Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC Bailey and her puppies and any alterations to the original storyline their presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 Chapter 12
By the time Halloween comes around the puppies are all 8 weeks of age. They'd weaned off milk and moved on to solid food. As the weeks went by and the puppies became more mobile and active all their individual personalities emerge all on their own.
For instance, Friendly, Bounder, and Ranger are proving to be turning into decent protectors of the family, Whisper and Charmer nurturers and caretakers, and then there's Bold and Dreamer. Dear Bold and Dreamer.
What on earth is Bailey ever going to do with those two?
Bailey loves them all to death. Truly she does, but Bold and Dreamer are driving their mother down her wit's end.
Bold is causing no end of trouble now that he's discovered his mobility and how to use his teeth. When the litter had gotten too big for the 2nd year Gryffindor dormitory and had been moved down to the Common Room to sleep at night Bold would constantly snatch student's belongings whenever they weren't looking and hide them on the kids in a game, including homework and stealing food once they officially moved onto solids. Bold took great amusement and pleasure from those mischievous antics. Bold earned a hard cuff on the back of the head by Bailey's paw from this brand of naughty behavior.
Bailey doesn't stop him or any of her children from harassing Scabbers. She never liked that blasted rat no matter how dear Ron holds it. She turns a blind eye to disciplining them in that regard.
And Dreamer although having a sweet, warm, gentle, and lovely disposition just like her sisters, but is often lost in her own little makeshift world. A proper little dreamer as she is aptly named.
A couple of days before Halloween the puppies are moved down to a brand new spacious and sheltered pen at Hagrid's hut. They'd become too rambunctious for Gryffindor Tower and are too big to come to classes with their mother anymore. So, this is the next best thing when Harry and Bailey are preoccupied elsewhere.
Bailey is sure Filch had to be celebrating in his quarters after he heard the news. He'd been cleaning up their accidents in the hallways whenever they couldn't make it to the grounds or courtyard. No, it'll be Hagrid's problem to deal with on a regular basis. One of the very few times anyone has ever seen Filch happy in Bailey's opinion.
Here, at Hagrid's Hut, it's basically confirmed that Fang isn't the father of this litter. They share none of his features at all despite clearly being a mixed breed. Plus, in addition to this, Bailey's reception of Fang being introduced to the puppies is far from favorable. Bailey's opinion toward the boarhound hasn't changed. She growls and snarls at poor Fang, warning him away. The puppies follow their mother's example, especially the boys. Bold and Friendly have no problem leading the charge in a gigantic dogpile onto Fang. Yes, none of the puppies take after him at all in any shape or form.
It's during this crucial relocation that Hagrid is the one to figure it out. He recalls a brief time at the end of last year when Harry was laid up in the Hospital Wing, he had taken Bailey with him and Fang out into the Forbidden Forest on one of his rounds. Here Bailey had wandered away when he'd been distracted and temporarily lost track of her. He had located her alone with her fur slightly ruffled and covered in some leaves. Since no one else can think of any other chance where she could've gotten pregnant that had to be it. Hagrid, also, sees fit to mention that there is a wolf pack that lives in the woods bordering Hogwarts. Bailey must've run into a pack member and one thing led to another that brought on the pregnancy. Hermione eventually concurs with the theory after comparing the puppy's body traits and they do carry more wolfish characteristics to their bloodline.
To Harry that does explain a lot. It certainly solves the mystery.
The transition from Gryffindor Tower to Hagrid's place is difficult for both mother and children. It'll certainly take some adjusting, but if Bailey is with them whenever classes aren't going on and the pups can leave the pen at supervised intervals, they should be fine.
An occasion conveniently pops up on Halloween. The pups are let out to participate in a celebration, but not at the Halloween Feast in the Great Hall as Bailey would've liked.
Turns out that Bailey discovers that Harry had been convinced by Nearly Headless Nick to attend his 500th deathday party to help him feel better about not receiving an invitation to the annual Headless Hunt. Somehow, he's even roped Hermione and Ron to go down there with him. Because everyone was going to be inside the Great Hall, Harry didn't see any problem with taking the puppies along.
Bailey keeps a close watch on her brood and on a tight leash, so they don't abuse their newfound freedom.
Since there's probably going to be no viable food at this party Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to politely slip away and go to the Halloween Feast toward the end to get something to fill their stomachs and some treats for the dogs if they behave.
As soon as they step inside the area in the dungeons where the party is being held Bailey full heartedly agrees with this line of thinking.
The dungeon is full of hundreds of pearly-white, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor, waltzing to the dreadful, quavering sound of thirty musical saws that immediately sets Bailey's teeth on edge. A chandelier overhead blazed midnight blue with a thousand more black candles. Their breath rose in a mist before them. It is like stepping into a freezer.
Bailey is debating whether to sneak the children away to the Great Hall to beg for treats from the students, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione are mingling amongst ghosts they recognize, when a couple of the boys get a whiff of food. All seven of them make a dash, rushing through the ghosts as they make a beeline for the buffet table.
