Danger Lurks…in a Broom Closet?
1 By vedette
1.1 Chapter 5
Presents?!
***
Christmas was drawing nearer, and everyone was getting excited, even the teachers. Professor McGonagall had stopped giving detentions, and instead for punishment, a naughty student would have to sing a Christmas carol in front of the class [One of my teachers did that]. Harry grinned. It had been pretty funny watching Neville sing, "Deck the Halls" after Neville had accidentally Transfigured his desk, giving it claws and a tendency to scuttle, instead of turning his hat into a mouse. (Harry had a feeling that Neville would have preferred a detention than have to get up to the front of the class and sing a solo.) Harry hadn't given much thought to Christmas presents, and found himself getting worried. How on earth was he going to come up with so many present ideas? When he mentioned this to Hermione she looked shocked that Harry hadn't already figured it out yet. She showed him a list that she had made up. Only Hermione, he thought shaking his head, would make a whole list on possible gifts for each person, where and when to get each gift, figure out the price for each one, and fit it in a budget, three weeks before the holiday even arrived. But still, a list wasn't such a bad idea. He soon ended up making one himself, although it was nowhere as neat as Hermione's, in his bedroom. Then a thought struck him.
"Ron," he asked, "Whatever am I going to get Ginny?" Ron looked up from his History assignment, grateful for the distraction.
"Do you even need to get her anything? I'm her brother. What should I get her?" That brought on another thought. "Harry, what am I going to get Hermione?" Harry thought hard. Now, he knew exactly what he was going to get Hermione, a nice thick tricky book. But Ron however… Oh I don't know, thought Harry, why doesn't he get her flowers or write poetry or something. The idea of Ron writing poetry and sending flowers to Hermione brought a smile to his face. Soon Harry was laughing uncontrollably as he fell off his bed onto his floor. Ron stared at Harry rolling around on the ground.
"Whatever are you thinking about? Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I want to know (that's a lot of thinking)." Ron raised an eyebrow, watching Harry recover. "And if you're gonna say a book, don't even bother. I've done that for the last four years. Besides this year is different. I've got to get her something…special." That brought on another burst of laughter from Harry. Ron looked at his friend. Nope, Ron thought, Harry isn't going to be the slightest bit of help. But Harry proved Ron wrong [doesn't that sound awkward, Ron wrong? Try saying it out loud], once he calmed down enough to talk.
"Why don't we ask someone who knows more about the topic?" Harry questioned. Ron nodded; that sounded like a good idea. Now, who to ask? Someone who wouldn't embarrass him. He ran through everyone he could think of in his mind until he came to one conclusion. It had to be a relative. Now, he couldn't ask Mum or Dad, that'd be embarrassing all right. Bill and Charlie were far away; he couldn't risk having the advice come too late. Percy was certainly out of the question and the twins would tease him to another planet or give him the worst advice possible. Well then, that boiled down to one person.
"Harry, we'll have to ask Ginny," Ron decided. Harry looked relieved (perhaps he was worried they'd have to go to Percy).
"Well, at least Ginny's okay. I mean she won't be as bad as anyone else," Harry added hastily.
"I dunno. She'll probably tease me 'till I kneel at her feet calling Ginny 'Her Majesty'," Ron said glumly. He noticed Harry's shocked face. "Oh, I suppose you don't believe me? She's done it before; once I had to go around hailing her. I suppose you wouldn't know. She's never a spitfire around you, she acts sort of…well…um…calmer or subdued," Ron said, struggling to find the right word. Ron was closer to Ginny than all the rest of his siblings, probably because of the age closeness. He jogged off looking for Ginny. Ron just hoped that his sister would co-operate…
***
"So that's the problem Ginny," Ron finished off telling his predicament to Ginny. "You live with her, don't you have some idea of what she wants?" Ron and Ginny were in the common room together, while Harry distracted Hermione in the library so she wouldn't barge in. Ginny smiled at her brother mischievously and nodded.
"I'm pretty sure I could pick out what she'd like and what she wouldn't like. Should we go to Hogsmeade sometime and ditch Hermione to find her a spectacular, stunning present? Oh and I take it you want something a little more, ah… special than a book." Ron nodded. Now how come everyone came up with books as gifts for Hermione? At the rate she receives books, she'll own a full-fledged library by the time she graduates. Then he remembered something.
"No wait. It won't be just us; Harry's coming too. All we need now is someone to distract Hermione." Ron and Ginny put their heads together in thought about who to dump Hermione on.
