Padfoot's Puppies

05: Puppy Pensieve

Summary: A home for the puppies!

*~*~*

Padfoot II's mischievous head peeked out from a mass of suds and bubbles that now filled the enormous bathtub in the prefect's bathroom. He woofed in pure delight and suds flew ecstatically from his jaws.

The puppies had not had a decent bath since the days when they surprised Aunt Marge by jumping out of her evening bath from precisely nowhere and having her flee screaming from the bathroom. They would certainly have had plenty to tell Arthur Weasley about the exact function of a rubber duck - fighting against the buoyancy of the sudsy water to chew it to bits, you know.

There may be no rubber ducks here, but the puppies had never had such a bath in all their lives. They were positively rolling in the delights of the wonderful foamy water. At the rim Dumbledore was leaning on his elbows, chuckling humorously as a wad of suds billowed his way, or getting caught in the splash made by twelve ecstatic puppies. At the very edge Dobby was also enjoying the bath, though he was not nearly as carried away as the puppies. He gibbered nervously whenever an over-excited puppy splashed sudsy water all over his carefully hard-won clothes.

Dumbledore now got caught in the spray of twelve puppies reluctantly leaving the bath and shaking themselves dry. Dobby offered his services, but Dumbledore told him not to mind, and quickly dried himself with Aridos.

Easter may have been two months before but Dumbledore had kept a few Easter treats in store. Easter, like Christmas, only comes once a year, after all. So now Dumbledore was able to indulge the puppies in a treat they had never experienced before - Easter eggs!

After one cautious sniff from Midnight, the puppies tore into the eggs with all the gusto of Fred and George slipping dungbombs in Filch's office - and with just as much relish. It was with just as much relish that the puppies then proceeded to lick Dumbledore so vigorously that it was a wonder they didn't lick his beard right off.

Being an Animagus, Dumbledore had a far greater rapport with animals than even Dobby's magical telepathy. As he linked with his delightful new friends, the most humorous, surprising and startling images and memories swirled into his mind like the eddies of a Pensieve...

*~*~*

A monstrous Muggle woman who was going to drown them, burying their noses in her XXXL bras; emerging out from her drawers; looking like baby ghosts as they squirmed inside her XXXL underpants...

Fleeing in terror from those nasty MINISTRY goons who were going to spoil all their fun and freedom by taking them away to...they didn't know where, but it filled them with terror...

Rummaging into Muggle dustbins and finding such delightful scraps that Muggles keep hidden in their dustbins...

Having enormous fun scaring wizards and witches silly by being Grims...

Gorging themselves on the most mouth-watering steaks, chops, hamburgers and bangers to rival any Hogwarts feast...

Ducking down the dark alley to avoid the wrathful Dursleys, and meeting a ghost clad in Azkaban uniform and drenched in his own blood...

Then Dumbledore heard the echoes of the ghost as he told his own story to the puppies:

John Earnest had lain in the alley in a drunken daze when he had heard a voice exclaim: "You! You're supposed to be dead! Blown up in that street! So how come you're here, then? I think the Ministry will be wanting a word with you!"

The Auror slumped to the ground when a seedy rat-like man with a bleeding hand had managed to catch him off guard and seize the opportunity to take his life. The rat-man vanished and seconds later John Earnest was pounced upon by the Ministry...

John Earnest had then been bundled off to Azkaban without even a chance to speak, much less stand trial...

John Earnest had been instantly engulfed by the horrors of Azkaban. He had been driven to smash his life from his brains against the walls of his cell on the very day of his arrival. But instead of fleeing to the sanctuary of the beckoning Light, John Earnest had chosen to linger in that alley in the hopes of getting his revenge against that rat man...

Then John Earnest had heard the stories of Sirius Black's escape, and the wild fears that Sirius Black had blown up a street. Registering what that ill-fated Auror had said about the rat man supposed to have been blown up in a street, John Earnest now believed that Sirius Black had gone to Azkaban for something the rat man did, just like himself...

