Obscurus

     Ron had never seen an owl that huge, and definitely had never seen an owl that crashed into your living room one fine day, breaking the glass of the sliding door, and on top of that, the owl was bleeding to death. His brother, Gabriel, grabbed his arm and pulled him to the kitchen, where Mr. Taylor carefully placed the owl on the soft towel on the table. Mr. Taylor—bless him, for having experience treating severe wounds—Alex immediately ran towards them and put the medicine alongside it.

     Charlotte closed her eyes while she waited for their dad to finish mending the owl because she was too afraid to watch. Only Ron and Gabriel were staring intently at the owl, but with a concerned expression on their faces.

     "Remove the paper, Alex," Mr. Taylor said to the oldest sister, who was setting a bowl of water and washcloths on the table.

     Alex was about to grab the paper when the owl pecked her hand. She tried again—but it pecked her again. Ron quickly grabbed a pair of kitchen gloves from the counter and handed them to Alex, who put them on and went to grab the paper. But the owl didn't seem to want her to take it, so she flapped her wings aggressively and accidentally hit Mr. Taylor's chin.

    "Calm it down!" Gabriel yelled. Alex raised her hands in the air and stepped back.

    "It's okay—we won’t hurt you." Mr. Taylor began caressing the owl's head down to its feather as he treated the wound.

     It took Mr. Taylor half an hour to cure its wound, and Charlotte breathed in relief as she peered behind her fingers. The three stared at the now-resting owl, but the paper it was gripping too firmly is still there, and Gabriel, the second person who tried to grab it—pecked his hand, "Fuck."

    “Language.” Mr. Taylor said as he rinsed his hands in the sink.

     Ron shoved Gabriel to the side and stretched his hand across the owl. “Can I take it?” He asked gently—the owl just stood there staring at him.

     Ron shrugged and was about to withdraw his hand when the owl hooted and let go of the paper, nudging it for him to read. As he took it, he thanked the owl.

     "Is that it?” Gabriel exclaimed, unable to believe what he had witnessed.

    Charlotte walked beside him and examined the paper; it was a newspaper—no, part of a newspaper—it had been torn off and the texture was old. Ron shrugged and handed it to Charlotte to read while he stroked the owl's head.

    "So, what was written on that?” Gabriel asked while Mr. Taylor and Alex were clearing the table and taking medicine in the bathroom.

    "I don't know, some Gandalf-ishes," Charlotte said as she handed it to Gabriel to read.

    "Shut up."

     Ron took the piece of newspaper from his hand, “Let me read it.”

 On the evening of March 2, 1980, a powerful spell was cast at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and it alerted the hospital's only magical barrier. Some of the sleeping patients were jolted awake by the intense magic they felt, and some wizards and witches who were still afflicted by You-Know-Who's war were severely impacted. The Ministry of Magic dispatches some patrols in search of anything suspicious, but it is soon discovered that the magic cast was a combination of strong obliviation.

  This information was promptly submitted to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who began investigating each patient that evening, monitoring their conditions and asking questions.

Everyone was severely affected by obliviation, but when the Aurors asked, they continued to respond that they were perfectly all right. But it was the woman who drew the Auror's attention. It was Mrs. Weasley was puzzled as to why she was at the hospital; all she recalled was cooking breakfast for her children, and suddenly she found herself on one of the hospital's rooms.

Mrs. Weasley was rumored to be pregnant and got obliviated, and when an interview surfaced, it was proven that she is; however, who may have stolen one of her children? What exactly do they—

    "Oh come on—the rest was torn off!" Ron grumbled as he immediately folded the piece of newspaper and slid it into his jeans pocket when Mr. Taylor returned back to check the owls condition.

     "The owl should be fine for the next four days—or so I checked— but we're not sure. It needed a rest and food, it must have been flying for a month, look how fatigued it is." He said as he rubbed the owl’s head, the owl gave a softly hoot. On dinner, the owl was asleep in a bird cage and Mr. Taylor claimed it was a parrot cage he had bought before but had already died.

    “I wish Gandalf is true,” Gabriel said, playing with his beans.

    Mrs. Taylor, who had just learnt about what had happened, groaned. "He will, if you don't play with the beans, Ron drink your juice properly." She was already stressed from work, and this further worsened her problems. She also intends to replace the sliding door in the living room. “I want that owl out as soon as possible.”

    "But Mommy, the owl just came from an incident," Ron whined after drinking his juice.

    “You kids already have Dog—what does the owl even eat? Rats? Worms?” She glared at them and Dog started barking at the now-awake owl. 

    “Nightmares!” Charlotte said.

    “No. Wash your hands, Charlotte before you touch the fridge’s handle.”

    "Oh, honey, relax. I’ll take care of the owl.” Mr. Taylor responded as he finished the last sausage on his plate.

    “You better be.” She said before standing up, walking towards the sink to put her plate.

    "What's the matter with Mom?" Alex muttered to them, the other three kids began whispering to each other, and Mr. Taylor softly told them she was stressed.

    Mr. Taylor awoke early the next day to care for the owl, and he noticed Ron and Gabriel both watching a cartoon on the TV in the living room, with pancakes already prepared at the table, some of which were even burnt. But he was relieved that no one had blown up the oven.

    “Who baked these?” He asked the two who were busy watching.

    “Ron did.” Gabriel answered.

    Mr. Taylor ate one of the pancakes and hummed, “Its good.”

    “Better be, because I spent two hours to bake for Mommy!” Ron said as he pushed the buttons of the TV to change the channel. They heard a voice from the hall and saw Mrs. Taylor.

