I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Howdy everyone. If you didn't see my note earlier this week on Taste, I am posting a bit early this week because I'll be out of town starting tomorrow into the end of next week. I hope to post my usual update next week as well thought I might not be able to post Taste twice. We will see.

150 chapters. I have hit 150 chapters for Extended Family. Combined with my 144 chapters in Family, and the Feathered Family, that makes 295 chapters in a single setting/work. I never imagined I could ever write that much for a single thing and yet, here we are. It's really humbling seeing it all laid out like that. I'm still enjoying this setting and story a lot and still plan on playing in it for some time yet. I also have an idea for a small mini-fic in the setting as well that I might visit one day. It's a contained story that I wanted to show off on its own, like Feathered, so it might sit apart while still fitting in the setting.

As always, I write for all of you. Your kind words and your enjoyment are inspiration for me to continue to write. I'm grateful that you are still here and enjoying the story and the characters. As this being my longest setting and my first truly long work, I'm still so attached to the characters here and I'm glad people are too. Some of the best moments for me is when people say that I was able to help them forget about their troubles for a little while and let them enjoy something. I'm honored that I can do that.

Thank you. Thank you for making me a part of your fanfiction family.

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Extended Family

Chapter 150 – Feathered Voice

Takes place during Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts, around chapter 132 of Family and after chapter 92 of Extended.

"Hmm, well, it looks like you caught the tail end of things," Pomfrey mused. She waved her wand and read the results of the diagnostic charm. "Luckily everything else seems fine and you really only have one symptom. And you should be fine within three days, providing you do what you are supposed to." She snorted to herself. "And this time, you cannot argue with me."

Harry narrowed his eyes at her and summoned the quill and ink and parchment from her desk and scribbled furiously on a piece before handing it to her.

"Oh wow, you can argue with me still, look at that," Pomfrey smiled. She rolled her eyes at Harry's pawky look. "Harry, you lost your voice but at least you are not having the same symptoms as the others during the wave of illnesses we had a little bit ago. Just take these potions, have some of your fabulous soup, and rest. And I am almost completely positive that your voice will return in a matter of days."

She took another piece of parchment from him. "I realize you have a lot of responsibilities such as being Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, not to mention normal class," Pomfrey snorted. "And as your Healer, I can write you a note to absolve you of your duties. No one would hold it against you." She narrowed her eyes and tutted at him. "I am no Legimens but my extensive experience working with teenagers has given me insight into body language and I can wash your thoughts with soap young man."

Harry let out an inaudible sigh before scribbling once more.

"Yes, you will have to settle on this for communication," Pomfrey said, reading the next message. "You could also use the Words of Lights Charm to write out your thoughts if you wish but as you might imagine, it is a little less private." She taught him the wand movements and the incantation. "I know you cannot verbalize the incantation but I think you will be able to pull it off non-verbally with your skills.

On the third try, a stream of letters flowed from his wand and floated into the air. This is marginally better, the green letters read, floating in the air.

"Those are your options," Pomfrey said, unimpressed at Harry's flat look of exasperation. "So either write it all out on parchment or via magical letters. I suppose you could have someone act as your speaker but you would be handing them what you wanted to say anyways so it would only create more work for both of you. Unless you and that person operate on an exceptionally close level that transcends spoken language."

Harry opened his mouth to make a futile noise before pausing, tilting his head slightly and thinking. I'll take that option, but I think I need a note of permission from you to make it official and to be a part of my treatment plan to not tax my throat, he wrote.

She looked at him thoughtfully and snorted at his carefully cultivated look of blandness. "Very well, whatever makes you smile, Harry." She shuddered when Harry grinned at her with an expression that was very reminiscent of two people that had graduated two years prior. "Do not smile like that!" She snorted again when he took on an expression of stoic seriousness like a proper British gentleman would have.

After writing out the note of permission, she patted him fondly after he hugged her and she shooed him away. "I might come to regret that."

"Why's that?" Verity asked. "I don't know him as well as you do of course, but Mister Potter is always proper and never takes liberties."

"Generally no," Pomfrey agreed. "But that smile was a bit telling and I got an all too familiar shudder when I saw it, and it was very odd to see him making that expression, though I suppose it really shouldn't be."

"I thought it was a rather nice smile," Verity sniffed.

