Chapter 10: The Black Dog
Lyra watched her twin sister with a bemused expression. Arya had noticed something dark among the snow and trees and had rushed forward toward it. It was the first Hogsmeade Weekend and they had just escaped from the clutches of Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe. She liked her friends, but they had exhausted her by dragging her into the clothing and jewelry stores. Lyra liked shopping for jewelry and clothes like any other girl, but shopping with Pansy was a horrifying experience.
"What do you think it is?" Daphne asked her.
"An animal I think," Lyra responded. She was happy to have Daphne at her side instead of Pansy. She liked and respected the Parkinson Heiress, but the girl was a trial at the best of times. After a morning spent shopping with the other girl and listening to her complain about the cold, Lyra had reached the end of her tolerance. Daphne was a better companion with few, if any, complaints.
"Lyra come, quick!" Arya's voice brought her attention back to her sister. She rushed over with hurried steps, her boots crunching in the snow. When she reached Arya's side she gasped at what she saw.
It was indeed an animal. A large black dog that looked a great deal like the stories of the Church Grims. He was severely malnourished, and he had a cut on his side that was bleeding. She sank down in the snow beside the animal to examine the cut. "Hold his head," she ordered Arya. Her sister did, using her lap as a pillow for the poor thing. Then Lyra drew her wand and swiftly but precisely murmured the spell that would knit the wound back. The dog whimpered and whined, and Daphne sank to her knees on the other side of the animal and gently placed hands upon him to help hold him down. At this, the animal tried to fight them to rise.
"Be still!" Lyra snapped the order and the Dog turned his head to look at her. His eyes seemed to stare deep into her own and she felt a strange tingling sensation rush through her. This dog was certainly a magical creature of some sort. "You are safe with us," she said this time, her voice gentler. "We won't hurt you like others have," she murmured soothingly.
Arya's eyes were bright with tears. "Who would treat a pretty animal like him so horribly?" she asked.
"I don't know, but whoever did should be whipped," Daphne snarled. She was a well-known lover of both plants and animals.
"It might have been because he looks like a Grim," Lyra mused as she inspected her handiwork. The spell had worked to seal the wound, but it wouldn't cure his malnutrition. "I bet he looks really beautiful when he is healthy," she mused.
"What are we going to do about him?" Arya asked her. "We can't just leave him here and hope for the best. Clearly, the villagers have hurt him," she added.
Lyra nodded grimly. Arya was right. The villagers had probably been scared by the sight of him and tried to run him off. They were probably afraid of the legends about Grims. "We'll take him to Hogwart's," Lyra declared.
"But, we cannot have dogs in the castle," Daphne reminded her. "Cats, Toads, and Owls," the blond-haired Greengrass Heiress reminded her.
Arya scowled at that. "Ronald Weasley has a pet rat," she said, and the Dog's head jerked up at that. Arya began to pet his head to soothe him. "See, the poor thing must have been living on rats!" she said horrified.
"Dumbledore will make exceptions for the Weasley's because they are Gryffindor's, but he will not make any exceptions for us," Daphne continued.
Lyra frowned at that. "We cannot leave him here, so we are taking him to Hogwart's. We'll take him to Mr. Hagrid. He knows a great deal about caring for magical creatures and he has his own dog, so he'll know something about helping our new friend here," she said with a soft smile as she gently touched the animal. Again, she felt the tingling feeling. It was as if her magic was trying to do something or tell her something. "Daphne and I will talk to our Head of House and Arya, I suggest you talk to Professor Flitwick about our new friend as well."
Arya nodded her head in agreement. "Only if you come with me."
Lyra nodded. "Sure, we'll tell our Heads of House together. We'll need them both to assist us with Professor Dumbledore."
"Alright, but how are we going to get him to the castle?" Daphne asked. "He might be light enough for us to lift due to how malnourished he is, but he probably shouldn't be hefted around like that. He needs to be checked for internal injuries. He may have bruising or worse, internal bleeding.
Lyra frowned at that. She didn't know how to check for that. Her mother had taught her how to heal cuts but not how to check for internal injuries. "We'll have to use magic to float him to the school."
The dog whined at that and she gave him a sympathetic look. "I am sorry, I know that magic was probably used on you to hurt you and you have no reason to believe I have any other intention," she said to the animal.
"Really, we just want to help you," Arya added. "I promise we won't hurt you," she soothed the large dog.
"Okay, so we'll use magic to float him to the school," Daphne said going over the plan. "So far he is responding best to the two of you so you two will be the ones to secure him and to float him. I'll walk just ahead of you and try to run interference," she said.
Lyra nodded. "It's the best plan we are going to get right now so let's do this," she said.
