BRINGING HOPE TO HOGWARTS
This is my first EVER fanfic, guys! Please R&R, it'd really help an aspiring writer!
DISCLAMER; Harry Potter is copyright JK Rowling, all rights reserved. I do not own Harry Potter or any of the trademarks associated, no profit is being made from this piece of Fanfiction.
Chapter Seven - Owls
"Arithmancy is so confusing, why did I take it again?" Draco asked aloud as they walked through the corridors to the library to meet the other Slytherins.
"Because you're stubborn, you like a challenge, you like to push yourself, you know you can do it deep down…?" Meena offered, counting the excuses off on her fingers
"It was a rhetorical question!" Draco snapped.
"Oho, alright, Mr Grumpy. What's gotten into poor little Draco today, hhum?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Little? Hey you little-!" Draco scalded good-naturedly before making a grab for her. Meena squawked ungraciously and made a break for the Library, her boots slapping the stone of the floor loudly.
"Oi!" Draco shouted after her, chasing her down the halls. "I am a Prefect!" He shouted after her pompously, and was rewarded with the sound of her footfalls and a laugh echoing round a corner.
Portraits shouted at them, some scolding and some cheering for a race as they sprinted past, Draco's long legs slowly catching up to her. He reached out and his fingertips just brushed the fabric of her robes before she disappeared round the corner. He followed suit but stopped abruptly.
She was stood one foot away from the heavy doors inside the archway engraved with the word Library. She was smirking, a red flush to her cheeks, illuminating her freckles, and her hair had fallen loose from its bun, white tendrils falling around her face and shoulders in wild spirals, and was breathing quickly, making her shoulders rise and fall with her quick, light breaths.
Her hands were behind her back, and she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Come and get me, Mr Big Bad Prefect."
And with a quick flourish of robes, she disappeared through the door that Draco hadn't even seen her open and was gone.
Draco smiled to himself and shook his head in amusement, before pushing the door open in search of a certain white-haired Slytherin and the rest of his friends.
On the opposite side of the library, Meena sat in her chair with a light thump, still breathing quickly and cheeks lightly flushed.
"What's up with you?" Blaise asked as he took in her slight dishevelled appearance.
"Ran." Meena answered simply, swinging her bag off her shoulder.
Theo quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"
Meena shrugged. "Just did."
She pulled out her work and began to write.
More than five minutes later, Draco arrived, shooting her a disbelieving look.
"Ah, Draco, what took you so long?" She asked innocently.
"How on earth do you disappear so quickly?" he asked, placing himself at the table with the rest of the Slytherins.
"Practice." Meena replied with a smile.
Draco stared at her a little longer, before sighing in mock exasperation and shaking his head, reaching for his books and parchment.
They remained in the library for their free hour before lunch; until Blaise got up and mentioned they'd all be late for it if they didn't get going soon. They began to pack up and Meena stared down at her Arithmancy work in confusion.
"Right, you guys go ahead, I just want to find a book to help me with this." She said, getting up and shoving her stuff into her bag.
She wandered between the high shelves of books that made up the library, listing off names of interesting-sounding books to herself, getting lost in the smell of leather, old parchment and polished wood, the only sounds that of creaking wood and rustling paper.
She made her way to a section she believed would be able to help her with her Arithmancy work, and ran her hand along the spines of the old tomes. She took her time, searching book after book, but coming up empty.
"Where are you?" she mumbled to herself.
"What?" came the reply.
She whipped around and found herself face to face with Hermione Granger, standing at the end of the row, three books clutched to her chest, where a shiny Prefect badge shone in the dim lamp light.
"Oh, Hello." Meena said. "You startled me."
The girl flushed slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were um, talking to me."
"Err, no, I was talking to the uhm… books." Meena replied, looking down at the toes of her boots.
"Oh I do that all the time." Granger stepped forward and held out her hand. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced; Hermione Granger, Prefect."
Meena shook it. "Meena Hope. Hey, uhm, you're a Prefect, and you've been at this school for years, any chance you could help me?"
