(Standard disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything but Fidelis and the plot, such as it is. The story takes place in Harry's fifth year, in the fall of 1995. CC)
Canis Minor, Canis Major
Professor Dumbledore sat at his ornate desk, his long beard brushing the top thereof, and smiled at Professor Snape. "It's been a very interesting and rewarding day, hasn't it, Severus?", he said.
"Indeed it has been, Headmaster."
The two of them were, aside from Fidelis, alone in Dumbledore's office. The other participants in the meeting had long since left, but Snape and his pet had lingered.
It had been decided by the small gathering of select teachers and students, that in order to preserve the Potions master's outward reputation as a nasty, the fifty points each awarded to Fred and George Weasley would be given "for special services to the school". That would be the official story, and the faculty members present -- Binns, McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape -- would all hold to it when questioned. The unofficial story, as told by the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione, would be that Fred and George were really being rewarded for doing something no one besides the Bloody Baron had ever been able to do: control Peeves.
Either story would be preferable to letting the Slytherins, too many of whom were junior Death Eaters, know the truth: either that a group of Gryffindors had, by giving Snape a gift, inadvertently saved his life, or that Snape had actually rewarded the Gryffindors in question by giving them house points.
"Layers within layers," Dumbledore said aloud, uncannily echoing Snape's own thoughts. "I think it would prove profitable to take the events of the day and examine them in the Pensieve," said Dumbledore, rising to his feet. "If you would permit me, Severus?"
"But of course, Headmaster."
The two of them crossed over to the cabinet where Dumbledore's Pensieve was stored. Dumbledore opened the cabinet and retrieved the liquid-filled bowl, then tipped his wand to his head, pulling out the silvery strands that were the magically-tangible records of his thoughts and memories of the meeting that had just occurred.
For some time, both men gazed into the waters of the Pensieve, studying different parts of the meeting; Snape was particularly interested in any clue that might indicate whether Fred and George Weasley had told the whole truth when they said that they had only cast two spells on Fidelis.
But at length, both Dumbledore and Snape decided they had gleaned what they could, and Dumbledore once again closed the cabinet door upon the Pensieve.
Neither of them realized that a pair of small puppy-dog eyes had been watching, with intense fascination, their every move.
=====
With a sigh of relief, Severus Snape shut the doors to his chambers. Everything had been resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and he was able to pay off a debt of honor to the Weasley twins without arousing suspicions from the Slytherins.
For the Slytherins' ears, Professor Snape had decided that he would officially describe Fidelis as an unauthorized magical dog confiscated from that wretched little Gryffindor rule-breaker, Hermione Granger. Snape smiled his standard thin, bitter smile. Of course it would never occur to most Slytherins that Granger never really broke many rules at all; they would just be glad to see her taken down a peg, and his reputation as being tough on all Gryffindors would be upheld.
He set Fidelis down by Fidelis' small bed, improvised out of sheets from Snape's own bed, after first making sure that a fresh set of Daily Prophets had been laid on the floor; Fidelis, being a puppy after all, could not sleep straight through the night without needing to relieve himself somewhere. Snape would have let the small dog be with him in the big bed, but he was afraid that he might accidentally crush Fidelis by rolling onto him in his sleep. Severus Snape tended to toss and turn a great deal, as he fought off the monsters, human and otherwise, he encountered in his dreams.
"Nox," he said, after both he and his dog were both tucked away for the night, and the candles extinguished themselves.
"Good night, Fidelis." He stifled a yawn.
"Rrriiifff!"
Professor Snape generally did not find it easy to fall straight asleep. That night, he was snoring within fifteen minutes of his head hitting the pillow.
And for the first time in many, many years, his sleep was free of monsters.
=====================
Fidelis was awake long after his master had fallen asleep. There was so much to see, he thought as he lay curled up in his bed. So many new friends to meet, so many fascinating byways to explore. Sleep? Sleep was impossible, not with so much of the wide world still unexplored.
The room where his master's own wonderful old master, Dumbledore, lived -- that was an interesting room, all sunlit and multicolored. And that large bowl of water was intriguing. He was used to the idea of drinking from bowls of water; putting things into bowls of water was another matter entirely. And putting one's thoughts into water, so that one could see them, was another matter yet.
