Puppies running all over the place... What was poor Padfoot going to do? Somehow he had managed to get a female dog pregnant. He was thinking it had to have been the only moonlight parade the marauders had gone on drunk.
There had been a party for the victory of the Gryffindor quidditch team. Sadly, the marauders had to leave the party early to hide in the Shreiking Shack with their poor werewolf friend. They had to hurry off and Padfoot had been a bit slow and had gotten left behind. While the other three were transforming in the shack, a drunk Padfoot had helplessly wondered about Hogwarts grounds around the vacinity of Hagrid's hut. Out of nowhere, a dog had come up behind him and led him to a bed under the roots of a tree. It was a she dog, Padfoot managed to notice. He always noticed if something was of the opposite sex. He was just like that.He didn't know where he was but he was drunk and still wanted to party, so apparntly he did. The other three marauders had no idea that their mate was getting himself into fatherhood at that moment, nor did Padfoot for that matter... This had been 9 weeks ago and now Padfoot knew what had happened. He had figured it out quite quickly actually. When he had woken up in the morning laying next to a ginger coloured female dog who happened to be smiling in her sleep, he figured it out fast. He rushed back to his bed in Gryffindor Tower. When his mates asked where he had been all night, he simply said he got lost in his drunkeness and fell asleep under a tree. He, however, purposfully left out what he had done in between getting lost and falling asleep.
After classes that day, Padfoot left to go find the female dog he had spent the night with. She was wondering about the grounds looking for who she thought was her mate. He approached her and held out his hand. Now, since a dog has a very keen sense of smell, she could tell there was something similar about this strange human boy and her mate but she didn't quite know what it was yet. Padfoot knew. His plans were to tell Lily and Moony about this problem and see if there is a spell that will show if the dog is pregnant. There might be a chance he was wrong. After all, he usually is. The only hard part was convincing the dog that he was not going to hurt her and that wasn't too hard because she connected him with her mate. She followed Padfoot all the way to the Gryffindor Common room. Luckly, Moony and Lily were sitting together working on their studies and the other two marauders were no where to be seen. Probably pranking Snivellus... Man did Padfoot wish he could be doing that instead of what he was about to do. He walked up to Moony and whispered the secret into his friends ear.
"YOU WHAT!" Moony yelled. Loudly i might add.
"I think I got this dog..." Padfoot said. This part he whispered. "...pregnant." And he pointed to the ginger coloured dog happily looking up at the boys and Lily. Now Lily was interested.
"What did Black do this time?" she asked Moony. Moony whispered into Lily's ear what had passed between him and the other marauder a few moments ago. It seemed Lily was to shocked to do anything... but she wasn't.
"So Black, what did you want him to do about it?" She slightly inclined her head toward Moony.
"Well actually I was hoping you would do something about it." Padfoot said hopefully.
"And what exactly am I to do about it?" She asked.
"Well since you are a girl, I was hoping you knew a spell that would tell us for sure if she was pregnant or not. And could we not tell anyone else?"
"I do know of a spell we can try, and since you asked nicely, I won't tell anyone." Lily replied, somewhat disappointed.
The spell was performed and the test was positive. Positive as in pregnant. Padfoot was now a future father and in big trouble.
Moony and Padfoot made their way down to Hagrid's hut later that day, after having something to eat, to find out about the dog. Moony knocked on the thick wooden door and heard one of Hagrid's old boarhounds baying inside.
"Quiet up, Butch!" came a deep voice from the side of the wooden door. The door swung open and standing in the doorway, was the enormus gamekeeper of Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid.
"Well now, this is a surprise. Young Remus and Sirius come to visit me. How can I help you boys?" Hagrid asked in his deep voice.
"I found a dog this morning, Hagrid, and I was wondering wether or not she was yours." Padfoot said.
"She is just around here..." Moony glanced around and went a few paces off and rounded a corner and returned with the she dog. she was wagging her tail feriously at the sight of Hagrid.
"I feed her sometimes, but no she isn't mine. She just wonders around the grounds. I heard her playing last night in her den. It's right around the corner here." Hagrid turned and pointed to a tree behind his house that seemed to have a large cavern looking hole underneith it.
"You can keep her if thats what you wanted to know. That is, if she will let you." Moony was getting irritated with his friend and decided it was time for a talk.
