"You're meeting with the Weasleys soon, right? I need to talk to you about that." Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Snape frown.

"If you plan on asking me to break the news to them gently you can save your breath. The Headmaster will be doing most of the talking, and anyway, I don't think there's really a good way to tell someone that their daughter's dead due to some freak body switching accident caused by a love-sick owl." Snape looked like he was going to go on, and Harry decided that he had better cut to the chase before the professor got to caught up in one of his rants.

"That's just it Professor. I don't want you to tell them any of that." Silence met this declaration and Harry just had to sneak a glance at Snape's face. The Professor stared at him, Ginny's perfectly pruned eyebrows drawn together in a confused frown that was rapidly turning into anger.

"What are you babbling about Potter?" Snape all but spat at him.

"Don't tell the Weasleys that Ginny's dead! Or that you're in her body either!" Harry's words came out in a rush.

"What? Are you mad, Potter? Why in the name of Merlin would you ask me to do that?" Snape demanded, gesturing violently in Harry's direction. Harry had to stop himself from flinching at the look of contempt that Snape threw him. It felt like Ginny was the one judging him and demanding a reason for his betrayal. And Harry knew with sickening guilt that this was a betrayal, both of Ginny and the entire Weasley family. He was trying to deny the truth all in order to protect the one who was responsible for Ginny's death. In order to protect Hedwig.

The last few days had been like a living hell for Harry. He had truly loved Ginny with all his heart and now she was gone forever. He'd been torn up with sorrow at the loss and filled with periods of extreme fury over the senselessness of it all. Sometimes he'd been so angry he had wanted to punch someone, and in one particularly dark moment of grief he had let out his destructive impulses in the currently closed-off potion's lab. He'd thrown the desks against the wall and smashed all the vials and flasks into a powder until he'd exhausted himself and had finally broken down on the floor into a fit of sobbing. Afterward, he'd picked himself up off the floor and had gone to the great hall for supper where he'd tried to talk to Ron and Hermoine like everything was normal.

That was the worst part of the ordeal - the fact that no one else knew of or could share in his grief. He'd simply told his friends that he and Ginny were "no longer together" and let them think that his depressed mood was due to a bad breakup. Putting up with their helpful advice and attempts to cheer him up whilst pretending he wasn't completely broken up inside had been agony for Harry.

He'd found himself desperate to talk to someone, anyone, who knew the truth and, as he couldn't stand to look at Snape and Dumbledore seemed to be constantly busy, he had turned to Hedwig. It had taken some effort to overcome his initial bitterness toward his owl; after all it had been her stupid spell that had put Ginny in the path of the Dark Lord's killing curse. But in the end his need to talk had pushed him into going up to the rookery, not really knowing if he was going to scream or cry when he got there, but needing to let it out to someone.

Hedwig had been a mess when he'd found her. Her eyes were dull, her feathers unkempt and sticking out at odd angles and she had obviously not been eating. Seeing how guilty and upset she was had eased some of Harry's anger and he had simply set down and started telling her everything he'd been doing and feeling since the accident. He'd spent hours pouring his heart out to Hedwig until his throat was sore and the sun had gone down. Having finally run out of things to say, Harry had slumped against the wall feeling both drained and relieved to have finally given voice to the churning emotions that had been eating him up inside.

Hedwig, who had stayed completely still and silent the entire time he was speaking, fluttered down to stand beside him and tentatively brushed her wing against his hand in such a soft and simple gesture of comfort that the remainder of Harry's anger had drained away. After that day Harry found himself visiting Hedwig every morning and evening so that he could unload his feelings onto a sympathetic ear. Hedwig couldn't respond to him beyond bobbing her head or squawking, but her presence and friendship were enough that Harry was starting to believe that in time he might begin to feel normal again. However as the date of the scheduled meeting with the Weasleys approached, Harry had come to a realization. Once it was made known to Ginny's family what had happened to bring about Ginny's brutal death and the theft of her body, all of their rage would be directed at Hedwig. Harry was certain that Ron would try to kill Hedwig and Mrs. Weasley was already so terrifying when she got mad over her children's grades that he didn't even want to think of what she would do when she found out! And that was why Harry had knocked on Snape's door that evening, because regardless of what she had done he couldn't stand to loose Hedwig too.

Professor Snape had crossed his arms across his chest and was beginning to look impatient as he waited for Harry to produce an answer. Harry knew that he couldn't tell Snape his real reasons for demanding his silence. Snape would probably just laugh at him and tell him it wasn't his problem or that Hedwig deserved whatever happened.

"The Weasleys… It would break them to find out what happened." Harry lied, feeling awful but not knowing what else to do. "Ginny was like the glue that held them together. I don't think that they would be able to recover."

"That's nonsense! Arthur and Molly Weasley might not be the brightest people alive but they're stronger than that. They'll be upset to be sure but they'll get over it in time." Snape shook his head at him, clearly not moved by Harry's attempts to garner sympathy for the Weasleys, and Harry's mind raced as he tried to come up with another strategy. Reasoning or pleading would clearly get him nowhere.

