INDEX: Owls and Owl Post
[Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas. This post will remain open for discussion about these ideas. Further contributions can be made at the Topic Post.]
Idea: A mail room at Hogwarts
Idea belongs to: helenish
Idea found in: A Quaint Notion (Draco/Ron, NC-17)
No permission granted/sought.
A mail room located in Hogwarts (downstairs from the Great Hall); specifically a place to claim mailed items too large for owls to carry. The description in the fic is as follows:
The mail room was small and narrow, with only a long table against one wall, and a small slot and a window in the other wall. The slot was to slide the claim ticket through; the parcel then came out the window. It was all highly automated. Ron had just fished his somewhat grubby claim ticket out of his pocket when someone else came in.
There is no explanation given as to how the parcels arrived at Hogwarts in the first place if they were too heavy for the Owl post.
Idea: Animagus Owl -- Hedwig as animagus
Idea belongs to: Frances Potter
Idea found in: Coming of Age [PG-13], which is a work-in-progress in indefinite suspension. [The existing chapters were written prior to OotP, so the story is now AU in ways the discussion below will make clear.]
In Coming of Age, Hedwig is an animagus and serves as a protector for Harry -- more or less in the literary tradition of the fairy godmother, but without either the sentimental or grandmotherly aspects of that tradition's representation of powerful women. This fic explicitly parallels Hedwig with Sirius Black. (Harry only learns that she is an animagus after this story begins.)
Among other things, this storyline allows the author to reflect on the nature of familiars in wizardom, as she does in the following passage:
"No one ever chooses their own pet, Harry. Like your wand, the pet chooses you. The same way Crookshanks picked Hermione."
"Did Professor Dumbledore know about you being an Animagus?"
"Oh, I expect so. Though he never spoke to me about it even when I was back at school. I'm not registered, you see, so I could have gotten into trouble if he had. I just wanted to help make things easier for you. Such as making sure your friends didn't forget your birthday when you were with those dreadful people. That awful summer when Vernon locked me in the cage wasn't much fun, believe me." She shifted forward and sat between the two men.
"What is your real name?"
"Hedwig is fine."
"But there must be another. I gave you that one."
"Did you? Are you sure?" Golden and green eyes locked for a moment, leaving Harry feeling warm and safe. The feeling remained as Hedwig looked away to Sirius. "We should get down to business. Time is running out." (CoA, chapter 7)
Idea: Transfer station in Hogsmeade
Idea belongs to: knitmeapony
Idea found in: Magic and Muggles, slightly defunct and unlinkable at present.
Permission given by author.
Contributed by: knitmeapony
In Hogsmeade, one of the buildings is the Owl Post Transfer Station. It has a proper muggle address where packages and letters can be delivered to, and an owlry. If a wizard should want or need to order something from the muggle world (or conversely wants to send something by owl to a muggle without alarming them), they can send it to the transfer station and fill out a little form telling the workers there where to transfer it from and to.
Idea: Seeing eye owls
Idea belongs to: R. J. Anderson.
Idea found in: The Potion's Master's Apprentice
Permission not sought or received;
Contributed by: tipgardner
This is a longish Snape/OC woman fic where Snape blinds a woman who later receives a seeing owl coupled with a potion that lets her see through the owl's eyes.
Idea: Owl names and the Hogsmeade post office
Idea belongs to: blythely
Idea found in: The three Owlets stories (G) originally. But Draco's owl is always Quetzal.
Permission: With the greatest of pleasure... except for Quetzal.
Draco's owl is called Quetzal, after the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatal. Quetzal gets Hedwig, er, in the Family Way, producing three chicks which Draco and Harry name Harlequin, Quisling and Hajari.
In The Reproductive Characteristics of Magical Owls, Draco discovers:
The mating season is two weeks before the winter solstice, with laying on New Year's Eve... [and] ... The number of eggs in the clutch is entirely dependent on how much, and with what, the male provisions the female. Snowy owls can lay anything up to 12 eggs in one clutch, if the female receives large amounts of fresh meat.
Draco and Harry go to the post office for advice about the owlets, and discover how the birds are assessed for their aptitude as post owls.
Avery Fleet, the Postmaster and sometime owl-expert, scoops out each of the owlets from the basket and sits them on the counter, where they squawk and totter sleepily around. He watches them move about, strokes them on the soft feathers underneath their chin and lets them nip at his fingers.
