Chapter 10 - The new pet.
Puppy had to be carried halfway back to the Home rooms, and he squatted down by the creature when it let out a pained yelp after They dropped it on the ground. Were all puppies weak like that?
He pinched its ear to see what would happen and it opened one grey eye and groaned as it lay shivering. He frowned with dissatisfaction. Fix it, They broke it.
The dementors shifted uneasily while his shadowy robes swirled with glee at the hesitant reaction their counterparts were demonstrating to their master. He looked up and glared at them. Fix it!
He got a reply from They that consisted of a mixture of emotions and concepts. A growing sense of dread. Uncertainty. Unintentional. Not what it seems.
'They mean that they are wary of Puppy, but there is a way to make it whole again, Master,' Them giggled softly into his thoughts.
He knew what They meant, They just didn't want to help. He stood up and stared at them, his anger growing as They drifted about with passive protests that They really didn't think it was a good idea. Just as he was about to do something about their unwillingness to fix his Puppy, one snatched up a trinket from a shelf on the wall with a feeling of reluctant defeat and floated over to offer it to him.
He snatched it up and rewarded it with a burst of happiness as he looked at what it offered. It was something cool and metal, but he couldn't make it out with his glowing eyes so he blinked a few times to switch his vision to marvel at the shimmery metal chain.
'It's silver, Master, and called a necklace and goes around the neck,' Them supplied helpfully, then the usual laughter in their thoughts disappeared. 'Humans take a lot of stock in precious metals like gold and silver because it is nice to look at, and Master has a lot down here. They can also hold spells for a long time, or even indefinitely, and this one has a protection against Our powers. Puppy will be safe from Our effects, but that will leave Master open to attacks if Puppy gets upset. And Puppy is bigger than Master, so We don't really want Puppy to wear it…'
He considered the information for a second as he looked between the necklace and the shivering huddle on the floor, but he was only four and wanted his new toy fixed to play with so he knelt down and worked it over the huge head. The Puppy whimpered when he yanked the chain roughly over the ears, but once it was finally around the neck, the furry beast's shivering stopped and it licked his hands in return. He wrinkled his nose as he wondered why it was doing that.
'That is how Puppy says thank you and shows its gratitude for your help, Master.'
He eyed the dog askance while wondering what gratitude was, and it stopped licking and gave him an apologetic look with a small showed him gratitude in a small flurry of movement, crowding in close about him and the dog, and his eyes widened with surprise at the feeling he got from them as the dog got up and stood over him protectively to growl at the dementors.
Sirius stood over the small boy that looked like James and growled at the dementors while wondering what the hell was going on. He was in a large room that had blue fire in the fireplace that did nothing to help with the chilly atmosphere, a table and a chair that was made of bones, a rug of many types of fur of some kind at first glance, and the journey to this location was a hazy memory of black corridors and a pair of bobbing and slitted glowing green eyes so he had no clue where he was. That there were dementors meant he was in Azkaban most likely, and the child had put a necklace on him that cleared out the fog in his head that he had lived with for years.
Ever since the night the last of the Order members were found, anyway.
He growled louder at the dementors to stop himself from reliving those memories, then ignored when he felt his side get poked before a double handful of fur being yanked hard broke off his growling into a yelp. He retaliated by shifting himself to push the kid down so he could stand over him, then barked at the dementors who had moved in quickly at his action.
Everyone froze when they heard "No!" shouted, then Sirius folded to the ground in pain when the little bastard's foot connected with his balls from under him. He looked up through pain filled eyes so he could watch the kid smoothly stand up over him and somehow got the dementors to back up against the wall without saying or doing anything. Then those green eyes turned on him and he cringed as the green eyes reminded of the time Lily caught him and James in the Gryffindor common room during their fifth year preparing to send Snivellus a birthday owl of griffon dung. They had just finished the charms to make the box explode so it would cover Snape and whatever snakes that were sitting by him when she took it away while hissing at them angrily.
The kid stood there without saying anything else, though, so Sirius decided to turn on his charm by giving a pitiful whine and a small wag of his tail. The child probably knew the way out, so he figured he could stick by him until he figured out what he was going to do next, but the pale boy didn't relent on his glare and Sirius was at a loss on what to do. Why was he brought here anyway?