*~*~*

Dumbledore's recollection of John Earnest's trial (if you called it that) was most lucid. After all, it had only taken place barely an hour after he had watched Sirius Black being sentenced to life in Azkaban without a trial and Dumbledore had still been among the crowd of spectators. Somehow, Dumbledore had been more disturbed by the treatment given out to John Earnest than Sirius Black. Now Dumbledore not only had even more reason to feel disturbed - but to question what he had believed about Sirius Black for thirteen years...

Now Dumbledore was abruptly yanked out of his puppy Pensieve as he himself was being jolted to wonder. Not wondering over where they went wrong with Sirius Black as he had done for so many long years; or more recently, how Sirius Black had ever managed to escape from Azkaban - but whether Sirius Black really was the legendary mad murdering Deatheater that the wizard world held him to be. For so many years Dumbledore himself had sorrowfully, but unquestionably, held the view that Sirius Black had betrayed the Potters and had blown up the street, taking Peter Pettigrew and twelve hapless Muggles along with it... though he could never have understood how it could be possible of Sirius Black. Much to Dumbledore's surprise - and profound relief - he was actually feeling delighted at this new evidence that hinted that he had been wrong all this time.

*~*~*

Dumbledore brought himself back into the puppy Pensieve to see if he could learn more...

There was nothing more about the puppies knew about Sirius other than that he was their father and they were looking for him...

Sirius Black had fathered these puppies?!? But how could he breed with a dog...unless he was an Animagus!

Dumbledore knew there had been cases of Animagi cross-breeding with ordinary animals. But such a thing, of course, was dead against wizard law and severely punished - not to mention one of the most abominable forms of cross-breedings imaginable to the pureblood fanatics of the wizard world. Even without that, such mutant offspring had to be destroyed under wizard law...

Oh, dear...now Dumbledore's heart chilled even further for these poor puppies as he looked even further into their genial puppy eyes, their blends of bulldog, Animagus, wizard and animal...

There was, the most gleeful memory of Lucius howling in pain as Prongsy's jaws clamped on his leg...Dumbledore winced, but could not help a chuckle.

But there were also the most disturbing memories of a ghastly toad woman and Lucius Malfoy plotting how to use the werewolf professor to discredit Dumbledore...

That was no real surprise to Dumbledore, given what he suspected at the Ministry for all their vaunted respect and praise of him, and Lucius' coercion over the Governors to drive him from Hogwarts. What disturbed him far more was what could happen to Professor Lupin if Umbridge or Malfoy did indeed succeed in bringing some trumped-up charge against him. Dumbledore had no desire to see an innocent man being hauled into Azkaban - and if what these puppies had to tell him was true, two innocent men had already suffered this fate. Nor had Dumbledore any intention of letting these unfortunate puppies be exterminated simply for being Animagus mutants.

*~*~*

It was now that fateful 6 June 1993. Dumbledore's eyes were still twinkling as the puffing, blustering form of Cornelius Fudge accompanied him into his office. Only minutes before, it had seemed that the greatest embarrassment his Ministry had ever faced was finally over - only to have it snatched away when they opened Flitwick's office and all that was there to greet them was an empty room. Sirius Black had escaped - again. On top of that wretched hippogriff getting away as well. Lucius Malfoy was going to be so pleased.

Fudge was definitely not pleased to telling his Ministry that Black had slipped through their fingers and making them look utter fools yet again. And he was definitely not looking forward to being made a laughing stock once the papers got hold of the story. Not to mention being parodied yet again by cartoons that already satirised Fudge's great ineptitude in failing to catch this mad mass murderer.

