Chapter 35: The Owlery.
RECAP: Ash closed her eyes and then James gently held her with his hands on her waist… Ash still closing her eyes got a little closer and then James leaned in closer to her, their faces got closer and closer…
There was then a knock on the door and Ash opened her eyes and then James opened his.
'James, I think theres someone outside…' Ash said slowly letting go of James
James moved back into his standing position and then let go of Ash and then turned to the door and shouted COME IN. There was a small creak and then the door opened, there was Professor Slughorn.
'Oh James, Miss Phoenix, there you are!' He smiled
'Oh hello professor!' James said walking to Slughorn
'James my boy, how's the stain now?' Slughorn asked
'It's better, with Ash's help its nice and clean now' James laughed
'Good, good, thank you to you Miss Phoenix!' Slughorn looked at Ash
'No problem!' Ash looked down
Professor Slughorn waved goodbye and then left Ash and James who left the room minutes after Slughorn had left.
It quickly became lunch after 3 more lessons and Ash was in with Rhea in the Girls' Dorm getting ready to go with James to the owlery.
'What are you getting so ready for? We only have a free period!' Rhea said
'I know, but I'm going to the owlery with James' Ash smiled as her hair magically straightened
'Its only the owlery though, nothing special about it… OH!' Rhea snapped
'Yeah…' Ash blushed
'Why though?' Rhea asked
'Well, I think he likes me, I don't know… But we almost… Never mind' Ash turned around to get her bag
'No tell me!' Rhea said
Ash then whispered something in Rhea's ear and Rhea smiled and was really happy for Ash, although no one knew what Ash had whispered in Rhea's ear.
'Well, maybe you should try again, and then hopefully it wont fail this time' Smiled Rhea
'I don't know, its failed every time…' Sighed Ash
'I know but this could be it!' Smiled Rhea
'Listen I don't care Rhea, we're all going to see the Potter's at Christmas and its not really that far off anymore' Ash sighed
'I know… But you should get going now, you look really pretty and… Have a good time!' Smiled Rhea
'You too, with Sid!' Giggled Ash 'Don't get too angry if you see Priya'
'I'll try not to' Smiled Rhea
And with that Ash got her jacket on, as it was quite windy outside and then went down to the common room… She didn't see James anywhere but then she heard someone coming down the stairs, assuming it wasn't James, she turned but then…
'Oh there you are Ash!' A voice behind her said
'Oh James…' Sighed Ash as she turned back around
'Wow… Ash… Urmm…' James nervously started playing with his hair at the back
'What?' Ash smiled
'You look really pretty…' James smiled
'Oh thanks… You look quite good yourself Potter' Smiled Ash
'Thanks… Shall we go?' James said
'Sure!' Ash replied
Ash followed James and they went outside to go to the owlery. It wasn't too far, they just had to o over the main bridge and then up the hill to get to the owlery. They got outside to see everyone getting ready for classes, but it was only the years below… There was a rush, so Ash and James quickly went over the bridge, dodging any other students so there wouldn't be a massive collision which would cause both Ash and James to fall, as well as the student, and no one likes getting hurt. Outside was getting windier and much more colder, so Ash and James tried their best to get to the owlery quickly and back to the common room fast, but it was impossible with the wind!
'More and more wind is coming!' Shouted Ash over the wind
'I know, but we're almost there! Come on!' Replied James as he grabbed Ash's hand
Ash and James holding hands, made their way up to the owlery, its even more harder climbing a hill when its windy as well! There weren't many other students around, only a few who were running to get back inside. Ash and James finally reached the door of the owlery and opened it, but then it closed tightly behind them because of the wind.
'Wow, its empty!' Ash said looking around
'I know… It's never been like this' James said as he walked up next to Ash
Ash looked at James and then smiled 'Nice hair Potter'
James looked confused, so Ash sorted out his hair. She got closer to him and looked at him and started flattening his hair so it was normal again.
'There you go!' Ash giggled
'Thanks Ash…' Smiled James
'No problem!' She replied
Ash turned back around and then went up the stairs to search for a letter with James' name on. While James searched for his own name at the bottom.
Ash got higher and higher up the stairs but she couldn't find anything…
'James, what does your owl look like?' Asked Ash
'Well, it's a snow owl, responds to the name Wings' Laughed James
'Really?' Laughed Ash
'Yep!' He said
Ash started calling out 'Wings' but nothing was happening, there was no sign of any owl or bird or anything.
'I don't think it's here!' Ash said
'Maybe… You check down here and I'll check up there!' Smiled James
Ash agreed and then went down to where James was, and James went up the stairs to see if there was any owl here. As James got higher and higher, he could hear something, something squeaking, Ash didn't go as high as he did, but as he got higher, it became more clear to what the sound was…
'ASH! You have got to come up here quickly!' Shouted James
'Why? You sound worried' Ash said slowly coming up the stairs
'Just come here…' James pointed
Ash got closer and closer and got next to James and gasped at the sight…
'W-What?' Ash sighed
'I don't know…' James replied
On the icy table on the top floor, there was a dying owl there, its wings had been hurt and there was dry blood on the side of the table, there were letters beside the owl as well, all addressed to James Potter…
'Is that..?' Ash stopped
'Yeah, that's Wings' Sighed James
'But what happened…?' Ash looked at James
'I don't know, but this has happened on purpose, this was no accident' James looked at Ash
James held out his hand and got closer to Wings. Wings' beak tried getting closer and closer to James' hand but it gave up and left out a little squeak… James knelt beside it and then looked at Wings', even though it was an owl, he could see the pain in his eyes…
'There's nothing else I can do…' Sighed James
'We could try healing it, we could take him back to the castle…' Ash said from behind
'The wind will be too strong for Wings, he'll die both ways' James looked at Ash
'What do you want to do then?' Ash asked
'I don't want him to die slowly, I don't even want him to die at all…' James looked down
James put his hand on Wings' chest and tears fell from his eyes.
'James… Don't cry please! I know he was close to you… But you have to let go' Ash knelt next to James and looked at him
'I already lost my first owl, and now I've lost Wings… I promised Dad I wouldn't lose anything else' James looked at Ash
Ash looked at James and gently wiped his tears away and then leaned in and hugged him… She put her head on his shoulder and put her arms around him, he put his arms around her and they held each other closely for a while, then Ash got back up and then pulled James up… She looked at Wings and then saw he was not alive anymore…
'I'll take your letters, you can carry Wings, we can bury him somewhere near if you want…' Ash said
'Okay then…' James got up and picked Wings up
James who was carrying the dead owl and Ash who was carrying all the letters, left the owlery and went somewhere a little private…
'I have no idea where this is but we can bury Wings here' Shouted Ash
'Okay…' James sighed
Ash used her wand and then dug a hole in the ground, before James places Wings there and Ash covered the hole up again, after that James and Ash both made some flowers appear and Wings was left there…
'Come on we need to get back now' Ash said gently grabbing James' hand
'Thank you Ash…' James said
'For what?' She replied
'For everything…' James smiled
'You don't need to thank me!' Ash smiled
James and Ash started walking back to the castle, and then it started raining. Ash smiled as she got soaked, and her mascara ran down her cheek.
'Nice face' Laughed James
'Oh thanks' Laughed Ash holding James' hand tightly
'No seriously, you look… Really nice in the rain' James blushed
'Oh yeah right, I look terrible, out of both of us, you look the best in the rain' Ash smiled
This went on for a while until they got back to the castle, it was only 7pm and James and Ash decided to read all of the letters together, as well as talking about what happened to Wings that same day…