LouLou solo

12 June 2004, noon

Summertime was normally an enjoyable season for the Slytherin first year, but Olphie was feeling a little down as she made her way to the owlery. For once, she was not looking forward to the end of the school year. Muggle school had been so blasé, but Hogwarts? Hogwarts was magical. So much had happened in this first year, including her first, second, and third first kisses. What else could she ask for?

Of course, there was one other important aspect of her first year that solidified it as one of the best years of her life. As she had expected that fateful day when Professor Pigglywiggly had informed her that she was a witch, Flying was her absolute favorite. Back in September, she had finally gotten her hands on a school broom through the power of the word "UP," and though for some nonsensical reason she wasn't allowed on the Quidditch team, she spent all of her time with the school brooms. It was, in fact, after a particularly sweaty early spring practice that Olphie's two interests collided and she had her second kiss. Those lips enthralled her almost as much as the school broom she had deemed her own, "Shooter."

It was beyond the broomsticks, though; anything that flew held Olphie's interest. Thestrals, hippogriffs, dragons... you name it. If it flew, Olphie wanted to know more. Unfortunately, for some absurd reason, Hogwarts didn't have a petting zoo of the cool creatures; they only had those weird-looking house elves that they hid away because they were so despicable. She hadn't yet seen a house elf, but a seventh-year had told her about them, shown her a picture of her own, even. Why did Hogwarts use house elves to make the meals when they could have used dragons? The crème brûlée, at the very least, would have been exquisite.

Not that the house elves were necessarily bad at cooking, but they probably had some weird cooties that they got on food that Olphie just had to ignore for her own sanity. And they were mean, too! They made all this food for the students and staff of Hogwarts, yet they completely ignored the next most important beings in the castle: the owls! Why did the elves spend all their time doing whatever the heck they did when they could be making these gorgeous meals for the owls. Olphie had been to the owlery many a time to send an owl to her parents. Those poor creatures only got stinky pellets.

While all of the owls were amazing, one owl in particular caught Olphie's attention: a small barn owl that was so beautiful, Olphie was positive she was a girl. It was for this owl, whom Olphie had named LouLou, that Olphie's kitten heels clicked up the spiral staircase as she carried a large slice of chocolate cake, wrapped in a napkin. The house elves may not appreciate owls, but Olphie certainly did, and LouLou deserve all the treats; she had reliably delivered most of Olphie's letters home this year. It was a celebration, of sorts, of Olphie's storied first year as well as a thank you to the owl for being so reliable.

As the clattering intensified, Olphie began to sweat; the day was unnaturally warm, a reminder of the impending summer heat. She'd better be quick about this; as much as she loved LouLou, only a special someone was worth sweating for. Olphie was just lucky that her mum wouldn't let her wear makeup until the summer; imagine how horrifying it would be to have mascara dripping down her face all because of a bird! That was not tres chic, that was for sure.

What also wasn't tres chic was the hay that littered the ground, but Olphie had grown to tolerate it, even though the initial smell always threw her off ground. Her nose scrunched in disgust as she walked through the threshold to find LouLou, trying not to scuff up her new heels with owl doodoo.

At last, her eyes laid sight on the beautiful Eastern Screech Owl that she so wished she could call her own. Olphie increased her pace slightly as she saw the bird, for sometimes the owl liked to play hard to get and fly away from her, so Olphie would have to use a more mediocre owl to send her post. But today, Olphie made sure that the bird could see the chocolate cake peeking out of the napkin as she approached. The bird stayed put. Of course, the other owls were interested too, but Olphie simply scoffed at them. They weren't as beautiful as LouLou, unworthy of a treat. Maybe when they were as gorgeous and fashion-forward (those colors she dressed herself in!) as LouLou she would bring them cake, too.

As she made her way closer to the bird, the owl's eyes perked in curiosity as it looked at the scrumptious dessert in Olphie's hand. Slowly, Olphie unwrapped the napkin so that the animal could see the large portion of dessert; it was far too large for a human to eat in one sitting, but since Olphie knew the House Elves weren't giving the owls anything delicious, she figured LouLou deserved a generous piece.

"Here sweets, just for you," Olphie boomed in her typical voice, which majority of the time was why the bird would fly away in the first place. Much like an untempted LouLou, some of the other owls in the owlery ruffled their feathers in annoyance, and a few made to stretch their wings. Of course, Olphie didn't notice; she only had eyes for the bird that she wished was her pet.

LouLou began to peck at the dessert happily, and Olphie cooed at the creature while she said, "See? I knew you'd like it! Oh LouLou, I'll bring you more next year, don't you worry." Her happiness was punctured by the feeling of sweat as a drop raced down her nose swiftly. Now that LouLou was satisfied, she'd have to get out of here. She had boys to smooch goodbye, for crying out loud!

The bird was halfway through the cake when Olphie turned on her heels to race and find......whatever the heck his name was. She would not be knowledgeable to the fact that not soon after, LouLou got quite the stomachache and with one last hoot, which weirdly sounded like a "BRAAAAACK," keeled over and perished.

Upon entering her second year, Olphie would make her way up to the owlery, posed with another chocolate cake for her beloved owl. After approximately thirty minutes of searching, however, the owl seemed to not be in sight, though she should have been there; Olphie had timed her visit perfectly with the owl's schedule. In Olphie's mind, it seemed that the owl had changed its schedule, and she just could not handle such a fickle creature. That day, she just ate the cake.

Every visit thereafter, Olphie would look for her old friend and wonder what happened to her; she gave up on trying to bring another owl chocolate cake because chocolate cake now reminded her of the owl that had ghosted her. With every letter that Olphie sent, however, the other owls in the owlery would nervously eye her as she tied the letter to their leg, fearful that she would murder them with chocolate cake, too.

Reducio

A special thanks to Nancy Drew for inspiring this post.