It was warm, and dark. I had been living in the small, warm space for a while. Over that time I didn’t even realize that I was alive. But right now I was very awake, and I realized that this space was too small now. 
	
             My only instinct now, was to get out. 
I pecked at the barrier that was keeping me. This was the first time that I realized that I had some sort of weapon on my face. 
	
             I jabbed my beak at the barrier again, I heard a small crack. Then outside I heard someone say, “Oy! Mr. Eeylop! There’s another owlet comin’ from Miracle’s nest!” 
	
             I jabbed at the barrier until my beak broke right through. I heard someone exclaim, “Heavens! Another one already, Humphrey?” “Yes, sir.” 
	
             I felt the opening to my enclosure become peeled away a bit more, “Come on, young one. Come on out.” I slipped right out of the space. I flopped around a little bit. It was still dark. I gave a high-pitched twitter. 
	
             “Ah, she’s a lass. There, there darling. Miracle you silly thing, let her know that you’re here.” I felt something against my side. A “shree.” sounded beside my head. I realized that I had just met my Mum. 
	
              After a little while, I was dry and my eyes were open. Two men were smiling down at me. And my Mum was big, and white with flecks of black, and yellow eyes. The room was filled with different nests, filled with different owls. Some were humungous and gray with fierce orange-yellow eyes. Some were tall with great feathery horns atop their heads. I even saw some owls that couldn’t be much bigger than me, yet they were fully grown. It sure was an amazing place. 
	
               I wasn’t the only owlet in the nest. I had two older brothers. They had more down feathers and were a little bigger than me. 
	 
              I cried out my hunger with high-pitched shrieks. The man called Mr. Eeylop held out his hand to Mum. “Crickets for her, Miracle?” Mum picked something from his palm and held her beak down close to me. It was a dead insect. I swallowed it head first. 
	
               For the next few days I fed on bugs. Crickets, beetles and my favorite lacewing flies. I often heard the men speaking of all of the new owlets and I learned that the room was called the ‘Hatchery’. 
	
               Mum would often leave the nest. I would watch Humphrey open one of the large windows. Most of the adult owls would fly out. Mum often came back with something for me and my brothers to eat. We loved the food Humphrey gave us but it was more exciting when Mum would swoop in and feed us whatever she brought.
	
              By the time I was eating meat with fur, my brothers were already leaving the nest and hopping around the large room like many other owlets. I wanted to try but I had not yet developed my flight feathers yet. 
	
              I even got to watch an owlet being hatched. Except I was watching not trying to escape the inside of a crammed egg. I watched my younger brother hatching. 
I was surprised when I saw my little brothers beak come through the eggshell. On the end of his beak was an egg tooth. Mum gave a hoot and Humphrey came and watched my little brother force his way from the shell. “Come on, young’un. Come on. Bloody hell! You’re a big one aren’t you!”
	
             My little brother flopped out of the egg. He looked like a blob of slime. It made me give a twitter of delight.
	
             Humphrey smiled, and stroked Mum’s back. “That makes four broods. You got one egg left, Miracle.” Mum gave a loving hoot. Humphrey chuckled, “I remember when you hatched. You were the last. And after a while I was afraid that you weren’t going to hatch. But then, you hatched right when Mr. Eeylop told me that you were dead.” 
	
              Mum gave another hoot. 
I looked at the last egg in our nest. It was silent, and still. I wondered if this one might not hatch. Or would there be a miracle right when Humphrey was about to dispose of it. 
	
              I was wrong both ways. I had a little sister right when I started leaving the nest. I loved to hop around, flapping my little wings pathetically. Mum would always show me how to do it better. I knew I’d always be able to trust her. And my sister, well…I was happy not to be the only girl in the bunch. My brothers had gotten a little bigger and they were now flying all around the Hatchery. They had even ventured outside.
	
              I wondered what it was like to fly outside. I could see outside through the windows. It was a lovely place. From the window I saw witches and wizards walking past the windows. I learned that this lively place was called Diagon Alley. 
	
