Disclaimers: I do not own The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. They belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. All other canon material belongs to their respected owners. I only own the original characters, the plot, etc.

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Okay, so it took me some time to come up with this one-shot, as part of the Days of the Week challenge, started by me and my friends Eldhoron, LadyLindariel and portkeytoreality over at the Three Readers forum. Anyway, I thought this would be cute. Enjoy. :)

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Sauron tapped his iron foot against the cold stone floor. His birthday was today, and already he was celebrating his uprising across Middle-earth. What could possibly go wrong?

"Package for you, Sauron the Fearful," an orc called, bringing in a wrapped birthday package. He showed Sauron the clipboard. "Sign here, please."

Sauron did. "What is this? New trickery of some kind?"

There was a yapping sound. Was he imaging things? Nope, there truly was something yapping happily in the package. And there were holes in the box. What? He was stunned to see the clipboard taken away from him. Filthy orcs.

"What is inside this box?" Sauron asked, his rage increasing.

"We'll uh… see you around," orc postman darted out of the throne room.

Sauron huffed. What was all the yapping for? He opened the box… coming face to face with a brown spotted puppy, wagging his tail and yapping at him. Was he asking for food? All he had was fresh cut meat. Still, the puppy wanted his share.

"Here you go, you little… snips!" Sauron said, tossing the food. "You look more like a beagle to me. That's what I should call you, Yappers. Yappers, huh? That name will work for you."

Yappers begged for more food. This was unbelievable, Sauron thought. His whole world was shifting, all because Yappers wanted more food. Well… he tossed the rest of the meat to him.

"I'll need some more meat," Sauron said, standing up and taking a walk. He looked down. Yappers was right by his iron boots. "I said 'beat it'! Do yah hear me?"

The puppy whimpered. Sauron shook his head. Was this puppy truly going to follow him around? Didn't he have better things to do?

"Hey orc, feed this puppy will you. Yappers won't leave me be," Sauron said.

"Yes sir… dark lord sir," the orc said, pulling the puppy away.

Sauron nearly got another tray of food when… more yapping! He recognized those yaps anywhere. It was Yappers, following him around.

"I told you to leave. What am I to do with you?" Sauron asked. He soon had the thought. And he told the orcs about it. "Train Yappers until he's ready to travel. You know what to do with him."

Sauron was amazed at how quickly the dog took to training. The puppy transformed into a dark furred dog, much like the Nazgul. Surely he could teach the dog to sniff out the Ring. Yes, things were good at Barad-dur. What could possibly end this dream…

"Sir," an orc called. That roused Sauron into a fitful state.

"What a daydream," Sauron said, amused with himself. "Have we found any dogs to train? They could help us with our task."

"No my lord," the orc said.

Sauron shrugged. "A shame. But for now, let's finish these attacks and get me back my ring!"

"Yes my lord. At once!" the orc scampered away.

Sauron huffed. The Ring would be back in his grasps for good this time. "Nothing will stand in my way now." He paused. A wicked smile creased across his face. "Nothing."

The End.

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Thanks for reading. :)