Fidelis twitched uneasily. He didn't want to betray his master's trust in him. Yet the vision of that large bowl of water was too strong a lure, and eventually won out.
Well, thought Fidelis, Master didn't actually tell me to stay in my bed tonight. And if I'm back before sunrise, he'll never know I was gone. Now if I can remember the way...
==================
Fidelis padded silently through the halls of Hogwarts, his eyes peering through the gloom.
He hated to admit it, but he was now thoroughly lost. He had given up on finding Dumbledore's office and was now trying to retrace his footsteps back to his master's chambers. If only those staircases would stay put...
Ah, he thought, seeing a familiar stone-walled corridor, at last I am nearing my master's rooms! Just behind the door there...
Fidelis nudged the door open and bounded happily over the threshold.
It wasn't until he was well beyond it, and the door shut firmly and irrtrievably behind him, that he realized he had somehow gone outside the castle.
===============
Sirius Black, in dog form, chewed a Norway rat almost absentmindedly as he pondered his situation.
Tonight, he had tried one spectacular gambit to bring Peter Pettigrew into his clutches. But the lure hadn't worked. There was no Wormtail to meet him, here near the Whomping Willow. Pettigrew had somehow seen through the plan.
A small rustle from behind him interrupted his thoughts. He turned around in a flash, spitting the rat out as he moved, and lightly yet firmly trapped the rustling creature between his front paws. Got you, Peter! he thought triumphantly.
But when Sirius opened his paws to look at his prize, he saw that it was not Peter Pettigrew in his rat form, but in fact a very small, bramble-covered, and very tired King Charles spaniel puppy.
Sirius was so astonished that he resumed his human form, just so he could pick up the wee thing in his hands. The puppy, too cold and tired to be startled at his transformation, gratefully licked his fingers as he read the small heart-shaped tag attached to its left ear.
In all his life, Sirius had never seen a dog this small, nor one with a paper tag attached to its left ear. "A magical dog, I see -- and one that began life as a Muggle toy," Sirius said aloud; he had traveled enough in the Muggle world to recognize the Ty Beanie Baby tag.
He noticed that the tag had been coated with a clear, waterproof substance, but not before someone had crossed out the word "Regal" and substituted "Fidelis" in a thin, spidery hand.
"So your name is Fidelis," he said, smiling down at the small puppy dog, whose tail was now wagging as fast as a Snitch's wings fluttered. "You're a cute little thing. Who is your master, Fidelis?" asked Sirius, though he didn't really expect the dog to answer him.
However, he was mistaken, for immediately Fidelis piped up, in a high-pitched puppy voice: "Snnnnaaaappe!"
"Whaaatt!?" Sirius barked, then looked at the little dog and frowned. "So you can talk!"
"Riiifffff!" replied Fidelis, for he had not known he could talk, himself, until just now.
"And Severus Snape is your master?"
"Rrrrriffff!", barked Fidelis, his tail wagging ever-faster.
Sirius was thunderstruck. "How did that come about?!?!"
"Rrressent!", answered Fidelis, his brown eyes shining.
"You were a present given to him?"
"Rrrriifff!"
"By whom?"
"Rrrranger!"
Sirius was puzzled for a moment; then it hit him. "Hermione Granger?"
"Rrrriiffff!", replied Fidelis, his tail wagging.
"Ah, that at least makes some sense," replied Sirius, scratching Fidelis under his chin. "I can easily see Hermione giving Snape a gift such as you." He stroked the little dog's fur, gently pulling out the brambles. "What are you doing out here?"
"Waaaooooost!", cried Fidelis, his brown puppy eyes suddenly moist.
"You got lost?"
"Rrrriffff!"
"Would you like to go home?"
"RRRRIIIFFF!"
"Then come with me, little friend. There must be some hope for that slimy git yet, if he can have a dog like you for a pet."
Sirius carefully placed the tiny canine on the nape of his neck. Fidelis understood what Sirius wanted him to do, and gripped it tight, even after Sirius resumed his dog-shape. They bounded over the moonlit grounds together, entering the secret tunnel, and into Hogwarts castle.
And so it was that, when Severus Snape awoke later that morning, he found his dog safely tucked into his own doggie-bed, just as he had left him, and was none the wiser.
