The Singing Dog
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC.
Jack noticed in excitement that the students had returned. 'Perhaps, one of them has a dog familiar,' he thought, hoping for the best. The only canine in the castle apart from himself was Inu, the familiar of Harry Potter. However, when he had approached him to tell him who he was, the imbecile had simply replied that he did not believe him, because he didn't have magic and was a simple muggle dog. When he had demanded that Inu should ask Harry to relay his words to Professor McGonagall, the canine had begun to growl at him. Scared, Albus had fled from the hostile Crup, knowing that it was a dangerous species that was said to hold no love for muggles. 'Even if I'm not a muggle, let alone a dog,' he thought, feeling extremely sorry for himself.
He even tried to call Fawkes, his phoenix, or Twinkle, his house-elf; however, neither of them had heard him, probably due to the lack of his magic. During the holidays, he had even spent much time near the entrance to the kitchens, hoping that one or the other house-elf would somehow be able to help him and call Twinkle for him. However, the elves had merely fed him once a day, for which Jack was grateful, but had not even tried to communicate with him.
In lack of any other ally, Jack had approached Mrs. Norris. While she was a cat and as such unable to communicate with him, once again due to the lack of magic on both sides, they enjoyed each other's presence and spent much time roaming the castle together and even cuddling with each other.
Now that the students were back, he could not freely roam the castle anymore, afraid that someone might recognise him and take him back to Marge Dursley. 'I don't want to return to her. Hogwarts is my right place to be, even if it's as headmaster and not as a stray muggle dog,' he thought in annoyance.
Apparently, Mrs. Norris soon became used to the fact that he only appeared in the halls during class time, and they regularly went for afternoon strolls through the castle or over the grounds together.
It was a few weeks after the beginning of the school year, when Jack and Mrs. Norris were roaming the second floor during the last afternoon class, that Jack got a big fright. He noticed a puddle of water in front of an unused bathroom and, curious as they were, they eagerly went to explore. However, all of a sudden, he saw the reflection of two big yellow eyes in the water, before the world around him faded into non-existence.
HP
When the last afternoon class was over and the Hufflepuff second-years returned from the Transfiguration classroom to their common room, one of the corridors was blocked by a large group of students and teachers.
'What happened?' Harry wondered, however, was unable to see anything through the assembled crowd.
"What happened?"
Harry did not know who asked; however, he heard his father's voice reply. "Apparently, Mrs. Norris and Jack have been petrified. We do not know, however, how."
"Look!"
Everyone turned their gaze after Draco's outstretched finger. Only now did Harry notice a writing on the wall. It looked as if it had been written in blood and stated that the enemies of the heir should beware and that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Harry stared at the writing in bewilderment.
"Everyone, please return to your common rooms. If someone has seen anything strange, please inform one of the professors." His father's voice was strict and made clear that he would not tolerate any disobedience, causing everyone to hurry back to their common rooms right away.
During the hour before dinner, the event remained the main topic, and Harry was extremely grateful, when his Ravenclaw classmate, Hermione Granger, rose from her chair and spoke up during dinner.
"Excuse me, Professors, but what exactly is the Chamber of Secrets?"
The Great Hall turned absolutely silent, and the headmistress slowly stood from her chair. Harry noticed that she seemed absolutely horrified, when she explained to them what was known about Salazar Slytherin's chamber and the so-called monster that was said to be living there.
HP
During the following weeks, several attacks occurred, and even students became petrified in spite of the fact that the attacks always took place during the last afternoon class.
Professor Trelawney was not so lucky. It was two days before the beginning of the Christmas holidays that Mr. Filch found the Divination professor lying on the bottom of the stairs leading to her classroom.
At dinner the same day, the headmistress announced that all students had to return to their homes during the holidays. "If you have nowhere to go, please contact me, and I'll see what I can do. Professor Trelawney was found dead earlier today, and I have contacted the Ministry of Magic and asked that they send Aurors to Hogwarts who will help the professors search the school."
Harry stared at the older students in disbelief, when one of the sixth-years spoke up. "She always predicted my death. I wonder why she could not predict her own."
"Luna," he addressed the girl, who was wearing a forlorn expression, "do you want to return home with us instead of remaining at Hogwarts and only visiting? Your mum will have to help the other professors anyway."
Luna returned a soft smile. "Thank you, Harry. Yes, I'd like that very much. Will your parents be all right to have me there the whole time though?"
"Of course."
"My birth parents are still living there, too." Neville smiled. "It will be much fun."
Harry agreed, knowing that his twin was afraid that his birth parents would decide to move to Longbottom Manor and take him with them. 'I wonder if Dad will have to search the castle with the other professors,' he thought; however, knew that it was probably unavoidable. 'At least, he'll be at home during the evenings,' he reassured himself.