'What do you think, sir?' asks Draco. Fleet places a metal contraption that looks like half a pair of binoculars over his left eye and peers intently at each of the owlets eyes. Changing lenses, he lifts up the birds' feet and examines them closely too. Draco glances sideways at Harry to find him watching with rapt attention.
'Let's take these lovely creatures outside, shall we?' Cradling the hooting owls in one burly arm, the Postmaster beckons for Harry and Draco to follow him through a side door out to the back of the Post Office, where the garden is mostly taken up by a small owlery. Fleet stands in the centre of the cobbled yard with his feet planted on a stone in the shape of an owl.
Idea: Name of Draco Malfoy's Owl
Idea belongs to: TromboneBorges.
Idea found in: A Suitable Preparation [H/D PG]
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: conversant
Idea I: Name: Bootes
In "A Suitable Preparation," TromboneBorges names Draco's owl Bootes. I don't know why he made this choice, but it has always seemed to me that the name is part and parcel of the story's delicate endeavour to humanise Draco from canonical pasteboard bully, childish ideologue, and stereotypically arrogant aristocrat to a boy who must grow up to be more and must do it NOW. In this context, it seems appropriate that Draco Malfoy's owl does not have a classical or exotic name, but is merely Bootes. I don't know if the name has a specific literary pre-cursor (if it does, my guess is that it was the tagname of somebody's butler or footman), but it also points vaguely in the direction of Muggledom by resonating with fairytales and Christmas panto (Puss N Boots) and to high-street commerce (Boots the Chemist).
This passage conveys some of what I mean about TB's use of this owl to flesh out his re-characterisation of Draco: "Bootes had been one of the youngest owls in the Malfoy Parliament; he was the only one Draco had ever used, whether at home or Hogwarts or on holiday. He was the closest thing to a pet Draco had ever been allowed."
II. Idea: Terminology - "Parliament"
Term: Parliament A "parliament of owls" has a long history as one of the conventional collective nouns to describe populations of owls. (It is like "pride" [of lions], "murder" [of crows], and "herd" [of cattle].) What TromboneBorges does that is new is to imply that in Wizardom this term is used colloquially to refer to a privately owned breeding/working population of post owls: "Bootes had been one of the youngest owls in the Malfoy Parliament..."
III. Idea: Owls will be a liability to Voldemort's opponents in the war; they would be sent away from Hogwarts for the duration of the conflict.
TB posits that the Owls will be sent away from Hogwarts (and that this will be traumatic for their owners). Draco says to his owl: 'I know you wouldn't betray us. But apparently you're too easy to charm or hex. So the Order is sending you away where you'll be safe, and maybe you can even come back someday.'
IV. Idea: Interior of the Hogwarts Owlery
The Owlery.
Described by TB this way: "Draco fumbled and drew the frozen rodent from his shirt pocket and started the climb up the tall ziggurat stairs that circled the room to the baroque perch that formed the centerpiece of the room. ... He was passing through a corridor of owls, all of whom turned to stare as he picked his way through the maze of owl pellets. The windows in the walls, paneless, admitted entry and exit of the owls but not of the elements. They cast a warm blue moonlight into the room, freckled with the silhouette of the heavy, falling snow. The snow beat in vain against the charmed windows, collecting slightly on the sills but never passing into the chamber proper."
Protective spells keep the Owlery's open windows from being a weak point in the Castle's defenses and keep the weather at bay, as we see when Draco removes the spells to allow his owl to go free rather than be transported forcibly with the other school owls:
Stretching his arms to his sides and closing his eyes, he breathed in the silence, the stillness, and he whispered, Finite Fenestrula."
The wards on the windows vanished.
Instantly, wind rushed to fill the calm, howling like a banshee through the Owlery. The noise was deafening, an endless, wailing white noise, and Draco could barely hear the owls as they screeched in fear and discomfort. The wind drove him to his hands and knees to keep his balance, and he crawled to the bottom of the high stairs and crouched there, trying to get a sense of what was happening. The snow, in his face, on his lashes, made the room sketchy and blurred, just a mess of feathers and white powder and puddles. Draco stared deliberately into the snow, forced himself to focus. Not a single owl had moved; they perched immobile in the center of the tempest. Bootes remained in his position of honor, staring at Draco.
A voice called from a distance, "Committe Fenestrula!"
Silence engulfed the room, except for a pounding, rhythmic gasp that, after a moment, Draco realized was his own breathing. He slowly lifted his head and brushed the snow from his fringe and his eyes.