Canis Minor, Canis Major
Professor Dumbledore sat at his ornate desk, his long beard brushing the top thereof, and smiled at Professor Snape. "It's been a very interesting and rewarding day, hasn't it, Severus?", he said.
"Indeed it has been, Headmaster."
The two of them were, aside from Fidelis, alone in Dumbledore's office. The other participants in the meeting had long since left, but Snape and his pet had lingered.
It had been decided by the small gathering of select teachers and students, that in order to preserve the Potions master's outward reputation as a nasty, the fifty points each awarded to Fred and George Weasley would be given "for special services to the school". That would be the official story, and the faculty members present -- Binns, McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape -- would all hold to it when questioned. The unofficial story, as told by the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione, would be that Fred and George were really being rewarded for doing something no one besides the Bloody Baron had ever been able to do: control Peeves.
Either story would be preferable to letting the Slytherins, too many of whom were junior Death Eaters, know the truth: either that a group of Gryffindors had, by giving Snape a gift, inadvertently saved his life, or that Snape had actually rewarded the Gryffindors in question by giving them house points.
"Layers within layers," Dumbledore said aloud, uncannily echoing Snape's own thoughts. "I think it would prove profitable to take the events of the day and examine them in the Pensieve," said Dumbledore, rising to his feet. "If you would permit me, Severus?"
"But of course, Headmaster."
The two of them crossed over to the cabinet where Dumbledore's Pensieve was stored. Dumbledore opened the cabinet and retrieved the liquid-filled bowl, then tipped his wand to his head, pulling out the silvery strands that were the magically-tangible records of his thoughts and memories of the meeting that had just occurred.
For some time, both men gazed into the waters of the Pensieve, studying different parts of the meeting; Snape was particularly interested in any clue that might indicate whether Fred and George Weasley had told the whole truth when they said that they had only cast two spells on Fidelis.
But at length, both Dumbledore and Snape decided they had gleaned what they could, and Dumbledore once again closed the cabinet door upon the Pensieve.
Neither of them realized that a pair of small puppy-dog eyes had been watching, with intense fascination, their every move.
=====
With a sigh of relief, Severus Snape shut the doors to his chambers. Everything had been resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and he was able to pay off a debt of honor to the Weasley twins without arousing suspicions from the Slytherins.
For the Slytherins' ears, Professor Snape had decided that he would officially describe Fidelis as an unauthorized magical dog confiscated from that wretched little Gryffindor rule-breaker, Hermione Granger. Snape smiled his standard thin, bitter smile. Of course it would never occur to most Slytherins that Granger never really broke many rules at all; they would just be glad to see her taken down a peg, and his reputation as being tough on all Gryffindors would be upheld.
He set Fidelis down by Fidelis' small bed, improvised out of sheets from Snape's own bed, after first making sure that a fresh set of Daily Prophets had been laid on the floor; Fidelis, being a puppy after all, could not sleep straight through the night without needing to relieve himself somewhere. Snape would have let the small dog be with him in the big bed, but he was afraid that he might accidentally crush Fidelis by rolling onto him in his sleep. Severus Snape tended to toss and turn a great deal, as he fought off the monsters, human and otherwise, he encountered in his dreams.
"Nox," he said, after both he and his dog were both tucked away for the night, and the candles extinguished themselves.
"Good night, Fidelis." He stifled a yawn.
"Rrriiifff!"
Professor Snape generally did not find it easy to fall straight asleep. That night, he was snoring within fifteen minutes of his head hitting the pillow.
And for the first time in many, many years, his sleep was free of monsters.
=====================
Fidelis was awake long after his master had fallen asleep. There was so much to see, he thought as he lay curled up in his bed. So many new friends to meet, so many fascinating byways to explore. Sleep? Sleep was impossible, not with so much of the wide world still unexplored.
The room where his master's own wonderful old master, Dumbledore, lived -- that was an interesting room, all sunlit and multicolored. And that large bowl of water was intriguing. He was used to the idea of drinking from bowls of water; putting things into bowls of water was another matter entirely. And putting one's thoughts into water, so that one could see them, was another matter yet.