HP
Not only Severus and Luna's mother, but also Frank and Lucius joined the other professors to search Hogwarts on a daily basis, except for Christmas Day, which they decided to spend with their families. When they returned home in the evenings, Harry noticed that his father seemed to be frustrated.
"What a waste of time," he heard him say to his mother. "The castle has been searched so often during the last centuries. What has changed to make them believe that we'd be able to find anything now? Sirius is among the Aurors who are helping with the search by the way."
"Dad?" Harry cast his father a sharp look. "Please tell Sirius to not forget to visit on Christmas Day."
His father rolled his eyes in apparent annoyance. "Has he ever forgotten to visit you?"
"No." Harry grinned, as he thought of his and Neville's funny godfather, who could turn into a dog like himself.
"Never." Neville agreed, chuckling.
HP
On Christmas Day, even Minerva joined them – much to the children's happiness.
"Granny Minerva?" Alex cast the headmistress a questioning look, when the conversation once again revolved around the so-called Chamber of Secrets. "Is there no portrait of Salazar Slytherin anywhere in the castle?"
'He's right,' Harry thought, looking at his younger brother in amazement.
"As far as I know, there is none. Severus, was there any portrait of him in Slytherin house?"
"No. Unfortunately not. There are many things, which I'd like to discuss with him apart from the so-called monster in his private rooms, but I have not discovered a portrait of him yet."
"You'd need Albus' expertise to deal with this." Augusta Longbottom let out a deep sigh.
"And why might that be?" Lily's voice was extraordinarily sharp.
Minerva shook her head. "Do you remember when the chamber was opened the first time and Myrtle was killed? She was our classmate," she explained to everyone else. "Albus was there, and he did not have a clue how to stop the attacks or where the chamber was either."
HP
Later the same evening, when the twins were in bed, Jacqueline whispered to her brother. "Jaime?"
"Jac?"
"Do you think the events at Hogwarts could have something to do with the book that Mireille is always writing in, considering that Draco said it probably was a dark artefact?"
Jaime sat up in apparent excitement. "Do you think that Mireille has been lying to us and instead of returning home like she told us she spent the afternoons at Hogwarts? I thought it was strange that she was never with us when the attacks occurred."
"She wouldn't do such a thing though."
"Oh well, that's true, too."
The twins decided to keep quiet about the matter, however, closely observe their best friend once the primary school was going to commence again.
HP
From January onwards, several Aurors were stationed in the school, and Harry and Neville felt excited at the thought of having their funny godfather at Hogwarts.
At the welcoming feast, Minerva explained that the school had been thoroughly searched, however, to no avail. "Please see to it that you're not alone in the halls, and don't rely on the fact that so far all attacks have occurred during the last afternoon class. It could very well happen at other times. If you have a free period during the afternoon, please stay in your common room, the library or the Great Hall. Do not roam the corridors if you can avoid it. If another person dies, the school will have to be closed."
Harry was outright shocked. "We need to warn the twins," he whispered to his brother. "They sometimes roam the halls after their last afternoon class."
The primary school usually ended, just when the students' last afternoon class began, and Harry and Neville sometimes met with their younger siblings, before they used their father's shortcut to return home.
Neville nodded in understanding. "We could just ask Dad to tell them to go home right away."
"Ah, that's true, and he'll tell them anyway. They also have to take Alex with them, so that nothing will happen to him."
HP
During the following week, nothing happened, however, one day at the beginning of February, Mireille once again told the twins that she was not going to accompany them to their home but would go straight home.
The twins feigned understanding, however, instead of returning home, transformed into their crocosaurus forms and immediately turned themselves invisible. They followed Mireille into an unused classroom, quickly pressing themselves through the half open door, before she firmly closed it. Observing how their friend pulled a black book out of her bag, they readied themselves for a longer wait. However, it only took a few minutes for Mireille to leave the classroom glancing at the book, which she held open in front of her.
They followed her into what seemed to be a girls' toilet, where she was greeted by a ghost.
'That must be Moaning Myrtle,' Jacqueline thought, recalling that Luna had told her about a ghost who was roaming the girls' toilets.
The twins observed in shock how an older boy manifested out of the book and was suddenly standing in front of Mireille. Without even talking to her, he hissed at a sink. "Open."
'Was that Parseltongue?' Jacqueline wondered, knowing that neither she nor Jaime were able to understand Parseltongue. 'Apparently, in our Animagi forms we can understand it,' she thought with a combination of surprise and excitement.
Somehow, she had a bad feeling towards the boy, which was not only due to the fact that he had simply manifested out of a book. It was a feeling that connected to the scar under her left foot. Even if the healers had told them and their parents multiple times that their scars were just simple curse scars, Jaime and she were able to sense evil. 'It feels like the possessing spirit of Quirrell last year,' she thought, horrified.
