I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
Extended Family
Chapter 122 – Speaking Too, Hedwetric Hoogaloo
Takes place all over the timeline again, the first instance takes place around chapter 128 of Family.
"Who did you want to join tonight?" Fleur asked as she polished off the last bit of wine from the bottle.
"What do you mean?" Colette asked. "Is something wrong with the spare room?"
"No, but Hedwig is probably coming tonight, it's about time for her every other week flight," Fleur said. "And she sleeps in that room."
"You're going to let an owl dictate where I sleep? You've known me for longer!"
"Don't be jealous," Aimee snorted. "You're not the one making an international trip every other week and we all know there are plenty of personal owls that would refuse the trip and many professional post owls that would refuse it too. The ones who would make the trip would charge a lot for it."
"Bah!" Colette made a rude gesture. "I am a human. She is an owl. There is a natural order of things." She drained her wine glass and rose to her feet. "And if she doesn't like it, she can deal with it." Colette threw her hair over her shoulder, almost falling over due to the influence of alcohol, and walked stately and slightly unsteadily to the room and closed the door firmly.
"This will be good," Fleur smiled. Her smile grew when she heard tapping on the window and she rose and walked over swiftly. "Hello Hedwig!"
Hedwig came through the window after Fleur opened it and hooted warmly, nuzzling Fleur's hand and nipping her finger lovingly. "Bon soir ladies," Hedwig hooted.
"Did you have a good flight?" Aimee asked when Fleur carried Hedwig over.
Hedwig bobbed her head but stifled a yawn. "It was fine. Caught a wind gust that let me coast most of the way." She sighed with relief when the girls removed her harness and stretched before drinking from her water dish and nibbling on some steak in a tired way. "I didn't rest as much as I normally like to before this flight though. I was busy doing some other deliveries."
"Would you like to go to bed? We can make you more food when you wake in the morning," Fleur said. "There's only one small problem. Colette took the room. You can sleep with one of us if you like."
"That is a problem, for her," Hedwig said peevishly. She flapped and flew to the door, scrabbling with the knob and pulling the door open before flying in.
Fleur and Aimee laughed when they heard Colette screech and Hedwig screech. Sounds of rustling and pulling and flapping and flailing could be heard and they laughed until tears streamed down their faces.
"Ow! Stop that!"
"No! Get out of my room!"
"I will cook you into Coq au Vin you flying chicken!"
"If you did, I'd choke you as the last thing I'd do! Now get out! Out I said!"
Colette came flying out of the room and the door slammed behind her. Colette shook her head and looked up at Fleur and Aimee who were cackling. Fleur slumped over the couch and Aimee had fallen to the ground, howling. "Did she literally kick me out of the room?!"
"It certainly looks like it!" Fleur gasped.
"How's the natural order of things?" Aimme hiccoughed.
"I'm going to tell Harry about this!" Colette seethed.
"He won't do anything," Fleur laughed. "Nor should he. We warned you!"
"Damn chicken," Colette grumbled.
-0-
"Now penguin wings aren't like other bird wings, they use them to swim," Luna said. She smiled when Lucas wiggled on her lap, looking at the pictures of the black and white penguins swimming through the water. "Isn't that interesting?"
"Hmm, that is interesting," Hedwig mused. She was sitting behind Luna on the back of the couch, looking over her shoulder at the picture book. "I'd miss my wings but swimming might be fun. I do like baths though it takes forever to dry feathers after a long soak."
"And they also slide around the ice on their bellies when they need to be out of the water," Luna explained and Lucas nodded seriously as he looked at the next set of pictures.
"Well that looks fun," Hedwig said, looking at the pictures. "I wonder what that's like. It'd be a bother to fly that far north though, not to mention I can't leave Chick and his chicks alone for that long. Oh, idea." She fluttered over when Harry walked in, trailed by the bunnies and Iris and Melanie. Landing on his head, she gently yanked his hair, directing him to Luna and Lucas. "Chick, make me that please."
"Hmm?" Harry looked down at the picture book and then up at Hedwig. "What is it, Hedwig?"
Hedwig landed next to Luna and Lucas and she tapped the picture with a wingtip. "I want to try that. Please make it possible."
