Chapter 3

We leave Gringotts, and the professor declares that she's hungry, so we head over to the Leaky Cauldron for some lunch. She asks what I want but I say I'm not hungry.

"C'mon. You have to eat something. You must be hungry by now."

"Not really. Sometimes I don't eat for days."

"Okay. Fine." I have to admit the food smells good and it's been a long time since I've eaten actual food. But I stay strong and don't eat anything. After the professor's lunch we head over to the Eeylops Owl Emporium to get me an owl. When we walk in I quickly look over all the owls and am disappointed.

"Hello there. Welcome to the Eeylops Owl Emporium." The guy at the desk says, without looking up. I walk over to a gray owl on the side. He looks sad. The man finally looks up and I see him do a double take when he sees me. "Would you happen to be Poppy Hopkins?" He asks.

"Depends on who's asking," I reply.

"A man named Fred Hopkins came in here about… Oh, I don't know; maybe a few years ago, he asked me to find a specific owl on a specific day for a specific girl. I just got back yesterday from my trip to get the owl." He walks into the back and comes out with a covered cage. He sets it on the counter and takes off the cover. I recognize the owl immediately.

"Ares!" The owl looks at me and is visibly delighted to see me. My father and I raised this owl. We found him in the field behind our house, abandoned in a nest. We took him in and trained him. I always had a special connection with him. But we left him behind when we left our house so hurriedly. I thought he died in the fire but I guess teaching him to pick locks paid off. I open the cage.

"You might not want to do that," The man says. "He nearly tore my head open when I tried to catch him." I ignore him.

"Lái Ares." He flies over and lands on my shoulder. I taught him to only listen to Chinese commands. He nuzzles his head against my cheek and I stroke his wing. I realize the professor and the owl man are looking at me. I shrug. "So how much?"

"That Fred guy already paid for him and my journey. So you can have him." I turn and leave with Ares leaning against my head. Ares is a special owl. He is all black with blueish-purpleish eyes. He reminds me of my father. Of the hours we spent training the little fluff ball. I'm so happy to see him. The professor follows me out.

"Do you want to stay at the Leaky Cauldron tonight? I can pay for your room." It's a tempting offer. I think about it.

"No. I'll stay in the forest again. But I'll meet you at the train station tomorrow." I head back in the direction of the woods. Once I'm inside, I start to shift, and Ares takes flight. I made sure he was comfortable with both my forms, so once I was fully in my horse form, he settled down on my back. My backpack shifts with me and becomes a saddle bag.

I take off in a new direction away from the clearing I stayed in last night. This time I decide to sleep under a rock overhang with Ares snuggled up against my side. At about midnight, I hear voices in the woods. I shift back to my human form. Ares starts nervously hooting at me. "Ānjìng de Ares." He stops.

"Are you sure she went this way?" A male's voice asks.

"I'm sure. I watched her gallop over this way but then she disappeared." This time the voice belonged to a woman. There's a long pause. "Well, she's not here. Let's go back to the city, maybe she looped around and went to the Leaky Cauldron. I heard the professor offer her a room there as I passed by them." I hear them walk away. I relax so Ares does too. He snuggles even closer to me. I stay awake the rest of the night just in case but I don't hear anything else.

I skip breakfast again and walk out of the forest with Ares on my arm. I see the professor standing out in the middle of the path. I sigh. She should at least know not to stand out in the open by now.

"Good morning. Are you ready for Hogwarts?" I nod but I'm not. I have no idea how this is going to go, and it's scary, but my dad wanted me to go, so I will. I start walking and the professor follows me. I walk towards platform 9 and ¾ and walk through the wall. Most people run but it's not necessary. The train isn't here yet, but there are still a million people on the platform. I start to get nervous, and Ares is pecking my ear, which isn't helping. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I jump away. It turned out to be my professor.

"Sorry." She says.

"It's fine. Ares, tíngzhǐ." He stops pecking. I pick him up and cradle him in my arms. He coos and nuzzles my arm. The train comes so I board and try to find a private compartment that's empty. I find one near the back of the train and sit by the window. I hug Ares and close my eyes. I'm not gonna fall asleep but I hope other people will think I am. I hear the door to my compartment open and I hear someone sit across from me. The train starts moving and I open my eyes to see a boy that looks about my age sitting across from me. He notices me looking at him.

"Oh hi. I wasn't sure if you were asleep or not so I decided not to bother you. I'm Wyatt. Wyatt Smith."

"Hi." I don't feel like introducing myself before I have to. Hellfire is well known as a Death Eater name. It'll make him hate me and I want to have a normal conversation. Well as normal as it can be.

"Are you a first year too? Where's all your stuff?"

"Yes, and it's in here." I tap my backpack.

"Really? How does it all fit in there?" I shrug. He sees Atlas in my arms. "Your owl lets you do that? Mine doesn't even let me pet him." I look at his owl.

"Where did you get your owl?" I ask. The owl looks scared.

"My brother had him. He just shoved the owl at me and then closed the door in my face." I open the door to the owl's cage. I put my hand out in front of the cage and waited. Eventually, the owl gets curious and steps towards me on his perch. Ares is sitting on the seat beside me watching. The other owl sniffs my hand, and when I don't move it, he steps onto my arm. I bring my arm up and set him on the seat next to me. Wyatt is watching in awe as I slowly run my fingers over the owl's head. After a few seconds, the owl trusts me enough to lean into the petting. Then I give the owl to Wyatt. He repeats what I did and starts earning the owl's trust.

"It will take a while, but eventually, he should trust you enough to let you do this." I pick up Ares again and he wiggles in pleasure. I stroke his wing.

"Where did you get your owl?"

"My dad and I found him in a nest so we raised him. I trained him, with my dad's help of course."

"That's so cool."

"Yeah…" I miss my dad so much it hurts. Ares picks up on the sad note in my voice and snuggles closer to me. "Wǒ hěn hǎo Aries." He relaxes and I put him on the window sill.

"What language was that?"

"Chinese. I taught him to understand it." After a while of talking about owls, I start to get sleepy, so I close my eyes, but I don't let myself fall asleep. Even on the train to Hogwarts, there could be danger. But eventually, I must fall asleep because I wake up when the train stops. I look out the window and see the thing I've been dreading all day. Hogwarts.