3The Adventures of Errol
'Oh, no! Errol thought as his human rushed across the room with a letter. 'Not again.' But his human didn't notice Errol's dismay at having yet another delivery. It wasn't that Errol didn't like delivering letters. There was nothing better than a delivery well done, he always thought; but things always seemed to go wrong whenever he took off. His last delivery was a week ago and he remembered that adventure well. He had been given a very important letter for his human's son, but instead of an easy trip to Hogwarts and back he had unknowingly found himself in the sight of a jealous, ambitious owl.
The day had started out average. Another ordinary day in the life of a delivery owl. The last fall leaves decorated the yard and Errol hunted for a mouse among the pecking chickens. Same as he had done the day before, and the day before that. The good life of a semi-retired Owl. But then his owner had called him in around lunch time, bribing Errol with his favorite owl treats. Yum!
Errol's owner had a frown on her face so Errol was quick to stick out his leg and let the letter be tied to him, least his owner took her temper out on him. Her owner's identical sons must have done something again. They were the ones usually responsible for this expression on her face. His red head owner secured the letter onto Errol, gave him a treat and told him to give Ron the letter at breakfast in the great hall.
'Oh so it wasn't the twins this time, it was the small boy who owned a fake rat.' Errol thought.
Errol noted that the letter was red and was ticker then usual but other than that it was a normal delivery letter. Errol knew he had a long journey ahead of him – the magic school was around a six hour flight from his owner's house and Errol knew he would make that flight longer with all the stop breaks the old owl would need. Errol was too worried though, he had twelve hours till eight o'clock the next morning and if all went according to plan Errol would get to spend the last few hours at Hogwarts hooting up the latest gossip with all the Hogwarts and students owls.
But things didn't usually go according to plan. Poor Errol, these things always seemed to happen to him. Errol crossed his talons that nothing would go wrong this time, because when they did go wrong nobody ever believed him when he tried to hoot the real reason he was late with a letter. Nobody believed him when he said his lateness had nothing to do with his reliability or his age but with the wizard pirates who seemed to think his letter contained a treasure map. Or the hurricane that appeared out of nowhere and carried him off to a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or that time when Errol had witnessed a crime and had to stand in the witness tree in the court of owls in France. The other owls Errol knew just hooted in distain when he told them the stories but they were true and they only seemed to happen to him. Errol wished his missions were as easy flying as some of the other owls had seemed to have it, but alas it wasn't so. All his important missions seemed destined for failure.
It wasn't pirates, or wind storms, or petty criminals this time. This time it was his arch enemy. The evil Hermes! Hermes was the other owl that lived at his owner's house. He only lived at Barrow in the hot summer months – thank god! – But ever since his owners had brought Hermes home, the evil invading owl had been doing everything to show everybody that he was better delivery carrier. He did everything he could do to show Errol in negative light, but even though Errol didn't trust the other owl further then he could spit out a pellet, Errol had been surprised when Hermes had swooped from out behind some clouds and tried to take his letter.
Fortunately Errol heard the evil thing seconds before Hermes struck and shifted at the last second before Hermes went in for the steal. For an owl, Hermes was extremely loud. Errol was grateful for this for it let Errol keep track of Hermes. Unfortunately Hermes had a friend with him and the friend managed not only managed to sneak on Errol but he managed to steal Errol's letter.
'What is that pile of feathers playing at?' Errol thought angrily as he changed his course and followed the two retreating thieves. Half the things Hermes did made no sense at all, but was the least understandable thing Hermes had accomplished to date. This truly took the cake. Hermes must have stolen the letter so Errol got the blame for it not getting delivered; but though Errol knew this would make him look bad in front of his owners, he still didn't know why Hermes did this. For though Hermes had been bought by his owners he wasn't really their owl; Hermes was his owners son's owl, and so Errol was not really Hermes competition. Errol knew the real reason Hermes didn't like Errol was not because Errol was a more advanced owl with more experience, but because Errol did not bow and scrape at Hermes clawed feet like all the other owls did. Hermes had flown all the way from Hogwarts just to play his petty revenge games. Normally Errol would just ignore Hermes' misguided plays for dominance, but this was different. Nobody messed with his owner's mail and got away with it. Errol gained quickly on Hermes and the other owl and swiftly snatched the letter back. Errol quickly turned the other way and flopping as hard as he could, reached the first thermal that would get him to Hogwarts and Ron.
Hermes and the friend quickly entered the thermal and following on Errol's tail they tried their best to catch up. But Errol was determined he wouldn't let his jealous comrade steel his letter so he flew like his life depended on this delivery. Errol flew like he hadn't flown before but after two extra hours in the thermal and the thermal ended and all three owls exited the stream of fast air.
In the thermal, the two other owls hadn't been able to catch Errol but now that they had all left it…
Errol was tired after all the intense flying but he couldn't give up. His owner was counting on him to get this letter to her son. Errol couldn't let her down. He wasn't as young as the other owls but he flapped his wings hard and managed to avoid capture. He might not have been young but he knew many tricks learned after the years of dodging pirates and wind storms and petty criminals. What he couldn't avoid were the cruel taunts of Hermes and the owl that Errol found out belonged to a professor at Hogwarts. But he didn't reply back, Errol didn't want to use up unnecessary energy.
Errol didn't understand how a rule follower like her owners uptight son had ended up pared up with an owl like Hermes. But Errol didn't have to ponder the mysteries of mismatched owl/human pairs for long, for in the distance, Hogwarts beckoned. Errol flapped harder if that was possible. He was almost there but then a dreadful thought came to Errol's mind. If he wasn't mistaken morning wasn't for another few hours at the very least. How was he going to avoid Hermes and Hermes' many friends and admirers until he delivered his letter? What was Errol going to do?
But just as Errol was about to give up all hope, a pure white old dropped from out of the clouds above and attacked Hermes and his accomplice.
'Thanks Hedwig, I owe you one.' Errol thought as he flapped away to hide his letter and wait out for morning to come. Errol and Hedwig had become close friends on the many deliveries both owls did for their owners who were also best friends.
Before Errol knew it, it was ten to eight and he flopped out of the hidey tree and headed for the great hall. But Errol hadn't been careful for Hermes and the other owl had been waiting for Errol to come out of hiding and the two miscreants were soon on Errol's tail feathers, and this time there was no Hedwig to rescue him. Oh, no!
Was Errol going to fail on his mission, right in front of the great hall?
But luck was on Errol's side and just seconds before Hermes caught up to Errol, hundreds of owls with letters for sons and daughters streamed on all sides of Errol, all of them heading for the owl entrance of the great hall. In the rush Errol was able to blend in and swoop into the great hall without being maimed or robbed.
'There they were' Errol thought as he caught sight of Ron. He was sitting at one of the long tables with Hedwig's owner and a girl with bushy hair. Errol was so tired, so instead of landing with grace he crashed into the milk jug. But that was ok, because Errol liked milk and he was able to get his long deserved drink. Bushy haired girl fished Errol out and Errol feebly held up his leg so his owner's son could get his letter.
The last thing Errol head before everything went blank was Ron voice of dismay at the red letter his mother had sent him. But Errol was pleased with himself; this proved that he was a good owl. His owner would be so proud of him.