Fidelis twitched uneasily. He didn't want to betray his master's trust in him. Yet the vision of that large bowl of water was too strong a lure, and eventually won out.
Well, thought Fidelis, Master didn't actually tell me to stay in my bed tonight. And if I'm back before sunrise, he'll never know I was gone. Now if I can remember the way...
==================
Fidelis padded silently through the halls of Hogwarts, his eyes peering through the gloom.
He hated to admit it, but he was now thoroughly lost. He had given up on finding Dumbledore's office and was now trying to retrace his footsteps back to his master's chambers. If only those staircases would stay put...
Ah, he thought, seeing a familiar stone-walled corridor, at last I am nearing my master's rooms! Just behind the door there...
Fidelis nudged the door open and bounded happily over the threshold.
It wasn't until he was well beyond it, and the door shut firmly and irrtrievably behind him, that he realized he had somehow gone outside the castle.
===============
Sirius Black, in dog form, chewed a Norway rat almost absentmindedly as he pondered his situation.
Tonight, he had tried one spectacular gambit to bring Peter Pettigrew into his clutches. But the lure hadn't worked. There was no Wormtail to meet him, here near the Whomping Willow. Pettigrew had somehow seen through the plan.
A small rustle from behind him interrupted his thoughts. He turned around in a flash, spitting the rat out as he moved, and lightly yet firmly trapped the rustling creature between his front paws. Got you, Peter! he thought triumphantly.
But when Sirius opened his paws to look at his prize, he saw that it was not Peter Pettigrew in his rat form, but in fact a very small, bramble-covered, and very tired King Charles spaniel puppy.
Sirius was so astonished that he resumed his human form, just so he could pick up the wee thing in his hands. The puppy, too cold and tired to be startled at his transformation, gratefully licked his fingers as he read the small heart-shaped tag attached to its left ear.
In all his life, Sirius had never seen a dog this small, nor one with a paper tag attached to its left ear. "A magical dog, I see -- and one that began life as a Muggle toy," Sirius said aloud; he had traveled enough in the Muggle world to recognize the Ty Beanie Baby tag.
He noticed that the tag had been coated with a clear, waterproof substance, but not before someone had crossed out the word "Regal" and substituted "Fidelis" in a thin, spidery hand.
"So your name is Fidelis," he said, smiling down at the small puppy dog, whose tail was now wagging as fast as a Snitch's wings fluttered. "You're a cute little thing. Who is your master, Fidelis?" asked Sirius, though he didn't really expect the dog to answer him.
However, he was mistaken, for immediately Fidelis piped up, in a high-pitched puppy voice: "Snnnnaaaappe!"
"Whaaatt!?" Sirius barked, then looked at the little dog and frowned. "So you can talk!"
"Riiifffff!" replied Fidelis, for he had not known he could talk, himself, until just now.
"And Severus Snape is your master?"
"Rrrrriffff!", barked Fidelis, his tail wagging ever-faster.
Sirius was thunderstruck. "How did that come about?!?!"
"Rrressent!", answered Fidelis, his brown eyes shining.
"You were a present given to him?"
"Rrrriifff!"
"By whom?"
"Rrrranger!"
Sirius was puzzled for a moment; then it hit him. "Hermione Granger?"
"Rrrriiffff!", replied Fidelis, his tail wagging.
"Ah, that at least makes some sense," replied Sirius, scratching Fidelis under his chin. "I can easily see Hermione giving Snape a gift such as you." He stroked the little dog's fur, gently pulling out the brambles. "What are you doing out here?"
"Waaaooooost!", cried Fidelis, his brown puppy eyes suddenly moist.
"You got lost?"
"Rrrriffff!"
"Would you like to go home?"
"RRRRIIIFFF!"
"Then come with me, little friend. There must be some hope for that slimy git yet, if he can have a dog like you for a pet."
Sirius carefully placed the tiny canine on the nape of his neck. Fidelis understood what Sirius wanted him to do, and gripped it tight, even after Sirius resumed his dog-shape. They bounded over the moonlit grounds together, entering the secret tunnel, and into Hogwarts castle.
And so it was that, when Severus Snape awoke later that morning, he found his dog safely tucked into his own doggie-bed, just as he had left him, and was none the wiser.