Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the plot. I'm not JK sadly.
Terriblly sorry about not updating, I hate it when people do this but I also hate typing. I have the whole story and two others also planned out if that's any comfort? Just to say, you'll be lucky for an update once a year at this rate, specially as I'm just starting my GCSEs in September.
Suddenly, a loud crash split the quiet, expectant and hopeful, mood, along with some rather imaginative swearing coming from such a sweet little mouth. Immediately after, Ginny and the House-elves entered the room, carrying steaming platters; Ginny had obviously found somewhere to deposit Pig as she was holding hers in both hands. The Golden Trio were surprised as they hadn't noticed Ginny leaving, the rather bad language was from Ginny, who had the grace to look rather red when confronted with Hermione's death-glare, because she had tripped over the Troll leg umbrella stand, that Tonks had been so apt to fall over and smashed one of Sirius's least favourite plates, which had been duly repaired by an elf, Ginny still being just underage. Ginny put down the platter of food and took the serving plate carefully from Winky, handing it to Hermione with an abashed grimace. Hermione smiled and handed it to Ron, one of their new Tea-Time traditions. He muttered 'imago' waved his wand first at the plate, then around at Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Winky, Kreacher and finally himself before finishing by pointing it at the plate again and whispering 'transfereo'. On the plate appeared a moving image of the whole group of them, grinning and waving. Ron always did the transferring as he seemed to be gifted into it, they'd be more realistic and 3D, not to mention less dotty and painted looking when Ron did it, so they let him. Even the elves looked and acted like themselves. The image of Kreacher immediately ran across the plate towards the Harry image and bowed low, making the real people laugh and the two Kreachers blush with embarrassment. Still grinning, Ginny handed out some bowls. These too had decorations on, Patronus'. Harry's bowl had his silver stag Patronus running around the inner rim, it seemed to like running on top of what ever he was eating, Ron had a German Shepard, a slight change from his old terrier, probably because he was very protective but also more restrained as well as loyal now, Hermione had her silver otter, showing her intellect, caring, playfulness at the right time and practicality; they had had to do hers quite a few times to get it long enough to perfect though! Ginny's had a horse galloping around the outer rim, determined to differ from the rest, and the elves, who don't cast Patronus' got balls of lightning-magic, shooting out tendrils of flame continuously, all around the rim: Kreacher's was midnight blue and Winky's almost Chudly Cannons orange, pleasing Ron no end. Winky then proceeded to pour French onion soup into the bowls; which they ate hungrily, and after a quick 'Scourify', they moved onto a lovely stew, followed by treacle tart. The Golden Trio locked eyes over the meal, that was the exact meal they had had before the infiltration of the ministry, the last civilised meal until not-even a fortnight ago.
Winky was the first to break the uncomfortable silence by worriedly enquiring if they disliked her soup. Her high-pitched voice, full of fearful anxiety, brought them out of their dour reverie, sharply. They were all very quick to reassure her that her soup was totally delicious and she wondered off in a slight daze, muttering about how 'Sirs and Misses have no need to thank Winky, Sirs and Misses', still unused to complements on her cooking. They watched her leave with kind amusement and Kreacher confided that Mr Crouch had never praised her privately, only publicly to keep up appearances, and Winky was still suffering from a type of shock. At his words, Hermione's eyes flashed murderously and the others at the table discreetly cringed away as she bellowed "And Winky adores the Crouches! When they never even praised her!" . Kreacher instantly started bashing his head with a frying pan, horrified at upsetting an honorary Mistress, yelling "Bad Kreacher! Bad! Bad! Bad!" until Hermione, mortified at what she'd done yelled at him to cease trying to bash his brains out.
It took a few minutes, but finally the boys and Ginny were able to calm Hermione and the House-Elf down enough to have a decent conversation about anything at all, though Hermione was still fuming visibly. Ginny was just contemplating how to distract her, or she'd be like that all day, when Winky re-entered the room carrying a tiny package and a very disgusted looking Errol. The four stared at Errol, mirth shining their eyes, and, unable to contain themselves any longer, burst into belly-aching laughter. Errol turned his head a full 180 degrees away in offended disgruntlement, sparking off more laughter; it gave them a better view of the source of their amused hysteria, Errol's collar. A new addition to his person, it was grass green and beautifully made, sitting comfortably around his ageing neck, it also had little clips and ribbons hanging off it at regular intervals, obviously for holding rolled scrolls of parchment as well as a small golden tag in the shape of a fireplace with Errol's name inscribed in the grate, lit by magical flames, and the Weasly's home's address, The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole, on the back. He looked like a St. Bernard's dog, with notes instead of medicine or alcohol on the collar. The final new additions to his attire were two very similar bands of fabric, round each an ankle, with two ribbons on both, obviously for tying parcels to incase he got tired!
