A Dangerous Venture to the Owlery(Myn)

[Edward Summers R6]

The steps leading up to the Owlery were dangerous to traverse under normal conditions. But when you were a six foot tall boy balancing two large piles of books in each hand and holding a letter in your mouth incorrectly so that it flipped up and covered your eyes and pushed your glasses askew. It became near suicidal. Ed had just received good news. After the attack on Diagon Alley Ed had feared for the Hardys and their book shop. He and Dana had been inside of it when it had collapsed under the Death Eater attack. Ed had awoken a day later in the Hogwart's Hospital Wing. He had spotted Dana and she had made a full recovery, but no one was able to tell him about the Hardy's fate.

Ed had sent countless letters, and finally he received a response. The Hardys were alright and they had rebuilt their home/bookshop, and to put icing on top of the cake, most of the books had survived also! They hadn't been able to receive his Owls for a long time, but now that all the building was finished, the finally had the time to reply. The letter he had received also asked if he still wanted his job their.

So now he was traversing these steps in an attempt to send his letter off. Each step threatened to upset the delicate balance of the books in his hand which than threatened to throw him over the side for a very long fall to the ground, and since he was inside Hogwarts barrier he couldn't apperate to save his life. He couldn't help but sigh in relief as he felt the ground beneath his feet leveling off, signaling that he had reached the top of the stairs.

Kneeling down he set his books down and than took the letter out of his mouth. "Pleh." He waggled his tongue in an attempt to get the taste of parchment out of his mouth. Than he stepped into the Owlery. "Snowflake. Hey...Snowflake." He called out for his Snow owl. "Where the heck are you you stupid ani....AAAHH!!!" White feathers invaded his field of vision as his owl, Snowflake, collided with his face. Ed stumbled around the Owlery, disrupting many owls from their perch and turning the owlery into a mass of loose feathers.

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn scanned the letter in front of her without interest. The news from home was the same as always, the two cats had wrecked the house again, everyone missed her and the kitten. A genuine smile crossed her face for the first time in days when she saw the note at the bottom from her young cousin, asking when she would be home. She grabbed a pen from her bag, preferring them to the quills that they had to use in lessons, and dashed off a quick note to her father and a longer one to her cousin.

She navigated the countless corridors, searching for the Owlery. Only getting lost once before finding an older student to point her in the right direction, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the steps leading up to the Owlery. Myn checked her pocket for the letter, panicking when she couldn't find it before calming down and searching her bag. The letter was tucked into the little pocket of the bag that she saved for letters and notes.

Myn thought nothing of the boy kneeling on the floor, dismissing him as someone who wouldn't be interested in bothering her. She was just choosing a school owl to deliver her letter when she heard the boy yell. She turned around just in time to see an owl dive to him and grabbed his elbow to steady him as he stumbled past. "Hello," she said calmly, brushing away the owl feathers that had landed on her and trying not to laugh at his stunned face. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed stumbled back and was about to loose his elbow when he felt a small hand grab his elbow and help steady him. Snowflake had stopped his affectionate attack and the other owls began to settle down as well. Snowflake settled down upon Ed's shoulder and sat there looking oblivious to the fact that he had just about killed his master. He stood there for a moment, allowing his thoughts to catch up with him. His head and shoulders were covered with feathers, and a few had found their way into his mouth.

"Hmm?" Ed glanced down as he heard a small voice speaking to him. He spotted the girl on the opposite side of the feather curtain and blinked. "Oh!" He gasped in surprise, making the feathers caught in his mouth puff out to drift to the floor. "Oh no, no. I'm fine. Snowflake just goes a bit overboard in his greetings." Ed smiled down to the girl as he brushed the feathers out of his head.

Upon closer inspection of the girl he noticed she was a Ravenclaw, really young too. Maybe a first or second year student. "Besides, I've been through a lot worse than that."

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn smiled at the boy in sympathy, the smile turning into a laughing smirk when she noticed three feathers on his head. Strange, she thought, the feathers are lying right on top of eachother. Wouldn't they have fallen by now? Her eyes stayed on the feathers, waiting for them to fall.

She shook herself back to reality when the boy started to speak again. "Snowflake?" She noticed the owl on his shoulder. "Oh, your owl? She definitely seems to like you, shows that you're a good owner...not that I thought you weren't! Because I'm sure you are, the behaviour of your owl shows that." Myn clapped a hand over her mouth to shut herself up, eyes closing in humiliation as she realised what an idiot she must seem.

