A/N: I've been pretty ill recently so this one took a bit longer to do, Sorry! Long arse A/N at the bottom too.

Chapter 26: More Hedwig

Cornelius had been more than happy to send me an additional ticket for the world cup, not even questioning that the requested name was simply 'Hedwig'. Albus has been incredibly busy in various places around the globe, but managed to find some time to see me. Now 2 weeks into Hedwig's rebirth. It's taken a while to explain everything to him, and then he exhausted his skills in magical scanning on the orb. We now sit in his office as Hedwig looks at the various ornaments.

"Truly remarkable." He says.

"We don't know what to do though. A whole person can't be kept secret. If we went to the Ministry to register her, the papers would know 10 minutes later, then tomorrow's headline would something witty and derogatory. I could go straight to Fudge to see if he'd be up for passing a law for … reverse-Animagi, which would still need supporters and then an examination from Unspeakables, which I … just no." I shake my head.

"Which leaves limited options."

"She's already too attached to being human to live life as a bird again, I'd thought that I might adopt her into my family as a last resort, I'd have to head the family and all that nonsense though." I look over at Hedwig as she inspects the golden cube on one of the shelves. "I would do it if it came to that, of course."

"Naturally." He's nodding slowly when I turn back to him. "Does she possess any magical abilities? What does she look like to you?" I return to watching Hedwig.

"The same green she's always held, I've often thought it to be an extension of my own colour, but I can't see my own obviously. It's the only thing I can find that sets her apart from an average human, the magic within her. I don't think she could use a wand, but she isn't without magic either. She's kinda bursting with it really, but not unstably, just plentiful. It's like a half-formed version of wizarding magic, but then there's something else I've not encountered." Albus frowns slightly as he enters his 'deep thought' mode.

"And nothing else sets her aside from the norm?" He asks.

"My burning ring!" Hedwig chimes in. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"I forgot about that." Albus looks amused at the exchange. "Have you ever heard of mithril coming into contact with skin and heating up, just for the one person?" I pose the question to him. "Some magical races have a similar thing happen, it varies between them, but usually demi-humans, or whatever the correct term is, have this reaction with mithril."

"I have heard rumours, but encounters are not commonplace with such a rare metal. 'The heat of a thousand suns' I believe the passage read." He smiles.

"Maybe high 80s, low 90s, Celsius of course."

"Not a nice thing to wake up to." Hedwig comments idly. Albus raises his eyebrow at me.

"I'll leave those questions unanswered." I smile at him. I offered to take the ring off when I slept, or wear it on my other hand, but Tonks and Hedwig decided to just swap sides instead.

"I could make her a ward of the ICW, this way she would not be subject to much scrutiny."

"Didn't the last ward of the ICW turn out to be Count Dracula attempting to invade a German nunnery?" I ask sceptically.

"Yes." He sighs. "But unless young Hedwig is Vlad in disguise, I don't think that will be an issue."

"You'd do that for us?"

"The wardship would only last for a three weeks, after that period is up, it becomes much more difficult to prolong it. This should ah … buy you enough time, so to speak."

"Wow, I mean if it's not too much trouble. Three weeks would encompass the world cup too."

"Your timing is convenient, my next meeting is at the ICW to explain the security updates." He bunches together some parchment.

"How do you think she'll take it?" Hedwig asks as we walk down the road a fortnight later. The Knight Bus had dropped us off at the end of Hermione's street. It's very fitting, bordering on clichéd, that the Grangers live in Oxford. I think I'd be more surprised if she lived anywhere other than Oxford.

"It'll be fine. Just hope that she isn't too engrossed in a book to hear the door." The road only has houses on the left-hand side, a large park and field features on the other side. Hermione used to walk along this path everyday when she would go to school before Hogwarts. The Granger household itself is a fairly plain but large building with hedges on either side, obscuring the adjacent houses. No car on the brick driveway, hopefully she's home. I knock on the door.

"Nice place." Hedwig whistles, looking around. The door opens after a few seconds.

"You're earl-" Hermione stops as she sees us. "Harry?" She darts forward and wraps me in a hug. "What are you doing here?" She is currently wearing a blue summer dress and no shoes, her hair is pulled back into a loose pony tail. She looks amazing.

"Expecting company?" I ask.

"Ginny." She shakes her head and waves us inside. Hedwig mouths 'Ginny?' to me as we follow Hermione into the living room.

"This is Hedwig by the way." Hermione spins round looking surprised.

"I'll get us some tea."

After some tea, biscuits and questions, Hermione is up to date on the situation.

"Why didn't you write to me?" She asks.

"Somebody." I look at Hedwig. "Wouldn't carry a letter for me." Hedwig grins.

"What's it like? Having a human body?" Hermione asks her.

"Fantastic!" Hedwig says happily. "The food is better, Harry and Tonks let me sleep with them too."

"In a platonic way." I add hastily. Hermione rolls her eyes.

"Did you have to learn to walk?" Hermione asks.

"At first I was tripping a lot, so Tonks had to teach me to walk."

"Tonks?" Hermione snorts. "I don't think she is the best teacher for walking."

"She's more qualified in the 'learning a new body' area." I point out, taking another biscuit off the tray. The Granger house is neat, but not clinically clean. Very well lived in.

"And she taught me to kiss!" Hedwig bounces on the sofa. "I asked Harry, but he said no." She pouts. I declined the request three times before Tonks decided to step in. Along with the clothe-less walking lessons (Something about seeing the muscles working), I think they were just doing it to mess with me.

"So, you're expecting Ginny?" I ask, eager to steer the conversation away.

"Mr Weasley has an extra ticket to the world cup, so Ginny asked me if I wanted to go."

"I thought you didn't like Quidditch."

"I might not have the chance to do it again, The experience is apparently one of a kind." She says enthusiastically.

