Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC Bailey and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic Chapter 2 Chapter 7
If Bailey's ever-pronounced whines and whimpers are any indication, her distress is getting far worse by the minute.
Harry can't ever recollect a time when she's ever torn at his heart more.
Somehow, in the limited time they had, Harry and Ron made it through the grounds and up the castle in just a few minutes. Harry was carrying Bailey in his arms and Ron was using the levitation spell he had such a hard time with last year to bring up their luggage and animals. Ron shouldn't be able to do this yet with it being so cumbersome. The sheer direness of the situation must've kicked him into overdrive. Once they place their belongings with everyone else's things at the front steps they peek in through a brightly lit window from the Great Hall.
The Sorting is in full swing and everyone else is assembled for the Welcome Feast.
Professor McGonagall had placed the famous Hogwarts Sorting Hat on a stool before the newcomers and held the list of names for the new first years unrolled in her hands. A mousey-haired boy had been called forward for the hat to be placed on his head.
Bailey whines, curling in on herself more in Harry's arms as another intense and painful contraction hits her.
Gently shushing Bailey's side to try and ease the pain, saddened by her woe, Harry said "We need to get Bailey to Madam Pomfrey now!"
Squinting through the glass, ecstatically, Ron said "I see her. She's at her spot! Let's go!"
Harry is about to make a break for the doors with Ron when he notices an oddity.
Scanning the High Table, Harry notices one teacher missing from the assembly.
"Hang on…," he muttered. "There's an empty chair at the staff table…Where's Snape?"
Hopefully, Ron said "Maybe he is ill."
"Maybe he's left because he missed out on the Defense against the Dark Arts job again," guessed Harry.
Enthusiastically, Ron said "Or he might have been sacked. I mean, everyone hates him-!"
"Or maybe, he's waiting to hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train," said Snape, coldly, having snuck up behind them when they were preoccupied with what was happening in the Great Hall.
Harry instantly blanched upon hearing it, stomach clenching in dread.
Ron doesn't necessarily fare any better.
The least favorite for almost every student in the school with the exception of the Slytherins.
Considering the animosity Snape has continuously aimed toward Harry the way he was smiling easily informs the boys they're in very deep trouble.
"Follow me," said Snape, beginning to turn to lead them in.
Realizing this might be his one chance to speak to beg for help on Bailey's behalf, Harry gathers his courage. Tossing aside any last lingering thoughts of self-preservation.
"Sir, please wait. I know we're in a lot of trouble and I know we're going to be punished, but Bailey needs help. She got injured when we crashed into a tree and she's in labor right now about to have puppies. I know you don't care for us, but whatever verbal beating you're about to give us can you do it in the Hospital Wing while Madam Pomfrey is looking her over, please? Don't punish Bailey for what we did. She'll die without help," said Harry, frantically.
Snape glowered stonily at the boys. Neither of them dared to say anything else as Snape's eyes travel to the suffering Bailey. She whimpers, looking at him with pain-filled eyes.
A couple of seconds pass.
Expressionless, Snape said "Follow me."
Harry and Ron follow Snape up the steps not daring to utter a single protest. Snape led them away from the warmth and light of the Great Hall, but instead of leading them down into the dungeons, Snape takes them up flights of stairs to the higher levels where the Hospital Wing stands. Snape opened the doors for them leaving an order for them to remain there while he takes a brief leave to retrieve Madam Pomfrey and, also, they suspect, the Headmaster.
Ron and Harry carry Bailey down onto the nearest bed. Bailey doesn't even bother to get up. She simply taps her paw on his knee in her debilitated state, pleading for comfort and relief from the pain.
Holding her head in his lap, gently stroking her head, Harry said "Hold on, Bailey. Madam Pomfrey will help you and your babies. I know she will."
It doesn't take long for Snape to return. Madam Pomfrey is with him yet the Headmaster is not. Harry presumes the man is not long behind them.
A strange thing about their arrival is that Snape now has a newspaper rolled up in his grip.
Harry can't imagine why.
"Oh my word," said Madam Pomfrey, rushing over, drawing her wand, and getting straight to work to check Bailey's injuries, heal, and relieve as much as the red retriever's labor pains from the contractions as she can.
Arms crossed, in deceptive and malignant softness, Snape said "So, the train isn't good enough for the famous Harry Potter and his faithful sidekick Weasley. Wanted to arrive with a band, did we, boys?"
Harry and Ron stutter over themselves to explain, but Snape wouldn't hear of it. The answer as to why he was carrying a newspaper is quickly solved. It's a late edition of the Daily Prophet with a very clear picture of a familiar For Anglia.
They'd just witnessed it drive off into the Forbidden Forest not half an hour before.
That's not the worse part.
The car had been seen flying by Muggles those times the invisibility booster had gone faulty on them.
The blow is even more terrible for Ron when Snape makes a low lab at him because his father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Snape is pretty nasty about the disgrace it would bring to the Weasley family, too.
Madam Pomfrey is entirely silent during this, too focused on Bailey and getting her prepared to deliver the first pup which will be coming along soon alive if she has anything to say about it. But Bailey can tell by her clenched jaw that she isn't pleased by the offense the boys have committed either.
This is very serious.
Snape brings up that the crash in the car had done damage to a valuable Whomping Willow.
All of these broken regulations to Snape are more than enough grounds for him to expel them if they were in Slytherin House under his charge which he would've done without an inch of hesitation.
Those that do carry that influence walk in seconds later.
Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall both.
Great. That's it. They're screwed.
With these two now added to the mix Ron and Harry take turns telling their story, reasons behind stealing the car, and accidentally falling into the Whomping Willow in the first place.
And by the end of it, they feel like absolute idiots when Professor McGonagall pointed out that they could've just used Hedwig to send a quick missive to Hogwarts or just waited at the car for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to meet them there.