She looked sceptical, but she said "Sure, what do you need?" anyway.
"Well, I noticed you in Arithmancy earlier, and you didn't seem to have any trouble. However, I'm sort of struggling to get my head around it at the moment; I think this school might be a bit further through the skill set than I was at my old school. Do you know where I might find a more appropriate book?"
Grangers face brightened at the prospect of searching the books, and she smiled. "Sure, they're this way, follow me." She said with a wave over her shoulder.
Meena followed her down a few more rows and then she stopped and waved her hand at a section of ten blue leather-bound books. "These are my go-to books whenever I'm a bit over my head in Arithmancy, they just step through the basics and go up in skill in term. They're a bit like Encyclopaedias, really easy to navigate." She reached up and pulled one off the shelf. "I'd personally recommend this one. It's what I used to get through my O.W.L.s, so if you're feeling a little behind, I'd recommend a quick read through of this one before you move on to the more advanced stuff."
Meena flicked the book open and skimmed through some of the pages. She looked back at Granger and smiled. "This seems perfect, thank you, Granger."
"You're welcome, is there anything else-"
"Meena, what're you doing?" Pansy's high-pitched sounded from behind her in a tone of scrutiny. Meena saw Granger look to the floor and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. They were down an alcove, Granger against a wall with Pansy – and Theo – blocking their exit.
"Just finding a book." Meena replied.
Pansy snorted. "With the Mudblood?"
She hard Granger sigh behind her. Theo shot a surprised look at Pansy, but didn't say anything.
"Watch your mouth, Pansy. I don't like that terminology; I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using it in the future." Meena said in a dangerously cold voice.
"Why?" Pansy asked, like it was the most confusing thing in the world. Then her eyes widened. "Oh, you're not one, are you?" She scrunched up her face like she'd just smelt something foul.
She could hear footsteps approaching, and then Draco, Blaise, Greg and Vince, Millie and Daphne were all there too, blocking almost all the light from the library walkway. She saw Granger retreat a step to stand against the wall behind her.
"Quite the opposite, Pansy." Meena replied, holding her head high. "My family name is even older than yours. I however, am not so stupidly bigoted as to have an issue about whom one has as their ancestors. I care not for the imaginings of the Pure-blooded society of Britain, with your belief that you're better than anyone simply because your parents were forced together into a loveless, pre-arranged marriage. I have it on good authority, not only from you but from others as well, that Granger here, so-called Mudblood and filth of the wizarding world, is the smartest witch in our entire year. She's taking many more N.E. than you, and if what the papers say about her and her babble of friends, she's seen more fights and held her ground better than you ever could, Pansy.
I do not carry the same belief as you, Pansy, and I think you'll find yourself in the minority of people that still do."
And with that, Meena sat down, flipped open the book Granger had given her and began to read. She heard Pansy storm off, Daphne and Millie following her. She looked up at the boys. Vince and Greg didn't appear to have taken in anything of the past few minutes. Blaise was smirking at Theo, who was also smiling in amusement.
Draco looked confused.
"Is there a problem, Draco?" she asked sweetly.
"No. None at all." Was his clipped reply, and then he turned on his heel and left.
Blaise and Theo remained long enough to give her satisfied nods, before they too, left the library with Vince and Greg in tow.
Meena slammed her book shut and sat back in her chair, letting out a long sigh. "Bollocks."
She heard Granger sit down lightly next to her. She opened one eye to look at her, still leaning back in her chair.
"Thank you." Granger said softly.
"I didn't do it for you, Granger."
"I know that. But still." There was a small moment of silence, then, "What shall happen now?"
"Hum?" Meena asked, eyes closed once more.
"With Pansy and stuff." Granger asked quietly.
Meena shrugged. "Ohh, I don't know. It'll probably be frosty for the next few days, and she'll make some snide remarks, try to make my life hell, I suppose, that sort of thing, but it's nothing I can't handle, no need to worry, Granger. Anyway," she said, standing up in one smooth motion, "Thanks for the book. See you around."
