Friendly Competition

[7] The Tackiest Of Days

Harry's new owl didn't come back for a few days, and when it did, he awoke to it sitting atop its cage, staring at him expectantly.

He had left the window slightly open for her, but he hadn't quite expected a return to go quite like this. It had seemed more likely a few days ago that there would be more kicking and screaming.

He put his glasses on and sat up, staring at the owl. "I need to get you a name, huh."

She made a demanding screech.

"Right, yeah, I'll feed you something. Haven't got anything for myself either, hold on."

He got himself washed up and dressed, and then went down to the Great Hall, with the owl huffily following behind.

It perched on his shoulder just before he entered the Great Hall, digging its claws in through his cloak. "Thanks," he muttered. Real nice bird.

He took his regular seat beside Draco, at the end of the table, and Draco glanced up from reading the Daily Prophet as the owl fluttered off of his shoulder to perch on the back of his chair.

"Who is this?" he asked Harry.

Harry reached for a piece of bacon and tossed it at the owl, and she eagerly snatched it up. "Dunno."

Draco set down the paper fully and gave him a dubious look. "You...don't know? You just have some random unexplained owl following you around?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he started to fill his plate. "She's mine, Hagrid gave her to me for Christmas, she just hasn't got a name yet. Dunno what to call her."

"Hmm." Draco looked back down at his paper and picked up his toast to take another bite.

They ate in companionable silence for several minutes before Draco suddenly said, "Ceridwen?"

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"You wanted a name."

"I didn't say you could name it!"

"Well I don't see you doing it," Draco said reasonably.

"I— S-Speckle. I'll name her Speckle or something, look at her, she's speckle-y."

Draco grimaced. "Oh, Harry, that's absolutely horrid. Amarantha? That's a pretty name."

"Why do you insist on giving her a weird pure-blood name! She could be a— a Caity or something!" Harry had to admit to himself, though, that that sounded weirdly human in an uncomfortable way.

Draco huffed exasperatedly. "You named your first owl Hedwig!"

"I got it from a history book!" Harry defended.

"And so what's wrong with having another old name? Iolanthe. Or how about Saphronia?"

"How do you even come up with all of these names?"

"Made to study family trees growing up," Draco dismissed lightly. "A lot of them. Don't worry, I'm avoiding ones with...associations."

"Well that's...good to know? I guess?"

"How about Corisande? Or Apollonia?"

"I don't fucking know! Which one do you think is good?"

"Hmm..." Draco stared at the owl for a long time. "Saphronia means wise, so that would be rather fitting for an owl, but she does have those eyes too, so Apollonia wouldn't be bad either. Though maybe it's hubris to name something after a god. I wouldn't know." He finally turned his eyes to Harry. "You choose."