Closed PV Salutations to a Feathered Friend!

It had been an exciting, long day and Laurie still felt the excitements had just begun. The first day of classes had been very busy. After a rushed breakfast in the Great Hall, Laurie had to hurry down to her classes. There had been Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration and Charms.
Yet, Laurie had not forgotten her conversation with Kenzie Thatcher and Natelie Anderson in the library. They were the closest to friends she had for a long time. Laurie was usually extremely shy, but with them, it was different. So much that she had invited them to see her pet owl, Bella, in the owlery. Laurie was waiting happily for the event, and she feared that Kenzie and Nat would forget and not show up.
After her last class, Charms had successfully finished, Laurie headed to the courtyard for her break. She would meet up with Kenzie and Nat directly in the owlery. Laurie wanted to head to the owlery a bit early, just to assure that Bella was comfortable and ready for meeting the two girls.
There was not much of a crowd there, most people just wanted to stretch and relax. The bells chimed for noon, and Laurie felt a jolt of excitement spread throughout her. The girls ought to be here by now!
Well, at least Laurie spotted Bella. The snowy white arctic owl hooted softly when Laurie saw her. Laurie had always been fond of animals, whether big or small. Once, she had raised two small fox-pups as her own. When Laurie got admission to Hogwarts, her aunt had promised to get her an owl.
All the summer, Bella had been Laurie's constant companion, and now she could not imagine life without her.
"Nat! I was worried you wouldn't come!" Laurie said in a joyful voice as she spotted her friend waving to her.
After both of them were together, Laurie asked-
" Where is Kenzie? "

“No worries! I was so excited to come, I arrived as soon as I could!” Nat explained good-naturedly, to reassure Laurie. Looking at Bella, she smiled to herself. The owl appeared to be quite beautiful--and exceptionally cute, too.

“Ooo, how was Flying?” Nat inquired of Kenzie. She was a smidgen scared of Flying, and was curious how Kenzie handled it. Although, part of her was excited and inquisitive about Flying, as much as she was fearful. If First-Years learned it, it couldn’t be that hard! Nat hated heights, but, since she grew up in a magical household, she trusted magic enough that she felt she could surpass her fears. She was similarly afraid of DADA, but what was on the menu for her to learn this year did not seem too difficult, so, she assumed, there would be a similar situation with Flying, and she would thus handle both just fine.

“How’d you enjoy the sun? I had Potions before this, but it felt good to be outside for Herbology in the early morning!” To be fair, what Nat did not explain was that the sunlight was perhaps one of the best parts of Herbology to her. She spoke more optimistically than she necessarily felt about her enjoyment of, and interest in, the class. She thought back to a funny moment from class that day. A sweet student next to herself had sneezed after breathing in the spores from a plant. This plant was set out for the professor to explain it was one that the class was to study for a significant chunk of the year. Nat also sneezed later from the spores, and had a good laugh with this sweet student over it. She wished she'd caught his name, but perhaps she would when she had more Herbology sessions. Despite her general disinterest in plants outside of their aesthetic properties, she was looking forward to attempting to nurture a plant. She didn’t have the personal drive to do it on her own time, but felt it would be a nice hobby to take up someday given an initial, external push, like Herbology class. Nat realized she was daydreaming about her classes again, and snapped herself out of it, attempting to re-focus on the current discussion. As much as she loved daydreaming, she didn't want to miss out on visiting Bella with her friends!

‘Oh, finally!’ Laurie’s excitement could be heard in her eager voice. When Kenzie had rushed in, she had felt a wave of delight wash over her. Now she was reassured that both the girls remembered, and cared. It was nice to have some friends at this place.
“ You had flying? Oh gosh, I was so excited for it! I had potions, transfiguration, Herbology and charms. Charms was the most exciting of them all. The professor was all fun and she taught us how to do spells. Then , when one child tried, he accidentally turned himself into a pig. It was amazing! So was Herbology and-”
Laurie uttered the word ‘Sorry’ under her breath and gave a dry chuckle. She did not mean to drive the girls away.
When Nat asked Kenzie about flying, Laurie listened intently. That was one thing she did not want to miss. Of course, the whole day had been exciting enough. She couldn’t believe that she was hanging out with students just on her second day! To think that she was actually scared of Hogwarts, before. She was enjoying it quite a lot. All the corridors and everything, it felt mystical.
Nat asked to go to see Bella, which bought Laurie to her senses. She could not waste time day dreaming like this! She had an owl to show the two girls. She led Nat and Kenzie to the place where Bella was perching peacefully.
“ Bella,” Laurie crooned in a low and gentle voice, “ Come here and say hello.” Laurie ended with a soft whistle. Bella gave a soft hoot and flew over to the girls and pecked their ears in a friendly manner.
" Good girl," said Laurie and gave the Arctic owl a lump of sugar.

Nat smiled as she listened to her friend ramble, enjoying her excitement. She immediately said "It's okay, no need to be sorry!" when Laurie apologized. Nat had the same overapologetic tendencies, and noticed the correlation at once when Laurie had done it, herself.

Nat attempted to hide her discomfort, being unused to owls, as Bella lifted off, flew over her head, then landed on her, poking her with her beak. Simultaneously, she felt a vague and hard-to-place, but definitely present, sense of wonder over it. When Bella perched once more on Laurie's shoulder, and Laurie handed Bella sugar, Nat began to giggle excitedly. It had anxious undertones, as Nat was an anxious person in general who struggled with new situations, but, overall, it was joyous.

"She's so cute," Nat complimented. "A-and gorgeous! Where'd you get a snowy owl?! She's amazing!--I haven't seen one this close in-person! I love her so much already." Nat felt giddiness flow through her. It was hard for her to register how this was her first time touching and interacting with an owl! It was equally hard to make a mental-emotional connection that this was her first day of classes at Hogwarts. She supposed the happy feeling that hung over her, or her adrenaline and excitement in general, was probably all the proof she needed that these would become core memories. She was already gaining new experiences, outside of learning in classes or even meeting new friends; that was wonderful to her, stretching above her start-of-Hogwarts expectations.

“Thanks, Nat!” Laurie said with a huge smile, she was really fond of her owl and found it extremely pleasing when others liked her.
“I got her from that Diagon Alley shop, Magical Menagerie. She was just a newborn when I bought her. It really seemed like owls grow as fast as bamboo plants! And by the way, just one correction, Bella is an Arctic owl, not a snowy one. They were too frisky, that is why I chose Bella. Again, I’m really happy you liked her!”
Then, Laurie turned to Kenzie. “ I got her about three or three and a half months back. Her breed was rare, and she was the only one left. And for the name…. I don’t know. I’ve just always been fond of the name ‘ Bella’ a lot.”
Laurie checked the time on her watch and sadly said-
“ Oh! The break times almost up. I was really, really excited about today, and I’m really sad it’s almost over. I’m sure Bella had as much delight in meeting you as I did, and that’s a lot.”
Laurie stopped, hoping not to overwhelm her friends. She shifted a few places on the ground, pacing back and forth.
“ I think we should hang out more often. We all are from different houses, so we can tell each other what’s going on in their common rooms and dormitories. Do you agree?”