Orla Finch vs. The Birds of The World Pet

There was something about the Finch family and the Avian species that drew each other to the other. It was as though when one went somewhere, the other had to follow. Not in the way a bad omen would follow a person around, but just as a kind friend one might see when passing in the streets. Ruth Finch was the first of the Finch’s to encounter this anomaly. As a schoolgirl, she would walk home with a hoard of crows following her as if they were a flock that were indebted to the human girl. How it was that someone could coax a murder of crows into following them around a residential neighborhood was just as confusing to her parents as it was to the neighbors.

“Ruth! How in heavens did you… Did you do this!?” Her mother had told her, nearly yanking her inside the house.

At first glance, Ruth’s mother was certain that it was magic. But after a bit of investigating, come to find out, Ruth had simply fed the murder every day for months to the point where they started following the young witch around wherever she went. Crumbs from her sandwich, chips she didn’t have an appetite for, the apple slices her mother cut up for her lunch each day. Anything Ruth could find and didn’t want to eat, she would toss it to the birds. Each day, at the same time, at the same place. She’d established herself as a kind figure to the murder of crows. She was never hostile, never tried shooing them away, and was never unkind to the creatures. Ruth was always good with creatures, magical or not. Birds happened to be her first large encounter with her allurement using her strange gift. A few months later, she’d managed the same with a hoard of feral cats, and then the next year with a school of fish from a pond two streets over. She was an oddball, but there was something that animals saw in the woman that was captivating and gravitating. Ruth Finch was no ordinary witch and it wouldn’t take long for her to see that.

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Louie was the next of the Finch family to become aware of his warmth towards birds. Not as extreme as his wife, Louie loved bird watching with his father. As his parents were both muggles and lived in the countryside of Scotland, the activity quickly became a loved one by the boy and his father. He recalled every Sunday venturing into the deep woods to spot rare birds only active during a small sliver of time during the winter, or to watch the beauty of quick little birds feeding on the sweetwater his mother would set out during the warm months.

“Lou! Look at that boy!” His father pointed as slowly as he could to the rare Capercaillie. They’d been waiting for days to see the creature, and finally, the two recognized its unique pattern. Louie gasped, eyes wide as he observed the rare sight. Strangely enough, as close as the pair were to Killin, it was one of the most magical memories Louie could remember from his early childhood. Before his father’s health declined, the bird sighting was always an activity they would partake in together. And even after, Louie and his brothers continued the tradition into their teenage years...

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The third of the Finch’s to discover their prowess as a birdman (which he so fondly called it, despite that not being an actual word) was Caspian Finch. As was everything Caspian did, it was over the top, flashy, and incredibly dangerous.

Standing atop the countryside cottage, Caspian had gotten a hankering to climb something tall. And it just so happened that their home was the tallest outside of the town of Killin. Scrambling his way up to the top using the texture of the shed adjacent to the home and the vines which stretched to the roof, Caspian (age nine), finally made his way to the top. He shouted from the top as if he wanted to get caught, and a string of overeager laughter came next. “I’m on top of the world!” He shouted, jumping up and down on the roof.

Orla (age eight), was flailing about to get his attention. “You idiot!” She shouted. While she was one to encourage their antics, this was too dangerous even for her. “Mum’s gonna kill you!” She glanced at the house, a look of worry flashing on her face. “You better get down dummy!” A devious look appeared on the older Finch, grinning ear to ear as he placed his hands on his hips. Being told what not to do was fueling the fire of Caspian’s crazed rooftop shenanigans. “Or what?” He shouted back at her.

Orla made a face, clearly sour at his taunting of her. “Or-- Or--” She couldn’t even conjure the words to burn him back when the two whipped their heads towards the sound of an intimidating honk. A goose honk to be exact. A wintering goose to be precise. The two siblings let out a bloody scream, which seemed to startle the goose which was barreling towards Caspian like a falcon ready to pick up a mouse from the ground and take it back to its little falcon babies. Only this wasn’t a falcon. And Caspian was not a mouse.

Thankfully, the goose was just as clumsy as it was a goose. The goose skidded to a stop in front of the boy, giving him a strange look. Caspian panted heavily, eyes as wide as the moon, slowly scrambling away from the goose which continued to slowly prance forward. Caspian was certain the goose was going to nip him, but fortunately, it wanted nothing to do with Caspian. The wintering goose gave a honk at him before diving off of the roof and returning its flight.