"So you're turning an international sporting event into a learning experience?" I smirk as she rolls her eyes. Hedwig jumps up off the sofa.

"Where's ya toilet?" I drop my head into my hands.

"Try again." I sigh.

"Oh, Excuse me Hermione, may I use the rest-room?" Hedwig says dryly, curtsying.

"Upstairs, on the left." Hermione suddenly looks startled. "Wait! She can't do what you can do, can she? Touching things I mean."

"No." I say, biting my lip to not laugh as Hedwig skips out of the room. "It means a lot that you let me into your house at all, I wouldn't go wandering into an even more personal space."

"Thanks." She smiles. "So … Hedwig ..."

"A piece of work." I lean back against the sofa. "She's a bit childish, but I think she just has to get more experience with people. I've been doing my best to help her, but then Tonks comes home and her lessons are obviously far more … entertaining than my own, so she develops bad habits."

"She's close to Tonks then?" She looks interested.

"She's been attached to my mind for most of her life, it'd be hard for her to not like her. She wanted to tackle you to the floor, probably steal a kiss or two if we'd come over last week." She blushes. "We both agree that you look nice today, blue is your colour."

"How can you tell what she thinks?" She tries to ignore the compliment.

"As an owl, we have a direct telepathic link, but it requires touch when she is human." I explain.

"Which is why you had your arm on the back of the sofa, so her neck could lean back?"

"You're too smart for your own good." Hedwig returns, flopping onto the sofa. "He can drop memories into my head too."

"Memories?" This seems to catch Hermione off guard.

"Yeah, I have to strip away all the whispers and stuff, else it'd be hellish cacophony to anyone but me, I told you what happened when Albus tried to view one of mine in his pensieve?" I smirk.

"You said you had to help him stumble into the hospital wing, clutching his head." Hermione frowns.

"I did warn him." I laugh. "I think the same would happen to Hedwig, but it's a load easier to clean them up for her as it doesn't require any external manipulation."

"What's the deal with Ginny, then?" Hedwig asks.

"What do you mean?" Hermione frowns.

"She means how is she doing." I amend.

"I think her eyes have fallen on that Dean Thomas boy." Hermione scowls.

"Jealous?" I tease.

"No! He's part of Ronald Weasley's little gang."

"I meant jealous of Dean."

"What are you insinuating?" Hermione's eyes narrow.

"Should I push it?" I ask Hedwig through her neck.

"Do it." Something akin to a mental smirk.

"I think this is the first time I've seen you in a dress, maybe it's just coincidence." Hermione ignores me and gathers the mugs back onto the tray.

"You don't think..." Hedwig trails off in her mind.

"Have you had that talk with Tonks yet?" Hermione calls through from the kitchen.

"I've been putting it off." I admit uncomfortably. 'The Talk' about my relationship with her. There are a lot of factors that complicate things, and with all the excitement that Hedwig brought along, I've not made time to talk to her about it.

"It'll only get harder the longer you leave it." Hermione, quite correctly, tells me as she returns.

"I know, I know. I just don't want to mess anything up, I like how we are now." I let out a resigned sigh and lean back.

"She thinks the same thing." Hedwig says. "Although I don't think she'd be opposed to you sleeping in human form." She smirks.

"Human form?" Hermione queries, looking confused.

"I still sleep as a wolf." I explain. "We just sleep in the same bed, no funny business."

"Unless you count the snogging." Hedwig adds.

"I only change back when I wake up, it's not like we've been going at it like rabbits since school ended." I snort.

"I thought you two were um..." Hermione trails off.

"Fucking?" Hedwig ventures, but not verbally.

"Intimate?" I offer, sending a playful glare at Hedwig. Hermione nods.

"He's just our bed warmer." Hedwig says, throwing her arms around my neck.

"'Our'?" Hermione raises an eyebrow teasingly.

"Waking up underneath two naked girls isn't the worst thing in the world." I grin, Hermione rolls her eyes again. "Why are you seeing Ginny today?"

"Have you gotten your supply list yet?" I nod. "We need formal clothing, Ginny doesn't know why but she thinks Mr Weasley does. So we are going to Diagon Alley to pick out my dress." Ah. I should pick up a suit at some point. 30 galleons or something.

"You should go with blue." Hedwig says happily. "Maybe I should get a dress too! Can I, Harry? Please, pleeeease?" She sticks out her bottom lip. Damn it.

"Sure."

Whipped.

A/N: Let me know what you think of this one, a taste of things to come in the future.

I've been getting a lot of questions about the pairing(s) recently. Whether it be Harry and Tonks, or something else. One thing that's been mentioned is a multi pairing. I've never actually written anything like it before, even in my non-published works. It (to me) is an incredibly complex thing, having each 'member' care for each other and them being comfortable with everyone. With Harry/Tonks/Hedwig it's very simple to do, as Hedwig is very much a product of Harry's mind and her 'upbringing', if you can call it that, has been heavily influenced by her feelings for Tonks and of course Tonks herself. The three of them slot together and would be comfortable to write when Harry overcomes his hurdle of sleeping as a human and with a similar amount of clothing to Tonks and Hedwig tend to wear. I don't see them getting into a super serious relationship for a few months as least, despite how long they've known each other. I've got a soft spot for Fleur, so we'll play that by ear. Harry might steal a few girls away into broom cupboards this year too.

The next thing is the problem of Barty Crouch JR. Harry would very quickly realise that he is not Moody, a day at most if he isn't paying attention, so i could either have the other two schools turn up waaaaay before their canon date of October 30th(?) so that they are there at September 1st. I do't think Harry would let Barty impersonate Moody for any length of time either.

Sorry for the ramble, I'm a bit stuck as to how to handle this part. Tell me if you've got any ideas and, as ever, Enjoy!