Chapter 9: Hedwig's Baby

Hedwig spent the rest of the night in the owlery, trying to come to terms with what happened to her. She couldn't believe that Harry had been stupid enough to listen to Ron. What were they thinking flying that contraption to school? She had cleaned off the blood on her white feathers, her heart suddenly feeling as if something was squeezing it. It was Harry's fault, not hers… she had nothing to feel upset about. Yet even so, she couldn't forget the sight of Harry's blood on her wing.

Even as she flew around the castle the next day, she was still angry with her young master… but at the same time, she couldn't help but stop worrying. So she flew overhead to the window to the Great Hall, just to make sure that he was alright. She didn't want to fly up next to him, still preferring to keep her distance until her anger faded away.

She settled herself down on the window sill and looked down… she could make out that mess of black hair anywhere. He was sitting with his friends, enjoying breakfast, and she felt a surge of relief to see that he was just fine.

Glad to know that he was alright, she turned to go back to the owlery when something big and gray went flying passed her. Almost knocking her off the sill, she twisted her head around to see a familiar gray owl fall onto the boy—Neville's—head before landing perfectly into a milk jug.

'Errol?' she thought, coming a little closer to see Ron pull Errol out, carrying a red envelope.

Ron was looking panic-stricken at seeing Errol. She couldn't figure out what the problem was… sure Errol was a mess, but she was also sure that he was ok… but looking at where he was pointing, he seemed to be upset about the red envelop.

'Oh! Looks like someone got a Howler!' one of the owls called with a laugh as they went flying up and through the window.

'We better leave before he opens it,' another barn owl agreed as they hit the blue sky. 'I only delivered one once… and it's not something I want to be around for a second time!'

A Howler? What's that mean?

But she got her answer almost at once for at that moment she heard it… a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling. It was Mrs. Weasley's voice, screaming, hundreds of times louder than before.

"—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE — LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED —"

She stared down at them, before she took off, her ears still ringing as the Howler went on. She didn't know just what happened, but she better hope that Harry never got one of those. She did not want to be around to hear that…

*Later*

She still kept a silent vigil watch over her owlet for the rest of that day, for some reason, still unnerved and worried about him. But he seemed to be doing just fine… he went to the glass houses with the rest of his class and learned about plants before going back up to the castle with his friends. That afternoon, she watched as the three of them sat in the courtyard. The boys were prattling away about Quidditch while Hermione was reading a large book. She didn't know why she was so worried, he was just fine… there wasn't anything to keep a watch on. So she was about to take off again, thinking longingly of a good long sleep in the owlery… but before she could, she noticed that a small boy who looked like a mouse was watching Harry very closely, carrying some picture box that she'd sometimes seen Muggles carry around.

She watched as he walked over to him and was talking hopefully, raising up his camera-thing. Curious, she hung on the wall ledge as she looked over to see them. Harry was staring at the boy as if he couldn't believe what he was asking as the boy just kept talking.

Just as she was about to come closer to try and hear them, a familiar voice called out loudly, "Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"

She knew that annoying, scathing voice anywhere and she hooted irritably as the pale boy from last year came walking through the courtyard, talking as loudly as he could so that everyone could hear him. He had stopped right behind the mousey boy with his two thugs on either side of him.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

Hedwig tilted her head in confusion. A signed photo? It sounded like someone would be signing their names on piece of paper? Why would anyone do something as silly as that?

"No, I'm not," said Harry angrily, his fists clenching as he told the Malfoy boy to shut up.

"You're just jealous," piped up the mousey boy and Harry shot him a look to stay quiet.

"Jealous?" said Malfoy, loudly, "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself."

Funny, he sure sounded jealous to her… even as his two thugs sniggered stupidly.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," said Ron angrily and now both sides were ready for a fight.

'Boys…' Hedwig hissed to herself. Don't they see how big those two are?

"Be careful, Weasley," sneered Malfoy. "You don't want to start any trouble or your Mommy'll have to come and take you away from school." He put on a shrill, piercing voice. "'If you put another toe out of line'—"

As the Slytherins laughed, she shook her head. Now that was low, even for this loser.

"Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter," Malfoy went on. "It'd be worth more than his family's whole house —"

She hooted angrily. She'd been to that house, and she loved it! there wasn't anything wrong… Ron was looking furious as well as he pulled out his wand, but Hermione shut the book and said, "Look out!"

"What's all this, what's all this?" called a voice.

She looked up in time to see a tall human walking towards them with a big smile on his face. He looked around at them all as if he asked them to come here. "Who's giving out signed photos?"

Finally, someone who can put a stop to this nonsense. But just then, this idiot went and flung an arm around Harry's shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!"

Pinned to Lockhart's side and his face burning with humiliation, Hedwig watched Malfoy slide smirking back into the crowd. She felt so bad for Harry as she watched him struggle to get away as the smiling idiot told the mousey boy to take the picture.

Mouse boy, clicked the Muggle camera before the bell ran and like that, everyone went running off.

'Despite their strangeness, humans are so well trained,' she thought as she watched Harry hiding his face as he was being dragged towards the castle by that smiling idiot. 'Just ring a bell and they're off.'

She wasn't sure just why this idiot bugged her, he just did. Feeling tired, she spread her wings and went back up to the owlery.

*A few days later*

Hedwig didn't see much of Harry for the next week, but that was fine by her. It was good to be able to have time to herself for these few days and not have to worry about her owlet as she enjoyed her freedom.

She didn't see Harry again until early one morning when she was heading back up to get some sleep from a long night of hunting. But as she reached the comforting tower, she spotted Harry walking down the stone steps and almost running to the fields where she watched them play that strange game on those broom things. Harry was dressed in his red robes, his broom over his shoulder—but also looking tired and as if he would rather be anywhere else as he kept yawning sleepily. She was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. The mouse boy was with him.

Harry was looking more and more annoyed by the minute, only able to shake the kid off when he reached the field.

"I'll go and get a good seat, Harry!" mouse boy shouted happily and hurried off to the stands. Curious, she turned in midair and fluttered down in the nearest tree and kept an eye on the field. She wanted to see him flying again, to see how much better he'd gotten since she last saw him… but she had to admit that they were sure taking their sweet time in there. In fact, it took so long, that by the time did all seven members come out of the room the sun was full up and Ron and Hermione were sitting in the stands watching them.

"Aren't you finished yet?" called Ron incredulously, a bit of toast in his mouth.

"Haven't even started," Harry shouted back, "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

She tilted her head again. Moves for what? But she didn't worry about that as she leaned back and just watched as her owlet mounted the broom and take to the air. The peaceful expression on his face made her heart soar as she watched him fly around the stadium like a proud mother.

But as she watched, she couldn't help but also notice that there was a funny clicking noise. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who noticed it.

"What's that funny clicking noise?" called one of the red-head twins. She looked around and spotted the mouse boy there, having camera-thing in his hands and it was making that noise. What was he doing?

"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he cried shrilly.

"Who's that?" the twin asked.

"No idea," she heard Harry say at once and took off in the other direction. Hedwig was having trouble trying to decide who was more annoying at this point. Mouse boy or the smiling idiot from before…

She tried not to worry about it as she watched them, but soon the captain of the team flew over and seemed to argue with them on something. That was when trouble showed its ugly head. The second twin was pointing down to the field. Following the gaze, she spotted seven people in green were coming out.

She looked up curiously. Now what? She recognized these players as the guys they played against last year when Harry was almost thrown off from his broom. What were these guys doing here now? Where they playing with these guys again? Apparently not, because the captain landed hard and staggered as he dismounted.

'Oh, this is going to be good,' she thought as she watched the players all going at each other.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the biggest and the ugliest of them. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood," he retorted just as the girls all came over to them, all of them having sour expressions.

"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker'. "

"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face.

'What was he doing here?' Hedwig thought as the Gryffindors all stared at him.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" one of the twins asked.

