A/N: This is round 4 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition and I'm Beater 2 of the Wimbourne Wasps. This round we had to write from the point-of-view of the creature we chose. My choice and prompts are listed below:
Creature: Owl
Prompts:
#3: (dialogue) "You know, I don't really need you."
#11: (dialogue) "Do you really need to do that?"
Hootie
Word Count:1,096
That day at the emporium was a particularly special one for me. It was curiously busy; the shop was filled with all sorts of people that ranged from big to small. My friends—my cage neighbors— were hooting back and forth, wondering what was going on. I remember the next moment like it was yesterday. I was confined to my annoyingly small, golden cage because I had bitten some small human. It's a rule of mine that unless you want to be snapped at, keep your hands away from the cage.
I had been taken away from my home when I was just a small owlet. My mother had flown away to hunt for food, and I was left to care for my younger siblings. There were several of them, but I have no idea where they might have ended up. So, I was grumpy towards anyone who tried to show the least bit of affection towards me. That is, until she came along.
She, being my current owner, had long and straight blonde hair that reached the middle of her back. Her blue eyes were brighter than I had ever seen and bluer than the ocean I used to live near. Her cheeks were tinted a light pink, almost the same color as her lips, and her demeanor was pleasantly warm. She looked like a nice human. In fact, she looked a little too nice.
From the experience I had gained observing the people who came into the Emporium over the past couple of months, I had come to the conclusion that humans pay more attention to us than we do to them. Therefore, they see us before we see them. However, in this case, I was the one who carefully selected her out of the crowd. If I hadn't bitten that human earlier that morning, I probably would have been up front as usual, and then she'd have been the one to spot me first. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind this large block thing with a note taped to my cage that read SUOREGNAD. It made no sense whatsoever.
I just closed my eyes and sat on my perch. I didn't want to see which owl she would choose to be her companion. Then I heard the sweetest voice talk around me.
"How is he dangerous?" she asked.
I opened my eyes to see the sweet blonde talking to the annoying human who'd placed me back there.
"He bit someone earlier this morning. Perhaps you would like one of our other owls?" he said to her.
She studied me, and I could tell that she was wondering about me. I gave my best hello with a small hoot, and I watched her eyes light up.
"Can I see him, please?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, Miss. I can't allow you to see such a ferocious animal," he said, holding his nose in the air.
"He seems harmless to me," she said, not backing down.
My feathers rustled with the happiness I felt from someone trying to defend me. I wasn't sure at the time what I was feeling for this young human, but I was positive that I wanted to be the owl that she chose. It wasn't just her pleasant demeanor that I took delight in. It was the fact that inside I knew she was going to be something great. I was right, of course. She placed her wand and bags to the floor before coming back up to talk to the salesperson again.
"If you insist." He exhaled loudly, lifting my cage from where it sat.
Then, I was closer to her than I had been to any other human. What shocked me the most was that I had no desire to bite her fingers as she opened my cage. Her friendly human fingers gently touched my feathers, and the petting ensued. I was content.
"Allow me, Miss." The shopkeeper tried to maneuver me onto her shoulder, and I couldn't help myself.
I snapped in his direction.
"Do you really need to do that?" she asked me.
I wasn't opened to the scolding, but, for the moment, I accepted it with respect. It didn't stop me from eyeing the man that had manhandled me. She then lifted me up to her shoulder, and I nuzzled against her blonde hair, which felt soft next to my feathers.
"You know, I don't really need you."
I thought, for a second, that she was talking to me, but she was actually speaking to the man.
"Pardon me?" he asked, taken aback by her tone.
"I don't need your help. I can handle him by myself," she instructed.
Before he could object, she had already placed me back in my cage. He walked away to help another customer, though not without a derisive snort and a headshake. Anyway, that left us alone for a few minutes.
"My name is Victoria Young," she said to me. "I'm about to start Hogwarts. I'm wondering if you would like to be my companion at school?"
I had never been asked a question before. Usually, I'd just been slammed in a cage or yelled at for biting someone. It was nice to finally be included in a decision and it was wonderful to find a person as nice as her to be with forever. You could say I was drawn to her. I let out a small hoot as an answer, and she smiled as if she could understand me. I knew she couldn't, but she seemed to grasp it.
"There are some rules, though. You are not to bite anyone anymore. You are to treat people nicely. But aside from the rules there are some perks: you will be allowed to sleep outside of your cage at night." She smiled, rubbing my feathers.
I let out another quiet hoot in response to the comfortable petting, but afterwards, I wished I hadn't hooted at all.
"You hoot a lot. I think I'm going to call you Hootie," she said, closing my cage door.
If my eyes hadn't already been open wide, they would have expanded even larger. Hootie isn't my birth name, and I did not care for it, but I had decided already that I would deal with it, just for her.
In fact, I have dealt with it and I suppose I'll continue to deal with it for the rest of my life. What I do know is that I've never regretted accepting my name. There were a lot of perks she didn't mention, after all.