Across the room, Harry stood, both arms fully extended, hands shaking slightly. With a rush of movement and noise one of the snowies launched herself and lighted on Harry's left arm. Draco stood up.
"You triggered the alarm," Harry said, staring.
Idea: Interior of the hogwarts owlery/speed of owl posts
Idea belongs to: wayfairer
Permission: granted by author
Contributed by: wayfairer
(Harry) rubbed the head of the bird, a brown barn owl, reassuringly, and told her to fly as fast as she could to Malfoy Manor. Hedwig clucked reproachfully, fluffed her feathers, and flew up to the ceiling, landing on one of the uppermost perches. The owlery was a large round room at the top of the West wing of the castle, with hutches and roosts lining the walls all around. Snow whirled in through the uncovered windows from outside, mixing with the white feathers and dust particles spinning in the air. The midday sun streaked through the cracks and gaps in the ceiling and walls, and Harry had to squint from the glare as he turned back to the barn owl.
...
“A Barn owl, flying east into the wind, would probably average about 75 kilometers per hour. It’s almost noon, so I’d say it should probably reach Malfoy Manor right around dinner tonight.”
Harry froze where he stood, still working his chapped palms in circles against one another, suddenly keenly aware of everything around him: of the drafts hissing through the room, the cold wind whipping his back; the way shafts of sun cut like veins of rough gold through the dimly lit grunge of dirt and dust and dung; the stench of owl and damp wood and straw and pellets that was so overpowering he almost couldn’t smell it at all.
--from Love Under Will, Chapter 14
Ideas: Types of letter post
Ideas belong to: The 1st two ideas are already widely dispersed in fanon, so I'd say they are common property, though I'll provide one link to a fic.
Ideas found in: The 1st two ideas crop up in a fair few stories; the corrollaries exist only in my head so far as I'm aware.
Permission: With one exception (noted below) for a particular application of the device, I really think the basic ideas are in general circulation, so there's no one to ask permission if you riff on them; "Mortuary Post" is, I believe, my term, but you are welcome to use it.
Contributed by: conversant
Okay. We know about Howlers. They are red, and when opened, they yell their message at the recipient; if not opened, they explode (and yell their message anyway).
Idea One: Mortuary Post I've read several fics (and could only find one I had never read before when I went back to see if I could find an example) in which students receive letters delivered by black owls on black-wrapped parchments or black-tied parchments (or in black envelopes, but that seems to ignore the canonical nature of parchment as something one rolls). These epistles deliver news of a loved one's death -- and they do it in a spectacular fashion so that everyone in the Great Hall is aware of the death. This is especially effective in war-time fics where the morning post becomes an occasion for dread, as in this passage from E.C.R. Potter's Different Paths, chapter 6:
Hermione was about to retort when the entire Hall, including Ron and Hermione suddenly became dead silent. A single owl had just flown into the room carrying a black envelope. This black envelope was a great source of dread ever since Voldemort´s return. It was an official notice from the Ministry about the death of a family member of whoever received the envelope. For quite some time, students and staff held their breaths in dreaded silence as the ominous owl circled over their heads. Finally, the owl dropped the envelope right in front of Hermione, much to the shock of Harry and Ron.
With trembling hands, Hermione opened the letter and started to read it. As her eyes skimmed down the parchment, Harry noticed how her eyes filled with despair as they welled up with tears. "No," Hermione whispered. Her tears were starting to fall freely and she dropped the parchment as if it were on fire. "No!" she screamed. She ran out of the Great Hall, sobbing all the way. Harry quickly glanced at the parchment and skimmed its words before taking off after Hermione. Ron hesitantly picked up the parchment and started reading it. By the time he had finished, Ron was white as a ghost. Although the letter had used many words to cover up what was written there, the message was clear: Hermione´s parents had been murdered by Death Eaters.
This idea is not always tied to official communications from the Ministry. I've seen fics in which a Malfoy-family owl delivers news of Narcissa or Lucius's death to Draco in a similarly-coloured and equally spectacular missive.
My own spin on this idea occurs in a fic I've not yet posted (so I guess I'd like to reserve this idea from general borrowing): the Black family communicates its disapproval of Sirius by sending him Mortuary Post while he is still a student at Hogwarts, effectively turning that device into a ritual of disinheritance. ("You are dead to us.")
