Padfoot's Puppies

Chapter 8: Through the Veil

"This is Celeste Warbeck reporting for WWN. We are bringing you the latest developments on the trial that everyone has been watching so anxiously. We are now delighted to report that Madam Amelia Bones has made her ruling on whether or not the Defence may use the Rite of Safe Passage to summon the soul of Sirius Black. Well, we don't know if it was the expert pleas of Defence Council Reginald Gold that did it. Or whether it was the tactics of Angus Scrimgeour, which seem to have had the effect of alienating the Court. Or whether it was simply the appeal of twelve rather adorable puppies which just seems to melt your heart. But Madam Bones has ruled in favour of the Defence! Yes, ladies and gentlemen! Madam Bones has granted permission for the Defence to perform the Rite of Safe Passage! In one hour the Rite will be performed and the question everyone has been asking will be answered: If the soul of Sirus Black is summoned, will he come back as perhaps the King of Dementors - or something else entirely?"

*~*~*

The Death Chamber had been dimmed into pitch darkness, just like those jet-black corridors and rooms that Harry saw when he first entered the Department of Mysteries. The only light came from the sacred Pentagram which had been drawn up in front of the Veil in neon-blue flame. Its azure glow reflected eerily on the walls, making the silhouettes of the watching panel look like shadow puppets. In the centre of the Pentagram crouched twelve very nervous, but resolute and impatient puppies. At four points of the Pentagram stood Harry, Dumbledore, John Earnest and Remus Lupin. At the top point of the Pentagram, at the very foot of the steps of the dais, presided one Susan Whyte, the Initiator of the Ceremony.

In strong Latin tones, Susan was calling out for the soul of Sirius Black to heed their call. This did not mean, however, that Sirius Black could just come walking out of that Veil. Someone from this side needed to go through and bring him out, just as Chernabor the Terrible had to enter the Veil to bring forth the first of Dementors.

The puppies, being the blood relatives of the soul who needed to be summoned, had to take the centre of the Pentagram. But the puppies could not go in by themselves. For one thing, they were only puppies. For another, no blood relative could go in alone. They needed a chaperone, a person who would be chosen to lead them into the Veil. The chaperone would be chosen from any of the four people who stood at the four points of the Pentagram.

However, the chaperone could not simply be anyone. First: the chaperone needed to be connected with either the blood relative or the soul being summoned. And the four people standing at these points were both. Second: the chaperone needed to have a first-hand connection with death, even if it was something as simple as being able to see a Thestral. Thirdly, the chaperone would be willing to risk himself or herself, for getting through the Veil was not a guarantee of coming back should something go wrong. Not every single chaperone who had stepped beyond the Veil had come back.

These were but several of the reasons why the Rite of Safe Passage was seldom performed.

Each of the four candidates was holding an unlit torch. t would be known who would be chosen as the chaperone when their torch lit up in a blue flame. The chaperone would then ascend the steps of the dais, and the blood relative would follow...through those fluttering curtains that covered the Archway.

On stand-by stood a squad of Aurors and some Azkaban guards, each capable of performing the Patronus Charm and having long experience with handling Dementors. The Ministry was not taking any chances should Sirius Black return to the living world as the King of Dementors, or something such. Besides, those Azkaban guards and their watching Warden wanted a chance to settle a very old score with the infamous Black.

Harry's hands felt so clammy and numb within his grasp on the torch. He could barely hear Susan's intonation in front of him, though they seemed to drum his ears. He had never felt so queasy in his life. His stomach felt like it had taken a triple overdose of Polyjuice Potion.

The Archway was bearing down on him once more. So was its beguiling mystique, which seemed so mesmerising the first time he ever saw it.

"Who's there?" He had called out automatically when he had first entered this Death Chamber. Why had he asked that question? Looking back on it, it seemed most weird thing to say. Yet he did find that he could not shake an intense feeling that there was somebody on the other side of the Veil. Indeed, that Veil kept fluttering as if somebody had indeed walked right through it. Well, Harry knew that at least one person was on the other side. Perhaps, any minute now, he might be with him once more.

Harry remembered all too well his crazy, almost irresistible urge to just walk right through that Veil. But if Harry thought that was irresistible, that was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. His feet were burning hot, just itching to go into that Veil, and almost dying of frustration that they had to stay rooted to Harry's spot in the Pentagram.