    “Is that a pancake? Good morning, darling.” She greeted and kissed her husband on the cheek.

    “Ew—“Gabriel rolled his eyes.

    “—Gross.” And Ron gave a disgusted look at them.

    “Yep, Ron baked them.” Mr. Taylor grinned, ignoring the two at the living room.

     Mrs. Taylor simply chuckled, and they were relieved that she was now fine. Mr. Taylor was the one who repaired the sliding door and purchased new glass. Ron also asked him to purchase him a photo frame for his broken baby picture from yesterday’s incident.

    The owl gave a hoot when he passed the bird cage, “Hello, there.” He waved a hand before walking inside his room.

   Mr. Taylor, who ended up caring for the owl, let him fly outside, but it refused to leave the bird cage, so he simply left it open for the owl to stretch its arms. Unbeknownst to him, the owl was wary of going outside without the company of a wizard or witch; the owl was only at ease with Ron, giving him a hoot whenever Ron passed.

    “How was the owl?” Ron asked as he saw Mr. Taylor feeding something to the owl inside its cage. Ron had just returned home with Charlotte from school and he was very tired.

    “It doesn’t want to go outside,” Mr. Taylor replied.

    “What is this—“Ron looked around at the living room’s rug and saw his dirty clothes there.

     Mr. Taylor stood from his kneeling in front of the bird cage and looked down at the floor before going to the kitchen to grab some drinks. "Alex was quite angry with you earlier, she told me that she reminded you to put your dirty clothes in the basket last Saturday, so she threw your dirty clothes there—"

    “What! But I just did yesterday! “Ron grumbled as he folded his dirty clothes, before he put it on the basket.

     He huffed as he began separating his white and colored clothes; while he was folding one of his dirty jeans, he felt something in the pocket of his jean pants and took it out; it was the piece of newspaper from before. He groaned as he prepared to tear it apart when the owl flew outside the bird cage, startling Ron.

    “Wha—ow! Stop—Dad!“ Ron cried as the owl began pecking at his head, and Mr. Taylor dashed into the living room, "Owl! Get down! Down!“ He yelled.

    The owl whirled around and took the newspaper from the floor with its talons before returning to the bird cage. Mr. Taylor closed the bird cage and helped Ron to stand up, checking his head immediately.

     "I'm okay, daddy," there's a small scratch on it. "I've been hit three times in the face by a bully, this is okay," he snorted.

    "We'll get rid of the owl now," he remarked, taking the bird cage.

    “But where are you taking it?” Ron immediately asked as he followed his dad outside.

    Mr. Taylor opened the cage, but the owl refused to go. He told Ron that he'd just leave it in their front yard and let the owl chose whether or not to stay. "Okay, but— what if it catches cold—or eaten by a large snake?”

    "Then it's no longer our fault," Mr. Taylor said as he walks inside.

    Ron hesitated, looking back at the owl; he really doesn't wanted to leave an owl outside, but he decided to go back inside.

    Ron slumped on his brother’s bed who were writing something on a notebook, Gabriel noticed his presence behind him, “Did I let—“

     "Stop being such a jerk, look—I felt awful about leaving that owl outside," he said.

      "After pecking you on the head, dude. I overheard Dad on the telephone with Mom. If I were you, I'd leave that owl outside."

     “Jerk,” Ron sighed and grabbed a book from one of the shelves and he read the title The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis. He opened it and started reading the chapter one.

     “Start with the book one.” Gabriel told him.

     “How many books are there?”  

     “Seven.”

     “Nerd.” Ron said, “Anyways, just like what I am saying earlier—about the owl. What do you think?”

       Gabriel finally glance at him, his arms crossed. "I don't care about that owl, and he hurts you! Don’t you feel upset by that?"

      "I don't care if it hurts me," Ron said, "but the owl seemed like it knew what it was doing."

     "Then, what is your purpose of coming in my chamber, huh? You could've hidden that owl inside for your room," Gabriel rolled his eyes.

    Ron’s head lifted up, “I can do that?”

     "If only you sneak it inside, Dad won't mind—Mom is," Gabriel sighed deeply as he closed his notebook.

      "You got it, brother," Ron said as he went to open Gabriel's window. "Owl, I've decided, I'll keep you!" he said as he climbed up, rolling down to the ground as he went towards the front yard. “Please don't tell Daddy or else—"

     When Ron heard a loud crack, he froze and saw a black figure walked towards the owl at incredible speeds, and he saw the black figure pull out a stick and say something to the owl. When the bird cage flew in another direction, Ron was horrified.

    “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Ron cried as he realized what was going on, the black figure looked at him, pointed the stick to him, “Avada—“

   “Stupefy!” Someone shouted behind him. The man was knocked backwards, and someone grabbed his arms and dragged him to the man on the ground, who was puzzled and stunned. And Ron had no idea what happened next, when their house's door burst open, revealing his dad and siblings, eyes widened. Charlotte, on the other hand, was staring at the now-dead owl.

   “Ronald!” Mr. Taylor shouted.     

    “I—I—“Ron spluttered as he slowly stood up.

     Ron dashed towards the owl, gasping as he noticed the now-dead owl's eyes still open. Charlotte shut her eyes and ran inside. His trembling hands carefully pulled the piece of newspaper from its talons.

    "Do not touch that," Mr. Taylor said, grabbing his trembling arm. "But it was important to the owl," Ron remarked.

    "Then wash your hands, Alex, fetch the wheelbarrow, Gabriel, get the shovel, hurry!" He yelled to his children, who were gaping at the owl. Ron hurriedly went inside, still confused as to what was going on.