The crunch of footsteps behind her made her jerk around, wand drawn. She couldn't see anyone as she scanned around her, but there was something there. She was sure of it.
"Lyra, there's no one," Arya said more focused on getting the dog to Rubeus Hagrid.
Lyra frowned and continued to scan the area and then she noticed it. In the snow there were footsteps and they had walked right up to her. Slowly she reached forward and grasped a bit of cloth. She heard a gasp from within the cloth as she attempted to pull it. The other person pulled back and she tumbled forward collapsing into something solid, legs she thought. She heard an oof sound come from the person as he fell down. When he fell, his head popped out of the protective covering of the invisibility cloak and she saw the dark head and handsome face of Harry Potter.
"Potter!" Daphne hissed, and Lyra was grateful in that moment that her friend had not yelled.
Lyra stared at Potter for a few moments, letting her mind process what she had just learned. Harry Potter, who didn't have permission to go to Hogsmeade today was at Hogsmeade. Harry Potter had an invisibility cloak. It was leverage. She could use this against Harry and she had every intention of doing so.
He started to scramble up, but Lyra kept herself firmly planted upon his invisibility cloak when the boy tried to grab it. "No need to run off Potter," she said in a tone that was mild and contemplative. "You were clearly curious about what was going on here," she added. "Come meet our new friend," she implored.
Potter watched her with cautious green eyes, but he slowly nodded, and he came over beside her and lowered himself to his knees beside the dog. "What happened to him?"
Lyra felt a slight shiver go through her at Potter's nearness. They were not friends, would probably never be friends, but she had the sinking feeling that she would always be affected by Harry Potter in ways that she didn't wish to be affected. "We aren't sure of all that he has suffered," she admitted.
"Arya saw him first, huddled by this tree," Daphne helped to explain. She ran forward to him first and then she called us over. He was wounded. It looked like a cutting hex had caught him on the side of his belly just there," she said and gently pointed to the sealed-up wound. "Lyra sealed his wound."
Harry looked at Lyra in surprise then, a question in those green eyes. She didn't know what the question was, but she chose to explain a little anyway.
"My mother taught me that healing spell years ago when she had to heal up yet another cut from my cousin, Nymphadora. Poor Dora is a formidable Witch, but she can be very clumsy."
"When you came upon us, we were just debating how to get him to Mr. Hagrid so he could help our new friend here," Arya added. "We don't think we can carry him, despite how light he must be due to malnourishment."
"So, you want to take him to Hagrid so that he'll help him?" Harry said even as he gently began to pet the dog. The dog responded well to him. He seemed happier with Harry there.
"Leaving him here will kill him," Lyra said simply. "If the elements don't do him in while he's like this then the villagers will. That cut was definitely from a wand," she told him. "He needs shelter and care. Mr. Hagrid is a kind soul, he'll be willing to help us take care of him," she said, and she was positive of that fact.
Mr. Rubeus Hagrid, the Head Groundskeeper of Hogwarts, now held the proud distinction of being the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor. Hagrid had been framed as the one who had opened the Chamber of Secrets when he was a teenager. He had been framed, if the papers were to be believed, by a young Voldemort who was also a student at Hogwarts at the time. Hagrid's wand had been snapped and he had been expelled from Hogwarts, no longer able to learn magic and no longer licensed to carry a wand. Of course, Albus Dumbledore had hired him to work as the Groundskeeper as soon as he had become the Headmaster of Hogwarts School. The previous year, Minister Fudge had insisted upon arresting Mr. Hagrid due to the Chamber of Secrets having been opened once more.
She shivered to think about what life must have been like for Mr. Hagrid. Magic coursing through his veins and unable to legally use it. Framed for a crime he didn't commit. It must have been horrible! Despite all of that, Mr. Hagrid was a kind-hearted person. He loved magical creatures and he loved the kids at Hogwarts. She was sure that he'd help them with their Grim.
Harry stared at her for a moment more before he slowly smiled at her. "You'll never get him out of Hogsmeade without half the village seeing and knowing where you are taking him. If they are really the ones who have hurt him, then they won't like that."
Lyra nodded. "Have you a better idea?" she asked him hoping that he was about to volunteer his help like she thought he would.
Harry didn't disappoint her. "I can carry him under the invisibility cloak."
Lyra smiled brightly at Harry then and a bit of color rose to his cheeks. It was probably from the cold, she decided. The dog let out a sort of huff that seemed like he was amused by the whole thing.
"We should walk close behind Potter," Daphne suggested. "Right on his heels or almost on his heels so that we can cover his tracks," she said.
Harry nodded his agreement at that.