"Oh it was, but it usually heralded some form of prank or something major that would be equal parts amusing and horrifying depending on how close you were to the situation," Pomfrey sighed.

"Mister Potter plays pranks?" Verity asked.

"Not as much as the two that probably taught him how to play the best ones, but he has the legacy for it both in blood and familiarity," Pomfrey intoned ominously.

-0-

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Hermione asked when Harry walked into the dorm she and Harry shared. "Oh that's a new charm," she smiled as Harry wrote in the air. She looked at the glowing letters and read them. "I'm sorry to hear that but at least it isn't contagious. And you're not feeling bad otherwise? That's good," she said at his head shake. "So are you going to use this to communicate for the next few days? Also will you teach me how to cast the charm? When you're feeling better of course."

She read his new sentence and the permission slip that Harry let her see. "Who are you going to have as your proxy voice? I mean, I wouldn't mind. I generally have an idea of your intentions and thoughts but I have to agree that you and your proxy must operate on a very close level for it to be effective and not time consuming. Luna does have her way of knowing what people think sometimes."

After thinking for a moment more her eyes widened. "No," she gasped.

Harry smiled and nodded.

"That won't work, it can't work," Hermione protested.

Yes it can and yes it will, Harry wrote.

"Harry, she doesn't speak English," Hermione said slowly, as if needing to state the obvious.

I just need a voice and someone to help me communicate, Harry wrote snidely. Speaking English is not entirely necessary.

"I'm actually somewhat impressed at how well you convey tone through that," Hermione said, reading the floating letters. "You should put that much emotion into your essays." She sighed at his crooked eyebrow. "You know, as well as I do, that you doing this isn't going to facilitate communication easily. If anything, this will be an exercise of how communication will break down."

She sighed again at his shrug. "Oh, this is going to blow up terribly. Hey! Stop laughing! I might not hear you laugh but I see you laugh!"

-0-

The prefect office was full of noise.

The prefects were all chatting as they worked and moved about, many different conversations melting together into an ocean of indistinct and loud noise. It was mostly full of sixth years who had that mental position where they were no longer as nervous as the fifth years and thought they could do no wrong under the safety of the seventh years.

Daphne frowned a little and she was about to lambaste a few of them when the door opened. She smiled, seeing Harry and Hermione walk in, and then she frowned in confusion when she saw who was with them. She did not say anything at his gesture and watched as Harry took the sights and the sounds of the office in.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Everyone save for Harry and the visitor jumped as the loud blood-curdling screech filled the office, reverberating off the walls. It bounced and rolled, seemingly growing more louder the longer it did, before fading away leaving ears ringing from the intensity and the threat laced within. The other prefects stared at Harry standing there with his arms crossed looking impassively at them with Hedwig sitting on his head who glared angrily at them.

Daphne took the slip of parchment from him and read from it. "'I have lost my voice but my other senses and faculties are as sharp as ever. To help me communicate, Hedwig will be my voice by proxy'." Daphne's eyebrows contracted at that and Hermione sighed and palmed her face while the others looked on with surprise and confusion and Harry continued to look impassive and Hedwig continued to look angry. "'Treat her as you would me and any actions she takes to any mistreatment will have my approval. This is your only warning'."

Hermione nodded wearily when Daphne looked at her with a very confused expression.

Harry pointed at the two Ravenclaw prefects and then tapped the pile of paperwork on the head desk. Yeens, the fifth year prefect who was there with her fellow fifth year Daltons, gave him a wary look and gulped. "Right, uh, the paperwork, well, we were waiting for Knight to do his part before we finished it and-"

Hedwig closed her eyes and her head fell back at an angle and she started to snore lustily. The gravely snores filled the room and the other prefects looked at each other while Hermione sighed again and Daphne started to snicker. Harry continued to look impassive, his eyes never leaving Yeens'.

She dithered, eyes flicking back and forth between the snoring Hedwig and the stone-faced Harry. "-I mean, uh, well, like I was saying, we were waiting for Knight to do his part and he hasn't done it yet and-" she jumped when Hedwig sat up and clacked her beak sharply and loudly.

"We'll do it right now Sir," Daltons said, seeing Harry look at him. "We shouldn't wait on the others to do their part before doing ours. We'll get right on it." He left the office with Yeens following close behind.

