Owlery gets a refurbish

The Owlery hadn't made changes in a while. The students had gotten used to the standard affair of the owls arriving during breakfast, unless it was urgent in which case they'd fly directly to the recipient of the message with no regards to the actual situation of the target. Mails were sent out in the evenings, generally, unless there was some sort of urgency, or the student wanted to convince their personal pet to make an emergency delivery. A constant supply of dead rats, minor rodents, insects, and vegetables was made available to all the owls, those of the students as well as guest arrivals.

The floors weren't regularly cleaned, though the students had tried to convince the administration to clear the trash at more regular intervals. Certain individuals with more advanced knowledge of magic had suggested creating some sort of automated entity to periodically move over the smelly dung and hay to the forbidden forest, and replace them with fresh bedding from the supplies. Such requests had been summarily ignored much to the dismay of the proposers. There wasn't any real problem with the existing situation, the administration argued, so there was no need to make improvements. Come to us with a real reason to make changes, and we'll think about it.

It was only after the elf liberation situation passed by -- when they began paying the elves working for the kitchen a decent wage -- that somebody decided that the delivery birds and animals in the Owlery deserved good living conditions besides food and sleep as well, and it was a matter of their right to be provided clean, warm lodgings. Also, somebody said, if the Flu network is open to the outside world, and there were apparition-like devices that could connect to the outside of the castle, why could the Owlery not be on the outside, closer to the real world where most students' families lived? The letters could be delivered to the 'outpost', and manually handled and brought in through the magical portal. Fifth-year arithmancy experts calculated that it would save at least four hour of Owl-time per week, which added to many many saved dead snakes and lizards, cost savings the School could use towards improving the campus in other ways.