"Hagrid!" exclaimed Ginny. "He could distract Hermione. And we can trust Hagrid." And Ginny sent Ron to Hagrid's place.
***
"So will you do it Hagrid?" Ron pleaded, tired from running all about looking for people.
"Course I will," Hagrid's voice boomed within the wooden cabin. "Y'know y' could've come t' me for advice a present for 'eremione." Ron assured him that Ginny would do the job, wincing as he remembered Hagrid and Madame Maxine. No, he definitely didn't want help from Hagrid in that department.
"I'm off to tell Harry now. Thanks for everything!" He bid good-bye to Hagrid, after being loaded down with treacle toffee and rock cakes. Instead of going directly back to Harry, Ron went towards the Owlery instead, hoping to get Pigwidgen to eat some of the rock cakes (Pig refused). He burst into the Gryffindor Common Room, about to tell Harry the revised plan was "all systems go" dropping a giant-sized pile of treats on the table. Then he noticed Hermione.
"Hiya Hermione. What'cha up to?" he asked, a little out of breath. Hermione frowned, as if noticing him for the first time.
"Actually I was looking for you. Harry said you were with Ginny, Ginny said you were with Hagrid and Hagrid said you were with Harry," she tapped her foot anxiously as she waited for an answer. Ron smiled weakly. It would take a lot of explaining to stop any of Hermione's suspicions…
**Half an hour later…**
"Okay let me sum this up," Hermione said, "You were with Harry, then went to see Ginny, stopped by Hagrid's then went to the Owlery to poison Pigwidgen." Ron nodded relieved to have the interrogating over, then stopped.
"I did not poison Pigwidgen! I was just offering his fair share of Hagrid's sweets," he protested.
"Anything cooked by Hagrid could be called poison. You could probably knock someone unconscious with those cakes of his. So everything you told me answers every question, except one. WHY did you visit all those people?!" Hermione said, perhaps a little too loudly.
"I was just catching up on all my friends," Ron couldn't figure out what was wrong with Hermione.
"Oh am I now not your friend!" she yelled, and stormed up to her bedroom. Ron just stood there slightly stunned. Now what had just happened there? He tried to recall all of his words. Ron was certain he said nothing wrong. Figures, Ron thought, girls are so touchy.
***
Ginny knocked on the door to her room. She was certain that was where Hermione was. When no one answered, she just walked in. There, Hermione sat on her bed, looking rather defiant and sulky.
"Hermione, whatever is the matter?" Ginny asked. She had already talked to her brother, as far as she could tell Ron had done nothing wrong. However that was from his point of view, and Ginny had learned early on that her brothers didn't always stick quite to the story. Hermione told the whole story.
"…and I think he's avoiding me and maybe he's seeing another girl." Hermione finished off, now close to tears. Ginny found the story rather amusing. Her brother… how was it Mum put it? Well Mum always called them "scarlet women" but would that make Ron a "scarlet man?"
"Hermione listen to yourself. You're getting worked up over nothing. Besides," Ginny hooted, "who on earth would want to go out with my brother!" She started giggling madly, and then stopped realizing what she had just said. "Um, meaning that, er, everyone knew the competition would be far too tough." Hermione smiled weakly at Ginny's stumbling.
"Y'really think so?"
"I'm sure of it," Ginny said firmly. Hermione started smiling a bit more.
"I guess I was just overdoing it. It just that I've been worried ever since we had that argument two nights ago…"
Ginny interrupted, "What argument?", silently cursing her brother for not mentioning everything.
"Well, I was studying for a very important test in Arithmancy when Ron tried to stop me. He thought I studied too much and he thought I ought to have some fun." Ginny laughed.
"Since when is that new? He was always quarrelling with you about grades. Hermione, are you just having a bad day or something?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded, then shook her head, then looked confused and just fell back on her bed to rest. Roommates, Ginny thought, can be so annoying or be your closest friends. All hers last year had been the worst. They just giggled about who knows what until the late of the night, making it impossible to sleep. She was glad to be with someone sensible like Hermione now. Even if Hermione hadn't been acting so sensible these days.
***
"Arg! Ginny I thought you said this would be easy!" Ron groaned. They had been to so many shops in Hogsmeade he thought he feet would drop off.