Harry looked at the picture and then back at Hedwig. "You want to slide around like a penguin?"
Hedwig nodded. "Yes please."
Instead of being struck by the strangeness of the request, Harry turned thoughtful. "Hmm, shouldn't be too hard actually." He left the sitting room with the others following and he held up his wand. "Let's see here…" He murmured and formed a small enclosure with stone walls. He then filled it with water and froze it with the Freezing Charm. A Smoothing Charm made the surface nice and smooth and he added impact resistant and cushioning charms to the walls.
"Your transfiguration work and charm work are very lovely," Luna said admiringly as she bounced Lucas up and down.
"Thanks! I've actually learned a lot more on charm work lately too. Been doing some joint projects with Professor Flitwick."
"Going after a second mastery?" Luna asked with a smile.
"One is more than enough," Harry laughed. "How does this look, Hedwig?"
"Perfect! Thank you!" She nuzzled him and flapped down, sliding a little on the ice. "Now let's see." She laid down flat and floundered a bit. "Hmm, this is much more difficult than I thought."
"Try using your talons for purchase," Luna suggested. "Then you can use your wings to propel and steer."
"Oh that works, thank you Moon-Song!" Hedwig used her talons to get her going and then soon she was sliding along easily. "Now I am the best at flying and the best at ice sliding!" she said happily as the children and adults clapped and cheered.
"Daddy, can we do that too please?" Dahlia begged and the others took up the plea.
"I'm sure you could. Let's see." Harry looked at the pictures of the penguins and murmured as he drew a shape around Dahlia with his wand. She and the girls and the baby squealed with joy when he transfigured her clothes into a penguin onesie, complete with penguin hood and her sleeves ending in flippers. The feet had tiny talons at the end and he thickened the material on the stomach. "Give it a try!"
Dahlia clambered onto the ice and she too floundered a little before she got the hang of it. She squealed with delight as she slid around and it was not long after before the others were similarly attired and were sliding on the ice too.
Luna had to leave for a meeting, something she lamented, but she was happy to see baby Lucas also penguined and promised to return later. Harry sat on a conjured chair comfortably with Lucas sitting in a carrier beside him, being rocked gently.
"Brr, I thought my feathers were thick enough but I'm not usually lying on ice." Hedwig flapped out of the pool and landed on Harry's leg.
"Want to warm up?"Harry asked, noticing Hedwig shivering a little.
"Oh good idea." Hedwig lifted the edge of his shirt with her beak and squirmed underneath, fluffing up against him and sighing with comfort. "Mmm, nice and warm. You're as good of a belly warmer as you are a butt warmer."
"What is going on here?"
Harry looked up sheepishly. "Oh uh, it…actually, I have no idea what it looks like."
Katie smiled at him. "I have to hear how this came about."
Harry grinned. "Well, it started with Luna reading to Lucas. You know that big book of non-magical animals we got her? She was reading it to him and showing him the pictures."
"Okay," Alicia said. "With you so far."
"So she just finished reading to him about birds and Hedwig got interested. Specifically about penguins because they don't fly. Hedwig was curious about sliding around on the ice on your belly."
"Hedwig was curious," Hermione said, covering her mouth to hide a smile.
"Yeah so I transfigured a small pool, filled it with water and then froze it so she could slide around on it to see what it's like."
"You made an ice rink for Hedwig to pretend to be a penguin," Katie said.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Okay, then explain the rest," Alicia said, her smile from ear to ear.
"Well the bunnies saw and wanted to try too and I might have transfigured their clothes into penguin onesies. And since I did it for them, I couldn't leave Melanie or Rilly or Lucky out of it." He flushed at the looks the witches gave him. "What?" he asked, defensively.
"You are too damn cute," Katie said and kissed him on the lips.
"And so are the little ones," Alicia sighed. She watched as the three older girls and Melanie and Iris slid around on the ice, squealing happily.
"How did Hedwig like it? Actually, where is she?" Hermione asked.
Harry patted his front and a muffled hooting could be heard through his shirt. "She enjoyed it but her belly got cold. So she's warming up."
