Hello, all! This idea's one I've been kicking around in my drafts for months, but the recent events being what they are have left me a lot of time to do little else but write so here it is finally completed. There are six chapters including this one, and I will upload the remaining five on each following Saturday. Hopefully by the end of this, things worldwide will have changed for the better.

I want to thank the Ginny Lover's Discord server for their continual support, even when I go months without writing HP-related things they are always so willing to provide encouragement and to reach out. I hope you all enjoy, and thanks for reading.

-RayWritesThings

Dog's Best Friend
Chapter One

Rubeus shrunk in on himself as best he could manage as the boat stopped against the rock with a bump. The choppy water made it nearly impossible for him to climb onto land — and he didn't much want to besides — but the chain to his shackles was pulled by the two Aurors bringing him here.

Here being Azkaban Prison, of course.

With his very first step onto the rock the fortress sat, Rubeus felt the temperature drop several degrees. The magic of the Dementors at work. Rare was it for Rubeus to meet a creature or beast he didn't like, but the Dementors were no such thing. They were a force of utter despair.

He still didn't understand. Didn't he get a trial or anything? He'd known all of them at the school believed he did it the first time, but that wasn't grounds for imprisonment. If only Professor Dumbledore weren't being sabotaged by that Lucius Malfoy, he was sure the Headmaster would've done something.

Those poor kids at the school, no one to protect them from whatever the real Heir was using to petrify all those people. At least Harry and Ron would know he was innocent once they went to see Aragog. They might remember him better, then. And once Hermione was woken up with all the other victims, they could tell her, too. He'd never hurt any of them. Never!

One of the Aurors guarding him had his wand out, a silvery light emitting from it. About the only thing keeping the Dementors at bay, he could only imagine. As they entered the prison, he thought he heard something. "...Rubeus."

"What?" He jerked his head around.

"Keep walking," the wizard at his left elbow said, shoving him.

"Thought I heard summat—"

"Stop dawdling!" The wizards' teeth were chattering, and he supposed they were as eager to leave as he was. Except he wasn't going to, and a fresh wave of despair washed over him.

He heard the voice again. "Come on, Rubeus…" And he knew that voice.

"Show yerself!" He growled.

"Losing his mind already," one of the Aurors remarked. "Must not be made of much, giants."

"Get him in the cell."

"Right."

He was steered around down some steps into darkness. Even he was shivering now, and it was hard to see through the mist that seemed to cloud over everything.

"Got a special place for you. Had to find a big enough space, first, but you should find it quieter down here. Just don't get him talking."

Rubeus shook his head to clear it, blinking around at the space. Two cells, one far larger than the other. He could just make out a figure resting in the corner furthest from them. Only a number of bars separated them when Hagrid was shut inside his own cell. An empty cell.

"There's no bed or nothing!"

"You won't need one soon enough," an Auror told him. "Trust me, Hagrid. Do your best to make it a short stay."

"Come on, back to the boat," the other Auror grumbled at his partner. "I hate Azkaban duty."

"Well I don't much like it neither!" Rubeus called after their retreating backs. The silvery light went with them, and if anything, the cold and the wind got even worse. A bit of sea spray flew in from the tiny window set high in his cell and soaked his hair. He staggered out of the path of that and shook his head to send the droplets flying.

"Hagrid…"

"Huh?" He looked around, but that hadn't been Tom Riddle's voice this time. There was still something familiar to it though. He looked across at the occupant of the other cell, who had looked up. "Yeh know me?"

"Can't imagine anyone who's passed through Hogwarts in the last fifty years doesn't know you," the man in the cell said. His voice was incredibly hoarse, as though he hadn't had much to say or to drink in a terribly long time. He shifted forward onto all fours before rising up to a decent height for a regular wizard, and his limbs looked practically skeletal. Dark hair, long and scraggly, hung around his shoulders and his gray eyes stared out of a waxen, sunken face. "What did they get you on? Dragon possession at last?"

"They haven' got nothin'," Rubeus replied vehemently. The closer the man drew, the more he struck him as familiar, and every bit of sense in him told him he ought to run. But there was nowhere to go; he'd been locked in.

"Innocent? That's good. It'll go a long way for you in here." The man leaned against the bars separating their cells. "Trust me, I should know after eleven years."

"No." Rubeus swayed on his feet as it suddenly came to him. That emaciated man couldn't be who he thought! "Yer not—"

The gaunt face of Sirius Black smiled up at him. "Hello, Hagrid. Been a bit, hasn't it?"