Either one of them would've been suitable.
Instead, they followed their own stupidity.
Bailey really wishes she had the ability to talk then and tell the teachers that it really was Ron's idea and her boy just got dragged along into it.
But Bailey can't.
Bailey is surprised as any of them when Professor McGonagall announces, against heated and outraged objections from Snape that they'd be on the receiving end of detention and letters sent to each of their families. They'd decided to be merciful toward them this time around but are warned that if something like this occurs again then they'd be expelled.
As Professor Dumbledore and Snape left to return to the feast the boys intercepted Professor McGonagall. She answered their inquiry that Gryffindor would not lose points because the new school year doesn't officially start until tomorrow. She then extricates herself from the Hospital letting them know she'll send Hermione to them when the feast is done.
The boy's concern for Bailey left them unable to attend the grand supper. With her wand, Professor McGonagall makes a large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, a jug of pumpkin juice, and a dog bowl filled with water for Bailey to appear with a pop.
This would be their dinner.
No sooner does Professor McGonagall step out than Madam Pomfrey announces to them that the first puppy is about to arrive.
Bailey pushes with all her might and the first puppy emerges.
Bailey is shocked Ron didn't topple over in a dead faint judging by how wobbly he became at seeing her push out the puppy. Mothering instincts immediately kick in for Bailey. She nips at the sack to release the baby and licks the baby clean to stimulate breathing. It works. Soon enough the puppy is squeaking and wriggling, churning its paws in the air. Bailey feels nothing but love for her firstborn pup.
A son.
Madam Pomfrey placed the puppy on the proud mother's belly. The pup locates a teat and settles down in contentment to suckle.
The rest of Bailey's litter comes in quick procession after that. Madam Pomfrey surmises it's due to the stress from the flight to Hogwarts, the crash, and the beating from the Whomping Willow combined.
In between pups, Bailey drinks plenty of water, some pain relief potion provided by Madam Pomfrey, and some meat from the sandwiches the boys are kind enough to share with her.
By the end of the labor, there are seven puppies in all.
4 handsome boys and 3 beautiful little girls.
And their mama can't be any happier.
Bailey lies there brimming with love on the bed as her new babies paws and push at her belly enjoying a big helping of milk.
Madam Pomfrey briefly leaves to get a basket to transport the puppies when Hermione shows up.
Hermione bursts through the Hospital Wing doors, rounding on them like a furious lioness.
"There you are! Where have you two been? The most ridiculous rumors. Someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car-," scolded Hermione in reproachful beratement.
"Skip the lecture," said Ron. "Can't you just see Bailey just gave birth to a litter of puppies?"
"Puppies," screeched Hermione, bolting over to see the litter. Hermione awes at them. "Oh, they're so cute. By the way, Harry, you never said anything about who the father is with all the letters I sent you."
"We think it's Fang. It's the only explanation we can think of. The only other possibility is Fluffy, and you know how impossible that was," said Harry.
"That would make sense. But I thought they didn't get along," comments Hermione in confusion.
"That's what I was thinking, too," added Ron.
Taking a closer look at the puppies, stroking their soft backs, Hermione catches some odd details the boys failed to pick up.
In puzzlement, Hermione said "Wait a minute…these puppies don't look anything like Fang. I don't think he's the father."
"Really? You can already tell that," said Ron, obliviously stumped.
Nodding, Hermione said "Yeah, it's pretty obvious. These puppies look like Bailey yet carry no characteristics resembling Fang whatsoever."
"If Fang didn't sire these pups then who is the daddy," voiced Harry, ponderingly.
All three of them stared at Baily.
Bailey huffs, lying an exhausted head down on her paws.
Like Bailey is ever going to divulge to them that information.
Authors Note:
What should the puppies' names be? Got to tell you I'm stumped on those. I can't think of any. So, names for the litter would be welcome.
Heads up everyone there's someone on fanfiction you need to seriously watch out for. Early a couple of days ago after I woke up I was checking my email and I saw I had a new guest review on my A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 sequel. I took a look at it and got a very big shock. Some random person I've never spoken to before on here or anywhere else in my life was basically threatening me. Intimidating and practically ordering me to write a threatening letter to someone on their behalf, telling to stay off of for life or else they and everyone else close to them would be killed, disgustingly telling them to kill themselves. And at the bottom of the message this crazy person wasn't done. Warning me that if I don't send the letter then they would kill me and for confirmation to email them to make absolutely sure I complied with their demands. Of course I did nothing of the sort. Instead of doing what they wanted I reported them to the website, sent copies of this deplorable guest review message to police officer cousins of mine so they could have it on file, and I went to a nearby police station and reported it.
When I spoke to the police officers and they checked everything on the message they saw, that while the address and names of business were accurate the people and their names were not. They agree it was more than likely a scam because of the email address on the bottom in order to perhaps get access to personal information or potentially hack my computer. Despite that I'm still very happy they took it seriously as I showed and told them everything. All the same I'm still very happy that I brought this to the attention of law enforcement. Even though the entire thing might be fake I'm still very happy to have brought this to the attention of those who can do something about it if it was legit in someway. This may have been a scam, but it's obvious these people are beyond irresponsible if they try to goad people into sending death threats to random strangers just to get access to info.
Be that as it may if this does unfortunately happen to you do not send any messages to the email addresses they put down and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you bring the message to the authorities immediately whether it is legit or not.
Because it's a guest review it might not be visible for a couple of days as it loads if it is sent to you. But when it does you should definitely pressing the report abuse button and send it to the email that leads to the support staff that is available.
Just a heads up to those of you who aren't aware of this yet, Email alerts for this website are now only active if Email opts is enabled in account settings.
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.