Disclaimer- Sadly, I do not own the copyrights to Harry Potter or Hogwarts. Any mention of either, or other various characters from her books, belong solely to JK Rowling. However, the plot and Jesssica, as well as her relatives, and Serenity, and Mr. Clarkson are of my own creation.
So Close
As the sun rose, glistening down on top of the nearby snow drifts, it marked the anniversary of a most unfortunate day. Serenity had been in captivity for exactly three years. Her capture fed her well, which is why she had managed to live this long, but he didn't know a thing about the correct way in which to care for a Hogwarts' owl. In fact, he had no idea Serenity was a Hogwarts owl. She would have been quite surprised if he even knew what Hogwarts was.
With her distinguished, and slightly sharp features the owl was noticeably different than most. Her feathers were the color of the bark on the surrounding pine trees, speckled with white just like the newly fallen snow outside. She was a remarkably beautiful owl, and her eyes showed a yearning to return home within the deep swirls of brown.
The man, a Muggle, or non-magical person, had found her caught between the branches of a fallen tree. On her way to her destination, a storm had blown through that very forest and caught her in it. The Hogwarts letter, informing a young witch of her acceptance into the school, she had meant to deliver was hidden under her left wing, and remained there still. The professors at Hogwarts had failed to notice the missing owl and student, a mistake not often made, but there was obviously a margin of error.
The man was quite nice and much too lonely. If it hadn't been for the second characteristic he might have let her loose long again so she could deliver the letter. His door hadn't been knocked on once in the three years, except for the post man, occasionally stopping at the door to deliver a larger package. Serenity ruffled her wings and stared longingly out the window beside her.
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"Mother, I didn't mean to.."
"I've heard enough from you, Jessica. Throwing your own brother to the top of the roof, and you say you didn't mean to! I'd like to know where you get the strength. These practical jokes have got to end!" The woman's eyes sparked with anger, and one could clearly see the wrinkles etched upon her face.
"But I didn't do it!"
"For God's sake child, who did?"
Jessica opened her mouth as if to say something, but finding that she didn't have a suitable answer, she quickly closed it again. Her own eyes, although the same emerald green color, didn't contain the anger of her mother's but instead a mixture of boredom and sadness.
"Just as I thought," Her mother let out a long sigh, evidence of fourteen long years of raising a practical joker of a child, one who adamantly refuses to admit to her own doings. "Why not busy yourself with a walk?"
Her mother's sigh was now imitated by herself. "Where to?"
"Where else? I have been trying to get you to visit Mr. Clarkson again for several years now."
"Have you forgotten, that when I last visited him, he broke my arm?" She flipped back the shoulder length brown hair, leaving a few stray hairs upon the shoulder of her black top, something she took a minute to frown upon.
Another sigh, this one making it clear that she was not in the mood for arguing. "It was four years ago, and it wasn't his fault. If you had of held onto the damned horse.."
"Fine. I'm going. Maybe this time he'll break my neck."
She turned briskly on the heel of her worn out Nike sneakers, smudged with dirt and grass, making it unable to tell that they were once white, leaving her mother to climb up the steel ladder and rescue the blonde, nervous child sitting upon the roof of the old two story house.