She checked the book out with Madam Pince, the hawk-like keeper of the Hogwarts Library and made her way down to the hall for lunch.
Meena had been right. Things were frosty at best between her and Pansy. Pansy refused to speak to her, but she had no qualms about speaking about Meena. Loudly.
When she arrived in the common room that evening, she joined her friends by the fireside and pulled out her work, and she just happened to overhear Pansy tell an unimpressed Daphne about ugly curly hair is, or how 'hideously muggle' it is to wear glasses.
But Pansy soon found that jibes about Meena's looks wouldn't rattle her, and the rest of the Slytherins soon got tired of Pansy's ever increasingly weak insults.
Meena went to bed early that evening, and her drapes were shut and charmed before the other girls had even come upstairs, and the next morning, she was once again out of the dorm before any of the girls had even begun to rouse from sleep.
This morning, as she had no need to go to the owlery, but still had just under an hour before breakfast would be served, she decided to go for a walk in the grounds in the fresh morning air.
Once outside, she wrapped herself in her thick cloak and headed down a pathway that led away from the castle. The sun was just breaking over the Scottish mountains, casting a warm golden glow on the low clouds, and the wind was howling, sending her hair whipping into her face and her cloak cracked and flapped behind her, her robes clinging to her body in the wind.
She walked around the side of the lake, and wondered briefly if the students at Hogwarts were allowed to swim in the lake. As she observed the lake, with its small waves lapping the stony shores, a commotion in the middle of the water caught her attention, and she looked up in time to see a long, rust-orange something splash up and out of the water, before flipping back to the surface with a large flurry of water.
She turned from the lake, picturing the thing in her mind and decided to ask the boys about it at breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast, it's way too cold to stay out here.
Her face was stinging from where her hair was repeatedly slapping her cheeks, and the wind had picked up so much it was becoming tricky to keep a decent hold on her cloak, and so she decided to make her way back to the castle and just wait outside the hall for breakfast.
Leaning against the stone of the Entrance Hall, rubbing her hands for warmth, Meena waited for only a few minutes before a shadow emerged from the spiral staircase leading from the Dungeons.
She looked up and watched as Professor Snape strode across the hall, wearing all black and his face pasty. He was half way across the hall before he noticed Meena, and he detoured slightly to come to stand beside her.
"Miss Hope, you are up early." he said, narrowing eyes in suspicion.
She shrugged. "I don't sleep well I'm afraid, Professor."
"I see. Does this issue affect your studies? You could always take a trip to the Hospital wing, to talk to the Nurse."
He began to walk once more towards the door, and Meena took this as an invitation to walk with him, so she fell instep beside him.
"No thank you sir, I'm used to it. Besides, I don't think my day would be complete if I didn't see the sunrise."
They had reached the door to the Great Hall, and they swung forwards to admit them.
Snape looked at her as he walked. "You have your cloak on, Miss Hope." he pointed out.
"I'm aware sir, the Common Room has no windows."
"You have been outside this morning?" he asked, stopping at the end of the Slytherin table.
"Indeed, Sir. I walked around the lake. I hope I did not break any rules, but I wasn't warned against going outside before breakfast." She replied uncertainly.
"No rules were broken." He said with a slight shake of his head. Then he frowned slightly. "You have already taken a walk this morning? How long have you been awake?"
"Uhh," She counted back on her fingers. "Well its half past seven now, so… three and a half hours. I read a bit this morning, then showered, collected my things for the day, and then went on my stroll."
"You awoke at four in the morning? Why?"
"Like I said; I'm afraid I don't sleep well sir."
"I see." He watched her again for a few moments, before continuing. "I'd ask you, that if this issue continues, to please check in with the nurse, she may have something that shall help you sleep."
"I thank you for your concern, sir, but I promise you there's no need to worry." At that moment, there was a light pop, and scattered periodically along all five tables, dishes of breakfast food and trays of drinks had appeared. "Ah, if you would excuse me, sir, I bid you good morning."