"It was a lot of fun but a bit chilly," Hedwig confirmed, fluffing comfortably.
-0-
"What is that," Alicia said once they caught up with Charlie and the girls. She gave the large dragon in the pen a wary look.
"This is a German Knochenbrecher," Charlie said brightly. "Super interesting dragon she is. Legend has it that she was bred from a dragon brought over from ancient Germany by the Romans and the dragon mated with some of the United Kingdom local dragons."
The dragon growled at them, large pale eyes narrowing. It was not too large as far as dragons go, not much bigger than the Welsh Green. However, it was covered in thick plates that looked like bleached bone and every movement by the dragon sounded like bones rubbing against each other.
"Their scales and spines look like bones but aren't technically." Charlie turned his back on the dragon, utterly uncaring of the size and barely veiled threat the dragon exuded. "Isn't she beautiful?"
The girls clustered around Harry, shooting nervous looks at the belligerent looking dragon and he patted them gently though he let his wand handle slip to his hand. "What does Knochenbrecher mean?" he asked. He shifted a little when Hedwig crawled out of his jacket to sit on Dahlia's head.
"Bonecrusher," Charlie said plainly.
"And does she like to do that?!" Alicia asked, voice slightly shrill.
"They prefer to hunt with impact hits instead of clawing and biting," Luna said, calmly taking a picture. "Probably how they got their name."
"Why does she look like she wants to crush our bones?" Alicia asked, stepping back and dragging Hadley with her.
"Ah she can't help it," Charlie said with remarkable calm. He turned and grinned at the dragon. "That's just how she looks? Anna is really sweet most of the time and only grumpy the other times."
"Only grumpy," Percy grumbled under his breath.
"Hey, you."
The dragon paused, looking about. She realized that she could feel a very palpable aura of hostile intent and when she saw the source, her eyes popped open in genuine surprise. The tiny, to her, owl that sat on the head of the tiny girl was staring right at her. An owl, staring at a dragon?! Before the dragon could do anything, the owl spoke again.
"Yes, you. I know you can understand me. Stop it. Now. You are scaring my Chick's chick and her nestmates and I'm not having it."
Hedwig glared at the dragon. "You don't scare me and if you keep up that awful racket, I'll rip out your scales and rub them together to a tune that I enjoy." Hedwig's eyes narrowed. "And if you keep looking at my Chick and my grandchicks like that, the last thing you see will be me plucking your eyes out and the last thing they will see will be the inside of my beak and my belly."
The dragon was about to rear back, to roar, to do anything else but something in the owl's posture and tone made her think twice. If anything, the pressure continued to rise and the dragon felt uneasy, lowering herself to the ground, to do anything to lessen the feeling of impending doom.
"They only make the noise where they rub the spines together when they're angry or irritated or wanting to threaten you. See? She stopped. Wait." Charlie frowned as Anna seemed to shrink down slightly. Despite being so big, the dragon truly looked diminished a little, lying flat on the ground and trying to look unassuming and non-threatening. "She's never looked that docile before. What's wrong Anna?"
He climbed into the pen and waved his wand, casting a Diagnostic Charm. "Everything seems okay. What's wrong girl? You were perfectly fine a moment ago." He noticed that the dragon was nervously looking at a spot in particular, alternating from staring at it and looking directly away from it. Charlie turned to try and look where Anna was looking.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Your…owl is intimidating my dragon."
"Hedwig is very protective," Harry said, rubbing Hedwig's head. "Doesn't surprise me."
Hedwig's head remained in place, no matter how her body turned due to Dahlia turning or moving. Hedwig's amber eyes were focused on Anna's pale off-white ones. Hedwig never broke eye-contact, staring directly at the much larger dragon. She clacked her beak and Anna seemed to shrink just a bit more, staying still and not rattling any of her plates or spines. "Go on then, do you want to be a big bad dragon or do you want to behave properly around babies?" She wiggled her talons meaningfully and licked her beak slowly.
"That's…what the heck?" Charlie scratched his head. "I've never seen a dragon intimidated by an owl before, not even teacup dragons."
"Most owls aren't like Hedwig," Luna said, smiling serenely. She took several pictures of Hedwig glaring at Anna.