The other prefects stiffened a little when Harry gave them all a look before he looked at the map of Hogwarts and the patrol routes that were drawn out on it. Hedwig barked loudly and the prefects scurried and ran out of the office to go on patrol. A couple from Hufflepuff that looked like they were taking their time suddenly sped up when Hedwig flew at them, chastising them severely with sharp hoots and barks and she chased them out of the office, flapping after them.

"It's not that funny," Hermione groaned.

"I disagree!" Daphne cackled. "It is hilarious!"

"I think so too," Padma said, holding her sides and laughing merrily.

"Wow, she really chased them down the hall," Susan remarked, looking down the hallway.

"Better them than me," Blaise said seriously. "How are you feeling, Potter?"

I feel okay aside from not having a voice, Harry wrote with his wand. Thanks for asking.

"Oh that's a handy spell," Padma said. "Teach me? When you can of course."

Hedwig came flapping back into the room and landed on Harry's shoulder. She huffed loudly, and shook her head as she fluffed up.

"You cannot chastise people like that just because you feel like it," Hermione said severely to the owl. "You being Harry's vocal proxy does not give you carte blanche to act like that. No, don't you both look at me like that!" She huffed just like Hedwig did a moment ago as Harry and Hedwig looked at her with nearly identical looks of false innocence and feigned incomprehension.

"In her defense, Yeens and Daltons have taken too long to do their duties and the others were just sitting around," Daphne said prosaically. She smiled when Hedwig leaned over and tugged on her hair gently and playfully.

"Oh and she's wearing the badge again," Susan smiled, seeing the Head Boy badge on a chain around Hedwig's neck. "This time she has his permission and authority."

Harry patted Hermione's shoulder while she buried her face in her hands again in a gesture of comfort. The others snorted and laughed when Hedwig patted her other shoulder with her wing in an identical gesture only more cheekily performed.

"I do not need your condescension!" Hermione squawked and she fought the smile that was threatening to grow on her lips as Hedwig fluffed up smugly and giggled loudly.

-0-

McGonagall's frown increased in severity when her expression was mirrored back to her. "I suppose I should be glad to see you preparing for your N.E.W.T.s so early," she said with a sarcastic tone, "but it is still a bit early for you to be preparing to this extent surely."

Harry handed Hedwig a note and the owl flapped slowly to McGonagall and dropped it daintily in her hand before lazily flapping back to sit on Harry's head once more, making the rest of the class snicker and snort.

"Yes, I am aware that you lost your voice," McGonagall said, reading the note and giving Harry a sympathetically stern look. "I was also told that you are proficient with the Words of Light Charm, nonverbally of course." She sighed when Hedwig flapped over once more and showed her a piece of parchment but did not hand it over. She then took it back with her when she returned to Harry while McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, yes, technically you do have a healer's permission to have a voice by proxy, but is this all necessary?"

She groaned out loud when Hedwig nodded slowly and emphatically. "I am pretty sure that nodding and other associated head movements are forms of nonverbal communication, hence rendering the 'voice' portion of the proxy moot." She then regretted saying that when Hedwig looked at her with a considering expression that was steeped in malicious compliance and barked very loudly.

She said she will start barking and making as much noise as possible to fulfill the voice portion of the position, Harry wrote.

"Now who is the voice proxy?!" McGonagall exclaimed. "Okay, yes I will accept nods and other body language as long as they are silent!" she shouted as Hedwig barked loudly. She turned away and growled softly. "I will get you for this Poppy."

-0-

"This is beautiful," Daphne said softly, in awe.

"I want an owl now so badly," Elizabeth said, also in awe.

Hermione walked into the office and noticed the strange position people were in. She approached the watching prefects. "What's going on?" She looked into the corner and her eyes first widened then narrowed. "What are they doing?"

"We think we caught the person that has been sending those very annoying hexed messages," Daphne explained. She pointed at a student that sat in the corner and was looking very distressed.

"Oh finally," Hermione said. "But why is he here and what's going on?"

"Well he hasn't confessed technically," Blaise said, looking deeply impressed and amused. "It turns out, his father is a solicitor and he started saying that he does not have to speak to incriminate himself and it is his right to remain silent. He sat for about 25 minutes without speaking a word and looking like a smug bastard all the while."

"So the Head Boy decided to match how long he sat in silence," Elizabeth said with glee.

"Harry has been sitting there and staring at him for 25 minutes?" Hermione asked, looking astonished.