              And Humphrey promised me, that he’d open the window for me once I could fly, as long as I promised to come back. It was in the morning when I figured out why he would always say, “You remember to come back here. Got it, mate?” 
	
              My Mum was perched on a shelf beside a great gray’s nest. Humphrey took out two large, empty cages. He beckoned my brothers from the nest. “Here, lads. You are great flyers, just like your Mum. You’ll make a perfect mail carriers.” My brothers flew from the nest and onto Humphrey’s outstretched arm and shoulder.
	
               Humphrey held them beside the open cages and they both slipped inside. Humphrey closed the cage doors and said, “You both are such beautiful owls.” Mum gave a ‘shree!’ and Humphrey looked up at her, “I know, Miracle. No parent likes to see their kids go. I’ll make sure that they’re sold to good people. Alright?” Mum gave another hoot. 
	  
              Humphrey took my brothers out of the Hatchery and came back to the nest. He stroked me. “You’re a few days away from flying lassie. You’ll learn how to hunt and then it’ll be your time.” 
	
              My time was getting closer. I got bigger, I started to fly. And Humphrey let me outside during the night to hunt as he did with my brothers. He would always say, “Remember to come back here, girl. Got it?”
	
             It was so amazing outside. I flew over a gigantic white building with the word ‘Gringotts’ on it. I flew over the heads of walking wizards and witches. I flew over a nearby forest and swooped down and snatched my pray in my talons. And with my catch I flew back to the Hatchery window. 
	
               It was closed this time. I could see Humphrey putting a pygmy owl in a cage inside. Other people were in the Hatchery too, putting owls in cages. That was when I learned that the time of what was called ‘Hogwarts’ was here. I tapped on the window. Nobody paid me any attention. I gave an angry screech. Still nobody noticed me. I puffed my feathers up with a loud screech and tapped on the window madly with my beak. 
	
             I loved being outside, but after a long night of flying and hunting, I wanted to be able to fly back to our nest and sleep for the day.
	
             Finally someone looked up and hurried toward the window and slid it open. I flew inside quickly and into our nest. It was a little crowded but comfy. My sister nudged me, hooting for a piece of my vole. I finally took pity on her and ripped a strip of flesh from the fat vole. She slowly took it in, I could tell that she was loving the taste. People must have been too busy not to give her something to eat. And Mum was sleeping on a shelf with her head tucked beneath her wing. I swallowed the rest of the vole whole, knowing full well that I’d be yarping up a pellet after I wake. 
	
              As soon as I fluffed my feathers and prepared to sleep, Humphrey came toward me. He said, “Don’t go to sleep now, girl. It’s time to go.” I twisted my head around to look at my sister her blinked sleepily. 
	
              I looked up at my Mum and hooted. Humphrey looked up at her. “You’re right. I don’t need Miracle pecking at my head, asking where you are.” He called, “Miracle! Sweetheart! Come on!” 
	
              My Mum gave an irritated stir and lifted her head. She flew from the shelf and down onto Humphrey’s shoulder. She gave a questioning ‘shree!’. 
	
              Humphrey held his arm out to me and carried me toward a cage. Mum fluffed her feathers, and gave another ‘shree!’. Humphrey slid me into the cage and I found myself looking through the thin bars up at my Mum. Humphrey said, “Don’t worry Miracle. I’ll make sure she’s sold to good people. Just like your sons.” 
	
                That was the last time I saw my Mum or the Hatchery. I twittered my goodbye to Mum and Humphrey carried me out into the shop. It was a little darker in the shop. There were cages with owls set all over walls. Humphrey placed me on the store counter and said, “Welcome to the shop of Eeylops Owl Emporium.”
	 
               I had a clear view of the shop’s front windows. I happily watched the people walk by. The hustling and bustling lifted my spirits away from my Mum’s goodbye. I saw children now. Most of them were carrying newly bought books. Some of the kids came into the shop, buying owls. I watched them until I felt the night’s flight taking its toll on me. So I fluttered my feathers and tucked my head beneath my wing, drifting off to sleep.