The Professor nodded in reply and watched her walk towards the table for a little while before turning to his own place at the teachers' table.
Meena sat down and poured herself a cup of tea, and watched as the hall slowly filled up with students and teachers, casting Ernie a wave as he entered the hall with two others Meena thought were called Bones and Finch-Fletchley, which he returned with a cheery smile and jolly wave.
A little while later, the boys walked in and joined her at the table, Vince and Greg piling food on their plates before they'd even said hello, and the other three boys greeting her warmly. Meena added bacon and eggs to all of their plates, and Draco chuckled as she poured out juice from the jug in front of her saying "Who are you, our Mother?"
"Shut it you, or no dinner." She replied jokingly.
When they were all eating, Theo piped up. "So…" he started, a bit uncertainly. "Muggle-borns, hey?"
Meena sighed, setting down her fork. "Guys, it's just my opinion, okay? I don't care if you agree or not can we just not do this? Don't go all Pansy on me."
Blaise theatrically shuddered. "Wouldn't dream of it. Anyway, I don't care, I never have."
"Same here." Theo agreed.
"Really? That's interesting. And you Draco?" she asked, turning to her side to address him.
"I'm working on it." He said with a frown.
"Good enough for me."
"It's just i-" he began, but was cut short by the arrival of the post owls.
The owls swooped and swerved around one another, dipping down and landing lightly in front of their masters.
All except two. Two very large owls, who were diving at one another and screeching angrily.
"What's wrong with them?" Theo asked.
"European Eagle owls, they're territorial." Meena rushed out as she quickly stood up on the bench – she was vaguely aware of heads turning her way – and whistling her five note melody.
Instantly, the smaller bird turned from the dive it was in to barrel towards her, before spreading its wings wide and coming to rest upon her shoulder, which was no easy feat, as the bird was so large.
"Meena, what the heck is that?" Blaise asked, eyes wide.
"This, guys, is my owl, Duke." She stepped away from the table to allow Duke to hop from her shoulder to a long outcrop of stone in the wall.
"He's huge!" Vince exclaimed.
"Yeah, I suppose he is quite large for his breed. He's about the size of the average female, which is about seventy to seventy-five centimetres long, and his wingspan is just less than two meters at one hundred and seventy seven centimetres. He's not, however, as large as her." she said, pointing up at the female eagle owl who was angrily swooping along the Slytherin table.
She made a low dib above the sixth years and Draco muttered, "Aw, no." before standing up and whistling twice in quick succession. The bird turned as she held out is arm and she came to him, gripping his forearm tightly.
"She's your bird, Draco?" Meena asked.
"No," he replied, shaking his head. He looked a mix of angry and thoughtful. "She's Mothers' owl." The owl stuck her leg out, showing the letter there. Draco's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes briefly, before exhaling heavily and untying the note one handed. As soon as the note was off her legs, the bird took off heavily, and with one more angry screech at Duke, which returned the attention of the rest of the school, which had wavered, straight back to them.
Draco pocketed the note and sat down once more.
She turned back to Duke and untied the letter from his leg, slipping it into her pocket. She fed him some toast crusts – which Theo always discarded – and told him to go to the owlery, but he didn't move.
She stroked his wing lightly, and went to stoke the other one, but he cried and snapped strongly at her hand, drawing blood and causing her to hiss through her teeth.
"Ouch, Duke. What the hell?"
He stared at her with his large, bright amber eyes, and trilled softly once. He rustled his feathers and, in a gingerly manner, held out both wings to his full extension, which caused a few of the close-by students to gasp.
"This isn't right." Meena mumbled. Blaise stood up next to her, looking at Duke too.
"Whats up?" he asked.
"I'm not sure, but he can't extend his wing properly." She held out her hand to show Blaise, but Duke shifted away. "Hey, shh, its okay, Duke, it me." She cooed at him softly, and he extended his wing once more, and she heard Blaise mumble "Ohh I see." next to her.
