A Familiar Bark
Disc: I dnt own it… duh
Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had just finished their fifth year at Hogwarts. They were saying their goodbyes, making plans for the summer.
"Remember, your both coming over, okay?" Ron asked for about the hundredth time. His friends nodded as they made their way over to the other Weasleys. Molly told them all to be good, and that she'd send for them in about three weeks. Harry looked around and saw his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia waiting for him.
"See you guys later." He said quietly. They hugged him bye then he went over to his uncle. As usual, they said nothing to him, just went to the car, Harry following quietly behind. Silently they drove away, Harry staring out the window, thinking. He did that a lot now.
'It's my fault he's gone...' He would repeat over and over to himself, replaying the night.
They pulled into the driveway of number four Privet Drive. Harry got out, took his belongings, and headed up to his room. He could hear Dudley's radio playing loudly in the next room over.
"Harry Potter! Get down here! You have jobs to do!" Uncle Vernon's voice yelled up the stairs. Grudgingly, Harry made his way back downstairs.
"Go water the flowers, and weed the garden. Come back when your done and we'll give you more jobs." Harry obeyed without a word. Heading out to the garden, he grabbed the hose and turned it on.
After about fifteen minutes of gardening in the heat, Harry's head started to spin. He thought he heard smoke plants rustle behind him. Looking back, he thought he saw a black objects running into the bushes.
'Harry! What's wrong with you? Sirius is d-dead! And he's never coming back!' Harry thought, now angry with himself. He blamed it on the heat, and began working on the huge garden once again.
"So, Harry. I hear that convict godfather of yours died. Is it true that it was your fault?" Dudley came out of the house with a cup of ice cold lemonade. Harry froze.
"So it is true." Dudley said, taunting Harry worse then ever. He started to drink the lemonade, making sure Harry saw it. He didn't care about it though. It was his fault Sirius had died, he deserved this treatment. He turned back to the shrub he was on and began working. Dudley, realizing it wasn't working anymore, went back in the house.
Another twenty minutes later, Harry was finally done. He walked back into the house and told his uncle.
"Good, now go walk the dog." He said without looking up from his paper. Harry turned to leave, then paused.
"D-dog? Since when do we have a dog?" he asked confused.
"Since he followed Dudley home. It's Dudley's dog. Now go, Meatloafs out in the garden." Uncle Vernon still didn't look up from his paper. Harry made his way back outside.
"Meatloaf? Are you here?" Harry called unenthusiastically. He wasn't all to happy to be around dogs just yet.
A large, black, shaggy dog came bounding up to him.
"Hey, boy. You look just like…Sirius did." Harry fell silent. The dog whimpered a little and licked Harry's face.
"Come on. Lets get this walk done." Harry picked up his leash and hooked it on the dog. He lead him through the back gate and onto the road. Meatloaf wasn't pulling Harry along, but he was going from side to side, chasing birds and squirrels. Harry couldn't help but laugh as this grown dog acted like an energetic puppy.
They walked around the block a couple times, then headed back home. Dudley came to greet his dog.
"Meatloaf! Come here!" Dudley said when he heard the door shut. The dog whimpered and hid behind Harry.
"It's alright boy. Go on, I'll take you for another walk tomorrow." Harry whispered to the dog. Meatloaf slowly made his way over to Dudley, who offered him a cookie for no reason. He took it hesitantly. Harry, who was done with his jobs, went up to his room to think.
'That poor dog. Dudley's going to ruin him.' Harry thought. His guilty feeling not present. The dog somehow made him forget about that. It was 10:30 at night, and Harry was having a dream. Sirius was talking to him, blaming Harry for his death. Then his door creaked. Meatloaf walked into his room. Harry suddenly woke up.
"Hey, boy. You scared me." Meatloaf jumped onto Harry's bed and curled up next to him. He absently began petting the dog's head. Next thing he knew, they were both peacefully asleep.
Harry was woken up by Meatloaf licking his face. He mumbled slightly, then rolled over. Meatloaf continued to lick his face.
"Alright, alright. I'm up." Harry said pushing the dog off of him. He got out of bed and went to do him chores. Meatloaf followed him around the whole day.
Several weeks of this went by. Meatloaf wouldn't let anyone but Harry care for him. This made Dudley really mad. He began trying to hit the dog, but Harry always stood up for him. The dog seemed to ease his pain. When Harry slept, if Meatloaf wasn't there, he would have a dream where Sirius was yelling at him.
It was the night before Harry was to leave for the Burrow. Meatloaf was laying at the foot of Harry's bed, as usual. Then a voice came out of nowhere.
"Harry…" He sat upright and looked around. Meatloaf was looking at him, but there was no one else around.
"Harry…" He heard it again. But this time he thought he recognized it.
"S-sirius?" Harry said. The dog nodded. "What?" He was completely confused now.
"Don't you recognize me? The way I act?" Harry knew the voice in his head was coming from the dog. Harry ran over and hugged the dog.
"Sirius! Why haven't you talked before this?" Harry whispered, not wanting to wake the Dursleys.
"Harry, I only have a limited time to talk to you. You need to stop blaming yourself. No one could have predicted what was going to happen." Sirius said into Harry's head.
"When do you stop talking?" Harry asked sadly.
"Midnight…" Sirius' voice was sad. Harry looked at the clock. It was 11:59.
"Sirius, I'm so sorry." Harry hugged the dog closer. But Sirius' only reply was a quiet bark. Harry lay back down, he couldn't wait to tell Ron that Sirius was back.
A/N: Sucky ending…I know. Review and tell me how much you liked it…or how much you didn't like it! Flames will be given to my pet dragon, Bubbles!