Extended Family

Chapter 45: Speaking Without Words

Takes place after Dahlia is born

"What am I going to do with you?"

Harry blinked slowly.  He felt a little odd, as if things were slightly fuzzy for him.  The voice was waking him up and it sounded incredibly familiar but also completely foreign.  The tone and the sound were comforting but he had never heard the voice speak like that before.  It was warm but sharp.

"Honestly.  Sometimes I worry about your intelligence.  Well, I often worry about your intelligence.  Wanting to fly is normal but do you have to do it like that while playing a silly game?  Fledglings show more sense in the air and they're fledglings."

"Quidditch isn't silly," Harry protested, half on reflex, looking around.  He tried to find the person talking.

"It is silly," the voice insisted.  "Flying about on a wingless stick for something shiny.  You can't wear it or eat it; you don't even keep it as a trophy.  What's the point?"

His eyes narrowed.  He was lying on the couch in his home but he could not see who was talking.

"Down here."

"Ow!  Hedwig!  That hurt!"  He stopped and stared, his jaw hanging wide.  "H-H-Hedwig?!"

Hedwig sat on his stomach and blinked slowly at him before her amber eyes narrowed and she nipped him again through his shirt.  "Yes Hedwig," she said frostily.  "Unless you have some other snowy owl that cuddles with you and if you do, you better tell me who and I can go teach them a lesson about poaching and propriety."

"Y-y-you're talking," Harry stammered.

"I talk all the time."  She tilted her head.  "Maybe that Bludger did more than rattle your brain about."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense now."  Harry remembered getting hit in the head by the Bludger at his last game.  "I've gone mad."

"You have not, don't be silly," Hedwig sighed, plumping down on his abdomen.  "You're sleeping and dreaming."

"Oh.  Okay.  That makes sense too."  He felt a sudden chill.  "I'm not dying, am I?  OW!  Stop biting me!"

"Then stop being stupid!" Hedwig scolded, clacking her beak.  "You are not dying, you are healing."

He sighed with relief.  "Oh well, brilliant.  That makes me feel loads better.  So I'm healing and we're talking."  He blushed at her look.  "You can't blame me for feeling confused!"

"Because of the head injury?"

"No!  Well yes that too I suppose.  But we normally don't talk in English, you know.  I do but you don't."

"Fair enough," Hedwig conceded.  "Still, you and I communicate very well normally."

"Yeah, but this is nice."  Harry scratched her head and she leaned into his touch.  "You're a very good dancer and use body language a lot, though."

"Birds are natural dancers and owls are some of the best," Hedwig sniffed.  She started to dance, hopping from foot to foot with her wings spread.

"That's your 'I did good so praise me' dance," Harry smiled.  He watched as she turned around and waggled her tail feathers.  "That's 'I don't care what your opinion is' or 'I'm better than you' dance."