"Did Strix hurt your bird, Meena?" Draco asked, coming to stand on her other side.
"I think so. Wait, did you say Strix?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I think your Mother has a morbid sense of humour."
"What?"
"In Ancient Greek and Roman legends, Strix were birds of ill omen. They supposedly fed on human flesh and blood." Meena said.
Blaise made a disgusted face, and Draco snorted. "An ill omen, well, they got that right. Mother never brings me good news."
Duke hooted sadly once more, and Meena held her arm against the wall for him to climb onto.
"Who's the Care of Magical Creatures Professor?" she asked, turning round.
"Hagrid." Theo said, pointing to the large man at the breakfast table who had accompanied the first years and Meena across the lake on their first night at Hogwarts.
"Right, i knew that." Meena said as she walked away with Duke.
"I'll come with you." Draco said, collecting his and Meena's school bags from their bench.
"Thanks, Draco. Can you guys tell Professor Flitwick where we are if we're late?" she asked Theo and Blaise, who both agreed with a nod.
Draco and Meena, Duke on her arm, walked up between the House tables towards the teachers' table causing a few people from different houses to look up inquisitively, and Duke got lots of appreciative glances from many of the students.
When they reached the staff table they walked along it to the end on the left hand side, where the massive bulk of Hagrid was sat, his face hidden behind a huge mug.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Professor Hagrid." Meena said, which caused him to splutter what looked like tea all into his beard.
"Oh, oh hello." He said, retrieving an orange spotted handkerchief from his coat with a flourish and dabbing at his beard. "What can I do fer ya?" he asked, smiling kindly at her, though his face fell just slightly when he saw Draco stood just behind her.
"It's my owl, sir, I think he hurt his wing fighting with another."
Hagrids black eyes fell upon Duke and he stood up, pushing his chair back with a loud scraping sound that caused the Professor next to him, whom Meena did not recognise, to cover her ears and Duke to fidget restlessly.
"Uh I see, beau'iful bird here. What breed is'e?" he asked, bending down on his knees in front of Meena to get a closer look – and they were almost level, Hagrids head still a few inches taller than her own.
"European, or Eurasian, if you like, Eagle Owl."
"And his age? I know they can live for up the twen'y years in the wild!"
"Indeed. Duke has been with me for a long time, sir, roughly ten years. I believe him to be about twelve, sir."
"Alrigh', bring him with yeh down to my hut, I'll have 'im fixed up in no time!"
Meena, Duke and Draco followed Hagrid down to his hut, talking all the way about owls.
"How did you know Strix is a female?" Draco asked her.
"She's bigger, as females generally are, and her ear tufts lay more flat against her head, as is normal for Female eagle owls."
"Keen eye yeh got there, Hope. Malfoy, do you have an owl?" Hagrid asked pleasantly.
"I do….Professor." He addressed Hagrid after a pause, as if unsure the title fit the suitor. "I have a striped owl."
"Striped owl," Hagrid muttered. "Long ear tufts, cinnamon eyes and head, bla' an' white striped underbelly? Na'ive to South America?"
"That's right, Sir." Draco said in surprise.
"Yeah I know 'em. Beau'iful birds. All owls are, really."
They reached Hagrids hut and he turned to them. "Do you wan'a stay? I can show yeh how I'll fix 'im up, if yeh like?"
"I'm afraid we can't Professor, we have Charms to get to." Hegrids cheery smile faded a little. "But you'll be seeing me later in class." Meena said.
"You're taking Care o' Magical Crea'ures?" he asked happily.
"I am." She nodded. "Duke, I'll be leaving you with Professor Hagrid, he's going to fix you your wing, okay?"
Duke trilled softly, and Hagrid held out one large, calloused hand, and Duke scurried along Meena's arm and onto Hagrids wrist.
"Won'erful, won'erful." Hagrid was mumbling, seemingly to himself.
Meena and Draco walked back up to the castle, Meena accepting her bag from Draco with many thanks, and they made it charms only ten minutes late.