"Right. Let's move on then." Charlie led them away and the entire time, Hedwig maintained eye-contact with Anna. Only when they finally moved far enough away did Hedwig stop glaring. She made a condescending noise and flicked her tail feathers at the pen. "Pfft, someone needs a snack if they're going to be so cranky." Anna did not relax until she lost sight of the owl and she shuddered, the sound of her spines and plates sounding like nervous applause.
"Does she normally do stuff like that?" Charlie whispered to Percy.
"She is incredibly intelligent," Percy said. "I have never seen her stare down a dragon before but from what I have seen and heard her do, it certainly does not surprise me."
"Huh, maybe I should've studied owls too," Charlie mused.
-0-
"How was the trip?" Katie asked that night.
"It was fun. Lots of different dragons and it was interesting to see them break one down."
Katie smiled at Dahlia walking around still wearing her wings. "Those are adorable."
"Oh I got you these." He smiled as Katie eagerly pulled on her new gloves. "Dragon hide obviously but treated for medical procedures."
"Thank you! They feel awesome." She flexed her fingers. "These will be super handy." She took them off and put them in her kit bag. "Learn a lot about dragons today?"
"Mmmhmm. And learned a fun fact about Hedwig today. She can stare down a dragon. We saw a German BoneCrusher and it was looking quite threatening until Hedwig kept her in line."
"I believe it," Katie said seriously. She walked to Hedwig's roost and hugged and kissed the snowy owl. "Hedwig is very intimidating when she needs to be."
Hedwig puffed her chest out and hooted agreeably, nodding with a lordly mien. "No one bothers my Chick and my grandchicks but me. And my bothering is adorable and loving and fun. I won't suffer any other kind of nonsense, not to my family. Over my butt feathers."
"Thanks for watching over the bunnies and everyone, mama bird," Katie praised. She smiled at Hedwig's nuzzle and her tugging lovingly on her hair.
"Of course! They're mine. I can out-hoard the best of them," she said snootily.
"Charlie couldn't believe it," Harry chuckled.
"Well if she ever gets bored of post, she can be a dragon tamer," Katie laughed.
"That sounds boring," Hedwig yawned. "I rather be a baconeer or something much more pleasurable."
-0-
Hedwig yawned, smacking her beak a few times as she blinked sleepily. "Books are nice to be around for napping," she mused. "And it keeps Chick nice and still and comfy." She leaned over a little to look at the book he was reading. "What's so interesting about this one?"
After following along in reading, Hedwig laid down a little on Harry's head so she could be more comfortable while reading. "I like this Shire place. Sounds very nice and peaceful. These hobbits seem sensible. They appreciate bacon. Wait, hey! I was still reading that!"
"What's wrong?" Harry asked when Hedwig nipped him. He looked up at her with surprise when she reached down with her wing and flipped a page back. "You're reading? I thought you didn't like reading."
"Your textbooks were dreadfully boring and were better suited for me sitting on them. This is interesting, if the writing is a bit dry." Hedwig finished the page and she grunted. "Drat, I want to start from the beginning but I don't want to force you back."
"Hmm," Harry hummed. He summoned her roost over to the couch and a piece of wood from the fireplace. "Let's see here." He transfigured a book stand and stuck it to her roost with a charm. Hedwig fluttered to it and gestured with her wing to readjust the height of the stand, nodding happily when it was the perfect height for her. When he put a book in it to test, they found that Hedwig was having trouble turning the page with her wing tip.
"There's a page turning charm, I'm pretty sure," Harry mused. He walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out a book, paging through it. "Oh yeah, here it is. Bit inconvenient to keep casting it though, want you to be able to read whenever you want."
"How about a rune?" Hedwig asked. She scratched a shape onto a different piece of wood.
"Hey, great idea," Harry smiled. "A rune should do the trick and I think I know how to make it work." He and Hedwig tested a few things and finally he sat back, proud of the project. He inscribed a Charmed rune into the book stand and mimicked it onto the roost and when Hedwig stepped or stomped distinctly with her right leg, the right page would flip and the left leg would do the same with the left page.
