A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I just got a job, so I've been busy with it and been very tired. I've gotten back into the flow now, so I should be able to update more often. The only time in the near future I can foresee me not updating will be when I have to add my part(s) to my guild's Round Robin. Oh, and now that the sixth book has came out, I should let you know that this story will contain no spoilers. So dun worry, if you haven't read "The Half-Blood Prince" I won't ruin anything for ya. Now own to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, any of the characters, etc. I'm using them for my own amusement and am not making a single penny off them. Now, the original character, Kale Faolan, is mine, so please if you want him for your pleasure, please ask. Anyways, on to the story!

Chapter 2
Owl Post

Harry woke to the sound of many fluttering wings. Sitting up quickly, he realized that there were an unusually large number of owls in his room. "What is going on?" he asked Kale.

"Oh good morning Harry," Kale said, pulling another parchment from an owl's leg and tossing it on a small pile. "Not much. Seems word of what happened has reached about every single person I know at school. If I didn't know better, I would swear that they got together and sent everything at once. It's gonna take me forever to read all of these, let alone respond."

"Would you like some help?" Harry asked, getting out of bed.

Kale smiled, "Please. But before you sit down, could you check out the window? When I looked earlier, there was only about 15 or 20 owls out there. I think I've seen at lest twice that."

Harry walked around a few owls preparing to leave and looked out the window. "Umm…this might take all day. As far as I can see the rooftops are full of owls." He turned back to Kale, "Do you go to school with very many?"

"Not really," Kale answered, tossing another post. "There are only about 25,000 students at my school. Funny thing is that we're one of the smaller schools."

Harry sat hard on the floor beside Kale. "25,000? Please tell me that you don't know all of them. Because if you do, we might be here for a few days."

"Naw! I know a lot of the students, but nowhere near all of them…What is going on now?"

Harry looked up at the window upon hearing a frantic flapping of wings and loud hooting. After a few seconds a rater large, black owl appeared in the window, shoving other owls out of its way with it's wings and generally causing a muddle. He heard Kale take in a quick breath and exclaim "Auron!" The owl hooted happily and leapt over to the pair.

"I see that you made it and found me," Kale said to the owl. "Harry, this is my owl, Auron. He was out delivering a message to my pen friend when the attack happened." He reached to the owl's leg and removed the parchment. "Guess I do have some good luck working for me after all. Don't worry Auron, I'll getcha an owl treat in a few, but at the moment I'm a bit busy." Auron hooted and went to rest on Kale's pile of trunks.

Kale sat the parchment right beside him and they continued to remove parchments and a few care packages from concerned teachers and parents for the next couple of hours, finishing finally around one in the afternoon. "Now what?" Harry asked, watching the last owl leave.

"Well," Kale responded, "I say we get lunch, if we haven't already missed it, then afterwards, I'll dig out the trunk I keep all my parchment and ink in and see about at least getting all the letters inside. There are only a few packages, so I'll take care of them later this evening or tonight and the rest can wait a day or so."

"Wanting some time to reflect?" Harry asked.

"No, not really. More like time to forget about everything and find myself once again. There was something I was going thru and I wanted to talk to my parents once I got back from school." Harry watched as tears started to fall. "I don't know who to talk to now. What am I to do?"

Harry walked over and put his arms around Kale. "It'll be ok. You can talk to me if you want and when we get to school I'm sure Hermione and Ron would be happy to do the same. Ok?"

Kale hugged Harry back and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Thanks Harry. Looks like we're gonna become good friends. Now, let's forget this sadness and find something that resembles lunch." He pulled back and looked into Harry's eyes, "Whatcha say?"

Harry let go and smiled, "Food sounds good to me, especially since we seem to have missed breakfast." The two headed downstairs for lunch and returned not too long after.

"A quarter of a slice of grapefruit? Please tell me that this isn't my fault and that she's lost what little mind she had."

Harry shook his head, "That would be a no to both. Dudley's been on a diet for a while now, though it doesn't really seem to be working very well." He bent down and removed the loose floorboard. "That's why I got some stuff from Hogsmead at the end of last year and my friends have been sending me stuff off the summer. So, what will it be, a Pumpkin Pasty or one of Hagrid's Meat Pies? But to warn you, Hagrid isn't the best of cooks."

"I'll try a meat pie," Kale said, joining Harry on the floor, "Something tells me that his cooking is a lot better than mine. I tried to make some homemade chocolate frogs once and it didn't turn out very well. They tasted more like an actual frog than chocolate. Made a good gag gift for friends, but that was about it." He took a pie and bit hard into in, almost breaking his teeth in the process. "Then again, maybe not. Hand over a Pumpkin Pasty."

A few hours after finishing lunch, Kale finished sorting and storing the letters into a trunk and most of the care packages lay open. He placed the loose board back where it belonged and sat on the bed beside Harry, "Thanks again for the help. Looks like we have enough stuff to last us till school starts." Harry nodded in agreement. "Now I have a question if you don't mind. What's Hogwarts like?"

"It's a great school," Harry answered, "Albus Dumbledore is an awesome headmaster and most of the students and teachers are very nice. Watch for Filch, he loves nothing more than getting students in trouble and Snape, the Potions teacher and Slytherin head, is extremely hard to please. Other than that, Draco and his crew are bunch of gits, but then again, they are Slytherins, so that is normal for them. Now, a question for you- where did you get that strange medallion? I've never seen anything like it."

"This old thing?" Kale answered, holding it out a bit. "It's an old family heirloom. It's been passed down for generations to the first-born male. I received it last year for my 16th birthday from my dad. There is an old legend that our family used to head a pack of werewolves back during the Dark Ages here in England," He laughed. "Like I said, it's an old family legend. I haven't found anything that suggests that it's true. 'Course, I'm not much of a history person, so I'm sure there is something somewhere."

"Hermione could tell you," Harry said. "She's one of the smartest witches I know."

Two owls suddenly flew in the room, one was a small brown barn owl and the other was an even smaller, energetic owl, both carrying a letter. Harry got up and pulled both letters off. The barn owl headed back out, while the other flew around the room, hooting like crazy. "Would you knock it off Pig. You're going to cause me to get in trouble." The owl hooted twice more and headed out. "Looks like Hermione and Ron sent letters. I hope everything's ok." He opened the first parchment. "It's from Hermione. She says that she's headed over to the Weasley's and wants to know if I was invited. Guess that what this letter from Ron is all about."

Harry opened the other letter, "Thought so. Ron says that Bill and Charlie will be here today around 7 pm to pick me up," He smiled at Kale. "Don't worry. I'm inviting you. Mrs. Weasley won't mind an extra body in the house and you'll finally get to meet Ron and Hermione."

Kale smiled and blushed a little. "I wasn't worried. Not the least little. Wait, you mean that they're on there way tonight? But it's already…" A loud banging on the door echoed throughout the house. "…7 o'clock."