Sirius Black had been sharing a bucketful of roasted, stolen chickens with
Buckbeak when a flurry of white entered the hidden cave.
A beautiful snowy white owl landed on the back of a folding chair Sirius had
found on the side of the road a few weeks back, and he recognized her to be
Harry's own owl, Hedwig. He smiled and stood to remove the letter tied to
her leg. Sitting back down after caressing her downy feathers, he read and
decoded the hurriedly written letter with a deep frown. What's this about
the Malfoys trying to spend the night? That was beyond odd. Something bigger
was happening, Sirius just didn't know what. He pulled out one of the only
pieces of parchament he had left, from a stained and shabby looking
rucksack. Using an Eagle feather for a quill, he dipped it into the
self-coding ink bottle and began to write.
'Harry,
I can't even begin to guess what is going on. It's hard to believe that
Lucius and his clone-line son have just dropped by for a nice home visit.
Something else, something bigger is behind it. I hope you're safe, I'm very
worried. Please write again when you get the chance. I want to know what's
going on! I have a bad feeling about this. I can't risk leaving right now,
though BuckBeak has been getting quite restless. Don't worry though, We can
walk around a little during the middle of the night, it's a pretty quiet,
sleepy town.
I'd better go. Please send an Owl once you get this. Don't send Hedwig
though, it would look suspicious if the same owl keeps flying to the same
place, time and time again. Send one from the Post office or somewhere.
All my love,
Sirius'
He folded the note into an envelope and tied it back to Hedwig's leg, who had been eating a chicken wing she had dragged from the bucket. He allowed her to finish before carrying her carefully to the opening of the cave, and tossing her out into the night. He watched until she became a tiny white dot against the back drop of the night sky. He sighed and went back to his place by Buckbeak, for another lonely night.