Padfoot's Puppy

Chapter Nine

'Grimmauld Place'

For the next few days, Amber concentrated on learning how to walk as a dog. It was hard and frustrating, but Sirius was right, the more she got used to it, the more fun being a dog became. And Amber, Remus and Sirius were slowly all getting used to the idea of living together. Amber even thought that it wasn't that bad. Both Remus and Sirius were nice to her, and they didn't starve her, like Lucius and Narcissa had.

There were still the odd, awkward times. Amber yearned to go outside, but neither Remus nor Sirius would allow her. And one of them always kept guard at night, to make sure that she wouldn't try and take off. Not that she would've, but they didn't quite trust her yet.

A few days after they captured Amber, Remus told her that they were going to be moving to a different house. Amber didn't object, she didn't really like Lochwood. At first, she'd found the abandoned look to it comforting, but now it just bothered her.

Slowly, Remus and Sirius began taking all their things to the new house, one of them staying with Amber, while the other one apparated. It didn't take long to move all of their things, they didn't have much to begin with.

Finally though, a week after Amber was captured, Remus announced that today was the day they were moving. Amber just nodded, feeling a little bit scared. Remus had said once that there was going to be a lot of other witches and wizards in the new house.

"It might be easier if you're a dog though." Remus said, interrupting Amber's thoughts. Amber nodded and concentrated hard. It was a lot easier to change now, but she still wasn't used to it, being a human one second, and being a dog the next.

"That's better." Remus said, and then to Amber's surprise, he picked her up. She just stared at him with wide eyes. Not that it would have been any use to say anything, only Sirius could understand her when he was in his dog form.

"Sirius, let's go!" Remus called. There was a few seconds of silence, and finally Sirius came out of his room, looked slightly bewildered. Remus didn't ask why though, and Sirius didn't say anything.

"Come on, let's go." Remus said again. Sirius just nodded, and the two of them apparated. Amber hated the feeling of apparating, as though she were being split in two. And it still left her feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Being a dog, it was even worse, it was a good thing Remus was holding her, she wouldn't be able to walk at all if she were on the ground.

When her head finally cleared, Amber realized that they were standing in front of two houses, number eleven and number thirteen Grimmauld Place. No number twelve, Amber had to check again to make sure she was seeing right.

"Memorize this quickly!" Remus whispered to Amber, holding a small piece of paper in front of her. Since it was night, Amber found it hard to read, but being a dog, she had a little better vision than normal. Still though, Amber found the narrow handwriting hard to red. It said:

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

Amber looked up at Remus curiously as he set the note on fire with his wand. Sirius transformed into the big black dog, and Amber turned her head so that she was looking at him. She was confused; it was quite obvious that number 12, Grimmauld Place didn't exist.

"I don't get it." Amber said to Sirius, assuming he knew what was on the now burnt up piece of parchment.

"Just think hard about what you just read, very hard." He said. Amber did what he said, though she thought it was pointless. Thinking about the address wouldn't make a house appear out of thin air!

"Just keep thinking about the address." Sirius said. Amber nodded, and went over what she had read. She had just reached the number twelve when a battered door appeared out of nowhere between houses eleven and thirteen. The door was followed by dirty walls and grimy windows. The house seemed to squeeze in between houses eleven and thirteen. Amber just stared at it in surprise.

"Come on, let's go!" Remus said, holding open the door. Amber and Sirius both ran in, though Amber found it even harder to run than to walk as a dog. She was amazed that she didn't trip over her own paws.

There was several old-fashioned gas lamps lit along a long, gloomy hallway. The wallpaper was peeling and several age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls. Amber just stood in the hallway, taking everything in. Lochwood had been falling apart, but this place was just disgusting! Narcissa would die if she ever saw this house.

Sirius turned back into his human form, and with a nod from Remus, Amber did the same. She looked around warily, sure that something was going to come running out at them.

"Welcome to my house." Sirius said flatly. Amber just stared at him; she didn't know what to say. She couldn't be rude and say that she didn't like it, but everyone would know if she lied and said she did like it.

"It's been empty for quite a while." Remus said a-matter-of-factly. Amber just nodded, still staring around her in surprise. Even Lochwood hadn't looked this bad, and that place had been ancient.

"Once Molly Weasly gets here, I'm sure it'll look better." Sirius said sarcastically. Amber turned quickly to look at him. Molly Weasley, as in, the Weasleys, the biggest blood traitors out there? Lucius had gone on many rants about that muggle-loving Arthur Weasley, and Draco told her about his horrible red-headed children. Sirius saw her look and smiled.

"No doubt you've heard Lucius go on about them? Well, I guess we better set you straight about them before you meet them, though you will be pretending to be a dog when you do meet them." Sirius said.

"Arthur Weasley does love muggles, but he's a loyal friend. Molly is strict, but she's an amazing cook. And they have seven children, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny." He continued. Amber nodded; she'd heard Draco talk about the twins, Ron, and Ginny.

"But enough about that, we'll go show you a room. I'm afraid you're going to have to share it with someone." Sirius said, grinning at Remus. Amber just watched the two of them, feeling a bit nervous. But nevertheless, she followed Sirius as he led them up a stairway. Amber jumped when she realized that there were mounted house-elf heads on the walls, but still didn't say anything. Sirius had said this was his house, and she didn't want to offend him.

"Here we are." Sirius said, opening the door to one room. Amber jumped backwards when she saw what was inside. The creature was tall, and looked like a cross between a griffin and a horse.

"What is that?" Amber asked, unsure whether or not to be terrified or enchanted by the strange creature. It was lying with its head resting on its front legs, one eye focused on them.

"That is Buckbeak, he's a Hippogriff. He's quite friendly once you get to know him." Sirius said. Amber didn't reply, and just stared at Buckbeak, entranced. Never before had she seen anything like him!

"Walk slowly towards him and bow. Hopefully he'll bow back, but if not, well, just get out of there quickly." Sirius said. Amber didn't move until he pushed her forward gently. Feeling the fear rising in her, Amber gulped and took a few steps towards Buckbeak. He lifted his head and watched her carefully.

Slowly, Amber bowed, watching him. For a few seconds, the Hippogriff just stared at her, until finally, it bowed his head. Relieved, Amber straightened up and stepped backwards towards Sirius and Remus.

"That's good, that's one thing that's over, now, if we can only convince everyone that you're a dog!" Remus said cheerfully. Amber nodded, but she was nervous. She'd never had a dog before, so how would she be able to act like one? Surely she was going to mess up and everyone would know who she really was! Amber shook her head quickly, trying to rid the thoughts from her mind.

You'll do fine, now just calm down! She thought to herself. She hoped she was right, because she heard the front door open, and several new voices.

Author's Note: Wow, I'm actually getting somewhere with this story, I'm glad, and chapter nine, that's the farthest I've ever gotten in any of my stories… But I like writing this one… okay, I'm starting to ramble…great…