ICLYLM chapter 26: "Excelsior"
[A/N: Jeffrey Barnes, who is acquitting himself quite nicely, appears through the gracious permission of his creator, Raven Dancer... Raven, stop reading my stuff and go finish the next chapter of APTBB!
Ms. Ivanova, glad to have you aboard. Here we go again...]
They had no choice. Both Jeffrey Barnes and Snuffles raced toward the noise coming from near what they both knew to be the entrance to the basement. Had Voldemort returned? The guard somehow awakened? They braced themselves for anything... except what met their eyes when they got there.
Brownie and Blackie were untangling themselves from part of a window and frame. It looked very much as if they had both jumped through the window. Meanwhile Ripper was bouncing up and down outside the window trying to get high enough to get through.
Snuffles barked in surprise.
"Heard noise, came to help." Blackie said simply.
Brownie nudged the unconscious Phoebe, "This one from your man-pack?" Brownie questioned.
"Yes. This one, too. I need to get them away from this bad place," Snuffles said.
Jeffrey looked at the scene before him in bewilderment. All the dogs seemed to be talking to one another. Well, almost all of them. The little one was still bouncing up and down and yipping outside. Damn, these had to be the smartest dogs he'd ever seen. It was like something out of a Walt Disney Film. No one would ever believe this.
Before he could contemplate this further, Phoebe's breathing took on a distinct high-pitched wheeze. Her airway was beginning to close. He needed to move. He bent down and grasped the witch under her arms and began to pull. Days without much food or sleep had taken their toll and he found it a harder job than he expected. The large dark dog who had come to the dining room immediately grabbed some of Phoebe's robes in his mouth and began to pull in the direction Jeffrey was.
He made a muffled bark through a mouth full of fabric and the other two dogs did the same. It was in this manner they made their way out of the house and began to move across the garden lawn. The dark dog let go of Phoebe's robes for just a moment to bark sharply, taking them in his mouth again and pulling hard toward the left. Jeffrey just followed the dog's lead. "If he's not an animagus," the healer thought, "I'm going to feel a right idiot later."
Lupin spotted it first... the strange dark thing moving slowly across the lawn. It was hunched over and seemed to have too many legs... and a few tails! Lupin shook his head in hopes of clearing it just as a small terrier mutt came zipping round the corner of the house rushing past the odd creature toward Dumbledore and himself. Of course... those were dogs and... A person! One person dragging another!
Albus, look! he hissed. The Headmaster spared the moving figures only a slight glance before turning his attention back to his wand and the invisible impenetrable wall. "Be ready," the older wizard said tensely, "It will b a small hole and it won't last long."
Lupin watched the headmaster and the moving figures tensely, his head turning from one to the other as if he were at a tennis match. His hand played nervously along his wand and he tried not to fidget with the tension and inactivity. He wanted to scream to both Albus and Barnes to hurry but he knew that would not help.
As the healer drew close Lupin recognized Snuffles and two dogs he dd not know helping Barnes to pull Taylor toward them. He itched to help, but knew it was no good. The little dog wanted to help, too. It kept latching on to Taylor's robes next to Snuffles, and giving a tug only to give up, race to the wall and Lupin, and return to try again. They were nearly abreast of them when Dumbledore called out in a strained voice. "Remus, I need your help," he gasped, "Aim 'excelsior' at this spot." The headmaster used his head to indicate the place his own wand was pointing. Lupin mustered all the strength he could and aimed his wand at the tip of Albus' yelling "Excelsior!" As he did Dumbledore's twitching wand began to move slowly upward with sharp jerking motions as sweat poured from the headmaster.
"Here!" He called hoarsely, "Jeffrey through here, hurry!" The older wizard was now quaking visibly with the effort and Lupin began to feel the effects of the charm as well. He wand felt as if it were made of tons of steel and an invisible hand seemed to be pressing his wand downward even as he struggled to bring it up. A voice seemed to whisper in his ear. "It's too heavy, let go... just let go..." Remus felt his hands go slick with sweat as his body, too, began to quake. Dark spots were beginning to gather at the edge of his vision when he suddenly felt as if something very large had slammed him in the chest, knocking him down to the cold, hard ground.
He struggled to find his feet and pull himself up even as he looked about desperately. There! Three figures seemed tangled in an untidy heap as the dogs nudged them urgently. The small dog ran up to him yipping like mad. Remus shook his head, what did it want?
For his part, Ripper was growing panicky... he was shouting it over and over but the man didn't understand. "The Bad men are coming, the bad men are coming!" He turned back to Snuffles, "Can't you make them understand?" he barked. Snuffles then did something strange, he turned into a man! Ripper stopped barking in shock. Brownie said "Ah" and Blackie muttered, "Of course.".
Snuffles the man was lying on the ground. He called out to the man Ripper was trying to talk to who rushed over and waved his stick at the other three. All of them seemed to regain their senses somewhat. The man spoke with them urgently shaking his stick. One of them handed the female they'd been dragging a stick and she raised it weakly and disappeared. The other two men did the same. It was just Snuffles and the other man, now. They were arguing and Snuffles rolled over turning back into a dog and growling at the other man who gave him a strange, lost look, and disappeared with a wave of his stick.
"Comeon!" Ripper heard Blackie call to Brownie as he took hold of Snuffles' collar with his mouth. Brownie did likewise and they began to half-drag the exhausted animal toward the garden shed. Snuffles tried his best to walk and Ripper ran over to give him a push from below. Wizards began appearing and rushing toward the place the other humans had been just as the dogs managed to drag Snuffles in to the shed and into a corner full of mouldy burlap sacks.
A terrible ruckus ensued from the house soon after, but Snuffles had fallen into a deep sleep and the other dogs had settled down to watch over him and wait for the humans in the house to calm down.
