Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)

Demonology: A Compendium of Demons

Task #6: Imp : Write about someone who is often overlooked - written about Hedwig

Word count: 3187

Beta: Copper's Mama

She looked around her new home. It was beautiful; in the solitary forest. She was nothing but a hatchling with her mother, two sisters, and a brother. But, she was happy that she had a family again.

When she had died—for the fourth time—Death had given her an assignment more important than anything else. He was trusting her! He was trusting a human being on an important assignment! Maybe he had come to know her better since she had rebirthed and died for the fourth time—that was more than anyone but Merlin since only people who have committed acts of niceness could ask for rebirth—so he thought he could trust her?

Anyway, her task was to return back to life yet again, this time as an owl. She didn't mind, she spent her third life as a female lion—rather fascinating experience—so she already knew what to expect when being an animal. Being an animal was better since she would regain her knowledge of her past lives, a thing she would only remember after dying (again) if she were human.

She would be sent to Earth and there she would wait until she had the opportunity of playing nanny to one Harry Potter. Of course, she knew about him; she had heard the news that the Dark Lord had been killed by a baby just before she was killed in a rogue Death Eater attack where she'd been trying to protect the innocents.

Anyway, back to the present. Her name was Jia Li—'good and beautiful' in Chinese since she was the most beautiful and patient of all of her siblings. Her sisters were 'Daiyu'—black jade in Chinese since she was as black as the blackest jade, and 'Chyou'—autumn in Chinese since she was born in the autumn season. Jia Li's brother's name was 'Xiao'—little in Chinese since he was the youngest of them all.

It seemed as if she was born in a Chinese Snowy Owl family. Apparently, they had migrated to these forests when her great-grandmother was a hatchling. Then, they had made themselves comfortable in the solitary forests. They could practically live anywhere in the world, unlike their muggle counterparts, since they were magic.

The four siblings spent their time hunting and flying through the trees. But then came the fateful day when some magicals noticed that there was a family of Snowy Owls in the Chinese forest. And, obviously, they wanted to take them as pets since Snowy Owls made for fantastic post-owls, not to mention their beauty.

Their mother was killed right in front of their eyes since she was too old to be taken as a pet. Even though she was mentally centuries old and knew of her 'mission', she could not help but feel extremely devastated when their mother was killed. Then, Daiyu, Chyou, and Xiao were all taken as pets by the three wizards and the last one—a witch—decided to take her to a magical pet shop in England where someone would buy her.

And so began her life in the Eeylops Owl Emporium. She…tolerated it. The first few days were utterly miserable, but then she showed just how much damage her claws could do and the shopkeeper let her be in the cage, only giving her food when appropriate. The other owls didn't like her as much either. They were jealous of her beauty, and that wizards and witches didn't ever look twice at the other owls once they had seen her.

Of course, she always glared, barked angrily, and scratched whenever someone tried to buy her. She was in the shop for seven years—longer than any other owl. Then, one day, a half-giant—Rubeus Hagrid—came to buy her. She had seen Hagrid with Harry Potter telling him how horrible Slytherins were—utter bullshit, by the way—and knew that he was buying her for Harry since Hagrid already had the school owls which he could use.

Sure enough, Hagrid gave her to Harry as a 'birthday present'. Jia Li—for no one had thought to give her a name—thoroughly examined her ward. He seemed malnourished with knobbly knees, charcoal-like black hair, pale body and emerald green eyes. And, just below the fringe, there was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Then, Hagrid dropped Harry off in a train station with all of his stuff and a ticket of the Hogwarts Express.

She narrowed her eyes, a sudden realisation hitting her. Hagrid shouldn't even be escorting Harry since he was not a teacher, just the groundskeeper.

Besides, as far as she knew, Harry had been sent to his mother's sister's family which meant that they already knew about magic and could easily accompany Harry to Diagon Alley but she couldn't see the hide nor hair of anyone else who could be Harry Potter's guardian.

If Harry needed an escort that would mean that he never knew about magic in the first place. Why shouldn't he? His mother's sister would be no stranger to magic. She should've told him the moment he first exhibited accidental magic. Or was the family like those staunchly Catholic families? Believing that witches and wizards were descendants of Lucifer? She should hope not.

Anyway, back to the original problem, who appointed the person who was to be the escort of muggle-raised children? She had to wrack her brain a little. Ahh, the headmaster, which meant Dumbledore. She knew that Dumbledore was a bit manipulative, but he had good intentions at heart so it was okay. She also knew that with Harry being the bacon of light, Dumbledore would be more invested in him.

But, why would he go as far to make Hagrid—a man who hadn't even finished school—the escort of Harry Potter? Because he was close to Dumbledore and hoped that he could make Harry close to Dumbledore? Did Dumbledore give Harry to the muggles because he wanted someone who was a blank slate? Easily mouldable? Maybe, it seemed plausible for Dumbledore, especially since Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived.

