Chapter 1: Laughing hurts so bad

The next morning, Harry woke up lying on the floor. He shook his head.

"Mornin' Meatloaf. I had the weirdest dream. You were Sirius. Just wishful thinking, I know." He scratched the dog behind his ears. The shaggy dog cocked his head. Those big brown eyes looked deeply into Harry. He could have sworn he heard the dog's voice in his head, but knew that wasn't possible.

"Potter! Get up!" Dudley came running, more like thundering, up the stairs. He pounded on his cousin's door. "Dad's got something for you!" He said much too gleefully. Harry, dreading his fate, slowly stood up.

"Come on, boy." Harry patted his thigh to signal the dog. Meatloaf quickly ran to block Harry from the exit. "What on earth are you doing?" The canine stood on its hind legs and placed its front paws on Harry's shoulder.

"If you take off the fur, I think you could be Sirius…?" The boy whispered quickly. Meatloaf gave a loud bark and began to run in circles around Harry. "Y-you mean last night was real?" Again, the dog barked, even louder.

"Sirius!" Harry immediately dropped to his knees. He embraced the dog, and Meatloaf/Sirius licked his face merrily.

"Get down here now, boy! And keep that ruddy dog quiet!" Uncle Vernon's voice rang throughout the house. Harry led Sirius down to the kitchen.

"Hello, Dudley said you had something for me?" He said in too happy of a voice for Vernon.

"Happy Birthday, now get to work." He grinned evilly then turned to his wife. Harry's mind spun.

'I'm sixteen… I'm sixteen!' He thought excitedly. Then, looking over his list, his heart sank.

Clean Kitchen (again?), weed the garden (I bet Dudley's planting the weeds! They can't grow that fast!), walk the dog (he's coming with me, so I shouldn't have to.); Get the bloody hell out of here until next summer! (Not a problem!)

Thinking it could have been much harder, he gladly set to work. Meatloaf followed him, as always.

Five hours later, all the work was done. He could have been done within two, but while he was weeding the garden, Dudley tracked muddy footprints all through the kitchen. And somehow managed to get the ceiling as well.

Harry ran up the stairs to pack. In less then half an hour he would be gone for a year! Sirius ran about, dragging books from behind the many piles of clothes.

"Thanks, Snuffles." Harry threw them unceremoniously into his trunk. "Last thing." He walked over to the dresser and picked up the photo album Hagrid had given him at the end of first year. "Look, there you are. At my parents' wedding." He flipped to the page with Sirius slapping James on the back. Both had huge smiles on their faces, never knowing the fates that awaited them. Snuffles' head dropped, and he let out a small whine.

"I miss him too…" Harry lifted Sirius' head up, and attempted a joke. "I wouldn't mind having a stag follow me around. Never have to walk again!" The dog's head came up slightly, but remained low.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Potter! Get down here; those ruddy friends of yours are here!" Vernon called up. Before Harry could respond, a red haired boy, and bushy haired girl came flying threw his door.

"Harry!" Hermione's arms wrapped themselves around his neck. "We've missed you so much! Come on!" Ron ginned at his best mate, and then walked over to help lift his trunk.

"To bad we can't use magic yet, would be really useful right now. Who's the dog?" Ron asked. Harry's smile widened.

"This is snuffles; he followed Dudley home one night. But he's grown attached to me." Subconsciously, he reached down to scratch him behind the ears.

"Snuffles… but…?" Hermione gave him a bewildered look. "Harry?" The raven-haired boy didn't respond, just gave his friend a knowing look.

"Oh! Harry! But… how do you know?" Ron looked between his mates, completely lost.

"A little explaining would be wonderful, you know." He stated loudly. As they reached the bottom of the living room, Harry shook his head and mouthed

'Later.'

The Dursley's watched from the doorway as the trio, plus Mr. Weasley, walked to a black Mercedes.

"Nice car, Mr. Weasley." Harry commented. The balding man nodded enthusiastically.

"Molly let me get it if I promised not to tinker." Harry gave him a questioning gaze. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her." He said quieter. The boys laughed. But Hermione huffed.

"I don't think you should keep secrets from your wife. And you just lied to her!" She said. Ron and Harry exchanged looks.

"'Mione, he didn't really lie to her…" Ron started.

"Just, stretched the truth." Harry finished. She glared at their hopeful looks.

"You won't tell, will you?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Have I ever told on the two of you?" She asked back. The red head smiled.

"I knew you wouldn't." She simply rolled her eyes at the boy. As they pulled into the open country, Mr. Weasley hit a purple button. The car vibrated some, and then turned invisible, along with its passengers. The push of a blue button later and they were flying.

The rest of the trip was filled with talk of plans for the summer. Sirius sat with his tongue flying as his head hung out the window. Time flew by, and they hardly noticed as the Burrow came into sight.

"Ah, home, sweet home." Ron said happily. The car lowered to the ground, and became visible once more. Arthur coasted into the garage next to their house. He gave them each a desperate look, Hermione two, and then led the way into his house.

Ginny walked out of the house before they'd gone a foot.

