"I don't care if he wants to be left alone. He needs to know about this. Owls don't normally fly together like that. It's got to be some sort of mating ritual, and if Hedwig is going to be a mother soon, Harry should know about it," Hermione huffed. Harry had to struggle not to burst out in a fit of laughter. It was bad enough when Ginny had written suggesting the two owls might be a little more than friendly, but for his friends to think that he had just performed a mating ritual with Hedwig… it was just too much.
After calming himself down some, he sped up and caught sight of Ron's lanky form just as he was rounding the corner. They were about to reach his office door. Ginny's reply echoed back to him. "I agree that he should know about it, but I don't see why you need to do it right now. He told me that he was preparing for his classes and didn't want to be disturbed unless it was urgent. I would hardly call this urgent. Besides, I already mentioned that he should watch out for this. Hedwig made friends with him sometime over the summer according to Harry."
"Harry already knows about this owl?" Hermione paused and asked.
"Yes," Ginny cried out. "I've been trying to explain that to you for the last five minutes, but you wouldn't listen to me. He told me that the owl often visited when he was staying with his relatives."
"But how can you be sure it's the same owl?" Ron interjected. "Maybe that was some other owl that Hedwig made friends with."
"I know because I met the owl that Harry was talking about," Ginny replied shortly.
"When?" both Hermione and Ron asked simultaneously.
"When Harry sent me Em, he had the other owl carry all the supplies to go with her," she explained.
As they continued talking Harry slipped past them to his office door. With a wave of his hand, he caused a suit of armor behind the trio to levitate just an inch off the ground and clang back down. When everyone looked to see what made the noise, Harry opened the door to his office, stepped in, threw off his cloak, stepped back out and shut the door behind him. "What's with all the racket out here?" he asked his friends.
"Hey Harry," Ginny greeted brightly. "How are the lesson plans coming along?"
"Just fine until you lot showed up making all that noise," Harry mock scowled.
"Now wait just a minute," Hermione started to counter.
"Lighten up Hermione," Harry said with a smile. "I was just playing with you. So what brings you guys to my neck of the woods?"
"Well, we just caught Hedwig and a black owl doing what we think might be some kind of mating ritual over the grounds. We just thought you should know just in case. That way you don't one day end up with a baby owl out of the blue," Hermione explained to him.
He smiled brightly in return, still struggling to control his mirth. "I see. Those two did seem rather friendly over the summer, but I never thought it had anything to do with mating. What makes you think they were doing some sort of mating ritual?"
Hermione's voice changed to what Harry called lecture mode. She often adopted this tone of voice when she was reciting an answer from a book or explaining something to somebody. "Well first of all, they were out flying together for pleasure during the day. Normally owls only fly for pleasure at night because they are nocturnal by nature. Secondly, I've never seen owls fly as coordinated as they were. It's like they were dancing together or something. It was a beautiful sight to watch. Half of the girls in Gryffindor Tower were glued to the windows watching them fly together."
"You don't say," Harry stated, honestly surprised that so many people had been watching them fly. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to keep an eye on her. But for now I should get back to work. I need to finalize my preparations for the classes today. Don't forget to wear something that will allow you some flexibility. We're starting some new drills today."
"What are we gonna be doing?" Ron asked.
"I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise," Harry said with a smile. "You'll find out soon enough. Just don't wear anything bulky like your school robes and you'll be fine. Spread the word around if you see any body else. I'm not sure if they will all remember."
"Consider it done," Ginny supplied as she grabbed the arms of Ron and Hermione to turn them around. "We'll see you at lunch, Harry."
"Yeah, see you mate," Ron called out.
Harry gave them all a big wave. As they began walking the other way, Ginny glanced at him over her shoulder, one eyebrow cocked. He gave her a smile and a wink. Ginny gave him a grin and another little wave just before they turned the corner and were out of sight.
It wasn't long afterwards that Harry found himself in the Room of Requirement standing in front of a large group of students instructing them on the mechanics of shielding spells. Most of his lesson with the beginners was spent perfecting protego. They also got some work done on petrificus totalus.
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