The Adventures of Neville and Nestor

Neville Longbottom sat at the breakfast table, dreading the day ahead of him. He had double Potions first thing in the morning, followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts, which he was horrible at (unless Harry was the teacher), and then Divination with Professor Trelawney, who hated Neville because he always fell asleep in class. That always resulted in detention, during which Neville would have to arrange tea leaves.

He had barely touched his waffles when the owls swooped into the Great Hall with the post. Seldom did Neville recieve letters, unless his grandmother had urgent news that had to be addressed right away.

Suddenly, Neville heard the doors of the Great Hall burst open, followed by an unceremonious SQUAWK!!! He turned around to see an ostrich standing in the doorway with a sign around it's neck. It read: "To Neville Longbottom. Love, Granny."

'Oh... my... God,' Neville thought to himself, utterly mortified.

The ostrich screeched impatiently, waiting for somebody to claim him. Everybody in the Great Hall was gawking at this odd bird, including Snape, who had a most disapproving look on his face.

"Neville," Hermione hissed, "go fetch your bird!"

The entire Great Hall was silent as Neville slowly got out of his seat and slowly approached the ostrich. He noticed that it was holing a piece of parchment in his mouth, and he promptly snatched it away from the bird. It read:

Dear Neville,

Here is a gift from me to you. It is a post-ostrich. His name is Nestor. Post-ostriches are the latest trend in New Jersey! Hope you enjoy him! I'm sure all of your fellow Hogwarts students will be most envious.

Love,

Granny

"Oh... my... God," Neville said out loud. First, he was the biggest geek in school, and now he was stuck with a bloody ostrich in the middle of Scotland.

The entire Great Hall was silently laughing at Neville.

"Shoo," he said. "Go back to Africa... Or wherever you birds come from!"

Nestor gurgled sadly with a hurt look in his eye. He tilted his head in a confused manner.

"You heard me!" Neville stammered, hoping this idiot bird would just leave him alone. "Shoo! Get out of here! Get lost!"

An angry Nestor assailed Neville by pecking him repeatedly on the top of the head. The Slytherin table burst into laughter.

"Okay, fine!" Neville pleaded just to make the pecking stop. "You can stay, just don't make any trouble."

Nestor celebrated by flapping his wings madly and running around the Great Hall in what appeared to be an uneven zig-zag.

"CURB YOUR OSTRICH, NEVILLE!" Professor Snape boomed, rising from his seat in a menacing manner. Neville gulped.

Nestor promptly returned to Neville, who was still petrified near the entrance to the Great Hall.

"I am getting you a leash, and I will never, under any circumstances, let go of it," Neville whispered to Nestor, who screeched in dismay.

This was going to be difficult, especially with the rule that stated that nothing besides owls could dwell in the owlery.