Apparently the child caught the confusion in his eyes or something, because he pointed at him and said "Poopy mine!" and Sirius realized there was a mistake here - he was being brought in as a pet. He considered turning into a human to explain to the child that he wasn't a dog for real, but a second glance at the dementors made him realize now was not a good time for that, so he nodded an agreement and gave the boy a doggy grin. That appeared to make the child happy since the glare went away, then his tail got grabbed and pulled.
He was really tired of the funny smell coming from Puppy, so he decided they could both have a bath together. Grabbing the tail, he gave it a pull, and when the furry animal didn't seem to understand what he wanted, he pulled again and stomped his foot. That seemed to communicate to it since it stood up, and he moved towards the doorway off to the side and only paused to make sure that the puppy was following before switching back to his normal vision so he could see in the dark again.
As he walked into the bathing chamber, he smiled at the pretty crystalline patterns on the floor and moved over to the glowing runes by the deep basin to touch the ones that he wanted. The sound of rushing water filling the tub began to echo in the stone room, and he looked back to see the Puppy still in the doorway and it gave off waves of being too scared to step into the darkness. "Poopy!" he called out, and it whimpered before slinking in carefully with its tail in between its leg. One of They also came in to keep an eye on Puppy. Could it not see?
'You can start the flames in here, Master, then it can see. Just command Her for fire.'
He pursed his lips as he thought about that, then looked over to the corner where the dark fireplace that he hadn't considered before was at. Did he want fire in here? He rather liked the pretty patterns in the room and thought the blue fire would ruin it, so he decided he didn't want it. Instead, he leaned over to run his small fingers across the appropriate runes to stop the fire and reached out to grab Puppy's necklace to guide it into the water himself.
Them slipped away into the corners to watch, their golden eyes now visible, and he felt the Puppy's hackles rise as it growled at them until he used his other hand to smack the top of its head. "No," he said sternly, then pulled on the chain so they could enter the chilly water. He wrinkled his nose, though, when it made the stinky smell worse, so he burrowed his fingers into the wet fur to scrub as the Puppy whined and shivered with the cold that he easily dismissed.
He sighed after several minutes and gave it up as a loss when the smell didn't go away, then figured he would get used to it. The Puppy's feelings of fear and wariness still hadn't gone away, though, so he wondered what to do about that. He didn't like that his new creature was afraid of Home, that was something for humans, so he stared at it while wondering how to fix that. The creature flinched when its eyes met his and he frowned.
"No," he told it firmly as he reached out for its head to make it look at him again. Puppy whimpered quietly, but when he removed his hands, it didn't look away and he smiled triumphantly.
"Yes!" he told it, then patted it. It seemed to be a good move, since the smelly creature visibly relaxed, then started snuffling about his face which startled an unexpected laugh out of him. Unused to the sound, he cut it off abruptly, but he felt jealousy from Them and They that Puppy managed that, and it made him grin. It understands word?
'Yes, Master. It is a disgusting human that turns into a Puppy,' Them explained with a touch of resentment. 'It has no thought speech and cannot feel what you are feeling like other humans. We are clearly better for meeting your needs.'
He snickered softly which made Puppy tilt his head curiously. Them and They were upset because now something else was making him happy, and just for that, he could overlook that Puppy was also a human. "N-no hoo-men," he told Puppy, stuttering slightly even when trying to speak slowly from having to use his voice for an unfamiliar purpose. "Poopy no hoomen. Good Poopy."
He felt wariness and confusion from the dog, though the fear seemed to have lessened, and its nose twitched as it whined again. "Poopy no hoomen," he said more confidently. "Poopy yes poopy!"
It seemed to understand that if the groan of resignation was anything to go by, then its grey eyes darted over to look at the golden eyes in the shadows. "Them," he explained as he pointed at the shadow, then he moved the big head in the direction of the other inhabitant of the room. "They. Ssserv… Servantsss. Poopy servant. All Mine."
'Wonderfully done, Master!' They complimented as he felt dread from the Puppy. 'Beloved will teach and train the Puppy his proper place! If he is bad, just take off the necklace and We can punish him for you?'
He frowned and wrapped his arms around the stinky beast. "Mine," he said out loud to Them possessively,. Humans, even Puppy humans were gross, but he would train and punish that out of it himself even if it meant that he had to use their speech to do so.
