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.


The little garden, the jewel of the Potters' cottage in Godric's Hollow, was in full bloom and Lily Potter sat on the terrace watching her baby take his first steps. She beamed at him; however, the smile did not really reach her eyes.

In fact, Lily was a Seer. She knew that Voldemort would sooner or later find and kill her and her husband James because of a prophecy, which Sybil Trelawney had uttered in front of Albus Dumbledore. 'Complete rubbish,' she thought, 'but if Dumbledore and above all Voldemort believe it, there is not much that we can do to prevent him from going after Harry.'

Harry was her precious son, who was almost ten months old and an angel of a baby. 'I will do everything to save his life,' she decided, 'even if James and I will have to die to save him.'

Lily pondered the matter for a few weeks, before she made a decision. She had overheard multiple conversations between James and Sirius, his best friend and fellow Auror at the Ministry of Magic, about Head Unspeakable Croaker. Both men had emphasized how helpful, competent and absolutely trustworthy the Head Unspeakable was. 'My own expertise does not suffice, but perhaps, the Unspeakables will be able to help me achieve my goal,' she thought.

HP

On the day after Harry's first birthday, Lily took Baby Harry with her to the Ministry of Magic and demanded to see Croaker.

She was lucky, and the Head Unspeakable agreed to meet with her and invited her into his office. Lily inwardly smirked upon taking in the small room that was cramped with books and parchments from the floor to the ceiling. 'He really seems to be a researcher,' she thought, knowing from her own love for reading that she could trust the man. She uttered her thanks, when Croaker moved a pile of parchments to vacate a chair, before he motioned her to sit.

She took a moment to calm down Harry, as he lightly whimpered at the wizard in front of them, who had his head covered by a grey hood.

"Do you want me to take my hood off for you, lil' one?" Croaker spoke in a soft voice and upon Harry's small nod lowered his hood, quietly informing her that his features were charmed to not display his real identity.

Lily nodded, although she realised in surprise that she could not detect any charm. As a Charms Mistress, she was an expert in the area; however, she had to admit to herself that, even if this was the older wizard's real face, she was unaware of his identity. 'Well, it doesn't matter anyway,' she thought, noticing absentmindedly that Harry leaned into her robes with a small thumb wandering into his mouth, readying himself to take a nap.

"Mrs. Potter, what can I do for you?"

"I need your advice under absolute secrecy."

"Granted," Croker said in a soft voice, smiling at her.

He patiently listened to her ramblings, about the prophecy, her seeing abilities and her decision to research and develop some kind of charm to somehow save her baby. "I am a Charms Mistress, but I don't have much expertise. I only finished Hogwarts three years ago and took my mastery last year," she added as an afterthought.

Croaker remained pensive for a moment.

"Would you be willing to join the Unspeakables?"

Lily stared at the man in shock. 'Oh well, it doesn't really matter, as I'm going to die soon anyway,' she told herself and nodded in agreement.

Croaker then requested her to swear an oath on her magic to not give away any secret of the Unspeakables, promising to grant her unlimited access to the Unspeakables' library. "I shall call you Unspeakable Fluffy."

'Fluffy?' Lily thought in disbelief. 'Oh well, he doesn't know how unfitting that is for me.' She stared at Croaker in bewilderment. "How am I supposed to keep my identity a secret considering that I have Harry with me?"

"We have rooms for our Unspeakables' children of any age. Two of our mediwitches, Medusa and Turtle, supervise them. They will look after him, play with him and keep him safe together with a few other kids, while you're perusing the library. Once you'll be added to a team, your team members are allowed to know your identity, so that you'll be able to take him with you to the team room at any time."

Lily sighed in relief. She profusely thanked the Head Unspeakable and donned the offered Unspeakable's robes, before she accompanied Croaker through the corridors of the Department of Magical Mysteries with Harry toddling between them.

HP

During the following three months, she intensely studied at the Unspeakables' office and even accepted that Croaker made her practise with Devil, the Unspeakables' trainer, for two hours every morning. Devil was a slave driver and taught her all possible kinds of defensive spells, even though none of them were going to work against the killing curse. To her relief, Harry liked Medusa, Turtle and the other children, and James did not mind them spending their days at the Unspeakables' Office. Sometimes, she and Harry were able to meet James and Sirius at the ministry canteen for lunch, which made her boys very happy.

After her first month of training, Croaker added her to Team 5, which so far consisted of three wizards. Arcturus Black was James' uncle and was supposed to be dead just like Fabian and Gideon Prewett. While the twins had other assignments, Arcturus AKA Unspeakable Ra assisted with her research.

By the time the end of October approached, Lily was almost ready; however, not completely. She had not found a way to save James let alone herself yet, much to her chagrin. Her only option was to hope for more time and a miracle.

She had developed a charm that would accept her sacrifice in favour of Harry, and while Arcturus had insisted on a last-minute change of the incantation, she was fairly certain that it was going to work.

HP

As she had expected, it happened in the early evening of All Hallows Eve. The last she knew was a green spell travelling in her direction, to which she succumbed readily, hoping to eventually see her son again for their next great adventure together, albeit only after a long time.

tbc tomorrow - with a ten-year time jump...