Little Black Puppy

Little Black Puppy

By Silvain Star

It was a cool fall night, and Harry was back in the neighborhood where he'd grown up, after a call from his aunt about wanting to discuss Lily with him. It had been a sad conversation, with many silent tears on his part and much outright sobbing on hers, and he left the house rather depressed.

He stopped, hearing a sound in an alley nearby. He lit his wand silently and turned to look. It was a black Labrador puppy, and it was running right at him. It jumped up and tried to lick his face, but it couldn't quite jump that high yet. Harry had seen the dog several times in the last few weeks, but thought nothing of it until now.

"Well, that's a relief. Just some puppy..." he muttered, bending down. "Now who do you belong to, little guy?"

The puppy seemed to shake his head, then started licking Harry's ear. Harry reached for the collar on his neck and read the name on the round tag.

"Evan..." he read. He turned the tag over and read what was there. 'I belong to no man but me' was written in italics, followed by the words Pureblood Pup.

"Evan? Is that your name?" Harry asked quietly. The puppy seemed to nod, then jumped up and started barking. "Alright, well, if you belong to no one but you, then I'll ask politely. Would you mind coming with me until I can make sense of who you are?" Evan seemed to nod again so Harry picked him up and Apparated back to the flat he shared with Ron.

"Hey, mate," Ron said. "What's with the dog?"

"Ron, this is Evan. I don't know why, but I've got an odd feeling about him," Harry said, putting Evan down. "I think he's been following me, and his tag has some writing on it that seemed weird to me."

"Like what?" Ron asked.

"It said 'I belong to no man but me' and 'Pureblood Pup'. Doesn't that seem strange to you?" Harry replied, glancing at Evan who was pawing the wizard radio a few feet away.

"Maybe he's not really a dog?" Ron suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Harry agreed.

"Mione might be able to help us," Ron suggested, his face lighting up like a five-year-old at Christmas.

"Just as long as you two don't start snogging," Harry said, handing Ron the jar of Floo powder.

The radio turned on, and Evan started playing with the station dial. He moved it back and forth, finally settling on a station and sitting in front of the radio.

"Hermione, we need a bit of help," Ron said into the fire.

"Just a minute! I'll be right there!" Hermione's voice called from the fireplace. Ron backed up and Hermione stepped out of the fireplace. "What is it?"

"Harry found this puppy, but we're not exactly sure it's really a dog. Look at its tag," Ron said, indicating Evan, who was now moving around like he was dancing. Hermione bent down and looked at Evan's tag.

"Maybe-- but, no, if... if he were an Animagus, he'd have revealed himself by now... but... maybe..." she dashed back to the fireplace. "I'll be right back. I read a book on trapped Animagi, and... well... maybe... I'll bring it. Hand me the Floo powder, Ron."

Ron handed her the Floo powder, looking just as confused as Harry felt. Ron gave Harry a look that plainly asked 'Do you know what she's talking about?'. Harry shrugged as Hermione stepped into the fire.

"I don't think we'll ever get a straight explanation at times like these..." Harry admitted.

"She likes to be confusing, I think..." Ron agreed.

The pair sat down to wait for her to come back.

TBC...