"I love my boy," Hedwig cheeped. She nuzzled his cheek. "Such a good chick."
"This is pretty great," Harry agreed and hugged her.
-0-
"What's wrong Hermione?" Harry asked, concerned.
Hermione dabbed at her eyes. "Oh these are tears of happiness. I'm just so happy to see all of you reading together like this." She had popped over to visit and found not only Harry reading, but Katie and Dahlia reading too. The three of them sat together and were engrossed in their own books. She blinked. "Hedwig is reading too?"
Hedwig looked up and narrowed her eyes at Hermione, holding one wing in front of her beak in an unmistakable shushing gesture. "Hey! I don't bother you when you read, do I? Well I do when I need your attention because you're always reading but still!"
"Sorry!" Hermione whispered while the others snorted and giggled. Hermione walked closer to take a look at the book in Hedwig's stand and her surprise grew. She looked at the books the other Potters had and she smiled widely. "You all are reading Tolkien?!"
"Well you did lend me the Hobbit," Harry said. "Something about appealing to our familiarity with magic. I liked it, so did Dally, so I continued on with Lord of the Rings."
"I started reading it after I saw how he was enjoying it," Katie said.
"Where did you get your copy of the other ones?" Hermione asked.
"I went to a Muggle bookstore."
"You went to a Muggle bookstore without me?!" Hermione huffed when Harry handed a coin over to Katie. "Really?"
"I knew you'd be insulted," Katie grinned.
"I'm not insulted, I'm just saying I would have wanted to go with you to a Muggle bookstore," Hermione sniffed. Her frown dissolved when Dahlia climbed into her lap. "Aww, you're reading my copy of the Hobbit!"
"It's better than the other one," Dahlia said. "It has more words in it."
"I got her a children's version and it's apparently quite watered down," Harry smiled.
"And the pictures don't even move!" Dahlia complained.
"Poor thing," Hermione said and kissed the crown of her head. "I'm so proud of you for seeing the difference between the two and liking the more complicated one."
"She actually got upset at how Smaug was depicted," Katie snorted. "Had me Floo Charlie who also got upset. Apparently the drawing of Smaug isn't a real dragon, or a proper one anyways."
"In their defense, they don't know about proper dragons," Hermione said. "How are you two finding the Lord of the Rings?"
"I like it, definitely drier and a lot more wordy than the Hobbit," Katie said. "Good imagery though and I like the adventure."
"I like the hobbits," Harry chuckled, "they know what's important."
"I still can't decide if Gandalf or Saruman are good wizards or not," Katie said. "They don't do a lot of magic, at least our magic. It's fairly easy to cast a Locking Charm but then again, having to keep it locked while something like a giant bash against it would be exhausting."
"It's rather fun to compare real life to literary fictional life here and there," Hermione said. "I did that myself actually when I went back to read them after having been at Hogwarts a few years. Same with other books that are about magic and witches and wizards."
"I want to be Dahlia the Green," Dahlia said.
"Oh I like that," Hermione laughed.
"Ooh, I'll be Katie the Red," Katie smiled.
"McGonaMum the Tartan," Harry chuckled. "I need to remember to call her that next time she gets extra Scottish at me."
"What does that mean?" Hermione said, half-scandalized.
"When she gets really annoyed at me she starts throwing Scottish words and phrases at me," Harry said and Katie and Hermione laughed.
"Didn't you really cheese her off by giving her a bottle of American whiskey?" Katie asked.
"Oh yeah, she got very upset at that," Harry mused.
"Are there lots of books about magic and witches and wizards?" Katie asked.
"So many. It's popular among those that don't think it's real for obvious reasons." Hermione sighed dolefully. "If only someone who knew what to look for was with you at a Muggle bookstore…"
"Okay, I can catch a hint," Harry mock-groaned. "We'll go tomorrow after you finish work and I finish practice."
"Ooh, maybe we can do a book club sort of thing," Hermione said enthusiastically. "See who wants to read with us and we can chat about it after."
"Normally I wouldn't find that fun but I'm comfortably surprised that I'm enjoying reading for fun," Katie said. "I'd be happy to do that." She smiled lovingly at Dahlia reading in Hermione's lap. "When I was her age, books didn't interest me really. I liked running around outside and playing Quidditch and flying when I got older."