Idea Two: Amorous Epistles This one's also in general circulation. We saw Ginny's singing Valentine in canon and fanon has given us other examples of Amorous Epistles.
Idea Three: Other Official Communications One could imagine that certain Ministry offices might have distinctive post (either because delivered by a unique bird or because of the parchment colour/presentation). Like Howlers, Commendations for Brave and Audacious Service, would probably be both colourful and LOUD. Warrants of Arrest or Subpoenas might also be delivered by post and involve scene-interrupting volume and spectacular visuals. (An arrest warrant would presumably grab hold of the miscreant and cart her off. Perhaps this innovation will be one of the law enforcement "improvements" instituted by the next Minister for Magic.)
Idea Four: Other Extraordinary Post. Contest Prizes, Over-draught Notices from Gringotts, Party Invitations, and Adverts [Muggles call them 'spam', but Wizards might call these unsolicited letters 'owl droppings' (or some less-polite spin on that idea)] -- all of these things might arrive by Owl Post in distinctive and ear-tickling fashion.
Idea: owls as full-sized characters
Idea belongs to: jamusdu
Idea found in: The Arrangement
Contributed by: painless_j
ART. Comic; G; the darker side of owls. Characters: Hermes, Hedwig, Errol, Pig & Crookshanks.
Idea: International post and geese
Idea belongs to: Midnight Blue
Idea found in: The Mirror of Maybe (SS/HP, R, WIP)
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
Midnight Blue produced the idea that inter-continental distances are too large for owls. Therefore, international post is delivered by geese who can fly that far without landing.
[Mod's NB: The use of geese also occurs in Resonant's Transfigurations:
"Harry was helping start up the first school of wizardry America has had since Salem, Draco!" Hermione said enthusiastically from the other side. "When we wanted to write to him, our owls had to relay their letters to transatlantic message geese, because an owl could never make it all the way to Disney World --"
]
Idea: benefits and problems of owning an owl for a wizard living in a Muggle neighbourhood
Idea belongs to: leni_jess
Idea found in: Looking Ahead Gen; Pre-romantic triofic, PG13. Hermione takes Harry and Ron to buy an owl.
Permission: Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
In this fic, the author looks at the benefits and problems of owning an owl from different POVs: wizard's, Muggle's, while showing us the Trio in the magical zoo shop.
Hermione laughed at them, gently, and pointed out that though Hedwig was gorgeous, a rare and foreign owl would be difficult to fit into a Muggle household. She would need all sorts of paperwork. She would stand out. Hermione wanted a simple, useful, undistinguished owl. She agreed she didn't need a dumb flutterer like Pigwidgeon, likely to be eaten by the neighbour's cat at first opportunity.
If she had an ordinary British owl she could get a licence easily, claiming to be rearing an owl for breeding, to release new members of endangered species into the wild.
"Licence?" Ron asked blankly. "Endangered?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, looking at Harry; he seemed to understand, and to be a little amused.
"Mate, owls don't do as well in the countryside as they used to. Not enough trees with proper holes, I suppose. Too much weed-killer."
The owls name is Sarastro, appropriately magical in the eyes of a Muggle-born witch, Hermione.
Idea: Owl Animagi
Idea belongs to: (1) zionsstarfish and (2) Jendra
Idea found in: (1) Salutation HP/DM; PG. and (2) Qitters Sometimes Prosper (-- look in the files section, you'll have to join the group to read it); HP/SS; NC-17; WIP.
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
(1) The owl's name is Pyxis, and it turns out to be not an owl but Draco himself.
(2) Harry's an owl-Animagus. I can't say it's important that he's an *owl*, because only his ability to fly matters, but the fact is, he's an owl-Animagus.
Idea: Owls as full-sized characters.
Idea belongs to: Mnemosyne
Idea found in: A Council of Owls (and One Ginger Cat) (gen; G)
Permission? Not sought.
To quote the author's note, "I don't know if this idea has been explored elsewhere in a fic, but I have wondered for a while what Errol, Pigwidgeon, Hedwig and Crookshanks would be like if they could talk." The author tries to show us the owls' charatcters through their speech (mostly) and behaviour.
Idea belongs to: Angel of the North
Idea found in: Walking Through Treacle
PG; series of vignettes. Summary: "The first ever Fawkes/Malfoy Owl Slash ever. Zeus, the black eagle owl is the object of a crush. Specifically, it's a certain phoenix. Birdslash. The first in a series of vignettes."