"You better watch yourselves. Mum's in a rage." She said. Ron looked at his dad.

"Don't worry, it was Fred and George. They set fire to their room." At Hermione's frightened expression, she added "On accident, of course!" Cautiously, the five made their way into the house.

"Arthur! Where have you been! Fred and George made an explosion! And I can't catch them because they won't stop bloody apparating!" Molly screamed as soon as they opened the door. Ron held back a laugh. "For heaven's sake! Don't just stand there like stunned toad! Help me!" Reluctantly, Mr. Weasley walked into the living room. Ginny quickly led them past the chaos and up to the second floor. Hermione and she headed for their room.

"Harry and I'll be upstairs. Tell us if you do anything interesting." Harry followed Ron, Sirius padding softly behind.

"Is that your dog, Harry? He looks so much like…" Ginny caught herself just in time. "I'm sorry! I didn't… It just…!" Harry held up his hand.

"Don't worry, Gin. And now that you reminded me, there's something I need to tell the three of you." Harry led them up to his and Ron's room.

"What is it? Where'd you find that dog?" Ron asked.

"This… well it's complicated… but see… don't think I'm crazy… wow this is harder them I thought." He paused and looked as his dog. Snuffles simply lay his head down on Harry's lap for comfort. "This is Sirius. He spoke to me last night. For the last ten minutes until midnight." Snuffles barked, as if to confirm. His three friends were speechless.

"Harry…" Hermione began sadly.

"I know what you're going to say, 'Mione. And I don't care if you believe me or not. I know this is Sirius. I know he told me so last night." He said confidently. Since the conversation started, Ginny had been silently staring at the dog, who was now staring back.

"I believe you. It's like there's actually a human behind those eyes." She said softly. Harry beamed at her.

"I knew you would!" Sirius jumped up and licked her face. Then Ron, with his head cocked to the side, spoke.

"So he can understand us, but we can't get a word out of him. That's bloody fair." He said the last part sarcastic. Sirius jumped past Ginny, and across the bed to Ron.

"Down, boy. Merlin I missed you!" He hugged the dog tightly around the neck. Hermione was staring in shock at her friends.

"But, but where's the evidence? There's no logic at all! Harry are you sure you haven't just found an extremely lonely dog, who loves attention?" She asked skeptically. Ron rolled his eyes.

"He followed Dudley home. And I know he talked to me, Hermione. I wasn't imagining it." He looked her dead in the eye. She bit her lip.

"Oh…" She looked at Snuffles. "Come here, Sirius!" The shaggy dog switched to licking her face. He jumped off the bed and began to run in excited circles. The teens sat watching him fondly for a moment before someone broke the silence.

"Sorry to break the happiness. But who else are we going to tell?" Hermione asked. Harry looked to Snuffles.

"Well, I guess we could start listing names. One bark is yes, two is no, Okay?" He asked. Snuffy gave one clear bark.

"Mr. or Mrs. Weasley?" two loud barks came after that.

"Remus?" The dog paused and cocked his head to the side. He gave three short barks. "I guess that means he doesn't know?" Harry asked. Sirius gave one bark to that. They four continued to guess names, getting weirder ever minute.

"I know, Voldemort! I mean why wouldn't you want to tell him?" Ron said laughing. Sirius gave his bark of a laugh, and chose to ignore the question.

"NO!" Ginny shouted. "I've got the best… Bellatrix!" The teens collapsed into peals of laughter. The great dog jumped up and down, and threw himself onto the pile of kids.

"What is going on in here? For the last half an hour all I have heard is giggles!" Mrs. Weasley said as she poked her head into the boy's room. She seemed mad, but her smile said otherwise.

"Sorry, but we've just missed Harry so much. And now we can't stop making jokes out of everything!" Hermione smoothly lied. Molly bought it, she turned and headed back down to the kitchen.

"Well don't have too much fun!" After they heard her footsteps fade away, the laughter burst out once more. Several minutes later, every one of them was holding their stomachs in pain.

"Laughing… hurts… so… bad!" Ron said gasping for breath. When they could breathe normal again, Harry noticed something.

"Where's Sirius?" They four looked around, but found no sign of their dog. Harry led the group down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"We should spread out. So it'll be easier to find him." Hermione suggested.

"I'll check the back yard." Ron said.

"I'll go with him. It's pretty big." Ginny piped up. Hermione called main floor and front yard, so Harry had second and attic.

"Harry! Hermione!" Ron yelled out twenty minutes later. His voice was just loud enough for Hermione to hear from the kitchen. She hollered up the stairs.

"Harry! I think Ron's found him!" The raven haired boy leaned over the railing to hear his friend. When she finished relaying the news, he jumped onto the banister and slid down.

"I've always wanted to do that!" he said before grabbing her hand and leading the laughing girl outside.

"Harry…" Ginny said running up to him. "I'm sorry." The boy couldn't respond, he just pushed past her and raced to his best friend.

"Ron…?" He asked weakly.

A/N: hope you liked it. Not my best ever, I know. But it's not horrible I hope. If you like, please review. Because I see on the stats that a lot of people read, but only two have reviewed. It's slightly depressing. 