The Shadow of the Wizarding World

By: Jamnaz79

Beta: ? (Looking for one)

-x-x-x-x-x-

Note: I do not own Harry Potter for the book, movies, etc etc etc. Nor do I claim to.

-SotWW-

Author Note: I was going to combine this with a full chapter which is normally around 5-8k words but, I broke 2,000 follows on this story. I figured this might be a fun little chapter. Idea is based off of the Hedwig story in Odd Ideas by Rorcharch's Blot loosely. I hope you find it amusing. I should have the next chapter which will wrap up year three out within two weeks. So from the bottom of my heart thank you everyone. My writing doesn't deserve the attention, but I just hope the story is amusing enough for everyone. Next update will contain a Captain Dobby Omake too

Harry watched him go then glanced at the two packages that Sirius had left. His curiosity was acting up as he wondered what might be in them. He shrugged off as he took the packages from his bed to place onto an empty chair to open tomorrow. He could wait one more day. Then the young man quickly slipped into bed and closed his eyes thinking about the fantastic night and the feel of flying through the air with Gabrielle hanging tightly pressed to his back. It was definitely an interesting dream that night.

~~~ SOTWW ~~~

It had been a long day but an interesting ay. She had flown the length and breadth of the English Isles delivering her minion's gifts. It was a good bit of exercise and she did enjoy the fresh air. Unfortunately since it was the middle of winter it was far too frosty to enjoy with her feathers. Still there were high points in her travels.

She had enjoyed when she arrived at the Granger House. There she delivered the package which turned out to be a special book that would connect the girl's personal library together and recall any book from that library by a series of runes. Of course the Granger girl provided her with praise at her great skill to make the delivery in the winter weather. But, sadly there was not bacon left from the morning meal. Still she was able to steal an owl treat before she set off.

The next stop brought her to a large apartment which she had spent the last summer. The woman Nymphadora was not home as she had volunteered for work on the holiday. It was unfortunate as she would have liked to test the woman's reflexes to see if the Auror could dodge her talons. Still the gift from her minion was left for the pink haired woman as a surprise for later. Perhaps it would sate the woman's anger at her underling. Sadly there was no bacon left for her at the residence or owl treats.

The next residence was a large manor that had minion had visited a few times last summer. The House of Greengrass was mild in weather compared to the surrounding climates. Most likely it was the work of some of that magic contained in the household. The females of the house which had befriended her minion appeared to be happy to see her. The youngest she had never seen before but the older child seemed ecstatic with the gift delivered. The gift was twin set of bracers to hold those long pointed human sticks. The bracers seemed to be made of a hide that looked like a snake skin, perhaps that basilisk her minion had slain. It really didn't matter, but what did was she was provided a piece of bacon before she left.

There was a delay on the travel to Scotland and the school that her minion attended. A gathering of large black birds with crimson burning eyes circles around the skies and forced her to perch in a tree for cover. She had learned that these creatures were dangerous. They could see through magic that hid messenger owls. Often the creatures were known to the owls as the black demons of the sky.

The only way past the creatures was to hide, they seemed not to see you if you did not move. But even then it was not fool proof. There was one suggestion that was passed onto her from an elder of the wings of the messenger owls. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good Luck.

Luckily the nasty beasts with the dark auras flew off after a time so she could continue her way. She eventually did arrive at the castle dropping off the package to the dungeons for the slimy haired human. Next she took wing to the old mumbling fool's office. There she delivered her minions gift which was a few packages of woolen socks. The ancient wrinkled man offered her no bacon instead a stupid lemon drop. Of all the foolish things to offer and owl, why a piece of candy? She made a mental note to make certain to drop a surprise in the man's porridge next time she delivered mail to the Great Hall.

The same time the Headmaster's office provided the opportunity to deliver two other gifts. The first was a large bag of Serrano peppers to the phoenix Fawkes which seemed to love the gift. The magical bird nuzzled her cheek which caused her feathers to puff up. The damned creature was going to ruin her preening. A bark at the bird caused the phoenix to stop and go back to eating his peppers.

The final gift to deliver at the office turned out to be for the Hat a ledge of the office. It seems her minion decided to provide assistance to the ancient Hat with its yearly songs in the form of new music and comedy to draw from. This was provided by the gift of a special JPRec filled with rock music like Pink Floyd, Metallica, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and comedy routines like George Carlin and Eddie Murphy. She had overheard her minion mention that the JPRec was also specially designed to record and transmit the conversations that took place around it.

She dropped off a pair of boots at the office of the small professor. It was made of the same green material that the wand bracers had been made from for the Greengrass girl. The little professor seemed amazing at the quality of the work and proud of her minion's gift. He even commented offhand that "Good Boots are hard to find."