Her cheeks burned red as she removed her hand, knowing that she wouldn't even attempt to speak after her disastrous rambling. Myn's eyes slowly rose to study the boy standing before her, waiting for the laughter that would undoubtedly start.

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed couldn't help but smile as the girl began to talk about his good ownership over Snowflake. Snowflake had been with him since his second year at Hogwarts. The summer before that year had been the first summer that Ed had been forced to work to be able to afford his books for next term. Once his work term had been over and he had bought all his books he noticed that he had a little left over, so he had bought Snowflake.

The girl suddenly began to panic and attempted to cover up the previous sentence. Ed smiled disarmingly down at the girl to show he wasn't offended at all. "Well, I had read a couple of books about owl care. So I was well prepared, and considering the fact that my family...refused, to interact with me. I had a lot of time to spend with snowflake."

Ed reached up and took Snowflake off his shoulder and began to tie the letter to her leg. "So, what brings you up here today?"

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn relaxed slightly as the boy smiled at her, realising that he probably wasn't a Slytherin by his reaction. One of the meaner Slytherins, she corrected herself mentally, still believing that not all Slytherins were bad. It was impossible for all of a house to be bad, surely? Her eyes flicked to his robes to check and she groaned silently at her own stupidity, wondering why she hadn't checked before. A Ravenclaw, seventh year probably, maybe a tall sixth year but unlikely.

Her head tilted in silent curiousity at his next words and she hesitated before talking, picking her words carefully - realising that it could be a delicate topic. "Your family refused to talk to you?" Myn simplified his words childishly, instincts telling her that people were more likely to let their guard slip around a child. Children represented innocence, purity and unshakable trust, she thought scornfully, a slight tinge of sadness touching her expression at her own lost innocence.

"What did you do? Something bad?" A childish delight in horror shone through in her next words, her mask of innocence slipping on easily. Myn slipped over to the window used by the owls to send the messages and hauled herself onto the ledge, leaning her back against the wall comfortably. "I'm just replying to a note from my father." The sadness crossed her face again before she turned away, hoping that he hadn't seen it. Emotions are to be let out in private, she scolded herself silently.

When she turned back to him her face was impassive and emotionless, a trick she had learnt from her father. "He wanted to tell me that mother couldn't handle me being a witch." She said carelessly, pretending that she didn't care. "She always was weak, couldn't handle anything that she couldn't control." Myn added, ignoring the images of her mother that her mind was sending her. Mother dancing, laughing, talking, golden hair thrown over one shoulder and sparkling blue eyes. No, she thought bitterly, I didn't inherit any noticable features from her. No wonder she didn't want me. I'm nothing like her. Nothing like the perfect daughter she wanted.

[Edward Summers R6]

Once the letter had been tied securely around Snowflake's foot he turned his back on the girl and walked over to one of the windows. He kept his head half-turned in her direction to show her he was listening. He had asked her a question, it would be rude of him to just turn and not listen to the answer. Ed stuck his arm out of the window as Snowflake took flight. He watched her disappear off into the distance. He turned back to the girl just as she asked her question. He was kind of set back at her question. He hadn't meant to open up his family issue here, it had accidentally slipped out. He couldn't help but smile a little as she asked, while climbing up on another windows ledge, if he had done anything bad.

Ed shook his head, leaning against the wall behind him. "Well, yes, and no I suppose. In their eyes, I did do something. I didn't get accepted into Slytherin." He paused for a moment. "Not that I wanted to. In fact I was dreading my first day at school. Thinking I would be forced into Slytherin and having to be in the company of my older sister for the rest of my school career." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, getting lost in the old memory. "I'd always been different from the rest of my family. I was always the odd-ball. Always tolerant of the muggles where my family despised them. I was always reading when my sisters were stealing my parents wands and trying to practice magic." He took his eyes from the ceiling and looked at the girl across from him. His face showed no sad emotion and truly, he had none. At first, he had been depressed and sadden at the fact that his family had abandoned him, but with each passing year he realized that he really didn't want to be a member of that kind of family anyway.

