(A/N): Before writing this chapter, I was working under the assumption that Leo left Hogwarts on a Friday. Knowing that Christmas Holidays are two weeks, with the 25th in the very middle, I worked out that if he left on the Friday, then Christmas Eve would be on the Wednesday. It doesn't really matter all that much to the story, but I looked it up and Christmas Eve 1975 was, indeed, a Wednesday. Just thought that was cool.

Leo

The sixth day of the Christmas Holidays was a Wednesday, and it also happened to Christmas Eve. I know this, because I was woken up at about seven thirty in the morning by Lisbet's present landing atop me after having flown through the window she must have previously opened.

"Wha- ah!" I rolled out from under the feathery intruder, and fell off the bed and onto the floor, my head bouncing off the face of my chest of drawers as I went. It took me a second to wake up enough to figure out which way was up and which was down, and when I looked up, big brown eyes peered down at me from under massive ear tufts that for all the world resembled oversized bushy eyebrows. "Um... hi." I greeted the owl, who side stepped to the edge of the bed in order to get a better look at me. Seeing no better alternative, I followed suit.

The owl was maybe as tall as my arm was long from the elbow down, and most of its face was a tawny color. Its ear tufts were lighter, grey or cream, and it had lighter flecks on its wings. Its beak was a pale yellow, and it's irises were very nearly the same tawny shade as its face. As I watched, its ear tufts changed from sticking straight out horizontally to being nearly straight up vertical, which made it look less disapproving and more curious.

"Still alive in there?" I jumped as Lisbet asked her question with her upper body stuck through my window, which was on the second floor, meaning she had to be clinging to the outside of the building in order to hang their so nonchalantly.

"Yes, no thanks to you. Who's this?" I said, being carefully not to move too suddenly as I gestured to the owl that had casually taken over my bed.

"She's your Christmas present." My eyebrows shot up, and I looked the bird over once more. "I figured you couldn't borrow Lawrence forever, and since you gave Vex to Mia, you had a position open for a new furry companion. Well, feathery companion, anyway." Slowly, very slowly, I extended my hand out to the bird, giving her time to move away, or bite me if she didn't want me to get close to her.

Instead, she tilted her head to the side, as if calculating what that gesture meant, before she leaned forward and rubbed her beak against my fingers.

"She's incredible. Does she have a name?" She pulled away from me and turned her attention to Lisbet over my shoulder as the woman climbed over the windowsill with ease.

"I think that's up to you to decide, bud." I looked at her, and she seemed amused, but I don't know why. I turned back to the owl, and inspected her for a minute, trying to find a name that fit in my mind.

"I like... Charlotte. We can call her Charlie, for short."

(A/N): Charlotte is a Crested Owl. The Chapter name is OWL in the phonetic alphabet.