"Remind me sometime Potter to teach you the spell to conceal your tracks in the snow," Lyra told him.
He looked at her with surprise in his eyes. "Sure," he said. "That would be great," he said. Then he arose and grabbed his invisibility cloak. "Why aren't you rushing off to tell one of the Professor's about me being here?" he asked them then.
Daphne giggled at that. Arya smiled at him as though he were terribly funny. Lyra sighed. "Potter, I'm not a tattle-tale, nor are Arya and Daphne. Furthermore, I don't like to be hypocritical," she said.
"What?" he asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know why you were not allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend and it isn't any of my business," she said. "But, if I were in your shoes, I would have wanted to go too and if I had a means to go undetected to just look around a bit like you obviously do, then I would have done it," she smiled at him. "So, I can't blame you. Besides, other than breaking a school rule, you aren't hurting anyone."
"Oh," he said simply and that was the end of it. He watched her curiously for another moment but then he surprised her by handing her the cloak. "Settle this over us once I have him settled in my arms," he told her.
"Right," she agreed and wasn't it crazy that she and Potter were being so amicable. They were working well together, so far.
She watched as he knelt to the dog. "Hey boy," he said gently. "I'm going to pick you up and carry you to our friend, Hagrid. He knows a great deal about animals and he'll be able to help take care of you."
The dog licked Harry's hand causing the Boy Who Lived to smile. It was, Lyra realized with a jolt, the first real smile she had seen from Potter this year. Harry then carefully picked up the dog and held him close in his arms. Arya helped Harry to settle the dog more comfortable for the long walk back to the castle.
Lyra smiled at Harry and he smiled back and nodded at her. That was enough, the signal to put the cloak over him. She put the cloak over his head and she and Daphne swiftly set about making sure that it would completely cover him.
"Lead the way, Harry, and we'll follow you and cover your tracks," Lyra promised.
"Right," he said and then he began walking. Lyra fell into step behind him along with Arya and Daphne. Both she and her sister were using magic to make all of Harry's steps disappear. Their own shuffled steps right behind him helped to obscure his tracks, but their spells were helping as well. Harry's foot size was larger than their own.
"Let's hope we don't run into Pansy on the way back," Daphne said.
"Don't borrow trouble," Lyra teased.
Arya frowned at that. "I thought you liked Pansy," she said.
"We do," Daphne was swift to assure. "She just wore us out with shopping this morning," she said with a long-suffering sigh. "She could live in a clothing store.
"No. She'd rather be draped in diamonds," Lyra said making the other to girls laugh and even Harry huffed out a muffled laugh. She felt a pleasing warmth rush through her at the knowledge that she had made Harry laugh.
It was a good stroke of fortune that allowed them to arrive at Rubeus Hagrid's hut without any of their various friends coming upon them. Lyra chose to take Harry's cloak off of him when they were nearing the door of the Gameskeeper's hut. There was no need to broadcast that Harry had an invisibility cloak if they didn't have to.
She swiftly folded up the cloak and then she knocked upon Hagrid's door. She heard his voice calling out that he'd be just a moment and then a few moments later the door was opened. Rubeus Hagrid blinked in confusion when he saw Harry Potter standing before him with a dog in his arms, flanked by the Malfoy twins and the Greengrass Heiress. Lyra thought it must have been a strange sight. No doubt, Mr. Hagrid was used to seeing Harry with his friends Granger and Weasley.
"Hi Hagrid," Harry said taking control of the conversation. "We need your help with this guy," he began.
"Oh," Hagrid said simply and then seemed to truly take notice of the poor creature held in Harry's arms. "Come in, come in," he said ushering them into his home.
Once they were inside, Lyra was once again grateful that Pansy had not been with them. It was a cozy little hut with many hand-made items. Lyra imagined that Mr. Hagrid either made them himself or he had to order them specially made due to his size. Considering that his salary wasn't very high, she thought he probably made them himself. This made Lyra more appreciative of the Half-Giant and the skills he must possess. Pansy would not have seen that. She would have sneered at how small the man's home was and she would have been rude to Mr. Hagrid.
"Where did ye find this poor fella?" Mr. Hagrid asked of Harry.
Harry opened his mouth to speak but Lyra swiftly cut him off. "My sister found him in the woods just outside of Hogsmeade Village," she declared.
Arya took that as her cue. "He was just lying there on the ground and he had a slash on his side. It looked like he had been hit with a slashing hex," she said saddened just by remembering it. "I called Lyra over since I knew that she could heal the poor thing," she said, and she reached for the dog again, gently petting him.