"When I was accepted into Ravenclaw, it was like the last straw for my parents. Legally they weren't allowed to just dump me out on the streets. So they let me stay at the manor, but lets just say I haven't heard my parents say a single word to me since I boarded the train in my first year." Ed shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I graduate this year and have come of age. I can move out now and start a new life, away from the ideals of my family."

It was now his turn to listen as the girl told him her reason for being in the owlery. She turned away at the mention of her family, appearing to be glancing out the window. But Ed's eyes, after years and years of pouring through countless books and tomes, had been trained to notice very slight differences and he clearly saw the sadness flash on her face as she turned away. Ed respectfully didn't pry as she turned back, the sadness gone now. She spoke of her mother, clearly a muggle. I see, shes a half-blooded witch. he thought quietly to himself.

He nodded, "Muggles have countless books depicting the epic adventures of heroic witches and wizard. It's amazing how they...we all love to read these stories for entertainment, but than how hard it is for us..expecially muggles, to accept the truth that us Witches and Wizards do exist." Ed fell quiet, not really knowing to well how to proceed further with this discussion when a realization suddenly hit him. He blinked. "Oh! Forgive me." He dropped into a bow. "I haven't introduced myself have I? My name is Edward Summers, you can call me Ed if you wish."

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn lifted an eyebrow in slight surprise as the boy walked away from her. He had asked her a question and then walked away? How strange. Then she noticed that he kept his head turned towards her slightly and realised that he was just sending his owl on with his letter. Her eyes noted the small smile on his face as she asked her question and a smile crossed her own face, the childish approach really did work. She kept her eyes on his face as he talked and a small amount of surprise flashed across her face. Either he had a really good mask, one that didn't show any emotion or he truly didn't miss his family. After listening to the rest of his words, she decided it was the latter. According to him, his family had disowned him in all ways but legally. But then, she thought wryly, it doesn't have to be legal to hurt. And being disowned or abandoned certainly did hurt, legal or not legal.

"They haven't spoken a word to you? Not one?" Outrage loosened her tongue and almost had her falling off the ledge. Myn had only been with the boy for a few seconds and she could already tell that he was polite if not a little shy and, judging by the greeting from his owl, he was a good person. She had always trusted that animals could make better judgements when it came to humans than humans ever could, so far her kitten hadn't let her down. A spark of annoyance had come from his unwillingness to be in Slytherin but she convinced herself that it was more that he didn't wish to reside with his sister than prejudice against Slytherins. "Of course it matters! No one has the right to treat another person like that. Especially not family. Family should always be there for you, no matter of what house you're in. Always." Her eyes dropped back to the floor. Now that her outburst was over Myn retreated back to her usual quiet self.

Myn sighed quietly as she looked out of the window, the words from her outburst repeating in her head. Was I just talking about his predicament? Or was it about me too? She wondered silently, her eyes half-closing thoughtfully. "Yes, I'm a half-blood." She answered what she thought would be his unspoken question. Her eyes rose to his challengingly, wary of teasing about her blood. No, she thought, he wouldn't. Her eyes dropped back to the floor, tracing the pattern of the stone floor mentally.

She nodded in agreement, remembering all of the fantasy books her mother had bought her and, on occasion, had read to her. For some reason, those few occasions had stopped around her fourth birthday. Maybe this was coming all along, Myn mused silently, and I simply didn't see it. Maybe I was just the excuse. Hope rose at the suggestion that Myn hadn't been the reason for her mothers leaving but was quickly dashed at her next thought. She still didn't love me enough to stay. She was brought back to reality by a bow from the boy. "There's nothing to forgive when I haven't introduced myself either." She dropped down from the ledge to mirror his bow, preferring it to the curtsey that she knew she should have given instead. "Myn Katrenya. Nice to meet you and to share the history of my family life with you." Inclining her head, she hopped back onto the ledge with considerably more ease than she had originally climbed onto it with.

[Edward Summers R6]

Ed nodded at her words. When it came to his parents, they hadn't said a word to him. When it came to his sisters, well, they had spoken many words to him. Many hostile and unfriendly words that were usually followed by thrown objects or spells. He noticed that the girl got anger at this news and her outburst nearly lost her her perch on the ledge. Ed moved to catch her if need be but she seemed to catch herself. He allowed her to play out her little outburst. The girl was young, innocent to a lot of the worlds problems. When she fell quiet he allowed the silence to hang for a moment. "My parents, come from a different time. A different state of mind." It was his turn to fall quiet, he had to pick and choose his words wisely. He had never found any solid evidence of this, but the way his parents acted and pushed his sisters to achieve even more power had given him suspicion. "Lets just say that the fall of You-Know-Who wasn't favorable to them."