Once the teens had exhausted themselves laughing and sobered up; Harry removed the three letters clipped to Errol's collar and handed them to their respective recpitants. He put the little box on a table beside him and tore open the new letter, carelessly pulling off the Hogwarts seal and slipping it into his pocket for safekeeping later on. As soon as the letters had been removed, Kreacher carefully cradled the exhausted bird in his frail, wrinkled arms and took him upstairs to Buckbeak's, now deserted, attic; deserted because Buckbeak himself was still at Hogwarts with Hagrid because Harry hadn't the heart, or the resources, to take him away. Gripping the letters like a life ring, Hermione motioned the boys to follow her out of the dining room into the sitting room and bade them sit down on the puffy, red leather armchairs, modified by Hermione to be Gryffindor colours, instead of the original Green, silver and black. As soon as the trio were sat comfortably, Harry and Hermione opened their letters and sat back to read them. Ron just relaxed and waited to hear what they were about. Hermione finished a few minutes later and recited irritably for Ron's benefit "This is more or less what's written: 'Dear children, hope you are well, George is still rather subdued…it goes on like that for a while, ah, here we are, The little box contains something from Hagrid, Harry, I sent Errol to help train it, you'll need it for Hogwarts.' Hmm, I wonder what that means?" she queried in slight confusion, "OK, blah, blah, blah, please visit before school restarts as I have a lot of fan mail and presents here, Ron's room's overflowing!". They all grinned at the warm, fussing nature of the letter, though Harry felt rather guilty for leaving Mrs Weasly to deal with the Media alone and was alarmed at the descriptions of Gratitude Presents implied. Resolving to visit later on, Harry went back to reading his letter, a Hogwarts booklist and Hermione drew her one out of the shared envelope that both letters came in. Ron gutted his letter and read it out "We of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry hereby send your booklists early on the chance you have discarded your necessary school equipment and are required to obtain more and so you have sufficient time to give notice to your currant occupation. Your old room has been granted to the First Years so you three must share a room in the Head pupil's tower, along with the other Seventh years, who will share separate dorms. I assumed you three would like your privacy and I know you have shared rooms and tents before so it should not pose a dilemma to you. Yours faithfully, Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress." Harry and Hermione's letters were similar but theirs also asked for help repairing wards and the room of requirement as well as the service of the two House-Elves. Teacher's Uniforms and Librarian's Uniforms were to be provided free of charge. The booklists were the same as Ginny's except for a few minor changes, 'Teaching Defence' by Remus Lupin with extra hints and Defence tips by Alistair Moody. Harry grinned wistfully at that, he'd got it for his 17th birthday from them already, the original with even more tips added in their achingly familiar scrawls. Ron needed 'Severus Snape: Sinner or Saint? By Reeta Skeeter, a fact which made them all scowl viciously and 'The Dark War' by Amanda Bagshot, Bathilda Bagshot, author of Hogwarts: a History, 's eldest niece. It was a history book about the war, featuring Voldermort's defeat and it is unfinished, they smirked at that. They all also required cheat detectors and class P spellchecking quills from 'Weasley's Wizarding Weaseys', another smirk greeted that.
Harry reached for the little package and pulled off the wrappings to find a small, silver box, covered in engravings and enamellings of reptiles and birds and a note. The note read: 'Harry, we were jus' lookin' after it till it 'ached. It's Hedwig's chick. It'll eat meat chunks at hatchin' an' the box is always the right temperature for what ever you wan' ta hatch. Dumbledore left it t' me in 'is will an' I think you deserve I'. Hagrid' Harry smiled at that then read on, a different voice filled his mind, brisker, sharper, more acute. 'The egg is fine, dear, the father is a wild owl, a pure snowy from somewhere, not one of ours but strong and healthy, I looked him over for you. The egg will hatch when you open the box, it has a statis charm on for now. The box can is also multi-compartmented so you can incubate many animals at once. Yours, Professor Grubbily-Plank'
Harry discarded the letter and grasped the warm, silver box, trembling with he didn't know what. He found that he couldn't open it, it had no lid and the youngest Weasly's and Hermione also looked puzzled. Suddenly Ginny's sharp eyes caught sight of an engraving of an owl and she suggested Harry push it. Harry gently ran his finder over the engraving and an enamelling of a keyhole appeared on the lid. "Oh! A magical keyhole! I've heard about those! Just say the password and it'll open if you're touching the compartment you want to open. Touch the owl again. Good. Look, it's glowing now. Say the password." That was all Hermione, of course. Then Harry looked at he sceptically, "I would if I knew it" he answered pointedly. She flushed then suggested saying Alohomora. He complied and it worked, to Hermione's satisfaction. Ron just looked on.
The lid clicked open and a soft blast of green magic rolled off. It tasted of unicorns and bark to Harry but the others tasted nothing odd. Inside, upon a cushioned velvet base, stuffed with phoenix feathers for the varying degrees of warmth required, was an egg, plain, creamy white but laced with cracks. The five, for Winky had vanished for no apparent reason, could easily hear the tapping of the chick within its egg. Just as the chick was breaking through the shell, Winky's disappearance was explained as she rushed back into the room, carrying a bowl of meat chunks for the hatchling. As it broke out Kreacher gently waved a hand and an image of how the chick would look like when she grew up appeared. She looked almost identical to Hedwig and Harry turned away with tears in his eyes and bolted from the room. Hermione looked worried and sent Ron away to find Harry while she stroked and fed the chick the rat chunks and Ginny paced restlessly. A few minutes later, Harry entered the room, glum but composed, followed, by Ron. Inside he was in turmoil. He already liked the chick and couldn't bare to be parted from the last shred of Hedwig, but he also couldn't bare to keep a chick that was identical to her. It seemed disloyal somehow. Seeing Hermione fondling and playing with the little hatchling gave Harry an idea. "Have her." He said bluntly. They all turned to look at him in astonishment and, when he nodded with a sad smile, Hermione jumped up and hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes. It would help her get over the loss of Crookshanks. "You'd better give her a name" suggested Ron, and Harry was instantly whisked back to when he heard those words before, when Hagrid presented him with Hedwig. His eyes misted over again but this time only Ginny noticed and squeezed his hand comfortingly. Hermione eventually decided on Rowena, in tribute to the founder who found the way to enchant the post-owl lines for increased intelligence, bonding and the magical ability to find anyone they know with ease. Smiling with joy at her new companion she wandered up the stairs with Rowena and Winky, leaving the others to talk quietly about plans for the coming weeks and just going back to school in general.