Idea: A mail room at Hogwarts
Idea belongs to: helenish
Idea found in: A Quaint Notion (Draco/Ron, NC-17)
No permission granted/sought.
A mail room located in Hogwarts (downstairs from the Great Hall); specifically a place to claim mailed items too large for owls to carry. The description in the fic is as follows:
The mail room was small and narrow, with only a long table against one wall, and a small slot and a window in the other wall. The slot was to slide the claim ticket through; the parcel then came out the window. It was all highly automated. Ron had just fished his somewhat grubby claim ticket out of his pocket when someone else came in.
There is no explanation given as to how the parcels arrived at Hogwarts in the first place if they were too heavy for the Owl post.
Idea: Animagus Owl -- Hedwig as animagus
Idea belongs to: Frances Potter
Idea found in: Coming of Age [PG-13], which is a work-in-progress in indefinite suspension. [The existing chapters were written prior to OotP, so the story is now AU in ways the discussion below will make clear.]
In Coming of Age, Hedwig is an animagus and serves as a protector for Harry -- more or less in the literary tradition of the fairy godmother, but without either the sentimental or grandmotherly aspects of that tradition's representation of powerful women. This fic explicitly parallels Hedwig with Sirius Black. (Harry only learns that she is an animagus after this story begins.)
Among other things, this storyline allows the author to reflect on the nature of familiars in wizardom, as she does in the following passage:
"No one ever chooses their own pet, Harry. Like your wand, the pet chooses you. The same way Crookshanks picked Hermione."
"Did Professor Dumbledore know about you being an Animagus?"
"Oh, I expect so. Though he never spoke to me about it even when I was back at school. I'm not registered, you see, so I could have gotten into trouble if he had. I just wanted to help make things easier for you. Such as making sure your friends didn't forget your birthday when you were with those dreadful people. That awful summer when Vernon locked me in the cage wasn't much fun, believe me." She shifted forward and sat between the two men.
"What is your real name?"
"Hedwig is fine."
"But there must be another. I gave you that one."
"Did you? Are you sure?" Golden and green eyes locked for a moment, leaving Harry feeling warm and safe. The feeling remained as Hedwig looked away to Sirius. "We should get down to business. Time is running out." (CoA, chapter 7)
Idea: Transfer station in Hogsmeade
Idea belongs to: knitmeapony
Idea found in: Magic and Muggles, slightly defunct and unlinkable at present.
Permission given by author.
Contributed by: knitmeapony
In Hogsmeade, one of the buildings is the Owl Post Transfer Station. It has a proper muggle address where packages and letters can be delivered to, and an owlry. If a wizard should want or need to order something from the muggle world (or conversely wants to send something by owl to a muggle without alarming them), they can send it to the transfer station and fill out a little form telling the workers there where to transfer it from and to.
Idea: Seeing eye owls
Idea belongs to: R. J. Anderson.
Idea found in: The Potion's Master's Apprentice
Permission not sought or received;
Contributed by: tipgardner
This is a longish Snape/OC woman fic where Snape blinds a woman who later receives a seeing owl coupled with a potion that lets her see through the owl's eyes.
Idea: Owl names and the Hogsmeade post office
Idea belongs to: blythely
Idea found in: The three Owlets stories (G) originally. But Draco's owl is always Quetzal.
Permission: With the greatest of pleasure... except for Quetzal.
Draco's owl is called Quetzal, after the Aztec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatal. Quetzal gets Hedwig, er, in the Family Way, producing three chicks which Draco and Harry name Harlequin, Quisling and Hajari.
In The Reproductive Characteristics of Magical Owls, Draco discovers:
The mating season is two weeks before the winter solstice, with laying on New Year's Eve... [and] ... The number of eggs in the clutch is entirely dependent on how much, and with what, the male provisions the female. Snowy owls can lay anything up to 12 eggs in one clutch, if the female receives large amounts of fresh meat.
Draco and Harry go to the post office for advice about the owlets, and discover how the birds are assessed for their aptitude as post owls.
Avery Fleet, the Postmaster and sometime owl-expert, scoops out each of the owlets from the basket and sits them on the counter, where they squawk and totter sleepily around. He watches them move about, strokes them on the soft feathers underneath their chin and lets them nip at his fingers.
