In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 187: Hailey and Colin

Chapter 187: Hailey and Colin

Hailey is an owl that is specially trained and graduated from Auror Office.

Compared with the pet owls of general wizards, it not only would never get lost but also had the determination to complete its tasks.

Three years ago it completed all the assessments for wizard strategic owls, successfully graduated, and was finally assigned to its current master - Nott Scabior.

To be honest, its master is really good to it.

Usually, there is food and meat, and from time to time he will also talk to it in private about himself and some heartfelt words, but in fact, when Auror is on a mission, he/she will rarely encounter a situation that requires the use of owls.

So although life is comfortable, Hailey has not carried out any key tasks for three years, at most, it will help Scabior deliver some letters between friends.

This let the professionally trained Hailey stay lazy and idle, during these three years, under its feathers, there's a lot of fat gained without its willingness.

And today finally an opportunity to show its skills arrived, it can see that its master is currently facing a very critical situation, the letter it grasped in its talons, is most likely the key to saving his life.

So Hailey, after taking off from the building, was so determined that, by magic owls' racial talent, she started flying near the ground along the nearest straight line to Britain!

On Azkaban Island, under the influence of the grey fog, it has no way to fly too high, otherwise, even with the pendant that Scabior gave it to show the way, it will be lost in the blanket of fog, the best way to go outside the fog is to make sure that the ground or the sea remains within its view.

When it broke through the grey fog and was about to fly out of the land area of Azkaban Island, an old wooden ship docked at the shore suddenly caught its attention.

Colin had spotted Hailey with binoculars 10 seconds before it spotted Hogwarts.

After Jon and Fred landed on the island, the students who remained on the ship stayed on board with nothing to do.

Neville assigned observation posts in almost all the positions from the bow to the stern of the ship, while having Colin, who had been the lookout, on standby to keep an eye on the surrounding situation at all times.

Not only to pay attention to whether the spark signal will rise in Azkaban, but also to observe the appearance of abnormal creatures like dementors, to make adequate preparation the first time when a slight issue occurs.

But as the morning passed, Colin who held up the binoculars at the top of the mast on guard for a long time didn't find even a single living thing around the island.

This is like a dead island, in addition to the depressing grey fog that floats, there are no other movable objects.

Even in this seawater near the coast, there is no presence of fish and shrimp, only deadly dullness remains, reminding Colin of when he was still in Muggle elementary school when his mother and father took him to the countryside to visit the tomb in their old home village cemetery which has a sense of dilapidation.

But Colin never put down the binoculars he was holding.

He likes to take pictures and used to long to have a camera of his own, originally this wish was going to come true when he was going to middle school, but he was coaxed by the Professor named Barty Crouch to sign the admission letter, so taking pictures has now become a luxury.

But after entering the sea, acting as a lookout made up for Colin's emotional gap in taking pictures.

He loved the feeling of holding the binoculars and looking into the distance. Whenever he found a very clever angle and saw a great view, he would fantasize that there was a shutter button on the binoculars at that moment, and he could freeze the beauty of the moment with a single press.

Even in Azkaban, the island of despair and death, Colin can find a lot of alternative spectaculars.

He had been observing the huge castle that loomed in the grey fog all morning, and there was something otherworldly and spectacular about such an atmosphere and oppressive feeling.

So, when a small black dot broke through the grey fog from the island and flew towards the direction where Hogwarts was located, Colin noticed it immediately.

He did not ignore this small black dot, after a morning of vigilance, he determined that there was no living creature on the island, so now, the sudden appearance of a bird-like creature was obviously very abnormal.

Therefore, at the first moment, Colin lowered the binoculars in his hand, grabbed the railing, and shouted to Neville, who had stayed on deck and not returned to the cabin since Jon and the others left.

"Report! Second mate! There's an unidentified flying creature approaching us at three o'clock by the bow of the ship!"

On deck, not only Neville there, George, and Hermione who were around all heard Colin shouting.

Everyone looked in the direction that Colin pointed, and even without binoculars, they had vaguely seen a small black dot approaching their location.

Even without Neville's reminder, everyone present pulled out their wands warily.

"What's that?" George asked, with a frown.

Neville narrowed his eyes with a stony expression, he could already vaguely see the creature in flight.

"Looks like... It's an owl?"

"An owl?"

Hermione asked calmly: "Did Jon take an owl with him when they landed on the island?"

"No. Hogwarts does not keep owls, whether in the wagon or now in the ship's cabin. This is because the owls that are now kept and used by wizards within Britain are individually numbered, making it easy for the Ministry of Magic to check at any time that these creatures that deliver the letters are legally held by their owners, and once it is discovered that an illegal owl is delivering the letters, they have the right to see the contents of those letters."

"It was difficult for us to obtain such formal identification numbers, so Hogwarts has never used owls since the exile."

Neville explained, and his eyes never strayed from the owl that is getting closer to them.

"So this owl, it can only be someone else's on the island."

Justin swallowed a mouthful of saliva and looked a little nervous.

"So what should we do now?"

Neville, however, was unusually decisive.

"Shoot it down! No matter who on the island it is delivering the letter out, intercepting it is the most foolproof!"

Under his command, all the students on the entire ship raised their wands and aimed at the owl that was getting closer and closer to their ship.

Hailey, who was in the process of breaking out of the grey fog, only just noticed the big ship beneath her when countless wands aimed at her, with their tips flashing red!

Its feathers were all agitated and flared up, its long-ago memories of training were awakened, and it subconsciously began to perform evasive manoeuvres in the sky.

However, the next second.

The next second, overwhelming beams of light shot toward the direction it was!

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