Shouldn't even have wasted their time.
None of it is edible in the slightest.
Rotten and decaying food is laid out.
Bailey knows that various stays, dogs and cats alike, out there eat out of the garbage, but this is blooming ridiculous.
Large, rotten fish are laid on handsome silver platters that are more than likely going to be thrown away after this. Cakes, burned charcoal-black, were heaped on salvers. There was a great maggoty haggis, a slab of cheese covered in furry green mold, and an enormous gray cake in the shape of a tombstone with tar-like on top.
No way is Bailey going to let her puppies consume any of this for even a second. Forget indigestion. This awful variety might bring about terrible ramifications, inadvertently killing the puppies following the very first bite.
Thankfully there's no need for Bailey to scold her puppies. All the children had to do was take a sniff at the nearest plate and they were covering their snouts with a paw, all enthusiasm vanishing.
Baily chooses to wait it out. She herds her sons and daughters to a secluded corner near the door. The puppies whine and complain about being hungry and staying in one place, but Bailey isn't having it. To Bailey's surprise, Peeves offers some relief. Normally Bailey would chase him away, but here she's tolerating it. Peeves learned the hard way that if he doesn't do anything to harm them then he can have on and off interactions with the litter. This is one of those times.
As he enjoys his food Peeves enjoys teasing the puppies. Hovering in the air close to their level and then rising high out of their reach each time they attempt to pounce at him. The whole time this is occurring Bailey comes close to getting a headache from Peeve's gleeful cackles, but since the pups are preoccupied, she ignores it. Those that aren't paying any attention to the poltergeist are wrestling and rolling over each other. Bold and Dreamer she had to tug back by their tails a few times, so they don't wander out of her line of sight.
Finally, Harry, Ron, and Hermione choose to make a run for it when the Headless Hunting Party interrupts Nearly Headless Nick's dull speech. In order to get out of there faster each of them grabs two puppies while Bailey tends to Bold.
The group isn't long after reaching the Great Hall when Bailey suddenly comes to a screeching halt. She freezes, eyes wide, as her ears perk up over her head and neck fur bristles.
After weeks of listening for and not hearing it that sinister and eerie voice has returned.
"…rip…tear…kill."
Harry leans on the stone wall with his ear pressed against the stone and Bailey positioned in a perfect point. There's nothing in the passageway with them or else Bailey would've known about it already. No, it's inside the wall. That's why they didn't see it last time. Ron and Hermione try to ask what's going on, but Harry promptly tells them to be quiet so he can hear better.
"…so hungry…for so long..."
At Harry's urging Ron and Hermione freeze, eyes locked on the duo simultaneously.
"…kill…time to kill…"
The voice is growing fainter as the distance is increased.
Scared the puppies are shuddering in their holders' arms, shrinking back from the voice in the walls. They shriek and cry, wanting to get out of there.
All that is except for precious Bold.
Growling Bold bolts, breaking off in hot pursuit.
"Bold, no," yelled Harry.
All of them run to get Bold. For such a little thing he sure is fast. He keeps one step ahead of them.
In this case, considering the situation, that's not a good thing.
"…I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!"
Stomach lurching, Harry shouts "It's going to kill someone! Get it, Bailey!"
Bailey barks, pursuing the bloodthirsty creature while, also, chasing her son.
It's on the 2nd floor where Bold skids on the wet floor, stumbling over his paws that Bailey manages to apprehend him. Placing a paw over him, Bailey stops, panting, she struggles to catch her breath. She'll reprimand Bold later. Right now, she's simply pleased and relieved she caught her before whatever they heard did.
Bailey stands over her son licking between his ears. Dear brave Bold. Honestly, this pup possesses more courage than sense.
Pointing ahead, Hermione gasped "Look!"
Written on the wall is a message none of them will ever forget.
The Chamber Of Secrets Has Opened.
Enemies Of The Heir, Beware.
Hand pressed to her lips, Hermione said "It's written in blood."
A slight quiver in his voice, Ron said "What is that thing hanging underneath?"
All three of them lurch back horrified when they identify it.
Mrs. Norris is hanging by her tail from a torch bracket, stiff as a board, her eyes wide and blankly staring in fear.
"Let's get out of here," said Ron.
Bold stands on his hind legs, using the wall for balance as he strains to reach and sniff Mrs. Norris. Bailey swiftly pulls him away by the nape of his neck.
Awkwardly, Harry said "Shouldn't we try and help?"
Shaking his head profusely, Ron said "Trust me. We don't want to be found here."
Too late.
The Halloween Feast is over.
Students and teachers have exited the Great Hall. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people. The next moment, students are crashing into the passage from both ends.
The chatter, the bustle, and the noise dies instantly as the people in front spot the hanging cat. Silence falls among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight.
Bailey, the puppies, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are trapped at the epicenter.
Gleefully breaking the silence, Draco Malfoy shouted "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next Mudbloods!"
Authors Note:
Wow! I am on a roll lately with this one! :D
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 some way. 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.