'What do you think, sir?' asks Draco. Fleet places a metal contraption that looks like half a pair of binoculars over his left eye and peers intently at each of the owlets eyes. Changing lenses, he lifts up the birds' feet and examines them closely too. Draco glances sideways at Harry to find him watching with rapt attention.
'Let's take these lovely creatures outside, shall we?' Cradling the hooting owls in one burly arm, the Postmaster beckons for Harry and Draco to follow him through a side door out to the back of the Post Office, where the garden is mostly taken up by a small owlery. Fleet stands in the centre of the cobbled yard with his feet planted on a stone in the shape of an owl.
Idea: Name of Draco Malfoy's Owl
Idea belongs to: TromboneBorges.
Idea found in: A Suitable Preparation [H/D PG]
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: conversant
Idea I: Name: Bootes
In "A Suitable Preparation," TromboneBorges names Draco's owl Bootes. I don't know why he made this choice, but it has always seemed to me that the name is part and parcel of the story's delicate endeavour to humanise Draco from canonical pasteboard bully, childish ideologue, and stereotypically arrogant aristocrat to a boy who must grow up to be more and must do it NOW. In this context, it seems appropriate that Draco Malfoy's owl does not have a classical or exotic name, but is merely Bootes. I don't know if the name has a specific literary pre-cursor (if it does, my guess is that it was the tagname of somebody's butler or footman), but it also points vaguely in the direction of Muggledom by resonating with fairytales and Christmas panto (Puss N Boots) and to high-street commerce (Boots the Chemist).
This passage conveys some of what I mean about TB's use of this owl to flesh out his re-characterisation of Draco: "Bootes had been one of the youngest owls in the Malfoy Parliament; he was the only one Draco had ever used, whether at home or Hogwarts or on holiday. He was the closest thing to a pet Draco had ever been allowed."
II. Idea: Terminology - "Parliament"
Term: Parliament A "parliament of owls" has a long history as one of the conventional collective nouns to describe populations of owls. (It is like "pride" [of lions], "murder" [of crows], and "herd" [of cattle].) What TromboneBorges does that is new is to imply that in Wizardom this term is used colloquially to refer to a privately owned breeding/working population of post owls: "Bootes had been one of the youngest owls in the Malfoy Parliament..."
III. Idea: Owls will be a liability to Voldemort's opponents in the war; they would be sent away from Hogwarts for the duration of the conflict.
TB posits that the Owls will be sent away from Hogwarts (and that this will be traumatic for their owners). Draco says to his owl: 'I know you wouldn't betray us. But apparently you're too easy to charm or hex. So the Order is sending you away where you'll be safe, and maybe you can even come back someday.'
IV. Idea: Interior of the Hogwarts Owlery
The Owlery.
Described by TB this way: "Draco fumbled and drew the frozen rodent from his shirt pocket and started the climb up the tall ziggurat stairs that circled the room to the baroque perch that formed the centerpiece of the room. ... He was passing through a corridor of owls, all of whom turned to stare as he picked his way through the maze of owl pellets. The windows in the walls, paneless, admitted entry and exit of the owls but not of the elements. They cast a warm blue moonlight into the room, freckled with the silhouette of the heavy, falling snow. The snow beat in vain against the charmed windows, collecting slightly on the sills but never passing into the chamber proper."
Protective spells keep the Owlery's open windows from being a weak point in the Castle's defenses and keep the weather at bay, as we see when Draco removes the spells to allow his owl to go free rather than be transported forcibly with the other school owls:
Stretching his arms to his sides and closing his eyes, he breathed in the silence, the stillness, and he whispered, Finite Fenestrula."
The wards on the windows vanished.
Instantly, wind rushed to fill the calm, howling like a banshee through the Owlery. The noise was deafening, an endless, wailing white noise, and Draco could barely hear the owls as they screeched in fear and discomfort. The wind drove him to his hands and knees to keep his balance, and he crawled to the bottom of the high stairs and crouched there, trying to get a sense of what was happening. The snow, in his face, on his lashes, made the room sketchy and blurred, just a mess of feathers and white powder and puddles. Draco stared deliberately into the snow, forced himself to focus. Not a single owl had moved; they perched immobile in the center of the tempest. Bootes remained in his position of honor, staring at Draco.
A voice called from a distance, "Committe Fenestrula!"
Silence engulfed the room, except for a pounding, rhythmic gasp that, after a moment, Draco realized was his own breathing. He slowly lifted his head and brushed the snow from his fringe and his eyes.