But he didn't even tell Harry about how to get on Platform 9 ¾! Maybe he had forgotten that but she didn't believe it. Hagrid remembered to give Harry the ticket and Harry even said that there was no platform 9 ¾ but Hagrid didn't answer. What was going on?

So deep in her thoughts, she didn't even notice it when she was in Privet Drive. She realized at once that these muggles were just like the Catholic muggle Orphanage matrons. She should know, she spent her fourth life in one before she went to Hogwarts.

Harry took her to his cousin's second bedroom. There, he carefully placed his Hogwarts things neatly across the room and started talking to her about his life. After he had finished telling everything, she wanted nothing more than to brutally murder the Dursleys and the torture Dumbledore.

How can they shove their own nephew—own flesh and blood—in a cupboard? How can they 'try to beat the magic out of him'? That could turn him into an Obscurial. And Dumbledore. He knew all about it from Figg yet he never did anything! Why? Did he want his saviour broken? Malleable to his every wish? It definitely seemed like it. The respect for Dumbledore dropped within her.

She was amused when he told her about the time he did accidental magic, and was rather horrified when he told her about the zoo incident. She had nothing against people who were Parselmouths—it was just another talent, just like witches and wizards—but if the wizarding world knew, especially if Dumbledore knew, then he would be dead.

She felt a fierce protectiveness for this boy who had been abandoned, neglected and abused. Whose friends were an owl who he couldn't understand and some broken action figures. She hadn't felt this sort of protectiveness since she had her cubs in her third life and it terrified her that she was already growing so close to a boy she had known for a couple of hours.

However, she decided that she wanted it. She would protect her ward, her master, her child against everything.

Her new name was Hedwig. She didn't mind since it was such a beautiful name and—quite ironically—she was the original Hedwig, patron of widowed women and orphans in her second life.

Finally, it was the 1st of September and she amused herself watching as Harry packed everything and then blabbered on and on about how he thought magic was like. Oh, how she wanted to be human and be a proper family to him, to tell him about the wonders of magic. But, alas! She was an owl.

She wanted to scream at Petunia and Vernon for leaving an eleven-year-old child in a crowded station where Harry could've easily gotten lost. Petunia must've come with her sister, the delightful Lily, so she must know the entrance to platform 9 ¾.

Then, she heard someone talking loudly about…the platform number? And a little girl answered back just as loudly—loudly enough to let them hear over a long distance—that it was platform 9 ¾? What the hell was going on? Why were witches and wizards just spouting out loudly about platform 9 ¾? Why wouldn't the woman already know the number?

No one can possibly forget the name of the iconic platform. Besides, she seemed to have plenty of kids if the crowd of vibrant red-heads was anything to go by. If she already brought so many of her children to the platform, how would she even forget it? Why was she so late with her family even though they were clearly wizarding and had access to the floo powder which they could easily use and arrive way before time, not so late.

And, even if she forgot it, she could've easily casted a notice-me-not over herself and her family and then asked the question. Did she have some sort of head injury?

Hedwig thought that she knew the red-headed woman. As Harry got closer to them, no doubt to ask how to get on the platform, she took one look at the woman and instantly realized who she was. Molly Weasley nee Prewett. One of Dumbledore's greatest followers. Then, she mentioned how her son, Ronald would be starting the same year and the young girl looked at Harry frequently and blushed.

Suddenly everything fell in place. Hagrid had been instructed by Dumbledore to not tell how to get on the platform. Dumbledore had instructed the Weasleys—who were just as upright about 'the Greater Good' and blindly followed Dumbledore and accepted his beliefs—to go there when Harry would be in the train station, possibly knowing that the relatives would have no choice but to drive their car. Then, the Weasleys would introduce themselves and Ron Weasley would become Harry's very first friend—since Dumbledore must know what was happening to his saviour or else he would've never stationed Figg—who would feed Harry ideologies required to be the 'light's hero' and since Harry didn't know any better about the wizarding world, he would believe it.

She wondered why she had fought for a bastard who had no trouble manipulating an innocent eleven-year-old through his followers. Then, she remembered that Voldemort was much, much worse.

Harry talked to her about everything, from how the Sorting Hat had said that he would do great in Slytherin but he had begged it to sort him in anywhere other than the house. While she had no problems with the house, it was wise of Harry. If he was sorted in Slytherin, then suspicions would arise about him being the next 'Dark Lord'. He would be shunned. Besides, he had found a great friend in Ron who was a Gryffindor.

However, as Harry went to sleep and she went back to the Owlery, she could not help but think how Harry had told her that Ollivander had told him that the phoenix who gave the feather to make the core of the wand gave just one more feather which was used in the wand of none other than Voldemort.

Scary, but she couldn't help but think that there was some sort of connection between them, since Harry had told her that his scar burnt whenever he tried to think hard about how his parents died—the first time he was in direct contact with Voldemort—and that he could speak the snake tongue even though Potters had never married with the Slytherin line and the gift was a birth trait, not something which could be learnt.

