Open How do owls even work?

[Aiya Owens-Lee]

As Aiya headed into her second year after her break, she realised just how much she missed her family whilst she was at Hogwarts. Spending time with her aunties and uncles was always exciting, and of course hanging out with her father when he was willing to spend money on a sweet treat for her was also very thrilling. She realised that she didn’t actually have much at Hogwarts and admittedly she was feeling a little down about it. She had written a letter to her family that she intended to send to them, and she headed up to the owlery to get it sent. She didn’t know the first thing about sending a letter with an owl however, and when she made it to the top, she stood at the top of the stairs and sighed as she looked at all the owls staring back at her. "Do I just tell you guys to fly away with this?" she asked, holding up the piece of parchment she had written on. "Do you any of you even speak English? How am I meant to trust you with this?" None of the owls seemed to know what she was going on about, so she sat at the top of the stairs for a bit, hoping that someone would soon appear and show her exactly what she was meant to do.

 

[Ivara Caldwell]

Ivara was in fairly regular contact with her dads. She liked to keep them updated on things and how she was going, as well as how Roger, her frog, was. She never took him to the owlery just in case the owls got some strange ideas. It felt like a piece of her wasn't there without Roger but she persisted. She just had to find an owl, after all. Climbing up the stairs, she noticed someone else there. She overheard just the last bit of what the girl was saying - something about owls speaking English? Ivara thought that was silly, but the girl looked pretty stumped sitting there on the steps. Maybe she was one of those muggleborns who didn't understand these things. Ivara felt a pang of sympathy. "Hi, are you trying to use the owl service?" Ivara asked, tilting her head at a slight angle - looking somewhat owlish herself. "I can help if you need it. It's quite straightforward once you know how."

 

[Aiya Owens-Lee]

As a Gryffindor approached her asking if she needed help, Aiya couldn't help but feel very embarrassed. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink and she quickly stood up from the steps and tried composing herself. "Umm... uhhh... yeah, I'm trying to send a letter." she said, not wanting to admit that she had never sent one before. She didn't know anyone outside of her family, was always with her family, and so never needed to do it. "How often do you send letters?" she asked curiously, noticing that the girl was the same age as her and she had seen her in some of her classes.

 

[Ivara Caldwell]

Ivara nodded sagely, not really noticing the colour in the other girl's cheeks. "If the letter has the address on it, you just tie it to the leg of the owl with string or put it in its beak and it will find where to go. I'd suggest the tying method if you're sending one overseas," Ivara said matter-of-factly. She then seemingly softened a little at being asked a question. "I send mail maybe once a week or two?" she said after thinking for a moment. "Or if anything exciting happens with my frog." Ivara noticably didn't elaborate on the frog thing. "Also, I'm Ivara. I think we're in some similar classes."

 

[Aiya Owens-Lee]

Aiya admittedly only half-listened as the Gryffindor began explaining that she could just tie the letter to the owl's leg and it would know where to go. Aiya didn't particularly trust it. She grew up with a magical family, however it wouldn't have been the first time that magic failed her, so perhaps she would find other methods of communicating with her family. At least there was nothing urgent written in the letter. "Why do you send letters so often?" she asked a little judgmentally, wondering sort of conversations could be had over letters and how come someone so young had so many reasons to send them. As the other girl then stated the obvious, Aiya scoffed a little. "Don't be silly, I know we're in some of the same classes." she said. "But my name is Aiya. Thank you for introducing yourself to me." It wasn't often that people were so kind to the Slytherin, and perhaps she should have been more grateful.