Dumbledore diplomatically made no comment as he watched Fudge clap his trademark lime green bowler even more tightly over his blustering, fuming face. Fudge said nothing either. Now that he was about to return to the Ministry with his tail between his legs, the dread of impending embarrassment was overriding his utter fury and crushing disappointment. In fact, the only sound in the room was that of twelve budgies chattering from a cage the size of an aviary in one corner of the room. That fellow really is the limit, thought Fudge irritably. Now he's taken up having budgerigars in his office. In his withering opinion, such pets were for Muggles. Why couldn't Dumbledore settle for a nice Diricawl like any other wizard?

"Well, I'll be off then, Dumbledore," barked Fudge, by way of adieu. He threw a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace and snapped, "Ministry of Magic, Magical Law Enforcement Division!"

There was a burst of emerald flame and an echoing emptiness in the maw of the fireplace once the flames subsided. And then - an enormous burst of heavenly, blissful relief.as drowned out by a cackling, triumphant twittering from the aviary in the room. The budgies sang and hopped a crazy dance of joy on their perches.

From the wall the ghostly form of a blood-stained man appeared. It was the ghost of John Earnest, beaming radiantly. Now that he had found an ally in Dumbledore, he had been finding secret allies in the ghosts of Hogwarts. He had found a particular kindred spirit in the ragged man in chains. In fact, John Earnest was soon to become the latest member of the Chain Gang Society. The Chain Gang Society was a ghost society where its members consisted entirely of ghostly prisoners. But for all its ghostly prisoners, the Society had never had a prisoner from Azkaban. They were most honoured to receive one now, and his election to join had been unanimous.

John Earnest now joined the puppies' party. He was even more overjoyed to learn that Dumbledore was going to find a home for the puppies that would be far better than being stuck in a cage disguised as budgies. And he, John Earnest, was going to be the Secret-Keeper! Dumbledore was going to deploy the Fidelius Charm so nobody from the Ministry, or even Voldemort, could find the puppies...

*~*~*

It was now Hagrid's turn to be mobbed by the puppies and just about have his beard licked off as they lavished their affections over him. Hagrid wept great big tears that were a mix of sorrow intermingling with joy. His beloved Buckbeak had escaped, but now he was lost to Hagrid. But here were some rambunctious new pets that were just the right sort of friend for him - and Fang, of course. Fang hadn't greeted the puppies yet. He just looked on slobbily as they settled in with Hagrid. However, it is most delightful to report that they would all become firm friends as the puppies took care of lovable, cowardly old Fang.

"Oh, thank yeh so kindly, Headmaster," Hagrid mumbled, wiping tears from his face. "I'll take good care of 'em, I promise."

Dumbledore smiled even more deeply. The Fidelius Charm he had deployed would make certain of that. With John Earnest as the Secret-Keeper, no Ministry Official, Deatheater, Voldemort, or even Hogwarts students, would know that Sirius Black had puppy-dog offspring - or that they were now in the firm, affable care of Rubeus Hagrid.

The licking had subsided sufficiently to allow Hagrid to go into his cabin and find enormous hunks of meat as a welcoming meal for the puppies. Silence descended on the yapping puppies as they and Dumbledore looked towards the sky. Somewhere out there was their father - and Buckbeak, of course. They had helped to save their father's soul by convincing Dumbledore of the truth. They had also helped Dumbledore himself by warning him about Umbridge and Malfoy. In return, Dumbledore would keep Padfoot's puppies safe from the nasty Ministry until their father was free to claim them. Meantime, they would live on the edges of the Forbidden Forest since Hagrid's cabin was a little too small to make a decent kennel for them. Still, the Forbidden Forest would be the perfect place for the puppies to learn their final lessons in hunting, hiding, stalking, snatching - and mischief-making. They would need them all. Apart from the matter of helping their father, it was only a matter of time before Voldemort returned. Dumbledore needed all the allies he could get.

Now it was back to puppy-dog pampering as Hagrid walked out of his cabin, proudly bearing an enormous hide of meaty carcass in his giant arms. Hagrid started tearing pieces off and throwing them on the ground. And then Hagrid's feet disappeared in an eager puppy-scramble.