Upon Pale Wings

(One-Shot)

Disclaimers: I don't own anything apart from some DVD's/books for this series.

AN: This is a short drabble prompt for "The Houses Competition" set in 'Marauders' Era' time. As I am old (ish), my views of them may vary from the young ones, including the fact that I am TeamCharlus/Dorea, have Sirius/James as distant relations through Black blood, as well as TeamTrans (as an ally). I do not accept any new stuff by Rowling.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Prefect

Category: Drabble

Prompt(s): [Creature] A family's owl

Word count: 998 according to AO3 (2 pages)

Summary: In which an owl takes flight.

Peeps was a very important individual. Oh, yes, he was! He had a white face with a few speckles. He had a pale brown back. He had a yellow beak. Oh! Almost forgot to mention. See, Peeps was not an ordinary person. No. He was an owl! A barn owl, to be exact.

This particular owl belonged to a family of magicians. The Potters, they called themselves. Peeps thought this name was hilarious. The family had nothing to do with pots.

Or pans, for that matter.

Peeps hooted to himself about the absurdity. He sometimes hooted to his friends about it, too. They told him that humanity in general usually had odd names. It was nothing to fly home about. Well, this was true.

Peeps usually delivered letters to the Ministry of Magic for Mr. Potter. Sometimes, Mrs. Potter would send him out with a letter of some form for her order of groceries. It was a steady life in which Peeps enjoyed taking care of his family.

Things got busier when the Potters had a child. When the boy, James, started going to school, Peeps had to ferry letters over the countryside for the child to keep in touch with his parents. Peeps was told to stay with James at school so that he could be nearby whenever James wanted to send a letter.

Hogwarts was a whole new experience for Peeps. He found some other wise folks like himself in a tall tower next to the castle that he befriended. The owls kept each other company, waiting for their student charges to have a need for them.

There was even a lady barn owl that Peeps took notice of. Oh là là!

Writing home about the eggs was one of the first things James scribbled about that first spring at Hogwarts!

Being the guy, Peeps didn't mind going home with James for the summer. The lady owl would raise the chicks. He was sure he would see them all again when James returned to school. Peeps settled down in the attic at home, thinking to have an easy summer.

He was wrong. The Potter kid ended up with not one, but three—yes, that's right—THREE best friends. Ho, boy! Guess who had to deliver letters across three different countries all summer? Uh-huh! Peeps.

To make things worse, one of James's friends tended to move around, forcing Peeps to chase him all over the place.

Sometimes, Peeps would fly across England. Occasionally, he would head into Scotland. Once, he even ended up in France.

Peeps knew why. He could sense it. This friend his Potter child had picked up was—hmm, how to say it? Peeps hooted to himself, pondering this new development. Well, fine. This kid was a wolf. There was no other way to say it.

At a Midnight Hooting (which takes place every new moon), Peeps conferred with other owls about this. Yes. Yes. Natural, of course. Remus Lupin wasn't the only wolf in the forest, apparently. No matter. His kind did not bother Peeps' kind.

Over the next few years, Peeps settled into this routine of keeping the three friends connected to his Potter child. But then, something weird began to happen. His Potter child began to develop an odd scent. As time went on, two friends of the Potter child also started the same strange phenomenon.

Suddenly, Peeps let out a squawk. Holy Phoenix! His Potter child could turn into a deer! What the flap?! Peeps fainted backwards off his perch.

Hoot? What? Um! No one saw that!

Peeps flew up to the tray of food that he shared with his chicks who had grown up by now. He asked them if their human charges did something like this, but they all hooted 'no'. After one last look at his deer Potter child, Peeps began to eat, pretending not to notice.

Upon further inspection, Peeps noticed that one of the other boys could become a black dog. He stared in surprise as the other friend of his Potter child turned into a rat. Hmm, tasty! No, no. This was a friend of his human charge. It was not for eating.

Peeps nearly had a heart attack when he understood what his Potter child was doing. As a deer, he could sneak out with his other friends during the phase of the full moon to be with that wolf! He flew along above the pack as they ran about once a month to keep an eye on his charge.

None of the Marauders ever knew of the fifth one in their secret gang.

Peeps soon got used to this new process in the life of his Potter child. He maintained a watch over them every month but left them to their own devices.

But there was one thing Peeps could not protect his Potter child from. His young charge was no longer a child, but a young man with his own little one. Though Peeps was getting on in age, he had hoped to spend his twilight years with Harry Potter. But that was not meant to be.

Peeps stood silently on a branch as he looked at the destroyed house, watching as the stretcher with the body of his Potter man was taken out first. Peeps sighed softly, watching the stretcher of his Potter man's mate come out next, a streak of red hair hanging down from under the sheet.

Peeps was glad that the baby had survived, but Harry Potter was taken away.

He shuffled around on the branch. There was nothing left for him here. He eventually spread his pale wings.

Peeps spent his last few years as a Hogwarts owl, living in the Tower with the other owls. They tried to comfort him but nothing could change the fact. The Potter family was dead except for one little baby who would grow up never knowing anything about him.

If only Peeps had eaten that rat.

If only...