It was breakfast-time, and Harry had gotten an Owl! It was a small brown one, nondescript, really.

Harry looked at Ron, asking, "What do I do?" in the quietest whisper he could.

"Give it a treat!" Ron said affably.

"Um?" Harry Potter said, unwilling to admit - "Do you have one? Trade you a sickle for it."

"That's highway robbery!" Ron said, tossing him an "owl treat" (it looked like beef jerky to Harry). "But so long as it's me doing the robbin' " Ron's face split into a wide grin. That was Ron for you - greedy to a fault.

Harry gave the owl the treat, and it extended its leg to him. He frowned, as he looked at the laminated piece of paper.

Of Paper, of all things. Aunt Petunia? Harry thought, is something wrong?

Harry's eyes were wider than they should have been (were his a normal family, and this a normal piece of correspondence.), "So, how do I get it off?"

Ron said automatically, "You untie the ... string?"

Harry and Hermione and Ron all saw that there wasn't a string, at all.

Hermione said firmly, "Harry, grab the owl. We're leaving." As she stood, and the boys followed (the owl wrapped securely in Harry's robes, like a cat in a beachtowel), she said to Ron, "I hope you have more owl treats."

They got to a nearby classroom, as Hermione pulled out one of her quill sharpening blades (short, like a small, straight razor on a stick). "Harry, show me it's foot."

The owl had gone seemingly motionlessly quiet - Harry recognized the behavior, just like that of a seething cat. It was going to bite him when this was done, he was sure of it. Of course it wouldn't blame Hermione, whose idea it'd been. It was an owl, after all.

With great care, Harry maneuvered it's leg out, and Hermione neatly sliced the laminated paper off.

They unrolled the note (it came in thirds), and Harry (rather unwillingly) let everyone read it.

Nephew,

I hope you enjoy your new school enough to stay there over the holiday!

Things are about as you'd expect here.

Always remember, appearances can be deceiving -

and that goes doubly for those Wizards!

Aunt Petunia

p.s. It took me a dog's age to catch one of these miserable owls!

If you're going to reply, please use the post!

It was good advice, Harry thought, both asking him to stay for Christmas, and warning him about, well, everyone really. Harry wondered how much of this was because her very own sister had perished from a Wizarding attack, and how much Aunt Petunia actually cared about him.

Growing up, he'd been convinced that she hadn't cared one miserable iota about him.

But it took work to catch a owl, and this wasn't something she'd needed to do.

Three months in, Harry thought, leaning back with a ridiculous smirk on his face.

Just exactly how long had it taken her to catch the wee owl?

[a/n: Leave reviews! Probably going to hit another occulumancy lesson and then skip to Christmas. ]