"She has ulterior motives for liking reading sometimes," Harry smiled.
"That means I'm sneaky in a good way," Dahlia said proudly.
"Yeah you are," Harry praised. "She likes to sit on our laps and snuggle when we read to her."
"As good a reason as any," Hermione smiled and cuddled her close. "So how did Hedwig get into reading?"
"She was napping on my head one day but I guess she got interested in reading with me. She started nipping me to read faster or slower depending on the chapter so I made her reading stand for her so she can go at her own pace."
"That's incredible. She really likes reading then?"
"Oh yeah. I mean there are times where she doesn't feel like it but she reads when she wants. She's pretty opinionated too. I remember her being really disdainful when the Fellowship couldn't handle the cold-"
"Hey! Spoilers!" Katie cried and smacked Harry on the shoulder.
"It's just a little ice and snow!" Hedwig sniffed. "Pathetic! And Gandalf couldn't cast a Warming Charm or conjure fire more often? I've seen your chick do stronger accidental magic than he did deliberately!"
-0-
"One of us should probably stay with the fire now," Dahlia said weakly. "That's an important rule."
"Good idea. Well one or two of us need to work on ingredients and we can take turns visiting the houses," Hailey said. "I'll peel the taters. I'm good at that."
"I'll go grab herbs from our home," Hadley said. "Mummy made herb bundle things for when Daddy cooks. He likes them 'cause he won't get them confused. Last time Mummy sent him to the greenhouse for thyme, he came back with snapweed."
"I'll chop the taters and get sausages from our home," Dahlia said. She held the stone over the pot then had second thoughts. She placed the stone in a ladle and slowly lowered it into the water. "Taters and sausages and herbs is a good start."
Hailey had her tongue stuck out in concentration as she carefully peeled the potatoes with a small peeling knife. "I think we have onions at home. Mummy always says onions and taters go together in things, and with sausages."
"I don't like onions," Hailey said, also sticking her tongue out.
"We can chop them all tiny and cook them over the fire a little first," Dahlia said. "Daddy does that for me since I don't like big chunks of raw onion."
"I love onion. I'll eat slices like an apple," Hailey said.
"Gross!" Hadley exclaimed.
"You're gross!"
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU FLEDGLINGS DOING?!"
The sound of barking cut through, stopping the ensuing argument from occurring. Hedwig swooped in and landed on the table. She narrowed an eye at the three girls.
"Hi Hedwig," they said together, squirming slightly at her judgmental gaze.
Hedwig looked all around, her head swiveling and her body unmoving. Her head turned back and she glared beadily at the girls. "I know you three aren't using fire and knives without proper supervision!"
"We're being careful," Dahlia said meekly.
"Our parents said we can cook if there's an adult nearby and there's a lot nearby," Hadley piped up. "Auntie Luna is coming later too."
"And if you're here, you can watch us and mind us," Hailey said cheerfully.
Hedwig sighed deeply.
"I'll make you some bacon?" Dahlia offered.
Hedwig shook her head but plumped down comfortably on the table, hooting in a resigned way. "I might as well stay and watch you three then. Bless my feathers, you three are a handful. More than Chick and I never thought I'd ever say that. Keep the bacon coming."
"Thank you, Hedwig," they said together, relieved.
-0-
"I have a question," Hailey said. "Does Hedwig count as an adult? Because she really was here the whole time."
Harry looked at Hedwig who looked back wearily, chewing on a piece of bacon. She nodded and rolled her eyes.
"They were surprisingly safe and good, well maybe not surprisingly since you taught them," she sighed. "Still, naughty cheeky things they are," she said lovingly and proudly.
-0-
"So it occurred to me when this was announced, that announcing the game would be a trifle difficult originally. I mean, we've got two Woods, three Weasleys, and two Potters on the field!" Lee said and everyone laughed.
"So we're going to go back to maiden names," Lyla continued. "Alicia Wood will be Spinnet. Angelina Weasley will be Johnson. Katie Potter will be Bell."
