A Doggy for Christmas - Advent's Calendar Story 2022
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Ten years later…
Harry woke up with a jolt upon hearing Ron shout, "Harry, wake up. It's Christmas. We've got presents."
Eleven-year-old Harry Potter, a fist-year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, hurriedly scrambled out of bed, forcing the thought 'I never get presents' to the back of his mind. He dashed downstairs into the Gryffindor common room, where his best friend, Ronald Weasley, was already busying himself unwrapping Christmas presents. His mouth full with sweets, he merely nodded his head in his direction and grunted upon Harry's stunned observation, "I have presents, too."
Harry stepped over to the pile of presents that bore his name in amazement, wondering why he would get Christmas presents for the first time in his life. 'Apparently, everything is different at Hogwarts,' he thought, only to stop dead in his tracks. In between the colourfully wrapped gifts, there was a light brown basket. However, what surprised him most was not the basket itself but what was inside, observing him from dark brown eyes. It was a dog. Its eyes were gorgeous and felt large in comparison to the canine's size. The dog's fur seemed fluffy and was of a warm, wine-red colour. Somehow, he instinctively felt the strange urge to cuddle the dog close, even if his upbringing with his muggle relatives had taught him that he did not want to be touched by any living being.
"A puppy." Harry's voice, laced with a combination of surprise, disbelief and delight, made his friend step over to his side of the room."
"A puppy? Ah, I think that's a Sotar Rua. He's gorgeous. Who gave it to you?" Ron seemed to share Harry's excitement at the discovery.
"I have no idea. Hello," he addressed the puppy who began to lick his right hand in apparent eagerness.
All of a sudden, Harry felt incredibly happy; however, before he could do as much as wonder what happened, a soft voice penetrated his mind.
'Hello, I am Whisper. I hope it was all right that I took the liberty of bonding to you. I am your familiar now, and you will be able to simply think back to me.'
"Yes, of course, thank you," Harry replied aloud.
"What?" Ronald asked between two mouthfuls of Bertie Bott's beans.
"This is Whisper, my familiar."
"Wow, you're really lucky, mate."
Harry nodded, happily.
"Is there no tag attached to the basket showing who gave it to you?"
Harry carefully lifted the puppy out of the basket and sat him onto the sofa next to him, before he examined the basket from all angles. "No, there's nothing."
"Oh well, let's go to the Great Hall for breakfast. I'm starving."
"After all these sweets?" Harry stared at his best friend in disbelief, before he conceded, "All right then. Let's go. What am I going to do with Whisper though?"
Ron shrugged. Just leave him here with Scabbers."
=I am a girl, just so you know,= the canine uttered.
"Don't bark," Ronald admonished the dog.
"It's a girl, Ron, and she was simply talking to me." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Leave HER with Scabbers then." Ronald sounded annoyed.
=Take me with you.= The canine lightly growled at the rat in apparent instant dislike.
"Hey, don't growl. That's Scabbers, my pet."
Harry nodded at his familiar in understanding. "I'm going to take her with me. I need to ask the professors where to get food for her anyway. Perhaps, Hagrid will join us for breakfast. He must have lots of experience with dogs." 'I don't really like Scabbers either,' he added only for his familiar, who returned a gentle nudge.
HP
To Harry's relief, Whisper stayed close to him, while they descended to the Great Hall. Once they joined the professors at the single table, which was in use over the holidays, Whisper walked around to greet everyone. Some of the professors received a gentle hand licking, others merely a small sniff, before the canine returned to Harry's side.
"Mr. Potter, where did you get that dog?" McGonagall's voice was laced with light disapproval.
'Of course, she's a cat Animagus and probably doesn't like dogs,' Harry realised, before he told his head of house how Whisper had been among his presents and had become his familiar. To his amusement, Whisper returned to McGonagall's side and fervently licked her hand.
"Minerva, she seems to like you," Pomfrey spoke up, smiling.
"You're a charmer, aren't you?" McGonagall gently scratched the dog behind her ears, and from the small sounds coming from the canine, Harry realised that she seemed to enjoy herself.
A moment later, Whisper came back to him and lay down between his feet under the table.
"Leave it to Potter to draw all the attention onto himself once again by bringing a pet into the Great Hall at Christmas breakfast." Snape sneered, from where he was sitting beside the headmaster.
Whisper lightly growled in the Potions Master's direction.
"Apparently, the dog is not Harry's pet but his familiar," McGonagall lightly corrected her colleague, only to add in apparent amusement, "and she seems to understand and did not like what you said."
"She is a Miniature Sotar Rua, quite a rare breed," Hagrid informed them. "She's not goin' te get any bigger I s'ppose. Visit me after breakfast, 'Arry, and I'll show you how te care for 'er."
"Thank you, Hagrid." Dumbledore sounded pleasant. "Did you receive any other interesting presents, my boys?"
"I got a sweater from my Mum," Ronald replied between two bites of pancake. "Harry probably got one, too."
"After finding Whisper, I completely forgot to open my other presents," Harry realised, sheepishly.
"Well, you still have time on this beautiful Christmas day," the headmaster said, pleasantly. "Minerva, would you please pass me the jam?"
'Whisper, do you want a piece of bread?' Harry mentally asked his familiar.
'No, thanks, but if you have some fruit, I'd like some.'
Harry helped himself to a small bowl of fruit salad and fed a couple of strawberries and small pieces of apple to the canine, who devoured them with apparent pleasure.
HP
During the hours before they had to be back in the Great Hall for Christmas dinner, Harry and Ron showed Whisper Hogwarts, and they even took the time to explore some of the unused corridors. To their disappointment, they did not discover anything of interest, such as second three-headed dog, though. Whisper always remained close to Harry. Sometimes, she ran a few steps ahead, however, she always glanced back at him making sure that he was following.
When Ron headed to bed almost immediately after dinner that evening, Harry decided to use his invisibility cloak, which he had received from an unknown source for Christmas just like Whisper, and head to the restricted section of the library to search for information on Nicholas Flamel.
However, when he crept through the library, which was fairly dark and somehow creepy, Whisper growled at him and refused to let him through into the forbidden section.
'You'll get into much trouble,' she insisted. 'Let's go back to bed.'
Rolling his eyes at his familiar, Harry obeyed, only to run into Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris on his way back to Gryffindor.
"Can you sense any students out of bed?" Filch asked his cat, who returned a single =Meaow.=
To Harry's horror, Whisper went and eagerly sniffed Filch's feet, before she greeted Mrs. Norris and gently began to lick her fur, causing the feline to become distracted and cuddle with the canine for a time long enough for Harry to get away. While he retreated under his invisibility cloak, he heard the Potions professor's voice and quickened his pace.
"Professor Snape, there must be students out of bed." Filch sounded delighted at the idea of catching him or his friends.
"If that insufferable dog is here, Potter cannot be far," the professor sneered, and to Harry's delight, Whisper began to growl and bark at the unfriendly head of Slytherin. However, when Snape cast a spell in his direction to reveal him, Harry was just out of reach and hurried back to Gryffindor in relief.
'I must be the happiest boy at Hogwarts,' he thought, feeling absolutely delighted at having such a cute, intelligent and thoughtful familiar. 'I wonder who gave her to me though. It surely wasn't the Dursleys, considering that I never received anything from them and that Whisper is clearly magical.'
tbc tomorrow...