Across the room, Harry stood, both arms fully extended, hands shaking slightly. With a rush of movement and noise one of the snowies launched herself and lighted on Harry's left arm. Draco stood up.
"You triggered the alarm," Harry said, staring.
Idea: Interior of the hogwarts owlery/speed of owl posts
Idea belongs to: wayfairer
Permission: granted by author
Contributed by: wayfairer
(Harry) rubbed the head of the bird, a brown barn owl, reassuringly, and told her to fly as fast as she could to Malfoy Manor. Hedwig clucked reproachfully, fluffed her feathers, and flew up to the ceiling, landing on one of the uppermost perches. The owlery was a large round room at the top of the West wing of the castle, with hutches and roosts lining the walls all around. Snow whirled in through the uncovered windows from outside, mixing with the white feathers and dust particles spinning in the air. The midday sun streaked through the cracks and gaps in the ceiling and walls, and Harry had to squint from the glare as he turned back to the barn owl.
...
“A Barn owl, flying east into the wind, would probably average about 75 kilometers per hour. It’s almost noon, so I’d say it should probably reach Malfoy Manor right around dinner tonight.”
Harry froze where he stood, still working his chapped palms in circles against one another, suddenly keenly aware of everything around him: of the drafts hissing through the room, the cold wind whipping his back; the way shafts of sun cut like veins of rough gold through the dimly lit grunge of dirt and dust and dung; the stench of owl and damp wood and straw and pellets that was so overpowering he almost couldn’t smell it at all.
--from Love Under Will, Chapter 14
Ideas: Types of letter post
Ideas belong to: The 1st two ideas are already widely dispersed in fanon, so I'd say they are common property, though I'll provide one link to a fic.
Ideas found in: The 1st two ideas crop up in a fair few stories; the corrollaries exist only in my head so far as I'm aware.
Permission: With one exception (noted below) for a particular application of the device, I really think the basic ideas are in general circulation, so there's no one to ask permission if you riff on them; "Mortuary Post" is, I believe, my term, but you are welcome to use it.
Contributed by: conversant
Okay. We know about Howlers. They are red, and when opened, they yell their message at the recipient; if not opened, they explode (and yell their message anyway).
Idea One: Mortuary Post I've read several fics (and could only find one I had never read before when I went back to see if I could find an example) in which students receive letters delivered by black owls on black-wrapped parchments or black-tied parchments (or in black envelopes, but that seems to ignore the canonical nature of parchment as something one rolls). These epistles deliver news of a loved one's death -- and they do it in a spectacular fashion so that everyone in the Great Hall is aware of the death. This is especially effective in war-time fics where the morning post becomes an occasion for dread, as in this passage from E.C.R. Potter's Different Paths, chapter 6:
Hermione was about to retort when the entire Hall, including Ron and Hermione suddenly became dead silent. A single owl had just flown into the room carrying a black envelope. This black envelope was a great source of dread ever since Voldemort´s return. It was an official notice from the Ministry about the death of a family member of whoever received the envelope. For quite some time, students and staff held their breaths in dreaded silence as the ominous owl circled over their heads. Finally, the owl dropped the envelope right in front of Hermione, much to the shock of Harry and Ron.
With trembling hands, Hermione opened the letter and started to read it. As her eyes skimmed down the parchment, Harry noticed how her eyes filled with despair as they welled up with tears. "No," Hermione whispered. Her tears were starting to fall freely and she dropped the parchment as if it were on fire. "No!" she screamed. She ran out of the Great Hall, sobbing all the way. Harry quickly glanced at the parchment and skimmed its words before taking off after Hermione. Ron hesitantly picked up the parchment and started reading it. By the time he had finished, Ron was white as a ghost. Although the letter had used many words to cover up what was written there, the message was clear: Hermione´s parents had been murdered by Death Eaters.
This idea is not always tied to official communications from the Ministry. I've seen fics in which a Malfoy-family owl delivers news of Narcissa or Lucius's death to Draco in a similarly-coloured and equally spectacular missive.
My own spin on this idea occurs in a fic I've not yet posted (so I guess I'd like to reserve this idea from general borrowing): the Black family communicates its disapproval of Sirius by sending him Mortuary Post while he is still a student at Hogwarts, effectively turning that device into a ritual of disinheritance. ("You are dead to us.")
Idea Two: Amorous Epistles This one's also in general circulation. We saw Ginny's singing Valentine in canon and fanon has given us other examples of Amorous Epistles.