'What a stupid name,' she thought, wondering if this was going to break into a fight or not.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," the leader of the seven said, holding out their brooms. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

She couldn't see what was so special about them. They looked like brand new brooms, but so what?

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," he went on, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his broom. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps-" he smiled nastily at the twins "-sweeps the board with them."

Just what were they talking about? Humans were such strange creatures.

"Oh, look," he added, pointing at Ron and Hermione, who were running towards them. "A field invasion."

"What's happening? Why aren't you playing" Ron asked Harry coming up to them, before pointing to the pale boy. "And what's he doing here?"

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," was his smug answer and Hedwig remembered why she hated him. Strutting around like he owned the place… just who did he think he was?

"Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team. Good, aren't they? But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too," he added, looking nastily at them all, "You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

Hedwig couldn't see what was so funny as the seven in green all burst out laughing.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply. "They got in on pure talent."

He then looked to her and spat at her, "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

Now she didn't know what a 'mudblood' was, but whatever it was, caused the others to flip out. The twins probably would've clubbed out the pale boy if the leader didn't stop them. One of the girls was shrieking out, "How dare you!" but the worst was Ron who had pulled out his wand, screaming out that he'd pay.

She had no idea to what happened next, but there was a loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass. Was he trying to do that?

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione as she and Harry ran to his side.

Hedwig ruffled her feathers anxiously, hoping that he was ok as she watched. Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap.

Again, she couldn't see what was so funny from the green team. They were all roaring with laughter, rolling on the ground or hanging onto their brooms for support. Personally, she thought it was disgusting… magic was something to be watchful of…

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," said Harry to Hermione, and she watched as they pulled him to his feet and began dragging him away.

Just then, the little mouse boy came running up, "What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you?"

"Oooh," said Colin, fascinated as Ron continued to burp of slugs. "Can you hold him still, Harry?"

"Get out of the way, Colin!" said Harry angrily. He and Hermione supported Ron out of the stadium and across the grounds toward the edge of the forest.

Hedwig watched the remaining team members all shout in anger, now all of them were shouting and complaining. Not wanting to sit around and watch this, she took off, going straight back to the owlery.

*Weeks later*

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Huge raindrops continued to fall, keeping her inside the chilly tower most days. But she couldn't stop herself from watching Harry practice in all forms of weather.

She was always happy to see him flying around, thinking that if he had been born an owl, he would've been a spectacular flyer. On the day of the game, she wanted to be there to watch him—despite the fact that she hated rain. She settled herself in the trees, mostly protected for when the rain started as she watched the two teams walk out. Letting out a loud hoot of happiness, she watched as the players all took off in the sky, pride filling her as she watched her little owlet flying higher than any of them.

"All right there, Scarhead?" she heard that brat Malfoy shouting out before shooting underneath him as though to show off how fast he was going. Hedwig rolled her eyes. Please… only the unskilled owlets showed off how fast they could go. What they didn't know was that it was how well you flew, not how fast…

She kept her eyes on Harry as one of the black balls came flying towards him, almost knocking him off his broom.

"Close one, Harry!" one of the twins shouted as he flew up and hit it away. But as he did, something very strange happened. As she watched the black ball aimed towards one of the green teammates, it suddenly turned around and shot straight back for Harry. Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and the twin managed to hit it hard toward the pale boy. But again, it went flying back. Hedwig walked over to the edge of her tree. What was going on? She watched the games last year, and from what she saw, the black balls attacked all the players, not just one of them.

Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the field, the black ball still after him like it had become a shadow. The second twin was there waiting for it and knocked it away. But again, it just came flying back, trying to really hurt him.

It had started to rain now; and she moved back along the tree branch, so that she could stay dry, but never once did she take her eyes off them. For the next ten minutes, she watched as Harry did all he could to avoid the black ball. The twins were on each of him, doing their best to take out the ball.

It was hard to watch… finally one of the twins was moving his arms about towards the captain, and then the whistle was blown. The team dived for the ground, all of them avoiding the ball. Anxiously, she watched as the seven members in red gathered around each other. The crowd cheered or jeered at them.