Lyra nodded when Mr. Hagrid looked at her. "My mother taught me how to heal cuts when I was younger," she said simply. "I healed him, but he's so malnourished and based on that cut alone I would say that some of the villagers were trying to run him off."
"Aye, that sounds abou righ," Hagrid said, nodding his head and his big hand gently went over the healed cut. "Terribly misunderstood creatures, Grims are," he told them. "Most think that they bring about death," he said.
"Death?" Harry asked curiously as he came forward to stand closer to the dog. This brought him up against Lyra, leaning slightly against her. She stole a glance at him and felt her face burn slightly before she looked away to focus on what Mr. Hagrid was telling them.
"Aye, Grims are associated with Death," the Half-Giant told them. "Many have twisted the legends of the Grims to mean death because death has often occurred when one sees a Grim."
"Then they do mean that someone will die?" Harry asked.
"Not necessarily," Lyra said. "What most of the legends focus on is the death of the offender, but many like to forget that the one who dies created a terrible offense," she told Harry, turning her gaze to study his face. "Grim's are protectors, Potter," she said gently. "They protect the good and they punish the profane. This Grim would have been a protector to the people of Hogsmeade and instead they abused him and turned him away," she said the last with disgust in her voice.
"Aye," Hagrid agreed as he gently looked at the dog. "It migh be a good omen tha this Grim is now here at Hogwarts, wha with Sirius Black on the loose," he said.
Lyra didn't disagree with him. Black was probably after Potter and she didn't want Black to get near Potter. Maybe the Grim was here to protect Harry? It was an interesting thought. Grims protected the good from the profane. Sirius Black had betrayed Harry's parents, he had betrayed James Potter whom he had once declared his sworn brother. He had betrayed his God-son into the hands of a Monster. There could be no worse profanity, surely.
"We couldn't just leave him. I don't think he would have survived the winter," Lyra admitted to Hagrid. "We were hoping that you would know how to take care of him and that you could teach us how so that we could help him get healthy again."
Arya nodded. "We intend to talk to our Heads of House about him and hopefully they'll understand that he needs help and would die if we left him alone out there."
"I intend to speak to Professor McGonagall as well," Harry added.
Arya smiled at him. "That is great. That is three Heads of House if we can convince them to see things our way," she said.
"It's not as if we are asking for him to reside in the Castle," Daphne said. "That would be wonderful, but he is rather large, and he might scare a few of the first years. He'll probably scare many of the types who believe in the stories about Grims," she added thoughtfully.
"I'll talk to tha Headmaster about him," Hagrid told them. "He can stay with me until he feels better and then he can live in the stable," he added. "I can teach a class on Grims and he'll help by being a present example. Not easy to find a Grim. They have ta be willing to come ta you," he told them.
Lyra felt relieved that Hagrid would go so far as to petition Dumbledore to allow the Grim sanctuary and to become part of his lesson plan. "That'll be good," she said. "Seeing how nice this guy is might help people to really pay attention to the lesson instead of just focus on the part about death."
"You kids go on and see if ya can talk to the Professor's," Hagrid told them. "I'll keep yer knew friend company and check 'im over for any internal bruising."
Arya beamed at him then. "Thank you so much, Mr. Hagrid," She said and then she stunned the Half-Giant by giving him a hug. Lyra fought the urge to snicker. The Half-Giant didn't seem to know what to make of a Malfoy hugging him.
Harry chuckled, his breath falling on her neck from his position behind her. It caused a shiver to race through her. Potter really didn't seem to care that he was in her personal space.
Arya swiftly let go of Mr. Hagrid and then looked at Lyra. "Should we divide and conquer or do we stick together and go from Head of House to Head of House?"
It was on the tip of Lyra's tongue to say divide to cover more ground more swiftly, but she hesitated. Potter was the wild card. She couldn't trust him to be cunning enough not to give away the fact that he had been in Hogsmeade. "Together," she decided.
"That's not necessary," Harry argued. "We could gather more ground if I just went to talk to Professor McGonagall and let you go to Professor Snape," he said.
Lyra turned fully to look at him and really, he was far too close. "Are you that afraid of Professor Snape?" she asked conveying both challenge and amusement to her tone of voice. Harry Potter always rose to a challenge.
"Of course not," he said as his eyes narrowed at her. "Good, then it is decided. "We'll go now and speak with Professor McGonagall," she told him.
Daphne smirked. "Better to get her on our side first. Then we can wrangle Professor Snape and then Professor Flitwick," she said.
"And if Professor Snape is annoyed that you went to McGonagall first?" Harry asked.
Lyra smiled sweetly at him. "Then I'll politely explain that we thought it best because she is the Deputy Headmistress and she would know best whether this was something that should be brought to the attention of the Headmaster," she said with an air of innocence that had Harry chuckling.