"Thanks Hagrid. We'll talk to you soon. Good-bye." And he dragged Padfoot and his mate toward the benches. Now was as good as time as any to have that talk.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Padfoot! This isn't the first stupid thing you have done but almost the worst." Moony complained
"Well, Moony..." Padfoot whined. "I got lost and you guys never came to look for me..."
"That is no excuse Padfoot! You should have enough common sense to go back to bed if we left you. Or I would think you'd have enough."
Padfoot was stil using his whining voice.
"Aaaawwww Moony... I was tired and drunk. You know not to take me out if I'm drunk. I do naughty things. Like this. I'm too young and handsome to have more than 6 kids!" A pouty puppy dog face should be inserted here.
"Oh alright. I suppose I can't really blame you. But you still should have gone back to bed. And at least be glad that dog found you and not something else more dangerous." Moony scolded. Padfoot was staring at the dog.
"If i'm going to be the father of your puppies then you need a name. How about Brandi?" Padfoot asked. Brandi barked.
"I suppose we should show her you are her mate. Lets go down there and you can change. Make sure she knows who you are before you start keeping her with you." Moony said. They all three went down to a little shed close to Brandi's den and Padfoot changed forms in front of Brandi. I don't think she liked that too much. When she saw Padfoot start to change, she snarled and crouched down. When he was completly changed, she was up wagging her tail and licking his face. Moony was laughing. They tried this changing a few times until they were sure Brandi understood. By that time, it was almost dark and everyone was heading inside. The two marauders left the shed and started to walk away when Brandi started howling. padfoot went back to her and told her to go back to her den but she wouldn't go. Finally, since it was getting so late, Padfoot just took her with him.
In the common room, everyone thought Brandi was the cutest thing. She was attracting alot of attention. Attention she did not want. Everytime someone would get close to Padfoot, except Moony, she would snap at them. Wormtail managed to get bit, hard. He was bleeding, but Lily fixed his finger. After Wormtail, no one tried to pet her or get too close to Padfoot. She stayed with him all night trying to cuddle but Padfoot wouldn't allow it. Eventually, Padfoot gopt tired of her doing that and went to bed. She followed him of course. When boys from Padfoot's dorm came up to bed, you could hear a slight rumbling growl coming from Padfoot's bed. This went on for about a week before Moony decided that Brandi was becoming too protective. He needed to find someway for Brandi to accept that other people were close to Padfoot besides her. He had an idea.
Padfoot sat on the couch with Wormtail and Prongs on the other side of the room and Moony by the fire holding Brandi with a rope. Prongs approached Padfoot and as suspected, Brandi growled. Prongs stopped and walked over to her. He gave her a treat and proceeded to walk back over to Padfoot. He sat down and started to get closer. Brandi growled again. Again Prongs went and gave her a treat to quiet her and walked back to Padfoot. This time he could get close but couldn't touch. Wormtail went through the same process and Brandi finally accepted that people came close to her mate and she had to just deal with it.
About a month later, Brandi started getting moody. She snapped and growled at almost everyone. Even Padfoot and Moony. You could also begin to tell she was pregnant. Here, Padfoot had another problem. For some reason, people just didn't want to be around an emotionally unstable dog. I can't see why, they are just crazy. Dumbledore had noticed the presence of a dog and dogs were not suitable pets to have inside the building. Especailly not a pregnant, emotionally unstable one. Brandi had to be kept outside because of all the people complaining about her snapping at them. She went back to her den only after much arguing between her and Padfoot. In order to argue with a dog one must become a dog. It was hard to find a spot to transform but Padfoot managed it. They quarelled like any other married couple does. You've seen it. It wasn't pretty.
Three more weeks had passed and winter was almost over. The snow was thawing and the flowers were starting to bloom. Brandi had gotten past her moody stage and was only happy and round now. Very round. There were two more weeks till the puppies were due and Padfoot was like any other father would be. Very nervous and anxious. He couldn't decide what he was going to do. He could take care of the puppies as a dog father, as a human owner, or he could not take care of them at all but he loved puppies too much to not care for tham at all. He had to be content with a happy median. When he could, he would become a dog father but until then, he would be their human owner. When they were old enough he would explain to them he was both human and dog. They wouldn't be able to understand it for awhile though. Man, being a father is hard.