Ginny stuck out her tongue. "Well is it my fault you're so picky? You've turned down almost every suggestion I could think of. Oh yeah! I just remembered something I was supposed to tell you Ron. Hagrid had some advice for you. (Ron groaned inwardly.) Remember the old saying, 'A cat is a witch's best friend'?"
Harry cut in, "I thought that it was a dog is a man's best friend. Besides, Hermione already has Crookshanks, another cat probably wouldn't be appreciated."
"The quote is about cats and witches for the wizarding world," Ron explained.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted (Ginny couldn't bring herself to say "rudely" as most do), Hagrid thought the way to please Hermione was to please her cat," Ginny explained. Ron did some quick thinking.
"Y'mean all I have to do is get some cat food, and Hermione will be happy?" Ron asked hopefully. Ginny gave him a look of disdain.
"A little better than that. Great. I have a brother who thinks cat food is the ideal gift." Ginny pointed out a pet shop, and they all headed to it. Inside the shop was warm, filled with sounds of fluttering wings, hoots, hisses, and purring sounds. Ginny dragged her brother straight to the cat goods section. They examined everything to little squeaky realistic plastic mice to little kitty boots (guaranteed to keep the cold out). At everything that Ginny pointed out, Ron shook his head, saying it wasn't quite right, until Harry spotted something on a shelf.
"What about a cat collar?" he said, lifting a bunch of collars examining them. Ron seemed to like the suggestion. There was a pile of different colored collars, and next to it a pile of little metal name tags, in various shapes. Ron picked out an orange colored one, until Ginny pointed out that the Chudley Cannon's color wouldn't show up well on Crookshanks, seeing that the cat was of the same hue. Instead she picked out an electric blue and green one. There was a short argument about it, but in the end Ginny won (as always, she thought). Then Ron grabbed two of the little metal tags.
"Hey Ron. You grabbed one too many," Harry pointed out. A mischievous smile spread across Ron's face.
"Oh no, Harry. I grabbed exactly the amount that I wanted to grab. This one's for Crookshanks," he said, lifting the tag shaped like a cat's paw print, "And this one's for Hermione" Ron lifted a witch's hat shaped tag. "I figure I'll just string it on some ribbon, and presto, instant name charm necklace."
"That's not such a bad idea," Ginny said thoughtfully, "I could probably engrave the names for you if you want." Ron went to pay for the present, while Ginny and Harry drifted off into different sections of the store, to look around. Harry turned down into an aisle and found himself surrounded by a tower of owls, each fluttering their wings and hooting, as if they were begging Harry to buy them.
"Sorry, but I'm not here to buy. I'm just looking around," he told one overly exuberant owl. The owl ruffled its (Harry couldn't tell if it was male or female) feathers indignantly. They all seemed to calm down after that, and then Harry spotted it. The perfect owl. It was a bright red all over, with the heart shaped face like a barn owl's. Now he didn't want another owl, Hedwig was enough, but that owl would be the perfect present for…
"Ginny!" Harry panted to Ron, out of the hearing range of Ginny. "I'm telling you, it's the perfect present. We could get it for her together."
"Okay, that sounds fine. But however will we get it without Ginny seeing!" Ron mumbled, making sure his sister couldn't hear him. The two put their heads together on a way to now ditch Ginny. Harry found himself wondering how shopping for presents became so hard. He never had these sort of problems all his other years at Hogwarts. No, he thought to himself, the kind of problems you had were figuring out who Nicholas Flamel was, what the Chamber of Secrets held and what it had to do with you, why Sirius Black was after you and what that confounded egg meant. You didn't have real problems like this year, did you? Harry shook his head, trying to clear the sarcastic remarks for his mind and think up a good plan. It turned out he didn't have to.
"Ron, Harry," Ginny said, catching their attention, "I see Hermione out there with Hagrid, they must have decided to come to Hogsmead too. I'm going to join them." And with that she left. Ron and Harry both let out a sigh of relief. Harry led Ron to the owl he was talking about. They looked at it closely, but noticed that unlike the other owls, this one had no price tag on the cage.
"That does it. It's probably waaaaay too expensive. That's what most priceless things are," said Ron sorrowfully, for he thought he present problems with Ginny were finally solved. A shopkeeper rushed up to them and asked if they needed any help.
"Er, well, we were wondering (that's a lot of w's) about this owl here. Why doesn't it have a price tag like the others? Is it some sort of rare breed?" Harry asked motioning to the now sleeping owl. The shopkeeper looked nervously around.
