Thank you for all the feedback so far. The positive remarks, favourites, follows were encouraging and the remarks regarding language, style and story were helpful. I will try to keep them into account. The small language errors I will correct at this point, but applying some of the other remarks will be for later. Again many thanks. Regards, Chuckling Goose.
With slow careful movements, she moved her hand. With a soothing voice the girl said: "Very good, dread. Now I will slowly put you inside and…"
With a loud shriek and flapping of his wings, crow took off from Daphne's hand, he was not going to be put in a cage. He landed on a branch and stared at the strange human which he had come to know over the last month, this had been the third time she had tried to cage him, he was growing wary. "Come on, Dread. We have to leave for Hogwarts today. Please enter the cage." Daphne pleaded.
That was another annoying thing, she insisted on calling him Dread. He was not Dread, he was Harry! Uhm, where did that come from? He was not a boy called Harry, he was a crow!
Sure, he did enjoy the special feeling he got after chasing away those two little boys a couple of weeks ago. After this event, this feeling had lasted, he could for example tell when the girl entered the garden without looking. He guessed he did share something with her, but he was not going to enter a cage willingly. He was still a free bird! It had been his own decision to stick around in this garden. He did enjoy chasing the animals, flying around those little girls, eating the snacks they left him,… But maybe he had stayed too long in one location, maybe it was time to move on.
They were in the edge of the garden, on the large southern terrace that was overlooking it. The bird cage that Daphne had bought at the owl emporium on her trip to Diagon alley was standing on the long garden table. It was one of the biggest and nicest models and was equipped with food and water supply and soothing spells that would calm the transported bird. But apparently Dread was having none of it.
"Daphne, are you finally coming?" the woman called. "I still have to get Dread in his cage, mother." Daphne replied.
"Well, hurry up. The train will not be waiting."
"It seems he does not want to enter though, I have tried three times already."
"We have to leave soon and you cannot take him through the floo network like this, what does your book say, honey?"
"Well, chapter four of the 'practical guide to bond with your familiar' handles birds in particular, it says…" Daphne opened the book and started reading:
Like with other animals, in the first stage of bonding with your avian familial, the bird in question will start to develop his natural abilities more. The wizard or witch may notice a songbird developing more complex songs, increased hunting abilities in a bird of prey or a higher sense of awareness in an owl. The most common and useful trait in the avian familiar at this stage, is the ability of the animal to locate and reach his wizard or witch, even over a long distance, combined with a small increased capacity to carry loads.
In normal natural birds, this talent for navigation and delivery is already present. It is a little known fact that muggles use pigeons to send messages over long distances. In fact, according to legend, it was this observation that gave Merlin the idea to use Archimedes, his owl familiar, to start delivering letters for him. As such laying the foundation for what today is the most common way to send written messages in the magical world.
Be careful however, do no test the limits of your bond too soon, it is still fragile. For example, it is likely that, especially in the case of wild birds, you are unable to convince them to enter your house or any other enclosed space at this stage. Take your time to deepen the bond first before you send your bird on long distance travels.
Mother sighed, "Well honey, then you will just have to convince him to fly to Hogwarts for you. It is time to leave. Unless you want me to stun him, so we can put him in the cage?"
"No! Please don't do that, it would not be healthy for our bond. I am just worried that it is not strong enough yet." Daphne said.
"Then you should have just worked harder at forming a bond. This is why me and your father talked so much about the responsibility that comes with getting your own familiar. You cannot just go around letting him attack little boys. We are worried…"
Daphne started to zone out a little at this point. When she saw an opening in her mother's lecture, she interrupted: "Yes, you are right mother, I should take responsibility. I will convince him to follow me to Hogwarts." Daphne called Dread to her arm one last time, he landed on her hand and watched her as she talked. "Please Dread, follow me to Hogwarts. You will feel me moving soon, reach out to me and track me. Let us stay together and become strong." She nudged his beak on more time with her cheek and ruffled his feathers lovingly with her free hand. Then she raised her arm and Dread took off.
The crow did not really know what to think of this. The girl called Daphne and her mother had left the garden a little later and after a while he did notice her presence disappearing. He had planned to start moving soon and clearly the girl was leaving, he guessed this was a good time to do it. After a final circling of his favourite places in the garden (the pond, the tree faintly shaped like a rabbit, the funny statue of a wizard riding a winged horse), he rose up in the air and noticed the wind blowing. The world was his once again.