And seeing his godfather again...be with his godfather again...perhaps forever...oh, it was so unbearable, having to stand here...

Harry could only keep staring at his unlit torch. He kept inwardly begging and badgering it to burst into flame, so he could be the chaperone who would be going into that Veil.

"WAHAAYY!"

His prayers had been answered! Harry squealed with delight as his torch burst into a blaze of brilliant blue flame that almost blinded him. Brilliant!

Instantly his feet began to march all by themselves up the steps. The dazzling flame illuminated Harry's face and everything around him, except for the Veil which remained pitch black as if no light could move it. The puppies had no hesitation in following him. Even the rather high-strung Luna showed no flicker of fear.

None of the puppies seemed to hear a sudden hiss from Crookshanks, who seemed to be uttering a warning. Nor could Harry see a strange shadow of alarm suddenly creasing Dumbledore's face...

The puppies all clustered around Harry at the foot of the steps.

All as one, like some giant great clump, they all stepped through the fluttering Veil.

Harry turned his focus to his feet, to see what they would feel underneath. But if there was anything, Harry never got the chance to feel it.

Instead, his scar burst into an all-too-familiar rend of pain that seemed to tear his very skull apart. A tremendous surge of triumphant delight that had no connection with his own, swelled through his being. An all-too-familiar laughter now cackled in his ears, and brought the puppies up short.

Now, the surge of triumph, both his own and another's, now evaporated from Harry's body in the all-too-familiar quench which snuffed all sense of happiness; and left only despair and the darkest of memories...

For Voldemort and his "natural allies" had been lying in wait for Harry on the other side of the Veil.

*~*~*

Instantly Voldemort ripped Harry's wand from his grasp so Harry could not summon his Patronus to fend off the enclosing Dementors. The puppies clustered around Harry, bravely bracing their Harry against this sneering snake human and these funny black things. The Dementors could not affect animals as much as they would a human, but they could still make the puppies feel whimpering and frightened. The puppies had never seen this snake-human before, but they knew who he must be. He could only be "Voldemort You-Know-Who."

Well, you must appreciate that the puppies had found it very confusing that most wizards called him "You-Know-Who" while others called him "Voldemort." In the end they had come to the conclusion that his name must be Voldemort You-Know-Who. And Voldemort You-Know-Who was not going to get their Harry.

They snarled even more loudly when Voldemort You-Know-Who seemed to shrug off what was to his mind such a pathetic shield. Indeed, such pesky little mutts did not pose any threat to him.

"So, you're going to kill me, then?" Harry demanded, fighting his way through the pain that still tore through his skull to get to his feet.

Voldemort merely chuckled. "No, Potter, I cannot kill you here, for we stand on the Threshold of the Veil."

"Threshold? What's that?"

"The Threshold of the Veil, Potter, is the place just inside the Veil where the living and dead can interact. It is only while the living stand on this Threshold that they can meet the souls they have summoned, and have any hope of returning to the world of the living. Should the living step beyond the Threshold, they can never return. Several chaperones failed to return because they stepped beyond the Threshold."

Voldemort paused a moment, then added most thickly. "But this does not pose a threat to me. I have learned how to make extensive use of the Threshold in my many precautions against mortal death. I Potter, can step on and off the Veil as casually as you would mount your broomstick."

Harry stared around. There were no words to describe this Threshold, for it didn't seem like a place. It was more like a nowhere...a nothingness...a...limbo. Yes, that was the best way to describe it...a limbo. There was no adjective to fit this limbo, for it didn't seem to fit any description at all. Not words that were synonymous with "nothingness."

Voldemort had more to say. "While we stand on the Threshold, we exist in a State of Grace. Here, nobody can die, so neither of us can kill the other. Whatever power you possess to destroy me is useless here, so the Prophecy is nullified while we stand on the Threshold."

"So you're going to push me beyond the Threshold, then?" Harry was now standing, and most defiantly, on his feet. The puppies now hugged even more protectively around him, growling at Voldemort You-Know-Who.

Voldemort made a kind of reproving chuckle. "No, Potter. I cannot take any chance for you to return, whether dead or alive. This time, I shall make certain that you can never annoy me!"

Voldemort took a pause of triumphant anticipation before he unveiled what he had in mind for Harry. "My Dementors will give you the Kiss and destroy your soul forever! And I have your wand" - he waggled Harry's wand triumphantly, sending sparks flickering - "so you cannot summon your Patronus. Now take him, my Dementors."