"Are you quite sure this is the one you want?" he asked. When Harry nodded firmly "yes," the shopkeeper continued. "Well this is a rare breed, the berry barn owl (I did lots of research to figure out which owl to choose, and this one really exists) but that's not why there's no price tag. It's because of the owl. Y'see, it's very temperamental. Won't get along with just anyone. Unlike most owls, which adapt to suit their master's needs, this one will bite and destroy mail of anyone it doesn't like. It won't fight owls out of courtesy, but it doesn't make friends or get along with them either. Whenever provoked, it flies into a raging temper and we think it's bright red for a reason." The shopkeeper sighed in exasperation. Harry chose the moment to jump in and say something.
"D'you normally talk to your customers like this. I mean, do you want to keep this bird or something?" Harry asked, confused on why the shopkeeper insisted on telling the bad features of the owl and not the good ones like most advertisers do.
"Well, I don't normally put down my precious pets. But this one's a menace I tell you!" the shopkeeper glared at the sleeping owl. "Plus the last three customers have all returned this owl because of the destructive behaviour. My last buyer and used to be one of my best customers, was a lady who got nipped five times and lost all her best candy that was being delivered. The troublemaker ate it, instead of sending it to the receiver. She doesn't act like that around everyone, just the people she doesn't like."
"Whoa, wait a second. Who're talking about, the lady, not acting like that or the owl?" Ron asked.
"Oh the owl's female. Didn't I mention that?" Without waiting for an answer the shopkeeper launched into another speech. "This owl is the most loyal, but you have to earn it, otherwise the owl will make your life miserable." Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"If anyone could do it, Ginny can," said Ron, "She's great with all animals, and has always wanted a pet. We'll take her." The chatty shopkeeper's face went pale, as he realized he could be rid of her forever.
"I'll make you a deal. You can have the menace free if you buy a cage and you promise never, ever, try to return her for your money back," the shopkeeper said, thinking that he would get the better deal."
"Deal," Harry said, and they bought the owl. "Now all we have to do is hide you…"
***
Thanks for all the new reviews. I didn't think that anyone would review, telling me what they thought the answer was to the question in Chapter 4, so that was a surprise. A special thanks goes to somedaydreamer for putting this story as one of her favorite stories.
1 By vedette
1.1 Chapter 5
Presents?!
***
Christmas was drawing nearer, and everyone was getting excited, even the teachers. Professor McGonagall had stopped giving detentions, and instead for punishment, a naughty student would have to sing a Christmas carol in front of the class [One of my teachers did that]. Harry grinned. It had been pretty funny watching Neville sing, "Deck the Halls" after Neville had accidentally Transfigured his desk, giving it claws and a tendency to scuttle, instead of turning his hat into a mouse. (Harry had a feeling that Neville would have preferred a detention than have to get up to the front of the class and sing a solo.) Harry hadn't given much thought to Christmas presents, and found himself getting worried. How on earth was he going to come up with so many present ideas? When he mentioned this to Hermione she looked shocked that Harry hadn't already figured it out yet. She showed him a list that she had made up. Only Hermione, he thought shaking his head, would make a whole list on possible gifts for each person, where and when to get each gift, figure out the price for each one, and fit it in a budget, three weeks before the holiday even arrived. But still, a list wasn't such a bad idea. He soon ended up making one himself, although it was nowhere as neat as Hermione's, in his bedroom. Then a thought struck him.
"Ron," he asked, "Whatever am I going to get Ginny?" Ron looked up from his History assignment, grateful for the distraction.
"Do you even need to get her anything? I'm her brother. What should I get her?" That brought on another thought. "Harry, what am I going to get Hermione?" Harry thought hard. Now, he knew exactly what he was going to get Hermione, a nice thick tricky book. But Ron however… Oh I don't know, thought Harry, why doesn't he get her flowers or write poetry or something. The idea of Ron writing poetry and sending flowers to Hermione brought a smile to his face. Soon Harry was laughing uncontrollably as he fell off his bed onto his floor. Ron stared at Harry rolling around on the ground.
"Whatever are you thinking about? Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I want to know (that's a lot of thinking)." Ron raised an eyebrow, watching Harry recover. "And if you're gonna say a book, don't even bother. I've done that for the last four years. Besides this year is different. I've got to get her something…special." That brought on another burst of laughter from Harry. Ron looked at his friend. Nope, Ron thought, Harry isn't going to be the slightest bit of help. But Harry proved Ron wrong [doesn't that sound awkward, Ron wrong? Try saying it out loud], once he calmed down enough to talk.
