Harry sat down on a wall and put his head in his hands. Last year he'd been sent an official warning because Dobby had levitated a cake. This year he'd inflated his aunt. He thought it was pretty obvious that his expulsion was imminent.
Harry knew that he wouldn't be caught by the Dursley's; neither Vernon nor Dudley had the stamina required to walk the five streets between Privet Drive and Magnolia Crescent, where he currently sat. However, he had no idea what magical methods there were for tracking somebody. He knew he had to keep moving so that the Ministry wouldn't find him and snap his wand.
As Harry stood he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, as though someone was watching him. He glanced over his shoulder to see a large pair of eyes above an even larger set of sharp teeth hiding in the neatly trimmed bushes.
Harry sighed, relieved. It was only a dog.
"Come here, boy!" Harry called, holding out a hand for the dog to sniff. "Or girl, I suppose," he added as an afterthought. The dog came bounding out, tongue lolling idiotically from the side of its mouth. It gave a happy yip and immediately slobbered all over Harry's hand.
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Harry chuckled, trying to stroke the energetic dog. It immediately sat still, wagging its tail from side to side. Harry sat on the kerb and checked around its neck.
"You've got no collar. No home?" Harry asked, and was shocked when the dog promptly shook his head. "Me neither. I need to find some way to get to Diagon Alley, really. It's probably not safe in the muggle world, especially with that maniac from the news on the loose." Harry wasn't exactly expecting a response, and was rather surprised when the dog jumped up and pushed Harry's chest. He landed sprawled across the road with his wand-arm extended.
A loud crack caused Harry to jump up. A purple, triple-decker bus was now idling on the road.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard." A conductor in a purple uniform jumped out of the doors and grabbed Harry's trunk, chucking it onto the bus.
Harry glanced down at the dog suspiciously. It was holding up a paw and seemed to be checking its claws. Harry thought that if it could whistle nonchalantly it would.
"Well then, you coming?" Harry asked the dog. With a happy bark, the dog leapt onto the bus and chose a bed, curling up on it and watching Harry.
'Looks like I've got a new pet,' Harry thought to himself. Considering how he was probably going to be expelled as well as homeless, he could use all the company he could get.
Two days after Ron joined Harry and his new dog at the Leaky Cauldron, the two boys found a short, overweight man lying on Ron's bed in a pool of his own blood. The dog was sat in the corner of the room, glaring at the strange man.
"...I'll get Dad," Ron said.
Within a fortnight, Sirius Black was cleared of all charges and Harry was back to only one pet. However, he now had a new legal guardian with an invisible house. No blood wards could measure up to the protections on Harry's new home.
Harry felt that he couldn't possibly be happier. He finally had what he'd always wanted: a family.