Chapter 7: Two Jailbirds
Hedwig couldn't believe what was happening to the two of them.
For two days Harry had been locked up in this room with her. The ugly people who lived here with them had made sure that he couldn't leave. They even had a man come out and put up bars on his window—bars like hers. She hooted furiously at the man as they watched the man place them up on the outside.
Harry didn't say anything as he stared gloomily at them. But that wasn't all those people have done—they also made it so that Harry would get food passed to him through a small hole in the door. They only let him out for a few minutes twice a day…
The rest of the time, they were trapped in here together. How dare they do this to a fledgling?
Harry was forced to stay here, pacing the room like a caged animal, staring longingly out the window every time he passed it. Hedwig understood how he felt as she stared out at the clear blue sky, and wishing for a chance to fly. The longing she had felt when she had been trapped in that shop, and now here… she wanted to break out of here and spread her wings so badly that it hurt.
At night she would watch Harry as he lay on his back and stare up at the night sky, his face full of misery.
She tried to chirp once in awhile to comfort him, and they did help once in awhile… but before long he would stare back out again. "Sorry, about this," he sighed to her; she was the only other person here after all, "If I could, I'd make sure that we leave and never come back, but we can't. I really don't know what's going to happen to us."
Hedwig, from her vantage point in her cage, gazes at her little owlet with concern. She hooted sadly, offering what console she can.
He smiled at her gently and stuck his fingers through the bars so that he could stroke her feathers. "Maybe tomorrow would be better?" he said, though it sounded more like a question than a statement to her.
'Maybe, little owlet,' she said softly,satisfied at last that he was asleep.
*The next day*
Harry was truly selfless, he hardly ever thinks of himself even when he really should. The little food that was shoved through the door for him, he always made sure to give at least half of it to her. But it was clear to her that he needed food a lot more than see did at the moment. But she believed he took her reluctance to take his food from him as being a fussy eater. Oh well, she ate it eventually although she wished that he had more for himself.
"It's no good turning your beak up at it — that's all we've got," said Harry grimly as she watched him put the empty bowl back on the floor next to the door and lay back down.
*That night*
Hedwig was staring out at the moon that night, like she always did, and wondering just what was going to happen to the pair of them. Harry was sleeping for once, but it seemed to her as if he was having nightmares, he kept tossing and turning every few minutes.
She gave him a sad look before she gazed at the overcast sky, the moon peaking just behind a cloud. Assuming that the two of them would survive the next month, would they be allowed to go back to Hogwarts?
She a feeling that if those ugly people had their way, they were going to make sure that the two of them spent the rest of their lives trapped in this miserable room. She wished that she could bite off each and every one of their fingers for this.
At that moment she could see two strange lights shining above the house, next to the moon. She blinked. What was that? Stars? But stars don't move… wait, were they shooting stars? She heard from the other owls that humans make wishes on stars like that.
'Ok,' she thought. 'If those really are shooting stars then I wish for us to escape from this place.'
She watched as the stars blinked a couple time and—to her amazement—they turned in midair and were heading down to earth, directly towards them. She moved back as far as she could against her cage and stared ahead in terror. What was happening? When it came closer, she thought for sure that her eyes were going to pop out of her head. For they weren't stars at all! It was an old turquoise car flying through the air and stopping just outside their window!
She was so stunned that she couldn't bring herself to make a sound. That was when she saw three familiar red-heads looking out the window.
And one of them was that boy Ron!
They came to save them! He was pulling at the bars on the windows. The noise was quiet, but it was still loud enough to wake Harry.
"Stop it," Harry muttered. "Leave me alone… cut it out… I'm trying to sleep…"
'Don't sleep!' Hedwig called. 'Now's not the time for sleeping! Harry get up!'
He opened his eyes. She watched him blink as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing and his jaw hitting the floor. "Ron!" he gasped and crept up to the window so that he could open the window and they could talk. "Ron, how did you —? What the —?"
Harry's mouth fell open even wider as he saw the flying car and the twins sitting in the front seats.
'That was my reaction,' Hedwig said to herself.
"All right, Harry?" one twin asked him.
"What's been going on?" Ron demanded from him. "Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles —"
"It wasn't me," Harry said at once. "And how did he know?"
"He works for the Ministry," said Ron. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school —"
"You should talk," said Harry, and Hedwig had to admit that he had a good point.
"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with —"
Hedwig rolled her eyes. Enough with the talking! Get them out of here already!
"I told you, I didn't — but it'll take too long to explain now — look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so —"
No! He had to beg that they take them with them now! They might not live till then!