As if to prove his point, he pulled back from Puppy to smack his nose when it began to lick him, and this time, unlike the last, he felt gratitude and appreciation from it. "Bad, no!" he told it sternly, and it whined in reply.
He sighed and decided he was bored sitting in the water, so he stood up and climbed up the stairs to get out with Puppy rushing out ahead of him. Ignoring the spattering of water being sent his way as it shook itself off, he moved to the empty fireplace. "Fire," he said out loud, then frowned when nothing happened. Sensing unhelpful silence from the rest which he was getting used to when it came to matters of commanding other things around here, he glared at the fireplace.
"Fire!" he demanded with a stomp, and this time the blue flames whooshed into existence. Feeling triumphant, he stepped into the cool blaze and felt the water begin to evaporate from his body before the barking Poopy rushed over to knock him out. He felt fear and protectiveness from it as he stumbled out with a startled cry, then an outpouring of relief followed that when it sniffed him over that left leaving him feeling confused.
'For humans, red fire hurts and kills them,' They explained quickly when he was about to burst into tears from the rough handling and the overwhelming feelings that Puppy was sending. 'Puppy was scared Master would die.'
He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that, but the information calmed him down enough so he only gave a small hiccup to show the emotional turmoil he had been about to go through, then reached out to grab the worried puppy's chain. "Fire good," he said shakily, then gave the necklace a tug towards the fireplace before releasing it so he could step back inside again to dry off.
He calmed down more when he saw it give the fire a tentative poke with his nose before it also stepped in, its bulk making him move over a bit to give it space meant for one adult. Crowded together, he began to thread his fingers through the matted fur to help it dry out faster. "Good Poopy,' he told it, feeling weird that he had to compliment it to convey that it was doing something right, and caught the tail as it began to wag to help that dry, too. It was about that time when his stomach rumbled with hunger, and they both looked down at it before the beast's tongue lolled out with a doggy grin and he felt the amusement from it.
He leaned in to sniff it and noticed that its earlier smell was much less now that it was washed and dried, so he stepped away from the fireplace. The dog gave a startled bark when the shadows in the room swooped in to cover him, but he ignored that in favor of going back out into the main room so he could see what was prepared for him. As he understood it, the humans above made his meals, and they were delivered to They who then brought it down to the table for him. And yes, there was his normal bowl of porridge with bits of fruits in it, but this time there were several wrapped treats like what he human gave him and a huge plate with something brown and red in it.
He sniffed at the new plate, then turned away to start eating the treats first. 'The steak is for Puppy, Master,' Them explained as he fumbled at the wrapping, and he acknowledged what they said as he sat down in his chair to eat. Them felt smug about something, and he didn't understand why until Puppy laid down at his feet and whined. Looking down, he could see it staring intently at the plate with the gross looking steak stuff and he realized he had to put the plate down for it. So he finished his cake quickly, then watched with amazement as it devoured the large pile in what seemed like a few bites.
Then it looked up at his treats. His treats! "Mine," he told it sternly as he snatched another off the table to hold to his chest, and it followed the cake's movements before meeting his glare with its own pitiful look. Them giggled in his head when he felt the look do something to his insides that almost made him relent, but at the reminder, he pushed Puppy's head to the side so that he wouldn't have to see that look.
"Mine!" he commanded this time, and then turned away to open it and eat it himself.
'Yours, Beloved. Servants shouldn't have cakes or treats unless they've been exceptionally good,' Them agreed, evaporating the last of his doubts over denying the Puppy. 'Besides, it got a steak! That is a real treat for puppies. See how it's licking the plate now?'
He glanced down then grinned around the mouthful of cake when he saw that Puppy was doing that, pleased that they both had their own treats. Finishing his second cake, he ate his porridge next and watched as the creature began to sniff about the room curiously, saw it cringe with revulsion from his rug, then it jerked its head up to stare at him in horror. He blinked at it with confusion as to its reaction, then finished his food and stood up with a yawn. Puppy would get used to living here.
Too tired to want to move to the Sleeping room himself, he looked to They and held up his arms while sending them a silent demand. Happy to be of service, one swooped down from the ceiling and picked him up like he wanted, and he burrowed his face into its musty and tattered robed with a sigh of content, heard the puppy's angry bark and its claws run after them, and fell asleep as he was carried off.