She was hoping that they would cancel the game, or at the least fix that stupid black ball. The rain was falling more heavily now, she was sure that they would call it a day, but to her horror, Harry kicked back up into the sky where the black ball was waiting for him.

'What are you thinking?' she hooted furiously at him as Harry looped and swooped, spiraled, zigzagged, and rolled out of the way as the black ball kept going at him. Harry was doing very well, despite the circumstances for the next few minutes. But suddenly, the pale faced boy was there laughing at him as Harry spun around in midair to avoid getting hit. Harry turned back towards him, but then he stopped—just hanging there in midair as he stared at him.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' she shrieked at him, 'MOVE IT OR…'

But too late, he stayed still too long. The black ball went flying at him and finally hit him in the side, smashing his arm.

Almost falling off his broom, Harry clung on just as the ball came flying back, looking for another fight. Not sure why she did this, but Hedwig spread her wings and took off, but even as she jumped from the branch, Harry turned and went straight to Malfoy—who panicked and moved out of the way just as Harry took his arms off the broom and plummeted to the ground.

She hovered in the air as he landed with a loud thud in the mud, his arm hanging the wrong way and not moving.

She landed on top of the stands and watched as the Weasley twins came rushing out of nowhere to deal with the black ball and the stands were there, seeing if he was alright. She recognized the red hair of the Weasley girl getting there first, trying to protect him as the black ball kept zigzagging around. Hedwig watched in terror as the smiling idiot got through the crowd first and pushed the girl out of the way.

Her heart was beating painfully as she struggled to make out her owlet's face. To her relief, she could see him struggling to sit up—him yelling at the mouse boy for a second before the smiling idiot took out his wand and pointed it at Harry's arm. What she saw almost made her fall off the stands in shock. It looked as if someone had let out the air in Harry's arm and everyone gasped—not that she blamed them. He looked as if his arm had just become a rubber glove as it flopped around uselessly. What the hell did he do to her owlet?

Even as Harry was taking up to the castle, her anger stayed. She flew over the smiling idiot's head and made sure to take a good sharp pokes at it before she went back up to the owlery to dry off.

*Weeks since then*

She may not understand everything that goes on with these strange creatures called 'humans' but even she could understand when something was wrong. She watched the students walking round with a tense atmosphere. She had heard from the students about how the mouse boy had been attacked, the night of the game, but she wasn't sure what was so wrong. What did petrified mean?

What made her angry was that it was Harry they all seemed to be pinning the blame on! Like her Harry could hurt anyone like that! She could remember painfully how he had shared half the food he had with her over the summer as they were locked up in that miserable house.

She missed stopping in to see Harry in the morning, how he would give her some extra food from his plate as a treat before she went flying off. So she decided to finally forgive Harry for their painful arrival. She decided that the best way to go and see him was with a present delivery for Christmas. She ruffled her feathers and went to the Dursleys to pick up his present—which was lighter than it had been last year.

She hooted furiously when she saw them, and made sure to leave some droppings on the floor for them to clean up before she took off again. She was still furious with them for their treatment—before she took off, not bothering to look back.

It was good to see the castle again, her heart feeling happy as she flew over the snow-filled grounds, looking like it was a white blanket. She went up to the tower that early morning, knowing just where to look for him as she looked at the open window. She could hear Hermione's voice saying, "Positive. If we're going to do it, I say it should be tonight," just before she fluttered inside and dropped the package next to him.

"Hello," said Harry happily smiling at her. "Are you speaking to me again?"

She nibbled his ear affectionately, letting him know that she forgave him but that he should never do that again. She truly did miss him talking to her, and made a mental reminder to stop in for breakfast tomorrow. The present she had brought for him was a note and a tiny sliver of wood from his relatives. He didn't look surprised by it at all and merely threw it aside as he went back to petting her, which she was more than happy to let him do so.

After all, he may not be an owl, but had always seen him as her baby owlet…

(I know that this chapter took too long. But I've just been kinda depressed lately, and been having so much trouble trying to write. But I do hope that you enjoy this chapter.)