Voldemort stepped back to watch as his minions glided forward. The drowning engulfed Harry and brought him to his knees...his mind drenched in the ghastliest memories of his life, and it foundered helplessly, clutching in vain to find a thought that the Dementors could not take away.

The Dementors lowered their hoods to reveal the ghastly, scabby, eyeless masks with only death-rattling holes for mouths. The mouths rattled most impatiently now, eager to devour this most delicious soul for all Dementors to taste...

All of a sudden, they stopped, as something brought their attention to the ground. It was the puppies, snapping most desperately at their robes. This should have been a minor thing for Dementors, except that the puppies kept darting from place to place in front of the Dementors, ripping and scratching at their robes. The Dementors grasped for them, but couldn't quite seem to pinpoint them. They seemed to be confused, and floundered.

Voldemort hissed in annoyance. "Of course. Animal senses confuse Dementors. Such was how their father escaped the Dementors. But no matter." Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at the nearest puppy. "Avada Kedavra!"

The familiar green light struck Padfoot II head on. Padfoot II should have been dead in an instant, but the green light just evaporated like water off a duck's back.

Voldemort snarled. "The State of Grace...I forgot!"

Voldemort's forgetfulness cost him dearly. In that flash, a black streak took advantage of Voldemort's momentarily carelessness to snatch Harry's wand from his grasp. It was Midnight, deploying all the grace and speed of snatching a banger mere inches from Dudley's gluttonous mouth.

"Good boy!" said Harry as he snatched back his wand and swung it into the air. "Expecto Patronum!"

The familiar white stag streaked forth, forcing the Dementors to retreat into the limbo. But Voldemort wasn't through yet. He flourished his wand high in the air and with the ultimate gleam of triumph in his red-slitted eyes, cast a black mist. The black mist coiled itself around the Patronus as if it were a boa. The boa-mist snapped tight, and the Patronus was smashed into glittering fragments.

The Dementors wheeled around and closed their flanks yet again for the kill.

Prongsy flew through the air and clamped his jaws around Voldemort's other wrist. Voldemort shrieked, but it sounded more like rage than pain.

"Crucio!" Poor Prongsy dropped, howling and writhing in pain. But Voldemort wasn't really interested in Prongsy. He snapped off the curse, impatient to strike at Harry.

And the Dementors were closing in once more.

But while Voldemort had still been busy with Pronsy, Harry felt something being nudged into his free hand. It was the fallen torch. Luna had retrieved it and was shoving it, still glowing blue fire, back into Harry's care.

Harry knew what he had to do. He held the torch high above his head and yelled out, not knowing where, "Sirius! Sirius! Sirius Black, come quick! Sirius Black, where are you?"

"You waste your time, Potter!" Voldemort now raised his wand eye in the air.

"Isn't he, Voldemort?"

Voldemort turned around, and gasped.

It was Sirius Black.

But not Sirius Black as anyone had imagined. He was not a mortal man as he had been before. But neither could he be described as a ghost. Ghosts were pearly-white, ethereal beings that were neither here nor there. Sirius Black was pearly white as a ghost was - but he was solid. And he was dazzling...just dazzling. Just as a Patronus would dazzle.

"Of course," Voldemort said faintly. "You have become a Protector."

Harry had no idea what a Protector was, but this was the first time ever that he had heard Voldemort speak in an awed tone.

"Yes, dear Voldemort. And I've got another surprise for you."

Sirius waved a beckoning, dazzling hand into the nothingness. Three more pearly-white shades appeared. This time they were ethereal, just as ghosts would be. One was a man whom Harry did not know, but John Earnest would know him as Vincent Goodhew, the Auror he had been wrongly accused of killing. But Harry instantly recognised the other two.

"Mum! Dad!"

It was the protective cordon of love that Voldemort could not understand if it stared at him right in the face - which it was doing, of course. However, Voldemort did know all too well what the power of that protection could do to him. He was cheated of destroying Harry yet again. Harry felt a flash of Voldemort's rage before the Dark Lord vanished from the Threshold. The Dementors followed his lead.

Now James and Lily glided over to Harry, beaming and brimming with joy and happiness. For the first time since Harry was a baby, they smothered him with kisses and embraces. These were ghostly kisses and embraces, but Harry was just so overwhelmed that he didn't even notice any ghostly chills.

