A/N: Thank you guys for all of the support! ^-^
I really do appreciate it.
ALSO!
Apologies for not updating the Timeline at the bottom of last chapter! It's fixed on this one, though, but anyways, enjoy!
Chapter Ten
Harry had forgotten what it was like, to play the part of a hero. His Magic and Doggy-Mind, which was really just Bear's personality, had lulled him into a haze of contentment. It was peaceful, and rejuvenating, like a long, deep sleep after never-ending nightmares…
It was a scream that woke him from that dream.
Jason had been taking them 'Gator Hunting, and they were gliding down one of the wider canals. When the scream rent the air, Harry's head shot up and snapped towards it, body tensing. A small boat was trying to wrench itself around from where it had gotten caught in the waterweeds. A woman on the boat was flailing at something in the water, crying and deathly pale. Following her line of sight, Harry found his eyes latching onto the form of a small girl thrashing in the water, and his ears perked, catching the sound of sputtering and choked-off cries as she struggled. Even as he launched himself into the air towards her, his eyes caught the form of the alligator slowly winding its way towards the girl. It was a small one, but still more than enough to kill the child.
As he hit the water, it was like breathing in a fresh breath of air, his mind clearing, and, suddenly, his mind was his own, fortified by Bear's instinct's to help the child, and his Magic's reassurance is he swam through the water, his natural, Newfoundland breast-stoke eating through the distance with grace and ease. Soon, he was at the child, and he found himself having to dive down, ignoring the water in his nose, as he grabbed onto the barely-conscious girls upper arm.
She couldn't be more than six.
He lunged upwards, managing to twist his body so that the child was mostly long his back, sliding his grip down to her lower arm and holding gently but relentless. Their heads broke the surface, and he swam purposefully towards the girls mother, who was sobbing as the man at the boat wheel had finally given up on freeing the boat and was scrambling onto the tiny ledge on the back of the boat, whistling and calling "good dog, c'mere boy! Bring her here!" and trying not to panic as the alligator sped up a little bit, obviously contemplating taking on the larger form of Harry.
When Harry reached the boat, and the man had pulled the girl up into the boat, where the woman began to desperately perform CPR, Harry felt something clamp onto his back leg and pull. Yelping as he was almost pulled under, Harry dug his claws into the ledge of the boat, and then grunted as the man from before seized him by the scruff and the back of his vest, and heaved.
He was pulled up, and the 'Gator followed, beginning to trash and ripping Harry's leg open, making the Newfoundland animagus yelp again and struggle harder.
And explosion of noise and the alligator's hold abruptly loosened, and Harry was heaved onto the boat, blood spattering the flooring as the man swiftly pulled him onto it. Jason and his boat pulled up, rifle in hand and dark eyes hard on the dead form of the 'Gator.
"Everyone alright?" He demanded, as Nemo leaped into the water and retrieved the small 'Gator. As if to answer, the little girl coughed up water, and the woman sobbed with relief.
"Now we are," the man answered, and shuddered with relief, before his eyes widened and he turned to Harry, who whined as he licked tenderly at his ravaged leg. "The damn thing grabbed your dog though, and it looks nasty…" Jason nodded, and pulled the dead 'Gator onto his boat before grabbing the boat's walkie and calling for medical assistance for their child.
"Let's get you to shore," he said, and threw a rope over to tie to their boat. "Bear's going to have to stay with you for a bit. Just wrap his leg, and, once we get you to shore so your girl can get checked, I'll take him to the Animal Hospital. Try to wrap it in something it you can!" The man nodded, and Harry whined softly as he wrapped an extra towel around the injured limb, and tied it with some nylon rope, being shushed and pet with trembling hands as Jason towed their boat towards more populated areas.
"You're such a good boy, Bear," he said, and hugged the dog tightly, burying his face in the wet scruff of Harry's neck as the boy-turned-dog uncertainly licked the man. "Good boy, good boy, God…" He sobbed, before he broke away. "I swear to God, if that man doesn't, then I'm going to buy you all the steak you could ever want." He gave a weak, watery chuckle, before he moved over to the woman who was clutching and rocking the exhaustedly crying little girl, and wrapped them both up in a tight hug, kissing them and rocking with them desperately.
Land came into view with the flashing lights of Ambulances and Police cars, and an Emergency Animal Control vehicle. As Jason pulled his boat up and the rest of the Pack sat on shore, he pulled in the boat Harry was on. The man and woman rushed their daughter towards the EMT's, and Jason leaped onto their boat.
"Easy, boy," he murmured soothingly, and Harry, as reluctant as he was to once more be sucked into complacency by his magic and Bear, allowed the Werewolf's Alpha-Energy to sooth him as the man carefully lifted him and began to carry him towards the Animal Control van.
"There's the hero," the woman manning the van declared as Jason carefully sat Harry in one of the large kennels. Swiftly, the woman had an IV set up, and a cone around Harry's head, which made him sneeze, grudgingly annoyed that he'd have to have the cone on. "We're going to take good care of him," she assured Jason even as she closed the van doors. Harry heard the muffled conversation of the woman telling Jason where they were taking him, and relaxed when he recognized his familiar Hospital. Mary was going to be as exasperated as Madame Pomfrey with him soon, he knew, and settled in to rest.
~(Line Break)~
"Samantha, you have a visitor!" Nurse Jasmine called into the hospital room of the little girl, her mother and father looking up, confused. There faces lit up, however, when Harry limped heavily in, his back left leg in a thick, purple cast, which had been signed already by various people, and his work harness in place, grinning happily as the tired-looking little girl's face lit up.
"Puppy!" She gasped, sitting up and beaming, her blue eyes glowing with joy as he ash-blond hair, sleep-ruffled and soft, fluffed up around her comically.
