Chapter Three; The Escape

Cowboy trotted along behind Harry as they came inside and wagged his tail behind him. "Alright Cowboy we're here!" he exclaimed excitedly while his mother smiled down at him as he unclipped his leash from his collar. The puppy sprinted through the house wagging his tail and sniffing everything while he checked it all out.

"I hope that we've got everything puppy proofed." Lily began. "And that cowboy knows where the bathroom is. I don't want to find any of my beautiful furniture marked with his scent on them since he is and will only be the only dog in the house." She finished when all of a sudden Tobey began to cry and Harry looked up at her nervously while Cowboy darted back into the living room and leapt up at her and began to whimper and paw her.

"Harry why don't you and your father feed the puppy while I go feed your brother." She suggested.

"Alright Mummy." Harry said as the puppy finally stopped jumping up and down and perked up his ears as he saw one of his masters go into the kitchen. Harry opened the bag of puppy food while Snape poured it in the bowl for him and Harry sat it back down on the floor. Cowboy raced towards the bowl and bent his head down to gobble up the food while continuing to wag his tail.

Then Harry used his stepstool to climb up to the kitchen sink and fill his water dish while Lily sat down in the chair and started to nurse. "Good job son." His father told him with a proud smile. "I think that's enough, you can give it to him now." He said before Harry turned off the sink and stepped back down on the ground placing the water dish next to his food bowl.

"Here you go boy." He told him as he realized that the puppy was nudging his bowl with his nose all around the floor and that all of the kibble was spilling out onto it. "He's making a mess!" Harry cried with a point as his father chuckled.

"That's because he's a puppy, and all babies makes messes when they eat." He explained. "Speaking of which, are you ready for your lunch now?" he asked him.

"Yes please." Harry said as the puppy dog finally finished eating and then started lapping up the water with his tongue. Snape smiled at his son while he sat down at the kitchen table and opened his mouth and grabbed ahold of one of his teeth and started wiggling it while his father made his lung.

"Do you have a loose tooth Harry?" his mother asked him as she looked up at him.

"Yeah, it's pretty loose." Harry mumbled before he let go of it and Cowboy rushed back over to the table and nudged his hand alerting Harry that he wanted to be petted.

"Don't pet him at the table Harry," Snape began before he brought him over a plate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on it. "I don't want him to get the idea that he'll be allowed to beg for food." He said before he went back for his glass of milk and sat it down next to his plate. "Come on Cowboy, I've got something for you." He said before he went out into the living room and picked a squeaky hamburger up off the ground and squeaked it for him.

The puppy panted happily while perking up his ears again before racing back out into the living room and leaping up into the air for it. Snape grinned before he threw it for him to fetch. With another great leap up into the air he caught it inside his mouth perfectly and then slobbered over it and squeaked it as he trotted down the hall.

"I don't think that he's really got the idea of the game yet." Lily said while Tobey decided that he had finished nursing and she brought him up to her shoulder to be burped. She kissed his forehead and started patting his back gently and rubbing it inside small circles.

….

That night after his mother had read him a story and kissed him goodnight, Harry had had a rather strange dream. He dreamt all about a man with shaggy brown hair and two brown beady eyes. He was showering Harry with hugs and kisses one moment and breaking out of jail the next. It was all rather scary. He saw the man trying to kill the man who had turned into a rat and tried to kill Harry the year before. He was nearing his house, entering his bedroom, strangling Cowboy to death while he stood over his bed and hung over him with a knife held in his hands.

At that moment Harry woke up screaming. Cowboy (who of course was still alive) started to whimper and leapt down off his bed and ran out of the room frantically as Harry burst into tears. A few moments later his parents raced into his bedroom. His father flipped on the light switch as Lily rushed over to her son's bed.

"Harry darling what is it?" she asked him anxiously as she sat down at his bedside and cuddled him inside her arms. "A man was trying to kill me!" he wailed as tears continued pouring down his cheeks while Snape just stood there gazing down at him with a very serious expression on his face. "He killed Cowboy!" he yelled still sobbing hysterically.

"Shh,.." Lily whispered as she kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back soothingly. "You were only having a nightmare. Cowboy's fine, he's hiding under our bed." She explained. "But if you're too loud you'll wake your brother." She told him.

"This man, what did he look like?" Snape asked him.

"I don't remember!" Harry yelled while his mother continued to hush him. "All I remember is that he broke out of a place called Ask-a-ban, and that you and Mummy called him serious." He told him as Lily placed another kiss to her son's forehead and looked back worriedly. As she looked into his eyes she could see one thing and one thing only; fear.