She saw the beginnings of the Golden Trio. It all started with a skinny, green-eyed orphan befriending a red-haired, blue-eyed Pureblood who was always pushed in the shadows to find each other and become friends. They become a family, like how siblings should be and she watched quietly, proudly.

She watched as they saved the brightest witch of their age from a fully-grown troll with nothing but one month of magical experience. She watched as they formed a tentative friendship which quickly blossomed into something more. And their family expanded to include the bookworm who had never quite grasped the concept of becoming friends.

And they were the Golden Trio—a hurricane of laughter, jokes, joy, spells, quidditch, Hogsmeade trips, invisibility cloaks, marauder maps, great adventures, mischief and so much more.

They loved each other as a family should and she watched quietly, proudly, sadly from the sidelines. Quiet because she can't interrupt their solitude, Proud because her child had a true family and Sad because she could never be his family, no matter the amount of comfort she gave him, she could never be his family.

The year was hectic for Harry and he barely had time to speak to her. However, he managed to speak about how he loved his classes once every two months or so.

When Harry again talked to her, she nipped his ear as punishment, hoping he wouldn't do something like that again. He told him everything and, by the end of the year, she had quite a few questions.

Why did Dumbledore hide the Stone behind defences dedicated first years could cross? Why did he assign detention in the Forbidden Forest when it is forbidden? Why did he not use the Fidelius Charm to hide the Stone and make himself the Secret Keeper? Why did he not know about Quirrell since he was an extremely brilliant judge of character and would've known if he was acting out of ordinary? Why did he entrust Hagrid of all people to know the secret? The Hagrid who was terrible at keeping secrets? Why was a Cerberus stored in the third floor corridor and had no protections but a simple locking charm? Why did Dumbledore announce the third floor corridor was off limits so brazenly to children who would obviously be curious and try to find out what was there? Why didn't Dumbledore realize that the letter was forged? Why didn't he Apparate? Why was he flying on a broomstick of all things while sucking on a lemon drop?

As each year went by, the amount of questions in Hedwig for Dumbledore increased, and, slowly she started seeing a pattern in them. It seemed as if Dumbledore was doing all of this for a reason, he wanted to test Harry, to see if he was truly worthy of being the boy-who-lived. The most obvious one would be when he practically told Hermione to go back in time with Harry and save Buckbeak and Sirius Black.

She worried for her child when he started having weird dreams relating to Voldemort. Dreams weren't so vivid but Harry seemed to remember each and every detail for weeks. It disconcerted her. She thought that they might be visions and it further solidified her theory that Voldemort and Harry were linked one way or another by the scar since it always hurt whenever he had a vision/dream.

The whole year seemed like one disaster after another, from the World Cup to Harry being selected as the second Hogwarts Champion to him participating in a competition where several had died previously to seeing a classmate die in front of him and seeing Voldemort's return to no one believing what Harry was saying—all of it felt like a huge disaster. And Hedwig was helpless.

She wanted to ask Death why he had sent her in the form of an owl where she couldn't do much except listen. Surely he could've sent her as a human being? Sure, she would have no knowledge of her previous lives but it wasn't as if she was able to tell anything.

Fifth year was one of the worst years in Hedwig's opinion. The Occlumency lessons, Ron's father being attacked, Umbridge's detentions, Dumbledore's Army, Dumbledore himself fleeing from the school, the false lure, going to the Ministry, Sirius getting killed, Hermione being unconscious, Ron getting temporarily insane. Yup, one of the worst years—ever.

Sixth year was also bad. Especially with someone trying to kill Dumbledore (who turned out to be Draco Malfoy), Harry's increase in popularity leading many witches to dose his food with love potion, Horcruxes—and didn't everything about Voldemort make so much more sense now?—the horcrux hunting, Dumbledore dying, the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Harry finding out the horcrux was fake…

It seemed as if every year was worse than the next one. If it was, then she didn't want to find out what the seventh year would be like, especially since Harry had told her that he didn't plan on returning to school but rather hunt for horcruxes along with Ron and Hermione.

It turned out that she didn't have to. She knew that something would go wrong the day Harry was supposed to leave Privet Drive for good and the feeling was only intensified when a bunch of Order people turned up in the house to explain that they would be going with plan B, aka, polyjuicing six people to look like Harry Potter and then they would fly to different houses with the help of air transport from where they would go over to the Burrow with the help of portkeys.

Of course, the plan wasn't fool proof—it could be seen from the moment they rose in the air that the Death Eaters were following them—but it did a good job to confuse the Death Eaters. She protected her child with all her might. She clawed away the eyes of Death Eaters so that they fell off their brooms. She felt no remorse for killing people who had killed innocents and were going to kill her child. No one touched her child.

However, one of the Death Eaters shot the Killing Curse at Harry. There was no way that Harry would be able to duck. So, she did the only thing which came to mind—she dived headfirst towards the Curse and took the impact of it. She didn't care that she had died, she was happy to know that she had saved her child from harm. She didn't feel like an utter failure. She could finally report to Death that she did her job successfully.

A/N: Did you like it? Hate it? Please let me know in the reviews!