Idea Three: Other Official Communications One could imagine that certain Ministry offices might have distinctive post (either because delivered by a unique bird or because of the parchment colour/presentation). Like Howlers, Commendations for Brave and Audacious Service, would probably be both colourful and LOUD. Warrants of Arrest or Subpoenas might also be delivered by post and involve scene-interrupting volume and spectacular visuals. (An arrest warrant would presumably grab hold of the miscreant and cart her off. Perhaps this innovation will be one of the law enforcement "improvements" instituted by the next Minister for Magic.)
Idea Four: Other Extraordinary Post. Contest Prizes, Over-draught Notices from Gringotts, Party Invitations, and Adverts [Muggles call them 'spam', but Wizards might call these unsolicited letters 'owl droppings' (or some less-polite spin on that idea)] -- all of these things might arrive by Owl Post in distinctive and ear-tickling fashion.
Idea: owls as full-sized characters
Idea belongs to: jamusdu
Idea found in: The Arrangement
Contributed by: painless_j
ART. Comic; G; the darker side of owls. Characters: Hermes, Hedwig, Errol, Pig & Crookshanks.
Idea: International post and geese
Idea belongs to: Midnight Blue
Idea found in: The Mirror of Maybe (SS/HP, R, WIP)
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
Midnight Blue produced the idea that inter-continental distances are too large for owls. Therefore, international post is delivered by geese who can fly that far without landing.
[Mod's NB: The use of geese also occurs in Resonant's Transfigurations:
"Harry was helping start up the first school of wizardry America has had since Salem, Draco!" Hermione said enthusiastically from the other side. "When we wanted to write to him, our owls had to relay their letters to transatlantic message geese, because an owl could never make it all the way to Disney World --"
]
Idea: benefits and problems of owning an owl for a wizard living in a Muggle neighbourhood
Idea belongs to: leni_jess
Idea found in: Looking Ahead Gen; Pre-romantic triofic, PG13. Hermione takes Harry and Ron to buy an owl.
Permission: Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
In this fic, the author looks at the benefits and problems of owning an owl from different POVs: wizard's, Muggle's, while showing us the Trio in the magical zoo shop.
Hermione laughed at them, gently, and pointed out that though Hedwig was gorgeous, a rare and foreign owl would be difficult to fit into a Muggle household. She would need all sorts of paperwork. She would stand out. Hermione wanted a simple, useful, undistinguished owl. She agreed she didn't need a dumb flutterer like Pigwidgeon, likely to be eaten by the neighbour's cat at first opportunity.
If she had an ordinary British owl she could get a licence easily, claiming to be rearing an owl for breeding, to release new members of endangered species into the wild.
"Licence?" Ron asked blankly. "Endangered?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, looking at Harry; he seemed to understand, and to be a little amused.
"Mate, owls don't do as well in the countryside as they used to. Not enough trees with proper holes, I suppose. Too much weed-killer."
The owls name is Sarastro, appropriately magical in the eyes of a Muggle-born witch, Hermione.
Idea: Owl Animagi
Idea belongs to: (1) zionsstarfish and (2) Jendra
Idea found in: (1) Salutation HP/DM; PG. and (2) Qitters Sometimes Prosper (-- look in the files section, you'll have to join the group to read it); HP/SS; NC-17; WIP.
Permission? Not sought.
Contributed by: painless_j
(1) The owl's name is Pyxis, and it turns out to be not an owl but Draco himself.
(2) Harry's an owl-Animagus. I can't say it's important that he's an *owl*, because only his ability to fly matters, but the fact is, he's an owl-Animagus.
Idea: Owls as full-sized characters.
Idea belongs to: Mnemosyne
Idea found in: A Council of Owls (and One Ginger Cat) (gen; G)
Permission? Not sought.
To quote the author's note, "I don't know if this idea has been explored elsewhere in a fic, but I have wondered for a while what Errol, Pigwidgeon, Hedwig and Crookshanks would be like if they could talk." The author tries to show us the owls' charatcters through their speech (mostly) and behaviour.
Idea belongs to: Angel of the North
Idea found in: Walking Through Treacle
PG; series of vignettes. Summary: "The first ever Fawkes/Malfoy Owl Slash ever. Zeus, the black eagle owl is the object of a crush. Specifically, it's a certain phoenix. Birdslash. The first in a series of vignettes."