"Let's go," Daphne urged. "We should try the Professor's lounge first. With any luck, we'll catch several of the Professor's there together and we can tell all our targets at once," she said.
Lyra watched Harry nod his agreement. "Right," he agreed. "Come on then," he said, and he reached out and took Lyra's hand to lead her from the cabin. He seemed to realize he was holding her gloved hand after they had taken a few steps from the cabin and he slowly released it. "Er, sorry about that," he began.
"It's fine," she said swiftly feeling her cheeks grow warm. Really it was stupid. He hadn't even held her bare hand. He had just reached for her and it had seemed so natural. Like they were meant to touch, meant to reach out to each other. She shook the silly thoughts away and continued to walk beside Harry. "You were just trying to get me to hurry and you're right," she was mortified to find herself rambling. "The sooner we can talk to the Professors the sooner we can secure that the Grim can stay, at least until the end of the year."
"What do you mean until the end of the year?" Harry asked her.
"Well, he'll need a home," she said. "I cannot ask Mr. Hagrid to take care of him permanently because that might get expensive and it isn't fair for Mr. Hagrid to have to pay for his upkeep. I'll take care of it," she said with a slight wave of her hand. "I'll take him home with me to White Hall," she told Harry.
"White Hall?" he asked. "I thought you lived at Malfoy Manor?"
"White Hall is my mother's Dower Property," she explained to Harry. "It is my mother's home and my father does not have access to it. My sister's and I live there with my mother."
Harry frowned at that. "So, you don't live with your father?" he asked.
Lyra eyed him speculatively but decided to trust him with the truth. It wasn't as if most of the Slytherin's didn't already know anyway. "Due to the events of last year, my mother removed us to live at White Hall away from my father's influence," she told him. "She doesn't trust him with our safety and well-being."
He blinked at that and then his gaze turned thoughtful. "I have heard some pretty terrible things about your father," he hedged.
She frowned at that. "I don't know what all you have heard, Potter," she told him. "I would guess that less than half of it is true," she confided. "Lucius Malfoy is not a kind man and he's a blood-purist so that means he's a bigot," she told him plainly and really it felt liberating to share this point of view with Harry. "Many things that have been blamed on him had nothing to do with him," she added because she really did want Harry to understand a little bit about her father. "Oh, he's a dangerous dark wizard, but he isn't quite the monster he's painted out to be simply because they make it seem like he went out and viciously slaughtered families. My father isn't the sort of man to get his own hands dirty," she told Harry. "Last year was proof of that, don't you think?" she asked him.
He frowned at that but nodded his agreement. "I think he's a bit too clever to be caught. Even last year we couldn't have pinned the diary on him. There was no way to say that he had been the one to give it to Ginny," he said.
She nodded her head in agreement. "Exactly," she said. "Lucius is dangerous because he is so cunning and clever," she said with a sigh.
"I'm glad that you are away from him then," Harry said softly.
She glanced at him in surprise but didn't say anything more as they were nearing a few of the first and second years who were playing in the snow just outside the castle.
"Come on," Harry said. "Let's go explain ourselves to the Professor's," he said.
She nodded but then grabbed his hand and pulled him into an alcove a few moments after they entered the castle. "Wait!" she hissed softly as she pulled him into the alcove. "Here," she said pushing his folded invisibility cloak into his hands. "You really wouldn't want to lose this," she pointed out.
He nodded and smiled at her in gratitude. He shoved as much of it as he could into his coat pocket. "Thanks," he said.
"Be careful in how you use that," she told him. "Some are sensitive to magic and that cloak is magic."
He nodded and began to leave the alcove, but she put herself in his way to stop him. He gave her a look that she read all too easily. 'What now?'
Lyra leaned closer, settling into his personal space and she delighted in watching those green eyes go wide as she inched her lips closer to his. "Don't let them know you were in Hogsmeade," she whispered close to his lips. "We'll tell them that we found the dog in Hogsmeade and brought it to Hogwarts. If anyone asks about your part in the story, we'll say that you were gallant and carried the dog for us once we got the dog onto the school grounds. Agreed?"
Harry stared into her eyes a moment more before he slowly whispered. "Agreed."
"Good," she said and then she leaned back out of his personal space and turned away from the Alcove. She felt Potter beside her a moment later and she let the Golden Boy of Gryffindor House lead the way to the Professor's Lounge.
It has been too long since I have updated this story. It was so wonderful to write Lyra and Harry again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. Next chapter: Lyra, Harry, Arya, and Daphne talk with the Professor's.