"Now I was going to say that the twins are literally maidens but George has children so that can't be true but Fred just might be still, so it's safe to assume that," Lee crowed.
"That's not what your sister said!" Fred shouted while everyone howled.
"LEE JORDAN!" McGonagall shrieked.
"Ah it's been so long since Professor McGonagall shouted my name angrily," Lee sighed happily. "So many happy ear damaging memories."
Lyla giggled. "Also, we have a bit of a debate on what to call the Alumni Team. They played for many years so we couldn't decide on a year, though we almost decided on their first championship one."
"And since they'll be playing against current Gryffindors, we couldn't just refer to them as the Gryffindors."
"Hermione said we can call them the OG's as in Original Gryffindors but then she started laughing and wouldn't explain the joke, neither did Mirabelle," Lyla frowned.
"Really Hermione?" David laughed.
"What? It worked," she said, giggling mightily and she and Mirabelle high-fived.
"So after some talk, we decided to name them after their Village mascot," Lee continued.
"So they'll be Hedwig's Highflyers!" Lyla announced to great applause.
Hedwig fluffed up, looking incredibly proud and smug. "That's my Team! Go and show those babies on wing-less sticks how to fly!"
"Someone's ego just got inflated a bit," Hermione smiled.
"Well deserved really," Luna said and Hedwig hooted in agreement.
"I love it," Harry smiled.
"Of course you would," the twins sniffed.
"No, I'm Wood," Oliver said.
"Focus! I don't care what they call us," Alicia said.
"Hey, we just need to channel her and we will win this easy," Angelina said.
Katie smiled as Harry tapped their uniforms and tiny Hedwigs appeared on their right shoulders. "There's no way we're going to lose now. With our experience, Alicia's attitude, and Hedwig with us, we got this in the bag."
-0-
Harry smiled when Dahlia came walking up to him on the couch, rubbing her eyes sleepily with Hedwig drooping on her head. "Hi girls," he said warmly.
"Hi Daddy," Dahlia said, climbing onto the couch and onto him while Hedwig cheeped sleepily too.
"Didn't you just get up from a nap?" Harry asked, moving a little and settling himself and her comfortably.
"I nap better on you," Dahlia murmured, snuggling close.
"That's fair," he smiled, hugging her to him.
"I had a funny dream," she said, her voice soft and slow.
"Oh?"
"Mmhmm, Hedwig was talking a lot," she said and drifted off again, going limp and melting onto him.
Harry smiled as Hedwig wriggled a bit, settling behind their heads and fluffing up comfortably. "Hedwig talks all the time," he said lovingly. She preened his hair a little before she too fell asleep and started snoring directly in his ear. "Sometimes louder than others," he laughed to himself.
-0-0-0-
poka - Devious little bunbags I think you mean! They want to follow the rules, to a degree, but they also don't want to be confined by them. One of these days, I'm going to have to write how they and Snape and McGonagall get along in class. Snape would probably straight-up quit. Also, commenting on your Random Reddit review, yes, the premise was they went to Rapture in Bioshock on accident and what happened there. It was a very odd prompt and I wanted to attempt it.
DOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - The bunnies make everything silly and fun. I am still enjoying writing and I'm glad people are still enjoying reading.
Ghostwriter - Thank you, glad you do.
Arnie701 - Technically Hermione wasn't arguing with Hedwig directly. More with Hedwig's proxy, namely Luna.
odonellzoo99 - Yup! The front one is Dahlia with the flower and the blonde fur. Hailey is the reddish fur and the bent ear and Hadley is the brown furred bunny. I think Babbling Brook nailed the feeling of the cover. I always found the semantic argument between baking, roasting, cooking, and all that to be really fun and very silly when it comes to arguing about things like that. Meat pies are definitely a hybrid product. Maybe I'll do a sandiwch argument chapter one of these days.
TheSphynx - Harry being Village Dad made me laugh so hard at the end. Always Team Hedwig.
alix33 - Hermione only had technicality on her side. Commenting on your Random Reddit review, there is a game called Bioshock where the protagonist goes to an undersea city via a bathysphere in a lighthouse. That was the premise of the reddit prompt so I went with it.