Knowledge is Power

Chapter 2

The next morning at breakfast, Mag's mind wasn't on her first day of attending Hogwarts as it normally would've been. It was on the extraordinary fact that she'd somehow ended up with an owl who was even more magical than usual.

"If you have any trouble at school, just go to Professor Snape or Professor Flitwick no matter what house you end up in, Dear," Mag's mum Heather said.

"We were both in Slytherin and we made her. She's smart so she'll obviously be in Slytherin," her father Raislen said with a friendly grin at his daughter. "We will accept you if you are sorted into Ravenclaw because Professor Flitwick always thought me, your Mum and Severus should've been in his house. He's the head of Ravenclaw," her father explained. "However," he continued, pausing to give her a stern mock frown, "If you're sorted into Hufflepuff or for gods sake Gryffindor you're no longer a member of this esteemed family," he teased.

Mag did register the names of the professors to whom she should turn if there was a problem, but hardly paid mind to the rest. Her head simply wasn't in the right place to be teased right now. "Mum...Dad...I have a talking owl."
Her father looked at the owl in question, sitting on the back of Mag's chair at the table, hungrily studying her hardly touched plate of breakfast.

"What? Like a parrot," he asked, amused.

/Nightshade doesn't want a cracker. He prefers eggs and sausage,/ the owl thought. He'd told Mag before they headed down stairs for the morning that he'd project his thoughts into all 3 of their minds for this conversation so she'd know what he said to her parents. She'd begged him for hours last night to allow her to share with her parents that he was so much better than an ordinary owl. Mag loved magical creatures even if she did wish to keep most of them at arms length so as not to get dirty. They were far more interesting than most people, especially the ones with special abilities or human level and above intelligence.

She never expected to get any of that when picking out a animal for school so it had completely made her week...Her year perhaps, once she'd fully reached the conclusion that she wasn't going insane.

"He's think talking into all of our minds at once," Mag explained hurriedly. She wanted to spare her parents from believing themselves to be hearing voices and losing their minds, after all.

"He started talking to me last night when we got home. I like him though he isn't very polite," she said with a smile.

//And she said you'd not tell anyone else. You better not too, cause I will so lie and fake it if anyone else tries to speak to me. I'll be the stupidest owl ever. The tard baby of all tard babies! The last thing I want is to be put in a fuckin' lab./ The owl shuddered before spreading large white wings and hop fluttering to the table where he snatched a piece of sausage from Mag's plate.

"So did anyone ever put you in a lab," Mag's mum asked the owl. As Mag had, Heather spoke aloud.

The bird shook his head, focused on filling his face with the food on Mag's plate.

"So how do you know about them," her father asked.
//People's minds. They're all so open. In the shop, passing by the shop, I guess that's how I learned to talk. I learned a lot// Nightshade replied.

"Makes sense I guess," Mag's mum said slowly. "I mean as much as any of it does...I've never even heard of anyone like you before," she told Nightshade. Raislen and I work at the department of mysteries at the Ministry for Magic so that's really saying something," she added with a chuckle.

//Me either,// the owl replied. Mag didn't have much appetite, uncertain how she felt about heading off to Hogwarts, so she left most of the food to her obviously far more hungry owl. At least the talk with her parents had gone well.

"His name is Nightshade. He said he's just always been this way when I asked. You won't tell anyone will you? Promise," she demanded of her parents. Both nodded a bit numbly.

"Sure, sure," her father said distractedly. Considering they'd seen some very strange things at the department of mysteries, the fact they were so shocked really said something.