A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic Chapter 28
The kids had their ears to the door listening for Filch and Peeves on the other side. Originally Bailey wanted to follow their example, but she had other concerns to contend with that the threat of those two buffoons.
No. Bailey's attention was on the three headed dog she found already occupying the cramped space in the room the moment she turned around that the others failed to notice.
Bailey caught the odor of another canine in the room with them. What confused her was that it's the smell of a type of dog she's encountered not once before.
So Bailey turned around to investigate and froze, eyes practically bulging out of her head.
Behind the group stood a monstrous sized dog that easily filled the whole space between the ceiling and the floor.
But this is no ordinary dog. It is a Cerberus. An animal with three heads instead of merely one. No wonder the odor smelled so wrong to her.
What were the possible odds of Bailey ever encountering a Cerberus in her lifetime besides this?
The Cerberus's three pairs of rolling mad eyes and three noses were twitching and quivering in their direction. It was standing quite still with all six eyes staring at Bailey intently. Upon the groups first entrance the alternate heads of the Cerberus were more than willing to tear the kids apart while they were distracted. That all stopped when they caught a whiff of Bailey. Instead of being ready to pounce the Cerberus was gazing at Bailey with surprise and intrigue.
Bailey didn't share their same sentiments. She immediately felt the menacing hostility they held and the bloodlust aimed towards her boy and his classmates. Not taking it well Bailey stood there, fur bristling, ears forward and tail up as she growled in defiance at the Cerberus.
Undaunted by Bailey's dismissal the Cerberus stepped took a step closer. It stooped down to get a better look at Bailey breathing in her scent. Bailey stood perfectly still believing one wrong move could get her killed by its massive triple jaw power.
However as the Cerberus began to relax so did she. In fact any remaining edginess she was feeling directed towards the Cerberus began to slowly fad, her own tail beginning to wag. Doubtless this could've gone without any additional chaos, but one of the three heads just had to overstep its bounds.
The head on the far left got too bold. It nudged its head underneath her backend as it was sniffing her, momentarily lifting her rear legs off of the floor. This caused her to yelp drawing the attention of all the others.
Filch and Peeves had long left so they wouldn't get caught wandering the halls at night now.
Good thing too because all four kids released piercing screams the second they locked eyes with the Cerberus. They all ran out with Harry dragging Bailey along by her harness with a sharp jerk. It took all four of them to shut and lock the door to prevent the Cerberus from escaping that room.
As they ran for their lives Bailey is the only one to hear the pleading whine over the other booming snarls and growls. The kids were far too scared out of their wits to even catch it.
None of them stopped running until they reached the safety of Gryffindor Tower.
The Fat Lady was back in her portrait.
"Where on earth have you been," she asked.
"Pig snout," panted Harry, completely bent over. "Pig snout!"
The Fat Lady swung open her portrait and they all scrambled into the common room. Neville sped straight to the boys dorms while Harry, Ron, and Hermione collapsed into armchairs.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a think like that locked up in a school," exclaimed Ron, indignant. "If any dog needs exercise, that one days."
Having regained her breath and bad temper back again faster than the boys, Hermione snapped "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor," retorted Harry, blunt, irritated that she'd still be at this now. "I wasn't looking at its feet. I was too busy with its heads!"
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something," said Hermione, wording it as if she was talking to idiots, standing up and glaring at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed tonight. Or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
Staring after her, gawking, Ron said "No, we don't mind. You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"
Harry solely shook his head. Harry and Ron then hiked up the steps up to the boys dorms and flopped into bed, knocked out instantly.
Unlike then Bailey couldn't get to sleep. She's far too restless, reflecting on what just went on in the third floor corridor.
Finally Bailey decided she couldn't sleep in Gryffindor Tower tonight.
Careful not to wake Harry as she extracted herself from the bed Bailey jumped down onto the floor silently walking out. She nudged open the door with her nose and did the same with the Fat Lady's portrait. The Fat Lady was so out of it that she continued snoring.
Bailey then retraced her footsteps back to the third floor corridor.
Unlike the others this one wouldn't open in spite of everything she did. Bailey pawed at the edges, but it wouldn't budge.
The Cerberus caught her scent as she approached. It nudged at the door all three heads whining for her to come in. The spells on the door prevented her and the lock was too high for her to manipulate.
Bailey poked her nose through the opening at the bottom. Through here the Cerberus and Bailey licked muzzles. After a little while of this Bailey leaned against the bottom crack in the door to get alongside the Cerberus as she laid down to settle.
From his end the Cerberus poked its three noses at the door drifting off to sleep relaxed and calm with her there.
Authors Note:
There's been something I've been debating about for a while. This chapter actually leaves an opening for further discussion on this matter.
Since I brought up the idea of potentially having puppies there have been many who have suggested Sirius being the father to those babies, a couple of others have even conceded to Fang, while the rest have mentioned Fluffy as a potential sire.
Right now Fang and Fluffy are neck and neck for it. Fang, for later, towards the end of the war. Fluffy would only have to be for the first year, but here does lie the big major problem. If she should, at some point, conceive puppies with Fluffy that would leave a big dilemma about what to do with them afterwards. Plus it, also, depends on how big they're going to get as they mature near a year old. She can't take them back to Privet Drive with her that's for sure and even Hogwarts can't hold that many for so long.
So the suggestion box is open and as per usual the person who gives me the winning one will get one question answered about the story. So have at it. Be my guest.