"Look Snape, either you agree to keep this a secret or I'll have Hedwig switch bodies with you and you can spend the rest of your life as an owl!" Harry declared and glared at Snape with as much menace as he could muster. Unfortunately it didn't have the intended effect and Snape burst out into peals of disdainful laughter.

"Oh will you now Potter? And how exactly do you think you're going to hide that little trick from the Headmaster, hmm?"

"Well it shouldn't be too hard to fool him!" Harry shouted in frustration. "Hedwig would just need to act rude and condescending all the time, and no one would be able to tell the difference!" Snape shook his head at Harry's outburst and stared at him coldly.

"Really you're about 20 years to early to be trying to threaten me, Potter. You would need a piece of hair in order to pull off that spell a third time, and since the incident I have been careful not to leave any lying around. Just try and get one without my noticing! Now I don't know why you've taken it into your head to try and keep this girl's death a secret, and I don't much care. In a few days the Weasley family are going to be told the truth so that they can honor her death, regardless of how you may feel about the matter!" Harry's heart pounded as he desperately tried to come up with something he could say or do to change Snape's mind.

" But…"

"I'm through discussing this with you. Get out of my room!" Snape snapped and bodily shoved him out the door with surprising strength considering he now possessed Ginny's small form. The door slammed shut in Harry's face with a deafening finality.

Snape shook his head and rubbed at his temple as he locked the door and returned to his chair. Really, he couldn't fathom what was going through the Potter boy's mind! What would hiding the truth from the Weasleys accomplish, besides denying them the chance to properly grieve the loss of their daughter and put her to rest? Perhaps the Weasley girl's death had affected him more then anyone realized, and Harry Potter was starting to become unhinged? The boy clearly must have been deluded if he had thought he would be able to threaten Snape! Who did he think he was fooling? As if Snape believed for a second that Potter had the balls to make good on his threat, even if he had been capable of carrying it out! Snape snorted back a laugh as he recalled the boy's attempt at a menacing glare. Pathetic!

Settling back into his chair, Snape had just decide that he would take his mind off the grief crazed antics of Harry Potter by getting in some light reading when his peace was once again rudely interrupted.

With a hellish screech and a crash of glass the snowy white form of Harry Potter's owl Hedwig smashed through the window and into the room.

"What the hell!" Snape roared as he leapt to his feet and turned to face the intruder. For a brief moment Snape thought that he might have been wrong about the boy after all. Had Harry sent his owl in here to try and attempt another body switch? Snape braced himself for an attack, however the owl made no move towards him, it simply perched itself onto the back of the couch and squawked at him repeatedly while flailing its wings around wildly. Taken aback, Snape made some threatening gestures at it and tried to shoo it out of the room.

"Go on get out of here!" Snape yelled and waved his girlish arms in its direction. The owl stopped its annoying screeching, but instead of flying away Hedwig started ripping her talons through the couch's upholstery.

"Stop that you damn bird!" Snape growled and reached for his wand, intending to stun it, however he stopped suddenly once he realized what the owl was doing. Hedwig was scratching out a rudimentary word into the fabric. Even though it was messy and upside down Snape could easily make out the word HELP being carved into his furniture.

Snape hesitated for a moment. Normally he didn't like to concern himself with the problems of other people, let alone animals. It was too much bother. However the owl's apparent intelligence and possession of magical abilities was very mysterious and Snape found his curiosity piqued.

"Wait a moment." Snape muttered as he rushed over to his trunk and began pulling out his potions equipment. It didn't take him long to concoct the potion he needed, as a Communication with Animals Elixir was pretty simple to make. Most people simply never bothered with it as animals didn't really have much to say.

"Bottoms up." Snape muttered to himself as he added the final touch of dittany leaf to complete the potion and downed the vial's contents in one gulp. The potion's effects were fast acting, so Snape immediately turned toward his unwelcome guest.

"Well, out with it! What to you want with me?" He demanded. Hedwig opened her beak and, although Snape knew that she was still only making her usual hoots and screeches, he perceived the voice of a young woman speaking to him.

"Please, I need you to help me!" The girl's voice pleaded, truly sounding desperate.

"So I gathered." Snape said dryly as he eyed his ruined couch. "What exactly is it that you think I would be able to help you with?"

"I need the help of someone with a great knowledge of the dark arts." Hedwig shuffled from foot to foot as she spoke, obviously restless.

"Well I would certainly fit the bill, but you still haven't answered my question. Spit it out, I'm not a very patient man and I don't have all day to waste on someone's pet." Snape glared down his nose at her, though he was sure that the effect was some what marred by his current smaller stature.

"I need you to help me with breaking a curse, a powerful curse, that was put on me many years ago by a dark and evil wizard." Snape was annoyed to see that the owl was digging her talons further into his couch as she spoke.

"What kind of curse is this?" Snape demanded somewhat suspiciously. "And how are you associated with this "powerful, evil wizard" exactly?"

