Owl Tracks
Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

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The brown eagle owl saw the white snowy owl be taken out of the shop by the absurdly large speaking creature, and wondered when a speaking creature would bond with him. He would be absolutely sure to deliver any post promptly! Fluttering his wings, he dipped his beak into the water bowl that the proprietor brought around and looked around again.

He noticed with some irritation that a very tiny owl, fluttering madly about in his cage, was making an awful racket; if his (or her) incoherent hootings could be interpreted, the owl was saying, "Get me out of here already! I want to fly!"

However, luck was with him that day, as a rather short, yellow-haired speaking creature entered the store and walked directly to his cage, looking at him and saying, "Hello, there. Want to come with me? I like eagle owls, you know."

The eagle owl was pleased to have found such an excellent match, and expressed his delight. He was momentarily startled when his cage was unbalanced, but relaxed as he and his cage were carefully transported to the front of the shop, where the yellow-haired being gave some pieces made of gold to the proprietor.

After that, his cage was handed to a taller yellow-haired version of the younger being (of sorts; this was the boy's mother), and he looked on in some confusion as the young speaking creatures chattered in their high-pitched voices while standing in front of a clear barrier that separated them from a device that they called a broom. Apparently, it would let them fly without wings!

After some time, the young one rejoined his mother, and they took a horribly disorienting flame journey to the residence where he would be staying. As his was brought into the young one's room, he tried hooting that he was sick, but unfortunately littered the bottom of the cage with that morning's owl nuts. Embarrassed, he feebly hooted again as his cage was placed on the floor.

The young speaking creature said, "Oh, no! I'm sorry! Here, let me get rid of that for you."

The boy pointed his stick, which the owl later learned was a wand, at the bottom of the cage, and said, "Evanesco."

Amazingly, all the sick disappeared, and the owl felt much better at knowing he hadn't disappointed his new owner, who was speaking again, "Hmm. I'll give you a name now. Would you like to be called 'Zeus'?"

Zeus. A fine name! He hooted his pleasure, and was rewarded by a pleasing aura from his master, who said, "Good! My name is Draco. We'll get on just fine, just like before!"

Perplexed, Zeus attempted to reach out again to his master's aura, only to find that it seemed to be made of a being that was older than this young one should be – more like the auras from speaking creatures that spoke almost like adults did, but requested treats for their owls at this strange Hogwarts.

Clearly, Zeus had an unusual master. He looked forward to serving this one very well.

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The first time he had to deliver a letter, it was to a "Harry Potter". His master said it was very important to not be seen, as beings called Muggles were in the area. Indicating his acknowledgement, he hooted his readiness and fluffed his wings out a bit. He was guided to the window, which popped open at the recital of some words, and he flew out, rapidly ascending into the sky while clutching the all-important missive in his talons.

His master was so smart! Just as instructed, he discerned only one magical aura in the area to which his homing instinct had indicated, and this must be Harry Potter.

He carefully flew until he was almost directly over the residence, then swiftly zoomed straight down and swooped inside the room where a black-haired speaking creature lay on his bed, with strange round devices in front of his eyes. The white snowy owl who had left the shop the same day as he was there!

Before he could be distracted by her, he left the envelope on the bed near the boy, then took up a position near the white owl's cage. He was pleased at his work, and introduced himself to her.

After reading the paper with markings on it, Harry Potter said, "It's fine. I'll send a reply later with Hedwig. You can go home now, if you like."

Zeus, although disappointed at being unable to carry owl post on the return trip, hooted to Hedwig: "I think I will see you at my master's place. And I shall be back!"

And so it transpired that the two owls encountered each other several times delivering correspondence for their masters. Zeus found out that Hedwig especially liked the owl nuts they had been served for breakfast each morning, while he seemed to prefer the prey that he could find in the sprawling wilderness near his master's residence.

At the place called Hogwarts, which the owls learned was something called a school, where their masters would be instructed in all sorts of things ranging from learning about the foolishness of their ancestors to making strange liquids that bubbled and smoked, the owls quickly grew fond of each other, and were pleased to see that their masters were also becoming close.

It portended pleasant times ahead.

As you can see, Pigwidgeon makes a cameo appearance here. I bet he was so annoying the owner of Eeylops chucked him out, and Sirius found him madly flittering about Britain somewhere. :-)