The puppies were on their way. Two had been born already and Padfoot had fainted after the first. Moony was in charge of making sure they were ok when they were born. It was a good thing one of the marauders could handle the sight of blood and was mature enough to watch puppies being born without doing something stupid. Prongs was off with Lily somewhere, Wormtail had run away to puke at the first sight of blood and hadn't returned yet, and Padfoot was...well... passed out in the grass. The third pup had arrived and so far there was two boys and a girl. Moony and Lily had guessed there were seven puppies in all. (I think they are right.) Brandi was doing fine and not in too much pain thanks to one of Moony's charms. Clever Moony... After the sixth puppy, Padfoot roused and started comforting Brandi. Not that she needed it, but Padfoot did.
"Padfoot, mate." said Moony. "Here are your kids. Little Padlets. Aren't they cute?"
"Sure Moony. But right now I'm trying not to look."
"It's safe to look mate. There is nothing wrong with a little blood."
"Yeah. I guess." Padfoot said. He leaned over and saw his little Padlets crawling over toward their mother. He felt the need to be there with them in dog form. So he left to the den fast and Snuffles came trotting back tail flying and tongue lolling. He laid down beside Brandi and licked her head. Here was his family. His three boys and four girls and his mate. It wouldn't take long before these little pups were up and running around, tumbling over eachother. He needed to find homes for them before he got too attacted to them. He would keep one of the pups for himself and let Brandi stay living at Hogwarts. Since this was his last year, he wouldn't see her again after June. With the help of Moony, he named the pups after he had changed back to a human.
"She should be named," said Padfoot pointing a furry, pure black pup laying inbetween Brandi's paws. "um... Chloe. And she should be Shelby." Padfoot pointed to a ginger pup with a black, saddle shaped spot on her back.
"He should be Balto." Moony said meaning a greyish pup drinking milk from Brandi.
"Alright Moony. That boy over there..." Padfoot said, pointing to a brown and white pup crawling over Brandi's legs. "He should be named Benji. And that girl over there, the one that looks just like Brandi... she should be Bailey."
"The last boy here, the black one beside Chloe, should be Lucky." Moony said.
"That leaves one girl. The redish one with the white paws, she should be... Sabrina." Padfoot said, a bit sad to be finished with the naming.
"Now, what are we going to do with them?" Asked Moony curiously.
"I thought..."
"Wow... Padfoot thinking. Thats a rare occurence." Moony smiled and Padfoot just pouted like a sad puppy.
"As I was saying... We could go and ask Dumbledore if I could keep her and the pups in the dorm now that she isn't territoral about me. She will be a little bit with the pups but people should be smart enough not to get too close to a mother dog. Especailly her." Padfoot explained.
"And what if Dumbledore says no?"
"Well then we could ask hagrid to watch her. We would have to convince her Hagrid was ok but she would stay there."
"Alright Padfoot. I'll go talk to Dumbledore and you stay here and don't do anything stupid." Moony added the last part because he had a flash of all the stupid things his friend could do with the pups. Moony left and Padfoot was left alone. He went to change forms and came back to his family. The pups were already moving around more. They matured faster haiving a bit of human in them. Luckily it was only their brain that had been affected by Padfoot's human traits, not their looks or Padfoot would be in trouble. Slowly, Padfoot fell asleep with his head resting on Brandi's neck. It was more than an hour before Moony came back and found the scene. Seven pups snuggled up against their mother, the mother asleep laying sprawled out, and Snuffles standing protectivly behind them all.
"They can stay in our dorm Padfoot." Moony anounced. Snuffles glanced quickly around. Seeing no one, he transformed right there.
"Are you nuts Padfoot! Anyone could have seen you!" Moony yelled.
"I didn't see anyone." Padfoot replied calmly. "I'm going to get a basket to put the puppies in and when I get back we'll load them up and take them all up stairs to bed." Padfoot raced off inside the castle and returned ten minutes later with a large wicker basket. The pups were loaded up into the basket and Brandi was woken up. Padfoot had to wake her because Moony didn't want to get close to her in case she didn't want to wake up and snapped. She woke up fine and tiredly followed the boys and her pups up to the bed that had been made for her. The dog family lived quietly in the Gryffindor common room for one week only. By then, the puppies' humaness was showing. The pups had their eyes open and were running around yipping occationaly. The yipping was what did it. Snuffles started taking the pups out for a run before he went to bed. Luckily, the pups had already connected Padfoot with their father. They knew he was their father. There the humaness helped. A few people had already claimed they would take pups home to keep. Sabrina, Bailey, and Balto had been claimed. Lily wanted Bailey, McGonagall wanted Sabrina, and Emily Tucker wanted Benji. Padfoot had become very attatched to Chloe and Lucky. He would have to keep both of them. Besides, they were best friends. They wouldn't do anything without the other.