"Why don't we ask someone who knows more about the topic?" Harry questioned. Ron nodded; that sounded like a good idea. Now, who to ask? Someone who wouldn't embarrass him. He ran through everyone he could think of in his mind until he came to one conclusion. It had to be a relative. Now, he couldn't ask Mum or Dad, that'd be embarrassing all right. Bill and Charlie were far away; he couldn't risk having the advice come too late. Percy was certainly out of the question and the twins would tease him to another planet or give him the worst advice possible. Well then, that boiled down to one person.
"Harry, we'll have to ask Ginny," Ron decided. Harry looked relieved (perhaps he was worried they'd have to go to Percy).
"Well, at least Ginny's okay. I mean she won't be as bad as anyone else," Harry added hastily.
"I dunno. She'll probably tease me 'till I kneel at her feet calling Ginny 'Her Majesty'," Ron said glumly. He noticed Harry's shocked face. "Oh, I suppose you don't believe me? She's done it before; once I had to go around hailing her. I suppose you wouldn't know. She's never a spitfire around you, she acts sort of…well…um…calmer or subdued," Ron said, struggling to find the right word. Ron was closer to Ginny than all the rest of his siblings, probably because of the age closeness. He jogged off looking for Ginny. Ron just hoped that his sister would co-operate…
***
"So that's the problem Ginny," Ron finished off telling his predicament to Ginny. "You live with her, don't you have some idea of what she wants?" Ron and Ginny were in the common room together, while Harry distracted Hermione in the library so she wouldn't barge in. Ginny smiled at her brother mischievously and nodded.
"I'm pretty sure I could pick out what she'd like and what she wouldn't like. Should we go to Hogsmeade sometime and ditch Hermione to find her a spectacular, stunning present? Oh and I take it you want something a little more, ah… special than a book." Ron nodded. Now how come everyone came up with books as gifts for Hermione? At the rate she receives books, she'll own a full-fledged library by the time she graduates. Then he remembered something.
"No wait. It won't be just us; Harry's coming too. All we need now is someone to distract Hermione." Ron and Ginny put their heads together in thought about who to dump Hermione on.
"Hagrid!" exclaimed Ginny. "He could distract Hermione. And we can trust Hagrid." And Ginny sent Ron to Hagrid's place.
***
"So will you do it Hagrid?" Ron pleaded, tired from running all about looking for people.
"Course I will," Hagrid's voice boomed within the wooden cabin. "Y'know y' could've come t' me for advice a present for 'eremione." Ron assured him that Ginny would do the job, wincing as he remembered Hagrid and Madame Maxine. No, he definitely didn't want help from Hagrid in that department.
"I'm off to tell Harry now. Thanks for everything!" He bid good-bye to Hagrid, after being loaded down with treacle toffee and rock cakes. Instead of going directly back to Harry, Ron went towards the Owlery instead, hoping to get Pigwidgen to eat some of the rock cakes (Pig refused). He burst into the Gryffindor Common Room, about to tell Harry the revised plan was "all systems go" dropping a giant-sized pile of treats on the table. Then he noticed Hermione.
"Hiya Hermione. What'cha up to?" he asked, a little out of breath. Hermione frowned, as if noticing him for the first time.
"Actually I was looking for you. Harry said you were with Ginny, Ginny said you were with Hagrid and Hagrid said you were with Harry," she tapped her foot anxiously as she waited for an answer. Ron smiled weakly. It would take a lot of explaining to stop any of Hermione's suspicions…
**Half an hour later…**
"Okay let me sum this up," Hermione said, "You were with Harry, then went to see Ginny, stopped by Hagrid's then went to the Owlery to poison Pigwidgen." Ron nodded relieved to have the interrogating over, then stopped.
"I did not poison Pigwidgen! I was just offering his fair share of Hagrid's sweets," he protested.
"Anything cooked by Hagrid could be called poison. You could probably knock someone unconscious with those cakes of his. So everything you told me answers every question, except one. WHY did you visit all those people?!" Hermione said, perhaps a little too loudly.
"I was just catching up on all my friends," Ron couldn't figure out what was wrong with Hermione.
"Oh am I now not your friend!" she yelled, and stormed up to her bedroom. Ron just stood there slightly stunned. Now what had just happened there? He tried to recall all of his words. Ron was certain he said nothing wrong. Figures, Ron thought, girls are so touchy.
