Ouroboros || harry potter

Chapter Fourteen

(Neville)

Godric slowly walked around the exterior balcony of the owlery. The smell of hundreds of birds and the horde of owl droppings with the bones and fur of their prey kept him from entering the actual room. Owls as messenger birds had always been an odd choice but subterfuge had been needed. Non-magicals couldn't see owls well at night and night had been the best time to send messages. So they had used owls whereas non-magicals had used ravens or pigeons.

You'd think someone would have thought of a better way to communicate by now, Godric thought with a wrinkle of his nose. A thousand years and they still used owls. But then, maybe non-magicals still used ravens and pigeons and messenger men.

A final turn around the balcony revealed what he was looking for—a door. The owlery was a tower but the owls only lived at the top. There had to be rooms beneath it.

The Gryffindor stalked over to the door and huffed at the rusted hinges. A week of searching as he was haunted by memories in the night, attempted to play the clumsy child, and avoided nosey redheaded twins and bushy-haired know-it-alls-with-good-intentions had not been fun. Godric fiddled with the door, pushed and yanked, and finally pulled out Sally's wand (pilfered for the afternoon). A weak bombarda forced the door open—and off its hinges. But he'd fix that later.

Spiral stairs led down into a large, empty stone room with wooden beams covered in cobwebs. Balistrarias now filled with stained glass allowed beams of golden light to filter through, illuminating the dust he had kicked up with the door. Another set of spiral stairs traveled down to the next floor, matching the floors of Hogwarts's keep.

It smelled of stale bird droppings and mildew. No one had been in for years and it was empty of anything flammable, besides the beams near the ceiling. If he could open a few of the thin windows, he'd be able to get airflow and both air the place out and keep himself from heating it up too much.

In other words, it was perfect.

He was being a little too optimistic under the circumstances, Godric decided as he traced the edge of one of the windows. It was sealed shut. They all were probably sealed against the weather. Still, it was the best room he had found so far. There was no point in hunting for something better.

Godric went back up the stairs and picked up the door. Pieces of wood fell off it but most of the door stayed together to prop against the entrance.

"Hogwarts?" he called after a moment of hesitation. Would the castle be particularly outraged at the damage? Godric grimaced when Hogwarts didn't materialize and guessed the answer was yes.

He tried to recall the House elf's name from the other day but came up blank.

The founder stalked back down into the room he claimed for his meditation and hesitantly called, "A...available House elf?" A thought had him add an uncertain, "Please?"

A pop-click rang through the room and a little House elf materialized. This one was considerably older than the House elf Sally called. It—he, Godric guessed—even had a tiny cane. The elf huffed an annoyed grumble as he took in the dusty room before flashing an accusative look at Godric.

"Masters keep finding all the places no one goes," groused the elf, "You could stay where all the children stay. You be playing at being children after all."

"Err..." Godric said while valiantly ignoring the burning sensation of a blush across his cheeks, "Sorry?"

"You be wanting it cleaned, yes?" the little elf asked rhetorically before he stabbed his cane down, causing a sharp ding against the stone floor.

Two younger House elves pop-clicked into the tower room. After a glance about, they sprang into action. Snapped fingers caused dusters and brooms to materialize and start cleaning on their own. One pop-clicked onto a ceiling beam to clean the cobwebs while the other pulled out some type of duster to take care of the crevices between things the magiced duster didn't reach.