Chapter 14

He looked around the grounds as he came outside, trying to remember where had been told the owlery was. To his relief, he saw a tall student, possibly a sixth year, pass by with a shining prefect badge on her collar.

"Excuse me," he said hesitantly, feeling like a nuisance. She hardly noticed him until she finally looked down. "I was wondering, could you point me towards the owlery?"

"That way," she said, almost in a bored voice. He noticed by her silver and green uniform that she was in Slytherin, and he immediately felt repelled by her. He hated feeling such things, but it was easy to tell that she was bothered by his questions. "Follow the path around the west side of the castle."

"Thanks," he said, feeling that his gratefulness was unnecessary for such a student. He hurried away from her as quickly as he could, shoving his hands in his pockets as he found the path she had pointed out.

Feeling confident that he now knew where he was going, he looked around as he walked. From his position, he could see out towards the edge of the Black Lake, the one the shopkeeper from the Magical Menagerie had warned him was infested with grindylows. The idea of some mysterious creature lurking at the bottom of the inky water did make him shudder, and he realized he couldn't blame Charlie for having a fear of such things.

He wondered why it did scare the boy so, and if there was any way of asking Charlie why he was so frightened by it. Again, he didn't want to bother his new friend with such questions, especially since they had just met.

A warm breeze passed through the grounds, a small cooler breeze coming off of the surface of the lake, and Finn felt his hair ruffle with the air. He scratched at it with a small smile, feeling like he was more grown up than he really was just by the idea of finally being at the school he had dreamed of for so long. He hoped his parents were really as proud as they had said they were in their letter.

The path started into an incline, and he slowed his speed, trying not to tire himself out. His legs were already aching from the countless stairs and what felt like miles that he had wandered about the school on his first day. He spotted the tower that was the owlery, and the long and winding staircase that would lead him up to the top. With a groan, he started his journey up the steps, more glad that he had left his robe behind than ever, considering the amount of sweat he was now feeling on his brow and neck.

He heard countless hoots and whistles, and a few screeches, as he finally made it to the top of the stairs. He found the old wooden door with the barred window at the top, and he pushed it open. There was a series of flutters and irritable hoots, as he had no doubt just woken many of the hundreds of sleeping owls. With the small swirl of guilt in his stomach, seeing as the sun had yet to set and the owls were still mostly sleeping, he looked around, turning his mouth up in wonder.

He tried to spot Tenley amongst the millions of feathers and colors in the rafters and small nests, until there was a long hoot and a flutter. The familiar speckled gray and black owl came gliding down from one of the tall rafters, the air rustling against his tall pointed ears that made Finn smile at the sight of them.

"Hello, Tenley," he said quietly. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

The owl gave a small chirp and turned his head slightly, his enormous eyes watching Finn closely.

"I was wondering if you could deliver some letters for my friends," Finn asked, "Along with mine?" He pulled the letters out of his pocket and Tenley's eyes locked onto them with a hoot. He shifted the footing of his large talons on the circle of perches that was in the middle of the room. He held out one large leg, his long black claws wide open, ready to grab the letters. Finn smiled as the owl took them loyally, and with another small chirp, lifted his wings with a loud flap, and disappeared out of one of the windows.

Finn watched his flight with an admirable stare, before his peaceful quiet was shattered by a scowling voice.

"What an ugly bird."

Finn jumped and turned around as several of the owls in the tower made loud and extremely annoyed screeches. Finn cursed silently at Loki, who was stomping his way into the room, making loud scrapes and crunches from the straw and dried pellets that littered the stone floor. Not only was his presence unwelcome, but Finn now felt sympathy for the annoyed owls. The blue eyed boy gave Finn little attention after his comment, merely snapping loudly, "Brenin!"

With a deep hoot, the largest owl Finn had ever laid eyes on flapped down from the rafters and landed soundly on one of the stone perches. Its feathers were large and splayed with black and dark gray, and his eyes were such a deep orange that they almost seemed to glow red. There were two small tufts at the top of his head that were similar to Tenley's, but much shorter. His beak and talons, however, could have easily been double the size of Finn's owl. It had to be an Eagle Owl, Finn realized, remembering the appearance of such a bird that Charlie had described to him the night before.