'Jaime and I really need to learn telepathy,' she resolved, glancing at her brother, who slithered ahead to follow their friend and the unknown boy into an opening that had replaced the sink. She quickly followed him with mixed feelings. On the one hand, her mind screamed for her to go home; however, on the other hand, she felt safer in her twin brother's company as if she returned through the empty halls on her own.
She slithered behind the others, feeling frightened upon realising that the path, which was lying completely in the dark steadily led downwards. It was not very surprising, when they finally arrived in what seemed to be a large dungeon room.
To her immense shock, Mireille was lying on the floor, unmoving, with the black book lying next to her. The boy, who had come out of the book, completely ignored her and began to shout in the same hissing voice that they had heard before.
"Large sssnake, familiar of Ssslytherin the greatesssst of the founderssss of Hogwartsss, come out and ssspeak to me."
Jacqueline and Jaime remained in a distance and quietly watched the happenings, occasionally glancing at Mireille, who did not move from where she was. 'I hope she'll be all right,' Jacqueline thought, when something caught her attention.
A snake, a huge snake, appeared and slithered over to where the boy was standing.
"What do you want, Sssspeaker?"
"I have met you before, and I am your massster. Now, go out into Hogwartssss and kill the muggleborn studentsss."
"No, you're not my massster. My Salazzzzar wassss a good wizzzzard. He never made me kill anyone. He wassss the besssst."
"I am your massster. Go and kill the mudbloodssss."
Jaime suddenly slithered forward, and Jacqueline instinctively followed him over to where the boy was standing hissing at the large reptile. Together, they sank their poisonous teeth into his legs, before they quickly retreated and observed in horror how he took his last breath.
While Jaime turned to the snake and spoke with her, Jacqueline hurried over to Mireille, who to her relief, seemed to be in the process of waking up. She swiftly transformed into her human form. "Mireille, are you all right?"
"Jac, don't look at the basilisk or you will die." Jaime sounded as if he was in full panic mode. The basilisk told me that. She seems very nice. You can only look at her in your Animagus form. I' going to transform back now."
"Jaime, we need to take Mireille away from here. Tell the snake that we'll come back to visit her later today or tomorrow."
To her relief, her brother immediately agreed, and they coaxed Mireille to follow them.
"We won't be able to return to where we came from. The basilisk told me to take this way. Her name is Amaterasu by the way. I promised her that we'll come back in our Animagi forms tomorrow afternoon."
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at home with a sobbing Mireille in tow, the black book lying forgotten in the Chamber of Secrets. At the same time, Amaterasu was having a feast with the body of a sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle.
HP
"What happened?" Alice and Alex, who were just playing Wizard's Chess together, abandoned their game and hurried over.
"I'll fetch Dad." Jaime hurried to the lab, while Jacqueline quickly explained to Alice and Alex.
"A man came out of the black book Mireille was writing into, and he did all the bad things that happened at Hogwarts."
"I'm so sorry." Mireille continued sobbing.
"It's not your fault." Alice's voice was soft and calming, causing Mireille to cry even more, only to look up upon hearing her godfather's strict voice.
"What is so important that you had to disturb me in the lab?"
"Mireille, do you want me to explain?" Jacqueline gave her best friend a sharp look and, when Mireille nodded, turned to her father and explained everything that happened.
Her father remained quiet for an instant, before he cast them a look of pure disbelief. "Mireille, did I understand this correctly? You found a book in your father's dungeons, wrote into it and did not even tell any of us if a man emerged from the book making a basilisk attack and kill people?"
Mireille shook her head. "No, Uncle Severus, I don't know what happened. I wrote into the book, and Tom replied. He knew so many things, and it was awesome talking to him. I haven't seen him come out of the book. I only noticed that I was missing things. Whenever the attacks happened, I didn't know where I had been. I didn't think I was doing anything bad."
Severus nodded in apparent understanding. "The Tom person you were communicating with was the Dark Lord." Ignoring the children's collective gasp, he continued, "I believe that I don't have to tell you how stupid you were. Please remember for the future to not trust an item, which operates on magic that is not visible. Do you understand me?" He quirked an eyebrow at his goddaughter.
Mireille nodded. "Yes sir. Thank you, Uncle Severus."
"Dad?" Jacqueline looked at Jaime in expectation. "It was all right that Jac and I killed him, wasn't it? He was trying to send the basilisk to kill even more people."
Her father's expression softened some. "Yes, Jacqueline and Jaime, that was very well done. Now, where is this book? Give it to me." He demandingly held out his hand.
The twins exchanged a glance. "Sorry Dad, we left it in the chamber."
"Let's go. Show me the way. Mireille, you may remain here with Aunt Alice. Alice, would you please call Narcissa over and tell her what happened?"
"Of course," the witch replied, already heading to the fireplace, while the twins and their father returned to Hogwarts through the connecting door with Alex running behind them.
tbc... ?
Are you still interested?
Thank you so much for your kind words on the previous chapter. Please tell me what you think about this chapter and what you expect from this story.
