Title: Letters From The Inside

Writer: Teh Opheliac (A.K.A. Lillith Maxwell)

Warnings: Slash / Yaoi, Snarry (Snape x Harry)

Summary: One day, Harry is greeted by a strange owl that seems oddly familiar. With a bit of coaxing, it introduces Harry to something weird, something amazing, something that allows him to interact with an anonymous person whom he fall head over heels for. Harry's life will never be the same again.

Letters From The Inside

Chapter One

Harry sighed in satisfaction as he watched Hedwig fly off with his letter to Sirius. He hadn't heard from his Godfather in some time now and he was beginning to get worried. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the fresh air- before he realized that he was still in the Owlery and the air was anything but fresh. He took a step forward in the direction of the exit and winced when he heard the sound of a tiny skeleton crunching underneath his shoe.

He was abruptly startled out of his thoughts when a black and white Strix Nigrolineata owl let out a loud screech from his right. He turned in its direction and cocked his head to the side with a confused expression as he gazed at it, wondering why it had called out to him. To him? What was he thinking?! Of course it wasn't calling out to him! After all, it was just an owl- perhaps more intelligent than most, but still an owl.

Despite all of this, he took a few steps in its direction and slowly reached out to it, hoping it wouldn't bite him. It didn't. He smiled at it and gave it a few firm strokes, remembering the first time he had met Hedwig. Almost as though it were sensing that he was drifting off again, it leaned forward and nipped at his pointer finger. "Ouch!" Harry groaned, pulling his hand away from the owl with a small glare. "What did you do that for?!"

It ignored him and swooped down and settled down beside his feet before walking forward in the direction of the far side of the Owlery. It was halfway across the room before it seemed to realize that Harry wasn't following. Its body drooped forward with what looked like a sigh before it turned its head in his direction with a single haughty glance that almost seemed to say, 'Well? What are you just standing there for?! Follow me!'

Harry sighed deeply, wondering just when he had fallen asleep or gone insane. Normal people couldn't understand what an owl was trying to say to you with a single expression- if they even had one. He shook his head a bit and decided to follow the owl, having nothing to do anyway.

When the owl was certain he was going to follow it again, it continued into the far corner of the room and paused, waiting for Harry to catch up. As he did so, the owl seemed to straighten itself in an almost elegant pose and step forward- through the wall.

Harry froze, his eyes wide. The owl had just walked through the wall!! What the hell?! He swallowed thickly and glanced around the Owlery. Everything looked normal. Hell, everything smelled normal. So how could an owl have simply walked right through a solid stone wall?!

…unless it wasn't as solid as it seemed to be. There was only one way to find out. Certain he was dreaming now, he reached out to touch the stone wall. Nothing. His fingers went right through it, just as the owl had.

Startled, Harry whipped his hand backwards and studied it. All of his fingers were intact and they worked the same as they always had, he observed as he wiggled them. Sighing in relief that he hadn't lost any pieces of his fingers he returned his gaze to the 'wall.'

It was at that moment that a familiar annoyed screech sounded from behind the wall. Harry's eyes widened. Obviously, the owl from earlier was still there-wherever there was- in one piece and alive.

Curiosity gnawed at Harry. He took a deep breath as a shiver swept down his back. Then he closed his eyes and walked through the wall.

To be continued…

Writers Note: I apologize for this chapter being so tiny! I don't think I've EVER written a chapter this small before- but it was necessary. I wanted to introduce a bit of the plot- but if I hadn't stopped it when I did, it would have gone on for far too long! Expect the next chapter to have at least 2,000 words instead of the pathetic amount it has in this chapter!!