"It's a bit of a long story but I'll try to simplify it for you." Hedwig fluttered her wings a bit and settled into her perch.

"Thanks, I'm sure." Snape snorted, thankful that she'd at least stopped tearing up his couch for now.

"I'm not an ordinary owl." Hedwig began. "I've been trapped in this form by the curse, but I was once able to shift freely between this shape and a human form, as all of my people can. You see I am the only princess of the Strigiforma people, a group of magical owl shape shifters. My ancient tribe has stayed separate from regular magical society for generations, preferring to commune with the natural world rather than concern ourselves with the politics and petty squabbling of the magical community. However years ago a dark wizard approached my people and demanded that we join our powers with his and aid him with his conquest of the world. I sensed the darkness within his soul immediately and was determined that my people would have nothing to do with him. When I refused his demands, the wizard became enraged and placed this curse on me so that I couldn't lead my people against him. Unfortunately for him all of my people immediately went into hiding, so he never did fulfill his goal. I'm not sure what he did after that, as he sold me to that damn bird shop in an effort to humiliate me. I was there for a whole year before that Hagrid man bought me and brought me to Harry. Meeting him was the only good thing that came out of this ordeal."

"Well… that explains a few things I suppose." Snape conceded. "I'm going to want to hear more about this wizard, but before that I have a question I want answered: Why not go to the Headmaster for help if the curse is that powerful? And why haven't you tried reaching out to your precious Potter, for that matter?"

"No, they can't know about this!" Hedwig said quickly, and Snape started getting suspicious again.

"And why not? I'm sure Potter would be delighted to hear that you're some kind of owl princess or whatever. And knowing that you are basically human will probably make your mooning over him less creepy."

"No, Harry can't know until after everything is finished." Hedwig said darkly. "You see, I don't want to break the curse for myself. I need to do this for Ginny."

"Why is no one making any sense today? How, exactly is you being able to transform into a human again supposed to help a dead girl?" Snape threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"It will help Ginny because once the curse is lifted I will have access to the full range of my powers again!" Hedwig snapped at him. Snape frowned and stared hard into the owls yellow eyes.

"What powers exactly?" He asked. Hedwig turned her head to the side as if she wasn't able to meet his gaze.

"Once I can take my human form again there is a certain ritual I will be able to perform that would bring Ginny's soul back from beyond. It's very dark magic so this spell was forbidden by my people to ever be used, but I'm willing to break that taboo in order to set things right."

"So you want to bring her back as a ghost? How is that setting things right?" Snape demanded. Hedwig turned to face him again with a determined look in her bright eyes.

"No. I intend to transfer her soul into my body." She stated firmly.

"…And what will happen to your soul?'

"I'll die." Hedwig said without a moment of hesitation. "This was my fault. Ginny was killed because of my selfishness and I need to set it right! I'm the one who should be dead, not her. " Snape stared at her silently and after a few moments Hedwig spoke up again, her voice pleading.

"Please help me. I… I can't stand to see Harry like this! I…"

"Enough, I don't need to hear about your disgusting romantic feelings for Harry Potter! I'll help you." Snape silenced her before she could go on any further.

"You will?" Hedwig sounded more than a little surprised that he had agreed so quickly.

"Yes. Ginny deserves to have her life back." Snape stated simply, not wanting to go into too much detail about his motivations. He intended to see that Ginny did get her life back. All of it, including her body. Ginny had died horribly in his place and Snape had felt like the thief who stole her life ever since he had awoken in her body. Snape had prepared himself for the possibility of his death when he had accepted the job as Dumbledore's spy. He didn't fear his own death anymore and, as his recent funeral had shown, no one would miss him once he was gone. If someone had to die it would be him, not some young girl.

"Thank you." Hedwig said with relief.

"We're going to have to keep this quiet. Dark magic such as this is taboo in our society as well." Snape declared, deciding it was best that Hedwig didn't know about his plans. "I suppose I'll have to lie to the Weasleys after all."

"Yes, Harry told me that they were coming for a meeting soon." Hedwig cocked her head to the side. "What do you plan to tell them?"

"I'll think of something." Snape muttered darkly.

Author's Aside

Blonde One: And there you go! Hedwig's character is salvaged for all!

Tomato Face: Well, you certainly used the card to the full extent it was meant to be used…

Blonde One: *look of digust* Just what are you implying?

Tomato Face: That's not important. What is important is ruining your story.

Blonde One: But can't appreciate and or savor the dramatic situation I've created?

Tomato Face: No…not really. I just like to destroy.

Blonde One: I knew this was a bad idea.

Tomato Face: No, it's totally awesome. And to bask in my awesomeness, I will now play the card: TIME TRAVEL!

Blonde One: Ffffffffffudge! Time travel ruins everything.

Tomato Face: It sure does. Hahahaha!

Tune in next week-ish as Tomato Face once again ruins everything wonderful that Blonde One worked so hard to create. What a bitch.