"Stop gibbering. We've come to take you home with us," said Ron and she felt her heart soar at those words.
"But you can't magic me out either —" Harry began but Ron jerked his head to his brothers and said, "We don't need to. You forget who I've got with me."
"Tie that around the bars," the other twin said, throwing the end of a rope to Harry.
"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," said Harry as he tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car. She looked to the door, knowing that he wasn't exaggerating. Knowing that this was their only chance for freedom, she stayed quiet and watched.
"Don't worry," the first twin said again, "And stand back."
It went as smoothly as they had said. Soon, the car had been able to pull the bars right off the window until they were dangling off the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. Hedwig felt like she was going to cry.
When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window.
"Get in," Ron said.
"But all my Hogwarts stuff — my wand — my broomstick —" Harry said.
'Harry, worry about that stuff later!' she wanted to tell him. 'We need to get out of here!'
"Where is it?"
"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room —" Harry explained.
"No problem, out of the way, Harry."
She watched as the twins climbed like cats through the window into the room. They then went for the door.
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," one of them said pulling something that she had seen girls wear, "but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."
They worked on the door for a few minutes before she heard the clicking sound and the door opened.
"So — we'll get your trunk — you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," they told him and left.
"Watch out for the bottom stair — it creaks," Harry whispered back. Harry dashed around his room, collecting his things and passing them out of the window to Ron. Then he went to help Fred and George heave his trunk up the stairs. She was just wondering when they would take her when she watched them heave the trunk into the room and slowly put it into the car.
"Okay, let's go," a twin said as he got back into the car..
She couldn't believe this, Harry was starting to climb through the window. Now she will put up with a lot, but being left behind wasn't one of them! Is he crazy?
She then let out a loud screech, reminding them that she was still here.
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" screamed a voice from outside the door.
"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry cried and tore back to her.
'You think?' she thought at him furiously as he snatched up her cage and handed her to Ron. She was placed into the seat next to him and watched as her young master just got back on the chest of drawers and was about to come out when someone hammered on the door and it banged open.
For a split second, the fat man stood framed in the doorway; then he let out a bellow and dived at Harry, grabbing him by the ankle.
The other three in the car seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could.
"Petunia!" roared the fat man. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
'Put your backs into it!' she cried as they pulled. Finally, with one more tug, they had managed to pull Harry free and slammed the car door shut.
"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly toward the moon.
She couldn't believe this! Looks like wishes really did come true. She twisted her head around to Harry, who had stuck his head out the window and roared back, "See you next summer!"
'Oh, I hope not,' she thought as she looked down to see those three awful people hanging out of the window, looking stunned.
They all roared with laughter as Harry then turned to Ron and said, "Let Hedwig out. She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."
Those words were like music to her. She watched as Harry gave her an apologetic look and knew that she just couldn't be angry at him for long. 'I forgive you this time,' she told him as Ron managed to open her cage.
She flung herself out the window and into the air, enjoying this moment of freedom. The cool night air felt so soothing on her feathers, her stiff wings hurt slightly from not being used for so long, but she never felt more alive. She then looked over to see Harry's face through the glass as he talked to the other boys. 'I forgive you this time… but I won't be so forgiving if you do that again.'
*Just as the sun rose*
She followed them all through the night. She dove through the clouds and always made sure to stay near enough to the car so that she'd know where they were going. Just as it was starting to get light and the first golden rays of the sun were starting to stretch across the land, casting dancing shadows over everything—they were near a countryside and the car was starting to descend.
Soon, they were outside a crooked looking house that was surrounded by trees and bushy grasses. It was amazing! Compared to that house they had been trapped in for so many weeks, it was like paradise.
She looked down to see that Harry was getting out of the car with the other boys. As they were talking, she noticed that a woman with red hair had come out of the house. She recognized her as the nice woman who had been so kind to help them out before. She would've smiled if she could…
Feeling that she could leave Harry in their hands for now, she took off to some of the trees behind the house and fluttered onto one of the branches near the top. She would rest here for awhile—her wings were out of shape and it had taken a lot out of her just to make it this far. But as she leaned back against the branches and leaves—her eyes closing as the warm sun warmed her feathers—her overall feeling was relief.
They were safe and out of that terrible house at long last. She knew she could trust this family; they would take care of Harry for her for now so she could take a break from worrying about him. Harry's a real handful and a lot to handle for just one owl.
(Long time no write, I get it. But I'm stuck in school for most of the day and have my other stories to take care of as well. I'm sorry. But I do hope that you've enjoyed this chapter.)