This was just too strange to be true for Sirius as he chased after the dementor carrying the child. He had to be having a nightmare, though the steak dinner was a rather nice part. So was the bath, now that he thought about it, though it would have been better had the water been hot. He couldn't even remember the last time he got a real bath. The guards would cast aguamenti through the bars when the smell got too bad, and that was the closest thing he got to being clean ever since he was locked up.
The boy's eyes had been terrifying in the dark, and it had only taken a moment to connect them to the bobbing glows he had recalled earlier. Add in that the kid seemed to be at home with furniture and rugs that was made of human bodies, though he figured someone else killed the poor people since it all looked pretty ancient, and he was at a loss to figure out how to get out of the nightmare. And if all of this wasn't a dream, he had to find out if the child really was Harry or not.
The dementor glided ahead of him, then it just seemed to disappear as it turned towards the wall. He dug his claws into the rug that was made of human hair to stop before he crashed into the wall, then realized it was an optical illusion with the hallway having deliberately been built to look like it was part of the wall until someone stood right in front of it. That was done by the shelves being put in at an angle with the items in it growing progressively larger so that they all looked the same size as the rest of the items on the shelves along the walls, though no doubt there was also some spells in effect as well, and at the far end he saw the dementor go through another doorway. Realizing that he was gaping like a muggle born seeing the Express for the first time, he shut his mouth and ran after them both.
He realized his mistake and cursed his Gryffindor side when he entered the pitch black room and slowed down his pace to use his ears to follow the rattling breathing of the dementor. It was on the opposite side of the room, so he took care in where he put his paws just in case there was something like a bottomless pit here. Even with the care, he did bump into some tables that clinked with the sound of glass on it from being shaken, and he could smell old parchment, but nothing jumped out for him. Still, he wasn't able to find where he was supposed to go until a pair of golden eyes popped up in front of him.
He yelped and scrambled backwards until he bumped another table, and something crashed to the floor and shattered. The golden eyed widened in shock as it looked down by him, and he followed its gaze to spot a glowing purple puddle beginning to fade. Oops, it looked like he broke a potion of some kind? He gave an apologetic whine even as he looked back at Them, as the boy called it, and hoped it wouldn't do something.
It looked back at him, and they both stared at each other for several seconds, neither willing to back down and both trying to figure out what the other wanted. Sirius also didn't want to get broken glass embedded into his paws unless he had to, and he had no idea what the Them were or what it wanted. He had realized after the bath that they were the shadows of the boy's robes, but they were not lethifolds nor any other kin to the dementors that he had had to read up on when he used to work as an auror. They seemed pretty harmless, if a bit spooky, so he finally relaxed and sniffed in its direction.
It had no scent so it made him wonder if it was some kind of ghost, like a poltergeist.
Deciding to take a chance, he shifted into his human form then cleared his throat when it narrowed its eyes with warning. "Yeah, yeah, no human," he joked while hoping it understood. "But I'm kind of lost and can't walk on broken glass with my paws. Is the boy okay?"
It blinked, or he thought it did since the golden orbed winked out for a split second, but there was no reply. "Can't talk then? If you understand, will you blink twice?" He grinned in triumph when it did, then nodded. "Okay, so blink once for no, twice for yes. Is the dementor going to eat his soul?"
The eyes widened with shock, then it blinked once. "Alright, so servant, right?" he asked, just to make sure. It blinked twice, bobbing while it did so which conveyed amusement, and he grumbled. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, bright eyes. Will you lead me to the boy?" It blinked once with another amused bob. "Why not? Wait, you can't answer that. If I turn into a dog again, will you lead me?" He frowned when he got another no. "Is there anything I can do so that you will lead me?"
This time, the reply was slow to come, but it finally blinked twice and Sirius got the feeling that it wanted something from him. "Hmm… Okay, before I figure out what you want, I want a question answered," he said, and he paused to make sure that it was still paying attention. "Is he… Is he really James's and Lily's son?" he asked, his voice breaking at the end.
