Penelope and Pigwidgeon

As I mentioned before (in a comment), Penelope is a type of duck. It also apparently means "needle and thread" or "needle and spool (of thread)".

According to http://dict.die.net/anas%20penelope/, "Anas penelope n : freshwater duck of Eurasia and North Africa related to mallards and teals [syn: widgeon, wigeon, Anas penelope]" It's also sometimes called Mareca penelope.

Anyways... Widgeon? Pigwidgeon? Now, says http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pigwidgeon, "Pig´wid`geonn. 1. A cant word for anything petty or small. It is used by Drayton as the name of a fairy."

However, we don't simply have a small (Scops) owl here, do we? Are we really to assume it's a coincidence that Percy had a pet rat (who turned out to be a wizard) and gave it to Ron... then for Percy to get an owl he names Hermes... and then for Percy to meet (and date) a girl named Penelope and for Ron to later receive an owl that Ginny names Pigwidgeon? Notice that Crookshanks pays attention to "Pig", but that the half-kneazle simply seems hungry, not distrustful... what does Crookshanks think about Pigwidgeon? For that matter, what does he think of Hermes?

Back to the myths discussed in the comments to the blocked passageway post: Odysseus's wife, Penelope, was the daughter of Icarius and the first cousin of Helen of Troy. (Icarius is also a star in the constellation Boötes.) Penelope was the loyal wife who thought up clever ways to ward off her suitors. She would work on a tapestry by day but then unravel it by night, so that it would never be completed. As long as the tapestry was incomplete she would not have to choose a husband. A suitor caught on to her deceipt, and she was forced to find another way to keep the suitors at bay. She had them try to string one of Odysseus's bows and shoot a single arrow through 12 axe handles. Odysseus came back (in disguise) and, after stringing the bow and shooting an arrow through all 12 axe handles) chased off or killed the suitors. Penelope was helped by Athena (Minerva) and Hermes. Odysseus, in his attempts to return home, was helped by Zeus and Hermes.