The last place at the Castle she stopped was the small wooden hut outside. There she dropped off a guidebook that her underling had purchased for the giant of a man. The book had pictures and names with information about different birds and animals of the muggle world. Again she was denied the tasty treats of bacon instead being offered some cake made of cement-like material. She tried to peck at the rock cake but it actually hurt her beak! So again she took her leave to her final two residences.

The first was a building she had seen last year. It was a rundown, well lived in place not far from her last visit. The house was built off-center each level and was said to contain a ghoul in the attic. The Weasley family always had a large amount of food available for visitors. In the past when her minion was welcome here she would find the residence relaxing and filled with laughter, warmth and bacon. But, today it was dark and frigid, lacking the warmth and friendliness that once was found there. Her underling had warned her of a possible dangerous situation so she quickly took her leave after dropping off a letter at the head of the table for the oldest of the ginger herd.

The last house she would stop would be the offset by far. The home was shaped in the form of a giant chess piece. The small blonde girl that lived there with her father always seemed strange to her eyes. She did not have high hopes that this venture would be profitable for bacon or owl treats but it had to be done. She was an owl of her word after all! Still it was with a heavy heart as she swooped over the grates around the house dodging a giant tentacle the reached out of one of the grates to swipe at her. She circled the residence till she found a window open on the second floor and fluttered inside. There she found the blonde girl seated before a fireplace her legs wrapped under her and a warm quilt across her lap. The girl had a school book open for study.

Quickly she landed down next to the human girl Luna and held out her last shrunken package. The girl's face lit up with a huge smile as she plucked up the packages and unshrunk them. After the wrapping paper was removed two items were revealed. The first was an ancient book wrapped in what appeared to be human skin. The words were written in runes that Luna could have told her would be Norse in origin. When the book was opened there were hand drawings of pictures of animals with more strange writing next to each animal depicted.

There was a marking in the book to a page in the middle of the ancient tome. Slowly the blonde haired girl flipped opens the book to the page and glanced over the contents. A squeak escaped her lips as her eyes lit up large as saucers with a smile shined brighter then the moon. There was a note written by her best friend, the owl's minion.

Here is a book from the Black family library. I noticed that it contained the crumple horned snorkack. I hope this will help your father capture and study one.

Luna slowly closed the book very careful with the ancient piece of art. She placed it down and opened the second package. Inside she found the bracelets tat Harry had iven her before with a few additional runes etched into them. A small note fell out of the package to her lap.

I hope that you will find the problems have been fixed with the bracelets. I wish you a Happy Christmas my good friend

Harry

The young blonde quickly put on the bracelets then looked up meeting the gaze of Hedwig. The smile of the girl was bright as she spoke, "Your minion truly is a wonderful person. You treat him so well and work so hard for his benefit. I have already sent away Harry's gift and Daddy will want to send something too after seeing this book. But, before I go I have a gift for you beautiful Hedwig."

A quick bark and hop saw the owl onto the arm of the girl. She was carried into another room of the strange house perched on the blonde girl's arm. Luna brought her past mirrors that showed different shapes and sizes of the people walking past in their reflections. There were a series of bookshelves on the walls of all manner of creatures and geography; it was a full library that would make any noble house proud. Another chamber had skeletons of numerous creatures from mundane squirrels to lions, tigers, bears. There were even complete skeletons of gnomes, fairies, and pixies on the walls in a cluster near some flowers. The girl skipped around a grate that seemed to echo with growls that might have been from a griffon, but that couldn't be possible. Who would keep a Type 4 dangerous creature in their house? Finally after the quick tour through dozens of rooms often stranger than the next the girl came into the kitchen and there she saw it.

Hedwig could swear that the sun had parted the winter clouds just to shine its brightness down upon the greatest gift the world had ever known. In the center f the room was a wooden table with a white table cloth. On the covered tabletop, in the center of the table was a pile of glorified goodness. It was a massive pile of bacon two feet high by two feet wide. The bacon was cooked to a crispy perfection and all of it for the owl.

The barks of happiness from the snowy owl could be heard from miles around. It was so loud that it scared the other strange creatures of the Lovegood property into hiding, even the giant squid like creature in the basement. It would be twenty four hours later that Hedwig would arrive back at the Black Isle even using the portal that had been set up for express mail through 12 Grimmauld Place. She would be puffed up and ten pounds heavier, looking like a floating chicken but she would be a happy bird. It was the best Christmas ever.