The eyes blinked slowly twice, and he choked as he felt his heart break inside. The whispers he recalled from the guards years ago as they gossiped with each other were true, then. Their only child, and his godson, raised by dementors in the lowest depths of Azkaban. "I'm his godfather," he croaked out, confiding with the only creature that seemed willing to listen to him. "Can't I actually be with him without being a dog?"
They blinked once and narrowed at him, and he frowned in return. "Why not!" he shouted angrily as his eyes stung with tears. "Your damned Voldemort tore up the family! He's the last Potter, the son of my best friend! He-"
Sirius bit off what he was about to say as he heard the rattling breathing of dementors moving in, and he shivered even as he realized he no longer felt their effects. His hand reached up to touch the necklace, and he saw the eyes focusing where his hand was at while it blinked several times.
"You… want this and in return you'll show me to Harry?" he asked, and they blinked twice so he began to ramble as he thought about sacrificing his only protection. "That's what they were going to name him, you know, Harry because Lily didn't want Fleamont which was his grandfather's name. James was to be his middle name after his dad, and I helped Lily paint the nursery room while Wormtail… Wormtail! That bloody traitor!"
He snarled to himself as he thought about getting his fingers or even his jaws around that filthy rat's neck, and the eyes stared at him with fascination. "Alright, make the dementors go away and I'll take it off," he agreed as he stepped away from the broken glass to feel around and find a safe spot to sit. It only took a minute for the last of the rattling sounds to go away, and he reached up to start pulling off the chain before hesitating. "Is this a permanent taking off? Because I won't be able to function around dementors without it."
The eyes blinked once, and with relief, he pulled it off. When he looked back up, he almost fell over because the eyes were inches from his face, and they followed as he scrambled back. It wasn't until he heard what they said next when he realized how stupid he was in removing his protection and forgetting it on the floor somewhere, and how wrong he was in thinking they were harmless.
'Now you're Ours for tonight,' it whispered into his head as a dozen more unblinking eyes popped up all around him.
That night, Them got a fine feast of sanity, though they made sure not to break him. Sirius was Master's new toy, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. And a dog could tell no tales.
A/N: Next chapter will be Voldy visiting for his birthday which will progress the story, but I thought I would throw in this one to show how he'd been growing up for the past 4 years here while settling Sirius into his new home. Just to explain a few things, Harry's slitted eyes can see in the dark, but they also see the magic imbued into Azkaban while it is dark, so that is the glowing in the room and why Lady Goyle couldn't see the runes. The dementors and the shadows have been competing for Harry's approval, so he's quite the spoiled little kid hehe. As for food, Lady Goyle's last missive to the kitchens was that he was on soft foods, so they send porridge and soups and little bits of food. Voldemort has not thought to correct that over the past few years since he doesn't see Harry eat, and Barty Jr doesn't know how to raise kids nor did he really pay attention to that aspect until he added cakes and big fat steaks to the menu to appease Death and his Grim. XD
Also, the shadows are not lethifolds. I did consider having them in Azkaban, but England is not their native homeland and Ekrizdis brought dementors. I figured he would not need both, especially since lethifolds usually suffocate their prey to death. The shadows are something of my own creation, they feed off of sanity (why the Goyles were driven insane in different ways and willing to embrace death, Goyle Sr choosing suicide) and can leave their victims catatonic. They are being gentle with Sirius since Harry did say he not belong to them, but they want to show him his proper place in the scheme of things and not usurp their master's affection for them.
As far as Moody, rather than losing his eye and nose to the war, he lost it to Harry in this story. His leg is still intact, however. I'm pretty sure I mentioned in an earlier chapter that the guards often initiated new guards by locking them down in the seventh level for a short period, and Moody being Moody enjoyed tormenting dark wizards so he was initiating the guard last chapter. He's considered a disgraced auror because they suspect his loyalty was to the light, but without evidence of him having been in the Order since he was not at the final meeting where almost all of them were rounded up, they had no evidence to toss him in.
I'm not sure who I want to make Harry's tutor just yet. I'm debating between Snape, Lupin, and Bellatrix. Who do you guys want to see? Leave a review, and thank you everyone that's been reading! I'm glad you all loved the cakes ^_^
StillWatersAreDeep - Thank you for letting me know about how to respond faster. I get super anxious about sending messages, so it's why I reply to my reviewers in this way ^^