Sirius, had now switched into his Animagus form. Instead of black, however, his Grim was now dazzling white. And for the first time ever, he had taken all his puppies together: lick them all over, nuzzle them, play with them, do just about everything a bouncing, ecstatic dog would do when it was bursting over with such happiness. He had known about these puppies, of course. Dumbledore had informed him soon after his flight on Buckbeak. Sometimes, when Sirius had taken refuge in that cave, he had risked the odd trip to Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest to catch glimpses of his puppies. Leave offerings for them, or even nuzzle and lick them if he was lucky. Just as with Harry, Sirius had had only the most fleeting glimpses of the offspring he should have had full taken care of, except that cruel fate had robbed him of that chance. But now Padfoot was more than making up in moments for what he had missed out on in about three years.

*~*~*

No words could describe how the court felt when Harry and puppies showed who had come back with them when they emerged back through the Veil. Those Aurors and Azkaban guards could only lower their wands and stare as they saw what Sirius Black had returned as.

Now, just as the former Guards of Azkaban had cowed before the new form of their former prisoner, so too did the human Azkaban guards and their Warden. Stanley Stonewall took just one look at what his infamous escapee had become before he fell to his knees, trembling and begging for forgiveness. In the depths of the benches, Severus Snape was feeling rather green about the gills himself and suddenly looking like he wasn't there. Sirius Black took no notice of Snape or any of the Azkaban guards, but The Daily Prophet would soon be reporting that Stonewall had abruptly resigned and disappeared from sight. As for his new measures to ensure Azkaban would not go soft, no comment would be available.

Sirius Black had definitely not returned as the King of Dementors, that just about everyone who did not know him feared. Instead, Sirius Black had become something most special and rare indeed, in the wizard world - a Protector.

There is no clear description to define a Protector exactly. A wizard might best describe a Protector as a living Patronus, a permanent form of Patronus. A muggle might best describe a Protector as a guardian angel. A Protector could live permanently in the wizard world, but would only appear when summoned, or when their loved ones were in their direst need.

A Protector was arguably the rarest thing in the wizard world. The greatest mystery about Protectors was where they came from and no wizard had ever come up with a clear answer. But it seemed that in this case, just as an evil wizard became a Dementor when pushed through the Veil, a good wizard became the opposite - a living Patronus when likewise pushed through the Veil. Furthermore, just as the Dementors had to wait for an evil wizard to summon them before they could come back through the Veil, a Protector had to wait for a good wizard to summon him before he could return through the Veil.

The court had been so overwhelmed, so overcome to see what Sirius had become, they could barely register that the spirits of James and Lily Potter, and Vincent Goodhew had also been summoned back to the living world. Just about everyone on the Order of the Phoenix did, however. For the first time since he had known him, Harry saw Dumbledore just weep and cry like a great baby. Tonks and Arthur finally seemed to revive and their eyes took on a whole new sparkle. Remus just didn't know what to say when James and Sirius transformed into their Animagus forms, now glowing like Patroni, and pranced and skipped around him.

And John Earnest just didn't know what to say when the ghost of Vincent Goodhew took him wildly by the hand and just shook it so vigorously that it might have come off if it hadn't been a ghostly hand. Poor old John was just so flabbergasted by it all; he had never expected the shade of his former victim to come forth to speak up for him!

Harry and the puppies stood in the background...they felt they could never take their eyes off their parents...

*~*~*

At long last, Sirius took the chained chair that had been designated for him. The chains just hung limp, as if they, too, were too cowed by what their former prisoner had become.

There was scarcely any need for the court to hear Sirius' testimony now. Just the mere sight of what he had become was proof enough. Nonetheless, in front of a most hushed court, Sirius launched into his story. When Sirius described how he had persuaded the Potters to use Pettigrew as the Secret Keeper instead of him, his tone sounded like he was more at peace now. Lily and James nodded, not only in corroboration but also in understanding. Harry's heart eased so gladly. At long last, Sirius had stopped blaming himself for his parents' deaths by persuading them to switch Secret-Keepers. In which case, this meant that the scars of Azkaban were fading as well. Whether the scars had healed entirely, even for a Protector, could not be said for sure.

