Hunting the Rooster

I started my search by quickly going up the stairs to the first floor. I heard the shifting of stone and looked back to see Grant, Tim and that brown-haired first-year following me.

"How did he get out?" Grant asked as he caught up.

"Maybe one of the elves", I said, shrugging.

"so it was you who had the rooster?" the girl asked with a knowing smile.

"yes, and we have to find him", I said with genuine concern.

"Why?" asked Tim. "You still need him for research?" 

I looked at Tim in alarm. "you make it sound like I'm doing experiments on Rodney."

"Sorry, you're studying him," Tim said, rolling his eyes.

"yes, but more importantly, there is a rooster killer on the loose. We have to find him before whatever killed the others gets him!" I said again with concern. 

"Wait! What!" Tim shouted, "Oh no," he was starting to panic. "Here, Rodney! Come to Uncle Tim." 

"he's not a dog," I said to him with disbelief. The brown-haired girl giggled.

"you guys are funny," she said with a smile. "I didn't know there were funny Slytherins." 

"over here!" Grant was knelt down, holding up a feather down the hall from us.

"That's Rodneys", Tim shouted as he saw it. 

"he must have lost it here", I said. "There are a few more. It looks like he got in a fight or something. Look, cat hair." picking up a few strands. 

"Mrs. Norris?" the girl suggested. I nodded at that.

"There's more over there", Tim pointed out. We charged after the feathers. 

--Pov Rodney--

'This blasted creature will not give up', I thought as I ran away from it. 'ah, a window, excellent.' I spotted an open window and launched myself out of it. Fluttering my wings, I flew through the air like a majestic bird. I landed on the shoulder of a silver-haired girl. She seemed surprised at my appearance, and then she made soft, beautiful noises at me. I felt warmth and happiness come from the girl, so I stayed on her shoulder.

The creature jumped onto the window still and hissed at the girl. "How dare you!" I clucked at the creature. The girl made soft noises at the creature. The creature looked at the girl and then jumped back down out of sight. "you better run!" I clucked at it. The girl shrugged and started to skip off with me on her shoulder. 

We travelled deeper into the castle, as it was called by the creature. The girl seemed to be exploring or looking for something. I wasn't sure, but we came across many rooms and hidden alcoves. Eventually, however, we came across two boys who were larger with hair as red as my feathers. The boys and girl made noises at each other for a while before parting ways, and my steed and I continued to look for whatever we were looking for.

--Pov Eddie--

we followed the feathers to a window opening onto the entrance courtyard. Nobody was there. It was close to curfew so that people would be already in their dorms.

"trail goes cold here," said Grant with a sigh.

"Maybe he's still around here," said Tim; while the courtyard was quite large, it didn't have many hiding spots, so we split up to look around. We reconvened after searching. 

"anything?" I asked, hoping for a sign.

"nope, nothing," said Tim. 

"Same," said the brown-haired girl. I still didn't know her name or why she was helping. 

I was about to say something when Mister Filch came huffing to the window. "What are you all doing here?" I grouched as Mrs. Norris jumped up to the window and looked at us. The cat looked disappointed.

"A rooster is loose in the castle," said the brown-haired girl. 

"and what business is that of yours?" asked Filch

"Because he's mine, the headmaster gave it to me to look after someone. Let him out of my dorm," I told Filch. Grant, Tim and the girl looked at me for a brief second before looking back at Filch.

"Why would the headmaster do something like that?" Questioned Filch, looking like he had just heard a ridiculous lie.

"That's business between me and the headmaster; now, if your cat could tell me what happened to him after she chased him, I would be grateful," I said, holding up Mrs Norris's hair so filch could see.

Filch looked at Mrs Norris for a bit, then said, "She came and found me brought me here, I assumed, because a student was up to no good." Filch said. I really didn't understand how the two worked. Could his limited magic allow him to talk to Mrs Norris, or did Mrs Norris have magic because the red eyes were unnatural? 

"Thanks." I nodded to Mister Filch.

"Better hurry, curfew is only in 20 minutes. And I would love to have you all in detention." he chuckled and walked off. 

"he gives me the creeps," said the brown-haired girl, and Tim nodded in agreement.

"what's the plan?" Grant asked, looking at me.

"They are probably going towards their Common rooms," I said, "We split up; Tim headed for the Hufflepuffs. Ask anyone you see about Rodney and ask a Hufflepuff if they can check their Common Room. Grant you. Do the same for Gryffindor, and I'll take Ravenclaw." I came up with a plan.

"what about me?" the brown-haired girl said.

"um, sorry, who are you, by the way?" I said to the girl.

"oh' Cynthia Twigg", Cynthia introduced herself.

"Eddie, Grant, Tim," I introduce my friends and myself. "um, you could check Slytherin Common Room again, but I doubt it was a Slytherin." 

"I'll come with you then." She nodded; I shrugged and took off in the direction of the Ravenclaw tower.

I was jogging, and Cynthia was struggling to keep up; I slid around a corner and saw Fred and George coming out of a secret passage. "oi! you two!" I yelled, startling the pair.

"oh, it's Eddie", one of them said; the other clutched his chest. "give us a heart attack, why don't ya?" 

"you guys seen a Rooster?" I asked. They looked at each other in surprise.

"Yes we have- on the shoulder of - Luna Lovegood" they said in their twin way. 

"care to use your map to point me in the right direction," I asked. They nodded. They were pulling out as they saw Cynthia catch up to me. 

"who that?" asked a twin

"Cynthia Twigg", I said, making a gesture to hurry up.

They turned around and muttered for a bit and turned back, "Floor above us, heading towards Ravenclaw tower." 

"Thanks, I owe you." I took off again.

"wait up, why are you so fast!" I heard Cynthia yell.

I got to the end of the hall, took a flight of stairs, and looked towards the Ravenclaw tower. I didn't see her.

"Hello, Eddie," Luna said from behind me. I jumped four feet into the air and turned around. There in all her calm weirdness was Luna, and Perch on her shoulder looking regal was my rooster. 

"oh, thank god I found you," I said, "thank you for taking care of Rodney." I reached out and grabbed the rooster.

"Oh, I completely forgot he was there," Luna said as I took Rodney from her shoulder. "but you're welcome", she said, then bowed to the rooster. "Thank you for accompanying me, Rodney". Rodney clucked under my arm, shuffled close, and started to fall asleep.

I promised Luna I would explain but had to get back to the common room. Cynthia came huffing and puffing behind me. "Why are you so fast?" she wheezed, "Oh look, you found him", she leant up against the wall.

"Luna, this is Cynthia, Cynthia, this is Luna", I introduced them. "Luna found Rodney for us." 

"Thanks, Luna," said Cynthia.

"All alright, come on; we need to get back", I said. 'who the hell let Rodney out?' I thought on the way back, 'It couldn't be Tom because how would he know I have a rooster and how to get into the Slytherin Common Room, so who?'