Not Exploring (Oliver)

Maddie had decided she spent too much time in the Library or the Hufflepuff Common Room, so it was time to go and explore the rest of the castle. But she managed to put it off by remembering she hadn't written home for ages. It wasn't that she didn't want to become more familiar with Hogwarts, it was just that she didn't want to have to bump into and talk to people. Still, she could explore on the way to the owlery, then maybe a little bit afterwards if she had time before dinner. Or not.

Since she'd scribbled a reply to her mum's message that morning, Maddie only had to post it and then she was done. And then she could eat! She liked food, food was good. There was not much food couldn't help. Food the only thing on her mind, she skipped downstairs and out into the grounds.

It didn't take too long to get to the owlery; she was a fast walker, even more so when she was hungry. An adorable tiny owl caught her eye. Beaming, Madeline walked quickly over to it. "Hello," she said softly, stroking the tawny owl's fur. "My name is Maddie. I think you need a name too!" She paused for a second, trying to come up with an awesome name. She thought back to Spanish lessons at muggle school. "Bujo" or something was one of the words for owl. No, that was stupid. "Boo!" That was his name, Boo!

First letter home! Yes! Oliver ran up the steps to the Owlery, too excited about sending his first ever letter to his parents. Actually, he ran up the first few steps, the rest of the way he groaned and huffed as he hated how long the stairs were. Who needs a mile long stair case to reach the Owlery?!

He'd written his letter in the common room, and he had taken his time with it. First, he'd told his mother about the boat ride to the castle and how he wanted to know why it was necessary. Then, he told her about the classes he had signed up for, which he was  very excited about regardless the amount of homework he would eventually have. He told her about the Hufflepuff common room and how he hadn't expected it to be so...yellow. Oliver had wanted to find a more sophisticated word to describe his common room, but none seemed to fit. He also told her about the lake and the Great Hall and the food that instantly made him feel better. And he most definitely told her about the library and how he had accidentally hurt one of the books, or rather, the books had accidentally scared him.

Just as he entered the Owlery, he heard a loud "Boo!" and he instantly jumped out of his skin. Despite the fact that the owlery seemed to be a popular place, he hadn't expect it to be occupied so suddenly. After his sudden reaction, Oliver stared, wide-eyed, at the girl who was talking to an owl.

When Maddie heard footsteps, she didn't look away from the owl. It was most likely an older student who wouldn't pay any attention to her, and that suited her just fine. She'd rather be invisible than have to hold a conversation with someone. Then nobody would bother her and she could be perfectly happy. Although, she'd never achieve anything if she wasn't prepared to speak out and work her hardest for it. While she'd always work her hardest, speaking wasn't so easy.

Suddenly the footsteps came to a stop, which meant the person was here now. But they just stopped completely. Whoever it was didn't make any attempt to head towards an owl. Nevermind. They were probably just confused and trying to remember what they were doing in a room full of owls. That happened to Maddie sometimes and she felt all dizzy, but then ended up thinking about chocolate or something.

Realising she should turn around and make sure they hadn't fallen out of the window or anything, she petted Boo one last time and then looked over her shoulder. It was a younger boy, probably about her age. Madeline recognised him from various places, classes and the Hufflepuff Common Room. Since he was in her house, he was probably not a mean bully, so she set herself the challenge of talking to him. "Erm...h-hi," Maddie stammered nervously.

"Hi!" Oliver beamed when the girl seemed to come back to life. "I promise I won't take long. Just gotta send this to my mum." He held up the parchment and smiled again. He walked up to the cube-looking things where the owls were and called to the white one. It wasn't actually white, it seemed more silver than any other color because the feathers had a sparkle to them and he loved that! He was trying to attach the letter to its twiggy leg, but the bird kept moving, making it impossible for him to do it. "Oh, come on." he groaned as he called for another owl. One that seemed nicer than the first. This one was gray like ash. "Will you run away like your friend did? Because I don't bite, I super promise I don't." For the whole time, he'd forgotten there was a girl in the owlery. It was all about the birds now.

Madeline was pretty sure he was nice. Even though he'd only said a word to her, he'd smiled nicely and he said it very brightly. So maybe she should try and talk more to him rather than send away the owl and run away quickly. That was the first thought that came to her head, but she managed to get rid of that. It wasn't a very friendly or kind thought.

Eavesdropping wasn't very nice either but she still did it while she sent Boo away with the letter. It sounded like he was having trouble finding a nice owl. It also sounded like he was being very nice to the owls. So why weren't they being nice to him? That was horrible of them. Especially since he was saying reassuring things like how he most definitely didn't bite. "Maybe you need to keep looking until you find the right owl," Maddie suggested. Like Boo! "There must be one here that wants to be friends with you!"

He fought a little with this one. Not physical fighting, but the internal kind of fighting. He was tired of this owl since it wouldn't stay still and let him tie the letter around its leg. What does a boy need to do to get the owl to STAY?! For a moment, Oliver considered just throwing the letter out the window and sneak out to Hogsmeade and ask for a phone. Or for an experienced owl master that could help him handle the difficult birds.

Oliver forgot about the mean owls and turned to the girl whom he had completely forgotten about. "Owls are hard to befriend." he muttered, trying to understand why they were being difficult in important situations like this one. He needed to send this letter to his mum because she would be worried sick if he ignored her! "How did you do it?" he tilted his towards the side, wondering if girls saw things from a whole different perspective and were therefore smarter than him sometimes.

Maddie nodded in agreement, even though she didn't really agree. If she could do it, why couldn't he? It wasn't like she was anything special. "I just... said hello, then stroked him, then gave him a name?" If the boy had tried all of those, there was no hope for him. Owls must just find him terrifying. Poor owls. Annoyed constantly by a boy they didn't want to be friends with because he was scary. It was still very mean, though. They could at least pretend to like him.

After another moment of staring at the boy's owl and trying to make it be nice with willpower, she turned back to Boo and finally sent him away. Now her family could get her letter safe and sound! "I'm Madeline," she smiled. She could mention that she was in Hufflepuff or first-year but he probably knew that. Because he was too.

Looking up and positioning his head in the normal way, Oliver grinned. "You gave your owl a name! Wonderful!" he jumped a little and brought his right hand to his chin. He was thinking hard for a name, but none came to mind. There was another owl, a very pale white one with silvery feathers and sparkling blue eyes. Oliver approached it quietly and tried to look as friendly as possible, though to the bird he probably looked like a psychotic child. "Hey little one. Mind if I name you Winter? It's my favorite season!" he grinned as the owl came only a bit closer to him. It was all so smoothly and great until Oliver turned to the girl, "Hey, it's working!!" and then the owl moved farther back.

Frustrated, Oliver took his letter and shoved it in his pocket. "I'll just go ask someone for a phone." he muttered as he turned back to Madeline, who had introduced herself first. "I'm Oliver, you can call me Ollie." he said, opting to go with a shorter version of his name. "You're in my house aren't you?" he asked, recalling a few time when he'd seen her walk through the common room.