The court was most rapt indeed when Sirius described how he had escaped from Azkaban prison. The court had already heard this from other witnesses, but it was second-hand evidence. Hearing the story from the man himself was a different matter entirely. Besides, nobody but Sirius Black himself could best describe how Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. The Azkaban guards were hanging on to Sirius' every word (which made a most satisfying change, as they had never listened to Sirius' pleas of innocence in all the time he was in Azkaban; their only response had been beatings).

The rest of the story, which outlined the bonds that Sirius had forged with his godson, how Sirius had helped Harry as best he could from afar, even when the interfering Umbridge threatened to tear them apart, was just plain moving. The awe that had descended on the court began to dissolve into tears from many people. James and Lily wept ghostly tears along with them, fondling and cuddling their Harry.

As for people like Weasley Jnr and Scrimgeour, they could only bury their heads in their arms. Whether it was guilt, shame, abasement just plain embarrassment, nobody could say. But they were well and truly finished this time. That much was certain.

*~*~*

The time now came for Madam Bones to call for the verdict. "All those in favour of conviction, raise their hands."

Not a single hand rose.

"All those in favour of acquittal, raise their hands."

Every hand shot up, except from those lingering members of Scrimgeour's party. They had simply buried their faces or sat still, hoping nobody would notice them, during the "guilty" poll. Scrimgeour and Weasley Jnr just continued to sink into their seats.

"Very well, then. I now declare all charges against Sirius Black, Arthur Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt dismissed. They are free to leave the court at any time. I would also make the following recommendations. First: all proceedings be commenced immediately to dismiss all charges against John Earnest" - loud whoops of joy from both John and Vincent -"Second: Full investigations into the cases of people imprisoned under the Scrimgeour ordinances, and cases of any remaining prisoners held in Azkaban under the Bartemius Crouch ordinances..."

Now no words could describe the joy that erupted from the Order of the Phoenix as the chains snapped off Kingsley, Tonks and Arthur and they fell into the boundless embraces of their families and friends. No adjectives could fit the bill of the joy that radiated from the dazzling shades who had come out of the Veil...and nothing could describe what Harry was feeling now; relief, overjoy, gratitude, tiredness and goodness knows what else - all tumbled into one big jumble...

*~*~*

"So you're leaving, John?" asked Dumbledore.

John Earnest was beaming so brightly. "Yes, Dumbledore, my mind's made up. Now my name's as good as cleared, I can move on! I'm going back with Vince, eh, my friend?" John grinned into the smiling ghostly face of Vincent Goodhew, who was still linked arm-in-arm with him as if they could never let go.

The puppies came up to John. For the first time, their tails and ears were drooping. John knelt to say goodbye to the puppies who had done so much to clear his name; and he had repaid his Wizard Debt by safeguarding them as their Secret Keeper. He took them all in a great big ghostly embrace for such a long time it seemed like an eternity.

At long last, John Earnest tore himself away from the puppies and gave his thanks to Dumbledore, Harry and all the members of the Order. Then he and Vincent glided up the steps towards the Veil. They turned around for a wave of farewell to them all. Then they glided through the Veil. It fluttered gracefully back behind them. It had been their final wave of farewell to this world and the people who had helped them so much.

Harry looked on, a great lump in his throat and tears welling in his eyes. Pretty soon, he supposed, his ghostly parents were going to say good-bye to him as well, just like John was with the puppies. His body shook and choked with rage. It wasn't fair! For the first time since he could remember he was within his parents' embrace - and now they were going to be torn away from him again. And Sirius, too! He was about to lose Sirius all over again...

He felt Sirius' hand on his shoulder. "Harry - did you bring the mirror?"

"Mirror?" Harry whispered stupidly. His brain was just too overwhelmed by everything to register.

Lupin had to come up and assist. "Yes, we have the mirror." Lupin had insisted that Harry hold on to the mirror at all times. That dream had been a clear message from Sirius that the mirror would become important. Now it looked Sirius was about to explain why. Lupin fumbled around frantically in Harry's robes for it.

"Ah! Here it is!" Lupin pressed the mirror into Harry's numb, enfeebled hands, and helped Harry to keep it aloft.

Sirius placed his finger on the mirror as if his finger was a wand. His finger started to glow with the most brilliant light he had exhibited thus far. It was as if Sirius was channelling all his brilliance into his finger...and then into the mirror. The mirror shone like a neon sign all across the courtroom.

