A Taste of Magic

Chapter 125: 125th Course - Sickness and Health

One of Harry's favorite parts of the day at Hogwarts was breakfast time. Not just for the food and seeing his friends, but he always loved seeing the owls come into the Great Hall. At first there would be the general sounds of people walking about and chatting and then there was an explosion of movement and owls would come flying down from the ceiling, looking for the receivers of their post. Normally when owls fly during hunting, their feathers help reduce the sound of the wings flapping to help sneak up on prey.

When delivering post however, the owls did not care as much about flying or moving silently so there was a lot of hooting and barking and flapping as the owls exchanged words with each other before landing before their intended recipient. Then they would either wait for a reply or visit their owners for some time before flapping away.

For the first few years, Harry did not have anyone to write to. But Hedwig still showed up to visit with him and she would stay there until he left for classes. Eventually she was a little busier doing deliveries and exchanges for Lavender, then Parvati and Hermione, but unless she was actively out on delivery, she always came to be with Harry and his friends. Now she was a lot busier with regular correspondence with Sirius and the Tonkses, and before she regularly flew to France for the Flamels, but she almost always did those during the day to ensure she had time to visit with Harry and the others at breakfast as well as eat together. Harry visited her at the Owlery at other times too of course.

When they got the Uncommon Room, they saw each other much more often. Many times, she would sleep there in privacy and comfort save for the times she needed owl socialization and would go to the Owlery to see her fellow owls. Otherwise she preferred the Uncommon Room due to its comfort, access to food, and to be with Harry and the others.

This morning she came swooping in, gracefully dodging other owls and extending her wings to slow her descent. She landed daintily in front of Harry, not a feather out of place and not disturbing a single thing on the table, not even the napkins. She executed a pirouette as she landed and puffed her chest out, striking a pose.

"Very beautiful," Harry praised, clapping his hands. He smiled when she nuzzled him and bit his nose gently for good measure before she thrust her chest out again, giving him easy access to the pouch on her harness. "Hmm, what's this?" He pulled out a tube that had a letter attached to it. He opened the letter first and began to read. "Oh no," he groaned.

"Is something wrong?" Lavender asked worriedly, seeing his pained expression. "Did something happen?"

"You can say that," Harry said with a bright red face and gave her the letter.

She began reading with the others looking on with worried interest. The worry went away when Lavender started giggling mightily and the interest increased in degrees of magnitude. "Wow, she writes like she talks," Lavender said, still giggling.

"Who does?" Parvati asked, reaching out for the letter.

"Go ahead and read it," Harry sighed with a wry smile.

Lavender smacked Parvati's hand and they exchanged stuck out tongue expressions before she cleared her throat and started reading.

Hello Harry dear!

I hope this letter finds you well.

Be proud for you have in your hands the very second printed copy of the first volume of the new magazine, Gourmancy Monthly! I have the first printed copy to keep as a victory trophy of sorts and the next few have been promised to your godfather, godaunt, grandparents, and the Headmaster of course. I am quite proud of this work, well to be fair I'm proud of almost everything I write, but am especially proud of this.