He looked down at the ground and his feet. "In fact, the fact that I am there son is probably the only reason I am still alive today." He looked up at the girl, " I hold no grudge against them. I am only their son by genetics. My mannerisms and theirs are way to different for us to ever co-exist. I'm sure they fell some love for me, just like I do to them. But their live style doesn't allow them to show it." Ed shrugged. He had realized this a long time ago.

The girl declared that she was a Half-blood, having probably read his expression and discovering that this was what he was thinking. He was surprised that someone so young would be able to read him so well. He bowed once again. "I do not mean it as an accusation. I care not for a person blood history. You are here, in this school. Which means that you have magical prowess within your body. Which makes you more than worthy to be here." He smiled, "Besides, what makes us Witches and Wizard that different from Muggles anyway? Muggles are still human, just like us."

Ed smiled at her introduction. "Well met Myn." He leaned back against the wall and sighed. He glanced to the side to where he had lain his books. They still sat there, unmoving. He return his gaze back to Myn and he smiled at her comment. "Yes, its funny how easy it is to open up to someone you just met with personal problems. The human brain is a confusing object."

[Myn Katrenya R2]

Myn bowed her head as the silence played on, ever cautious of yells coming her way. Sure, his family may not care for him much but that didn't mean that they meant nothing to him. He might take offence at her words. She would be annoyed if someone demeaned her mother...wouldn't she? Her eyes flicked back to him as he started to speak again, listening intently and adding the information to the mental profile she had started on him. Information about people seemed to stay with her longer if it was organised into a mental profile about the person, and even the tiniest bit of information could come in handy one day. Noting his slight pause between the words, she was abrubtly reminded that it was a delicate subject. Myn winced, her mini outburst hadn't exactly been tactful.

"Sometimes people don't know how to show emotions." She began hesitantly, searching for the right words. Myn had never been any good at comforting people and she guessed that he didn't need comfort. He'd had years to get over it and his friends to help him. No, she didn't actually know what she was trying to offer him. A thickly veiled attempt at comforting words? One that he could easily look past if he preferred. She expected him to notice it as a reasonably poor attempt at sympathy and maybe that's what it was. "Parents do feel some degree of love for their children, human instinct or some other attribute of humanity. Unfortunately some parents seem to be able to look past this love if they feel that something is wrong with the child or if the child doesn't meet their standards. In your case it appears to be the second." Her brain supplied the unsaid words and taunted her with them, for me its the first option.

Myn relaxed against the wall of the ledge as he answered her silent challenge. She had seen the quick flash of surprise in his eyes and put it down to surprise at her being able to read him. Let him wonder, she laughed silently, if he asks then I shall tell him but I'll not offer information. That was one of the truly bad things about most Slytherins, she thought, they think too highly of blood and dismiss even the idea of a half-blood being as or more powerful than someone who was pureblooded. "Witches and wizards aren't really that different from muggles. In some ways I believe that we're weaker. If we lost our magic then most of us would be helpless in the muggle world. They have learnt to survive without magic simply because they never had it whereas witches and wizards rely entirely on magic. I sometimes wonder if we could beat them in a war. And of course both magical people and muggles share personality traits." Her eyes rose to his in silent irony. "Some muggles don't love their children either."

She spun around so her legs dangled over the edge and she was facing him before dropping into a small bow. "I do try to impress old people with my sparkling wit and amazing sense of humour." Myn shot him a small, teasing grin, wondering if he'd pick up on the fact that she'd called him old then decided that he wouldn't. Most people didn't. "It is strange." She nodded in agreement. "Yet it can also be rather embarrassing. I don't tend to tell even my friends about my problems but here I am telling them to a complete stranger. I personally think that neither friends nor strangers are interested in my life and so I thank you for bothering to stand here and listen to me." Myn jumped down from the ledge to gather Ed's books together, having noticed the way his gaze flicked to them earlier. She didn't like seeing books just lying around and probably would have picked them up anyway. She handed them to him with a smile. "These are yours, I gather."