Now Lily and James clustered around and put their ghostly hands on Sirius' finger for a few precious moments. They gave Harry a strange, sly wink and then they, too suddenly glided back through the Veil.

Harry was gobsmacked. His parents had left him - just like that?!?

Sirius laughed uproariously. "No, Harry! Look at the mirror!"

Harry looked back at the mirror. It was no longer an aged, dirty piece of glass. It was now a brilliant, polished glass that was almost translucent - and there were his ghostly parents, waving back at him!

"Hello, Harry! How do you like our surprise present?"

"Surprise present...?" Harry echoed stupidly.

Then it hit him. Harry could now use his mirror to talk to his parents from beyond the grave!

Harry just went crazy. He smothered and smothered the mirror with great, tearful kisses of joy, of ecstasy, of boundless...boundless...he could never let go...he now hugged and hugged the mirror and rocked back and forth, shrieking with joy, howling with happiness, and just streaming with tears...he thought he could just die of happiness...

But there was one final surprise in store. Since Sirius had been summoned back from the Veil as a Protector, he could now remain in the wizard world as a kind of anti-Dementor. A living Patronus, a guardian angel coming to the aid of those in direst need. And with Voldemort leading the Dementor army, people were already in their direst need.

But for Sirius, there was a more immediate need.

Sirius put his finger on the mirror once more. Beaming broadly, his finger still on the mirror, he took one last glow before his light shrank towards the mirror and disappeared.

But Harry knew that Sirius had not gone. He looked back down at the mirror. Sure enough, Sirius was right next to his parents, waving back at Harry just as vigorously. So now Harry could use his mirror to talk to Sirius, too...

Harry startled to giggle in a most silly way for no reason. A great big tear trickled down his cheek. Luna came up and gently licked the tear from Harry's face. The puppies came around to quietly nuzzle Harry and lick the face of their still-waving father in the mirror.

*~*~*

"This is Celeste Warbeck reporting for WNN. We have just heard that Angus Scrimgeour, Head of the Department for Magical Enforcement, has disappeared after the trial ended in a full acquittal for Nymphadora Tonks, Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Sirius Black. Reports are circulating that Scrimgeour seems to have "pulled a Bagman." The Ministry has stated that Scrimgeour's disappearance has been interpreted as his resignation from his post as Head of the Department of Law Enforcement. So the Ministry is now scrambling to elect a new Head of the Department of Law Enforcement as well as still seeking to elect a new Minister - "

"This just in! Scrimgeour's Under-Secretary, Percival Ignatius Weasley, has just been hospitalised in St Mungo's! One mediwitch has commented that Weasley has the finest Bat-Bogey Hex she has ever seen"...

Epilogue: Three days later

"This is Celeste Warbeck reporting for WNN. We are pleased to report that the new Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, has just promoted Kingsley Shacklebolt to the new Head of the Department of Magical Enforcement. Nymphadora Tonks has been appointed as Shacklebolt's Deputy! Minister Bones has called this the greatest means by the Ministry can make amends to Shacklebolt and Tonks for their wrongful imprisonment. And now, here is Kingsley Shacklebolt himself! Mr Shacklebolt we must congratulate you on your new appointment! Tell us - how does this make you feel?"

"Well, I must first say I am most gratified. And some people I'd rather not name say they are most delighted that there are finally some competent people being appointed in the Ministry. But what I would really like to do right now is introduce you to our new Special Squad!"

"What Special Squad is this, Mr Shacklebolt?"

Shacklebolt just breaks out into the widest, smuggest, irresistible grin and chortles quietly for so long that Celeste begins to think he is tantalising her.

At long last, Shacklebolt raises his fingers to his mouth and blows a low, shrill, whistle.

Celeste Warbeck gasps as twelve black dogs trot out. They proudly bear collars that are emblazoned with the MLES logo, and adorned with beautiful, mysterious shimmering Phoenixes for tags. The puppies assemble vigilantly and proudly at Shacklebolt's side. They are brimming and yapping with pride, happiness, and still plenty of that puppy-dog mischief. And their tails wag like over-wound pendulums.

"Mr Shacklebolt, are these the dogs that were used in the Rite of Safe Passage? Sirius Black's er, offspring?"

"That's right, Ms Warbeck. Let me introduce you to the latest addition to both the Order of the Phoenix and Magical Law Enforcement - The Padfoot Patrol!"

THE END