"Not just any puppy, sweetheart," her father informed her as the mother wiped tears from her face. Harry limped over to them, tail wagging as he flopped his head onto the girl's relatively short bed and making her giggle. "This is Bear, the dog that saved you." The girl's eyes widened and her mouth formed a tiny 'o' of surprise. Her hands shook slightly as she set her hands on Harry's head, and Harry shuffled closer, even pushing up onto his good back-leg so he could settle his massive head on her chest lightly. Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his head and buried her face in his forehead. Seconds passed, and he didn't try to move, offering comfort to the child as she started to cry, whispering 'thank you, puppy' softly every once and awhile.
From the corner of his eye, he watched the woman, Samantha's mother, bury her face in her hands, shuddering as she, too, cried, and the father rose and left the room, most likely seeing Jason as the Werewolf leaned against the door-frame. Harry ignored them all, though. Them, the smiling nurses and doctors who peeked in, he ignored them all, because all that mattered was this sweet little girl who was clutching onto his fur like he was, once more, the only thing keeping her from drowning. Pulling away a bit, he gave a huge heave, and his magic flared slightly, and he was on the bed, where he flopped carefully down and curled on his uninjured side, head still clutched in the girls arms as she, too, curled on her side against him.
Samantha cried herself to sleep, and Harry turned carefully so he could tug her blanket over her, but made no move to leave the bed. A gentle hand touched his head, and he looked up to find the girl's mother smiling at him, face splotchy from crying, but eyes so unbelievably grateful that it made the boy-now-dog-Savior uncomfortable.
"I think God sent an angel to us, that day you saved my baby," she whispered, and pressed a kiss to his head, fresh tears dripping onto his fur as her hand on his neck trembled. "Thank you," she whispered fiercely, before he leaned over him and kissed Samantha's forehead, before quickly standing and wiping her face, and leaving to join her husband to talk to Jason in the hallway.
In the silence of the room, with the beeping and whirling of machines accompanying the soft, faintly-wheezing breaths of the little girl he'd Saved, Harry settled in and wondered, for the first time in years (and, Merlin, it had been years…) what was happening back in England without him…
And whether he was willing to leave his new-found happiness behind for it.
~(Line Break)~
"For displaying immense bravery in the face of immediate danger," the uniformed man announced to the quiet crowd from the podium, "to both himself and an innocent civilian child's, and sustaining serious injury while protecting said child, we, the PDSA Council, hereby present Bear the Newfoundland, with the Gold Medal, the highest honor any animal can get," he announced; Harry limped heavily onto the stage, dressed in his work harness, leash held by tiny Samantha as Jason and her parents clapped from the front row. Smiling sweetly, the little girl, in her orange-and-white flowered dress, took the medal from the councilman, and turned to Harry. He silently ducked down so she could push it over his head, the gold medal, with its laurel wreath symbol and the words For Gallantry Or Devotion To Duty, gleamed against his orange vest, and Samantha beamed, kissing his cheek and making the crowd chuckle and 'aw'. Turning to face the crowd, Harry stood, looking out at them all as Samantha waved at the smiling, clapping crowd.
And Harry wondered at the fact that this was felt so much different than the Wizarding World. There, everyone made some sort of huge deal about him being the Boy-Who-Lived, about him being their Savior, but it was almost worship, and at any hint hat he wasn't completely good and wonderful and Light, they hissed and spurned him and muttered about what a 'shame' it was, that he'd started going Dark…
This, though…
This was nothing like that. This was an acknowledgement, and a thank you, but nothing more than that. No one expected him to do it again, or to just suddenly show up and save them when they were in trouble. No one expected him to be anything but what he was and…
And it was like a weight lifted from his shoulders, and Harry stood proud and wagged his tail, grinning out at the crowd as camera's flashed and Samantha continued to grin and giggle and wave.
This was something he could live with, years from now, when he looked back on his happier memories.
This was something he could be proud of.
A/N: Ta-Da! ^-^ I decided to bring back some of Harry's Hero-Complex (hence the chapter title, lolz)
Special thanks to Reviewer YM CPL Ironhide for their enthusiasm about Newfoundland's (because those dogs are the shit and no one can tell me otherwise), their fun fact about Newfies doing the Breast-Stroke instead of the Doggy Paddle, and their minor correction on the fact that the white-and-black Newfies (called landseer) aren't American Kennel Club accepted as part of the Newfoundland Standard Colors!
Just FYI, my lovely Reviewer, I didn't know that bit, but I think I was looking at UK Kennel Club's breed specifications, so that's probably why I got that mixed-up. Thanks for telling me, though!
Review!
TIMELINE!
(This will be left at the bottom of every chapter from now on)
START OF FIC:
Summer between fourth & fifth year
(Late June/Early July, 1995)
HARRY/BEAR'S ADOPTION:
Christmas during what would have been his Fifth Year
(December 25, 1995)
FIRST HUNTING TRIP:
Late January/Early February of what would have been his Fifth Year.
(January/February, 1996)
HOG HUNTING:
Spring of what would have been Fifth Year
(May 1996)
PUPPIES (BEFORE ADOPTION):
Early Summer of what would have been between Fifth and Sixth Year
(Early June 1996)
PUPPIES (ADOPTION DAY):
Late Summer of what would have been between Fifth and Sixth Year
(Early August 1996)
ELVIS & JACKSON'S GOODBYE:
Late Spring of what would have been Sixth Year
(March 1997)
DOG SHOW
Mid-Summer of what would have been between Sixth and Seventh Year
(Early July, 1997)
RESCUES SAMANTHA
Late Summer of what would have been between Sixth and Seventh Year
(Late July/Early August, 1997)
AWARD CEREMONY
Mid-September of what would have been Seventh Year
(Mid-September, 1997)