***
Ginny knocked on the door to her room. She was certain that was where Hermione was. When no one answered, she just walked in. There, Hermione sat on her bed, looking rather defiant and sulky.
"Hermione, whatever is the matter?" Ginny asked. She had already talked to her brother, as far as she could tell Ron had done nothing wrong. However that was from his point of view, and Ginny had learned early on that her brothers didn't always stick quite to the story. Hermione told the whole story.
"…and I think he's avoiding me and maybe he's seeing another girl." Hermione finished off, now close to tears. Ginny found the story rather amusing. Her brother… how was it Mum put it? Well Mum always called them "scarlet women" but would that make Ron a "scarlet man?"
"Hermione listen to yourself. You're getting worked up over nothing. Besides," Ginny hooted, "who on earth would want to go out with my brother!" She started giggling madly, and then stopped realizing what she had just said. "Um, meaning that, er, everyone knew the competition would be far too tough." Hermione smiled weakly at Ginny's stumbling.
"Y'really think so?"
"I'm sure of it," Ginny said firmly. Hermione started smiling a bit more.
"I guess I was just overdoing it. It just that I've been worried ever since we had that argument two nights ago…"
Ginny interrupted, "What argument?", silently cursing her brother for not mentioning everything.
"Well, I was studying for a very important test in Arithmancy when Ron tried to stop me. He thought I studied too much and he thought I ought to have some fun." Ginny laughed.
"Since when is that new? He was always quarrelling with you about grades. Hermione, are you just having a bad day or something?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded, then shook her head, then looked confused and just fell back on her bed to rest. Roommates, Ginny thought, can be so annoying or be your closest friends. All hers last year had been the worst. They just giggled about who knows what until the late of the night, making it impossible to sleep. She was glad to be with someone sensible like Hermione now. Even if Hermione hadn't been acting so sensible these days.
***
"Arg! Ginny I thought you said this would be easy!" Ron groaned. They had been to so many shops in Hogsmeade he thought he feet would drop off.
Ginny stuck out her tongue. "Well is it my fault you're so picky? You've turned down almost every suggestion I could think of. Oh yeah! I just remembered something I was supposed to tell you Ron. Hagrid had some advice for you. (Ron groaned inwardly.) Remember the old saying, 'A cat is a witch's best friend'?"
Harry cut in, "I thought that it was a dog is a man's best friend. Besides, Hermione already has Crookshanks, another cat probably wouldn't be appreciated."
"The quote is about cats and witches for the wizarding world," Ron explained.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted (Ginny couldn't bring herself to say "rudely" as most do), Hagrid thought the way to please Hermione was to please her cat," Ginny explained. Ron did some quick thinking.
"Y'mean all I have to do is get some cat food, and Hermione will be happy?" Ron asked hopefully. Ginny gave him a look of disdain.
"A little better than that. Great. I have a brother who thinks cat food is the ideal gift." Ginny pointed out a pet shop, and they all headed to it. Inside the shop was warm, filled with sounds of fluttering wings, hoots, hisses, and purring sounds. Ginny dragged her brother straight to the cat goods section. They examined everything to little squeaky realistic plastic mice to little kitty boots (guaranteed to keep the cold out). At everything that Ginny pointed out, Ron shook his head, saying it wasn't quite right, until Harry spotted something on a shelf.
"What about a cat collar?" he said, lifting a bunch of collars examining them. Ron seemed to like the suggestion. There was a pile of different colored collars, and next to it a pile of little metal name tags, in various shapes. Ron picked out an orange colored one, until Ginny pointed out that the Chudley Cannon's color wouldn't show up well on Crookshanks, seeing that the cat was of the same hue. Instead she picked out an electric blue and green one. There was a short argument about it, but in the end Ginny won (as always, she thought). Then Ron grabbed two of the little metal tags.
"Hey Ron. You grabbed one too many," Harry pointed out. A mischievous smile spread across Ron's face.
"Oh no, Harry. I grabbed exactly the amount that I wanted to grab. This one's for Crookshanks," he said, lifting the tag shaped like a cat's paw print, "And this one's for Hermione" Ron lifted a witch's hat shaped tag. "I figure I'll just string it on some ribbon, and presto, instant name charm necklace."
