Vox Corpis [Harmione]

Chapter 6

It was well past midnight before Hermione actually made it to the owlery. After leaving Dumbledore's office she'd rushed back to the common room, retrieved several sheaves of parchment and a quill, and took up at a table normally utilized for homework where she set about composing the letter she would send to her parents. She set herself the task of getting it finished and off that very night. She wouldn't let it sit another moment. Putting together the right way to approach her parents with the idea of a boy and a house elf staying with them over the summer had required more tact and skill than she'd originally anticipated. She didn't suspect her parents would be horribly opposed to Harry staying over; it was the house elf she wasn't sure about. For all their support toward Hermione and her witch status, they were still muggles and largely unacquainted with the magical world (to which house elves firmly belonged). Feeling guilty for it, but for Harry's sake not guilty enough to change her mind, she decided to omit the details on Harry's guardian. If Kimmy could remain in dog form then her parents need not be any the wiser. After all, they allowed her to have Crookshanks in the house, so a Chihuahua shouldn't be that different. After that slightly deceitful decision was made, writing the letter seemed to become a bit easier, but it still had to be just right. She couldn't abide by any letter that would fail to convince her parents to have Harry as a summer guest. It became a homework assignment, subject to the same exactness and perfection. She started several drafts that she scrapped and discarded; she began anew it seemed half a dozen times. Early in Hermione's effort, Ron had returned from owling his own mother and seen Hermione scribbling and contemplating feverishly. The look of sharp concentration on her face surely made Ron believe that its source was a textbook, for he gave an exaggerated yawn and dashed up the boys' dorm stairs before Hermione could catch him. Hermione had barely spared him a glance; she had a friend to rescue.

Finally, with Crookshanks coiling around her legs and hopping on to the table to swat at the jumping feather-end of her quill, she had her letter done. She didn't even look at the time, unconcerned, as she stashed her finished note, grabbed up her cloak, and headed out of the common room.

The owlery was eerie in the black of night. The occupants, normally so docile and calm during the day, were now uncommonly active and vocal. Hermione had never visited the owlery at night and would avoid it if possible in the future. The fast, stealthy whisper of feathers rushing past her face was enough to make anyone jumpy.

Hermione peered around the darkness uselessly a moment then pulled out her wand and cast lumos. There was a wave of indignant, angry hoots at the sudden light, dark bodies shifted and moved in a wall of avian complaint. A great many owls just fled the tower entirely, a crowd of birds making for the windows and door. Hermione ducked the mob and looked up. The light found a single patch of white in shadow near the ceiling and Hermione sighed in relief at the sight of Hedwig's back.

"Hedwig."

The snowy owl turned her head and looked down at Hermione. A dead rat, mangled and half-eaten, dangled from her beak.

"Eww… Hedwig, come down here, please."

Hedwig seemed to weigh the options, ruffled her feathers with a disgruntled shake at having to abandon her meal, then let the corpse drop to the ground twenty feet below and left her perch to fly down to Hermione. Hermione was startled when Hedwig came right at her (though Hermione couldn't imagine what else she could have expected the bird to do), and when she instinctively brought up an arm to shield her face Hedwig wrapped her feet around Hermione's forearm and landed cleanly on the girl's arm.

Hermione staggered at the unexpected weight but managed to keep from pitching Hedwig to the floor or ending up there herself. It felt horribly awkward and ungainly to have the owl on her arm. And she was surprisingly heavy. She couldn't fathom how Harry made it look so natural and effortless.