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.

When Remus and Harry arrived at home, where Whisper greeted them in obvious delight, the Gringotts box blinked, informing them that they had mail. It was from Amelia Bones, who informed them that Sirius Black was going to have a trial on Thursday the following week. Remus was invited to attend as a witness.

"Thank Merlin, it's still far from the full moon." Remus sighed in obvious relief. "Will you be all right here on your own? Do you have any other friends at Hogwarts, whom you could invite for the day?"

Harry's eyes lit with excitement. "Hermione. May I really invite her here? I'd love to tell her everything we learned at Gringotts."

Remus chuckled. "Of course, you may. This is your home now. Just don't forget that you'll have to take her to Gringotts first, as Buckbean is our Secret Keeper. He must tell her the address or give you a parchment, on which the address is written, so that you can show it to her."

HP

To Harry's relief, Remus and Buckbean were more helpful than any adult in his former life had ever been, and when Remus headed to the ministry for Sirius' trial, Hermione obediently went to see Buckbean at Gringotts, and twenty minutes later, she stepped out of the fireplace at Furry home.

"Hermione." Harry grinned broadly. "I am very happy to see you."

"Me too. Thank you for inviting me. Where are we? You look well, by the way. You even have new clothes. Fitting ones."

She took a moment to gently pet Whisper's fluffy ears, while the canine cuddled close to her in apparent liking.

Harry nodded. "Remus took me shopping yesterday. But let's sit down to talk first. Would you like some hot chocolate? Or rather tea?"

"Anything would be nice, but how…"

She interrupted herself, when Lila popped up on Harry's call. "This is Lila, our house-elf. She already served my grandparents at Potter manor. Lila, this is Hermione, my best friend."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me, Lila, may I ask some questions? I've recently read something about house-elves. Are house-elves servants to wizards and witches? Is that true? Do the house-elves find this all right? Is it not a form of slavery?"

Lila nodded, grinning in obvious happiness. "House-elves be bonded to their family, and they be very happy to see to their needs and have powerful wizards and witches as family. My family, the Potters, are very gentle and powerful and treat all house-elves well. I am very happy, so my magic is very strong. Would little Master Harry's best friend like some ice-cream?"

"Yes please. Thank you very much." Turning to Harry, she added, "That was interesting. I've never heard of such a concept."

Harry grinned. "I haven't either, before Buckbean from Gringotts instructed Remus to call one of the Potter elves to help us here."

An instant later, two large bowls with ice-cream and fruits popped up on the table in front of them, and they both spent a moment staring at the treat in admiration, before Whisper put her snout onto Harry's arm in demand of some fruits.

"Lila, could you please bring me some fruit for Whisper, before she'll eat my ice-cream?" Harry asked, chuckling at his familiar's antics.

Whisper profusely thanked the elf by gently licking her face, causing Hermione to chuckle. "Lila really fits in well here," she said, apparently pushing away all doubts she seemed to have had about some kind of slavery.

"She does, and we're very happy to have more family, aren't we, Whisper?" Harry smiled at his familiar, who was eagerly devouring a large bowl of fruits of the forest.

Whisper quickly licked his hand in agreement, before she returned to her bowl.

"Now, please tell me everything from the beginning." Hermione looked at him in expectation, and Harry informed her in detail about everything that had happened, ever since Remus had picked him up at the Burrow.

"Ron only friended you on his mother's request, because Professor Dumbledore paid her for it taking the money from your account?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "That's horrible."

Harry nodded, grimly. "Yes, and I don't think I'm going to be his best friend anymore. I really liked it at the Weasleys, even if Ron's mum is a little overbearing, but…" He slowly trailed off.

"Perhaps, we should try spending more time with Neville. He seems nice, too," Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded. "Let's do that."

The two friends spent the rest of the morning working on their summer assignments together, much to Harry's relief, as he had not even begun studying during his stay at the Weasleys'.

HP

It was almost lunchtime, when Remus stepped out of the fireplace, smiling in obvious happiness.

"Is Sirius free?" Harry guessed, looking at the older wizard in expectation.

"Yes. He was indeed innocent, and everything went well. I sent him home to take a shower, and he'll be with us shortly. Now, you must be Hermione? I am Remus Lupin, Harry's unofficial godfather. Welcome to Furry house."

"Hello Mr. Lupin, I am Hermione Granger. Thank you so much for allowing me to spend some time with Harry."

"Please call me Remus. This is Harry's home now, and his friends are always welcome here." Turning to Harry, Remus frowned. "Harry, considering that Sirius is free now and he's your godfather, he'll probably gain the guardianship over you. Do you rather wish to live with him in Canine house?"

'He took me in, when no one else was available, and he feels like the father I never had,' Harry thought. 'I will not leave him.' He shook his head. "No sir. As you said, this is my home now, and provided that Sirius as my new guardian is all right with it, I will stay here with you."

A lone tear leaked from Remus' eye. "Thank you, Harry. This means a lot to me."

Whisper gently nudged Remus, before she proceeded to give him a thorough hand licking.

HP

During the next thirty minutes, Hermione asked Remus everything that came into her mind, fully enjoying the opportunity to receive explanations about anything in the magical world from a full-fledged wizard. She only stopped her questioning, when all of a sudden, a large, black dog appeared seemingly out of the forest and scratched his right front paw against the back door.

Whisper let out a series of small barks but waggled her tail, and Remus stood to open the door for his friend. "Sirius," he lightly scolded his friend, "is there a reason why you're in your Animagus form?"

'Padfoot.' The idea popped up in Harry's mind out of nowhere. "Padfoot?" he voiced it, causing the black dog to run around the table, put his front paws up onto his chest and thoroughly lick his face. Harry chuckled, trying in vain to push down the canine that was much bigger and stronger than Whisper. "Get off," he finally managed to moan, but only when Whisper lightly growled at the fellow canine, the dog removed his front paws from Harry's chest.

He swiftly transformed into a young man. "Harry, I'm sorry. I was just so very happy to see you. Only the thought of you needing me kept me sane in Azkaban. I'm happy to realise that you didn't need me at all, as Remus managed to take you in."

"Nonsense, Padfoot, that was only last week. Until then…" He quickly informed his best friend about Dumbledore's manipulations, causing the man to growl in a very canine manner.

tbc tomorrow...

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