𝙮𝙤𝙪 || 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲: 𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭. 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐞

For the sake of the story, let's pretend you're able to ride a Muggle-operated bus to Ottery St. Catchpole. I've read that it's located somewhere in Devon, England. I apologize if it's inaccurate.

⚯͛ 9¾ ϟ

The countryside was warm and bright under the shining sun. Beyond the bus' window lay long rolls of fields and hills as far as the eye can see, extending far beyond the horizon. For the first few hours of your trip to Ottery St. Catchpole, you did not see houses or people.

You clutch onto your owl's cage as the bus encounters yet another bump on the dirt road. Your owl screeches and flaps his wings in panic, and as much as you want to comfort him, you can't release him inside the vehicle or he will cause mass panic.

Well, mass panic is a bit of an exaggeration.

You look over your shoulder at the two other male passengers. They were the only people aside from you that waited for this particular bus back at the bus terminal. They gave you questioning looks then but didn't say anything.

There was a total of three people on the bus, excluding the bus driver himself and the conductor who had long slumped against the seat in front of you and slept throughout every inconvenience the bus went through. A pretty impressive skill, in your opinion.

"We're almost there," you mutter to your owl. When he screeches again, you can feel someone's gaze burn the back of your head. "I know, I know, you're getting restless, but we're almost there, okay? I'll release you once we get to Ron's place, I promise."

You thought you saw your owl's round eyes glisten for a second before he turns away with a resigned hoot. It's these moments that make you fully believe that your owl was much more intelligent than he let on. He was an owl made for someone who used magic, so you just know he's better than most owls you see in the wild or in Muggle pet stores.

But the many times you've caught him comfortably napping in the most random and bizarre places (such as the back of the fridge and in your neighbor's dog house) makes you think otherwise. Dumb owl or not, you still loved him for who he was: a lazy bundle of feathers who fails to deliver your letters efficiently.

This was probably the reason why Harry Potter arrived at the Weasleys' before you did. You didn't blame your beloved owl of course (you were biased like that) but you would have liked to ride an invisible flying car across the country to save him. Ron Weasley had described their adventure down to the tiniest detail that you couldn't help but feel jealous every time you recall his last letter to you.

It's been a month into your summer holidays already, and your worries under that single month for Harry were completely justified. All those times where he was silent and unresponsive was due to the fact that his aunt and uncle forbid him from using his snowy owl Hedwig all summer. That and there was this vague mention in his letter about an elf stealing your and your other friends' letters from him, but he said he'd talk to you about it properly once you arrived.

Harry had gotten there a week earlier and was having fun ever since. It was a shame Hermione Granger wouldn't be able to come but she wished you a great summer nonetheless. At least you'll be able to see her again at Diagon Alley.

Apart from her, you've constantly been keeping contact with your other friends as well. Susan Bones and Fiona Porter were consistent with their letters. Delilah Smith didn't own an owl, but she responds pretty quickly when you send her a letter. Even Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, sent you a few letters, one of them informing you that the Bowtruckles—Theodore and Elizabeth—now had a tiny baby Bowtruckle with them. You couldn't wait to visit their home tree this year. Hagrid said you can even name the baby yourself, which made you very excited.