"That's not such a bad idea," Ginny said thoughtfully, "I could probably engrave the names for you if you want." Ron went to pay for the present, while Ginny and Harry drifted off into different sections of the store, to look around. Harry turned down into an aisle and found himself surrounded by a tower of owls, each fluttering their wings and hooting, as if they were begging Harry to buy them.
"Sorry, but I'm not here to buy. I'm just looking around," he told one overly exuberant owl. The owl ruffled its (Harry couldn't tell if it was male or female) feathers indignantly. They all seemed to calm down after that, and then Harry spotted it. The perfect owl. It was a bright red all over, with the heart shaped face like a barn owl's. Now he didn't want another owl, Hedwig was enough, but that owl would be the perfect present for…
"Ginny!" Harry panted to Ron, out of the hearing range of Ginny. "I'm telling you, it's the perfect present. We could get it for her together."
"Okay, that sounds fine. But however will we get it without Ginny seeing!" Ron mumbled, making sure his sister couldn't hear him. The two put their heads together on a way to now ditch Ginny. Harry found himself wondering how shopping for presents became so hard. He never had these sort of problems all his other years at Hogwarts. No, he thought to himself, the kind of problems you had were figuring out who Nicholas Flamel was, what the Chamber of Secrets held and what it had to do with you, why Sirius Black was after you and what that confounded egg meant. You didn't have real problems like this year, did you? Harry shook his head, trying to clear the sarcastic remarks for his mind and think up a good plan. It turned out he didn't have to.
"Ron, Harry," Ginny said, catching their attention, "I see Hermione out there with Hagrid, they must have decided to come to Hogsmead too. I'm going to join them." And with that she left. Ron and Harry both let out a sigh of relief. Harry led Ron to the owl he was talking about. They looked at it closely, but noticed that unlike the other owls, this one had no price tag on the cage.
"That does it. It's probably waaaaay too expensive. That's what most priceless things are," said Ron sorrowfully, for he thought he present problems with Ginny were finally solved. A shopkeeper rushed up to them and asked if they needed any help.
"Er, well, we were wondering (that's a lot of w's) about this owl here. Why doesn't it have a price tag like the others? Is it some sort of rare breed?" Harry asked motioning to the now sleeping owl. The shopkeeper looked nervously around.
"Are you quite sure this is the one you want?" he asked. When Harry nodded firmly "yes," the shopkeeper continued. "Well this is a rare breed, the berry barn owl (I did lots of research to figure out which owl to choose, and this one really exists) but that's not why there's no price tag. It's because of the owl. Y'see, it's very temperamental. Won't get along with just anyone. Unlike most owls, which adapt to suit their master's needs, this one will bite and destroy mail of anyone it doesn't like. It won't fight owls out of courtesy, but it doesn't make friends or get along with them either. Whenever provoked, it flies into a raging temper and we think it's bright red for a reason." The shopkeeper sighed in exasperation. Harry chose the moment to jump in and say something.
"D'you normally talk to your customers like this. I mean, do you want to keep this bird or something?" Harry asked, confused on why the shopkeeper insisted on telling the bad features of the owl and not the good ones like most advertisers do.
"Well, I don't normally put down my precious pets. But this one's a menace I tell you!" the shopkeeper glared at the sleeping owl. "Plus the last three customers have all returned this owl because of the destructive behaviour. My last buyer and used to be one of my best customers, was a lady who got nipped five times and lost all her best candy that was being delivered. The troublemaker ate it, instead of sending it to the receiver. She doesn't act like that around everyone, just the people she doesn't like."
"Whoa, wait a second. Who're talking about, the lady, not acting like that or the owl?" Ron asked.
"Oh the owl's female. Didn't I mention that?" Without waiting for an answer the shopkeeper launched into another speech. "This owl is the most loyal, but you have to earn it, otherwise the owl will make your life miserable." Harry and Ron looked at each other.
"If anyone could do it, Ginny can," said Ron, "She's great with all animals, and has always wanted a pet. We'll take her." The chatty shopkeeper's face went pale, as he realized he could be rid of her forever.
"I'll make you a deal. You can have the menace free if you buy a cage and you promise never, ever, try to return her for your money back," the shopkeeper said, thinking that he would get the better deal."
"Deal," Harry said, and they bought the owl. "Now all we have to do is hide you…"
***
Thanks for all the new reviews. I didn't think that anyone would review, telling me what they thought the answer was to the question in Chapter 4, so that was a surprise. A special thanks goes to somedaydreamer for putting this story as one of her favorite stories.
