The Eagle Owl/Re: Harry's dreams in GoF

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165659

Carol, who thinks that the eagle owl is Draco Malfoy's, FWIW
> > 
> > Magpie:
> > <snip>
> > The main reason I felt guilty about snipping, btw, is that I was 
completely distracted by your sig. I had made that connection too, I
think, perhaps only because we hear about Malfoy's eagle owl, and then
this is the only other eagle owl I remember hearing about. It could be
just the same breed, of course, but it sort of seems to stand out as
meaning something since usually owls aren't identified by
breed.(Hedwig, of course, is special.)
> > 
> > It mostly interests me because, of course, I wonder about the 
significance of it. Is Barty knowingly using the Malfoy's owl as the
sign of some private obsession?  <snip>
> 
> Mike:
> I made that same connection, Magpie and Carol. But then I got to 
thinking. Didn't we first see the owl making the delivery *from* 
Voldemort *to* Crouch Jr? And if that's the case, how did Voldemort 
or Wormtail get the Malfoy owl? They are still in hiding, at the
Riddle mansion, I had assumed. They supposedly hadn't made contact
with any other DEs besides Barty Jr. And Lucius certainly didn't show
any sign, in the Graveyard scene, that he already knew LV was on his
way back.
> 
> I'm guessing that this could only be the symbology thing that Magpie 
> spoke of. I don't see how it could've been the Malfoy's owl, FWIW.


Carol responds:
We have, IIRC, three references to an eagle owl in GoF. The first time
is when an eagle owl delivers sweets to Draco and Harry (or the
narrator, seeing from his pov) assumes that it's Draco's own owl. It
could, however, be the Malfoy family owl. At any rate, it would almost
certainly remain at Hogwarts until Draco decided to send a letter
home, and I doubt that he's the letter-writing type. Even if it
belonged to the Malfoy family, it wouldn't return home like a homing
pigeon unless it had a message to deliver. (We don't see him receiving
sweets again in GoF or any other book that I recall. Please correct me
if I'm wrong.) And if it's Draco's, it would naturally stay at
Hogwarts as Hedwig does unless it had a delivery to make.

Fake!Moody would have seen that owl, the only eagle owl we know of at
Hogwarts, delivering sweets to Draco, and I can see him deliberately
choosing that owl because it's distinctive and Voldemort would
recognize it instantly, at least after the first use. (If the owl is
old enough, Voldie might even recognize it as the Malfoy's owl. Could
Voldie have told him to use that particular owl? Would an ordinary owl
have been afraid to deliver a message to the Dark Lord?) 

I'm pretty sure that Voldie and his loyal Death Eater corresponded
back and forth, so when Harry sees the owl arrive, it would be
returning to Hogwarts with one of many messages. (How else would
Voldemort have obtained an owl unless it was the one Moody was using?
He couldn't send Wormtail to Eeylops Owl Emporium to buy one.)) Moody
was probably sending progress reports and may even have mentioned
Snape, suspecting him of loyalty to Dumbledore--which would help to
explain LV's belief that Snape had left him forever in the graveyard
scene. (And, yes, that line does refer to Snape and not the cowardly
Karkaroff, as Snape himself makes clear in "Spinner's End." The only
reason that Snape wasn't killed is that he persuaded Voldemort of his
loyalties--or, more likely, his usefulness.)

At any rate, it's clear that the owl Harry sees has been sent from
Voldemort to Barty Jr. (using Moody's name as an alias? would the owl
know that "Moody" is Crouch as Hedwig understands that Padfoot is
Sirius Black?) to inform him that Wormtail has allowed Barty Sr. to
escape and that Crouch is probably heading for Hogwarts and must be
prevented from reaching Dumbledore. The owl in Harry's dream has to be
the same owl returning to Voldemort, reporting that Barty Sr. is dead
and the problem is solved. (Someone is dead and Wormtail's blunder
won't cause him to be fed to Nagini after all.)

I'm assuming that Barty Jr. also reported that he'd turned the cup
into a portkey and the trap was sprung. Otherwise, Voldemort couldn't
be certain that the time had come for Wormtail to make the potion.
Suppose that Harry hadn't arrived to provide the blood?

Carol, not certain that the owl is Draco's/the Malfoys' but seeing no
other reason why the narrator would identify Draco's owl as the same
species that Fake!Moody was using