"Take this to my mother," Loki said demandingly. The gigantic bird snatched the letter up in his beak and, with a flap of his wings so forceful that Finn felt his hair blown back, it twisted into the air and disappeared out of a large window near the top of the tower. Finn stared in amazement after it. A large billow of feathers from around the owlery floated around them, tickling his nose, but he took no notice.

Loki gave Finn a sneering glance before turning to leave. "I'd be surprised too if my bird was the size of a rat."

"Tenley is not the size of a rat," Finn shot back immediately, taking his eyes from the window.

"Could have fooled me. I'd be ashamed if I had a bird that size. I'd probably put it out of its misery and feed it to the dogs back home."

The idea was so appalling to Finn that he could hardly think of anything to retort with. He knew that Tenley was still young, and was bound to grow nearly twice his own current size, but all the same, he now hated Loki more than he ever had simply for promoting the idea of killing birds for sport.

"Well," he managed to say, trying to keep his anger from showing, "That would be a mistake on your part, wouldn't it? Considering any half-witted person could tell you that Great Horned Owls are bound to grow to the same size as an Eagle Owl, such as your own, and would be capable of shredding any mongrel you tried to feed it to."

Loki twitched and narrowed his eyes.

"If I were you, I'd give it a second thought before attempting such cruelty on animals and watching your dirty mutts ripped to pieces.

There was a split second crack and a loud series of screeches as feathers scattered into the air around them, and Finn realized that Loki had just slammed him into the wooden door of the owlery, and startled half of its residents that were now screaming shrill hoots and taking off irritably through the windows.

There was an arm across his chest and a wand at his throat, and Finn's entire body froze. His first thought was to attempt to grab his own wand, which he suddenly remembered was tucked into his robes, back in his dormitory. He felt a new sheen of sweat starting on his forehead, and Loki's cold blue eyes leaned in closer to him.

"You ever say those two words again, and I swear I'll rip your throat out," he said in a low voice.

"That won't go over to well with the teachers, would it?" Finn answered immediately. It was a bold move to speak under such conditions, he knew, but he felt he should do something other than want to piss himself. However, using the teachers as a defense, he felt, wasn't much better.

"They'd never find you," Loki said, his voice lower now, "Trust me."

"You can't do anything to me," the other boy insisted, imagining there were few spells that Loki could possibly know. "I'd like to see you try."

After the words left his mouth, Finn realized this was the worst challenge he could have ever presented. His next thought was in wonder at why this other boy seemed to hate him so much. He didn't understand.

His feet hit the ground as Loki removed his arm, but kept his wand pointed at Finn's face. The glare that he was being given made him want shiver, but all the same, he tried to return it. He didn't want this to be the way his first day at Hogwarts ended. He wasn't going to spend the rest of his days at the school in fear of this other boy, who had the gall to believe he was better than everyone. It was sickening.

What happened next shocked both of the boys, as Loki couldn't have possibly imagined that Finn was about to do what he did.

Out of the sheer anger of being taunted, Loki shouted the only spell they had been taught.

"INCENDIO!"

As the words left his mouth, Finn grabbed the end of his wand and shoved it out of his face, having no other defense. The fire that Finn had seen in his class earlier that day was nothing compared to what just engulfed his hand. It spilled out of Loki's wand like a tidal wave, and just as Finn had grabbed at it, the fire swarmed over his fingers and up his wrist.

Both of the boys had no doubts that the flames could have set Finn's entire body on fire, but instead, the very edge of it caught his hand, and the rest shot over Finn's shoulder into the wooden door with a blast of heat. Finn threw himself into the owlery out of the fire's way, and Loki jumped back into the stone wall at the top of the staircase.

The flames, having already scorched a large hole in the door, licked up the sides of the black charred edges, leaving glowing embers behind them. Finn suddenly felt the crushing feeling of heat in his arm and screamed without being able to stop himself.

The sight of his blackened skin horrified him, and he stumbled back into a hollow where a tall white barn owl had been perched. The bird shrieked and flapped around in a panic, raking its talons against the back of Finn's neck as it took off in terror.

When the feathers around him started to slow and flutter to the ground, Finn felt hot tears stinging his face as his hand began to spasm painfully. His eyes widened in fear and he shot his gaze to the burning door.

Loki was gone.