Caspian, the self-proclaimed Goose Tamer of Killin, had been saved from the wrath of the wintering goose, but not from the wrath of their Mother Hen… By the end of the night, Caspian had heard an earful and more from Ruth Finch about his idiotic and reckless actions.

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As always, Orla was the late bloomer of the Finch family. She’d been late to show her magical prowess and she, unlike her entire family, was cursed. Yes, cursed, that’s right. Orla Finch was cursed with the worst curse of them all. The most evil, nasty, wicked, curse known to man. Birds hated Orla. When she was four, her favorite blanket was attacked and torn to shred by ducks. At age six, a merlin snatched up her birthday lollie. When she was eight, of course, a wintering goose had nearly killed Caspian-- (Okay, so perhaps she was remembering the goose incident a bit too dramatically, but at the time of the incident, Orla was certain her brother was lucky to have his life after his fight to the death with the goose.) It seemed everywhere she turned, a very angry bird was waiting to attack her.

When she received her owl from Hogwarts, she ducked and covered behind the kitchen island before realizing what exactly that owl was there to do and she apprehensively approached the letter it dropped.

To say Orla Finch had a terrible track record with the Avian species was a great understatement and a gross underestimation of how terrible her luck was when it came to the creatures. It was the main reason Orla was so resentful of Caspian for even daring to take her to a bird sanctuary, of all places.

Killin was notorious for its rich animal and plant life. A bonus of living in the country was the vast expanse of land available to wildlife. Unfortunately, though, Scotland had a few too many birds of prey on the endangered list. Because of that, a campaign was made to create bird sanctuaries where they could in an effort to save these endangered species. Killin, just so happened, seemed to be the ideal place for one of these sanctuaries to be established.

“Where are we going?” Orla asked as Caspian led her ahead. He’d lured her into this with the promise of homemade cranachan and a new pair of shoes from Mulligan’s. “It’s a surprise, Lala!” Caspian said, looking back at her. She could read his face just about as she could read a primary school book. While they weren’t twins, they might have well been considering their closeness. “Caspian Finch,” Orla said sternly, making a face at him. “What are you planning?” He let out a huff. She’d seen right through his act. “Come on Lala, it’s going to be fun! And what about cranachan? The reward is going to be so sweet…” He thumped her forward. “Hey!” She shouted. “So don’t be so soured, okay?”

She followed him through the familiar streets of Killin. They’d done this hundreds of times since they were children, following the worn paths that were traveled by the residents on a daily. “Hello, Miss. McLaughlin!” Caspian said, waving to the boy that had caused her so much strife. “Hello, Caspian Finch.” Miss. McLaughlin turned to the slightly more well-behaved Finch and nodded her head.

A hop and a skip later (which in Orla’s time was twelve hours), the two had arrived at a strange archway made out of stone. It sure was pretty, though. Beautifully tall trees, expansive green hills…. Just like the rest of Killin, it had a natural beauty to it. The two siblings delved deeper into the area, exploring the deeply wooded areas. “So… Lala…” Caspian began, turning to walk and talk to Orla at the same time. “I know you have a hard time with a certain creature…” Orla raised her eyebrows suspiciously at him, making a face at her brother. This couldn’t be good. “So I figured I’d help you conquer your fear before I went off to Hogwarts?”

Now, whatever the heck that meant, Orla did not like it whatsoever.

Caspian began digging around in his bag, looking for something he packed when Orla had been getting ready. Bird seeds? ...Bird seeds.

“Caspian Noel Finch,” Orla warned. The boy had a grin on his face. Sure, he might’ve meant well, but a surprise bird attack visit was not something the young girl fancied too much. He tossed the birdseed on the ground and she could hear them. Chirping and cooing and cawing. It was like her worst nightmare had come to life. The fluttering and flapping of the wings hit her ears first, alerting her to the terrifying swarm that was coming from the sky to feast on the two Finch siblings.

Orla stumbled back, tripping over the root of a tree and falling flat on her ass. Caspians still cupped some of the seeds in his hand, holding it out to the birds which slowly approached the boy and pecked from his hand. This confused Orla… Why weren’t they… like… murdering them? Sure, birds weren’t exactly bloodthirsty creatures but they should’ve been doing… something! This gentle act of pecking food from Caspian’s hand didn’t seem right.