"Only about 20 minutes so far," Daphne said, smiling. "Without trying to say anything of course but he and Hedwig have been sitting there doing that for the entire time."

They watched as Harry sat there in a chair looking calm and unbothered. He would bite into an apple and chew on it slowly and then hold it up for Hedwig to bite into as well. Then they would alternate on who bit into the apple as they continued to sit and stare at the squirming student. Neither Head Boy nor Head Owl made any noises or changed expressions, simply sitting and enjoying an apple together. The only sound leaving the corner was crunching apple and chewing sounds.

"They've been eating an apple for 20 minutes?" Hermione asked faintly.

"Second apple," Daphne smiled. "They sat and slowly ate one and when it looked like Hedwig was going to speak, breaking the time, she flew off and returned with another apple. They have been making a game of it actually, seeing who can take the smallest bites while still counting as a bite and they ate the first one down to stem and pip and as you can see, are continuing to do so."

"He broke after 4 minutes," Blaise snickered. "He tried to speak but Harry shushed him, fully intending to ride out the full 25."

"This…I don't know if this is allowed," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"We checked, it's not not allowed," Elizabeth said.

Harry and Hedwig finished the second apple and when Hedwig opened her beak, the offending student looked hopeful. He almost burst into tears when Hedwig flapped off. "Please make it stop!" he said hysterically. "I'll confess! Please! It's too much!" He did just that, confessing to the fullest extent of his actions and he was nearly sobbing with relief when Hermione tasked two Hufflepuff prefects to take him to Sprout for punishment. After he left, the other prefects who were there and watching howled with laughter.

"Harry, I really don't think psychological warfare is appropriate or allowed!" Hermione exclaimed.

I only did what he did! Besides, I don't have a voice right now! Harry grinned when Hermione literally waved the magical floating words aside, giving him a very disapproving look. We solved the problem though and that's what matters.

"I am not getting into an argument about the ends justifying the means with you," Hermione huffed. She shook her head when Hedwig returned with another apple. "I sometimes wonder who is the worse influence on the other between you two."

Hedwig hooted dolefully, looking crestfallen that the student was gone. Her features brightened when Harry polished the apple and cleaned it with a charm and held it up to her. She took a big bite out of it, chomping happily and looking at Hermione with an amused expression, one that Harry shared when he took a bite out of it.

"No thank you," Hermione said wryly when Harry offered her the apple.

-0-

Hermione put her bag down after walking into the shared sitting room, rolling her shoulders with a sigh of relief. She pushed Harry to the side on the couch and sat down beside him. "What a day," she said tiredly. She gratefully accepted a cup of tea from him. "Thank you," she said as she sipped.

"I'm making cottage pie for dinner," Harry said.

"Oh yay! That sounds amazing-hey you got your voice back! Hey! You got your voice back!" She stared at him. "When did it get back?"

"Yesterday. Madam Pomfrey was right on the Galleon for saying how long it would last."

"But you were still using Hedwig as your proxy yesterday!"

Harry grinned. "Yeah, she's been having fun and I'll admit, it's rather freeing not having to talk for everything."

Hermione glared at him for a moment before she decided to sip more of her tea. "I still can't believe you got away with it."

"I know, right?" Harry chuckled when she poked him. "Apparently Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall got into a fight over it." He moved over when she poked him more. "Do you want her to be your proxy? Is that why you're so irritable?"

"Knowing her, she would gleefully misinterpret for me," Hermione grumbled.

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Apple?"

-0-0-0-

odonnellzoo99 - Right? Magic must make board games and miniature games so much fun. Ron commits to the bit and Hedwig likes being included.

Arnie1701 - She is very clever, should be funny.

DOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - This will probably stay as a regular mini series like A Day in the and Hedwig Speaks. They're very fun to write.

Ghostwriter - I like making the occasional pop culture reference and showing a tiny correlation to 'the real world' and for them in this setting, them playing DnD is delightfully fourth wall breaking and I'm glad people find it fun.

alix33 - I'm sure the characters will be explored more in time.

TheSphynx - And this is pre-Barony too. We will eventually see how it is post-Barony.

poka - I figure she would be the best DM. She's whimsical and spacey in a good way and is willing to play off of people so easily. I think I will continue this story as a mini series within this bigger one.

justanfanboy - Thank you.

optimus-maximus001 - One of the main reasons I write, to help people smile.