"Moony... you need a puppy." said Padfoot out of the blue when the marauders and Lily were playing with the puppies on the floor.
"Why would I want a puppy Padfoot? I have you. You are enough dog. And besides... what about my furry little problem?" Moony retorted.
"It would be fine by itself for one night Moony. Hey Padfoot, mate, did you decide which puppy you are keeping?" Prongs asked.
"You can't have Bailey. She's mine." Lily said, a bit to protectivly.
"Thats ok Lils. You can have her. I was thinking I would keep two of them. Chloe and Lucky. I wanted just Chloe but she and Lucky are always together and it just wouldn't be right to tear them apart." Padfoot told them.
"Awww... Thats sweet mate. You should write greeting cards." Prongs said sarcastically. He got punched for it.
"Shut up Prongs." Padfoot said. That started the nightly bickering. It ended only when Lily slapped them both because the pups were going to sleep. The marauders were tired and went to bed. Lily stayed up for a little while to finish an essay while stroking HER Bailey.
Snuffles was outside playing with the puppies and Brandi when Hagrid walked by. He noticed that there was an extra dog with the family...Snuffles. He had never seen a large black dog here before and was confuesed. He tried to come up toward the family but Brandi leaped in fornt of him and snarled. Snuffles wasn't about to stop her. She wasn't to be messed with when she was protecting her puppies.
"It's alright girl." Hagrid said in the softest voice he could manage. It didn't calm her. She just snarled louder and so Hagrid left still confuesed about the big black dog. The family stayed outside to play for a few hours before it got dark. When the puppies were in line following mum inside, Snuffles counted. Only six. That wasn't good.
"Lets see." Padfoot thought. "There is Lucky, Balto, Benji, Chloe, Shelby, Bailey, and... uh oh. No Sabrina. I better go find her."
Padfoot barked a call to Brandi that he was going to find Sabrina and she was to take the other pups inside to bed. Snuffles followed Sabrina's smell to Hagrid's front door. Snuffles barked loudly and scratched the door. The door swung open and Snuffles was let inside. Hagrid shut the door behind him.
"So, who have we here? Who are you?" Hagrid asked Snuffles. "No collar, eh? I've never see you here before? Are you this pup's father?"
Snuffles barked loudly. Sabrina had only just noticed her father and started squirming in Hagrid's big hands. She was put down and she ran to Snuffles. He leaned down low and licked her all over.
"I guess so. But I've never seen you before. How could you be the father but never be seen before today? Those pups must be almost three weeks old by now." Hagrid tried to to pick Sabrina up again but Snuffles growled and she hid behind his legs. Hagrid put his hand down farther and Snuffles snarled. Hagrid's hand wasn't pulled up fast but it didn't get bit. Snuffles wouldn't have bitten him, just threatened. The hand moved to the door and the door was opened. Sabrina was picked up by the scruff and Snuffles ran out with her to the castle. They made it back to the castle wall where Snuffles could safely change to Padfoot without being seen by Hagrid. Padfoot picked up Sabrina and cuddled her to his chest and walked back into the castle. So far no one had picked her out so maybe he could keep her too. They reached the common room and the sleeping pup was placed into her worried mothers basket. Pafoot leaned down and kissed Brandi on the head and she licked his cheek back. The rest of the group was laying on the couch talking. He joined them.
The puppies were all safe. He was content. He fell asleep on the couch beside Lily and Moony covered him up with a blanket.
The next few weeks were uneventfull. The three pups that had been claimed were now with their new owners but still lived in and roamed the castle. For now Moony cared for Sabrina. Padfoot had this idea that if he made Moony care for her then he would get attatched and want to keep her. Brandi, Chloe, and Lucky were his responsibility. Lily and Emily had thier pups stay with Brandi and the other pups during the day and in the girls' beds at night. The basket was moved up into Padfoot's dorm. Brandi slept in the basket and the puppies slept on Padfoot. This is how the rest of the year went. The puppies grew and stayed with their owners for their life. Padfoot ended up keeping Brandi along with his two pups and he convinced Moony to take Sabrina. It wasn't that hard. His plan to get Moony attatched to her worked perfectly. And Padfoot made sure Hagrid never saw Snuffles again.