Destinies Collide

Happy Birthday

July 31st, 1988

Tap tap tap

Harry burrowed further under the covers and pressed the pillow over his ears. If he ignored the birds, they would go away, right? He thought with a sigh, pressing his eyes closed and pointedly ignoring the noise.

Tap tap tap

"Go away!" He whisper-shouted at the window, shoving the covers aside. This wouldn't work.

Harry stood up again and opened the window, seeing a different owl had taken the place of the last one on the flower box. It was actually a very pretty owl, with white feathers in her face and belly and brownish ones on her wings and in a circle around her face. But Harry still wanted it to go away before his guardian woke up to the insistent tapping, and he needed some sleep himself.

"Shhh!" He put a finger to his mouth when the owl hooted as if it would understand him. It didn't do it again, so maybe it did.

The owl did pick up the letter on top of the flowers and pointedly held it out to him. Harry sighed and took it, watching the owl as it seemed to wait instead of flying off again. He jumped back on his bed and opened the letter, again only simply addressed to 'Harry Potter'.

30th July 1988

Dear Harry Potter,

I read your last book today because Pansy wouldn't shut up about it, and it's really fun but I don't think it's true because you're supposed to be the same age as me and even if you have some super special magic, dragons are an XXXXX beast and really hard to fight, magic doesn't work on them as easy as on other beasts and they have big teeth and huge wings and are a lot bigger than I am, so you're probably small next to it too. I know a lot about dragons, they're my favourite! And there's one in your book, so does that mean you like them? If you do, we could be friends and go to a reserve to see some, then I could tell you all about them!

Father says you're not going to answer because famous people get lots of letters and can't read them all, but I think you should read my letter anyway so I can tell Pansy you did and she'll be jealous. I'm not being mean, she did it first when she bought the book before me and didn't let me read it. So please answer me so I can know you read my letter, and tell me if you want to go see dragons with me, I'm sure father can take us, he can do anything, the other day I wanted to see a game of quidditch and father came home with tickets for a Puddlemore game!

Oh and happy birthday! I'll tell Cito to be even faster so you get my letter first thing, Cito is my owl and mother says her name means quick so she's the quickest owl around. I'll tell her to wait for you to answer, maybe give her a treat before she flies back since we don't know where you live and she might be tired from flying.

Best wishes,

Draco Malfoy.

Harry was still looking at the letter when the tapping started again, and he saw the owl- Cito tapping her beak on the wooden frame of the open window.

"Uh, I don't have any treats," He told the owl, looking around his room.

Even if the letter wasn't for him, it wasn't fair to leave Cito hungry, he decided. Standing from the bed, leaving the two letters behind, he went to open his door and tip-toe downstairs. The house was mostly dark, but the light in the kitchen was on, so the stairs weren't very hard to see. Harry didn't think to question the state of the lights until he stepped into the kitchen, squinting slightly at the light, and found himself under a curious look from Mr Wright, who was doing- something.