“See!” Caspian said, looking to Orla. He had a look of genuine care for her when he did this-- Caspian was actually trying to help her before he went off… “They’re not so bad…” He said with a lopsided smile. Orla picked herself up from the ground, dusting her trousers off and slowly approaching Caspian’s side. “Hold your hand out, okay?” Caspian said, before noticing the look of panic on her face. “I promise I won’t let them hurt you, okay? Just… stay calm.” She held her hands out to him, feeling the sprinkle of birdseed in her palm. “Now… Just hold your hand out.”

Orla did so, though the tremble through her body was something that she couldn’t shake. She was Orla Finch the brave and the bold! How was it that a couple of birds got her so anxious? She watched with bated breath as most of the creatures ignored her until one small, feathered beast began to make its way towards her. “Steady…” Caspian reminded her and she nodded her head. The bird began to gently peck seeds out of her hand and for the first time in her life, she couldn’t help but feel happy that a bird was pecking at her. “This is… Awesome!” She whispered out with excitement, looking at Caspian with star-filled eyes. “Isn’t it? Not so bad, huh?”

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Orla sucked in a deep breath, looking to the outside of the shop. The start of the school year was just days away, Diagon Alley was buzzing with witches and wizards and the parents of said students-to-be. Orla was one of the many students that had been collecting her school supplies all day… And it just so happened, she’d finally garnered enough of a lack of fear that she wanted to see if perhaps, she could bring a companion to Hogwarts with her. Caspian had Gertrude, which he loved more than she’d seen him love anything, her mother and father both had tales of animal companions accompanying them through their time at Hogwarts.

“Sweetie, we need to be quick, alright?” Ruth said, reminding her daughter they had other places to be on their busy day of errand running. She offered her daughter a bag full of galleons, enough of which would purchase her the animal of her choosing. Up to this point, she hadn’t the slightest clue of what she wanted.

She nodded her head, quickly turning on her heels to enter the shop. Jam-packed with students, she managed to wade her way through the shop, eyeing the variety of animals they had. Cats, rats, some adorably, strange puffballs, lizards, toads… She wasn’t sure whether “zoo” would’ve been more appropriate, considering the selection of creatures that were there.

She saw a little red-haired girl holding a grey-looking cat that looked like it was just fit for the girl. Another boy held a lizard to his chest fondly… It was quite sweet but Orla was overwhelmed with possibilities. She furrowed her brows, humming to herself as she went through the possibilities. She did not want a rat... As cute as Caspian’s was… Well, she just wasn’t sure that was the creature best fit for her. Anything scaly gave Orla the creepy crawlies if she was being truthful. As cute as a toad was, she knew that wouldn’t do it for her.

As she made a list of pros and cons for each creature, she found herself already at the back of the shop. Looking around, the animals had become sparse. All but one. She blinked a bit, staring the creature in the face. It was so… Tiny. Tiny with the biggest, brightest eyes she’d ever seen.

“Oh, that one… Well...!” Said a kind-looking man. That had to be the owner. “He’s... he’s a bit clumsy. ‘S why he’s all by his lonesome back here….” The shop owner chuckled. Orla was a bit clumsy... But that didn’t make her any less awesome. She continued to stare at the owl and the owl back at her. “An eastern screech is what he is… Quite the tiny fellow… Can’t carry many letters… Not the greatest of messenger birds. Why don’t you look at those tabbies over there? Much better for the companion type.”

Orla shook her head quickly, looking up to the shopkeeper. “No!” She said quickly, with a bit too much. “Sorry... I mean... I just... I don’t know.” A soft smile tugged on her lips. “I quite like him.” The little owl seemed to perk up like Orla did, tilting its head and scuttling forward a bit. “Oh!” The shopkeeper nearly gasped. “I haven’t seen him act excited about nothings in days!” He said to Orla. “Perhaps... Perhaps he was just waitin’ on you?”

He was waiting on her? Well… There was simply no way Orla could leave that shop without that little bird. “Well, buddy… I’ve been waiting on you too…” She grinned at the bird and then looked to the shopkeeper. “I’ll take him, please.”

And so Orla was on her way… Not without Archimedes ‘Archi’ (Leonardo) Finch on his way with her.

Word Count: 2710

What animal do you wish to purchase? Eastern Screech Owl
What do you want to name it? Archimedes
Is this a boy or a girl? Boy
What is your pet's date of birth? January 8th, 2021