Padfoot's Puppy
Chapter Thirteen
'My Kind of Surprise'
"Ahh! Hermione, what are you doing here?" Ginny's shriek awoke Amber early the next morning. Yawning, Amber pulled the blanket over her head, wishing that she was just dreaming. That someone else hadn't just arrived really early in the morning, and that she could just go back to sleep.
For a few minutes, it seemed as though Amber's wish had come true, but then there were footsteps right outside her door. Buckbeak lifted his head wearily and stared at the door. Slowly, Amber lowered the blanket.
"Buckbeak is in her, and I think Snowy is too." Amber heard Ginny say.
"Snowy, who's Snowy?" An unfamiliar voice asked. Horrified, Amber realized that Ginny and her friend were coming into the room. In a second, Amber transformed into a dog, startling Buckbeak slightly. Not a moment too soon either, Ginny and a brown-haired girl burst into the room the second the transformation was complete.
"That's Snowy!" Ginny said, nodding towards Amber, who only had her head sticking out of the blanket. Amber took a second to study Ginny's friend, Hermione, her name was or something. She was fairly pretty, but Amber didn't see anything remarkably outstanding about her.
"Cute, but why is she underneath the blanket?" Hermione asked. Underneath her fur, Amber knew that she was blushing. Pretending that she couldn't understand them, Amber wagged her tail hard and barked loudly, trying to look cute.
"I don't know, but she's adorable!" Ginny said, taking a step towards Amber. She stopped dead when Buckbeak raised his head, snapping his beak angrily. Apparently, Amber wasn't the only one upset about being woken up so early.
"Snowy, come here!" Ginny called softly, watching Buckbeak warily. Satisfied, Beaky rested his head on his forelegs, watching as Amber slowly made her way over to the two girls, yawning loudly.
"Isn't she just the cutest thing?" Ginny asked, kneeling down next to Amber and petting her head. Amber wagged her tail for good measure.
"She's okay, but I don't really like dogs." Hermione said, barely glancing at Amber. Amber felt insulted, after all, how can a person not like dogs? And besides, Hermione hadn't even given her a chance!
"Where are Ron and the twins?" Hermione asked, looking slightly eager. Ginny smiled knowingly and nodded her head towards the door. Amber stared up at the two of them, feeling confused and left out. It was times like these that she wished she didn't have to pretend to be a dog.
"I'll show you!" Ginny said, getting to her feet. Hermione smiled, and the two of them left the room. Knowing that there was no point in going back to sleep now, Amber followed them, leaving Buckbeak to sleep in peace.
"Rom, the surprise is here!" Ginny said in a sing-song voice, coming into Ron's room. Apart from a low moan, there was no sign that Ron was actually alive.
"Come on Ron, you're really going to like it!" Ginny said, putting great emphasis on the really. There was still no movement. Ginny shook her head, smiling at Hermione.
"Come on Snowy, Wake him up! Come on girl!" Ginny said, patting the bed, staring at Amber. Amber stared up at her in horror. What was she supposed to do, lick him?
"Come on girl!" Ginny said, a slight pleading in her voice. Gulping softly, Amber jumped onto the bed, landing next to Ron, who still didn't move. Amber nosed him gently with her nose; still nothing.
Moving closer to his head, Amber stuck her head right by his ear and barked loudly. Ron shot up with a start, nearly making Amber fall off the bed. Both Ginny and Hermione burst out laughing, while Amber felt really embarrassed.
"Wha-, what's going on?" Ron asked, sounding both confused and scared. Ginny and Hermione continued laughing, and Ron was staring at them looking very puzzled. Then he glared at Amber, who just wagged her tail.
"We had to wake you up because the surprise is here!" Ginny said, finally calming down enough to speak. Ron perked up slightly and looked around excitedly. Finally, his eyes rested on Hermione, as if he hadn't noticed her before.
"Hermione!" He cried happily. Hermione blushed, and then Ron blushed. Ginny shook her head and rolled her eyes, while Amber felt as though she was missing something.
Ron opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by two loud cracks. Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Amber all jumped as Fred and George apparated right next to the bed.
"We thought we heard Snowy barking." Fred said, sounding bored. George yawned loudly and nodded. Ron nodded and glared at Amber, who was gazing up at the ceiling.
"She was, Ron wouldn't wake up, so she helped." Ginny said, grinning widely. There was a faint smile on George's lips as he turned to Hermione.
"Hello Hermione, nice seeing you." He said, sounding just as a bored and tired as his twin. Hermione mumbled a hello, her face still bright red. Amber just sat there, trying to figure out what was going on. Obviously there was something between Ron and Hermione, that was easy enough to tell from Ginny's smug smile and the knowing looks the twins kept exchanging. Amber was frustrated that she couldn't figure out what it was; living for years only seeing three other people had made it nearly impossible for Amber to read people's faces.
"We just got here; Lupin and Tonks came and got me!" Hermione was saying, chattering away happily. It didn't take Amber long to grow bored and leave the room. She hoped this wasn't a sign that the Weasley kids were going to be boring now that Hermione was here.
She didn't know where to go, Buckbeak would be angry if she went back into her room and woke him up, but there wasn't really anywhere else to go. Amber ended up pacing restlessly up and down a hallway, wishing something exciting would happen.
Amber had only been pacing for a few minutes when Sirius walked out of one of the rooms. He stood in the doorway for a few seconds, just staring at Amber. Amber stopped; one paw lifted in the air, and stared back at him. After what felt like forever Sirius just smiled and walked away. Amber stared after him in amazement. Sirius never ceased to amaze her.
Finally Amber decided to go back to her room and sleep for a while. It was a little bit uncomfortable sleeping as a dog, but it helped to pass the time. Buckbeak didn't even open an eye when Amber came into the room.
Around two in the afternoon Remus came into the room and woke Amber up. Glaring at her as she stood, Amber wondered to herself why he couldn't just let her sleep. It's not like there was anything else to do.
"Come on downstairs, there's someone who would like to meet you." Remus said with a smile. He didn't say anything else and Amber felt like biting him. She hated the fact that dogs couldn't talk, it was very inconvenient.
Remus led Amber down into the kitchen. All of the Weasleys, Hermione, Tonks and Sirius were seated at the table, along with someone Amber hadn't seen before. He was an old man; Amber thought he looked ancient, with a crooked nose and half-moon glasses. The Weasley children each had looks of awe on their faces, and again Amber felt frustrated for being left out in the dark. She couldn't imagine why an old man would be anything to admire!
"So this is Snowy!" The man said, rising to his feet. Amber glanced at Remus, but he was busy staring at the man. Unsure of what to do, Amber decided that it was probably best if she just stayed where she was. The man walked over to her, kneeled and studied her with his pale blue eyes. Amber squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze.
"She's a good dog." The man stated simply. Remus grinned and then gave Amber a pointed look. She knew what the look meant; go upstairs. With a disgruntled growl, Amber left with the Weasley kids and Hermione following behind.
"Man, I don't think there's a single person who doesn't like Snowy, even Dumbledore likes her!" Fred said, patting Amber's head. Amber froze; that was Dumbledore in there? She'd heard Lucius talk about him, but from what Lucius had said, Amber had expected Dumbledore to look a lot scarier, be a little taller and well, not be so old. Shaking her head with amazement, Amber wondered how many more surprises she could take.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry, life and school sort of got in the way, and a lack of interest, but here's another chapter! Sorry that's it's rushed, I just want to get on with the story; I'm getting sort of tired of writing meaningless chapters which actually are not all that meaningless.